UnWholly (Unwind Dystology, #2)

by Neal Shusterman

Words don’t hurt you.” Which is one of the hugest criminal lies perpetrated by adults against children in this world. Because words hurt more than any physical pain.

The sad truth about humanity, Risa was quick to realize, is that people believe what they’re told. Maybe not the first time, but by the hundredth time, the craziest of ideas just becomes a given.

How do you judge the brightness of a light when you’re the source? A spotlight can never see the shadows it casts.

“When you live a life without questions, you’re unprepared for the questions when they come,”

“Anger is only our friend when we know its caliber and how to aim it.”

He’s still thinking of Connor’s eyes when he hears the high-pitched blast of a tranq pistol and feels a sudden sharp pain in his leg, then a second, then a third. His hands, suddenly lead-heavy, fall from the steering wheel, and with his last bit of strength, he forces his head to turn so he can see his attacker. Rising from behind him in the van is Lev, wearing a smile as big as the desert around them. “Tranq’d by your own gun,” Lev says. “How pathetic.”