Switchback Quotes

“Switchback"

turn, turn,
and again,
hard scrabble
steep travel
ahead.”
― Gary Snyder, The Back Country

“This was another thing Vale’s mother never understood: Vale was aro-ace, both aromantic and asexual. She’d told her parents she just wasn’t interested in dating any number of times… But they never seemed to get it. To them, Vale’s sexuality was a ‘phase’ that they were certain she would one day outgrow. Their obliviousness was a raw spot for Vale.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“The teens had gathered in an open clearing. Behind them, the banded lines of Avion Ridge formed a ragged edge between sky and ground, a rock wall looming above the trees. Ash shivered. The hikers stood in shadow here, the warmth of the day gone.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“An hour after they’d left the clearing, a heavy layer of fog filled the valley like a moist blanket. The trees grew into amorphous shapes, mountains gone.
Ash stopped dead in his tracks. He stared into the forest with wide eyes. “Whoa! D’you see that?!”
Vale jerked to a stop. “What? Where?!”
“There in the trees.” He pointed into the forest to where the rainy undergrowth grew thick with a hazy veil of grey-white mist. “The haze.”
“What about it?”
“Looks like game lag. But like… real lag. Real life lag.” Ash grinned at her, his brown eyes sparkling. “Like the forest is supposed to be there, but it’s not totally loaded by the computer yet.”
“That’s going to be trouble.”
“Why?”
Vale nodded to where Ash knew the mountaintops should be, but were no longer visible, caught in an otherworldly lag. “It means we can’t see the mountains.”
“So?”
“So we can’t see where we are going anymore.”
Ash frowned. “Er… yeah.”
“C’mon. Let’s keep walking.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“The orcs grew closer, the dark smudge growing.
He felt, more than saw, the elf take her place at his side. Ash knew there was no way two fighters—even good ones—could stop an onslaught like this. The elf was young. Inexperienced. It pained him that she’d die here.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“If Ashton Hamid had a patronus, it was an overgrown Great Dane. He was all long arms and knobby-kneed legs, bony elbows and size sixteen feet. The resemblance extended to his face too. His brown eyes seemed perennially tired, punctuated by drooping lids and sloping black brows. Chin-length hair flopped over his eyes and behind his ears. His clothes—bought to fit his six and a half foot frame—always looked three sizes too big.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“They headed across the meadow, passing groups of students eating lunch. A mottled bird that looked like a cross between a chicken and a pheasant burst from the undergrowth. Ash watched it flutter into the trees, then land in the bushes.
“What in the world…?”
Vale followed his gaze to where the bird waddled through the undergrowth. “It’s a spruce grouse.”
Ash stared into the trees. A few steps away from the meadow, the light dropped by half. “What did you call it again?”
“Spruce grouse is the official name, though they’re sometimes called prairie chickens or fool hens.”
Ash chuckled. “Fool hens, huh?”
“Yeah. People think they’re kind of dumb—the way they let other animals get close to them. They’re pretty mellow.”
Ash watched it as it faded back into the autumn foliage, the plumage a match to the brown and orange leaves. “How do you know all this stuff?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I read things, I guess.”
“I know that, but where’d you learn the stuff about birds?”
“I’ve got a couple books on wildlife. Books on the woods, and on camping, and survival, and…” Vale shrugged. “I just read a lot of stuff. Okay?”
Ash grinned. “Pretty cool.”
― Danika Stone

“Ash bumped her shoulder. “Hey, Vale. I got a joke for you.”
She smiled. “Okay.”
“What do you do when the world champion of Scrolls of the Illuminati knocks on your door?”
“I…” Vale giggled. “I have no idea.”
“You say ‘well done, sir!’ then pay the man for the pizza!”
Ash cracked up at his own joke and a moment later, Vale began to laugh too. For a few seconds, it felt like everything was normal again.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“Ashton Hamid hated hiking. He hated the woods. Hated the whole insistence on “real life experiences” and “survival” and “nature” in general. He took another step, wincing as the blister on his heel throbbed. THIS is why I prefer V.R.! The trees grew close together here, and the trail on which he and Vale hiked wove in and out of them like a ribbon. He squinted into the forest. If Vale wasn’t leading, he’d have no idea where to go. The trail was little more than a muddy path.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“While they rested, he searched for landmarks. The mountains they’d walked into were gone, a hazy gray ceiling of storm clouds in their place. It gave him the unsettling feeling of being caught inside a box. Ash turned and looked back the other direction. His attention caught on the forked top of a pine tree and he frowned. What the hell…? That looks like the same tree we passed fifteen minutes ago. It felt for a moment like he was in a poorly designed game and had just come across a repeating landscape. His gaze dropped down to the path where they’d just passed. His stomach churned uneasily. The trail was a faded smudge, the line of it almost too faint to follow in the gathering darkness, but there was a small outcrop of rocks in the trees that also looked familiar.
His attention jumped back to the pronged top of the branches. “What the…?”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“Ash nodded. A moment later, sleep overtook him and he began to dream. He stood in the gamescape of Immortal Defenders, Vale in armor at his side.”
― Danika Stone

“I truly admire the British for their subtle sarcasm. A good rule when using sarcasm is, it is best to "put a little English" on it.”
― C.A.A. Savastano