Girl of Lore Quotes

“She stepped inside and trailed her fingers along the crypts. Two fresh names were etched into a crypt at the back. Isabella and Theodore Carfax, her mom and dad. She pressed her hands against their crypt and leaned her forehead against the cool stone. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for keeping me safe, and for this legacy. I wish you were here.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Willow’s connection with the Carfax family extended her life, the Carfax bond making her immortal. Mina’s father, Theodore, had developed a connection with the Carfax wolf over decades, and Mina felt like such a bumbling newbie. It was a steep learning curve, but Willow was patient, as Mina learned to travel between their minds, seeing through Willow’s eyes. She was slowly able to hold the connection while Willow moved farther away, starting in the room, and then the backyard, down the street, across town. Mina had done it a few times accidentally since receiving the mark that bound them to one another, but she was working hard to develop the skill. It wasn’t such a stretch, sharing a mind with a wolf. After all, she’d spent her life sharing her brain with OCD.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“The wolf padded to her and butted Mina with her nose.
She let out a startled laugh. “Willow. Thanks for protecting me. That was you growling in the dark all those times, wasn’t it? Chasing the vampires away.”
Willow pressed her forehead to Mina’s.
“And my dreams—some of those were through your eyes.” Mina remembered the back seat of the car in the sinkhole. “Do you like ear scratches?” she asked, and when Willow didn’t move away, she reached a hand up and scratched behind her ears.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Once I’m gone, it falls to you as the last remaining Carfax to keep the Old One from rising and destroying London and the world beyond. Everything you need is in this book, and in yourself. You also inherit the loyalty of our immortal canine protector, Willow. She will allow you to see through her eyes. As you learn to use the book, you’ll develop the ability to communicate with her as well as most other creatures.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“That symbol on your wrist is the mark of the guardian, a mark that’s passed down from Carfax to Carfax. Only those with Carfax blood can bear the mark. Mina, you’re a Carfax.”
She couldn’t believe it, but it made too much sense not to. Of course. She was a Carfax. As in Carfax House, as in the Carfax mausoleum where she’d spent so much time. No wonder that mausoleum was where she felt connected to London, where she felt safe. It was her family’s.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Mina wound her way through the gravestones and arrived at the mausoleum. Her mausoleum. She smiled. She loved her creepy clubhouse.
She opened the iron gate with the broken latch. It made a soft creak as she stepped inside and inhaled the mossy smell of the stone, letting her eyes adjust to the shadows. She slid down onto the cold floor and clipped a book light onto her sketchbook.
Mina relaxed into the darkness. She felt anonymous, comforted by the silence, surrounded by the dead who needed nothing from her and held no judgement.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Mina pulled out the tissue paper to reveal something black. She liked it already. Lifting it out of the bag, she discovered a zip-up hoodie. When she unfolded it, she saw the Lore Club logo that she’d drawn on the board at their first meeting. Her fingers traced the letters. Her letters. Her eyes filled with tears.
“I screenshotted the video I took that day, with the logo on the board,” Arthur said.
“We really liked it and thought it would look cool on a hoodie,” Jackie nodded.
“I love it,” Mina said, pulling on the hoodie and zipping it up. The inside was soft and warm. “It’s perfect. Thanks, guys. This means… this means everything.”
“We love you, Mina, our fearless leader of lore,” Jackie said, resting her head on Mina’s shoulder.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Mina tried not to dry-heave. “Happily Ever After” had rendered the school like they’d detonated a crepe paper bomb.
“Happily ever after?” Let’s not jump to conclusions, Mina thought. Prince and princess meet, fall in love, slay the dragon, and get married, but there’s still a lot of living to do, and the dragon probably has friends. “Happily two days after” might be more accurate. The happy couple should play it by ear before they’re flame-broiled in bed on a Saturday morning.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Mina changed into her dress, and Jackie blew out her breath. It was a black lace fit-and-flare that emphasized Mina’s waist and swung out around her hips. Paired with her red Doc Martens, of course.
“You’re telling me you clicked and bought that without even reading the description, and it looks great on you, while I spent seven hours trying on dresses?”
“I was going for effortless beauty— as in, I put in zero effort,” Mina shrugged.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“She comes in my room and helps herself to my stuff. It serves her right, finding more than she bargained for.”
“Mina, I’m concerned about your fixation on this macabre world. These drawings… monsters tearing flesh and blood dripping from teeth. What’s a girl doing, drawing this stuff?”
“What— like it would be okay if I was a boy? Sexist!” Mina shouted.
“That’s not what I… you’re right. That’s sexist. I’m just worried about you. You’re delving deeper into this world of horror, and I don’t want you to—”
“Become a serial killer? Wasn’t gonna.” Mina thrust her chin out.
Stab, stab, stab!
Mina balled her fists. “If I were you, I’d worry more about your kleptomaniac younger daughter always pilfering my stuff.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“One: He thinks he’s so spectacular. Seriously, he mansplains everything and thinks he’s so amazing, so even if I thought he was a little amazing— which I don’t— there’s no room for anyone else to think he’s amazing because he’s too full of himself.
“Two: Why is his hair always in his eyes?” Mina rolled her eyes.
“Three: He has all the teachers wrapped around his finger. I saw the student council advisor literally swoon over his speech last week. Swoon. I mean, pull yourself together, ma’am, you are a grown-up.
“Four: He’s all ‘Oooh, I’m gonna be a lawyer.’ Oh, okay— well, lawyers are shady, and therefore you are shady, Jonathan. I asked him why he wanted to defend criminals, and he said he was interested in estate law like his parents, and then I lost interest because he is boring.
“Five: He is boring.”
“You don’t seem that bored,” Jackie cut in, looping a piece of web around the edge of a bush.
Mina made a mock-affronted face. “Rude.”
Jackie laughed and motioned for Mina to continue.
“Six: Why does he need everyone to like him? Get over yourself, Jonathan, because I don’t like you.
“Seven: Hello? Can we say TOO INQUISITIVE? He asks too many questions. All up in my business.
“Eight: He never remembers my name. I know he’s a big junior and I’m a lowly sophomore, but we are on student council together, and it’s not that hard. I’ll make you remember my name, Jonathan. My name will be infamous!” Mina thrust her arms toward the sky, looming over Jackie and trailing webs all over them.
“Nine: I saw him steal a fry off his friend’s plate at lunch. That’s unforgivable. What a mooch.
“Ten: He makes me forget what I’m saying. I never forget what I’m saying. I’m great at linear thought— in fact, I’m known for it. Clearly this is one hundred percent his fault.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“My name. Is. Mina. Write it down, if you know how. Maybe a mnemonic device would help."
"Good idea. When I see you, I'll think 'Mina' like M-E-A-N-A, as in the girl who's mean to me." He thrust out his lower lip in a pouty face.
Mina started baby-talking. "Aw, is he having a hard time that one person doesn't worship the ground he walks on? Isn't it so hard being Jonathan? Poor baby Jonathan. Let's add him to the prayer chain."
"Punk," he scoffed.
"Diva," Mina shot back.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“According to Grace Poole, vampires were a lot like another local bloodsucker, mosquitoes, and what repelled mosquitoes also worked on them, like citronella candles and cedar. Lemongrass protects against bloodsuckers of all types, be they insect or demon.
Lemongrass! Mina went to her drawers and rummaged around until she found the deodorant her mom had given her. She sniffed it. Not bad after all, especially compared to garlic. Caroline was onto something. She rubbed it on her armpits.
Dr. Seward had lemongrass growing in her garden, and Caroline kept a bottle of lemongrass oil near her diffuser downstairs. Mina decided to use it like perfume. She’d keep a tiny roller ball on her neck and pulse points and make them for Lore Club and Lizzie and her mom, too.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“It was bound in leather, an unusual leather that looked like the hide of some reptilian creature. At first glance it was black, but when she looked closer, the way it caught the light from Mina's lamp made it look iridescent. Glittering rainbows of color played across the cover of the book, shifting and moving.
Alive.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“She didn’t know why she loved torturing him, but she did. Torturing Jonathan Harker ranked up there for her with eating chocolates and cuddling puppies. Made her feel delicious all over.
Maybe Becca was right. There was something wrong with her.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Synonyms for “strange”: unusual, odd, alien, abnormal, bizarre, fantastical… ooh! That led her to words like fantasy, weird stories, mythos, tales, folklore…
“Lore Club!” she blurted out.
“Lore?” Kate asked.
“Lore, like the history of our town— tall tales, strange occurrences. Like a history club.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Why did his face bother her so much? Just seeing him walk in the room made her want to pick a fight and double down. Wasn’t there some tweed-wearing private school he could attend and leave her to her proletariat life in peace?
She scanned the room and saw that he had yet to arrive. But as she sipped her travel mug of coffee to wake up, her nemesis strode in.
Jonathan Harker’s shaggy light brown hair brushed the top rims of his wire-framed glasses. He had a dimple in his right cheek that deepened when he concentrated. He was generally considered easygoing and likable, but when he had a goal, he didn’t let anything get in his way. Mina liked getting in his way, just as an exercise against his superiority complex.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Mina wasn't sure how she ended up running for class representative in the student council. Maybe because she was naturally argumentative. Maybe it was her deep need to do something important. She didn't know. One day she'd gone off in the media center about her hefty library fines and how they discouraged reading, and the media specialist encouraged her to take that passion and run with it. She'd still had to pay the fines, but she'd entered her name in the student council race, spent a week hanging posters all over the school, and annihilated her opponent in the debate in the school auditorium.
At least that was what she'd thought at the time. Becca's words from yesterday came back to her and smacked her in the face. I got everyone to vote for you. It was a pity vote because of your tragic awkwardness. When she got to the media center, she pulled the caricature of Becca out of her sketchbook and displayed it with some books of poetry on an endcap where people would see it.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“Jackie’s mom, Dr. Seward, enjoyed gardening when she wasn’t at her psychiatry office, so the yard overflowed with azaleas, and hydrangeas, goldmound spirea, leucothoe, and lemongrass. She grew mint, basil, thyme, and rosemary in pots on their back porch, and sometimes Jackie and Mina would put sprigs of mint in their iced tea and pretend to be fancy.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“The town of London, Georgia, was on a grid, with the old-fashioned town square in the center. Smack in the middle of the square, the courthouse rose above the other buildings. Constructed of red brick, with white ionic columns lining the front, the courthouse sported a clock tower with a copper dome that had developed a green patina after years of oxidation. The residents jokingly called it the “The Tower of London” for the historic castle in London, England. But while the English tower housed the Crown Jewels, the Georgian tower graced the building where citizens of London paid their parking tickets. The only Beefeaters at this Tower of London were the retirees who ate steak and eggs and played checkers at the diner nearby.
Established by a few founding families who had sailed over from its namesake city a couple hundred years ago seeking religious freedom, London leaned into its Anglophile origin. On the corner of the town square sat the Olde Towne Shoppe— and that was “Shoppe” with an E at the end— which sold everything from “Werewolf of London” tees to English breakfast teas.
Rumors abounded about the religion the founding families had needed freedom to practice, and people whispered that the families hadn’t just brought old-world culture and Christianity but also old-world demons. The blood-sucking, fangy ones. Londoners didn’t put any stock in the vampire tales, but they provided great fodder for tourism, much like trolls in Norway and Mothman in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The Shoppe took tourists on walking tours called “Legends of London: A Bite on the Town,” sharing stories of the macabre and selling fruit punch in pouches designed to look like blood bags from the Red Cross.
Yet there were other stories that floated down from generation to generation— ones that weren’t touted on the tours, about mysterious deaths and other odd happenings in their town. Londoners whispered of people disappearing overnight and secret rooms behind bookshelves where the undead hid their victims. When Mina’s third-grade teacher had passed away suddenly halfway through the year, kids swore weeks later that they’d seen her lurking around the playground at night. Mina knew this was all just folklore but still loved to hear the stories. Maybe because she considered herself a mystery of London.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore

“I think every emergency vehicle in town wee-ooh-wee-oohed to whatever was happening--- a car crash or something. Be careful on your way to school."
Car crash? Mina thought back to her dream, which was already fading, as dreams do. "Another reason to continue my commitment to the pedestrian life."
"You are going to need to practice driving at some point---"
"Can't crash if I don't drive. Safety first, Mom.”
― Melanie Dale, Girl of Lore