That was the trick - to keep punching, no matter what.

Don't. Shoot. The air is full of hydrogen!

Do you promise?" He demanded again.
"I can't let you go, Alek." She said softly.
"You...what?

There was a long pause. "Um, I'm afraid I don't know the word in English."
"The word for what?"
"I just said I don't *know* it!

That letter was your whole future, you daft prince."
"It was my past. I lost that the night my parents died. But I found you, Deryn. Maybe I wasn't meant to end the war, but I was meant to find you. I know that. You've saved me from having any reason to keep going."
"We save each other. That's how it works.

Deryn put her own arms around herself, but it didn't feel the same.
"Barking spiders," she muttered softly,