Venice was the only city he’d ever seen that looked the same in real life as it did in pictures. It was… — Lev Grossman

You know what Arthur C. Clarke said about technology and magic, right? Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Turn it around. What is advanced magic indistinguishable from? Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from the miraculous.

Maybe this was one of those times when being a hero didn’t involve looking particularly brave. It was just doing what you should.

This was bad behavior, and she knew it. She did it because she was angry and because she disliked herself. The more she disliked herself, the more she took it out on other people, and the more she took it out on other people the more she disliked herself.