frances-hardinge

Who am I? The shell-selling Lace girl, the attendant of Lady Arilou, Mother Govrie__ other daughter, the thing of dust, the victim, the revenger, the diplomat, the crowd-witch, the killer, the rescuer, the pirate?I am anything I wish to be. The world cannot choose for me. No, it is for me to choose what the world shall be.

People were animals, and animals were nothing but teeth. You bit first, and you bit often, That was the only way to survive.

I don__ know. How can you know? I_I__ a monster. When I__ hungry, I might do anything.""Oh no, of course I couldn__ possibly understand you." Violet__ shadowed face seemed to be wearing a grim and serious smile. "I know, you woke up one day and found out that you couldn__ be the person you remembered being, the little girl everybody expected you to be. You just weren__ her any more, and there was nothing you could do about it. So your family decided you were a monster and turned on you." Violet sighed, staring out into the darkness."Believe me, I do understand that. And let me tell you - from one monster to another - that just because somebody tells you you__e a monster, it doesn__ mean you are."just now you told me what you did because you want me to stop you from eating Pen. If you were a real monster, you wouldn__ have done that, would you?" Trista__ eyes stung, and she wiped strands of cobweb away with her sleeve."Idiot," added Violet, for good measure.