Patrick Ness

Here is the boy, running.
Here was the boy, drowning.

a big, suspicious black girl.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, they gather themselves up, helping one another to their feet with a tenderness they don’t need to discuss.

As incredible as it seemed, time kept moving forward for the rest of the world.

The rest of the world that wasn’t waiting.

If you do not tell it, the monster said, I shall have to tell it for you. It held Conor up closer to its face. And believe me when I say, you do not want that.

Because humans are complicated beasts, the monster said. How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can a prince be a murderer and a saviour? How can an apothecary be evil-tempered but right-thinking? How can a parson be wrong-thinking but good-hearted? How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen?

The answer is that it does not matter what you think, the monster said, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day. You wanted her to go at the same time you were desperate for me to save her. Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.