ŷ������

“Oh, and Drew, honey?��
The former counselor looked back reluctantly.
“In case you think I’m not a true daughter of Aphrodite,�� Piper said, “don’t even look at Jason Grace. He may not know it yet, but he’s mine. If you even try to make a move, I will load you into a catapult and shoot you across Long Island Sound.��
Drew turned around so fast, she ran into the doorframe. Then she was gone.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“Shut up, me,�� Leo said aloud.
“What?�� Piper asked.
“Nothing,�� he said. “Long night. I think I’m hallucinating. It’s cool.��
Sitting in front, Leo couldn’t see their faces, but he assumed from their silence that his friends were not pleased to have a sleepless, hallucinating dragon driver.
“Just joking.�� Leo decided it might be good to change the subject.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“Piper patted his shoulder. “Trust me, Valdez. Beautiful people never lie.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“They both (Thalia and Hera) glared at her, and for three long seconds, Piper wasn’t sure which one of them was going to kill her first.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“He pleaded with those sea-green eyes, like a cute baby seal that needed help. Piper wondered how Annabeth ever won an argument with this guy.”
― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

“He fixed his dark eyes on her. 'I am Kekrops, the first and eternal king of Athens. I would welcome you to my city.' He held up the covered platter. ' Also, I brought a Bundt cake.'

Piper glanced at her friends. 'A trick?'

'Probably?' Annabeth said.

'At least he brought dessert.' Percy smiled down at the snake guys. 'Welcome aboard!”
― Rick Riordan, The Blood of Olympus

“He also didn't mind Piper's using him for a pillow. She had a cute way of breathing when she slept - inhaling through the nose, exhaling with a little puff through the mouth. He was also disappointed when she woke up.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“Hi,�� Piper said, as casually as she could. “We’re back.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“Piper gave Lit a friendly sorry-about-that smile. Even with her hair messed up and wearing two-day-old clothes, she looked extremely cute, and Jason felt a little jealous she was giving Lit that smile.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“Glad you're back to normal. The makeup and the dress were a lot more intimidating than the dagger."
"Get going, Sparky, before I skewer you."
"Sparky?”
― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

“Have you ever wondered what it feels like to have a love for the lost? This is a term we use as part of our Christian jargon. Many believers search their hearts in condemnation, looking for the arrival of some feeling of benevolence that will propel them into bold evangelism. It will never happen. It is impossible to love “the lost��. You can’t feel deeply for an abstraction or a concept. You would find it impossible to love deeply an unfamiliar individual portrayed in a photograph, let alone a nation or a race or something as vague as “all lost people��.

Don’t wait for a feeling or love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God.”
― John Piper

“Piper!�� Frank yelled. “Counter those empousai! We need some chaos.��

“Thought you’d never ask.�� She started catcalling at the female demons: “Your makeup is smeared! Your friend called you ugly! That one is making a face behind your back!”
― Rick Riordan The House of Hades

“I'm as light as a cloud, as free as a bird. I'm part of the sky and I can fly.”
― Victoria Forester (The Girl Who Could Fly)

“Why does it have to be so hard? Why can't it be a happily-ever-after ride-into-the-sunset feeling all the time?”
― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

“COOL·NESS [KOOL-NIS] -noun
CATCHING your mom gazing at the crazy crowd like she finally gets it
WATCHING your dad head-banging like he’s Finn’s twin brother
LEARNING that your new friends Tash and Kallie are a thousand times more complicated than you realized, and loving them for it
FEELING every one of your boyfriend’s pounding drumbeats, and thinking it’s the most romantic music ever written
REALIZING you’re completely unique . . . even in a crowd”
― Antony John, Five Flavors of Dumb

“Hope is the great deceiver. Hope is the piper who leads us sleepy to our slaughter.”
― Brent Weeks, The Broken Eye

“The "war" is being fought along the line between sin and righteousness in every family. It is being fought along the line between truth and falsehood in every school... Between justice and injustice in every legislature... Between integrity and corruption in every office... Between love and hate in every ethnic group... Between pride and humility in every sport... Between the beautiful and the ugly in every art... Between right doctrine and wrong doctrine in every church... Between sloth and diligence between coffee breaks. It is not a waste to fight the battle for truth and faith and love on any of these fronts.”
― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

“Ask yourself something. Have you ever thought about why guys want you gone the next day? It’s not because they’ve got things to do, though I’m sure there are a few assholes who think like that, either because they repeated the folly so often they learned to bury the guilt or because they didn’t have a conscience to begin with but, truthfully, it’s because they can’t stand to look at the reason they feel a hole in their chest. They don’t like reminders of who helped put that sick feeling in the pits of their stomachs. As long as they had a decent mama, the guilt is always substantial. Always. If they say differently, they’re liars." - Spencer Blackwell, GREED”
― Fisher Amelie, Greed

“Being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible. It just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed.
And if I don't know what's needed?
That's what your friends are for. We've all got different strengths. Together, we'll figure it out.”
― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

“Mortimer's face twisted when the Piper pressed his knife against his ribs. Oh yes, he's obviously made the wrong enemies in this story, thought Orpheus. And the wrong friends. But that was high-minded heroes for you. Stupid. ”
― Cornelia Funke

“Worse still, he doesn’t know how to follow the piper anymore because it’s a path Tom has lost faith in.
And the piper knows it. Tom can see it in his father’s eyes now. And the more he stares, the clearer it becomes.”
― Melina Marchetta, The Piper's Son

“I think I need to give you a hockeymacation.��

“H�dz����⳾�������پ��Dz�?��

“Yes, I am going to school you in the art of hockey"

“What! Seriously?��

“Yes, you need to be educated.”
― Toni Aleo, Falling for the Backup

“The thing about being everyone's source of strenght: sometimes you forget that you need to draw strenght from others.”
― Rick Riordan, The Blood of Olympus

“Endings always suck, and I can’t decide which are worse. The kind where you’re ripped apart, where nothing but evil forces could keep you separated? Or the kind that happens when you’re an adult and you have to walk away on your own steam.”
― Piper Lawson, Wicked Girl

“Well, when you do want to marry, what do you want him to be like?�� I baited, playfully jabbing her in the ribs with a piece of driftwood. “And don’t kid around.�� ��
Tilting her head back, she thought for a moment and then said quite honestly,
“Like a familiar sweet dream. The kind you dream every so often and can’t remember when you wake up, but you long to dream all day long. Or like a favorite book you loved as a child and forgot about until you found it in an old box in the closet.”
― Jessica Glasner, Voyage of the Sandpiper

“Bonnie saw ropes hanging loose, poles falling away, tree-tops sinking beneath her. As they rose, the sun rose with them. Its warmth turned the dark skin of the fiery balloon midnight blue. They flew straight up. Above them, the sweet, clear music of the lonely pipe called to them. Then the smooth sky puckered into cloth-of-blue and drew aside. They passed straight through...”
― Pauline Fisk, Midnight Blue

“I don't see how we can compromise on this. I need to fight my fights. Can you stand back and let me?”
― Annette Marie, Reap the Shadows

“The Castle Of Fear by Stewart Stafford

The ghost sweated out from battlements,
Appeared bleeding into full-bodied shape,
The riddle of this phantom's raison d'être,
Opaque as the spectre walked transparently.

The armour that clad the body blinded eyes,
The bagpipes it carried underarm deafened,
The steely gaze froze the viewer on the spot,
The sour odour it emitted made all nauseous.

The wraith's left foot piteously dragged behind,
Shuffling moans of pain, trailing the footsteps,
Banshee shrieks, harrowing to all that heard,
Dawn drained the strength, and it took flight.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford