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“She lifted her head in surprise, following his line of sight above the tree line. Beyond the distant peaks, a green and blue symphony of lights had begun. It rippled and shimmered like sunshine on water, leaving Rich blinking back tears. He'd read something about this but had never seen it before.
“It's the aurora borealis,â€� Lou said quietly. “Northern lights.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“It was Red Rock Canyon. One of the most beautiful places in Waterton... in the Rockies, for that matter. And it was there, waiting for him to find it. As long as he was willing to look for it.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“With a calmness born from exhaustion and terror, the shaking of his body stilled, his heart slowing. The cougars were burnished gold in the moonlight, their shapes bright against the damp grey cliff. The two cubs moved across the ragged edge of the rocky outcrop, their mother a stone's throw below. Rich gasped as the female in front jumped to a lower ledge, balancing on the small precipice. She watched him warily, her head moving back and forth as if trying to ascertain what he was, and whether he was worth the bother.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“Lou stood at the kitchen sink, her eyes unfocused on her hazy reflection in the window. Outside the sky was fading from steely blue to indigo. The mountain range beyond was a solid sheet of black, cut out by a child's sloppy scissors.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“He couldn't be more than forty-five, but Murray Miles was stooped, old before his time. The mountains of Alberta had the ability to bend those who lived here.
That, or it broke them.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“The teens had gathered in an open clearing. Behind them, the banded lines of Avion Ridge formed a ragged edge between sky and ground, a rock wall looming above the trees. Ash shivered. The hikers stood in shadow here, the warmth of the day gone.”
― Danika Stone, Switchback

“He pulled the truck onto the shoulder of the road and parked, cell phone tight in one hand, his eyes on the landscape before him. From here he could see the foothills rippling out like a blanket from the ragged edge of the mountains. They spread in loose folds until becoming the flat expanse of prairie that crossed all the way to the Great Lakes. July's bounty was a brash flare of colour: wind combed through golden tracts of wheat and sun-bright canola so brilliant he had to squint.
The truck was balanced along the edge of an invisible wall which blocked Waterton from the rest of the world. He hadn't thought about how very real that barrier was; now that his phone was reconnected, it felt like a physical presence. He wasn't quite sure what he'd find on the other side.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“For a long time, they sat without speaking. The air outside was filled with the lilting sound of sparrows, the buzz of traffic on Main Street, and under that the faint lapping of waves on the lakeshore. Lou smiled. It wasn't the same, but it was better.
And better, Lou thought, is a start.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“Over the slow pass of winters and summers, Amanda had grown to understand the cycles that made up small-town life. She knew that fewer tourists meant easier work for the staff, but fewer tips for the servers, and less chance of picking up extra hours. A busy summer kept everyone hopping and the tills full, but it also shifted the steady pace of life, tugging it into a frenetic rate.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“Shadows stretched from one side of the street to the other, reaching up the walls like fingers as the street lamps came on. In the north, a bank of dark clouds was building above the ridge of mountains, the tops of Buchanan and Crandell already fading into misty half-light. The last pigmented bands of sunset gilded the sides of buildings in orange light, but the rattle of wind against the panes of glass brought with it a promise of rain.
Autumn was coming, but no one save Hunter Slate seemed to notice the change.”
― Danika Stone, Edge of Wild

“Still he drove. Through rainstorms, and down windswept slopes, across the narrow fruit-bearing valleys and the hidden, secret mountain paths where the rusted carcasses of abandoned cars appeared at the bottom of deep ravines. West. Westâ€� the thought spurred him forward.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“Outside the parted curtains, the inky surface of Bertha Bay lay silent. Above it ran a saw’s blade of mountains. Beneath, Lou knew, but didn’t dare say.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“It’s a new day,â€� she said with a smile, “and you’re taking a drive in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and you get to enjoy my company the whole way.â€�
“Now that is something worth savouring.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“This is why I don’t talk about my past, you know. Active imagination sounds like ‘crazyâ€� in the right context.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“Prairie flatness gave way to a shocking thrust of ragged peaks, the town site nestled in the crook of the mountain’s arm.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“It was almost nightfall when Lou reached the outskirts of Lethbridge. Dark blue skies backdropped golden coulees and shadows of buildings stretched across roads in long, undulating bands.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“A peeling sign appeared from behind an untrimmed hedge. Bertha Mountain Bed and Breakfast. The cross-timbered cabin had a quaint, storybook quality, with overhanging eaves and deeply recessed windows. Like the rest of the town, it was a place out of time, a half-step behind the busy pace of the world.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“Days were long; nights longer. The streets, empty of tourists, were replenished by returning wildlife. Bighorn sheep stood in the parking lot of Hunter’s Coffee Shop and licked dirt off the hubcaps of parked cars. Deer meandered down Main Street and caused unexpected traffic jams. Even the cougars returned, slinking through night time gardens and leaving oversized paw prints in soft soil.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“It seemed to Rich Evans that his innocence was an afterthought. Someone would go to jail for arson, and he’d do as well as anyone else.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“When someone’s sick and not getting better, people give you all types of crap. They tell you things’ll be fine because they want to believe it themselves. But the truth I’ve found is that you just have to learn to keep going despite the pain.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“The first hint of danger was a howl so distant, it was more a feeling than a sound.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“The town was as barren as an empty movie set, the only movement from deer that wandered the boulevards. His eyes skimmed silent streets as he searched for the bed and breakfast. A half-grown fawn, grazing near the side of the road, lifted its head and hurried off to its mother.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“An early frost was in the air tonight. Wind whipped outside the cabin’s basement windows, the last tendrils of late summer disappearing as fall took root. The dismal turn of the weather was a match for Lou’s mood.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“His voice jerked Lou from her memory. She blinked and the dim bedroom returned. Outside the parted curtains, the inky surface of Bertha Bay lay silent. Above it ran a saw’s blade of mountains. Beneath, Lou knew, but didn’t dare say.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“There was too much history he’d like to forget, but his memories were on the surface today, closer even than the woman across from him. For a single heartbeat the shop faded and Slocan appeared: huts in rows, men and women like cattle within its fenced boundaries.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“I know these people, Sadie,â€� Jim said quietly. “They’re all good folks.â€�
“I know. That’s what bothers me.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“He opened his mouth and closed it again. There was so much more he wanted to say to her, but Alistair knew that he couldn’t. He could remember her. He could remember this: the two of them standing side by side. Only it wasn’t this moment, but another, centuries before. Two sides of the same coin. It made him want to shout in excitement; it made him want to hide in shame. She doesn’t remember.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“Sparrows were an interesting bird. They had dialects unique to each region they inhabited. If Waterton had a sound, it was the lonely sparrow, keening for its mate. The trill was peaceful, but melancholy.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide

“Beyond him lay a small, boggy lake, a few patches of brush along its edge. There was the scent of decay, and Rich’s nostrils flared in disgust. His feet slowed just as one of the bushes moved. He jerked to a stop and his knee twisted in his haste. A stone’s throw away, a grizzly bear, interrupted from its feast of carrion, stood up on hind legs.”
― Danika Stone, The Dark Divide