“Frances had struggled to explain that strangers were by definition interesting. It was their strangeness. The not-knowing. Once you knew everything there was to know about someone, you were generally ready to divorce them.”
″‘Make sure it doesn’t change us,’ he slurred, just before they fell asleep that night, and Jessica thought, ‘What are you talking about? It’s already changed us!‘”
“She looked at her nine guests, all of whom now had their eyes obediently closed as they awaited her instructions. Their destinies were in her hands. She was going to change them not just temporarily, but forever.”
“As she swam, she silently chanted in time with her strokes: ‘I’m so happy, I’m so happy, I’m so happy, breathe, I’m so happy, I’m so happy, I’m so happy, breathe.‘”