“Gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor.” … “I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals. I am selfish. I am brave.” x
Front cover of The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott, illustrated by Charles Edmund Brock. London, 1904.
Art by Brett Helquist, from The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition.
“Prim?” I say pleadingly. I hear her but can’t see her. Her next wail rings out, clear as a bell, and there’s no mistaking the source. It’s coming from the mouth of a small, crested black bird perched on a branch about ten feet over my head. And then I understand.
It’s a jabberjay.
“That’s right, Mud Boy. Playtime’s over. Time for the professionals to take over. If you’re a good boy, I’ll buy you a lollipop when I come back.”
And when Holly was long gone, soaring beneath the hall’s ancient oak beams, Artemis said, “I don’t like lollipops.”
It was a woefully inadequate response, and Artemis was instantly appalled with himself. Pathetic really: I don’t like lollipops. No self-respecting criminal mastermind would be caught dead even using the word lollipops. He really would have to put together a databases of witty responses for occasions such as this.
Chi Rho Iota, page from the Book of Kells, Ireland, late 8th/early 9th century.
The original first page of The Lord of the Rings.
