She spoke quietly then, the tiniest crack in her voice, and all at once Lacey Pemerton was not Lacey Pemberton. She was just—like, a person.

“Isaac was still clinging to the lectern. He started to cry. He pressed his fore…”

“My stomach sank. JP had come so close. His immigrant parents had sacrificed so …”

“The cessation of desire equates to the cessation of suffering”

“That which came together will fall apart imperceptibly slowly, and I will forge…”