Everneath Principles Quotes

Nikki knows she done messed up before the Feed, and her determination to do better during her Return is pretty strong. She promises her dad she'll at least try to make it through the first day of high school, and from there, she'll keep her grades up and pee in a cup every so often. No doubt that last part is kind of humiliating, but Nikki's determination to do the right thing is pretty strong.

When Cole shows up to offer Nikki eternal life—again—she refuses. Why? Because she knows she'd have to drain other people's emotions, the same way Cole drained hers. And she refuses to inflict that on another person, even if it means immortality for her. Turning down eternal life because you feel what you have to do to obtain it is wrong sure signals strong principles to us.

Nikki's desire to make amends is strong, revealing just how sturdy her sense of principles is… but even here, she's weaving in a bit of half-truth. She doesn't want to tell Cole that Jack was a huge part of why she Returned, so she rationalizes the lie-by-omission by thinking that Jack is like family, too. Nikki's mix of principles and deceit is weird, but let's keep in mind that she's pretty emotionally messed up at this point.

For all that Nikki is aware that she's being super-principled about the whole do-the-right-thing aspect of her Return, she's not sure how much temptation she can resist. When Cole shows her a glimpse of the Fields—the heavenly counterpart to the hell that is the Tunnels—it's so lovely and ideal that she's tempted to accompany Cole there. But it'd mean preying on others, so she eventually finds the strength to refuse it.

Cole is apparently a pretty good kisser, but even that isn't enough to keep Nikki from realizing that anything between them wouldn't be real. Letting Cole feed off her emotions and then make her an Everliving would be taking the easy path out, rather than making the choice to do the right thing. And once Nikki has this realization, her principles force her to come to terms with the fact that doing the right thing is what matters most.

When Nikki is so full of despair that she contemplates consuming one of Cole's hairs in order to go to the Tunnels before her Return is up, she has yet another revelation about her principles. She's strong and stubborn… but not enough to shorten her Return in order to prevent causing others pain. This is the point where Nikki realizes that she does have a horse in this race, and that horse is named Jack.

It takes Nikki a little while to put together the puzzle pieces, but eventually she realizes that Cole had been manipulating her emotions all along. Cole made her doubt Jack during a crisis in their relationship, and that's part of what got her to agree to become a Forfeit in the first place. The fact that Cole could do that to Nikki while claiming to care about her shows that he's not very principled, at least not compared to her. Or he is principled—but his principles are terrible.

Jack's dedication to finding Nikki helps inspire Nikki to stay on target with her own sense of right and wrong. The invitation to go with Cole (again) and let him take away all her pain (again) is super tempting, but this time, Nikki doesn't give into temptation. She sticks to her guns, thanks in part to remembering how principled Jack was in his loyalty to her.

Cole knows that Nikki is unique because she's so principled and focused on doing the right thing. However, this presents problems when Nikki tries to make a gamble for Cole's heart. Because Cole knows how Nikki is, he's not necessarily going to buy it when she says she's changed her mind about going with him. Of course, it's kind of ironic that Nikki is lying about this in order to preserve her principled sense of right, but go figure.

When Jack realizes that he has the option of taking Nikki's place in the Tunnels, he decides to go for it. His love for Nikki guides his actions, leading him to act in accordance with his principles. Nikki, of course, doesn't want him to take her place, and has been hoping all along that he wouldn't realize it's an option. When two stubborn people (like Jack and Nikki) with similar principles come into conflict, someone's not going to end up happy, even if everyone wants to do the right thing.