Quote 1
"I'm having the strangest sensation," she whispered.
No—was it already too late?
Her eyes narrowed into the shape in his sketch and she came back to him, her lips parted expectantly. "Tell me I'm mad, but I swear I've been right here before…"
So it was too late. He looked up, shivering, and could feel the dark descending. (Prologue.35-37)
From this interaction, it's clear that this is a tipping point for Daniel. Every time Luce says this to him, it must put his guard up, because it's a signal that she might disappear at any moment. That really puts a damper on an otherwise uneventful evening, doesn't it?
Quote 2
"Um," she hedged, racking her brain for a sensible lie. Finding nothing. She racked her knuckles.
Daniel cupped his hand over hers. "I hate it when you do that." (4.90-91)
Although Daniel does his best to hide how much he knows about Luce, he sometimes lets his knowledge of her slip out without meaning to. It must be really hard for him to pretend that he doesn't know her, especially when he's known her for hundreds of years.
Quote 3
"I can't get it out of my head," she said, rolling over on her side to face him. She didn't feel steady enough to sit up yet. "This feeling that I know you. That I've known you for a while."[…]
"Haven't we been through this already?" His tone had changed, like he was trying to laugh her off…"I'm flattered that you feel like we have this connection, really. But you don't have to invent some forgotten history to get a guy to pay attention to you." (8.133-134)
At this point, Luce's nagging memories are coming to a head, and instead of telling her the truth, Daniel shuts her down. Again, we know why he's doing it, but that doesn't mean it's not frustrating as heck to watch them do this dance in circles all the time.
Quote 4
"I can't afford the luxury of seriously considering someplace else. Sword & Cross is"—she paused—"pretty much a last-ditch effort for me."
"Come on," Daniel said.
"You wouldn't know—"
"I would." He sighed. "There's always another stop, Luce." (12.82-85)
Yeah, Daniel, use that double language to vaguely hint at the fact that Luce has been reincarnating for her entire existence. On the other hand, dude is totally trying to remind her that she's better than the situation she finds herself in.
Quote 5
"The only thing I don't understand is what on earth you're doing with me. Because I'm just…me." She looked up at the sky again, feeling the black spells of the shadows. "And I'm guilty of so much." (18.41)
Here we see Luce's sense of self-worth…yeah, she has none. She's been carrying around the weight of Trevor's and Todd's deaths all this time, to the point that she truly thinks she is unworthy of love. No wonder she pushes her parents away.
Quote 6
Sheepishly, her father held up a colorful patchwork quilt and a large briefcase-style contraption made of wicker that Luce had never seen before. Usually, when they picnicked, it was a much more casual affair, with paper grocery bags and an old ripped sheet thrown down on the grass by the canoe trail outside their house.
"Pickled okra?" Luce asked in a voice that sounded very much like little-kid Luce. No one could say her parents weren't trying.
Her dad nodded. "And sweet tea, and biscuits with white gravy. Cheddar grits with extra jalapenos, just the way you like 'em." (13.18-20)
Quote 7
"Callie," she said, sighing into the phone, "I gotta go. I'll call again as soon as—" But by then there was just the vague buzz of a dial tone in her ear. The phone itself had been rigged to cap each call at fifteen minutes. Now she saw the tiny timer blinking 0:00 on its base. They hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye and now she'd have to wait another whole week to call. Time stretched out in Luce's mind like an endless gulf. (5.29)
It stinks to have limited phone time. Sometimes you just want to chill on the phone with your BFF and chat about all the things that are going on in your life, especially when you're in a new place with no one else to talk to. Luce, we feel your pain.
Quote 8
It was agonizing for Luce to accept that she would have to settle for whispering a few last words to her friend inside the chapel. All she could think to say was "You're with your father now. I know he's happy to have you back."
Daniel would bury Penn properly as soon as the school calmed down—and Luce would show him where Penn's father's grave was so Penn could be laid to rest at his side. It was the very least she could do. (20.5-6)
The feels. Oh, the feels. As if Penn's death didn't do us in enough when it happened, we now get this eulogy for Penn from Luce before she's forced to leave Sword & Cross. And to mention Penn's father? We repeat: oh, the feels.