“But when your entire world is shattering, a little bit of magic is...nothing.”

At the beginning of the novel, Bree witnesses a magic she doesn’t understand. She inherited the gift of Sight because her mom died and passed it on; however, it’s hundreds of pages into the story when she receives another gift from her mom—a bracelet that carries a memory—allowing her to understand her powers. In this moment, the loss of her mom is more profound than learning magic is real.

“Some truths only tragedy can teach. The first one I learned is that when people acknowledge your pain, they want your pain to acknowledge them back. They need to witness it in real time, or else you’re not doing your part.”

This passage speaks to the theme of grief. When Bree encounters people offering platitudes regarding her mom’s death, she notices they want her to perform sorrow on the spot. This is counterintuitive to the actual processing of grief: The experience of it changes over time, and it is not a performative act.

“Magic. Real. Here.”

After seeing Sel and Tor fight an isel (demon) and resisting Sel’s mesmer, Bree realizes magic exists. It is no longer something on TV and in books, but something with consequences in Bree’s life. Her coming-of-age moment is gaining her mom’s magical powers when her mom is killed in a car accident, and it is in this moment that Bree begins to see and smell magic.