How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
As I ran, I thought of my father, his arms around the housekeeper-who-wasn't, kissing her neck, and then I saw his face through the chilly bathwater as he held me under, and now I was no longer scared by what had happened in the bathroom; now I was scared by what it meant that my father was kissing the neck of Ursula Monkton, that his hands had lifted her midi skirt above her waist. (8.48)
Sometimes when a bunch of awful things happen at once you can only fear one thing at a time. So once the boy is out of immediate danger, he's finally able to process the fact that his father could be possessed by Ursula Monkton, and he might be in really big trouble.
Quote #8
"Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie. "That's why they're monsters." (10.44)
This is yet another quote that we just love. Fear can be quite the motivator—and understanding that sometimes monsters are just acting out of response to their own fears can make them a little less scary. Pitiable, even. And then, once you understand why they're doing what they're doing, they're not so terrifying after all.
Quote #9
I was not scared, though, and I could not have told you why I was not scared. I trusted Lettie, just as I had trusted her when we had gone in search of the flapping thing beneath the orange sky. I believed in her, and that meant I would come to no harm while I was with her. I knew it in the way I knew that grass was green, that roses had sharp, woody thorns, and that breakfast cereal was sweet. (10.76)
Having that sense of security—that nothing bad can happen while you're with someone you trust implicitly—is something that you typically grow out of. As a very young child you think that you're practically invincible so long as your mom or dad are around, but as you grow older you learn that sometimes even your parents can't protect you from some evils.
So it's interesting to see that having Lettie around acts as a similar kind of security blanket for the boy. After all, this whole thing started when she took him to go find the flea in the first place…