How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
This was way more than some strange manifestation of puberty. Mood swings, disfiguring acne, even periods that went on for months were at least semi-normal. But growing oversized flower petals out of your back from a zit the size of a softball? This was something else entirely. (5.32)
Poor Laurel… none of the "normal" puberty horror stories came true for her. Those, at least, she would've had a cultural script for handling. But having plant matter growing out of your skin is pretty much unprecedented in the world of teenage trauma and angst, and because it's such a strange problem, Laurel ends up feeling pretty isolated until she decides to confide in David. That, at least, is pretty normal for coming of age anxieties: Everyone feels alone with what they're going through, until they manage to open up to someone.
Quote #5
At lunch, Laurel sat and watched David…She hadn't thought much before about how handsome he was, but the last few days, she'd found herself looking at him more and more, and twice already during lunch he'd turned and caught her. He was starting to provoke the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling she'd always read about in books. (7.76)
There are so many movies and books about teenage life that of course Laurel knows that she "should" start feeling a certain way about a special someone. But she's never felt it before, possibly because she's always been a little isolated due to being homeschooled, or because she's more of a loner. But yeah, starting to experience attraction is usually one of the signs that you're growing up and maturing.
Quote #6
"It's the magic of the realm. It seeps in from the world of the faeries… You felt it before—I know you did. That's why you love this bit of land so much. But now that you know what you are and you've blossomed for the first time, it will be stronger." (14.36)
Here Tamani enlightens Laurel as to why she feels these groovy good vibes when she's on her parents' land in Orick: As a faerie, she feels the pull of the faerie homeland seeping through the gate. Apparently the pull gets stronger once you've done the faerie-equivalent of going through puberty. We wonder if there's a parallel for humans, too: Once we discover who we're becoming as adults, do our passions intensify?