How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"We used to be like this, Nik." He leaned even closer, not physically touching me, but I could feel the charge between us […]. My traitorous arms and legs wanted to tangle with Cole's again. That hundred years in the Everneath had molded us together, and our bodies had memorized how they were supposed to fit. (25.86)
Nikki's body remembers what it was like to fit perfectly with Cole's, even if her brain is screaming no about it. Rationally, she knows it's a bad idea for her to get close to him again—her emotions and memories are totally against it—but her body seems to hold a different set of memories, ones that enjoy Cole's embrace and want more of it.
Quote #8
When I was in the Everneath, I thought about Jack every day. Every minute. Even after I'd forgotten his name the image of his face made me feel whole again. Was Jack the reason I'd survived? Were our ties to the Surface what somehow kept us whole? (26.53)
Nikki could only do so much to cling to her memories in the Everneath, since Cole was emotionally strip-mining her of everything he could get his hands on… but she managed to remember Jack. And even though by the end she only remembered his face, she clung to that memory like a baby monkey to its mom, never letting go.
Quote #9
At first, my memories of the Surface began to change as I started forgetting the most recent events of my past. My mom wasn't dead anymore. She was there in our kitchen, making coffee and pancakes on a Sunday morning. (27.144)
During the Feed, Nikki's memories replay before her eyes, with the most recent events stripped away. But then those memories begin to vanish, one by one, and she's only left with Jack's face. How weird it must be to watch your memories float away, losing context and meaning.