How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I don't—" Clara began, but the watch had vanished again. He snapped his empty fingers, and it gleamed in the palm of his other hand. He lost the watch a third time and discovered it behind Clara's sash; he produced it from under her chin; he bent almost double and brought it out from the hem of her skirt. He circled her, his hands fluttering, the watch winking in and out of thin air. (5.16)
To Clara, Grisini is just a clever puppeteer who can perform some magic tricks and sleight of hand. What she doesn't know is that he's a real magician, and he can do other things besides making his watch disappear and reappear. Like, say, make her disappear, too.
Quote #2
How could she have dreamed of crushing the stone? She had come close to losing it; she had wielded the silver mirror with force enough to shatter the metacarpal bones in her hand. If her arm had not changed direction, she would have lost everything: color and power and healing. (7.6)
All this time, Cassandra has thought of the phoenix-stone as the thing that gives her power. She thinks that she's the stone's master, but it's becoming clear that the stone is her master. It's more powerful than she is and can destroy her if it wants.
Quote #3
The mirrors around her were alive. Each mirror held a wraith of a woman, burning. The sheets of glass reflected the image over and over again, like colored beads in a kaleidoscope. Cassandra lifted her hands to cover her eyes. The women lifted their arms with her. Each pair of blazing hands moved in rhythm with her hands. (13.13)
Now that Cassandra is growing old and weak, the phoenix-stone haunts her nearly all the time—both when she's awake and asleep. She can't escape her fate … and the fate of all of the other women who have burned to death before her.