December 20, 2014

quote - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Salah satu ilustrasi Dave McKean  
Bod said, “The person who hurt my family. The one who wants to kill me. You are certain that he’s still out there?”
“Yes. He’s still out there.”
“Then, said Bod, and said that the unsayable, “I want to go to school.”
Silas was imperturbable, but now his mouth open and his brow furrowed, and he said only,
“What?”
“I’ve learned a lot in the graveyard. I can Fade and I can Haunt. I can open a ghoul-gate and I know the constellations. But there’sa world out  there, with the sea in it, and the islands, and shipwrecks and pigs. And the teachers here have taught me lots of things, but i need more. If I’m going to survive there, one day.”
“Out of the question. Here we can keep you safe, out there? Outside, anything could happen.”
“Yes, “ agreed Bod. “That’s the potential thing you were talking about. Someone killed my mother and my father and my sister.”
“Yes. Someone did.”
“A man?”
“A man.”
“Which means you’re asking the wrong question.”
Silas raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“Well, if I go outside in the world, the question isn’t who will keep me safe from him?”
“No?”
“No. It’s who will keep him safe from me?”