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Something tells me this boy—and his world-famous disappearing act—is going to be the death of me.
In this quotation, which comes at the end of Chapter 18, Grace exasperatedly vents her despair and frustration at Jaxon's incredibly irritating habit of disappearing just when things are starting to get interesting. In this context, Jaxon has just told her that he has been trying to work as a team with her to protect her from all of the attempts on her life that he insists keep happening. As usual, he says this in the most confusing way possible, giving Grace no additional information and no reason to trust him. However, at this point, Grace's crush on him is so deep that his constant disappearance just makes her more interested in him. She's self-aware enough to realize that this is happening and probably isn’t a good idea, but she can’t turn off her interest in Jaxon.
"Are you ready for an adventure?"
No. No, I am not the least bit ready—for an adventure or anything else that’s about to come my way. If you had told me a month ago that I would be standing on the outskirts of an airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, I would’ve said that you were misinformed.”
The first speaker in this quotation (which occurs in Chapter 0) is a man named Phillip, whom Grace’s Uncle Finn has sent to pick her up from the airport in Fairbanks, AK, and bring her to Denali and Katmere Academy. The plane that Grace is about to step onto is a frighteningly small contraption. Grace says she's not even sure it should really qualify as a plane, calling it “the smallest puddle jumper in existence.” Phillip is presumably asking her whether she's ready to get started on what promises to be quite a long and bumpy ride into the northern part of the northernmost state. However, what this question actually invokes is Grace's larger fear of her journey to Denali ending and her new life in Alaska becoming a reality. When she gets off this plane, she will be the furthest away she has ever been from her home in San Diego. She feels she will be leaving behind her previous life, and the memory of her parents seems miserably far away.
And that’s when it hits me. Jaxon was never meant to be the hero of my story…because I was always meant to be the hero of his.
So, in the end, I do the only thing I can do. [...] I close my eyes and wait for the blow I’ve always known would come.
In Chapter 65, in the last line of Grace's narration in the novel, she reaches a pivotal moment of self-realization and maturity. Throughout Crave, Grace has felt like a victim of circumstance, someone who is always on the receiving end of bad luck or misfortune. Her grief over her parents has made her feel like an unwilling participant in everything except her personal relationships and family. However, by choosing to step in front of Hudson’s sword to intercept a fatal blow meant for Jaxon, Grace is making a choice. Rather than passively accepting another tragedy, she sacrifices herself for her partner. This act does more than display her bravery: it represents her seizing control over her destiny. Although she believes she is facing her death, it's also a moment of empowerment for her. This split-second decision also resolves a previous plot point. Lia's intention to use Grace as an unwilling sacrifice to resurrect Hudson gets overturned when Grace willingly and actively sacrifices herself for Jaxon's sake.
“I close my eyes and swallow down everything else I want to say. Because it doesn’t matter. Nothing does without Grace.
She has to make it back. Because if she doesn’t, I’m going to shatter. And this time, I’m not sure I’ll be strong enough not to take the whole world with me when I do.”
This quotation, which is delivered from Jaxon’s perspective in the Epilogue, is the last passage in the novel. In the second Chapter 0, the narrative shifts from Grace’s point of view to Jaxon’s, as Grace has transformed into her “stone” gargoyle form and is immobilized, or "petrified." While Grace is petrified in the literal sense of being turned to stone, Jaxon is metaphorically petrified — immobilized by fear. He feels his life is meaningless without Grace and is prepared to do whatever it takes to return her to her former self. He has regressed to a state of desperation and emotional volatility, a stage that his relationship with Grace had helped him grow away from. The time he spent with her taught him restraint, self-control, and gave him a sense that he should listen to other people at least some of the time. However, with her disappearance, he reverts to an angrier and more frantic version of himself.
