“But maybe you never really had someone, she thought now. Maybe, no matter how much you loved them, they could slip through your fingers like water, and there was nothing you could do about it.”

Cassandra Clare is an American author of young adult fantasy. She gained prominence for her *Mortal Instruments* series, blending urban fantasy and gothic romance, and later expanded her world with the *Shadowhunters* novels. Her work explores themes of identity, destiny, and hidden supernatural communities.