“So you’ll help me?” Esta asked as he buttoned the shirt. “You’ll show me how to get through the Brink using the Book?”
It was no longer morning, Harte realized. The sun had just set and the whole skyline was aflame with the glow of twilight reflecting off the buildings. It looked like a city on fire, a dangerous and dazzling place.
He tucked in the shirt, straightened the sleeves. “You shouldn’t have come back,” he told her.
“I didn’t have much of a choice,” she said, and her golden eyes were clouded with pain.
“What you’re asking me to do, what you’re planning, it could be the death of us both.”
“If we don’t, it could be the death of everyone. Nibs cannot get those stones. The Order can’t either.”
“And what if we make everything worse?” The voices in his mind were louder now, humming their promises and threats. They knew what she was. They wanted her. He rubbed the back of his neck, a feeble attempt to subdue the thing that now lived inside of him.
“We still have to try.”
He looked once more at that far side of the bridge, at the world he had come to believe he would never reach. But Esta is back, the voices whispered. So maybe, just maybe . . .
There was no talking her out of it, no turning her away from this course. And there was a part of him that didn’t want to.
He held out his hand. “If you’re ready?”
She looked up at his open palm and shook her head as she pulled herself to her feet. “Nice try.”
But then she slipped her arm through his, and together they began walking toward the cold power of the Brink.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is a big book, and it took a lot of people to make it happen.
Thanks go first and foremost to Michael Strother, who loved my pitch for this book and whose guidance made it so much better. I’m so grateful that Sarah McCabe was willing to adopt this behemoth and for her astute insights and support (even when the word count continued to grow). The entire team at Simon Pulse are my heroes for giving me the gift of more time to make it right and the gift of their support for this story. Craig Howell and Cliff Nielsen made the most amazing cover art, and I’m still blown away by the beautiful map Drew Willis designed. I could not be more indebted to the sharp eyes of Penina Lopez for her copyediting, to Valerie Shea for her proofreading, and to Clare McGlade for her cold read.
Thank you to all of the people who read early drafts: Kristen Lippert-Martin helped me solve a major plot issue and saved the book, Hope Cook’s honest words helped me see mistakes I hadn’t intended to make and saved the book, and Olivia Hinebaugh kept my spirits up when I felt like the whole project was pointless and saved the book. Kathryn Rose and Helene Dunbar also gave me essential insights to make this story stronger, and I’m grateful for their help.
Thanks to Flavia Brunetti, Guillaume Amphoux, and Christina Ketchum, who all assisted with some of the non-English phrases and words. Any mistakes are, of course, my own. The awesome people at the Lower East Side History Project were unbelievably helpful in walking me around the areas in this book and helping me find where everyone lived. They also give excellent dim sum recommendations.
I’m not sure what I would do without my rock star of an agent, Kathleen Rushall.
I should probably also thank Chris Cornell, who has no idea that his music was the soundtrack to writing this. Who knows why Higher Truth worked for 1902 New York, but it did.
To my family, who has lived with this book for as long as I have. It wasn’t easy to write, which means there were times I wasn’t easy to live with. To J, who makes it possible to run off to the city for research and never doubts that this is what I should be doing, and to H, and X, who are my hearts: I couldn’t do any of this without their support, and I wouldn’t want to.
Finally, like so many in this country, I’m the product of immigrants. A few years back I was looking at Ellis Island ship manifests, and I noticed that none of my great-grandmothers were listed as literate. I’m sure those women would have found me a strange creature with my fancy degrees and complete disinterest in housekeeping, but I hope they would be proud. After all, it was because of their sacrifices and determination that I find myself here, making a life out of the very words they came to this country unable to read. So for those women, and for all who came before, imperfect as they might have been, thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LISA MAXWELL is the author of Sweet Unrest, Gathering Deep, and Unhooked. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, and has a PhD in English. She’s worked as a teacher, scholar, bookseller, editor, and writer. When she’s not writing books, she’s a professor at a local college. She now lives near Washington, DC, with her husband and two sons. ?You can follow her on Twitter @LisaMaxwellYA or learn more about her upcoming books at LisaMaxwell.com.