“What makes you think I can trust you?” I’m panicking. I need to get away from this. I need to escape. My family can’t hold Crevan back from searching the house for me for much longer, and if it’s true that I’m being held responsible for both the rally and the riot in the supermarket, then the Whistleblowers and the police will be here to take me away. I hope the police find me first, but Crevan won’t let me get away from him that easily.
“You can trust me. I’m going to let you go,” she says, and I am totally confused. “You’re not much use to me in Crevan’s control. I can see the damage you can do when you’re free. You’ve really shaken him up, and he’s making more mistakes than usual. Do you know what it is you have over him?” she asks, curiously. I can tell that it’s killing her, not knowing what it is that I know.
I swallow hard, thinking about it, and then finally nod.
She smiles, a small, sly smile. “Who’d have thought it would be you.” She looks me up and down. “You know, I believe in the Guild, a public inquiry, inquiring into matters of urgent public importance, but I don’t believe in how it’s being used now,” she says, eyes hard and focused on mine. “I was trying to help you in the court case, Celestine. You should have taken the prison sentence. Did you like the little show I arranged for you to hear at the castle? I thought witnessing a branding would scare you out of going through with it, that you’d just admit to aiding a Flawed.”
It was she who arranged for Tina to have a meeting so that Funar could force me and Carrick to sit outside the Branding Chamber.
“If you help me, I can do something about that band around your arm.” She roots in her pocket with black leather gloves and produces a card. “I’ll let you run away, Celestine, but contact me when you’re ready, and we can help each other.”
It’s almost too good to be true, but I slowly reach for the card, take it hesitantly, and inch away from her, waiting for someone to jump out from hiding and grab me, but nobody does. I keep moving, quickening my pace. She watches me and then gets back into her car. She starts up the engine and reverses.
I follow my mother’s advice.
I run.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOR THE PAST twelve years, I’ve been writing one novel every year, which is a difficult-enough pace to keep up with. But in the summer of 2014, when I had finished editing The Year I Met You and should have been recharging my brain for my next novel, The Marble Collector, the premise for Flawed arrived in my mind and wouldn’t go away. Celestine North arrived in my life and wouldn’t go away. I have never experienced such a rush of adrenaline, have never written with my heart so much in my throat, with such a trembling hand, and have never written a novel so quickly. I had to get this story out of me, whether people wanted to read it or not. Six weeks later, Flawed was finished. For that, I thank David, Robin, and Sonny for your love and patience while I wrote, and my mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law for your encouragement in my writing about this subject matter. Thank you, Marianne Gunn O’Connor and Vicki Satlow for your guidance and encouragement and for believing this isn’t just a story for myself, but one that could be shared.
I wrote Flawed in six weeks, and there was inevitably a lot of editing required. A lot more than six weeks’ work. The story would not be what it is now if it weren’t for the clever insights and support of Jean Feiwel, Anna Roberto, and Will Schwalbe at Macmillan. Your input raised this story to a new level, making it faster, bigger, better, deeper.
I wrote this story with anger, with love, with passion; every word and sentiment came from the heart. If there’s one message that I hope this book portrays, it’s this: None of us are perfect. Let us not pretend that we are. Let us not be afraid that we’re not. Let us not label others and pretend we are not the same. Let us all know that to be human is to be flawed, and let us learn from every mistake made so we don’t make them again.
Thank you for reading this FEIWEL AND FRIENDS book.
The friends who made
FLAWED
possible are:
JEAN FEIWEL, Publisher
LIZ SZABLA, Editor in Chief RICH DEAS, Senior Creative Director HOLLY WEST, Associate Editor DAVE BARRETT, Executive Managing Editor NICOLE LIEBOWITZ MOULAISON, Senior Production Manager ANNA ROBERTO, Associate Editor
CHRISTINE BARCELLONA, Associate Editor
EMILY SETTLE, Administrative Assistant
ANNA POON, Editorial Assistant Follow us on Facebook or visit us online at mackids.com.
OUR BOOKS ARE FRIENDS FOR LIFE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cecelia Ahern is the award-winning and bestselling author of many adult novels, including P.S. I Love You and Love, Rosie—both of which were major motion pictures. This is her debut young adult novel. She resides in Ireland. uk.cecelia-ahern.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
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