His smile widened. “Nothing your grandma’s doctors can’t fix.”
Makani laughed, wiping the tears from her cheeks, and put on a brave smile of her own. She kissed his forehead. His skin was warmer than she’d expected. He tilted his head, and she moved to his lips. Softly, she kissed them.
A faint but reassuring pressure answered back.
Chris was still holding one of Ollie’s hands. With his other hand, Ollie fumbled for hers. She grasped it, and the autumn moon shone brighter—rendering the night soft and cold and safe.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wanted to read this book, but my dear friend Kiersten White suggested that I should write it instead. This book exists because of her. She’s also read it more times than anyone else. She’s read all of my books more times than anyone else. She is a saint and a beautiful magic rainbow unicorn. Thank you, Kiersten. I love you.
Thank you to my fantastic agent, Kate Testerman, who made it happen, and to my brilliant editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, who worked and worked and worked and worked to turn it into a fully functioning novel. I’m so grateful that they both took a chance on it.
Thank you to Lindsey Andrews, Lindsay Boggs, Anna Booth, Melissa Faulner, Rosanne Lauer, Bri Lockhart, Natalie Vielkind, and everyone else at the Penguin Young Reader’s Group. Additional thanks and hugs to Sean Freeman, Eve Steben, and their team for creating such a gloriously eerie cover.
Writing this book required six years of research, critique partners, and in-depth discussions. Humble thanks to Leigh Bardugo, Luce Beagle, Lauren Biehl, Holly Black, Emily Brock, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Alexandra Duncan, Shannon Fang, Leslie Golden, Manning Krull, Myra McEntire, Marjorie Mesnis, Chris Prahler, Rainbow Rowell, Jon Skovron, Amy Spalding, Robin Wasserman, Jeff Zentner, Heidi Zweifel, and all the readers who answered my questions on Twitter and my surveys over email. And to David Levithan: I’m sorry. Ha! That happened before we became friends.
To the real Katie Kurtzman: Thank you for being more excited than anyone. Your enthusiasm gave me courage and strength.
So much love and endless thanks to my family: Mom, Dad, Kara, Chris, Beckham, JD, Fay, and Roger.
And thank you to Jarrod Perkins. My family-family. My partner in horror movies, life, and everything in between. Thank you for the laughter and for cleaning the mud off my boots in that cold Nebraskan cornfield. I love you the most of all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephanie Perkins is The New York Times and international-bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After. She also edited two short-story collections: the winter collection My True Love Gave to Me, and the summer collection Summer Days & Summer Nights. She was born in South Carolina, raised in Arizona and attended universities in California and Georgia. Since 2004 she has lived in the mountains of North Carolina.