Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(68)

I wished I could talk to Spensa. I missed her so much I ached. I wanted to know what she thought of all this.

She would believe in me. I was sure of that much. She always believed in me, even when I drove her crazy. The same way I believed in her, even though I hated how far away she was, hated that I didn’t know if she’d make it home.

I reached out, searching for her, and I found that presence again. Doomslug. She was worried about Spensa. I could feel it. So was I.

I’d done some impossible things tonight, things I couldn’t explain. I usually thought of Spensa as the one who pulled off impossible tasks, but apparently she wasn’t the only one.

I wasn’t going to give up on her. I’d keep learning, I’d keep trying, and I’d find a way to help her if I could.

But if not, I would at least make sure she had a home to come back to.





Acknowledgments



To everyone on my team at Dragonsteel Entertainment, thank you as always. Emily Sanderson, Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Isaac Stewart, Kara Stewart, Adam Horne and everyone else, thank you for everything you’ve done on Evershore and all of the Skyward Flight novellas.

Once more, thank you to Isaac Stewart, our art director, and Charlie Bowater, our cover artist, for their work on the beautiful Evershore cover art. And again, thank you to Karen Ahlstrom, our continuity editor, and to Kristina Kugler for her editorial services on the line and copy. You guys were great.

A special thank you, as always, to Max and the Mainframe team for their great work on each of these audiobooks.

Finally, once more, thank you to the fans of this series, I hope you have enjoyed Evershore.

Brandon


I am so grateful to the fantastic teams at Dragonsteel and Mainframe for helping make this book a reality, and to the team at JABberwocky for being such consistent supporters of me and my work. Special thanks to Peter Ahlstrom for helping us iron out some plot issues on a tight schedule, and thanks especially to Max Epstein for putting up with my neuroses, and even occasionally finding them amusing.

Thanks also to Cortana Olds (callsign: Halo) for being my sounding board, and for reading along as I wrote.

Thanks to Megan Walker, who listened to a lot of whining about the state of various drafts and still brought me motivation cookies, and who also read an early draft. And of course, huge thanks to the Dragonsteel beta team: Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Liliana Klein (callsign: Slip), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Spencer White (callsign: Elder), Mark Lindberg (callsign: Megalodon), Deana Covel Whitney (callsign: Braid), Joy Allen (callsign: Joyspren), Suzanne Musin (callsign: Oracle), Paige Vest (callsign: Blade), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), and Linnea Lindstrom (callsign: Pixie). Special thanks to Jayden for his flying expertise and for being generally awesome and to Linnea for her fan art and enthusiasm.

Thanks to Kristina Kugler—who I somehow forgot to mention in Sunreach and ReDawn because my brain has been mush—for her truly fantastic edits on this book, and also on the first two. Kristy did amazing work on these books on a very tight and demanding schedule, and I’m forever grateful to her for it. Also, Kristy, I love you fifty million billion.

A huge thanks is due to Darci Cole, who listened to more whining than anybody, and did a serious amount of cheerleading as I worked through the drafts of this book. Darci, you are amazing. Thank you for your optimism and your friendship. I would have lost my mind without you.

Thank you to my husband, Drew Olds, for his infinite patience with me and my work, and for always believing I can do it, even when I lose faith.

Thanks most of all to Brandon, who has believed in my work longer than almost anybody. Thank you for trusting me with your characters (and giving me a hand up out of my own deep plot holes). It’s an honor and a privilege to tell these stories with you.

Janci


Another huge shout-out to this book’s gamma reader team: Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo), Chris McGrath (callsign: Gunner), Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Sean VanBuskirk (callsign: Vanguard), Joy Allen (callsign: Joyspren), Philip Vorwaller (callsign: Vanadium), Sam Baskin (callsign: Turtle), Evgeni Kirilov (callsign: Argent), Joshua Harkey (callsign: Jofwu), Ian McNatt (callsign: Weiry), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), Jessica Ashcraft (callsign: Gesh), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Rob West (callsign: Larkspur), Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow), Jessie Lake (callsign: Lady), Dr. Kathleen Holland (callsign: shockwave), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Eric Lake, and Aaron Ford (callsign: Widget). You are the eyes that see all, but not like the delvers!

Peter


Thank you to Brandon and Janci for such an amazing third Skyward Flight novella. It was a wonderful experience working with you both on Evershore and each of the other Skyward Flight stories. A special thank you is also due to our incredible narrator Suzy Jackson for giving her voice to these amazing characters that Brandon and Janci have created.

Thanks are also due to Joshua Bilmes, Eddie Schneider, everyone at Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Samara and the team at Brickshop audio as well as everyone at Listening Library, Penguin Random House Audio, and Delacorte Press.

And, as always, thank you to everyone at Mainframe involved in this project; especially Juliana Fernandes, Julian Mann, Will Newell, and Craig Shields.

Max