Soundless(68)

You are ruining our moment, I tell her. She doesn’t understand signs, but I think she perceives my meaning. I feel a flash of amusement from her, and then she busies herself preening. Beyond her, I see other glittering forms landing in the valley. Even when the pixius aren’t directly interacting with us, they seem to take comfort just from being in our presence. The feeling is mutual, and Li Wei’s arms encircle my waist as we observe the others land and stretch out in the sun. Happiness burns through me, and I lean my head against him. Across the valley, I see others, including Zhang Jing, also pausing to watch the pixius.

Below this mountain, the world is dangerous and uncertain. But here, for now, we have beauty and hope again, not to mention the strength of our loved ones beside us. It is enough to weather any storm, I decide. It is more than enough.





Acknowledgments

There’s always a village behind any book I write. First and foremost among them are my family, and I’m so grateful for the way they patiently support me as I endure the many ups and downs that a creative person seems to go through each day! My “publishing family” has been just as amazing. Many thanks to literary agent Jim McCarthy for handling a million things behind the scenes and to the incredible team at Razorbill—particularly editor Jessica Almon, whose insight and skill helped make this book happen.

On the research side, I’m indebted to linguistics professor Katharine Hunt for letting me contact her out of the blue for help in better understanding language acquisition and hearing loss. Thank you also to Judy Liu for assistance with both the Mandarin language and the cultures of Taiwan and China.

Lastly, I owe an endless debt to my amazing readers. Thank you for inspiring me and loving what I do.