Skylark (44 page)
There’s no one deserving of more thanks than my amazing agent, Josh Adams. I have no words, except these: there is no one on the planet I’d rather have fighting for me and my books. So to Josh, Tracey, and Quinlan: my gratitude is endless. Thank you as well to all the international agents, scouts, and publishers that have helped bring this story to so many countries.
Andrew Karre, my editor, is insanely clever and insightful, and showed me things about my book that I didn’t even know were there. It would not be what it is without him. And so many thanks go to Sammy Yuen for designing this beautiful cover. I can’t thank everyone at Carolrhoda and Lerner enough for their faith in this book.
I could not have done any of this without my family. My parents, Clint and Sandra Spooner, started buying me books before I was born and have never showed the slightest doubt that I could do anything I wanted. Thank you as well to my other family, the Miskes, who have been cheering for me my whole life. And to my big sister, Josie: thank you so much for introducing me to fantasy when I was too young to resist. It was the best kind of brainwashing.
Jeanne Cavelos, director of the Odyssey Writing Workshop: You told me I could do this, and I listened. I learned so much at Odyssey, and so much of it from my fellow classmates, a brilliant, creative, beautiful group of people. Corry, I miss you especially—and the dentist/ice skating rink too.
To my family down under, I will be forever grateful. Marilyn and Philip Kaufman adopted me while I was in Australia, writing this book. My friends there have cheered me every step of the way—Michelle, Ailie, Flic, Ian—I miss them all every day. And most of all, Brendan: thank you for letting me live in your house before you’d ever met me, for doing ridiculous things to make me laugh, and for reading on the train.
I’ve had so many friends chip in with support, advice, enthusiasm, and faith: Sarah, Ellen, Caitlin, Kim, Frazier, Sophie, Thara, Josh B., Kacey, Kat, Wynn, Lindsay, and everyone who has ever said, “I can’t wait to read your book.”
Finally, I want to thank all the teachers who, over the years, have shaped me into who I am today. In particular, Ellen Andrews, who didn’t care that her class of sixth graders was too old for story time and whose reading of
The Golden Compass
changed my life; Betty Stegall, who read my first (and utterly atrocious) attempt at a novel and somehow saw within it something to nurture; and Barbara Nelson, whose lessons about
The Odyssey
cemented my love of myths and fairy tales forever, and whose friendship now I treasure.
And to the creative writing professor who gave me a B minus because I wouldn’t “leave out the magic and the ridiculous creatures,” I say this: thank you.
Never underestimate my desire to prove silly people wrong.
meagan spooner
Meagan Spooner grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day. She graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a degree in playwriting and spent several years living in Australia. She’s traveled with her family all over the world to places like Egypt, South Africa, the Arctic, Greece, Antarctica, and the Galápagos, and there’s a bit of every journey in the stories she writes.
She currently lives and writes in Northern Virginia, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there’s no telling how long she’ll stay there.
You can visit her online at http:// www.meaganspooner.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
