Spindle Page 24

  I felt the piskey alight on my chest, felt it look inside me and see that I had been victorious. The curse was broken, and now I could safely wake from the piskey’s gift, if what Yashaa had learned was true. I felt the surge of happiness tinged with melancholy from my friends, who had watched me for this long, and who I would soon see with my waking eyes. I felt their children and grandchildren, eager to meet me and see if I was as interesting as their parents had said.

  And I felt my Yashaa, bearded and wrinkled, when he pressed his lips to mine.

  AND ANOTHER ONE!

  Josh Adams, agent extraordinaire, thank you so much for not believing me every time I told you this book was going “fine,” and then talking me back into facing it anyway.

  Emily Meehan, Hannah Allaman, and the whole Hyperion team did such a wonderful job with A Thousand Nights, and I was so pleased to work with them again on Spindle. Thank you for another beautiful book.

  And thank you, as ever, to my crit readers: Emma, Colleen, Faith, Laura, and RJ, and to Katie and Erin, who read the third draft while I had a panic/processed my Star Wars emotions.

  Spindle began on a dining room table in Waterloo, took a major detour through another novel altogether, and was finally written while sitting in a chair (it’s a big deal, trust me), at the southern intersection of Westmount and Fisher-Hallman.

  E. K. JOHNSTON had several jobs and one vocation before she became a published writer. If she’s learned anything, it’s that things turn out weird sometimes, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. Well, that and how to muscle through awkward fanfic because it’s about a pairing she likes.

  You can follow Kate on Twitter (@ek_johnston) to learn more about Alderaanian political theory than you really need to know, on Tumblr (ekjohnston) if you’re just here for the pretty pictures, or at ekjohnston.ca.