“No, about a girl who’s not so little and way too tame,” I said. “But she did go on an adventure to find her father. She took the tunnel under the mountain and didn’t get blown up by the harpy eggs. She made friends with a killer robot, who didn’t like killing at all. And she found the wild boy who lives all alone in a castle.”
Now, my father looked at me, completely present for the first time. “You found Rafe?”
My heart clenched as I nodded. “He helped me, looked out for me. We became friends.” Or was it more than that? I shook off the thought, not wanting to pull apart my feelings for Rafe just yet. Not when picturing him fevered and alone made me want to sob myself sick.
“In the Feral Zone?” My dad’s fingers tightened around mine. “Lane, I … I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I get it now — why you like coming here. Why you feel you have to.”
“I should have told you.”
“You did.” I lifted our hands and rubbed my cheek over his knuckles. “Every night before bed.”
His eyes drifted closed once more. “I just wanted you to be safe … and happy,” he mumbled.
I stared out the window and didn’t share the thought that had come into my mind: Safe and happy don’t always go together.
With his eyes still closed, my dad began to murmur. His words were soft and blurred, but I recognized the way they rose and fell. It was the rhythm of a bedtime story. Gasping, he tried to finish a nearly inaudible thought. “And they … they loved …” And he fell into a deep sleep once more. But I knew how the story ended — how all of his stories had always ended — and so I finished it for him.
“And they loved happily ever after.” Leaning down, I kissed his cheek. “I’ll try, Dad. I will, but this story isn’t finished yet.” The hovercopter zoomed over the wall’s ramparts and the line guards stopped marching to send up a salute. “Not even close.”
Acknowledgments
With much gratitude, I would like to acknowledge the people who helped me take this story from a glimmer of a concept to a published book.
A huge thanks to my agent, Josh Adams, for championing my idea from the start and for his patience, perspective, and much-needed nudging along the way; and to my editor, Nick Eliopulos, who’s been supportive beyond belief and whose keen story sense has made this book so much better.
Many thanks to everyone at Scholastic for their enthusiasm and faith and for all the amazing work they’ve done to bring my book into the world.
A special thank-you to the members of my writers group for reading my ugly drafts and giving me invaluable feedback: Molly Backes, Logan Turner, and especially Debbie Kraus, who’s helped me through three books now with her insightful critiques. And to my dear friend Merle Reskin, for cheering me on and for providing me with the most charming writer’s hideaway imaginable, Thatchitty Cottage. And my mother and father, avid readers both, who encouraged my love of stories.
And finally, extra-special thanks to my family, immediate and extended, for your love, encouragement, and infinite patience with me when I slipped away during vacations and holidays to write for an hour or two or three….
About the author
Kat Falls is the author of the middle-grade science fiction novels Dark Life and Rip Tide, which she describes as “underwater westerns.” Dark Life has been nominated for children’s book awards in ten states and translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Kat appeared on the Today Show when Dark Life was featured on Al Roker’s Book Club. She grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an undergrad, and went on to receive an MFA from Northwestern University, where she now teaches. Kat lives in Evanston, Illinois, with her husband and their three children — plus a dog, two cats, and a guinea pig named Toot.