Noah indulges me, as always. “So what kind of story will it be?”
A good question. It isn’t horror, even though parts of it are horrifying. It isn’t science fiction because the science and the story are real.
I look at Noah, grinning at me with my head in his lap, his hands in my hair, and I think about him and Jamie and my brothers and my parents. People who would do anything in their power to help me, even if they didn’t always understand me. People I would do anything for, no matter who I had to hurt or what it would cost. I look back at the blank page, then, and know.
This is a love story. Twisted and messy. Flawed and screwed up. But it’s ours. It’s us. I don’t know how our story will end, but I know how it will start. I pick up my pen and begin to write.
My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IT ISN’T EASY TO THANK every single person who had a hand in helping with the creation and support of one book, let alone three. This trilogy has been five years in the making, and there are more people who have helped me make it than I could possibly name. Also, I probably thanked a lot of them in previous books, so I’m going to keep this one short and semi-sweet.
Thanks are first due to my editor, Christian Trimmer—I feel so lucky to have your brilliant mind on my side, and Mara’s. And to everyone at Simon & Schuster who made this book happen, schedule be damned, I can’t thank you enough.
To my agent, Barry Goldblatt—you helped me choose right when I was tempted to choose wrong. This book is so much better for it, and I am so much happier for it.
My forever-thanks to my family, for their patience with/tolerance of me while this book took shape. It wasn’t easy, I know, but I am so grateful.
There are two people I could not have written this book without, and I know this because I tried. Several times. Without you, Lev, this book would not feel right or true. Because of you, it is both. And without you, Kat, I would still be writing it. Forever. Both of you saved me, again and again. I can’t ever repay you.
And finally, thanks to those who inspired elements of this story. I tried to do you justice. You deserve it.
Michelle Hodkin grew up in Florida, went to college in New York, and studied law in Michigan. She is the author of the Mara Dyer Trilogy, which includes the unbecoming of mara dyer, the evolution of mara dyer, and the retribution of mara dyer. You can visit her online at michellehodkin.com.
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ALSO BY MICHELLE HODKIN
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
The Evolution of Mara Dyer
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2014 by Michelle Hodkin
Jacket design by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Jacket photography copyright © 2014 by Heather Landis
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Book design by Lucy Ruth Cummins
The text for this book is set in Caslon.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hodkin, Michelle.
The retribution of Mara Dyer / Michelle Hodkin.—1st edition.
pages cm
Sequel to: The evolution of Mara Dyer.
Summary: “Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4424-8423-8 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-4424-8425-2 (eBook)
[1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Love—Fiction. 3. Murder—Fiction. 4. Psychiatric hospitals—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.H66493Ret 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2014017679
Contents
Epigraph
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
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Mara
Noah
Mara
Noah
Mara
Noah
Mara
Noah
Mara
Noah
Mara
Noah
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About Michelle Hodkin