Katie Cross - Alkarra Awakening

For my second grade teacher Terry Felts,

Who loved an awkward, frizzy-haired little girl.

Sitting down to write the acknowledgments is quite honestly the most difficult part of writing a book. Im a little more than terrified that Im going to forget someone pivotal.

Lets be honest here. The biggest thanks of all certainly goes first to the Miss Mabels School for Girls fans that kept the book going. Without your excitement and enthusiasm, this would be a much lonelier process. Ive said it once, and Ill certainly say it a hundred thousand times more: Bianca has the coolest fans.

No author is an island. I have the most magnificent team of designers, editors, proofreaders, typesetters, bloggers, and beta readers that a girl could ask for. Jenny, Robin, Catherine, Bailey, Atthis Arts LLC, and all the others that helped, thank you for bringing your honesty and talents to my door. Your awesomeness helped make Alkarra Awakening as perfect and beautiful as it is today. To all the many beta readers that contributed, thank you for your selfless time donation and honest opinions.

To the artists of Read Write Muse LLC, and now my new family of Blue Monkeys. Thank you for all your unfaltering love, support, beta reading comments, and giggles when were all staying up far too late to chat on Facebook. I love each and every one of you. Theres no one else Id rather go into business with than you.

To the followers at KCrossWriting that keep me endlessly entertained with your witty comments about my frizzy, out-of-control hair that closely resembles Camilles: thanks for the love and support! A special thanks to Samantha for her young prowess with words and helping me refine and hone the blurb on the back. She deserves the credit for the chills and glitter the last line gives.

Then there are the people who not only put up with me in a professional regard, but in every other facet of life. I cant name everyone in my family that has supported me, or else Id have to write another novel, but know that I love you and think of you always.

Husband, love yer face.

T he carriage rolled away from the graveyard with a clack clack of wheels on the rocky dirt road. I stared out the window, watching the trees of Letum Wood fade by in spears of gray and black, like the shadows in my heart. Low clouds blew over from the south in a blanket of gray foam.

Mamas gone now. The dark gloom I felt stirred the magic near my heart. Its time to move on. Dont think about her death anymore. Keep the past in the past.

Sometimes I wished I wasnt so honest with myself. Perhaps I could pretend that Mama would come back from death, that I could delay going on with my new life without her. But no, I couldnt. The pain would never let me forget her entirely, though I knew Id try.

Does your father know that Miss Mabel did not remove your Inheritance Curse? the High Priestess asked, breaking our stony silence with her gravelly voice. She sat across from me, her beady eyes black in the fading daylight, her short gray and white hair swept back from her face in little wisps. The mention of Miss Mabel tightened my stomach.

I dont know, I said. Wrapping up my old life, closing the cottage Id grown up in, and reeling from the shock of Mamas death had sapped all of Papa and my strength. I hadnt even thought about the curse that would kill me on my seventeenth birthday just six months away. What did it matter? Mama was dead, and so was my heart. My own death would certainly hurt less than the moment she died in my arms. I dont think weve talked about it.

Yes or no?

No.

The High Priestess fell quiet for so long I thought shed forgotten the subject. She could have easily used magic to transport back to Chatham Castle and resume her duties as leader of the Central Network, but she stayed with me. I wondered why. Id chosen the lengthy carriage ride simply because I didnt want to go back to the castle. Without Mama there, it wasnt home.

Close the door, Bianca. Stop thinking about her.

Would you lie to your father and tell him that Miss Mabel removed the curse if I asked you to? the High Priestess asked.

My eyes lifted to hers in surprise.

Lie to him?

She nodded, as if she asked this kind of thing every day. I couldnt believe it. Tell my father a lie? Id never lied to him before, and couldnt even fathom how to successfully go about it. He was a master of disguise, a man who lived in the shadows to protect those living in the light. Id have to live with my falsehood every day, remember my guilt every time I saw his face.

Why would you want that of me? I asked in a hoarse voice.

The Central Network is walking into a war, she said in her crisp, punctuated inflections. For a woman as powerful as the High Priestess, nothing got in the way of business, not even mourning. Your father is one of our greatest hopes for getting out of it intact. If he knows that Mabel still has power over you, hell throw all his attention into stopping the curse, even at the cost of the Network. I cant let that happen.

What about me? I asked. The High Priestess locked her sharp eyes with mine. Im just supposed to let the curse kill me?

Of course not. If you lie to your father, I will promise to personally find a resolution to your Inheritance Curse. You will not die at seventeen.

You cant promise anything when it comes to Miss Mabel, I said in a bitter whisper. Just saying that name sent a tremor through my heart, like a lion waking with an indignant bellow.

There are ways around your curse, I think. In fact, Im confident enough that Ill take a vow, she said, her eyes as serious as theyd ever been. Surely she wasnt considering such a thing! Could anyone stop a witch as cunning and powerful as Miss Mabel? The longer I studied the High Priestess, the more convinced I became. If anyone could defeat my old teacher, it was the High Priestess. I may not understood her, but I respected and trusted her.

A vow?

Yes. Ill take a vowthis momentto resolve your Inheritance Curse before you turn seventeen.

The vow would seal her to the promise. Not with her life, like a binding, but with a part of her magic. If she didnt complete the vow, a portion of her power would wither away inside her. For a witch with responsibilities like the High Priestess, an unfulfilled vow could be devastating.