It was a farewell to me.
I jerked forward, crawling as the boat pitched. “Montgomery, no. Wait.…”
But he’d already pushed his weight against the bow and set me adrift. All that linked us now was a thin bit of line that he held so lightly, so loosely, poised to let go at any moment.
“Don’t you dare!” I screamed, crawling to the bow. “Don’t let go of that line!” My knee connected with the sharp edge of a trunk and my eyes filled with water, not just from the pain. “Don’t you dare leave me, Montgomery James!”
But as I scrambled to reach the edge of the launch, the frayed end of the line came away from his hand. Seconds. Just seconds ago Montgomery had been holding it, and now I was totally adrift. Alone. I looked at him, stunned.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his face broken. “I can’t leave. I’ve been their only family. I have a responsibility to them.”
“What about me?” I choked as the launch drifted seaward. I reached out, grappling for a hand I knew would never come. “You have a responsibility to me!”
“You’re better off without me. You can forget all of this. I would only have tied you to this place.” His voice broke. “I don’t belong there. I’m a criminal. An aberration.”
“You’re Montgomery,” I called. “We belong together.”
He shook his head. His face was wet with sweat. “No. I belong with the island.”
The betrayal ripped me apart more than any of Father’s surgeries could have done. Montgomery looked away, just as I’d planned on looking away from Balthazar’s heartbroken face. A wave caught the launch and I glided farther toward open sea, gripping the edge of the boat as though clinging to life. “No!” I screamed, one more time. Sobs choked in my throat. Hadn’t I always known Montgomery was as wild as the creatures he’d created, unable to leave them? The smell of smoke lingered in the air, and it felt so wrong, like more than the compound was burning.
Maybe he said something else. I couldn’t be sure. The dock drew farther away with each wave, until Montgomery and Balthazar were nothing more than a trick my eyes were playing on me. As I was swept out to sea, among the expensive baubles meant to buy me passage and the food that Edward had so carefully packed away, the island took form on the horizon. I saw the blaze that was once the compound. Two columns of smoke rose into the stars—one from the volcano, one from the compound. And then I saw nothing, as the waves spun me around in their dips and swells and the island disappeared into night, except the glowing blaze where fire destroyed the red walls of my father’s laboratory.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I AM SO FORTUNATE to have worked with a wonderful team to turn this book into a finished product. I owe a big thanks to my incredible editor, Kristin Daly Rens, and the rest of the Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins team, including assistant editor Sara Sargent, designers Alison Klapthor and Alison Donalty for the beautiful design, Renée Cafiero for an amazing copyedit, Emilie Polster and Stephanie Hoffman in marketing, and Caroline Sun, Olivia DeLeon, and Alison Lisnow in publicity. Any author would be thrilled to have you all on her team, and I am glad I get to be one of the lucky ones.
I also owe an enormous thanks to the amazing literary/black belt ninja agent team: Josh, Tracey, and Quinlan at Adams Literary. Plain and simple, you made a writer’s dream come true, and that has changed my life forever.
Thanks also to my critique group, the Secret Gardeners, as well as my beta readers, Constance, Lauren, Kim, Ameliann, and especially Melissa, who has been reading my work and giving me insightful feedback since that first awful picture book ages ago. I’d also like to acknowledge the Lucky 13s and Friday the Thirteeners for moral support, and to congratulate them on their debuts. It’s been a heck of a year!
Of course, my parents, Peggy and Tim, played a big role giving me my love of literature. You and the whole Highland Books family make up my favorite home away from home and the best place for a child to grow up. Thanks also to all my friends and family who offered support through frantic phone calls, photography sessions, playlists, and book-shaped cakes. And to my husband, Jesse, who gave me the courage to believe in myself. You make each day better than the last. And lastly, I want to acknowledge my admiration for H. G. Wells, whose book The Island of Doctor Moreau inspired me to create this story. I’ll never forget reading Wells’s works when I was a teenager myself, and being exposed to such compelling and insightful ideas about the world we inhabit.
This list could take up so many pages, because I have so many more people to thank for their very generous support along the way. Holding this book in my hands is an incomparable feeling, and I will never be able to find the words to express to each and every one of you how thankful I am for your encouragement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR