Viral Nation (41 page)

“In two years, I’ll be dead. Of course, now that I know that, the future is back to what it should be, isn’t it? A mystery.”

“What makes you think you’ll be dead in two years? That’s—they don’t keep track of that kind of thing.”

“The real question is how I’ll die.”

James waited for her to tell him, but she just stared at him until he finally asked, “Fine, how do you die?”

“You kill me.”

In another life, the idea of killing the young woman standing in front of him would have been so ridiculous, it would bounce off
his brain in instant rejection. But this was
this
life. And in this life, he’d been on a firing squad for three years. “Then I stop you from killing someone else.”

Leanne shook her head. “You stop me from helping the resistance. Maybe. No way of knowing now, is there?”

“Resistance to what?”

“You aren’t very good at asking the right questions. The real question is, who is the resistance?”

James tilted his head and looked at her, putting off asking something he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to. She was patient. She waited until the question had wormed its way into him and he had to know. “Who is the resistance?”

“Right now, it’s mostly your children.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my agent, Kim Lionetti, and my editor, Michelle Vega, and everyone at BookEnds and Berkley who helped me make this story shine. I’m not sure how I got so lucky, but I did, and I’m so grateful.

I absolutely could not have written this book, or any readable book at all, if I hadn’t been in the right place at the right time eight years ago to meet Melanie Harvey (and her children, who, as far as I’m concerned, are made of wonderful ideas). Mel held my hand while I learned to write, and then the universe took pity on me again and gave me Brian Rowe just when I needed him.

I have an incredible writing community and group of friends, who have given me invaluable support. Thanks, especially, Leanne, Tee, Kati, Josephine, Cheri, Nessie, Wes, and Shylah for being my first readers.

This book ended up being very much about siblings. That makes sense, since so much of who I am comes from being a sister to Jill, Russel, Alison, Kevin, Austin, Kyle, Patrick, and Ryan. If I ever start a revolution, you are the Freaks I want with me.

A special thanks to my brother Kyle and our dad, Keith Grimes, for putting so much time and effort into helping me make this book the best it could be. And to my sister Alison for making one of the scariest parts of this whole process fun.

My Adrienne and Nick inspired this story in so many ways. Thank you for growing up with me and making my life sweeter in every way than I ever thought it could be. And an extra big thank-you to Ruby, who was born bright as a jewel. It made all the difference, knowing the three of you believed, even before I did, that your momma was a real writer.

And to Kevin, for never once, in all these years, doubting that it was true.