A Touch Morbid (30 page)

Authors: Leah Clifford

Tags: #David_James, #Mobilism.org

To Courtney Allison Moulton, for amazingness and laughs and road-trips and the company that every Misery needs.

To Victoria Schwab, for baked goods and uttering the exact words I needed to hear at the exact moment I needed to hear them. I’m not sure where this book would be if you hadn’t been here that day, bb.

To Martha Mihalick, Virginia Duncan, Marisa Russell, and everyone else at Greenwillow and HarperCollins for their infinite patience and guidance. You guys make my life.

To Rosemary Stimola, who is my champion and the reason I got to put the last check on my List of Writing Dreams.

To Chelsea Swiggett and Emili Hofer, who never wavered in their excitement when I read them early chapters (out loud … often … before I would let them leave…). I promise no spoilers on the next one!

To Kulsuma Begum who gave Vaughn his name and saved my butt!

For being awesome from the start: Chas Lilly, Kayla Beck, Amber Sweeney, Kari Olson, Rachel Clarke, and so many bloggers and friends who have spread the word about my characters and loved and hated them as much as I do.

So many scenes and feelings in this novel would not exist without the songs that played while I wrote them. A huge thank you to Amanda Palmer, Nine Inch Nails, Fever Ray, Digital Daggers, The Kills, HIM, The Birthday Massacre, Florence and the Machine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rasputina, Puscifer, Menomena, Lissie, Laura Marling, and The Pretty Reckless. You guys rock my imaginary world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LEAH CLIFFORD is the author of
A Touch Mortal
. She was also an extreme-cave-tour guide, a pizza delivery girl, a waitress, and a grocery store clerk before becoming a full-time writer. She lives near Cleveland, Ohio.
www.leahclifford.com

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
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CREDITS

COVER ART © 2012 BY ALI SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY
COVER DESIGN BY PAUL ZAKRIS

COPYRIGHT

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

A Touch Morbid

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clifford, Leah.

A touch morbid / Leah Clifford.

p. cm.

“Greenwillow Books.”

Summary: Eden, a powerful Sider caught between life and death, has difficult choices to make as the war between Heaven and Hell rages on, endangering Gabriel, Kristen, and Az, and the poison Eden refuses to spread to mortals slowly builds inside her.

ISBN 978-0-06-200502-1 (trade bdg.)

EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2012 ISBN 9780062102119

[1. Future life—Fiction. 2. Angels—Fiction. 3. Demonology—Fiction.

4. Dead—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C622148Tom 2012 [Fic]—dc23 2011029231

12 13 14 15 16 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

Greenwillow Books