Inhuman (43 page)

With much gratitude, I would like to acknowledge the people who helped me take this story from a glimmer of a concept to a published book.

A huge thanks to my agent, Josh Adams, for championing my idea from the start and for his patience, perspective, and much-needed nudging along the way; and to my editor, Nick Eliopulos, who’s been supportive beyond belief and whose keen story sense has made this book so much better.

Many thanks to everyone at Scholastic for their enthusiasm and faith and for all the amazing work they’ve done to bring my book into the world.

A special thank-you to the members of my writers group for reading my ugly drafts and giving me invaluable feedback: Molly Backes, Logan Turner, and especially Debbie Kraus, who’s helped me through three books now with her insightful critiques. And to my dear friend Merle Reskin, for cheering me on and for providing me with the most charming writer’s hideaway imaginable, Thatchitty Cottage. And my mother and father, avid readers both, who encouraged my love of stories.

And finally, extra-special thanks to my family, immediate and extended, for your love, encouragement, and infinite patience with me when I slipped away during vacations and holidays to write for an hour or two or three….

Kat Falls is the author of the middle-grade science fiction novels
Dark Life
and
Rip Tide
, which she describes as “underwater westerns.”
Dark Life
has been nominated for children’s book awards in ten states and translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Kat appeared on the
Today Show
when
Dark Life
was featured on Al Roker’s Book Club. She grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an undergrad, and went on to receive an MFA from Northwestern University, where she now teaches. Kat lives in Evanston, Illinois, with her husband and their three children — plus a dog, two cats, and a guinea pig named Toot.

Copyright © 2013 by Kat Falls

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
SCHOLASTIC
,
SCHOLASTIC PRESS
, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

First edition, October 2013

Cover art © 2013 by Steve Stone

Cover design by Christopher Stengel

e-ISBN 978-0-545-52034-8

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.