The Burnouts (24 page)

Since the first day of school, she’d always been afraid of what was around the corner, but now Lucy could see a future with David stretching out before her and the fear wasn’t there. Still, her mind reeled.

“Uncle Phillip, it doesn’t make sense to me,” Lucy said.

“It’s not that uncommon. A lot of pregnancies start out as twins,” her uncle said. “To put it simply, early in your pregnancy there were two fetuses, and at some point—”

He coughed, and cleared his throat.

“The weaker one died.”

When we began working on
Quarantine
, writing even a single novel seemed like an impossible challenge. Now, four years later, we are authors of an insane trilogy that we love, and we’ve been happy to discover that other people love it too. We’re grateful to everyone who has ever read a
Quarantine
book and told a friend about it.

We’d also like to thank:

Andrea Cascardi, Erin Molta, Margaret Coffee, Michelle Bayuk, and our team at Egmont for giving us the freedom to make bold choices every step of the way.

Mollie Glick and everyone at Foundry for seeing the potential in
Quarantine
from the start.

Greg Ferguson for his guidance in crafting the ultimate high school nightmare.

Elizabeth Law for taking a chance on us.

Rachel Miller and Jesse Hara for their encouragement and support.

Kami Garcia for her unflappable enthusiasm for
Quarantine
.

Daniel Kraus for always seeing our story for what it was and being the first to tell the world about it.

And so many others who helped us along the way, in big ways and small, like Peter Beck, Jen Bigheart, Duncan Birmingham, Aaron Buckwalter, Cy and Genevieve Carter, Mary Elizabeth Day, LeVette Fuller, Erin Gross, Franklin Hardy, Karen Jensen, Ian Kemmer, Elisa Kemmer, John Kneedler, Lane Kneedler, Susan Kneedler, Tara Kole, Shane Kosakowski, Heather McCallum, Chris and Frances Merrill, Curtis Nishimura, Michelle Pak, Lauren Peugh, Mary Rolich, Will Richter, AJ Rinella, Susan Robertson, Katie Robbins, Geoffrey Rose, Loretto Seles, Andrew Seles, Kirsten Smith, Louis Tocchet, Clay Tweel, Andrea Vuleta, Jeffrey West, Stephanie Wilkes, Richard Wilkinson, and the YA Sisterhood.

Lex, in particular, would like to thank:

Every friend who bought a book or rallied for a book signing; Eluria, his grandmother, who couldn’t get enough
Quarantine
, even if she thought there was too much cussing; his parents, who never hesitated to say, “Go for it.”; Geoffrey and Noelle, Geoffrey and Kate, and Peter, who endured a working stiff on sunny summer days with humor and understanding; Matt and Staci for being such thoughtful and generous friends during the final push of this series; and finally Alexis for her patience, love, and confidence, and for being an advisor like no other.

Thomas, in particular, would like to thank his parents, who have been his greatest supporters; his favorite painting teachers, Thomas Sgouros and Trent Burelson, for their art lessons that continue to shape his craft; his sixth grade English teacher, Mr. Rosenwald, who told him that the point of life was to have fun; his high school English teacher Mrs. Solari for enduring his antics; Angela Trimbur for her love and inspiration; and his entire family—his aunts and uncles, brother and cousins—for being his biggest fans.

Without the help we received from all of you,
Quarantine
may never have happened.