First published in the USA by Dial Books 2015
This edition published 2015 by Electric Monkey,
an imprint of Egmont UK Limited
The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN
Text copyright © Huntley Fitzpatrick 2015.
Published by arrangement with Dial, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
First e-book edition 2016
ISBN 978 1 4052 8039 6
Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1739 7
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To my mother, who knew how to love. And had a weakness for troublemakers with hearts of gold.
To my father, who has always loved and admired strong women.
And to Georgia Funsten and Patricia Young, the smartest and strongest women I know.
Contents
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Chapter Forty-five
Chapter Forty-six
Chapter Forty-seven
Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’ve been summoned to see the Nowhere Man.
He’s at his desk when I step inside the gray cave of his office, his back turned.
“Uh, Pop?”
He holds up his hand, keeps scribbling on a blue-lined pad.
Standard operating procedure.
I flick my eyes around the room: the mantel, the carpet, the bookshelves, the window; try to find a comfortable place to land.
No dice.
Ma’s fond of “cute” – teddy bears in seasonal outfits and pillows with little sayings and shit she gets on QVC. They’re everywhere. Except here, a room spliced