Beautiful Darkness

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is hard. It turns out, writing a second book is twice as hard. Here are the people who got us through the many phases of our Seventeenth Moon:

OUR BELOVED AGENTS, SARAH BURNES AND COURTNEY GATEWOOD, WITH HELP FROM REBECCA GARDNER, FROM THE GERNERT COMPANY, who continue to shepherd Gatlin County to new and faraway places no piece of pecan fried chicken has ever seen. SALLY WILCOX AT CAA, for bringing Gatlin County to a town where nobody would ever touch a piece of fried anything.

OUR BRILLIANT TEAM AT LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS: OUR EDITORS, JENNIFER BAILEY HUNT AND JULIE SCHEINA, OUR ART DIRECTOR, DAVID CAPLAN, OUR MARKETING GURU, LISA ICKOWICZ, OUR QUEEN OF LIBRARY SERVICES, VICTORIA STAPLETON, OUR PUBLICITY GURU, MELANIE CHANG, AND OUR PUBLICIST, JESSICA KAUFMAN, who are as good at what they do as Amma is at crossword puzzles.

OUR AMAZING FOREIGN PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS, ESPECIALLY AMANDA PUNTER, CECILE TEROUANNE, SUSANNE STARK, MYRIAM GALAZ, AS WELL AS THOSE WE HAVE YET TO MEET, who have welcomed us into their houses and their countries. OUR#1 SPANISH FAN, AUTHOR JAVIER RUESCAS, who not only blurbed our book in Spain but spread the word.

OUR FAVORITE READER, DAPHNE DURHAM, who gets us and, more important, Ethan and Lena. There isn't a cream-of-casserole big enough to show her how we feel. Even with cornflakes or tiny fried onions or mashed-up potato chips on top.

OUR RESIDENT TEEN CLASSICIST, EMMA PETERSON, who translated Latin Casts while cramming for AP Vergil. OUR FRIGHTENING TEEN EDITOR, MAY PETERSON, who no doubt will go on to terrify many other writers in the future.

OUR BOSS PHOTOGRAPHER, ALEX HOERNER, whose photo of us looks nothing like us, so we love it. VANIA STOYANOVA, for her beautiful trailer, amazing photos, and her work as co-administrator of our U.S. fansite. YVETTE VASQUEZ, for reading our drafts a hundred times, blogging our tour, and acting as co-administrator of our U.S. fansite. THE CREATORS OF OUR INTERNATIONAL FANSITES IN FRANCE, SPAIN, AND BRAZIL. ASHLY STOHL, who designed bookplates and invites, built websites, and took photos that brought the South to life for readers around the world. ANNA MOORE, for building our Beautiful Creatures site 2.0. AUTHOR GABRIEL PAUL, who creates all the brilliant online games for our tours and promotions.

OUR CASTER GIRLS 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, AND 25. You are the heart of The Caster Chronicles and always will be.

OUR YA WRITING MENTORS, WP AUTHORS, BOOK BLURBERS, TRAILER MAKERS, FANSITE DESIGNERS, FELLOW DEBUT AUTHORS, BLOGGERS, NING/GOODREADS FRIENDS, AND, OF COURSE, OUR TWEETHEARTS. Like Gatlin's postmaster, Carlton Eaton, we hear all our news from you first. And whether good or bad, it's better to hear it from one of your own. Nobody will ever know how much fun you make even the Cave o' Revisions.

OUR FAMILIES

ALEX, NICK, AND STELLA GARCIA AND LEWIS, EMMA, MAY, AND KATE PETERSON AND ALL OUR RESPECTIVE MOMS, DADS, SISTERS, BROTHERS, NIECES, NEPHEWS, SISTERS-IN-LAW, PARTY-THROWING COUSINS, AND FRIENDS. FROM AUNT MARY TO COUSIN JANE, you have always been there for us. STOHLS, RACCAS, MARINS, GARCIAS, PETERSONS: By now you have every right to hate us, but oddly you don't.

DEBY LINDEE AND SUSAN AND JOHN RACCA, for housing us on our many Southern field trips. BILL YOUNG AND DAVID GOLIA, for being our knights in shining armor. INDIA'S AND NATALIA'S DADDY, for helping us when we were supposed to be helping him. SAUNDRA MITCHELL, for everything, as always.

OUR READERS, TEACHERS, AND LIBRARIANS, THE CASTERS AND OUTCASTERS, who discovered Beautiful Creatures and loved it enough to take another trip through the Tunnels with us. Without you, they're just (so many) words.

OUR MENTOR, MELISSA MARR, AND OUR THERAPIST, HOLLY BLACK. They know why. DR. SARA LINDHEIM, our Keeper, who knows our Casts better than we do.

And Finally, MARGARET MILES, LIBRARIAN AND YOUTH SERVICES DIRECTOR AT THE NEW HANOVER COUNTY LIBRARY, IN WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. Because Marian Ashcroft isn't the only Caster Librarian, after all.