With immense satisfaction, Nicholas studied the school logo depicted over the door as they drew closer. A shield wearing a crown, with two swords crossed behind it. An inverted K against a background of gold and blue, and an R against gold and crimson. Underneath were the words Unitatis Mirabile Vinculum, which Nicholas knew meant The Wondrous Bond of Unity. It meant being together as one.
Harvard’s friends Kally and Tanner were walking by a window, and when they saw the bus roll up, they leaned out and yelled a welcome home. Nicholas observed the way their eyes flew right to Aiden and Harvard’s joined hands, noted how they whispered to each other and beamed. Kally and Tanner were clearly happy for them, and Nicholas realized he was happy for them, too. He watched as Harvard lifted Aiden’s hand to his mouth and kissed the back, and saw the way Aiden looked at Harvard’s bent head.
The best part of a journey was coming home. That was something new for Nicholas to learn.
In that moment, Nicholas was sure he felt the wondrous bond of unity with his school and all the people in it. Especially the people in this bus. Sparkly Bobby and solemn Dante, having one of their unbalanced conversations that seemed to balance. Seiji and his stern face, still cranky about plucky underdogs succeeding without training. Aiden and Harvard, so surprisingly and unmistakably happy. And Nicholas, the scholarship kid who shouldn’t belong here, but might anyway. He turned his head and caught a grin Coach Williams tossed his way.
“It’s good to be home, kids,” Coach announced. “Home’s our first step to victory.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I must begin with many thanks to C.S. Pacat and Johanna The Mad for inviting me into the Fence universe. What a fun universe, and what a journey to go on! Johanna’s covers and illustrations for both books have been so amazing and beautiful. I know C.S. Pacat had a particular vision for this novel, and I hope I fulfilled it.
Huge, devout thanks to Suzie Townsend, my knight errant agent; Dani Segelbaum; and the whole amazing team at New Leaf literary agency.
Thank you so much to Susan Connolly for our WhatsApp writing room during the lockdown. Many apologies for the times I put my head down on the kitchen table and cried. Thanks also to C. E. Murphy, Ruth Frances Long, Leigh Bardugo, Robin Wasserman, and Holly Black for writer check-ins during this our year of quarantine.
Thank you to Mary-Kate Gaudet and Regan Winter for their great patience during a wild ride. Also, to fabulous publicist Thandi Jackson, Savannah Kennelly, brocean Lindsay Walter-Greaney, and the whole team at Little, Brown. And many thanks to Kerianne Steinberg for a wonderful copyedit. Thank you to Dafna Pleban, Shannon Watters, Sophie Philips-Roberts, and the team at BOOM! for continuing to make me feel welcome onboard, and especially to Shannon for being nice about my dreadful title suggestions!
The Fence fandom have become dear to my heart by opening their hearts to me! Shout-out to faeriereverie (that art!), Seijisrow, babyephant, Harvardpaw, fencedits, laurents-laces, im-your-rival, theninthmember, seijikatayama-stan, dkafterdark, theangryInch, elucreh, angst-iguana, michellejackson, nicholas-zero-cox, scathieedraws, metalandmagi, dncngthrghlife, magiclamd, seijistan, softerstorms, fenceseiji, aideninparis, nicholaskatayama_, gael_me, fadingintotheforeground, anico_art, allarica, hyosagi, qodious, and many others. Please forgive me for not being able to mention everyone. Thanks so much for embracing Striking Distance, and I super hope you enjoyed Disarmed. You’re all champions.
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Edel Kelly
SARAH REES BRENNAN is the number one New York Times bestselling YA author of over a dozen books, both solo and cowritten with other authors, including Kelly Link and Maureen Johnson. She was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for her first novel. She was born in Ireland by the sea and lives there now in the shadow of a cathedral, where she’s working on—among other things—her series of tie-in novels with the hit Netflix show The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Her most recent standalone novel, In Other Lands, is a tale of love, friendship, and wings, starring the crankiest boy to ever stumble into a magic land, and was a Lodestar Award, Mythopoeic Award, and World Fantasy Award finalist.
Fence: Disarmed Page 24
