by Ella M. Lee
I wasn’t staying there, merely stopping through. My final destination would be Boston, a place where I had no prior connections, a city largely under the protection of Sky Clan, a location where no one in Lightning would ever think to look for me.
It was as good a place to start over as any other. I had to hope that no one in Lightning would try to hunt me down. That Nicolas wouldn’t see me in his visions—or wouldn’t care, even if he did. That Dan would someday forgive me for abandoning him. That my family would be okay without me.
That this decision was the right one and that someday I’d feel whole again.
With only a single glance back toward the busy streets of Osaka, I fed my train ticket into the machine and headed toward the platform that would take me to yet another new life.
Acknowledgments
I’ve known the plot of Spark since I started writing Ignited. Sometimes your characters tell you what needs to happen in ways you can’t ignore. Nicolas had been telling me he wanted to let some emotion out, and Fiona had been telling me she needed a change. And Dan… Well, Dan was telling me he was stronger than a silly little thing like death. But, boy, writing this novel was hard. I hope you’ll stick around for more of the journey, because I promise there’s some interesting stuff happening with our favorite Lightning magicians in the books to come. And some interesting plotting by our new favorite Smoke villain.
As usual, I have a lot of people I want to thank for their contributions to Spark. Courtney Kelly is up first, for her excellent attention to detail and dedication to the Fire Within series. She often leaves notes in my manuscript along the lines of, “This doesn’t sound like Nicolas” or “Fiona would describe this more,” leading me to believe that she knows these characters as well as I do. Bailey Taylor, my dedicated beta reader, looked over the last draft of Spark, and her visceral reactions and excitability always bring a smile to my face.
Line editing services for Spark were provided by Crystal Watanabe, the Em Dasher of Dreams. Crystal is the best line editor, the type of editor self-published authors like me dream of, who applies the perfect amount of pressure in all the right places to make my writing sparkle. Not to mention, she’s freaking hilarious and puts up with my whining and griping like no one else. My husband, William, “proofread” this book. I write that in quotes because he usually reads so fast and with so much enthusiasm that I can’t imagine he’s finding many errors. But thanks anyway, babe!
I also want to thank all the BookSirens ARC readers who’ve been with me for the first three books of Fire Within, and whom I hope will continue to follow Fiona’s journey. I’ve received invaluable support and feedback from all of you, with some of the reviews bringing me to tears with how well you seem to understand my story and how much it draws you in. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You all make me feel like I have fans, real fans, and that’s astounding and humbling.
The same can be said for anyone who has ever read these books and left me feedback or reviews. I appreciate every single word—great, good, critical, or bad. Everything helps me become a better writer, and I appreciate the time it took for you to think about my stories and write anything at all. Thank you.
This novel prominently features the mountainous region of Hokkaido, Japan. It’s a beautiful place that I haven’t visited in a few years, but I’ll always remember the perfect scenery, the crisp air, and the blanket of snow. My husband never lets me forget the day we ate steamed hairy crab with butter at the fish market in Sapporo, or when we took the gondola up Mount Moiwa and braved the cold and sleet to ring the lover’s bell at the top.
See you soon for Book 5, Storm. Until then, all my love.
Also by Ella M. Lee
The Fire Within Series
Fire Within
Ignited
Ashes
The Soul Bound Series
Soul Bound
About the Author
Ella M. Lee is a graduate of Bennington College who spent years in the tech industry before getting back to her story-crafting roots. In her spare time, she likes to travel, cook, drink tea, and spend Saturday mornings repeating moves, spins, and jumps over and over again for her figure skating coach. She has a loving husband and two semi-loving cats who share her home near Boston, MA. For more information about Ella and the Fire Within series, please visit www.ellamlee.com!
