Brightly Burning
Page 30
Partnering with the New Delhians and using the Rochester’s considerable stores of medicine and medical equipment, we established a hospital halfway between our settlements and theirs. Hanada devoted herself to its running, making herself useful but never outright apologizing. But she devoted herself to the good of us all, conducting research and keeping everyone healthy. I was thankful for her presence most days.
Hugo also made the massive digital library on board available to all, though with limited electricity and tech, the population had to get their fill in turns. Health and information became Hugo’s gift to our new world, a fresh Fairfax legacy to outlive the old one. We destroyed all the viruses. Biological warfare would not be a weapon used again in our lifetime.
We started over, got to know the latest versions of each other. Hugo remained smart, flirtatious, and generous with me, but he’d become more closed off. Harder on himself. He remained stubbornly overprotective of those he cared about, including and especially me. I found I frequently had to put him in his place, remind him I didn’t need taking care of. I had changed too.
Even so, Hugo took me on dates: a walk along the river, a starlit picnic among the poppies, a night in New Delhi watching a play neither of us could understand. It was nice, spending time with him outside of a study, doing something other than reading books, though that remained our staple activity. Rori kept the power running to the old study on board the Rochester just for us.
Eventually, when it became clear that Hugo’s lingering guilt would not ebb away despite pretty words from me, I proposed. We already acted like we were married, and had been ready to take the plunge before, having known each other far less, so why not? Marriage didn’t mean a whole lot down on Earth, given we had no lawyers to draw up a marriage contract, nor any central government to enforce its validity, as Xiao and Sergei argued more than once. They had no intention of getting married. But it was a tradition, a holdover from the old ways, and frankly, I wanted to have a party. Still Hugo hesitated. I knew why. Jessa was missing.
I encouraged Hugo to do something his pride and guilt had not allowed him to do over the past year: talk to her. It took me dragging him onto the bridge of the Ingram, physically plopping him in the comms station chair, and establishing the call link myself to get him to do it. And once they started talking—after Jessa yelled at Hugo for taking the fall for Mason and not telling her the truth, and Hugo apologized—they both started crying, and all it took was the invitation to get Jessa to agree to join us. She came down on the next ship to deorbit, leaving the Lady Liberty—and thus the Fairfax empire—in Orion’s hands. And I got Orion to make a promise: that he’d bring the Lady Liberty’s passengers, and himself, down to Earth within the next decade.
And so another Tuesday arrived, bringing another sunset, one of thousands to come. The house Hugo, Jessa, and I shared stood at my back, grass and trees and mountains before me, with the skies beyond, and I knew I was home. At last.
Acknowledgments
First, to the whole team at HMH: it cannot be overstated how in every way you have made all my publishing dreams come true. I have been guided by not one, but two incredible editors. Sarah Landis, thank you for your endless belief in this book, and the way that you just got everything I was trying to do. You were a dream to work with, and I am thankful for our continuing friendship. Cat Onder, thank you for “adopting” me, and shepherding me through the rest of the publishing process, answering my endless questions, and being my tireless advocate at every level.
I could not have asked for a better marketing and publicity team, who has brainstormed bigger and bolder than I ever could have, and championed my book in ways that have honestly made me a bit teary! Lisa DiSarro, Tara Shanahan, Tara Sonin, Rachel Fershleiser, Amanda Acevedo: you are all rockstars of the highest order.
Elana, my incredible warrior of an agent, I am thankful every single day that you loved this book and wanted to take me on. You were and are everything I didn’t know I needed, and I couldn’t do any of this without you.
Thank you and all the hugs to my longtime CP and friend, Heather Kaczynski, for being with me through every step of this journey and for letting me be with you on yours. You are a brilliant writer and human being, and I feel privileged to call you my friend.
To Elly Blake, the sweetest, most positive, and supportive friend. Your enthusiasm kept me going through every draft and your beautiful writing pushed me to be a better writer. Any captivating turn of phrase in this book I owe to you; reading your lush descriptions sparked my own imagination so many times.
All my love and gratitude to Natalie Simpson, for speedy and repeated reads when I was convinced everything was terrible. I’m so glad I met you, and can’t wait to return the favor. Mary Elizabeth Summer, you always make things better with your wit and insightful comments, whether they be about the book at hand, the industry, or life. Thanks to Emmy Neal for your incisive comments, including and especially how I should kill someone in the third act, and for being a good sport when I told you NO! and then ended up doing it eventually anyway. Yes, he didn’t stay dead, but the point is, mea culpa!
To every early reader who gave me something to think about, or just reassured me I didn’t suck: Samantha McClanahan, Liz Parker, Kester Grant, Chelsea Sedoti, Sophie Gonzalez, Marize Alphonso, Destiny Cole, Kristine Kim, and Katie Doyle. To my fierce ladies of science, Emily Suvada and Mandy Self, for checking the science part of the sci-fi, helping me to embarrass myself a bit less. Any remaining errors of hand-waveyness are on me!
All my supremely awesome author friends, just for being you: Adrienne Kisner, Emily Duncan, Kevin van Whye, Claire Wenzel, Gretchen Schreiber, Jessie Cluess, Kaitlyn Sage Patterson, Maura Milan, Rebecca Schaeffer, Heather Ezell, Lily Meade, Kat Cho, Adrienne Young, Kristin Dwyer, Emma Theriault, and Rosiee Thor. My fellow Electric 18s: stay electric. My California Electrics: I adore you all. Team Elana: I love you all, you pretty writing nerds. My Reddit fam, especially Lilah Vandenburgh for always putting perfectly into a few words what I am trying to say with a paragraph, and to the whole UpvoteYA podcast team.
To Beth Revis, for inspiring me to write space YA in the first place and for not being weirded out by my multiple homages to Across the Universe in this book. Your kindness and professional guidance over the years were instrumental. Susan Dennard for treating me like a peer long before I had a book deal and for always offering the best advice. You are a class act, and one of the most talented writers I have the privilege of knowing.
Thank you to the entire AMM fam: my mentees and friends Whitney Wyckoff, Alyssa Colman, India Hill and Lindsey Meredith: You are all destined for great things and I can’t wait to be there for them. Special thanks to Whitney for her help with the journalism parts, since I am terribly rusty in that arena, and to Alyssa for the brainstorming sessions. To all the mentors whom I also consider friends: Stay salty.
To WriteGirl, for welcoming me with open arms and unlocking a passion for teen mentorship, which has launched me down so many surprising paths. Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pen.
My DragonCon YA Lit Track squad who have been with me on the entire journey: Casey, Mel, Tara, Jenn, Natalie and Bev. Bev especially: I have learned so much from you and think you are the bee’s knees.
To my LA family, Patty, Daniel, Holly and Sylvia. Thank you for being my home away from home every holiday and letting me write while you watch football. I owe many words on the page to the NFL package.
Everyone at IMD: Adrienne, Nicole, Elizabeth, Mike, Scott, Katie, Doug, Patrick and Katherine. You are the best work team anyone could ask for. Thanks to Nicole for helping me with my Mandarin (inevitable errors are my own), and special thanks to Adrienne Alwag for always supporting my writer life and my work life.
Anyone I may have erred in forgetting: you are wonderful; I am terrible.
Charlotte Brontë, for creating a heroine who speaks to so many people, myself included. I’m convinced you wrote the first Y
A novel, and it has brought me so much joy since I was a teenager. I am sure I did not do justice to your beautiful book and characters, but thank you, nonetheless.
And last but never least, my mom, who has always believed in me and encouraged me to be a writer. You still tell people that I wrote a Babysitter’s Club “book” when I was eight and it was as good as the published stuff, and I don’t believe you, but I love that you think so. I am here because of you, and I love you.
About the Author
Photo by Bree Barton
ALEXA DONNE is a Ravenclaw who wears many hats, including teen mentor, college admissions essay advisor, fan convention organizer, YouTuber, and podcaster. When she’s not writing science fiction and fantasy for teens, Alexa works in international television marketing. A proud Boston University Terrier, she lives in Los Angeles with two fluffy ginger cats named after YA literature characters.
Visit her at www.alexadonne.com
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