I am first and foremost grateful for my tireless agent and champion, Sarah Davies. Thank you, Sarah, for your wisdom and for advising me to put this story back in the drawer until I had the voice to tell it. As always, you were right.

Thank you to my editor, Emily Meehan, and her team at Disney•Hyperion, for placing their faith in my stories. This book would not be what it is today if not for the patience of Hannah Allaman, who coached me through every painful revision with kindness, honesty, and care. I am grateful to the following people who worked together to bring this story to life and then to library and bookstore shelves—Maria Elias, Brandy Colbert, Dina Sherman, Frank Bumbalo, Holly Nagel, Jackie DeLeo, Sara Liebling, Guy Cunningham, David Jaffe, and Amy Goppert.

My critique partners, Megan Miranda and Ashley Elston, have been a source of support, sanity, and laughter throughout the development of this book (and all my books). I appreciate you both more than words can express. Thank you to Romily Bernard, Tamara Ireland Stone, Heather Ezell, and Tessa Elwood for offering feedback along the way.

One of the things I loved most about writing this book was the research involved. My thanks go out to the brilliant staff and educators of Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestowne, and Historic St. Mary’s City, who bring the early colonies to life.

While rooted in real landmarks and historical facts, this book is a work of fiction. Chaptico, Maryland, is a real town, and Chaptico Wharf is a real part of colonial Maryland’s history. Moll Dyer, Mary Lee, and Rebecca Fowler are thought to have been real women, persecuted as witches during that time period. And children were sold into servitude in the colonies throughout the late sixteen hundreds and into the early seventeen hundreds, some at the bequest of their parents, but many forcibly and against their will. While the backdrop of this story is real, the individuals, families, and events depicted in this novel are entirely fictitious. There is no Slaughter Farm. There was no Chaptico Witch. And, sadly, Nathaniel and Tori are products of my own imagination.

I would like to thank my family, for their sacrifices and patience during the writing of this book. Without their support, it would never have been possible. My parents have believed in this book since the very first pages, and have waited years to finally know the rest of Nat’s and Em’s stories. This book (and all the pages that never made it into the final version) is as much theirs as mine, and I love them for it. I’m thankful for my children, who amaze me with their imaginations, and who still let me read them fairy tales every night. And for my husband, who breathes inspiration into my life in so many ways, but especially this story. Tony, you are my home.

Finally, I would like to thank my readers—the librarians and booksellers who put my stories into the hands of people who’ll love them, the fans who leave thoughtful and passionate reviews, and students who e-mail to tell me they ditched class to finish my books because they had to know what happened next. A book doesn’t come to life for me until you’ve read it. My characters don’t really breathe until you’ve met them, and these places I write about don’t exist until you’ve stepped into them with me. Thank you for making them real.