Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all the people who helped shape the book you now hold in your hand:

Vikki Ciaffone, editor-in-chief of Spence City, who told me she wanted my first adult novel before I ever wrote it; Richard “Shecky” Shealy, editor extraordinaire and master wordsmith; Rich Storrs, whose humor and demand for perfection has delighted me since the first days with Finn Finnegan; Kaci Guthrie and Trisha J. Wooldridge (Trish was really the one who started this whole thing), my friends and beta-readers who saved me from tumbling down many a plot hole; and Errick A. Nunnally, the cover artist who captured the heart and soul of the book with a single image.

Another big thanks to Starr Griggs, Leisha O’Quinn, Michele Swindle, Beverly Archer, Tom Sanchez, and Deb McGuire for joining the Street Team so early on. Especially Leisha. She may not know that I “used” a part of her last name because I liked it so much. But, then again, she just might.

The words that Bann recited in Chapters Sixteen and Eighteen, and throughout the book, are a portion of the famous early Irish “Song of Amergin.” This translation is from the article “Echoes of Antiquity in the Early Irish ‘Song of Amergin’” by Lloyd D. Graham, 2010. Thank you, Dr. Graham, for allowing me and the Tuatha Dé Danaan to continue to use your words.

A very special thank you to Kelly Hager, friend since the first Griffin book, and publicist (co-worker!), who read an early draft and told me I had something. And then helped turn the “something” into something more.

And to my husband, Wes…