huge Auradon-style thank-you to my amazing editors, Hannah Allaman and Emily Meehan, for their faith and patience. Thank you to my family at Disney Publishing Worldwide, especially Guy Cunningham, Meredith Jones, Dan Kaufman, Seale “Eddy” Ballenger, Dina Sherman, MAZ!, Elena Blanco, Kim Knueppel, Elke Villa, Holly Nagel, and Andrew Sansone. Thank you to our Disney queen, Tonya Agurto.

Thank you to our partners at Disney Channel, especially Gary Marsh, Jennifer Rogers-Doyle, and Miriam Ogawa. Thank you to the director and stars of Descendants 3: Kenny Ortega, Dove Cameron, Mitchell Hope, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Brenna D’Amico, Zachary Gibson, Sarah Jeffery, and Jedidiah Goodacre.

Thank you to my 3Arts family, Richard Abate and Rachel Kim.

It’s been such a fun ride. Thank you to my two favorite people on the planet: my husband, Mike, and our daughter, Mattie, for putting up with the late nights and grumpy days. Thank you to my DLC family, especially my nephews Nicholas, Josey, and Seba, and my niece Marie. Thank you to all my dear friends, especially those who were so nice every time I had to cancel plans because I was on deadline.

Thank you to all the amazing Descenders and the people who maintain the Descendants Isle of the Lost books Wiki. WOW! You guys were an amazing help every time I had to look up something in the earlier books!

So much love, your loyal scribe,

Melissa (Mel) de la Cruz • February 2019

Los Angeles, CA