Faerie Winter

and Faerie as well.

We didn’t stop until the soil beneath us stirred. We scrambled to our feet then, remembering that we were in a forest, with all the dangers forests held. A bright purple flower unfurled in the brown mud. Matthew and I stepped back as the crocus hissed with the acid it held.

“It’s spring,” Matthew said, but not as if he believed it.

I looked at the bright trees, at the small spitting flower at our feet, at Matthew’s muddy hands holding both of mine. For now I would have to believe for us both.

“I know it is,” I said.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to: C. S. Adler, Dawn Dixon, Larry Hammer, Jill Knowles, Patricia McCord, and Jennifer J. Stewart for reading the manuscript, often on short notice. Everyone at Kindling Words West 2009 and 2010 for their positive energy and regular reminders that I knew how to tell this story. Petra Brun for loaning me her daughter Elin’s name. Rick Holderman for answering my hawk questions. My editor, Jim Thomas, without whom this would be a far weaker book. Chelsea Eberly, Ellice M. Lee, Meg O’Brien, and everyone at Random House who saw the story out into the world. My agent, Nancy Gallt, without whom Liza’s journey might never have begun, and her assistant, Marietta Zacker. And especially, my thanks to all the readers who asked to see more of Liza and her world and who encouraged me to return there.

About the Author

Janni Lee Simner lives in the Arizona desert, where she has traded winters with snowfalls and gray trees for winters with rainfalls and green trees. Faerie Winter is the sequel to her first young adult novel, Bones of Faerie. Janni is also the author of the young adult fantasy Thief Eyes, as well as four books for younger readers and more than thirty short stories, including one in the urban fantasy anthology Welcome to Bordertown.

To learn more about Janni, visit her website at simner.com