Keefe swallowed hard, clearing his throat several times to make sure the words were a request, not a command, before he said, “You can’t tell Foster you have a way to reach me.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Grady promised.

Keefe nodded, grabbing the Imparter and shoving it into his pocket as Grady’s words replayed in his head.

Sophie’s going to need you.

He didn’t think she would.

He knew she would keep right on being her brave, powerful, awesome self and show his mom why the moonlark would always be better and smarter and stronger than anyone else.

“Thank you,” Grady said, giving Keefe’s arm a gentle squeeze before letting him go.

Keefe took one last look around the room, and when he got to Iggy’s cage—and the letter underneath—he realized he’d reached another point of no return.

He’d had a lot of those in his life.

But this was a big one.

And the right one.

He just had to be brave.

“Take care of yourself,” Grady told him as Keefe pulled out the pathfinder he’d stolen from his dad. And it was obvious that Grady noticed that the crystal was cobalt blue.

“I’ll try,” Keefe promised.

It was the best he could do.

Then he stepped into the path and let the blue light carry him far away.

To the Mysterious Miss F!

Ugh—I’m already regretting starting this letter that way. But I don’t have any extra paper, and crossing it out would look worse, so… I guess we’ll just have to add it to my list of mistakes.

And I know you’re going to think that everything I’m about to say should also be on that long list of Keefe Fails. But I swear—that’s NOT what this is. I’m not trying to fix everything or save everyone this time. I’m just trying to make sure I don’t hurt anyone.

I can’t tell you more than that without putting you in danger, so just… trust me when I say that the powers my mom gave me are super bad. There seriously aren’t strong enough words to explain how horrible they are. And I CAN’T control them—just like I can’t stop my mom from forcing me to use them.

So… this is the only way. I don’t want to do it. But I have to.

And I’m not going to ask you not to hate me. In fact, it might be better if you do, because I need you to PROMISE that you won’t try to find me. My mom will be waiting for you to track me down—and since I know how stubborn you are, I want to make sure you understand who you’d be putting in danger.

I’m going to be hiding the same way the Black Swan hid you.

That’s why you have to stay away. Well, there are lots of reasons. So again, please, just… trust me, okay?

And since this is the last time I’ll ever talk to you, I just… I want to say that I’m really going to miss you. You mean a lot to me, Foster. More than you’ll ever know.

Please be careful. Please be happy. And PLEASE forget all about me.

It’ll be better for everyone that way. You’ll see.

Love,

Keefe

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’m sure you guys all turned the page thinking, There’s absolutely no way Shannon Messenger would end this book without showing us Sophie’s reaction to Keefe’s letter! Even with all her evil cliff-hangers, she would never do THAT!

And yet…

Don’t worry, we’ll pick up Sophie’s story in Book 9—which I’m writing as fast as I can.

AND I REALLY DO LOVE YOU GUYS. I SWEAR!!! YOU’RE ALL AMAZING AND AWESOME AND FABULOUS AND BRILLIANT—AND HAVE I MENTIONED YOU’RE ALSO PATIENT AND FORGIVING???

*considers going into hiding*

Torturous endings aside, I hope you guys loved this book as much as I do. I’ve never written a project like this, and it was such an amazing experience working with a truly incredible team. So many brilliant people shared their time and talent to make Unlocked Book 8.5 come together, I don’t even know where to begin! But I guess I’ll start with the phenomenal illustrators who contributed their stunning art to this book.

To Francesca Baerald: Thank you for taking that horrible sketch I sent you and creating the most gorgeous map I’ve ever seen. You truly are a genius for figuring out how to organize everything.

To Jason Chan: Thank you, thank you, thank you for another perfect cover. Not gonna lie, I got a little teary seeing my brave girl flying all by herself on her alicorn.

To Felia Hanakata: Thank you for taking on the daunting task of trying to make drawings of plants and clothes and foods seem exciting—and then knocking it out of the park on every illustration. (Also: Those stuffed animal drawings have made my life.)

To Laura Hollingsworth: You seriously outdo yourself with every piece and have managed to capture my characters so perfectly that sometimes I wonder if you peeked inside my brain. (You’re not a Telepath, are you???)

Of course I also have to thank the myriad of people at Simon & Schuster who managed to make such a complicated project happen—and during such an especially complicated year, no less—including Liesa Abrams Mignogna and Jessica Smith (who truly were the wonder editing team!), Rebecca Vitkus and Elizabeth Mims (my copyediting and fact-checking geniuses, who—it should be noted—also helped compile everything I’d need to write the guide section, which was a Herculean task!), Karin Paprocki and Mike Rosamilia (who are the reason this book looks so beautiful), Jon Anderson, Valerie Garfield, Chelsea Morgan, Sara Berko, Adam Smith, Stacey Sakal, Lauren Hoffman, Caitlin Sweeny, Alissa Nigro, Anna Jarzab, Nicole Russo, Cassie Malmo, Michelle Leo, Mara Anastas, Chriscynethia Floyd, Jenn Rothkin, Ian Reilly, Christina Pecorale, Victor Iannone, and the entire sales team.

I also couldn’t do this job without the invaluable guidance from my agent, Laura Rennert (as well as everyone else at Andrea Brown Literary and Taryn Fagerness Agency).

And while all of my foreign publishers are seriously The Best, I have to give special thanks to Cécile Pournin and Mathilde Tamae-Bouhon—and everyone else at Lumen éditions—for taking such good care of me when I’ve visited you in France (and for always doing such fantastic work on my books).

I’ll never be able to properly thank all the booksellers, teachers, librarians, bloggers, and #bookstagrammers who spread the love for this series—but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying! You truly are the best people ever!

And I have to thank Katie Laird, my assistant extraordinaire, for being my second brain and helping me finally get organized and caught up.

Of course I also have to thank the friends who’ve been there for all of my brainstorming, commiserating, venting, panicking, and procrastinating needs, including Roshani Chokshi, Debra Driza, Faith Hochhalter, Jenn Johansson, Amie Kaufman, Kelly Ramirez, C. J. Redwine, Brandi Stewart, Amy Tintera, Kasie West, and Sarah Wylie.

I also owe a special shout-out to Alexander Morelli—even though he technically already got one in the dedication—because this book wouldn’t be what it is without him. So thank you, Alex, for all your patience and plotting and planning and pep talks. (I could say more, but I think I’ll stop with that awesome alliteration. )

And last but never least, I have to thank my family—Allison, Jeff, Nadia, and Roland, who manage to make me feel cool and tease me so unfailingly that it keeps me humble. And Mom and Dad: I absolutely could not do this super-tricky, exhausting, wonderful, complicated job without you! I promise, I really will try to sleep more next year!