make this book what it is. Foremost among them is my sterling developmental editor, Laura Cifelli Stibich, who made this story immeasurably better. (Seriously, she did.) I also owe many thanks to my hardworking copyeditor, Maria Fairchild, and eagle-eyed proofreader, Martin O’Hearn. The cover and the series logo are both the work of the talented Kim Killion, of The Killion Group. Thank you, Kim! And last—but definitely not least—my thanks go to my parents, without whose support this book would not have been published.