I hated that about winter-night seemed to reach earlier and earlier into the afternoon. I headed west, toward the sinking sun that set the remainder of the day on fire.

THE SHADOWS GREW LONGER THE farther I walked from the center of the city. The only one they’ll use to tell our story. It is the button that should never have been pushed, the door that shouldn’t have opened, the dried blood that couldn’t be washed away.

I see it in the face of a broken compass, feel it in the numbing grip of grief. The color of Chubs’s hair, Liam’s bruises, Zu’s eyes.īlack is a promise of tomorrow, bled dry from lies and hate. It is the barrel of a new gun, leveled at your heart. A forgotten night sky broken up by faded stars. Black is the mud, the lidless eye watching your every breath, the low vibrations of the fence that stretches up to tear at the sky. It is a uniform stretched over the broad shoulders of an angry young man. The heaviest hour of night-the one that traps you in your bunk, suffocating in another nightmare. In our youth, our hearts were touched with fire.īLACK IS THE COLOR THAT is no color at all.īlack is the color of a child’s still, empty bedroom. For information address Hyperion, 125 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10023.įor Merrilee, Emily, and the countless others around the world who have worked tirelessly to put this series into your hands, with my love and gratitude. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Published by Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group. Cover design and photo illustration by Sammy YuenĪll rights reserved.

In the afterlight by alexandra bracken