Eight Will Fall, page 29
Her feet sank into the wet sand as briny waves beckoned her outward. She found delight in the fact that she could pull herself back if she wanted.
But she didn’t. Not now. She wanted nothing but sea spray and the crust of sunset melting into the horizon.
And Amias.
She sensed his hesitance long before he reached her, encouraging him by holding out her hand. He finally took it, standing next to her in the water.
“I hated watching you limp across the beach,” Amias said. “Will you ever mend it?”
The breeze brushed across her smile. “It humbles me. Reminds me I’m mortal.” She squeezed his hand. “Maybe when Elf returns from her tour, I’ll let her mend it. She’s a better healer, after all.”
Amias said nothing in return, only watched the waves alongside her. Perhaps he knew that words pooled inside her, ones she so rarely spoke, afraid of her parents’ grief.
“Garran would have loved this,” said Larkin.
“It is hard not to love it.”
He was right. She did love the ocean. The vastness of it. The possibility. It reminded her of Amias.
She pulled her feet from the sand and turned to face him. His cheeks were bitten red by the wind, dark eyes glinting with sunset-gold.
Larkin never thought she’d see the ocean. And she never thought she’d have the freedom to love someone like this. And that’s what this was—love. It had culminated over the heat of summer, as they sweated in the fields together beneath the sun. As they washed off the sweat with ocean salt. As she grew to care for Skye and Amias’s mother like she cared for her own family. It was love.
And Larkin was ready to feel it now.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have learned more about being an artist in the three years I worked on Eight Will Fall than in the eighteen years of writing that came before. This book has been a test of my resilience, and I’m so grateful that I didn’t have to make the journey alone.
To Kathleen Rushall, the First of Her Name, Queen of Badassery, Agent Extraordinaire, Wielder of Negotiations, and Fierce Protector of Sanity: I am beyond privileged to be your client. Thank you dearly for these past seven years.
Levente Szabo and Katie Klimowicz, thank you for making Eight Will Fall absolutely stunning to look at. Thanks to Ilana Worrell, Jie Yang, Cynthia Lliguichuzhca, and the rest of the Holt team for your dedication to this project. To Tiff Liao, thank you so much for helping me mine Larkin’s deepest desires and make her shine in the darkest parts of the Reach.
Thanks to Hayley Wagreich, Joelle Hobeika, Josh Bank, Sara Shandler, Les Morgenstein, and Romy Golan at Alloy Entertainment for giving me the opportunity to create this story.
To Kristin Briana Otts and Christine Autrand Mitchell, thank you for the notes, the coffee dates, and most importantly, your friendships when I needed them most.
Melanie Kramer, Rachael Allen, Dawn Miller, Janine Clayson, Shari Lambert, and all my LitBitches, thank you for the page reads, brainstorming help, and support along this wild decade-long journey we’ve shared together.
To my parents, Heidi and Mike, my siblings, Carli and Stefan, my grandparents, Shirley, Walter, Wendy, Nancy, and Armen, along with my wonderfully supportive extended family: thank you for your love, and for cultivating safe places where I could grow to become a dreamer and a storyteller.
Leah, thank you for the car rides of our late teens and all the writing that soon followed. I wouldn’t be where I am if I hadn’t finished that first manuscript by your side.
Thanks to the Fresno State MFA community for being so supportive of this alumna, even though she writes young adult horror. Your enthusiasm is refreshing and I am so grateful for it.
To all my friends who have supported and encouraged me over the years online, in group texts, and in pubs over too much whiskey, you know who you are. You have listened, made me laugh, inspired me, and defined who I am. Thank you for all of it.
Thomas Bergersen and Steve Jablonsky, thank you for creating the music that shapes my stories, and to the five Bs of gaming: Bethesda, Bioware, Black Isle, Blizzard, and Bungie, for developing and publishing the dungeons and worlds that inspired the Reach.
Thanks to all the early readers, bloggers, and Instagrammers who have taken the time to express their excitement for Eight Will Fall. Your posts and messages have made the past few months a joy.
And finally, to the boy who diligently read the terrible chapters I posted on my Myspace blog all those years ago, the man I fell in love with, who has held me as I cried after every hard rejection, read every bad draft, and believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself. Jesse, you are the reason why I have never given up. I love you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Harian grew up in the foothills of Yosemite. She received her BA in English education and MFA in creative writing at Fresno State University. She also has a fondness for hiking, playing video games, reading adventure novels, and sharing a wonderful meal with equally wonderful people. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and dog and will likely (hopefully) be a West Coaster for life.
Visit her online at sarahharian.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Epilogue: Autumn
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Harian
Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866
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First hardcover edition 2019
eBook edition November 2019
eISBN 9781250196651
Sarah Harian, Eight Will Fall
