by Lex Thomas
“What? You’re scaring me,” Lucy said.
“It’s just—” Her mom’s mascara was smeared. She’d been crying. “I’m going to patch your uncle in.”
Uncle Phillip? Her uncle was a physician, and he’d come to give her a checkup a week ago to make sure her injuries were healing properly. They’d sworn that he was family and she could trust him, but now she wondered if that was true.
There was a quiet click.
“Hello, Phillip, are you there?” her mom said.
“Yes, you got me,” Phillip said.
“Okay, Lucy’s on too. Can you tell her what you told me?”
There was a pause.
“You haven’t said anything?” Phillip said.
“I—couldn’t,” her mom said.
Phillip took a deep breath. It sounded like radio static when he blew it out.
“Well, all right. Hey, Lucy,” he said.
“Uh … hey, Uncle Phillip.”
“I’ll get to the point, kiddo. I ran your blood work,” Phillip continued, “and, honey, uh … you’re pregnant.”
Lucy nearly dropped the phone.
“What do you mean, I’m pregnant?”
“What?” David said, and walked over to her.
His eyes were full of hope.
“I …,” Lucy said.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” her mother said.
David grabbed her phone and pressed speakerphone.
“That’s not possible,” Lucy said at her phone with a hint of anger. “I told you—in confidence, Uncle Phillip”—she glanced at her mother through the window and cringed—“that I had a miscarriage.”
“I know you did,” her uncle said.
Lucy turned away from the window. She didn’t want to see what her mom was feeling.
“Well, I wasn’t lying about it, believe me,” she said.
“I don’t think you were,” Uncle Phillip said.
“Then what are you …”
“You were pregnant with twins.”
Joy and heartache swirled within Lucy. David hugged her and didn’t let go.
“I can’t believe it. I’m gonna be an uncle.” David said with wonder.
Since the first day of school, she’d always been afraid of what was around the corner, but now Lucy could see a future with David stretching out before her and the fear wasn’t there. Still, her mind reeled.
“Uncle Phillip, it doesn’t make sense to me,” Lucy said.
“It’s not that uncommon. A lot of pregnancies start out as twins,” her uncle said. “To put it simply, early in your pregnancy there were two fetuses, and at some point—”
He coughed, and cleared his throat.
“The weaker one died.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When we began working on Quarantine, writing even a single novel seemed like an impossible challenge. Now, four years later, we are authors of an insane trilogy that we love, and we’ve been happy to discover that other people love it too. We’re grateful to everyone who has ever read a Quarantine book and told a friend about it.
We’d also like to thank:
Andrea Cascardi, Erin Molta, Margaret Coffee, Michelle Bayuk, and our team at Egmont for giving us the freedom to make bold choices every step of the way.
Mollie Glick and everyone at Foundry for seeing the potential in Quarantine from the start.
Greg Ferguson for his guidance in crafting the ultimate high school nightmare.
Elizabeth Law for taking a chance on us.
Rachel Miller and Jesse Hara for their encouragement and support.
Kami Garcia for her unflappable enthusiasm for Quarantine.
Daniel Kraus for always seeing our story for what it was and being the first to tell the world about it.
And so many others who helped us along the way, in big ways and small, like Peter Beck, Jen Bigheart, Duncan Birmingham, Aaron Buckwalter, Cy and Genevieve Carter, Mary Elizabeth Day, LeVette Fuller, Erin Gross, Franklin Hardy, Karen Jensen, Ian Kemmer, Elisa Kemmer, John Kneedler, Lane Kneedler, Susan Kneedler, Tara Kole, Shane Kosakowski, Heather McCallum, Chris and Frances Merrill, Curtis Nishimura, Michelle Pak, Lauren Peugh, Mary Rolich, Will Richter, AJ Rinella, Susan Robertson, Katie Robbins, Geoffrey Rose, Loretto Seles, Andrew Seles, Kirsten Smith, Louis Tocchet, Clay Tweel, Andrea Vuleta, Jeffrey West, Stephanie Wilkes, Richard Wilkinson, and the YA Sisterhood.
Lex, in particular, would like to thank:
Every friend who bought a book or rallied for a book signing; Eluria, his grandmother, who couldn’t get enough Quarantine, even if she thought there was too much cussing; his parents, who never hesitated to say, “Go for it.”; Geoffrey and Noelle, Geoffrey and Kate, and Peter, who endured a working stiff on sunny summer days with humor and understanding; Matt and Staci for being such thoughtful and generous friends during the final push of this series; and finally Alexis for her patience, love, and confidence, and for being an advisor like no other.
Thomas, in particular, would like to thank his parents, who have been his greatest supporters; his favorite painting teachers, Thomas Sgouros and Trent Burelson, for their art lessons that continue to shape his craft; his sixth grade English teacher, Mr. Rosenwald, who told him that the point of life was to have fun; his high school English teacher Mrs. Solari for enduring his antics; Angela Trimbur for her love and inspiration; and his entire family—his aunts and uncles, brother and cousins—for being his biggest fans.
Without the help we received from all of you, Quarantine may never have happened.