Calculated Risks

by Seanan McGuire

  Tanuki (Nyctereutes sapiens). Therianthrope shapeshifters from Japan, the Tanuki are critically endangered due to the efforts of the Covenant. Despite this, they remain friendly, helpful people, with a naturally gregarious nature which makes it virtually impossible for them to avoid human settlements. Tanuki possess three primary forms—human, raccoon dog, and big-ass scary monster. Pray you never see the third form of the Tanuki.

  Ukupani (Ukupani sapiens). Aquatic therianthropes native to the warm waters of the Pacific Islands, the Ukupani were believed for centuries to be an all-male species, until Thomas Price sat down with several local fishermen and determined that the abnormally large Great White sharks that were often found near Ukupani males were, in actuality, Ukupani females. Female Ukupani can’t shapeshift, but can eat people. Happily. They are as intelligent as their shapeshifting mates, because smart sharks are exactly what the ocean needed.

  Wadjet (Naja wadjet). Once worshipped as gods, the male wadjet resembles an enormous cobra, capable of reaching seventeen feet in length when fully mature, while the female wadjet resembles an attractive human female. Wadjet pair-bond young, and must spend extended amounts of time together before puberty in order to become immune to one another’s venom and be able to successfully mate as adults.

  Waheela (Waheela sapiens). Therianthrope shapeshifters from the upper portion of North America, the waheela are a solitary race, usually claiming large swaths of territory and defending it to the death from others of their species. Waheela mating season is best described with the term “bloodbath.” Waheela transform into something that looks like a dire bear on steroids. They’re usually not hostile, but it’s best not to push it.

  PLAYLIST

  “Instar” — Nancy Kerr & The Sweet Visitor Band

  “Waking Up in Vegas” — Katy Perry

  “Hive Mind” — They Might Be Giants

  “I am the One Who Will Remember

  Everything” — Dar Williams

  “I’ll Stop the World” — Modern English

  “In Another Life” — Vienna Tang

  “Re: Your Brains” — Jonathan Coulton

  “World Burn” — Mean Girls

  “Kiss With a Fist” — Florence and the Machine

  “My Grand Plan” — The Lightning Thief

  “Human Voice” — Anna and the Apocalypse

  “Scream” — Halestorm

  “Fight For Me” — Heathers: the Musical

  “The Other Side of Hollywood” — Cheyanne Wright

  “We Know the Way” — Moana

  “Tree on the Hill” — The Lightning Thief

  “Not Alone” — Sara Bareilles

  “Ode to an Accidental Stabbing” — Evil Dead: The Musical

  “Blood and Brains” — Monstersongs

  “Divide By Zero” — Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff

  “Sycamore Tree” — Seanan McGuire

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  You know, I had so much fun the last time we did this—and left you all at such an awkward spot in the story—that I just had to do it again. This is the second half of my sweet Sarah’s story. She and Alice were two of the first characters created for this setting, which is part of why it took me so long to get around to them; I not only needed to know that I was good enough to do them justice, I needed to make sure that everyone else would care about them as much as I did. Based on the responses to Imaginary Numbers, I achieved that much of my goal: people do care about what happens to Sarah. Now I just have to hope that I did the same with Alice. We’ll find out next year, with Spelunking Through Hell.

  I still live in the Seattle area, but this year, we were blessedly free of extreme snowfall, meaning we didn’t shut down over the winter. That’s a good thing in any year, but this year it meant that we didn’t go straight from shutdown into lockdown as COVID got rolling and the world ground to a halt. This is the longest in my adult life that I’ve spent in one city, much less one state! I can’t say that I’ve been enjoying it any more than the rest of y’all have. Thanks to all members of the Machete Squad, for keeping me functional and productive during a time no one could have fully predicted. Without them, I would have climbed a lot more walls and written a lot fewer words.

  I did manage to jam some travel in before 2020 shut us all down, most especially spending my birthday (January 5th, for the curious) in New York City on what amounted to basically a whim, seeing multiple Broadway shows, including the closing performance of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, and having a wonderful birthday dinner with my publisher at one of my favorite Manhattan restaurants. I have held onto the memory of that weekend for months, as proof that the world will be good again.

  Thanks to Chris Mangum, who maintains the code for my website, while Tara O’Shea, who manages the graphics. The words are all on me, which is why the site is so often out of date. Something’s gotta give! Thanks to everyone at DAW, the best home my heart could have, and to the wonderful folks in marketing and publicity at Penguin Random House.

  I am so glad to be finishing out Sarah’s current stretch of adventuring, and giving the poor girl the rest she’s so dearly earned, and I’m even more glad to have all of you here with me to see how it ends. I’m glad to have earned your attention and your trust. They are both very precious, very delicate things, and I treasure them.

  Cat update (I know you all live for these): Thomas is still doing very well, and still wearing his snazzy sweaters (which he can remove when he no longer wants the one he has on; I think if he could dress himself, I would be entirely extraneous to needs). Megara remains both incredibly soft and incredibly stupid; she is one of the world’s perfect angels, floating through life in a cloud of treats and cuddles. Elsie is queen of the castle, and considers me her personal private property. In 2020, both my mother and I got kittens, Tinkerbell for her and Verity for me, to add a little brightness to the household. Nothing like a global pandemic for socializing new members of the clowder!

  And now, gratitude in earnest. Thank you to the people who came out to see me at bookstores and conventions, before those shut down for a little while; to Kate, for being one of the rocks that keeps me solidly anchored; to Sari, for price checking every Pony under the sun; to Michelle Dockrey, for existence and random online commentary; to Chris Mangum, for being here even when it’s inconvenient; to Mike and Marnie, for Chicago hospitality, warm cars, and cold hands; and to my dearest Amy McNally, for everything. Thanks to Joe Field at Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff, for believing in me. And to you: thank you, so much, for reading.

  Any errors in this book are my own. The errors that aren’t here are the ones that all these people helped me fix. I appreciate it so much.

  Let’s do some math.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Seanan McGuire is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author. The October Daye novels are her first urban fantasy series, and the InCryptid novels are her second series, both of which have put her on the New York Times bestseller list and the Hugo ballot. She is the first person to be nominated for five Hugo Awards in a single year.

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