I bite down on my lower lip, and he groans quietly. I flush and can’t keep from smiling. “Morgan thinks it might be tested on animals, so…”
“I think it’s been tested on me plenty.”
My pulse dances.
“Quint?”
“Prudence?”
I take a step toward him, at the same moment he finally pushes away from the door.
We meet in the middle.
FORTY-EIGHT
Prudence: A
Quint: A
Overall: A+
Thoughtful presentation, concise writing, and a number of convincing arguments, all well-researched and well-executed. I’m impressed! I particularly enjoyed hearing how you’ve been working together to implement your ideas at the sea animal rescue center. You’ve proposed a truly ingenious plan for bringing ecotourism to our area in a way that benefits our community and our local wildlife and habitats. This report is a great example of what can be accomplished when two people overcome their differences and work together.
I’m exceptionally proud of you both. Nicely done.
“Satisfied?” asks Quint. We’re in our booth at Encanto, reading Mr. Chavez’s email on his phone.
I screw my lips to one side, considering. “How come we got an A+ overall, but I only got an A? What’s up with that?”
“Because,” he says, sliding an arm around my shoulders, “you’re pretty great on your own, but you’re even better with me.”
I grumble, even though … I can’t deny it.
He reaches over and closes the email. The screen switches to his home screen. The wallpaper beneath his apps is a picture of me—the photo he took on the beach during the Freedom Festival. When he showed it to me, he said it might be his favorite picture he’s ever taken. In part because the lighting was just so good that day, but mostly because my dimples are on full display.
I told him that would be really flattering if I wasn’t mostly competing with injured, malnourished pinnipeds.
“You two are making me uncomfortable,” says Jude, sandwiched between me and Ari. He has his sketchbook in his lap, trying to come up with a fearsome new creature to use in his D&D campaign. The only part of it he seems happy with is a pair of vicious-looking horns on the creature’s head. Everything else has already been erased and redrawn a hundred times.
I reach out and smack him on the shoulder. “Admit it. You think we’re super cute.”
Jude raises an eyebrow at me. “I think Ewoks are super cute. I think you two are a made-for-TV movie.”
“I think made-for-TV movies are super cute,” Ari points out.
“Got it!” yells Ezra, jamming his finger down on the songbook. “‘Too Sexy.’ That’s my song. All the way.”
“As in, ‘I’m Too Sexy’?” asks Morgan.
“No,” says Ezra. “As in, I’m too sexy.” He taps his chest. “Though you’re not half-bad.”
Morgan looks briefly disgusted, but then she gets a wicked look in her eye and leans toward him. “Do you know what’s really hot?”
He leans toward her.
“Maturity.”
A devious grin spreads over Ezra’s lips. “Oh my god, you are so right. For example, Quint’s mom is a total babe.”
Quint groans and hides his face behind one hand.
Ari casts me a look, but I can only shrug. I’m not entirely sure what to do with EZ, either, but he and Quint have been best friends since elementary school, so I think it’s a package deal.
“Hand me one of those slips, would you, Jude? Jude the Dude?” asks Ezra.
Jude looks up from his sketchbook, but Ari has already beat him to it. She hands Ezra a karaoke slip with a look of resignation, before taking the songbook for herself. “I have an idea for you and me, Pru,” she says, flipping through the pages. “Here. What do you think?” She holds the book up. “Of Monsters and Men duet?”
I shrug. “I don’t know who that is.”
“Prudence!” She throws her head back. “I don’t know how much longer I can be friends with you if you don’t start expanding your musical knowledge.”
Jude nods. “Even I know Of Monsters and Men.”
I look at Quint. He shrugs. “Yep. They’re pretty good.”
Morgan and Ezra nod at me, too.
I turn back to Ari. “Sorry?”
She sighs and starts flipping through the book again. “I’m going to find something you can’t say no to. And not John Lennon and Yoko Ono. There has to be something else in here.”
“Hey,” I say, turning my attention back to Quint, “did you get your class schedule yet?”
“Not yet. Why?”
“Just wondering whether we’re going to be in the same chemistry class. I thought maybe we could be lab partners, if they aren’t preassigned.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Only a masochist would volunteer to be your lab partner.”
“I’ll be your lab partner,” says Ezra.
I cringe, then look pleadingly at Quint. He hums to himself, as if this were a big decision and he really has to think it over.
I kiss him. He melts against me, his arm tightening, drawing me closer.
Beside me, Jude mutters, “I would literally rather be thrown into the fires of Mount Doom than be stuck in this booth right now.”
I pull away and kick my brother under the table, but he just starts to chuckle. I know he has to play the grossed-out-brother card, but I also know he likes Quint and he’s really happy for us.
Someday, I hope to see him this happy. And Ari, too, for that matter.
“So?” I ask, refocusing on Quint. “What do you say, partner?”
“Hey, did you not see my kickass presentation on shark fin soup? Evidently, that stuff is delicious.”
Morgan gasps audibly. “You are barbaric.”
I meet Quint’s eye again. “Please rescue me.”
He grins. “I guess someone has to be your partner, so I might as well take one for the team.”
“How very generous of you.”
“Just trying to build up my good karma points.”
“I’m sure the universe will reward you greatly.”
“You know what?” says Quint. “I think it already has.”
We kiss again, and I can’t help but smile against him—blissfully, cosmically happy.
I swear I can feel the universe smiling back.
Acknowledgments
So. Much. Gratitude.
To begin, I am exceptionally indebted to the incredible volunteers and staff at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California, for giving me a behind-the-scenes peek into their facility and for allowing me to pester them for hours with questions about their center and the animals they care for. I came away from this visit with a heart full of love for these beautiful creatures and with a head full of amazing real-life stories, many that went on to inspire the stories of various animals in this book. I am particularly grateful to Amanda Walters, the education instructor at PMMC, for answering my questions about rainstorms and flooding protocol, among other things, and helping to fact-check the final book. If the stories of sea animals in this book have touched your heart, I highly recommend following the Pacific Marine Mammal Center on Instagram, @pacificmmc, or visiting them at pacificmmc.org.
Similarly, I am so grateful for the staff at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, for answering yet more of my endless questions about sea animals and their habitats, care, and rehabilitation. (As a sidenote, any factual errors related to the animals or the care they receive are entirely my fault or a result of creative license.)
Thank you also to Alexander Atwood for his musical expertise, particularly with his help writing the chapter in which Ari nerds out over “Daniel” by Elton John. (Alex is also a great ukulele instructor—thanks, Alex!—and has a YouTube channel for anyone interested in learning how to play bass guitar. Find him at youtube.com/stepbystepbass.)
I am so grateful to all my Spanish-speaking reade
rs on Twitter who helped me figure out what on earth to name Carlos’s restaurant. (I will always be a little sad that ¡Vamos Plátanos! or Let’s Go Bananas! didn’t work out, but I’ll probably get over it.) Many thanks as well to Alejandra for her focused sensitivity read.
As always, I send all the gratitude in the world to my excellent team at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Liz! Jean! Jon! Mary! Jo! Morgan! Rich! Brittany! Allison! Mariel! Everybody else! You guys are the best, and I am so proud and honored to call Macmillan my publishing home. I also owe many thanks to my copyeditor, Anne Heausler, who always keeps me from making truly embarrassing mistakes. And to my audiobook narrator, Rebecca Soler, for using her talent to bring so much fantastic life to my stories and characters.
Speaking of homes—an enormous thank-you goes to my agent, Jill Grinberg, and her whole crew: Sam Farkas, Denise Page, Katelyn Detweiler, and Sophia Seidner. Your support and diligence are unparalleled, and I am so delighted to get to work with you.
And of course, to the best beta-reader any author could ever ask for, Tamara Moss (@writermoss). I truly don’t know what I would do without you and the years of feedback, encouragement, and writerly wisdom you’ve given me. I send you all the hugs.
Last, but never, ever least—to my husband, Jesse (whose favorite movie is Jaws), and my shark-obsessed daughter, Delaney (whose favorite movie is now also Jaws), and my non-shark-obsessed daughter, Sloane, both of whom provided so much delightful fodder for Pru’s little sister. I guess I must have done something right because the universe was definitely smiling on me when it brought you three into my life.
About the Author
Marissa Meyer is the #1 New York Times—bestselling author of the Renegades Trilogy, The Lunar Chronicles series, the Wires and Nerve graphic novels, and The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book. Her first standalone novel, Heartless, was also a #1 New York Times bestseller. Marissa created and hosts a podcast called The Happy Writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and their two daughters. You can 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
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
INSTANT KARMA. Copyright © 2020 by Rampion Books. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020908578
ISBN 978-1-250-61881-8 (hardcover) / ISBN 978-1-250-80135-7 (special edition) 978-1-250-78657-9 (special edition) / ISBN 978-1-250-61882-5 (ebook)
Book design by Rich Deas and Michelle McMillian
Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
First edition, 2020
fiercereads.com
eISBN 9781250618825
Instant Karma Page 42