“Where do you want to go?” Samuel asks.
I turn to face him before resting my head on his shoulder. “The ocean,” I answer.
“There are wolves there, too.”
“I know.”
Samuel nods. “Then that’s where we’ll go.”
EPILOGUE
The air-conditioning in Sophia’s car—well, our car, I suppose—is broken. It doesn’t matter much, now that it’s the beginning of autumn, but we still have to wipe beads of sweat off our foreheads by the time we reach downtown Live Oak. We breeze past the square, the Confederate soldier statue, Judy’s diner. Luxe barks at ducks waddling beside the road as we turn onto the interstate, and we shush him.
Samuel, Ansel, and me.
Ansel doesn’t want to let go of the chocolatier, of Sophia. He aches for her, sees her in his dreams and nightmares. I understand. I understand completely. My brother lies down across the backseat of the car with Luxe and closes his eyes, swallows hard, as though it’ll be easier to pull away from Live Oak if he doesn’t have to watch it happen.
“You want to drive?” Samuel asks as wind rushes through the windows, almost deafeningly.
I shake my head, squinting as my hair flies around my face. “Not yet. I want to be able to look at everything when we get there. I can’t do that if I’m trying not to wreck.”
Samuel smiles. “You’ll like it. I went there a few times with Layla. It’s beautiful.”
“I know,” I say. “I know it will be.”
We cut through forest, through farmland, and finally, palm trees start to spring up on the sides of the road. The oaks still loom, draped in Spanish moss, but the ground is sandy and the scent of salt swoops into the car around us. I inhale deeply, letting it filter through me.
Samuel turns down a tiny road lined with cottages, which ends in a parking lot by a set of wooden stairs. He cuts the car off and turns to me, watching, waiting for my reaction.
I slowly open the door, step out of the car. The sound of waves crashing soothes me, gulls calling, flat blue water that stretches out until it touches the setting sun. I whistle for Luxe, who wakes Ansel when he hops out. My brother emerges from the car, squinting in the sunlight, and gives me a weak smile.
Together, we walk toward the ocean.
Acknowledgments
Sweetly seemed like it would be an easy book to write. I loved the characters. I loved the story. I sat down, raring to go, excited to see it take shape… and it turned out to be what seemed, at times, an impossible book to write.
I can say with absolute certainty that I would still be huddled in my bedroom crying were it not for the heroic, practical, and kind acts of the following people. I owe you endless thanks and bottomless boxes of chocolate.
Julie Scheina, Jill Dembowski, and Jennifer Hunt, for their sage advice and brilliant ideas that talked me off the cliff and back to my chair.
Carrie Ryan, Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff, for hours upon hours of e-mail, instant messages, and late-night conversations about how to be a better reader, writer, and author.
Tessa Gratton, the only person I’d trust to read my or Gretchen’s tarot cards.
Saundra Mitchell, for reading and rereading Sweetly, shining it up, lifting my spirits, and for being the only person who will watch Deadliest Catch with me.
The 2009 Debutantes for continued advice and support during everything from middle-of-the-night meltdowns to jubilant “It’s done!” parties.
Jim McCarthy for adopting Sweetly and loving it as his own.
Granddaddy Pearce and my father, Brad Pearce, for teaching me how to shoot a rifle and a shotgun—and for not picking on me when I cried over the recoil.
Ames O’Neill for being as excited as I am to share my books with the world.
StrawberryLuna for giving Sisters Red a cover that gave me chills.
Sarah Basiliere for helping me find my way up the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
Most of the 2010 PRHS color guard senior class, for contributing their names to the list of the Live Oak missing—thanks for volunteering to be eaten by wolves, ladies.
My parents and sister, for their continued tolerance of my high levels of crazy, for clipping every newspaper article, and for being at every event to cheer me on. Also my grandparents, for shamelessly telling everyone who crosses their paths to read my books.
Character Interview: Gretchen and Rosie
Get a glimpse into a conversation between Gretchen from Sweetly and Rosie from Sisters Red, a companion novel to Sweetly by Jackson Pearce.
I’ve always thought that Gretchen and Rosie, in some ways, are two sides of the same coin. Although they’ve never met in the novels, each has experienced both the Fenris and the weight of making a seemingly impossible decision about someone she loves. Each carries the responsibility that comes with those experiences differently, yet they still have common ground. I started thinking about what they might talk about if they got together, and how their different stories would impact their answers to questions. The result is the following interview, which starts in what I envision as the middle of their conversation, perhaps several months after the events of their individual stories.
Rosie: There’s an understanding, isn’t there, between everyone who knows about the Fenris? It’s like we all know one another, even when we don’t really.
Gretchen: I think so. Sometimes I feel like I got exclusive tickets into some sort of club. A club with monsters. That can’t be normal, being happy about being involved in a monster club.…
Rosie: I know what you mean, though. Besides, what is normal, anyway?
Gretchen: I don’t know. Sometimes, before we got to Live Oak and I knew the truth about the monsters, it was like I had a normal life. Every now and then, when I’d get caught up in the moment and for a little while forget that I had a missing twin, I’d feel like I fit in, like I was the same as everyone else. But with your sister, you always had to be a hunter. Did you ever get to feel normal?
Rosie: Normal compared to what? It was normal, as far as I was concerned, to wake up and stretch and go get in a fistfight with my sister to practice attacking monsters. For some people it’s normal to get up and go to school. I think you create your own normal, for better or for worse. Did I know I was different from other girls? Yes, of course. I mean, forget the Fenris. Other girls went to school and had mothers and fathers and dogs and didn’t know anything about knives. But I still felt normal. Do you think you’re more or less normal now than you were back in Washington?
Gretchen: I feel…more normal, actually. Which is weird, because it’s not more normal to know about monsters and go looking for them to shoot them and see the sort of horrible things I’ve seen. But knowing the truth about what’s really in the woods makes me feel more normal because it’s kind of like…knowing what they are helps me know who and what I am. Weren’t you scared, though, growing up knowing what the wolves were?
Rosie: No. I mean, yes, of course—they’re scary. But my sister was never afraid, not really, so I wasn’t either. Because she knew we could take them, I knew we could take them. If I’d been alone, though…I would have been scared if I was alone. Sometimes I’m still scared, being apart from her. Are you and your brother like that?
Gretchen: I… I’m not sure what my brother and I are like. I think he’s still getting used to the idea that I’m not the same person I was back in Washington. That I’m not fragile anymore. I don’t think he dislikes it, but sometimes he talks to me like we’ve just met. I guess we have, in a way. Things like what happened in Live Oak change you from your core; all tragedies and victories do. When my sister vanished, it changed my parents. When Naida was taken, it changed Sophia.…I think when you’re healing, sometimes things grow back different from what they were before. The chocolate festival definitely made me and Ansel grow back different.
Rosie: Sometimes I’m worried that Scarlett and I will be like that when we’re back together again—whenever tha
t is. I’m different now, and she is too. I’m worried everything won’t click into place like before.
Gretchen: Would you go back and change things, though, if you could? Stay with her?
Rosie: No. That would have been easier, maybe, but I know going our own ways for a while was for the best. But knowing you’ve made the right decision doesn’t mean that it was an easy decision. I was happy before, hunting with her, but I’m happy in new ways now. I’m happy in ways that feel permanent. What about you? Would you change anything?
Gretchen: I’d change almost everything. Or at the very least, I’d find a way to save Sophia. I know she was doing something horrible, unforgivable, but…I don’t think she meant to. I think she made a choice a long time ago, a terrible choice, and then turned around and realized she’d gotten in over her head, too far in to back out. I think she would have been more like you, maybe, if she’d had the chance.
Rosie: She did have the chance, though—she didn’t have to help them. I sound like Scarlett when I say that, but…Sophia made a choice. Just as you did. It’s not your fault her choice led to her death.
Gretchen: No, but…I don’t think she had much of a choice. Wouldn’t you do anything to save your sister?
Rosie: Yes. That’s true.
Gretchen: I think she made the only choice she could. And then I feel bad for thinking that, since so many girls died at her festivals…but I can’t bring myself to hate her. All I can do is feel sorry for her and feel guilty that I couldn’t help her.
Rosie: Now you sound like Scarlett. You’re going more her path than mine at the moment, really—going out to help Naida, to fight more Fenris.…
Gretchen: Are you and Silas done for good? No more hunting?
Rosie: No. Being a hunter… it never really stops for good. We’ll start again, eventually. When the time is right. And you and Samuel will stop when the time is right. But for now… I’m happy. Are you?
Gretchen: I am. Despite everything, I really am.
Contents
FRONT COVER IMAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE: (TWELVE YEARS AGO)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHARACTER INTERVIEW: GRETCHEN AND ROSIE
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Jackson Pearce
Character interview copyright © Jackson Pearce 2011
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Little, Brown and Company
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First eBook Edition: August 2011
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
ISBN: 978-0-316-12575-8
Table of Contents
FRONT COVER IMAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE: (TWELVE YEARS AGO)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHARACTER INTERVIEW: GRETCHEN AND ROSIE
COPYRIGHT
Table of Contents
FRONT COVER IMAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE: (TWELVE YEARS AGO)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHARACTER INTERVIEW: GRETCHEN AND ROSIE
COPYRIGHT
Table of Contents
FRONT COVER IMAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE: (TWELVE YEARS AGO)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
> CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHARACTER INTERVIEW: GRETCHEN AND ROSIE
COPYRIGHT
Sweetly Page 24