I lean over the control panel, trying to see as much of the planet as I can. It’s bright and blue and green, with swirls of stringy white clouds. I can make out lakes and mountains, a yellow-brown stretch that must be desert, a ribbon of green dots that are islands. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

But then I glance at Elder’s face.

His worry infects me, and now as I look at the surface of Centauri-Earth, I wonder: what’s down there?

Victria’s staring eyes fill my memory.

Death is easy, and sudden, and can’t be stopped. Maybe Centauri-Earth is just beginning to evolve, and dinosaurs will crush us. Or Centauri-Earth may be light-years ahead of Earth, my Earth, and the aliens there will laugh at our weapons as they kill us. It’s obvious that plants grow on the planet—there is so much green amid the blue—but what if all the plants are poison? What if all the blue water is salt?

“It’s worth it.” I move to touch him, but he grabs my hand first, squeezes my fingers, then lets me go.

“What was it you said to Doc?” Elder asks. “About faith?”

“I don’t remember,” I say with a dry laugh. “I was too busy trying not to get killed.”

“Well, whatever it was—you were right.” His hand rests over the autopilot launch button.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Ready.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

This book quite simply would not exist without my amazing agent Merrilee Heifetz, who pushed me to come up with a better idea than my original one, and I’m forever grateful for that.

A book is more than an idea, and so my thanks go also to Ben Schrank and Gillian Levinson for helping me to see which words best told the story. I knew I was in good editorial hands when one of your notes said, “Don’t be afraid to kill off more characters!”

When it comes to producing this book, I couldn’t have a better team behind me than the one at Razorbill. Thank you Natalie Sousa and Emily Osborne for the beautiful cover designs for all the books; Emily Romero, Courtney Wood, Erin Dempsey, Erin Gallagher and Anna Jarzab for the amazing marketing and online programs; Casey McIntyre for organizing the Breathless Tour and working so diligently on publicity; and everyone else at Razorbill for being so brilly.

A special thanks to Cecilia de la Campa at Writers House for helping the series go around the world, and to Chelsey Heller for helping me navigate foreign contracts.