I owe an avalanche of thanks and gratitude to my editor Sarah Shumway. Without her support, wise words, sharp insights, and encouragement, this book would simply not exist. She made it possible to travel through the hazy Way Between and into Arden. Thank you to the rest of the Way-Makers at Bloomsbury, both in the US & UK: Cindy Loh, Lucy Mackay-Sim, Annette Pollert-Morgan, Claire Stetzer, Valentina Rice, Erica Barmash, Phoebe Dyer, Lily Yengle, Alona Fryman, Teresa Sarmiento, Faye Bi, Courtney Griffin, Erica Loberg, Beth Eller, Nick Sweeney, Veronica Gonzalez, Jasmine Miranda, Stacy Abrams, Katharine Wiencke, Juliette Rechatin, Maia Fjord, Stephanie Amster, Laura Main Ellen, Cesca Hopwood, Grace Ball, and Namra Amir. And an extra thank you to Melissa Kavonic, Oona “Oona-corn” Patrick, Donna Mark, John Candell, and Claire Henry, who deserve an entire night’s sky of wishing stars for the incredible amount of effort and kindness they showed this book. And last but not least, thank you to Nicholas Church, who moved mountains and founded a brand-new, fifth guild: the Time-Maker guild, which can spin days from seconds. Thank you! And of course, much appreciation to artists Vivienne To and Matt Saunders for the beautiful covers that provided so much inspiration for these final pages. And speaking of inspiration …

Unicorns are wonder. They are hope. They are love. They are all those cheesy things that we only call cheesy because we’re too intimidated to acknowledge that they are the forces that shape our world—and us. And so I want to thank the authors whom I’ve never met but who directed me to wonder: Beverly Cleary, Shannon Hale, Madeleine L’Engle, Gail Carson Levine, L. M. Montgomery, and Tamora Pierce.

Thank you, too, to the friends and family who continued to ask “what happens next?” and made me imagine bigger: Sarah Jane Abbott, Melissa Albert, Medea Asatiani, Rhoda Belleza, Lizzy Mason, Brigid Kemmerer, Kristina Pérez, Matthew Richman, Tara Sonin Schlesinger, Catherine Waters, and Alexa Wejko, as well as to Liz Silva, D. J. Silva, Molly Silva, Katie Blacquier, Charlotte Blacquier, Eliza Blacquier, Caroline Spector, Alice Spector, and Sean Spector. Special thanks to Tara, Mimi, and Brigid, whose insights and feedback were both invaluable and necessary to gallop forward.

I wish I had the words to properly thank my parents, Marguerite and Zoltán Benko, and my siblings, Gabriella and Matthias Benko, for all their love while I spun, grew, forged, and sculpted ideas into novels. They see the very messiest moments of creating—and they still like me anyway. In particular, thank you to Papa, who took phone calls at all hours of the day and night, and always had the answer. And from the whole of my heart, thank you to Andrej Ficnar, who braved sinks full of dishes, emergency chocolate runs, and weekends of typing. You’re the best partner in this world and in all worlds.