The fine town of Franklin, Tennessee, one of America’s absolute treasures, was the backdrop for this tale. Many an evening was spent in Grays on Main, people watching and writing. Thanks for the delicious old-fashioneds! Many pages were also drafted in the Coffee House at Second and Bridge, which sustained me with gluten-free crepes and endless cups of Earl Grey. Thanks to them, and to my YA tribe in Franklin, too.

For the librarians and booksellers who share my work with their people—a heaping helping of blessings on you all. Also, so many thanks to my incredible Facebook and Twitter friends, who are my daily dose of inspiration, and are always there when the going gets tough.

My agent, Scott Miller, without whom none of this would happen—thank you for always believing in me, and the exclamation points when you read this proposal, and your faith in this book. I am forever grateful for your steady guidance.

My fabulously kind family, who truly get me. I am extremely grateful for their support—this means you, Mom, Daddy, Jeffrey, Jay, Lisa, Jason, Kendall, and Dillon. You’re the most wonderful blood.

My right hand, Amy Kerr—aka #TheKerr—to whom the book is dedicated, who read this proposal and was so excited and enthusiastic about it that I was finally compelled to turn it in (I wasn’t going to, you know...). Thank heavens for you, babycat.

And for the man who took me to Paris as a surprise for my birthday and started this whole thing, who promptly took me back to Paris for our anniversary so I could write some more, who sat quietly by while I lost my ever-loving mind with excitement writing in the bar of La Closerie des Lilas, the man who supports and loves me in ways I probably don’t deserve, thank you. Randy, darling, you are the heart and soul of everything I do, and I love you more than you can possibly know.

Excerpt from Field of Graves by J.T. Ellison

Field of Graves

by J.T. Ellison

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

—Revelation 6:7–8

Prologue