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I’d like to extend my particular thanks to Luxeria Celes, who acted as my sounding board for the trans storylines within the book, and to our brilliant sensitivity reader, The Mollusc Dimension, for their thoughtful feedback on how to make the diverse characters within the book as authentic as possible. I can never speak for the most marginalized members of our community, so thank you for helping me to show my support instead.

My next thanks go to my brilliant editor, Ben Horslen. For many reasons, this book was by far the most difficult to write (if you don’t like headaches, don’t try to write about time loops), but Ben was the constant calm within my storm. He contributed so much to this wonderful book – it was his idea to give Cameron an evil twin! – and I can’t express my gratitude enough. Authors take far too much credit – the work is often an even split, and if it didn’t mean I’d have to share the royalties, I’d probably insist his name be on the cover too.

Thank you also to the wider team at Penguin. It was always my dream to see the little penguin on the spine of one of my books, and the fact you’ve made that happen not once, but twice, is more than I could have ever hoped for. Jess Mackay, Josh Benn, Emily Smyth, Tanzim Kamali and Faith Young, thank you so very much.

Of course, my wonderful literary agent, Ella Kahn, played more than a small part in making that happen too. She’s without a doubt my biggest champion. No idea is ever too extraordinary – if I’m passionate about it, she’s passionate about it too.

And then to H.L. Gibby, for that stunning jacket. All I can say is that I really hope people *do* judge this book by its cover. Thank you for binding my words with your beautiful art.

And finally, to my friends, my cheerleading mum and dad, and my incredibly supportive online community – you’re the reason I keep writing. Thank you.

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

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PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S

Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

First published 2025

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-241-55442-5