The Trials of Renegade X (48 page)

“Listen to that,” Kat says. “That could have been
us.
We could have been
famous
.”

“Yeah, but you know me, Kat. I don’t really like to make a spectacle of myself.”

She laughs. “It’s a good thing you live such a low-key life, then. All that attention would kill you.”

“Yep. So I’m definitely not planning to moan really loudly while making out with you at the theater until people throw popcorn at us. And I’m
definitely
not going to accidentally say Riley’s name instead of yours.”

“You’re going to do
what
?” Riley says, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

“Relax, Perkins. I just said I
wasn’t
going to.” I roll my eyes at him. “Well, not
again
anyway.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book almost didn’t exist. Like, really. I know I could say that for the first book, too, but it’s even more true for this one. I always wanted to continue the story (and I still do!), but the original publisher said no dice. They had the money and the resources and the Final Say, and they said no, not going to happen.

So that was it. It was a one-time shot, no sequel. No more of Damien’s adventures. No more Golden City.

Except that it wasn’t. Because the publisher might have said no, but the fans kept saying
yes
. “Please write more,” they said, as if it was at all up to me. “Please, for the love of God, tell me there’s going to be a sequel and when it’s coming out!!!” they said, as if adding extra exclamation points was going to make any difference in things that were so clearly out of my control.

Well, it turns out it really
was
up to me and that things really
were
in my control. I wrote the sequel anyway. And the fans backed me up. And I still can’t believe that this book, which is the most amazing thing I’ve ever written, really almost never came about. Or that you’re holding it in your hands right now.

And so a huge thanks goes out to everyone who wrote to me over the years, whether it was through a heartfelt email or an encouraging comment on my blog, telling me how much you loved Renegade X. Your words have stuck with me, and I think about them a lot, especially on the days when the writing seems hard, the risks seem crazy big, and giving in to self-doubt seems easier than not. Without you, this book would not have been written.

There are also three people in particular I’d like to thank, who were all early readers and helped shape the outcome of this book: Chloë Tisdale, who discussed the story and characters endlessly with me, and who laughed in all the right places; Karen Kincy, beta reader and author-friend extraordinaire, who’s always up for a good scheming session; and Raul Allen, who makes the most amazing covers a girl could ask for.

You guys all rock.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CITIZENS OF GOLDEN CITY

Ruby Gale, V

Summoning storms

The Spark, V

Zap lightning from fingertips

El Whinestro, V

Hunger-induced superwhine

Mirage, V

Invisibility

Pam Pyro Palmer, H

Is on fire ... literally

Dodici, H

Can flip time forward or backward by precisely twelve hours

Electric Blue, H

Messing with electricity

Witchy Woman, V

Controls lightning

Robodendron, V

Spawns a robotic plant army

Nature Woman, H

Animal communication and control

FadeDestiny, H

Power mimicry

Lioness, H

Invulnerability

The Long-sufferer, H

Able to withstand 2+ hour phone conversation with mother—and other verbose family and “friends”—without getting a word in edgewise.

Thunderin, V

Controls electricity and lightning

Lustra, H

Light in the darkness

Zannalov, V

Can conjure and command ferrets (but easily distracted by shiny things)

Snowtronic, V

Teleportation

Shadow Killer, V

Turns into a shadow

Bookdragon, H

Able to hoard and protect books with a vengeance

The Crazy Algorithms Lady, H

Creates unexpectedly weird solutions to intractable problems

PocketGoddess, H

The power of mobile technology to save the day!

Wintersmith, V

“I am Winter”

The Alley Cat, V

Exudes a variety of strong odors on command

Coordination Man, H

Supreme organizational facilities

Dr. JS Dichotomy, H/V

Multiple personalities. Here side can neutralize a villain’s powers. Also has great healing ability. If the villain is out, then by simply looking upon him (at all—even one of his fingers), a person will be struck dead instantly

The Blue Avenger, V

Incredibly handsome criminal genius and master of all villainy

Space Wizard, H

Astrophysics

CleveRun, H

Superspeed

Plain White Andrew, H

Awesomeness

Mrs. Pilkington, H

Craftivism

Cindy the Super Librarian, H

Always finds the right book

Raymond Tracer, H

4D vision

Dark Thea, H

Morphing into any animal at will

Live Wire, H

Electromagnetism

Blizzard, H

Making and manipulating ice

Book Girl, H

Psychokinesis

Palindromeda, V

Ability to cause a state of complete confusion

The Mechanist, V

Control over machines

Dragonstar, H

Force-field manipulation

The Spoiler, V

Instantly knows the ending of every book, movie, and TV show he touches, sees, or hears

Bibliotheca, H

Literary teleportation

Alexander, H

Worlds traveller

Suzie Smiley, H

Making people happy

Abtacha, V

Camouflage

Harold Scott, H

Superhuman reflexes

Fuego, V

Pyrokinesis

Oraclenoid, V

Manipulating time using a prehensile tail

Helisca, H

Pyromancy

Possibly, V

Manipulates chance, increasing the probability of a particular event’s outcome. Results can range unpredictably from lucky guessing safe combinations to evading police due to a collision with an overturned fruit cart and a flock of unexpected emus

Josh “Styles” Creager, H

Pryomancy

Quarrel, H

Never misses the target with her crossbow

The Candlemaker, V

Melting things

Norske Storm, H

Lights up the darkness

Cartoon, V

Blatant disregard of the laws of gravity

Silent Behemoth, V

Can walk into a room full of people and walk out with the fridge and nobody will notice

Lonedeath, H

Semi-speedster and spikes

Ice Girl, V

Freeze ray

Brendan Blaze, V

Flame thrower

Lynxia, H

Flame-wielding feline

Accelerator Ray, H

Kinetic manipulations

               , V

Make the formatting look a little off

Uamada, H

Patience

Arctic Frost, V

Cryokinesis and communication with wolves

Thomas Zilling, H

Telekinetic powers

Stephenie “Mogsy” Sheung, V

Rabid devourer of books

Quickwit, H

Super speed of body and mind

Corundum, V

Shapeshifting

James Pratt, H

Can fix anything

Autumn Pratt, H

Has a green thumb

Mega Meltdown Mike, H

Melts down and puts luck in everyone’s pockets

Sue Pallas, H

Can withstand electric current

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHELSEA M. CAMPBELL grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where it rains a lot. And then rains some more. She finished her first novel when she was twelve, sent it out, and promptly got rejected. Since then, she’s earned a degree in Latin and Ancient Greek, become an obsessive knitter and fiber artist, and started a collection of glass grapes.

Besides writing, studying ancient languages, and collecting useless objects, Chelsea is a pop-culture fangirl at heart and can often be found rewatching episodes of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
,
Parks and Recreation
, or spending way too much time on Facebook. You can visit her online at
www.chelseamcampbell.com
.