into my ear, and I feel my mouth spreading into a grin.
“Worthy of a sequel?” I ask.
“Worthy of a redemption arc, at the very least.”
The speakers hiss with white noise before Darien finds the station, and the triumphant Starfield theme trumpets from the boom box. The projector flings stars across the weathered screen, swirling into cosmoses, taking us into another impossible world, and I think—
Mom, you were right.
This isn’t the end of my story. It’s the beginning.
To my Rosebud,
This is only the beginning of your story, not the end.
With all my love,
Mom
“What now, ah’blena?”
Amara looks out over the impossible expanse of stars and sky, and there are so many places to see, worlds to explore. Carmindor’s Prospero streaks across the sky, on its way to some other destination in the far-off regions of the Federation. With him, a little of her heart leaves, but it leaves room, too.
For new people.
For new loves.
For new impossibilities.
“The universe is wide,” she replies as she turns on her heel, and even in the darkness of the observation deck, Ambrose’s white-gold hair glows like a crown of starlight. “And I have a kingdom to rule.”
Then she snakes her fingers into the buttons between his uniform and pulls him close to her. He quirks a singular golden eyebrow. She reaches up on her tiptoes and plants a kiss against his strong jawline.
He asks, “Where to, Princess?”
“The stars.”
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
OKAY SO, CONFESSION: I love Beauty and the Beast. I love it more than peanut butter, more than coffee shop AUs, more than the G note in Welcome to the Black Parade, more than Yuri!!! On Ice. I’ve consumed so many versions of Beauty and the Beast over the years—sort of like in fanfic, when you really like one particular trope (the angry bad boy ends up being soft Hufflepuff trope), you go hunting for them all. You become well-versed in what you really love (famous actor meets small-town nobody trope), and what you want to recreate (that one scene in Howl’s Moving Castle), and what you can’t live without (the getting caught in the rain trope). And you just…run with them.
And this book? It’s all of the pieces of my favorite things. It’s the soft parts of Beauty and the Beast that I love, and the hijinks of a small-town romance.
I wrote this book for me.
So, if you didn’t really enjoy this book, that’s okay! You’ll find one that you love. Like hunting through AO3, sometimes it takes a little time before you find that story that feels like your favorite song. And if you can’t find it? Then write it! Never let anyone tell you different.
Stories—fiction, extended universe tie-in novels, drabbles on Tumblr, AO3 one-shots, a dusty library bookshelf—they bring us together. We might not all like the same things. Some of us like heroes, some villains, some the Byronic brooding idiots in-between, and that’s the kind of magic that makes a bookshelf full of impossibility.
And there is always room for more.
My stories would have never been possible without my agent, Holly Root, and my editor Alex Arnold, who sharpened and honed my wild ideas into book-form, and all of the wonderful people at Quirk, past and present, who have given me the opportunity to tell a few impossible stories and fill them with all of my favorite fanfiction tropes: Blair Thornburgh, Nicole De Jackmo, and Kelsey Hoffman. Thank you to copy editor extraordinaire Amy J. Schneider, project editor Jane Morley, and designers Elissa Flanigan and Molly Rose Murphy. Thanks to Shae McDaniel who came up with the fantastic title for this book. And to Nicole Brinkley, who told me this story needed a dog.
And lastly, thank you, dear reader, for helping me make impossible stories.
Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite!
ASHLEY POSTON loves dread pirates, moving castles, and starry night skies. When not geeking out at comic cons, she lives in South Carolina with her cat named Pepper. She is the author of the Heart of Iron duology, as well as the Once Upon a Con series. She can be found online at ashposton.com.
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ONCE UPON A CON SERIES
Geekerella
The Princess and the Fangirl
Bookish and the Beast
MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Hollow City
Library of Souls