“There is no pain in this death, only peace, knowing I am going to die with the one I love the most.”—Katriona Wilde.
It's time for another contest! I know, I know, I've been a little contest happy lately but I promise this will be the last one posted for awhile.
Anyways, there's still time to sign up (it's also a blog hop) so if you are interested, just sign up on the linky at the bottom of this post. Then, you'll need to post your first 500 words and query on your own blog and leave constructive criticism on the entries for as many of the other participating blogs as you can before the 28th. At that point, all submissions will be sent in and a winner will be chosen. The prize is a full request from Curiosity Quills Press.
Title: DAUGHTER OF THE MOON
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Query:
Seventeen-year-old Selina Kane always knew she was different, but never imagined she was last-living-necromancer different. Not until she starts speaking the language of the Underworld and visiting Acherusian Lake in her dreams. And then Blake storms into her life, claiming to be her bonded protector and making her blush and stumble over her words. Blake warns Selina about Ciara, queen of the undead. Ciara has gained ground in the world of the living, and it isn’t a secret that she feels threatened by Selina’s return.
Before long, the undead attack and Selina watches helplessly through the only spell she can conjure – a protective shield – as Blake is dragged away in her place. Selina assumes the undead have murdered him and she turns to the necromantic powers she hardly knows how to use, risking her life to search for Blake in the Underworld. But Selina doesn’t find his soul resting peacefully in Acherusian Lake. Blake’s been transformed into one of the undead, and the guards of the Underworld expect her to find and destroy him.
Selina doesn’t care what the guards’ idea of her duty as a necromancer is; she’s determined to get Blake back in one piece. There is one spell, one that would save Blake’s soul, but she’d have to kill him to use it, and worse, transform him into a ferryman for the Underworld. There may be other ways to save him though, if she's willing to make dark alliances with the undead. Selina knows she shouldn’t, but with Blake’s life in jeopardy, the line between good and evil starts to blur.
First 500
As
far as she knew, Selina was the only seventeen-year-old with her own burial
plot. And once a year, she looked forward to nothing so much as to visiting her
grave.
“I
can give you a ride to school today, if you want. Since it’s your birthday,”
Jess said, jingling the keys to the old Chrysler she’d inherited from Grandpa last
summer.
“Thanks,
Sis, but actually, I want to visit my mother on the way so I’ll just ride my
bike.”
“We
can stop at the cemetery on the way home,” Jess offered.
“I’d
rather go now.” She would have already been at the cemetery a minute past
midnight, if she’d dared.
“Yeah,
sure. No problem. See you tonight,” Jess said. Her eyes were full of
understanding and Selina turned away to hide the shame creeping into her face.
Selina
and Jess, like all of their brothers and sisters, had been adopted. But Selina
had only a few fragmented memories of the mother she’d lost.
Soft, brown hair
twined around her chubby, toddler fingers.
The smell of soap.
A hummed tune.
Reaching out to
accept the urn of her mother’s ashes.
Jess
had been thirteen when her parents died. Using the loss of a mother she barely
even remembered with someone like Jess was wrong, and Selina knew it. But she
had to get to the cemetery before the wild roses covering her grave bloomed.
Her
hands shook with excitement as she pulled her bike out of the side yard and
closed the gate behind her. She jumped onto the saddle and pedaled down the
driveway as fast as she could. Every moment spent on the road was one moment in
which her roses might bloom without her. One moment in which the message they
were meant to bring her might be forever lost.
Selina
hunched down and lost herself in the sound of wheels on pavement and the rhythm
of her breathing. Before long, she was skidding to a stop before the black, wrought-iron
gates of the cemetery. She leaned her bike against the fence without bothering
to lock it up and raced onto the field of graves. The grass was slippery with
morning dew and it squeaked beneath her shoes. Although she was only ever here
once a year, she expertly wove her way between headstones in a near beeline to
the oak tree which shaded her grave.
Please, don’t
let me be too late.
A
vine of wild rosebuds emerged from the grass in the center of her plot. A sigh
of relief whooshed out of Selina’s lungs even as she tried to catch her breath
from the sprint over; she’d made it. She leaned against the oak tree with her
hands on her knees and her eyes glued to the rosebuds. In the morning shade of
the oak tree, the rosebuds were black. Four years of experience told her though
that they were actually a deep purple.
There are so
many. More than ever before.
I'm participating in a fun writing contest to support the DINOSAUR JAZZ by Michael Panush blog tour. The below text is a story starter provided by Ink in the Book and the text in blue is my personal addition to the story. Each participating blogger has added their own ending, so be sure to check out the final list of links to each post over at Ink in the Book.
What Jack loved the most
about his new mechanical night vision glasses was how well they matched his
hat. Really, they would go with anything in his wardrobe and he was glad they
did. 
