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PW #371: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy (ownvoices): THE BLACK VEINS

Friday, 4 November 2016  |  Posted by Heather Cashman

Manuscript Status: Finished

Mentor Name: Katherine Webber
Mentee Name: Ashia Monet
Title: THE BLACK VEINS
Category/Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy (ownvoices)
Word Count: 97,000

Pitch:

When a criminal sorcerer kidnaps her family, Blythe Fulton embarks on a supernatural road-trip across the US to gather the Guardians, a temperamental group of magic-wielding teens just like her. Blythe needs the Guardians’ cooperation to save her family, but every step towards her family’s rescue brings the Guardians closer to their own demise. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS meets The Amazing Race with a diverse ensemble cast.

Excerpt:

The melody started at midnight.

A hint of a piano mixed with a violin’s slow drones. Harp strings plucked a lazy tempo, drawling like the end of a hot summer day.

The melody swept across the world. It wound through forests, tumbled over deserts, plunged to the depths of the sea. Most people who heard the music barely realized they’d heard anything at all. They caught a snippet or two, enough for them to ask someone else if they’d heard something.

Others knew they heard a melody. They were the ones who harbored secrets in their lives and in their veins. They searched for the source, but they never found it. Nobody did.

And then there were a few people who had an entirely different reaction.

Blythe Fulton was asleep when the song entered her dreams, dancing through one ear and threading out the other. It was a lovely tune, but something about it made her stomach clench with dread. Consciousness returned to her mind but the darkness in front of her eyes remained. So did the music. Blythe tried to open her eyes, tried to move. But her body stayed still.

Then came a voice. Blythe didn’t hear it, she felt it. The words hummed inside her soul and spread through her veins, melting in time with her heartbeat. Get up, the voice said. And go to the roof.

 

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