Imagine
by Jenna Greene
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Champagne Books
Date of Publication: August 3, 2015
ISBN: 987-1-77155-120-5
Number of pages: 338
Word Count: 112 586
Cover Artist: Trisha FitzGerald
Book Description:
A fierce wind and a blast of green light during a strange storm causes everything to change for Katharine Bowers and Becky Thatcher. The girls wake up in Oren, an entirely different realm than their earthly city. They meet Enalie, a fading magical presence who sets an incredible destiny before them… then simply disappears. Left alone to fend off creatures that hunt them in the night, they must relay a magical heritage that doesn’t make sense, and – if possible – save a world that they know nothing about.
Available at Champagne
Books
Chapter One
“Becky Thatcher, turn that light off and go to sleep. Not only is it a school night, you have a math test tomorrow.”
Becky wrinkled her nose and reluctantly closed her Harry Potter book. Reaching from her bed, she flicked off her bedside lamp. Out in the hall, Dad waited until the room went dark before footsteps announced a retreat to his own bedroom.
Fluffing her pillows in mild annoyance, she pouted about the unfairness of bedtimes. Math tests too. Not school—she loved school. It was just that English was her preferred subject, as well as Art and Music and even sometimes Social Studies. Math was a dull and uncreative subject. Fractions didn’t make a lick of sense. She doubted she would score well on that test tomorrow.
She could have gone to sleep as Dad instructed without too much distress. It wasn’t the first time she’d read J.K. Rowling’s famous work. She wouldn’t be tossing and turning in agony all night, desperate to know the conclusion.
Except it was Sunday night, the end of the weekend, and Becky wasn’t the least bit tired. Since she wasn’t ready for sleep, and had no last-minute homework to complete, there were only two things she could think to do: read or draw.
Drawing was tricky beneath the bedcovers, but reading was manageable. After sneaking a flashlight from under her bed and pulling the blankets over her shoulders and head, she retrieved her recently-abandoned book. It wasn’t Harry Potter, though, but Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Digging underneath again, she found her original read. Now, staring at the two familiar covers, she bit her lip in disgruntlement. Which one? That was a real dilemma.
Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Lord of the Rings, Eragon, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner—she owned, devoured, and adored them all. With her advanced reading skills, Becky had no difficulties following their elaborate plots.
But she had a small secret. Sure, she loved reading for the sake of reading. Stories were an adventurous pleasure. But she didn’t just admire each hero and heroine. She wanted to be them.
Becky’s window slammed shut, and she jumped.
Weird. She hadn’t realized it had been left open.
A thick gust of wind passed over her bed. She glanced back at the window with a shiver. The window was sealed tight.
So how was there wind in her bedroom?
A stack of papers near the door rustled and flittered about the floor.
Alarmed, Becky sat up. Her pillow and blankets slid off the bed. A framed picture dropped from the wall and hit the floor with a thud.
The temperature in the room grew unpleasantly cool. Her eyes widened as her bookshelf wavered precariously. There was a subtle humming noise, which seemed to come from the floor itself. The wind reappeared with another strong gust. Along with a stuffed bear, she was pushed flat against her mattress.
What was going on?
When she leapt from her bed, there was resistance to her movements. Taking a step was as easy as running under water. A book hit her in the side of the head, and she stumbled over a roller skate that slid in front of her.
At the doorway, she was stuck. The door wouldn’t budge. To the window she went next, acting on a whim, but it was sealed tight too. She was trapped in her room, facing a turbulent hurricane rising around her. Her heart started to beat quicker, and her breathing became ragged.
A macaroni necklace sprang from her dresser. A toy duck was sucked from under her bed. Her school lunch bag sailed past her legs, and a set of barrettes skittered across the floor.
“Mom? Dad!”
Back at the door, Becky pounded against the wood, rattling the frame but not budging it. Her iPod and her fifth grade math textbook struck her back, adding to the bruises she was sure to have. Her hair was a tempest, blocking her vision. But it didn’t keep her from seeing the way her room suddenly lit up. The light felt more powerful than a thousand spotlights.
Becky didn’t know whether to be relieved or more afraid when the wind dissipated. Warily, she opened her eyes. Her hair returned to her shoulders. Objects settled on the ground. The light pulsated then…
About the Author:
Jenna Greene is a middle school teacher in Alberta, Canada. She lives with her husband and their two dogs: Thor, Dog of Thunder and Tyko. Her other YA novel is Heroine, published by Aaspirations Publishing.
0 comments:
Post a Comment