PW #209: YA Diverse Fantasy: THE MOON THIEF

Manuscript Status: 1 week delivery

Mentor Name: N.K. Traver
Mentee Name: Genevieve Angelique
Title: THE MOON THIEF
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Diverse Fantasy
Word Count: 64,000

Pitch:

An Ojibway-inspired fairytale: Luna may have escaped a life-draining Windigo, but she was forced to leave behind the boy she loves. To save him, Luna must regain her spirit powers and a pair of wings—before the Windigo turns the one she loves into a monster.

Excerpt: 

Hide, the feather whispered.

The girl stared at the beautiful plume in her hand. Golden velvet clothed its soft body, and tiny spots speckled its tip. She pressed the feather’s curved vane against her ear. Silence. Had she imagined its soft voice? Or had someone else spoken?

Confused, she evaluated her surroundings. Moonlight peeked over the summit to the east, and tall pines spotted the rolling land in every direction. There was no one else here. She was alone.

She licked her lips. The salty taste of tears greeted her tongue. How odd. She couldn’t remember crying. No . . . she couldn’t remember anything.

Panicked, she spun in a circle. Unfamiliar land swirled around her, and the air danced intimately on her skin. She glanced down and gasped.

She was completely naked.

Fear caught in her throat. She covered her bare chest with her hands. Blood stained her skin, but she wasn’t in pain. She ran her fingers along her arms, her stomach, her legs. There were no cuts, no wounds. She twisted to check her back. A chill ran down her spine. Her skin was dirty but not injured.

As if the blood was not hers.

She tried to find a memory to explain. Blurry fragments sparkled in her mind. Their sharp edges stabbed her when she tried to understand them, but she pushed past the pain.

A knife slicing her palm; a woman’s cold laugh. A boy’s voice, sweet and dangerous: “I can’t let you go.”