PW-35 (YA): SWORN

MENTOR: Rae Chang

MENTEE: Caitlyn McFarland

TITLE: SWORN

CATEGORY/GENRE: YA Contemporary High Fantasy w/Romantic Elements

WORD COUNT: 88,000

PITCH:

When a dragon crashes at the feet of college student Kai Monahan and transforms into a man, she instinctively grabs the nearest sword and saves his life. Kai is plunged into a world of aerial battles, ancient kings, fiery romance, and a centuries-long draconic civil war that will decide the fate of humanity and dragonkind.

EXCERPT:

Kai stood at the brink of the precipice, the toes of her worn hiking boots hanging over the edge. One wrong move would plunge her down the sheer cliff face to the rock-strewn valley two hundred feet below. A shiver of adrenaline thrilled from the bottom of her feet to the base of her neck. She threw out her arms and inhaled the pine-spiked autumn air.

Dropping her arms, she sauntered to a boulder ten feet from the drop-off. She leaned against the sun-warmed surface, grinning impishly as she imagined Juli’s frown at catching her on the edge of another cliff. Sighing, Kai dropped her pack on the ground then reached up to tame the black flyaways that had escaped her haphazard bun. Behind her, gravel crunched.

“About time.”

Juli came over the rise first, looking cool and composed, as always. A blue bandanna the precise color of her jacket hid most of her short, pale blonde hair. Fingers curled around the straps of her daypack, she jerked her head back at Charlotte as she slogged into view in a crimson velour tracksuit, her eyes hidden behind outrageous Prada sunglasses. “Shut up, Monahan.” Charlotte scraped trendy brunette bangs off her damp forehead. “I can’t believe you talked me into coming all the way out here.”

Kai grinned. “You’re the one who wouldn’t stop raving about that hot tub in your parents’ cabin.”

“This,” Charlotte swept her arm out to indicate the mountains surrounding them, “is not the hot tub.”