Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Six Days by Anna McCormally Excerpt


Title: The Six Days
Author: Anna McCormally
Genre: YA Fantasy
Fifteen years ago, in the middle of the night, Jamie Carpenter’s mother went up to the dark lighthouse on the cliffs. She never came back.
Yesterday, Jamie had a nightmare: his little brother disappearing like their mother did, through the door of the lighthouse, a door that has never opened.
Today, the nightmare came true. Jamie’s brother is missing. And not just missing–he’s been abducted, taken through the lighthouse door into the world of magic that lays beyond.
With his best friend Nia at his side, Jamie crosses into a world he never knew existed–but Emanu is not the fairytale world of childrens stories. Desperate to understand who took Danny and why, struggling to survive in a world of shadowy magic, Jamie and Nia seek the help of the Council of Witches. As they uncover more and more of Jamie’s family secrets and unknown powers, it becomes clear that Nia herself may be something more than human–and that it’s her the Council views as their biggest threat…
Swept up in a dark political game they don’t understand, burdened by magic they don’t know how to use, Jamie and Nia are going to have to learn fast if they’re going to survive Emanu and rescue Danny Carpenter. There are only six days until the gate between worlds closes again.
For good.


Author Bio
Anna Carolyn McCormally currently manages a small used bookstore in Washington, D.C.. She has a tattoo of the Deathly Hallows and blogs about YA fiction at www.giantsquidbooks.com.. Her short fiction and poetry has been published in pacificREVIEW, Quantum Fairy Tales and 3 am magazine. Follow her on Twitter @mccormallie.

Links


EXCERPT 
"The Captain grinned up at them with a smile marred by gaps where he’d lost teeth and a layer of brown rot over the crooked teeth that he still had. “And whadda you want,” he spat through his disgusting grin. He, too, was brown-eyed— human.
“We need transportation,” Jamie said, more bravely than he felt. Beside him, Nia tossed her hair and crossed her arms, which he knew was what she did when she wanted to look impressive.
The Captain raised his eyebrows. “Sure y’do,” he said.
“We were told you were the one to ask,” said Cal.
“Sure y’were.” The Captain took a drink from the great dirty glass that rested beside him on the table.
Jamie was impatient. “So can you help us?”
“Well,” the Captain said thoughtfully, leaning back and surveying them with a glint in his squinty eye. “Sure I can—the real question is, what do I get out of it.” Another long swig disappeared into his mess of a beard. “We only take three currencies here.”
“What are they?” Jamie asked hopefully.
“Gold,” blunted the Captain. “Bodies, and magic.”
Jamie’s heart sank.
“We know boats,” Cal said. (This was an exaggeration; Cal had worked on boats, at home, but neither Jamie nor Nia had ever done more than ride on one.) “We can work.”
“I have a crew,” the Captain said flatly. “What else have you got?” His eyes drifted across to Nia, scanning her long hair and narrow shoulders and sloping profile with an appraising eye. “Well if it isn’t a little witch,” he leered, his eyes lingering on the locket.
Nia drew back sharply.
“But what pretty brown eyes,” the Captain went on. “Not old enough to be with the Council yet?” He looked back at Jamie. “She yours? We might make some kind of deal—”
It was only because Cal grabbed her arm that Nia’s violent step forward was hindered.  “I’m sorry,” she growled, “am I his?” at the same time that Jamie said flatly, “Don't even think about it.”
Cal put out a second hand to grab Jamie’s forearm, pulling him and Nia back, one of them in each hand like a pair of unruly dogs. “I think if we asked her,” Cal said, managing to sound steady, “we’d find that she’s not for sale.”
The Captain was unimpressed. “Just weighing your assets,” he said mildly.
Now Cal let go of Jamie and Nia and took a step forward himself.

Because Jamie was the one always getting into fights he found he had forgotten what an imposing figure Cal made, eyes like storm clouds and nearly six-foot-three. In fact, with the sword on his back, Jamie’s older brother almost looked like he knew what he was doing."

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