I'm so excited to share with everyone the first excerpt for Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott. This book comes out in a little over 5 months and it looks amazing. I can't wait to read it.
I drove across the US of A, left my
family without an explanation, and now I’m either too late or there was never
anything here to begin with. F my life. Rearing back, I kick the door as hard
as I can. Then I wrap both hands around the door handles and release a noise
like a wild banshee as I pull back.
The doors swing open.
I’m not sure whether to celebrate or
freak out. I decide to do neither and slip inside. As I walk around the inside
of the museum, listening to the sound of my footsteps echo off the walls, I
imagine I am moments from death. It’s sad, I think, that this is all it takes
to break my sanity.
Two curling flights of stairs bow out
from the first-floor lobby, and red and white tiles cover
the floors. There are gilded picture frames everywhere. So many that I think
the placement of the frames — and not their contents — is the real art.
Everything, absolutely everything, smells like wax. I mosey up to an abandoned
reception desk and leaf through the glossy pamphlets littering the surface. I
hold one of the pamphlets up to my nose. Yep, wax.
I glance around, having no idea what
to look for. Will there be a sign like at school registration? Students with
last names A–K this way?
On my left, I notice a long hallway
dotted with doors on either side. Nothing looks particularly unusual. But when
I glance to my right, I spot something. There’s a door at the end of the
corridor that has a sliver of light glowing beneath it. I’m sure it’s just an
administration office, one where someone forgot to flip the switch. But I’ve
got nothing better to go on, so I head toward it.
I pause outside the door, wondering
if I’m about to get busted for B&E. Then I turn the handle and find myself
at the top of another winding staircase.
You’ve got
to be kidding me. What is this, Dracula’s bachelor pad?
I’ve watched a lot of scary movies,
and I’ve learned nothing good is ever at the bottom of a winding staircase.
Pulling in a breath and preparing myself to be eaten alive, I head down. My
shoes are loud against the steps. So loud, I imagine they are intentionally
trying to get me killed.
When I reach the final few stairs, I
ready myself to look around the bend. My heart is racing, and I secretly pray
the worst I encounter is an angry janitor with a wax addiction. I turn the bend
— and my eyes nearly pop from my skull.
The enormous room is perfectly
circular, dotted with candles to light the space. Surrounding the walls are
rows and rows of dark, rich mahogany bookshelves. A large round table stands in
the center of the red-and-white-tiled floor. The room is spectacular, but what
it holds is so jarring, my ears ring.
Across every shelf, every spot on the
table, every tile on the floor — are small sculptures of hands. And in a few of
those hands — the ones still performing their duty — are eggs. There are only
nine eggs left, it seems. For a moment, I imagine how amazing it would have
been to see each hand holding an egg, but it’s enough just to see these nine.
The eggs seem to dance in the candle
flame, and as I move closer, I realize why. The surfaces of the eggs are almost
iridescent, their colors changing depending on how you look at them. They are
different sizes, too; some as big as a basketball, others as small as a peach.
I don’t need the device in my pocket
to tell me what my gut already knows.
This is the Pandora Selection Process.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I’m a teen
fiction writer with a die-hard affection for dark and humorous books. My work
is represented by Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger literary agency. I have a master’s
degree in marketing, and currently live in Dallas with my husband, Ryan.
My first series
started with THE COLLECTOR, and was published by Entangled Teen in
April 2013. The second book in the trilogy, THE LIBERATOR, will release August
2013. My next series kicks off with FIRE & FLOOD and is being published by
Scholastic, February 2014.
GIVEAWAY:
This giveaway is
only for the US and UK.
