Son of a Pitch Entry: The Light Witch

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Title: THE LIGHT WITCH
Category and Genre: YA Fantasy
Word Count: 107, 000

Query:
Seventeen-year-old Nick Espinosa can’t control his muscular dystrophy, his parents’ divorce, or how people look at him. But when he meets Simran, a young witch desperate to hide her powers from a drug lord, he finally gains something that he can control—her magic.
The catch? The ‘gift’ of Simran’s magic comes at a cost. Nick is pushed into the Otherside—a world where spells are black market currency. Simran is nowhere to be found and Nick discovers that he’s not the only one with her magic; stolen fragments are being sold on the market by members of her own coven and without it, she’ll die.
With Simran missing, Nick is abandoned in a world where he’s in danger of being killed for the magic she gave him. He must navigate the Otherside and find Simran before they both end up dead. To save her, he'll need to restore all her magic—including what she gave to him. But the more Nick uses, the more addicted to it he becomes and the more he starts to question if Simran’s reasons for giving him magic were as selfless as he originally thought.


First 250 Words:The annoying thing about being a teenager in a wheelchair is that it’s depressingly hard to sneak out at night. Not that Nick doesn’t manage it, but it isn’t easy.He pushes the stiff wooden door to his room open and wills it not to creak. Squeaky hinges are one of those things that comes with living in an older house. His chestnut colored hair is damp against his forehead. He rubs a palm against it and pulls his hand away wet with nervous sweat.He grips the push rim of his chair and makes his way down the hallway, only pausing to glance at the door to his mom and step-dad’s room. Their door is shut and the hall is silent. Both of them sleep like the dead, thankfully. He releases and regrips his push rim.Nick lines himself up at the edge of the stairs and looks at the steps leading down. This is the worst part.He had to have a room upstairs. He couldn’t stand the idea of being stuck on the bottom floor, chair or not. He felt like staying down there would mean accepting things would get harder. Even if they did eventually. It still felt like a win.There’s a stairlift attached to the railing, but unless he wants to wake everyone up, it’s not an option. They got it at an estate sale. It used to belong to an old lady, is at least ten years old, and shakes and rattles like a mini earthquake.Nick locks the brakes on his chair and slides to the edge of the seat. He lifts his legs out from the footrest and sets them out straight on the staircase landing. Small movements are easy, not like standing or walking. But it'll be worth it once the fresh night air hits his face.