YA Scavenger Hunt: Spring 2013

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!









Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five signed books!







If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.




SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE





Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). 





Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.




Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by April 7, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.




SCAVENGER HUNT POST






Today, I am hosting Carrie Jones on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Carrie Jones is the NYT bestselling and internationally best selling author of the NEED series and other books. She is a distinguished alum of Vermont College of Fine Arts, lives in Maine, has won random prizes, and really acts like a puppy. It's sort of sad, really. Some day she'll act human. Probably when she is ninety-eight.





Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about Carrie's book here! 




EXCLUSIVE CONTENT






















This is an extra
scene from ENDURE, the last book in the NEED series. It takes place after the
ending of the series and hopefully will help some fans who were wondering about
the state of Zara’s humanity. I hope you like it! - Carrie




“Everyone wants a happy ending,” Issie says to me. We stand
on some rocks, staring out at the ocean, which is gray and wind-whipped. She
fusses with a piece of her hair, sticking it into a headband because it’s too
short to capture into a ponytail.




“I don’t want an
ending at all,” I tell her. “I want a beginning.”




“That is so cheesey
and cute.” She pokes me in the side with her elbow. “The queen of the pixies is
cheesey and cute.”







“Shut up.” I poke her
back, but with my finger.







“You shut up.”




“No you.”




“You.”




And just like that
we’re acting like six-year-olds tormenting each other. There’s no malice in it,
just complete goofy immaturity, and I have to tell you that after stopping an
apocalypse, goofy immaturity is a good thing.




The air shifts its
weight and I can smell Dove soap.




“Astley is coming,” I announce.
“He’s walking. He’ll probably be here in ten minutes.”




“It’s creepy how you can do that.”
Issie wiggles her eyebrows at me. A seal bobs its head out of the ocean, just a
little bit off the shore. “Creeper."




“You’re the creeper,” I counter.




“No. You.”




This goes on for a good five
minutes, which just proves what I said before about our maturity level and then
Issie stops suddenly and says, “I still don’t understand. Are you only half
pixie now?”




“Yeah. In a weird way, I’ve always been
half pixie, but now I’m half pixie with power, you know? Hel made sure of that.
That way I don’t lose the human part of me, but also Astley doesn’t become
weakened because of the state of his queen.”




“Still confused.”




“What?”




“I thought pixie kings had to have
full-blooded pixie queens in order to control their people.”




“Well, first off Astley doesn’t
want to control his people in any kind of evil way. He just wants to keep
humans safe and his pixies safe. Secondly, because I was born half pixie, and because
I was willing to give that up, and willing to die, Hel made it so what is in my
blood is enough for him, enough to keep him strong.”




“So complicated.”






I nod. “Yeah. Life is complicated.”




The seal ducks back beneath the
surface. There’s so much ocean out there, so many places to hide. I wonder what
else could possibly be lurking beneath the white-capped surface, what else
might be waiting to pop out.




“Zara? You okay?” Issie’s voice
brings me out of my thoughts.




“Yeah. No. Of course.” I babble and
scan the sea. Something has made me anxious. Something is out there. Or maybe
not. “I just want a happy beginning.”




Issie hops on the toes of her feet
to keep warm and then throws her arms around me in a big hug. “And you have it.
We’re here in Scotland with Astley and it’s freaking freezing cold and
everything, but we are good and safe and happy, aren’t we?”




I peer down into her small, pointy
face. She is my best friend and she survived so much, so incredibly much
because of me.




“Yeah,” I say, “we are.” 




Thanks for this great peek into the world of ENDURE, Carrie! 






And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Carrie, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 324. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!






CONTINUE THE HUNT





To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author!




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WIN EXTRA PRIZES




The Hunt's an exciting time, and I'm in the giving mood! Fill out the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win a signed copy of SHADES OF EARTH, my latest novel, as well as exclusive DEFY THE DARK swag! If you find my post hidden in the hunt, you'll see a sneak peek at the short story I have in the DEFY THE DARK anthology. Full terms here.



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