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YA Scavenger Hunt Spring 2015 – Contests and Giveaways!

Yes people, it’s that time of the year again, and we’ve got even more authors participating than last year!

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

This bi-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 SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM–but there is also a blue team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and much more, for a chance to win a whole different set of 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 page.

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 red 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 Sunday, April 5th 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 fellow Sourcebooks Fire author, the amazingness that is ZORAIDA CORDOVA, on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

Zoraida Córdova was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She studied English Lit at Hunter College, and The University of Montana before finding a home for herself in the (kinda) glittering world of New York City’s nightlife. She is the author of The Vicious Deep Trilogy (YA) and the On the Verge Series (NA).

Find out more information by checking out her website and her book on Barnes and Noble! Look at how awesome her book cover is!

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

Blood is in the Water…

Two days. That’s all the time Tristan Hart has to prevent all-out war. Since discovering he was part merman and heir to the Sea Throne, Tristan has been fighting for his future, his friends—his life.

Now, to win the crown and save the girl he loves, Tristan will have to take the ultimate risk: unleash the ancient magic of Poseidon and release the kraken. Seriously. It’s the only way to unite the three scattered pieces of the king’s trident and stop the sea witch Nieve from taking the throne for herself.

Tristan’s going to need all the help he can get. But the one person he could always depend on him has betrayed him—Kurt now wants the throne for himself. Brother against brother, it’s a brutal race to the finish, and there can only be one winner.

Exclusive Excerpt/Scene Reveal from THE VAST AND BRUTAL SEA by Zoraida Cordova, Releasing October 7, 2015 (Sourcebooks)

The Vicious Deep trilogy follows the adventures of Tristan Hart. But what about the other sea champions? Here is a little snippet of Dylan of the Western Seas!

***

Before he was a champion for the crown, Dylan, son of Ammon, merman of the Western Seas, was in love. His name was Evan.

Evan, a merman of the southern coast had dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes. He was the opposite of every thing Dylan was. Brave, eager to fight for his king, and a ready friend to all.

Before the court of the Western Sea set off for Toliss, where their king announced he had a newly discovered grandson, a human grandson at that, Dylan was hopeful he could lead a very happy life. Let the human boy have the crown. This Tristan Hart didn’t look like much from faraway, but he’d learn the way Dylan had learned to pick up a sword and say the right things to keep his corner of the seas at peace. But the other champions wouldn’t stand back, and Dylan’s father wouldn’t have their family bow down to a halfbreed human boy.

So they set sail after the presentation of the champions when King Karanos broke his trident into three pieces and set them loose in the oceans. Lord Ammon’s ship had their best men, a court of chattering princesses, and two ancient augurers. While the augurers dug their scaley fingers into the bellies of spotted sharks, Dylan leaned against the side of the ship and watched the waves toss around them. His legs itched where skin replaced the light blue of his scales. He wiggled his toes, just like they all did when they were in this form. For a people who hated humans, they didn’t mind the magic in their veins allowing them to use the convenience of legs. Dylan sighed at the open sea, and thought it was curious how dark the sky was already in this part of the world.

“Nasty surface weather,” Evan said, coming up beside him.

Dylan felt his body do many things at once. His stomach fluttered, his heart expanded, and his tongue went dry. It was always this way when Evan was around. Evan with his lovely dark eyes. His armor gleamed in the soft light of the moon. His hand reached out for Dylan’s, and rested there for a good long while.

“I don’t like this,” Dylan told him.

“Sorry, my Prince.” Evan withdrew his hand instantly.

Dylan felt his face burn. “That’s not what I meant.” He loved when Evan touched him. He loved when Evan looked at him. He couldn’t get enough of it, really.

“Never that,” Dylan said, threading their fingers together. “I mean the championship. How are we supposed to get answers from the tribe? And even if I do find a piece of the trident, am I really supposed to…kill the others?”

Evan smiles at him. He loved it when Evan smiled, but there were few things about Evan that Dylan did not love. The only thing he could think of was Evan’s duty to the guard, and worrying on whether or not he’d return to him or get cut into surf at the bottom of the ocean.

“You’d make a fine king,” Evan said. “I know it in my bones. You’re just. You’re fiercely loyal. And you’re brave.”

“Brave?” Dylan shook his head. “You flatter me. Do you know the only thing stopping me from jumping into the sea and swimming far far away is you?”

“I’d follow you,” Evan said.

“And bring me back?”

“No.” Evan grabbed onto the leather sheath on Dylan’s chest and pulls him close. He presses his lips to his and they kiss softly, but quickly. “And do that.”

Somewhere on the ship an augurer shouted, “we’re approaching the mist, my Lord Ammon!”

And a princess wanting to become Dylan’s queen stormed away and landed into the arms of a member of the guard.

And a decrepit creature clawed its way up the side of the ship and on board. It’s teeth ripped into the shoulder of the first guard it found. It’s jagged claws ripped through the neck that followed.

It was not alone.

They moved too fast to draw screams, the shouts still lodged in the throat of their victims.

“We’re under attack!” yelled Lord Ammon, trying to draw his long sword. But the ship heaved and he lost his footing, damn his legs. He shifted into his tail and slapped the vicious merrow that attacked him. If he were to die, it would be as his true self. He would die fighting. He could see Dylan running to his aid, but the creatures kept coming. Ammon grabbed one of the infernal merrows by the ankle and pulled him to the ground. He stared into its shark-like face, breathed the rot in its mouth, and twisted the creature’s neck. It’s decomposed in seconds, oozing black blood.

“Father!” Dylan shouted. He was covered in blood, black and red, and an angry gash cut his chest. “Evan!”

Dylan swung his sword left and right, and tried to reach for his father, who lay beaten and disarmed. He couldn’t find Evan. When the shouting started Evan kissed him, fast and hard as a goodbye, and ran into the fray.

“The mist,” Lord Ammon yelled. “Go, my son.”

Dylan shook his head, surrounded by bodies torn in half and the deformed creatures he’d only heard about in stories of old. He couldn’t get his feet, his stupid human feet, to move.

The merrow pushed Dylan to the ground. It’s fists were ready to rip into him, but Ammon blocked the blow with his whole body. The spear-like nails dug into Ammon’s chest. Even as Dylan screamed, his father, one of the ancients of the seas, petrified into coral, then crumbled into pieces.

Dylan didn’t have time to scream. The merrows overran the ship. He took his father’s sword a sliced through one, two, three wretched bodies at once. He broke the skin of his fists on the merrow’s coarse hides. He screamed Evan’s name and was answered by growling and the cry of the dying.

Then he felt the mist.

He grabbed a flaming torch and threw it on the ground. He knew he had to go now, go far, while he had the chance.

“Evan!” He screamed again. But no one answered. As the ship went up in flames and the merrows feasted on the bodies, Dylan jumped into the mist.

He never saw Evan again.

How many merrows did it take to overwhelm Lord Ammon’s forces? 99 ? A thousand? Three hundred quintillion? Pick up THE VAST AND BRUTAL SEA to find out more about Dylan and these legendary creatures!

And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Zoraida, and more! Remember my favorite number – add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the red 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!

And just like all previous YASH I’ve hosted, there’s more prizes to be won!

A GIVEAWAY!

People who successfully complete the hunt already gets the chance to win a signed hardback copy of THE GIRL FROM THE WELL. But I’m also hosting my own personal giveaway below where you get to win more swag! Two winners will get the chance to win the following: