YA Scavenger Hunt 2018: Infinity War

The hunt is now over. Thanks for playing!

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt! 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 (including WASTE OF SPACE). Somewhere along the way is a schematic of the spaceship from WASTE OF SPACE, too. So, you know. Get on that.

There are six contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all. I am a part of the GREEN TEAM:

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.

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SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Somewhere below, you’ll find my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the green team, and then add them up.

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 8th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

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I’m hosting Cassidy Taylor. Let’s learn more about her!

THE AUTHOR

Cassidy Taylor is a fantasy author who studied English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was there that she found her niche in children’s literature, and won the Bill Hooks Award for Young Adult Fiction. She lives in beautiful North Carolina with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and one cat who thinks he’s a dog.

For more information, check out her website , and buy her books here!

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THE BOOK

WHEN RAINS FALL is the first in a new fantasy series that follows Fielding warrior, Sibba Hallowtide, and princess-turned-rebel, Rayne Crowheart. Both have a claim to the Casuin throne, but neither of them want it . . . yet.

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THE BONUS CONTENT

It’s a title reveal and the first scene of Book 2! Take it away, Cassidy:

Title reveal: When Tides Rise

 Sibba did not step off of the Hallowtide so much as leap, launching herself from the railing and landing in ankle-deep water before struggling onto the muddy riverbank and dropping to her knees. The boat creaked and groaned against the beach, lamenting the loss of water beneath its hull. She would have kissed the ground but that would take too much effort. Instead, she fell forward, and the rest of her crew did the same around her, savoring the feel of relatively solid, unmoving ground beneath their wobbly legs. There was a thunk and a flash of copper-colored hair as Tola landed beside her, her face turned away. Sibba reached out and wrapped her fingers around Tola’s long, skinny ones. They didn’t touch often by mutual unspoken agreement, but the moment seemed to call for it. Tola squeezed back and they lay there in silence.

Through cracked eyelids, Sibba saw pink blooms dripping from branches heavy with green leaves, and patches of thick, emerald-colored grass. How long had it been? Months and months, though how many exactly, she couldn’t say. Even Tola had lost count sometime in the second month when the black kohl marks she had been making on the mainmast to mark the days had been washed away by the first bad storm. When they’d left Ottar, it had still been snowing, a white sheet blanketing the Fields and the thatched roofs. Months and months, an entire season gone, lost to the churning ocean.

Winter wasn’t all they had lost. A member of the crew had been tossed overboard by a wave during the first big storm when he was securing the sail. Sibba had been watching him, urging him to work faster, and remembered how he was there one moment—eyes wide and anxious—and gone the next, an empty space where a life had been. Two more men had fallen victim to the Krakken not long after. The monster had been stirred by the churning storm waters. Its tentacles were long enough to wrap around theHallowtide in a gruesome hug. When the ax sliced cleanly through one arm, another simply emerged from the water to take its place until finally Tola had stepped up, dug the edge of her staff into its beady, black eye and chanted fierce words in a language that Sibba didn’t understand but that still sent chills up her spine. The beast went still and finally slid slowly from the ship like a dog slinking away from its alpha. But as it went, two of its tentacles snapped tight around two of her men. Sibba had thrown herself at them but it hadn’t been enough and she had watched them disappear into the swirling blue waters.

“Are you thinking about the Krakken again?” Tola turned her head toward Sibba. The right side of her face was darkened by mud. Sibba freed her hand from Tola’s and reached up to pluck a wriggling earthworm from the vala’s hair.

“I don’t think I will ever stop,” Sibba answered, poking a hole in the dirt and dropping the worm inside.

“I don’t know why you are still surprised by unbelievable things.” Tola pushed herself to sitting. Her dress, which had once been a lovely deep shade of green to match her eyes, was now crumpled and brown, its skirt crisp from the salt and sun. It folded awkwardly around her legs, fighting her attempts to smooth it down. Sibba’s own calf-skin pants were streaked white by salt and crackled whenever she moved.

“Because they’re unbelievable,” Sibba said but just for the sake of argument. Not much was unbelievable anymore. Not after Tola had brought her back from the edge of death. Not after walking through the ghost forest and seeing the ghosts of her family and friends hanging in the shadowy trees. Not after being touched by the shadows swirling around the base of Audra’s staff like living creatures.

Tola was a vala, a wand-woman who used spirit and energy to heal and commune with nature. A year ago, Sibba would have said that such things were impossible. But then again, a year ago, Sibba was living on an abandoned island with just her mother, who, as it turned out, had been keeping her own secrets, unbelievable things in their own right. Like the fact that she was the queen of a distant land across the sea. And like the fact that the new king wanted her dead. Unbelievable, but true, as Sibba was discovering most things to be.

She pushed herself up and lifted a hand to shield her eyes. The dozen crew members who were left—volunteers, adventurers from her hometown of Ottar—were unloading the Hallowtide, handing down bags of supplies and canvas, what little water and food stores that were left. A distant, high-pitched shriek drew their eyes skyward. Aeris, Sibba’s hawk and stalwart companion, had already abandoned ship, circling farther and farther away until she was just a speck against the bright blue sky.

“Looks like we’re setting up camp,” Sibba said, standing and reaching a hand down to Tola, pulling her to her feet beside her. Their legs were still unsteady after months on the rocking ship and they swayed, shoulders bumping.

“Camp sounds like a wonderful idea,” Tola said, dropping Sibba’s hand and turning away. “You couldn’t get me back on that ship if you dragged me.”

“What?” Sibba called after her. “All adventured out, are you?”

Tola, who had reached a patch of grass farther up on the bank, tugged off her leather boots and let her toes sink into the foliage, her eyes closing in pleasure. “Oh, Sibba, if I know you at all, the adventure is just beginning.”

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THE NUMBER

Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by Cassidy, me, and more! To enter, just know that my favorite number is 28. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the green team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

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OOH ANOTHER GIANT GIVEAWAY

 

In addition to all of the fabulous prizes you can win throughout the hunt, I will also be giving away:

• • three signed hardcover copies of WASTE OF SPACE
  • a signed hardcover copy of WAX
  • a signed paperback copy of WAX
  • two digital download WASTE OF SPACE audiobooks from Audible

That’s right, you have SEVEN more chances to win more awesome stuff. All you have to do to enter is fill out the form below – and get as many bonus entries as you want by following me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, this blog, signing up for my mailing list, or by leaving a comment telling me about your favorite (or least favorite) thing about spring. Good luck!

Contest closed.

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CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, head over to the website of the next author: Dana Mele!