Title: Touching Darkness
Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery
Word Count: 80,000
Query:
High school is hard enough, but it can be damn near impossible when the brush of a hand brings uncontrollable visions. Ally Rodriguez has hidden her clairvoyance from her classmates for years, but after she’s attacked by a bully at school, a detective pieces together her secret and enlists Ally to help solve the murder of a slain student. All she has to do is touch the body.
The vision shows Ally the victim’s final moments, including the face of the killer, but without a name, the police are left scrambling for more. Ally’s mission to help find the killer leads her to uncover secret ties between her brother, her teacher, her best friend and the murderer himself. When a second body is discovered and another girl goes missing, Ally must learn to embrace her abilities and untangle the truth from the lies in order to save another life. Each revelation brings her one step closer to the killer and one misstep away from becoming his next victim.
First 250:
I should have kept my mouth shut. I should have sat in my chair, ducked my head, and ignored the fact that Kyle Ramsey was being a complete ass for no reason…again. But there was something in the look on Shane’s face; fear was part of it, but there was more. Impotent rage. That feeling that no matter how mad Shane got, he would never be able to retaliate; a feeling I knew all too well. The one thing that allowed me to survive school was keeping my feet firmly planted in the blind spot of the student body. Girls with secrets don’t make so much as a ripple in the glassy surface of their peers’ awareness and they sure as hell don’t make a tidal wave by mouthing off to a jerk. Shane obviously agreed that cowering in the shadows was better than bleeding in the spotlight, but the smug satisfaction in Kyle’s eyes pierced something inside me. The world shifted on its axis and I was on my feet before I knew what happened.
“What did you say?” Kyle asked.
Sweat erupted from my pores, but it was too late to walk away. “Why can’t you just leave people the hell alone?” I repeated, voice louder if not steadier than the first time I’d said it. My heart threatened to explode; words continued to spew.
Hi! I thought the opening page was well-done. We don't know what the conflict was over, but we've certainly all known people like this and seen this situation occur. I just felt the concept was too familiar. I'd be happy to consider something else by the author, though. Good luck!
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