Bouncer Post #168

Title: LOST AMONG THE STARS

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Word Count: 82k

Query:

Seventeen-year-old Jayne discovers her missing father’s ancient alien conspiracy theories are true the night a spaceship lands in her backyard.

Taken hostage and whisked across space, Jayne finds herself at the center of a galactic conflict between opposing alien civilizations, both preparing for war, both with something to hide and both with different reactions to her and the supposed secrets about the true origin of life her father hid in a coded journal.

On one side she must resist an enigmatic alien rebel who desires to use her father’s secrets to overthrow a ruling alien dynasty, destroy all life in the galaxy and start anew – demanding Jayne decode these secrets or die.

On the other side she must resist falling for steadfast young Orin, a Protector reluctantly pledged to keep her alive, at least long enough to ensure the power-hungry rebel never obtains her father’s journal.

Deciphering her father’s secrets could result in the destruction of life, aliens and earthlings alike, but it also might be her only chance to find him lost among the stars. Jayne must find a way to keep her father's secrets from falling into the wrong hands without losing him forever. 

First 250:

Jayne stood rigid at the window, heart frozen in her chest, breath arrested, eyes glued to the blue light blasting through the blackness of the night, illuminating the jagged forest just beyond the backyard fence.

A spaceship.

No, not a spaceship. Just because her father believed in aliens didn’t mean UFO’s were real. Get a freaking grip, already.

The windowpane shuddered, sending a shock wave up both hands splayed against the glass. Jayne squinted against the blistering light that appeared ready to land in her backyard.

A fierce panic erupted in her chest. She stumbled from the window in her father’s study, throwing the heavy drape against the glass as if it could somehow stop the intrusion. The blue intensified, casting an eerie halo about the drapery.

Then darkness.

Seconds passed, maybe minutes, maybe years. Jayne’s heart thumped rapidly like a drummer on speed. She tiptoed to the window and pulled back the drape. The yellow desk lamp from behind cast a soft glow upon the glass, outlining the mound of strawberry blonde curls that spilled about her pale, freckled face. She scanned the moonless night. The lights in the sky were gone.

Lights in the sky fly by. She repeated the mantra ten times, letting each familiar word comfort every frazzled nerve. She gently reminded herself that there was no unidentified flying object in her neighborhood, only a low-lying plane headed towards the private airstrip only miles away.

At that moment, Jayne resolved to stop drinking coffee late at night.