Bouncer Round 6 #22

Title: THE RAVENS OF CHAOS

Genre: Upper-Middle Grade/YA

Word Count: 95,000

Query:

Zombies aren’t supposed to be beautiful or handsome, but then again,

they’re not supposed to talk or think either. When fourteen year-old Kitt

Faris returns home to find unnervingly good looking people standing over

top his grandfather’s dead body, he begins to understand why he and his

twin brother Jake have been forced to live ‘off the grid’ their whole

lives.

Having barely escaped their clutches himself, Kitt must find a way to save

Jake from the zombie necromancers before his brother joins their undead

ranks. Hoping not to be captured and used for spare body parts, Kitt

enters the necromancer stronghold of Etherstone intent on bringing his

brother out alive. After witnessing Jake commit an act of unspeakable

brutality and presuming his brother has now become one of ‘them’, Kitt

flees with only his grandfather’s Book of Bones as a consolation prize.

Despondent at his failure to rescue Jake, a small flicker of hope returns

as Kitt opens the book and inadvertently unlocks the tragic secrets held

within. Still, if Kitt can’t decipher his grandfather’s plan to stop the

necromancers soon, Jake won’t be the only one in danger of joining the

beautiful, living-dead who are on the verge of seizing control of all

humankind.

First 250:

Kitt Faris considered him-self an expert sleeper. He loved to sleep. From

the moment his head hit the pillow at night, and for as long as he was

allowed to slumber, he would be dead to the world. Unfortunately, Kitt

slept in so often and was so constantly late for everything it prompted

his grandfather to wonder whether he existed in a different time zone than

everyone else on earth.

With only chores and homework as other options for something to do on

their isolated farm, Kitt couldn’t find any reason not to sleep so much,

not that he was looking all that hard. And, if Kitt’s favorite pastime was

to sleep, then one of his greatest skills was remaining oblivious to

anything or anyone who might interrupt that sleep.

Already ignoring the sunlight shining into his eyes, Kitt was also

managing to remain indifferent to the chickens hanging around just outside

his bedroom window. This feat was especially impressive considering the

flightless birds sounded like they were participating in some sort of

clucking contest. Despite this incredible ability to sleep through almost

anything, there was one thing, or rather one person that Kitt was unable

to ignore.

“For the last time get up!” the old man standing at the foot of Kitt’s bed

half yelled, half laughed as he nudged the sleeping fourteen-year-old boy

with his foot.

Without opening his eyes Kitt mumbled, “C’mon Grandpa Bal, get Jake to do

the chores.”