Blind Speed Dating #24 (YA)

Title: DIVINE

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Thriller

Word Count: 78,000

Query:

If there's one thing Caddy's good at, it's not getting caught.



But when a priceless diamond vanishes during a devastating sandstorm, staying under the radar becomes… complicated for the young pickpocket. Her alibi is nonexistent after a mysterious boy, Twist, pulls her into the secret tunnels beneath the glass city. Now Service is yanking people off the streets for questioning, and the records point to Caddy and her brother, both skilled thieves.

When her brother is wrongly accused and arrested, Caddy attempts the impossible: breaking him out of prison. Teaming up with Twist--the adrenaline junkie she just might be falling for--and his sloppy band of runaway boys doesn’t boost her confidence, yet it’s her only option. But things go from bad to worse when the Service starts arresting innocent people, riots flood the streets, and she finds Twist knows more about the missing diamond than he’s letting on.

Based in a futuristic Italy, DIVINE may appeal to readers of Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies and Levianthan series, and Marie Lu’s Legend. I have been a member of the Thurber House Young Writers' Studio in Columbus, Ohio for six years. I have two short stories in the Anonymous literary magazine as well as a short work in the 2013 volume of Flip the Page.

First 250:

The dust is high today, the air impossibly dry as I scan the swarms of shoppers packed tight in the streets. Another sandstorm is coming.

I focus on the crowd as another Insan airship blocks out the sun. I need to get back to work before the winds clear the streets and I lose the day to the weather and the Service. My fingers itch as muted glints of silver flash on one side of the street then the other as I stick to the shade of a massive glass building. People rush past, and I’m careful to keep to the edge of the crowd and out of sight from the redcoats on patrol.

Today everyone in Cidy will be on the streets to trade what they have for what they need. Meaning the Service will be on high alert for pickpockets.

Like me.

A man chases after an Insan vendor across the gridded street, too busy to notice me in the shadows. I reach forward and slip a silver chain from his pocket and stuff it into my bag.

I walk down another winding block, keeping an eye on the dark clouds. Insan merchants in pressed suits carry sleek black sacks on their backs and chests, wandering through the crowd. Two men shove each other over an expensive pair of leather shoes. It’s disgusting that they’re squabbling over something so worthless on Vendita Day. They should be more concerned about how they’ll afford food when prices rise again next week in their local sectors.