Nest Pitch DM 5: WINTER KING
Category/Genre:
NA/Urban
Fantasy
Word
Count: 100,000
Pitch:
Nineteen-year-old Lydia was told the monsters
from her Celtic nightmares were part of her Asperger's diagnosis. When
she discovers the truth she must fight for her life and still prove she is
capable of living independently.
Egg:
Chocolate
with mint chocolate inside, because she’s still trying to figure out who she
is.
Excerpt:
Frozen air
slapped against my bare face as I hurried out of the gym. I should have
been warm after three hours of Kendo but I was cold and trembling as hot sweat
glued my t-shirt to my skin. Ten years of therapy and the nightmares were
getting worse. Tonight I almost killed a boy.
An unfamiliar
instinct had slid its cold hands into my mind, images of men with shining eyes
and bloodstained armor blended with my sparring opponent until I couldn’t tell
reality from dream. He was the enemy, coming at me with a real killing
sword and death in his eyes and I knew how to kill him with a flick of my
wooden sword to the side of his skull. For a horrible moment I forgot
where I was. Who I was.
I wasn’t a
killer. I saved earthworms from drowning when it rained and cried over
soup commercials. I was just a girl with Aspergers trying to survive
college and terrified of small talk.
I walked fast
down Monroe Street, avoiding gold and orange leaves slowly melting on the sidewalks.
A sharp burst of icy rain glittered against the street lights and October’s
cold made the world a dimly lit frozen candy-cane land from hell. Rusting
street lamps gave off a dull sulfur glow and slick black ice shimmered on the
empty pavement. A gust of wind swept up my coat, setting fire to my
joints as sweat from Kendo tried to freeze my t-shirt to my skin.
I wanted to be
safe but there was no way to hide from a monster in my own mind. However
for at least a few hours, I could rest. So I went to Callahan’s Place, my
favorite coffee shop and refuge from insanity. I was always there
between ten and one in the morning and I was not going to let fear for my
sanity scare me out of my routine.
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