#6 SECRET AGENT Are You Hooked?

Title - Winterwood

Genre - YA Contemporary fiction

Birds twitter outside my window. Slowly, I merge into the day, stretching like a lanky cat until my bones crack. My fingers drag across the cotton smoothness of my sheets. Sun pours through my curtains resting on my porcelain ‘Glinda’ doll. Her rhinestone crown sparkles like diamonds.

I prop myself up on one elbow pulling sleep from my eyes. My clock says 12:30. I glance at the corkboard over my desk. The feather boa I wore in the school play hangs across the top, flittering in the ceiling fan breeze. Ryan smiles at me from that board. I miss him.

I hear mom’s rake scratching the tile patio outside the window. She keeps herself occupied with gourmet cooking and gardening since we got the news about Ryan so she doesn’t have to think about never seeing him again. Me? I try not to think about it.

The smell of coffee leads me to the kitchen. Warm scones and a Starbuck latte wait for me. I don my DG pink diamond sunglasses, grab my breakfast, and head out to the pool.

“It’s about time you got up, Sleepyhead.”

“Mom, you know I need my beauty sleep. Besides, it’s Saturday.”

I lie on the chaise lounge and sip my latte. One bite of the cinnamon scone teases my tastebuds. Anticipating my next bite I’m stopped cold in mid-air.

The sky explodes with ear-splitting sirens that drone on in a never-ending wail. The danger signal is relentless in its message. “GET TO SHELTER.”

#5 SECRET AGENT Are You Hooked?

Title: Self Destruction
Genre: mainstream short story

I wanted to love you, please believe that.

I’m sorry.

He read the words twice, stumbling over their simplicity, their hidden meaning. Written in the handwriting he had grown to love -- large and loopy, in her favorite purple sparkling ink. However, gone were the heart-shaped dots over the Is, the light airy flow from one letter to the next. Instead, the marks were full of pain, as evidenced by the deep grooves in the paper where she had pressed down as hard as she could.

His hands cradled his head, for fear it might explode or fall off. Tears burned his eyes as he realized the intent of the note.

Her recent silence had clued him in, but too late. The bubbly personality he bragged about had been replaced by a shadow of her former self, for how long now? He had ignored it, wanting to believe she would get better – not dreaming she would get worse. The brevity of her note made him cry harder, because this was the most she had said to him in almost a week. Ten words, so neatly engraved on a single sheet of white college-rule paper. No signature, no date – just ten words; ten painful, truthful words.

Why couldn’t she have been this honest before? He had held her hand, cuddled close to her warm body many times, begging her to share her thoughts and feelings. She had refused, sometimes crying, other times remaining silent.

#4 SECRET AGENT Are You Hooked?

Title: The Wolf Belt
Genre: Upper middle grade supernatural

It was ten minutes to midnight, and Daniel Shepherd was half-ready to throw himself through the plate glass window behind him. He slumped in his chair and let out the heaviest sigh his twelve-year-old body could produce. “When is this going to be over?”

His mother shot him her “ask me that one more time and I’ll blow my stack” look. “I already explained,” she said through clenched teeth. “Critical cases first, then serious ones. Sprains like yours get pushed to the end of the line.”

“But it’s been, like, six hours!” Daniel said. “And what if it’s broken?” He removed the icepack and grimaced at his swollen left wrist, now dark purple ringed in blue. He couldn’t move his fingers without pain shooting all the way to his elbow. And it hurt. Oh yeah, it hurt.

Mom picked up a magazine. “It’s been four hours, and it’s not broken. And maybe you’ll think twice the next time you decide to slice up the place on your skateboard.”

Daniel groaned. “It’s ‘shred,’ Mom.”

“Whatever. Try to be patient. Just sit back and take a nap.”

Nap. Right. Like that could happen in an emergency room, with doors banging open every two seconds and the occasional pain-filled shout from behind some curtain. No matter how much he squirmed, he couldn’t get comfortable.

At least the waiting room had emptied out. Only eight people remained. Daniel propped his feet on the chair in front of him.

#3 SECRET AGENT Are You Hooked?

Title: The Heron and the Snake
Genre: YA fantasy


Dad thought Charleston was dangerous.

I hadn't realized it until now, as I stood on the deck of the harbor tour boat, but with the endless wide water around me, I shivered. The dreams I'd had for the past four months rushed back to me now: dreams of him standing at the waterfront, of waves swallowing him up.

I should have asked him about Charleston, but it was too late.

I looked up from the uneasy water to the city shoreline. Reflections of pastel antebellum houses and Civil War cannons rippled in the harbor, just like in the postcards Aunt Jennifer sent me.

I rubbed a mosquito bit on my nose and leaned against the railing as the sour smell of marsh mud oozed off the coast. The boat dipped, catapulting my stomach into somersaults. The postcards hadn't included hot, moist air and ravenous hordes of insects. Those came after the camera crew left, after the neighbors stopped bringing meals, when only dirty dishes remained.

"Back in 2000 they raised the Hunley submarine out of this harbor," the tour guide said over my thoughts. "It went down in the Civil War and was lost for years."

Beneath us, the water slapped the sides of the boat. The sun glinted off the surface, masking whatever lurked below. How many treasures had people lost in the water? How many were forever buried under sludge?

#2 SECRET AGENT Are You Hooked?

Title: Demands of Justice

Genre: Science fiction/biopunk

The alarms were silent. That was a good thing. That meant no hull breach, no structural damage, no problems. But that didn’t explain why he was lying on the floor feeling light headed. He coughed, and tried to sit up. Pain seared through his body.

“Hello? Someone alive in there?”

He lifted his head.

I’m here- he mouthed the words. He licked his lips, tasting blood, and tried again, “I’m here!”

“There’s a survivor!” Metal scrapped against metal. Someone cursed. Light burst in, blinding him.

He dropped his head back down to the metal floor. All he could feel was his aching head and a knifing pain throbbing in his shoulder. But he could feel. “I’m alive.”

The light traveled up his body as the rescuers surveyed the damage. He lifted his head again to look. He lifted his head again to look. Jagged hull fragments sliced into his side. Blood pooled beside him. His legs were crushed under the control console. His arms were gone.

“Get me out. It’s not that bad. Get me to the Felinium.” He’d seen worse injuries on the news feeds. He’d be fine. Once he got home he’d be fine.

The rescuers hesitated.

“I’ll survive.”

Another light joined the first. The man closest to him tugged at a long lock of dark hair as he chewed his lip. “See, the problem here is money.”

“I’ll pay you.”

Lip-Chewer shook his head slowly. “No, you see, we need salvage. Nothing personal, just business.”