Publication date: February 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Synopsis:
All her life, clever Aemi has been a slave in the Village of the Rocks, a place where the sea and sky meet. She’s heard the stories about the fabled People of the Sea, a people who possess unimaginable technology who live below the waves in the dark, secret places of the ocean. But she never dreamed those stories were true.
When a ship emerges from the ocean and men burn her village, Aemi is captured, and enslaved below the waves in Itlantis, a world filled with ancient cities of glass and metal, floating gardens, and wondrous devices that seem to work magic. To make matters worse, her village nemesis, the stuck-up mayor’s son Nol, was captured with her, and they are made servants in the same household beneath the sea.
Desperate to be free, Aemi plots her escape, even going so far as to work with Nol. But the sea holds more secrets than she realizes, and escape might not be as simple as leaving…
When a ship emerges from the ocean and men burn her village, Aemi is captured, and enslaved below the waves in Itlantis, a world filled with ancient cities of glass and metal, floating gardens, and wondrous devices that seem to work magic. To make matters worse, her village nemesis, the stuck-up mayor’s son Nol, was captured with her, and they are made servants in the same household beneath the sea.
Desperate to be free, Aemi plots her escape, even going so far as to work with Nol. But the sea holds more secrets than she realizes, and escape might not be as simple as leaving…
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Excerpt
We
walked across a bridge enclosed with glass that stretched between the ship and
the city of Celestrus. Glass and twisted metal were the only things standing
between the sea and us. I looked up and saw a long, sinuous shape curl through
the waters above us—some giant, unknown sea creature—and a shiver passed over
my skin as I remembered the dark shape that had passed beneath our ship on the
journey over.
What
other things lurked in the ocean’s depths?
The first
guard planted his hand between my shoulder blades and pushed me forward,
drawing my thoughts back to the present, back to the rush of warm air from the
round opening ahead, the clank of our feet against the metal floor, and Nol
telling the guard exactly what he’d like to do to him if he had a sword in
hand.
I kept
my mouth shut, because I wasn’t stupid.
We
stepped through the round doorway, entering a round room with walls and floors
of polished metal. The ceiling arched above us, made of rose-colored glass and
shot through with metal that I supposed held it aloft. I could see shapes
moving above it, churning shadows that stamped and brushed the ceiling and
bewildered me until I realized I was seeing people’s feet and garments. The
ceiling above must serve as a walkway for an even higher level, I realized. I
stared at the strange shadow dance until someone nudged me. The guard.
A bench
ran along one wall, and a man sat on it, waiting for us. He stood when we
entered.
He must
have been old, but his face was astonishingly smooth, almost ageless. His skin
was the color of copper. His long hair black hair, streaked with gray at the
temples, hung down his back in a mass of braids, and he wore light purple robes
that draped off his thin body and engulfed his wrists. He did not look unkind,
which was a good sign.
The
guards herded me forward.
“What is
your name?” he asked me.
“Aemi,”
I said.
“Ah,
Aemi. Exquisite name. Means sea-born
in the old tongue.”
I lifted
my gaze, startled. “Yes, it does.”
He
smiled, a quick quirk of his lips that transformed his face into something
kindly. “And you?” he asked Nol.
Nol
turned his head and would not speak. The man looked back at me.
“He’s
called Nol,” I said, and I saw a muscle jump in Nol’s jaw when I spoke his
name. He gave me a look of pure loathing, and I knew I had betrayed him by
giving up his identity to the man when he had clearly wished to make a
statement by withholding it.
“Nol,
eh? Short for Nolen?”
“Just
Nol,” he growled.
“I am
called Merelus,” he said, seemingly unruffled by the waves of anger radiating
from Nol. “I hope we can learn to respect each other, as unfavorable as this
situation may be for you.”
Respect
each other? His words confused me, but I bit my lips and said nothing.
“Come,”
Merelus said to us, and nodded to the guards. “I’ll take you both.”
“Their
wristlocks, sir,” the guard said.
“Ah,
yes.” Merelus paused and waited as the guard approached us and snapped a thick
band of silver over our right wrists.
“This
will set off an alarm if you enter any area forbidden to Indentureds,” he
informed us gruffly. “And you will be punished.”
I looked
around for Myo, but he was gone. I supposed I would never see him again. He’d
never bid me goodbye. Why would he? I was just a slave.
The
click of the wristlock around my arm made me flinch. Merelus watched my face,
and his eyebrows drew together as if he were seeing more than I intended him
to. I turned my head away and met Nol’s eyes. They smoldered with fury as he
submitted to having the wristlock placed on him.
“Well,”
Merelus said when it was done. “That’s over. Let’s go, shall we?” He indicated
the door.
My mouth
fell open as we stepped through it.
Arching
ceilings soared overhead, joining in a web of patterned glass held in place by
golden metal beams that swirled and formed fantastic shapes. The floors were
gleaming stone set in curling patterns beneath our feet. Doorways and corridors
branched off from the main thoroughfare, opening onto other plazas and rooms
filled with fountains and statues.
Far
ahead of us, six corridors converged on a round plaza with a sculpture of a
dolphin in the center. Blinding light poured over the dolphin from a ceiling
that glowed with light like a captured sun.
I
glanced at Nol. He stared ahead, his mouth pressed in a rigid line. His hands
were white and clenched at his sides. He refused to seem impressed.
But I
saw no reason to hide my amazement. I gaped at everything.
“You
have never been to Celestrus before,” Merelus observed, watching my reaction.
“No.” I
remembered Myo’s warnings and said nothing else of my past.
“The
Jeweled City,” he said, smiling. “Seat of learning and the arts. The most
beautiful place in all of Itlantis. Exquisite, if I may say so.”
I
believed it.
Men and
women filled the corridors and corresponding plazas that connected them. Most
wore flowing tunics or robes over the one-piece jumpsuits, or simply the
jumpsuits. A few were dressed in other garments—trousers, dresses. The blend of
fashions bewildered me. The people had varying appearances too—some with skin as
brown as polished driftwood, others as pale as sand. Most had long, straight
black or brown hair, and large eyes that came in vivid blues, greens, and
browns. Nol’s pale hair stood out and drew him a few looks of interest and
curiosity.
We
crossed a bridge of shining metal and glass and into a round-roofed chamber
large enough to fit the Village of the Rocks inside in its entirety. A vast
floor stretched before us, and the ceiling was ribbed with metal supports and
set with colored glass. Through the glass, I caught glimpses of the ocean, vast
and dark and rippling with fish.
“The
commons,” Merelus said, gesturing to the space before us.
This
place was anything but common.
We
passed through this glorious space and reached another. They were like a string
of bubbles, one after the other. This chamber had dozens of doors set into the
walls, and staircases going down into the floor and up toward the roof. I
craned my neck to see around us. Balconies spiraled around the domed roof as
far as I could see.
Merelus
stopped before a door of bronzed metal and touched the handle.
“Welcome
home,” he said.
I live in Georgia with my wonderful husband and two spoiled cats. When I'm not writing, I'm usually catching up on my extensive Netflix queue, reading a book, giggling at something funny online, or trying to convince my husband to give me just ONE bite of whatever he's eating.Learn more about my writing and books at my blog (http://
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
ReplyDeleteThe cover is beautiful. I always look at the cover of a book to help me decide if it is one that I want to read. This sounds like a great book and I added it to my TBR list. Thanks for sharing your talent with us and for the great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThanks for featuring this book! Is that cover not just STUNNING?! I absolutely love it. I've been wanting to read this since I first heard about it in Kate's newsletter, and just found out I won a copy in a LibraryThing giveaway, yay! I can't wait to read it.
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