Expected Date of Publication: January
2014
Book blurb:
Immagica
Where anything is possible.
Enter at your own risk.
The night before her fifteenth birthday, Rosaline Clayton uncovers a
deep family secret. She receives an amulet from her deranged father, and he
tells her she must find the book in order to save him. Rosaline is used
to her dad not making any sense, so she dismisses their conversation as another
of his crazy rants.
When Rosaline’s brother, Elliot, drags her to their Nana’s attic to explore, they
find the old leather-bound book tucked away in a chest. It sucks them into its
pages, transporting them to a magical world. Along the way Rosaline and Elliot
are separated, and the only thing she wants is to find her brother and go home.
The creatures of Immagica have other ideas. After
years of war their land lies in ruin. Using the amulet’s power, they want Rosaline
to defeat the dragon and restore Immagica
to its former glory. But Rosaline is bound to Immagica
in ways she doesn’t understand, and when she discovers the truth about her
family, she must follow her heart to save them all.
Excerpt:
A breeze whipped my hair
over my face. I batted it away as I turned in every direction, searching for my
little brother.
“Elliot,” I
called across the wasteland. “Elliot!” I screamed.
Nothing.
The book blew
open and the pages fluttered in the breeze. I scurried over to snatch it up,
not wanting to let it out of my sight. This place scared me. Losing Elliot
scared me, and I was unsure what to do. If the book could spit me out into a
desolate wasteland, it may also be able to take me home. I slipped my
fingernail under the edge of the amulet and tried to prise it off the cover,
but it wouldn’t budge. The emerald pulsed in a steady rhythm. After a few
minutes I gave up and tucked the book into the back of my jeans.
If I decided to
walk anywhere, it was going to be tough with no shoes, but I was glad I’d
fallen asleep in my clothes the night before. Imagine if I’d ended up in this
god-forsaken place in my nightie! Elliot was probably roaming around somewhere
in his PJs. The thought made me laugh, but then sadness engulfed me. Elliot. My heart broke thinking about
him. I’d lost my little brother. Where was I supposed to start looking for him?
Already I missed the way his dark hair flopped across his forehead. The way
he’d look at me so seriously with his grey eyes. And how he had a talent for
making me smile when it was the last thing I wanted to do.
I stared at my
feet and wished I had my favourite pair of Converse to slip on. I sighed and
started to walk. Rocks dug into my skin, making me wince with every step. After
a few minutes the pain subsided and the walking got easier. I thought I’d lost
the feeling in my feet, but when I looked down again I was wearing a pair of
black Converse All Stars.
My mouth
dropped open and I stopped. “How…?”
It was still
just me in the middle of nowhere. The shoes felt real enough, but I gave my
toes a little wriggle to make sure it wasn’t an illusion. I even blinked a
couple of times to test my eyes were working properly. Yep, the shoes were
definitely real, and I was a little more freaked than I’d been when I first
arrived.
I continued
walking. Where I was walking to was a mystery. How could I know where I was
going, if I didn’t even know where I was in the first place? I wished Elliot
was with me. Or that I had someone to talk to; someone who could tell me where
I was.
“Where am I?” I
asked the breeze.
“You know,
talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness,” a girl said from behind
me.
I spun around
to face the most unusual girl I’d ever seen. She held a bronze spear in her right
hand. It was fancy like a sceptre, with a decorative head that housed a big
emerald. What was it with all the emeralds? Maybe I was in Oz. The eye-shaped
stone stared at me and I shuddered. Above all the fanciness was a silver point
that could probably slice me in half in one-second flat.
Frantically, I
looked around for something to use to defend myself if I needed to. My only
option was to brain her with a rock—if
I needed to.
“I wasn’t
talking to myself,” I said. I totally was
talking to myself. “I just wanted someone to talk to.”
The girl
laughed. “You should be careful what you wish for in a place like this.”
She looked a
little older than me, with pale blue eyes, high cheekbones, and an olive
complexion. Silver streaked her long, black hair, and it had several small
braids through it.
“And where is
this exactly?”
The girl simply
stared at me, her mouth all pouty, as if I should know the answer. I wasn’t
sure if she would hurt me or take me to meet her equally weird looking friends.
She wore a pair of ripped denim shorts, and a strange cream top that looked
handmade with lacing up each side and an uneven neckline. Shin-high, chunky
hiking boots encased her long legs, and she had a small leather satchel flung
across her body. The spear totally completed the outfit.
“Not quite like
Dorothy is it,” she finally said, grinning. “She was greeted by munchkins, but
you got me instead.”
“You’ve read The Wizard of Oz?”
“Of course.”
The girl laughed. “And Alice in
Wonderland, The Neverending Story, and Narnia.
All the greats.”
Somehow, I
found it hard to believe. Where the hell was the library?
“Who are you?” I
asked, putting my hands on my hips. I could play smart, too, but I hoped I appeared
more confident than I felt.
“So many
questions. Which one do I answer first? I hope you know who you are.”
“Never mind,” I
said, turning away. She’d done her best to annoy me, and I’d only known her for
twenty seconds.
“Don’t take it
personally.” The girl fell into step beside me. “You’re not the only one that’s
ended up here when they first arrived. Not everyone can expect to land in the
thick of things.”
“What are you
talking about?” I stopped to face her.
“I’m Brynn.” She
stuck out her hand. I hesitated but eventually took it. She pumped my arm up
and down a few times before letting go. “So, where’s the book?”
“How do you
know about the book?” I frowned.
“You usually
can’t get here without the book.”
“Where’s here?”
“Isn’t it
obvious?”
“No, not
really. Why do you want the book?” I asked.
“I don’t want
the book.”
“Then why did
you ask about the book?”
“You’ll need
the book,” Brynn said. “The book is very important.”
I sighed. “Of
course it is.” I pulled it from the waistband of my jeans, but I didn’t hand it
over.
“You don’t
trust me, do you?” Brynn asked.
“If you were
me, would you trust you?”
“I’m very
trustworthy.” She smiled and raised her eyebrows.
“But how do I
know that!”
She shrugged.
“You don’t.”
“Okay, this
place is just weird,” I said.
Arguing with
the strange girl was wasting time. I needed to find Elliot. Brynn was the only
person, besides me, in this terrible place, so what option did I have? I’d have
to ask for help.
“I’ve lost my
little brother,” I blurted out. “He was with me, I felt him beside me when …
and then he wasn’t there, and I was here, and I hate this place!”
The emerald in
the amulet pulsed.
Brynn looked at
me as if she couldn’t care less about Elliot. Why would she? She didn’t know
him. But I cared. And I was damn well going to make her care!
“You’ll need to
get the amulet off the cover if you want to find him,” she said. “Push the
emerald.”
Sure, why not. Nothing else
in my life made sense anymore. I did as she’d said and pushed it with my thumb.
Something clicked and the golden glow shone under the amulet. It popped off the
cover and the book healed itself, returning to normal. I ran my fingers over
the embossed image on the cover before unravelling the chain and hanging the
amulet around my neck. It gave me an odd feeling of security, like I could do
anything, or go anywhere.
“Hey! Where are
you going,” I called to Brynn. She’d walked off while I was doing weird stuff.
“You can come
if you like.” She stopped and waited for me to catch up. “You’re a Clayton.
What’s your first name?”
“Rosaline,” I
replied. “How do you know my last name?”
“The amulet has
been in your family for generations. Your ancestors had a hand in creating this
place.”
“My family made
this horrid wasteland? What on earth for?”
“You mean you
haven’t been told?”
“Told what?” I
asked. “No one tells me anything.”
“You don’t know
anything about magic?”
“Are you
related to my dad? Because he’s all kinds of weird as well,” I said.
AUTHOR BIO
K. A. Last was born in Subiaco, Western Australia, and moved to Sydney with her parents and older brother when she was eight. Artistic and creative by nature, she studied Graphic Design and graduated with an Advanced Diploma. After marrying her high school sweetheart, she concentrated on her career before settling into family life. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she began writing to let off creative steam, and fell in love with it. She now resides in a peaceful leafy suburb north of Sydney with her husband, their two children, and a rabbit named Twitch.
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