I made the Top Ten for this Loose ID contest on Sunday!  Yes, I’m late in posting.  It’s Twitter’s fault.  I definitely blog less now that I use that, lol

So, this is the hook and 250 that got me enough votes to send me to the next round. I’ve sent in the first thousand words of Touch of a Dragon. I’m not certain whether it’ll be an in-house choice of the Top Five or readers will again get to decide, but I should know whether I made it to the next stage by 19 November.

Story Hook for Touch of a Dragon
“Do you want to live?”

Half dead and under a heap of rubble, Leona Munro isn’t going to turn down that offer. Yet accepting, spins her life out of control. She is the Chosen and what that means no one will say.

Thrown into the world of magic she secretly craves, Leona must find the strength to survive. Too many people want to use what she is to their own advantage in the war between technology and magic. She can trust no one…least of all the sinfully attractive Samuel Blake.

First 250:
“Do you want to live?”

What the hell…?

I focused on the brown hand thrust into my face, held onto it like a lifeline. Everything else around me was a scorched blur. My heart beat hard and pain rode through my flesh. Did I want to live? Where was I? What had happened? Panic bubbled and words burst out. “What sort of insane question is that?” I choked and agony shot over my skull.

“Make a choice.”

I breathed slow, wanting to ease the fear, the pain enveloping me and refocused on the man’s hand, on the ring on his third finger. Heavy, white gold and ornate, it gleamed against his smooth, brown skin. Something about it itched, tugging at my memory, but my dull brain couldn’t help me remember. I concentrated on his question instead. Letting out a slow breath, my throat hurt. “Choice?”

More sensation worked its way through my fogged brain, breaking the pounding pain beating against my skull. Flagstones scraped against my cheek, my jaw. Cold air brushed against my skin and the thin taste of smoke, brick dust, the river’s damp air slid into my lungs. I swallowed and blood and grit thickened in my mouth. All right, I was lying down outside somewhere. Which made no sense. I’d been what…heading into work? And then what? Collapsed, passed out? Now some freak with insane questions had found me. Always my luck.