Sentence Sneak Peek - The Near Witch

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The first sentence from each chapter of The Near Witch, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

*All quotes/lines taken from an ARC I read via Different Area Codes tours
*Book will be released on August 2, 2011

"IT STARTS WITH A CRACK, a sputter, and a spark."

"LEXI."

"MY FATHER TAUGHT ME A lot about witches."

"I QUICKEN MY PACE AS I HEAD home, frustrated and chilled from sloshing through the wet grass."

"KNOCK."

"I MAKE IT HOME BEFORE OTTO, and for that I am thankful."

"WREN IS SKIPPING UP AND down the hall in her nightgown, playing games with the wooden floorboards."

"THE ENTIRE WORLD VANISHES."

"LONG, LONG AGO, THE NEAR Witch lived in a small house on the farthest edge of the village."

"I DON'T REMEMBER FALLING asleep."

"MY BOOTS ARE CINCHED AND I take off, winding a course around the back of the house, behind a small hill and safely out of sight of the chopping block in the front yard."

"CECILIA'S HOUSE IS A TANGLE of bodies."

"I PULL MY SLEEVES DOWN AND scold myself for not dressing warmer."

"THE MOON IS BRIGHT AND the night is still, and the wind is humming in a far-off way."

"COLE PULLS ME BACK INTO the shadow of the grove just as Otto and Bo climb into sight on the moonlit moor."

"SUNLIGHT, SUDDEN AND WARM, pours across the bed."

"THE NEAR WITCH LIVED on the edge of the village," Magda begins, "on the seam where Near met the wild world."

"I LOOK OUT AT THE UNENDING hills, but all I feel is hopeless."

"I REACH A NEST OF HOMES just south of the sisters' house and the center of town."

"INSIDE, THE HOUSE IS TOO quiet."

"FIVE HILLS DUE EAST, IN A small forest."

"COLE, LOOK!"

"WREN'S CHEST RISES AND FALLS."

"MY HAND HURTS, BUT I'm sure his face hurts worse, and none of it compares to the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach."

"I HOLD MY BREATH, BUT nothing happens, nothing comes."

"THE FIRST THING I REALIZE is that the room is dark."

"IN MY DREAMS, SOMEONE IS screaming."

"I CUT BETWEEN THE HOUSES, weaving out of the town center."

"I SPRINT THROUGH THE dead forest, and the light slips lower and lower, impossibly fast toward the horizon."

"MY FATHER USED TO SAY THAT change is like a garden."