Pitch Wars ALT: VB-2 - RIDING ON SHOULDERS

MENTOR: Veronica Bartles
ALTERNATE: Khyl Shumway
TITLE: RIDING ON SHOULDERS
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Fantasy
WORD COUNT: 51,000

PITCH:  Chandler is a shoulder-guardian angel. Lucy is the infuriating devil on the other shoulder. When a deadly secret society goes after their mortal friend, Chandler and Lucy may have to resort to the unthinkable: working together.


EXCERPT:
Go towards the light? What a load of crap.

First off: what light? There was no light.

Second: I did not want to die. I was basically pulled, with no say in the matter.

When I arrived, I heard singing in the distance—some kind of choir, I think. I turned, looking around, but it only made me feel dizzy.

“Hello,” said a short man. Except, he wasn’t just a man. A thin ring of yellow light hung above his head. He was an angel.

I looked at him, unsure what to say. Unsure of everything.

“Am I…?”

“…Dead?” asked the angel, finishing my question for me.

“Yeah,” I said, my voice cracking.

“You are dead, yes,” he said. “But you’re in the wrong place. Follow me.”

We walked on a thick layer of fog machine mist. That’s what it looked like, anyway. As we went, I tried to remember how I’d died. I remembered my name, my family, friends, and all that stuff. I remembered waking up that morning. But then everything got hazy.

I couldn’t remember anything past breakfast.

“Wait,” I said, hustling to catch up. “Where’re we going?”

“Hustle,” he said, waving his hand for me to follow. “You’ll need a halo first.”

“A halo?” I asked, almost laughing.

“Then you’ll get your assignment,” he said, nodding.

“What?” I asked. “Assignment?”

“Halo first, though. Then mortal subject.”

“Wait!” I said, stopping.

“Nope. Come on,” he said. “You’re a shoulder angel. And you’ve got work to do.”