COGLING
Young
Adult Steampunk-Fantasy
The beautiful
cover is thanks to Mandie
Manzano.
When
fifteen-year-old Edna Mather tears an expensive and unfamiliar pocket watch off
her little brother's neck, he crumbles into a pile of cogs right before her
eyes. Horrified, Edna flees for help, but encounters Ike, a thief who attempts
to steal the watch before he realizes what it is: a device to power
Coglings—clockwork changelings left in place of stolen children who have been
forced to work in factories.
Desperate to rescue her
brother, Edna sets off across the kingdom to the hags' swamp, with Ike in tow.
There, they learn Coglings are also replacing nobility so the hags can stage a
rebellion and rule over humanity. Edna and Ike must stop the revolt, but the
populace believes hags are helpful godmothers and healers. No one wants to
believe a lowly servant and a thief, especially when Ike has secrets that label
them both as traitors.
Together, Edna and Ike
must make the kingdom trust them or stop the hags themselves, even if Ike is
forced to embrace his dark heritage and Edna must surrender her
family.
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Excerpt:
Green smoke snaked up
the side of the tenement and drifted over the sill of an open window. A breeze
blew the vapor into a column before it solidified into the shape of a stout,
young hag. She shook her crimson curls away from her face and straightened the
hood of her cloak to keep her kohl-lined, silver eyes shadowed.
The scent of lavender
clung to her robes, washing over the small room. Two brass-framed beds crowded
the floor. Blankets covered sleeping children. A little boy wheezed against the
head of his stuffed bear, drool dripping onto the wool.
The hag squinted to see
the goldenrod dream cloud above his head—a dream about seeing his father again.
She frowned at the other bed, where a sleeping teenager lay with a threadbare
blanket tugged around her chin. Even squinting, the hag couldn’t make out a
dream cloud. The girl was too old to be of any use.
The hag slithered to
the boy’s bed and, from the folds of her cloak, drew out a rectangular box four
inches long, with a circular indentation on one side. She set it on the floor to
remove a vial and rag from her skirt pocket, the rough wool of the rag
irritating her fingertips.
“Do it, Simone,” the
hag muttered to herself as she willed her hands not to tremble. “Make the Dark
Mother happy.” She couldn’t fail at her first mission.
Holding her breath,
Simone dribbled three drops onto the rag, yanked the teddy bear away, and shoved
the drugged cloth against the boy’s mouth. His eyes opened, his gasp muffled,
and his body jerked. Simone stiffened.
The girl moaned. Her
mattress rustled as she rolled over to face the wall, brown curls shifting over
her pillow.
Simone’s heart thudded.
By the seven Saints, she should’ve cast a sleeping spell over the girl. The Dark
Mother preferred humans to think hags were harmless healers, not thieves who
kidnapped children.
The boy writhed,
squeaks emerging from behind the rag. Simone pressed harder. She needed his
breath in the wool to disguise and fuel the machine.
The potion took hold
and the boy collapsed. Simone’s thick lips curved over her broken teeth. She
lifted a pocket watch from around her neck and positioned it into the crevice in
the metal box. As the two pieces connected, a chime rang out. She set the box
beside the limp little boy and draped the rag over it. Even though she should
wait to make sure his breath stuck in the machine, she couldn’t risk waking the
girl.
The metal stretched to
become his replica as if it were made of putty. With a second chime, the metal
shimmered and dulled into the pale peach of his flesh, becoming an exact
duplicate of the child.
“Mine.” Simone hefted
the little boy into her arms, leaving the duplication on the bed, and
transformed to smoke before the chimes awoke the girl.
###
About
the Author:
Jordan
Elizabeth, formally Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, writes down her nightmares in order
to live her dreams. She is the author of ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW, TREASURE
DARKLY, and BORN OF TREASURE. Check out her website, JordanElizabethMierek.com,
for more information on her books, contests, and bonus short stories.
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