VERSION 5 BASED ON COMMENTS (As of October 19, and it's getting better? I hope? Help!)
- PERSONALIZATION. MOUTHS is a young adult fantasy, complete at 85,000 words.
When Derek proposes that he, Io, and Vidar ditch the field trip and explore America’s Stonehenge on their own, they encounter an apparition of a grisly monk who compels them into another world. Escaping him, however, pushes the three teens even more adrift, in a land where magic replaces electricity, the gods are both real and flawed, and everyone believes Io is some angel...thing.
While Derek finds this world more fascinating than a Dungeons and Dragons game, Io and Vidar only want to get the hell home. To do this, they must start communicating in a new language, in a different culture, and with each other. Easier said than done, because Vidar hates everything about the stupid, racist place. He saves an entire village from a mysterious fire, yet they still think he’s worthless. He won’t accept being stuck here. Ever.
And Io…Io needs to control the magic sizzling beneath her fingertips, the magic that started that fire, before it hurts someone. Otherwise, she’ll be abandoned just when she might have some actual, yanno, friends.
And as they search, they must contend with the monk, the most powerful religious leader in this world. He’s determined to purify the land of sin Ten Plagues of Egypt style, and that requires Io, Vidar, and Derek. As corpses.
MOUTHS is written as the first half of a two book series. I believe it will appeal to fans of Tamora Pierce's TRICKSTER'S CHOICE and TRICKSTER'S QUEEN, or Hilari Bell's FARSALA series.