HUNTED book 1

HUNTED book 1 is the first book in the series HUNTED, which is currently being written by Aquabreeze2967 and ArtemisNight.

Blurb
In the clue hunt, it was hunt or be hunted. And only one team could survive.

Winter and Crystal are two spies working for Mr. Ocean, the president of Luminaria. But when one day, all the spies are called to Mr. Ocean's mansion, the two sisters are forced to go.

Winter and Crystal suddenly find themselves plunged into the hunt for a prize — a contest. Winter and Crystal want the prize, but unfortunately, so does everyone else.

In this thrilling debut of a breath-taking new series by famous authors Aquabreeze2967 and ArtemisNight, battles, alliances, and betrayals will all unfold, and only one team will survive...

Plot
The book starts with Winter and Crystal, two spy sisters, trying to retrieve a file from one of their rival spies, Stone. They corner him in a dark alleyway, but just as they are about to intercept him, Winter's earpiece starts buzzing, and she pauses to listen to the message. The president of Luminaria, Mr. Ocean, calls all the spies to gather at his mansion. Stone runs away with the file, while Winter and Crystal run over to where Mr. Ocean lives.

At the mansion, the two sisters see numerous spies gathered near the front door. Suddenly, Mr. Ocean comes out and tells all the spies that he thinks they've worked very hard on their missions, and they deserve a reward. He explains the rules of the prize hunt and then tells the spies that if they do not want to enter the contest, they can leave now. Winter and Crystal stay, along with several other teams. After everyone introduces themselves, Mr. Ocean grants each team their first clue, a slip of paper telling them to go to Blackstone Alley, in Wolfu. Winter and Crystal go to Wolfu immediately.

In Blackstone Alley, Winter and Crystal see Stone, who tells them that Mr. Ocean allowed the teams that stayed to look inside his mansion, but he runs off before Winter and Crystal can ask him more. The two sisters then enter one of the portables and see a piano. Crystal also finds a piece of paper with the word 'meadow' written on it several times. Winter then plays the notes E, A, and D on the piano. The words 'A Shattered Path' appear, and Winter plays the musical notes in that too. Suddenly, the piano starts playing by itself, alarming both Winter and Crystal. The piano plays a diminished 7th chord. Soon, the two sisters find out that they should match the musical note to a word on the paper. The final result is the phrase 'Grass by the sea'. Winter and Crystal now know to go to the Wildlands.

Meanwhile, Sage and Mango are on the plane to the Wildlands, where they are seen fighting over a pillow in their first-class seats. After Mango slaps Sage's butt, an old wolf, who is referred to by fans as 'Gary', scolds them for being too loud. Sage and Mango continue squabbling until a flight attendant comes to silence them. Later, the plane touches down in the Wildlands, a land in Wolfu. As soon as Sage and Mango enter the barren land, Winter and Crystal appear to attack them. Sage and Mango try to fight back, but Crystal manages to tear off Sage's tail. The two siblings collapse, unconscious. Winter and Crystal promptly steal an invisibility potion from Mango's purse.

Later in the Wildlands, Winter and Crystal are looking for more clues. They find a slip of paper that has four symbols on it, a tree, a river, a ladder or railroad tracks, and some sort of chimney thing on a mountain. They then go to the Lone Tree and the Wildlands river, but Winter and Crystal realize that the nearest train station is several miles from where they are, so the third symbol can't be railroad tracks. Suddenly, a hole opens in the ground beneath their paws. Winter and Crystal enter the hole and emerge in pitch blackness.

Meanwhile, Sage and Mango are chasing after Winter and Crystal, who are disappearing into a hole in the ground. However, when Sage and Mango arrive there, the hole closes up. Mango presses a strange symbol in the ground and the hole opens up again. Sage and Mango enter a dark tunnel, where they find and attack Blossom and Cherry.

Inside the tunnel, Crystal leads Winter to a crossroad, but they are unsure of which tunnel to take. Crystal decides to take the one that smells like fresh air, but they arrive in a dead end. On the way back to the crossroad, Blossom and Cherry ran toward them and beg the two sisters to form an alliance, but Crystal swiftly declines. She and Winter sprint back to the crossroad, where they take the other tunnel. After nearly half an hour of walking, they see a ladder and climb up. Winter nearly falls, but Crystal pulls her back up. Finally, the arrive in a small, circular room. Suddenly, Crystal realizes that they are in a mountain tower.

But before Winter can react, she is slammed to the ground by Cobalt, who had entered the room with his family too. The two teams engage in a heated battle, until Cobalt prepares to strike the killing blow. Just then, Stone lifts the trapdoor and climbs inside. Winter silently begs him to help, and Stone does, flinging himself into Cobalt's path. He is slashed in the chest immediately and falls limp. The family, disgusted that there weren't any clues, leaves.

Winter and Crystal look around and see letters carved into the stairs leading to the second floor. The letters seem to be jumbled up, and the two sisters try to unscramble it. Winter finally gets the answer: The Outlands. They now know that their next destination is the Outlands. Winter and Crystal ascend the stairs until they reach the second floor, where they spot a card laying on the floor. Crystal manages to decode the pig Latin and learn that it isn't a clue, but instead, a trick to fool the teams.

At that moment, Sage and Mango enter the tower too. They look around to find Winter and Crystal, who are hiding. Suddenly, Winter and Crystal's voices alert Sage to their location. Mango urges him to kill Winter and Crystal, but Sage refuses. Furious, Mango slashes Sage's nose and he finally agrees. Using several throwing knives, he throws them at Winter, but misses. Mango then shoots an arrow at her, pinning Winter to the wall. However, Winter picks up one of Sage's knives and stabs his arm with all her might. Sage howls in pain, clasping his arm, while Winter and Crystal swiftly escape. After they are gone, Mango wraps some herbs on Sage's arm, healing him.

Meanwhile, Winter and Crystal have already boarded a plane going to the Outlands. The plane lands, but before the passengers can exit, it rises back into the air. The movie screen flicks on and a flight attendant tells everyone that the plane must return to the Wildlands to security violations. The passengers are confused, and Winter and Crystal realize that the plane won't come back to the Outlands and they'll lose their lead. After the plane reaches the Wildlands, Winter and Crystal figure out that the security violations are due to the prize hunt. Suddenly, Crystal has an idea and the two sisters take the train instead.

On the Wild Express train, Winter and Crystal are discussing the airport sabotage. Winter decides to ask her sister who could have done it. Crystal concludes that it must have been the family, due to the other teams not being in the right place at the right time, or not being capable enough.

In the Outlands, Cobalt and the rest of his family are intent on finding the next clue. Cobalt gets frustrated and states that even though they nearly killed Winter and Crystal in the tower, and stopped the plane—thus confirming Crystal's theory—they still weren't able to stop the two sisters. Forest starts complaining about the heat of the Outlands, and his sister Violet soon joins in, much to Cobalt's annoyance. Suddenly a voice sounds behind them, saying, "You're the ones, right?" Violet spins around, expecting Winter and Crystal, but comes face-to-face with Blossom and Cherry. The two foxes accuse them of stealing their tracker, causing Cobalt to turn on them. He and Diamond quickly take down Blossom and Cherry, but suddenly, Winter and Crystal knock him to the ground.

Violet spins around, unsheathing her claws. Winter and Crystal bolt away at top speed, but Crystal unknowingly crashes into a stranger, who pins her down. Before the arctic wolf can react, though, the stranger leaps away to fight Diamond, Violet, Forest, and Winter. Crystal cries out at him to spare Winter. The stranger hears her pleads and attacks Diamond instead, slashing her belly. Winter escapes and asks Crystal who the stranger was; Crystal has no idea. The two sisters then dash away to safety.

Winter and Crystal are catching their breath when they are suddenly confronted by Blossom and Cherry, who plead once again to form an alliance. Crystal declines, but Blossom and Cherry keep insisting, deterred only after Winter and Crystal rake their fur.

Suddenly, the stranger returns to confront the two sisters. At first, Winter and Crystal refuse to tell him anything, but after the stranger threatens to kill them, they reluctantly oblige. The stranger reveals his name to be Alyx. He forces Winter and Crystal to leave, but they refuse. Instead, Alyx proceeds to ask them what they were doing in the Outlands. After the two sisters tell him about the prize hunt, Alyx agrees to help, much to Winter and Crystal's suspicion. However, they show him all of their clues. Alyx then leads them to his den to rest for the night.

The next morning, the three animals depart to search for clues. Alyx says that he remembers seeing a mysterious note in his territory, and leads them to it. When Winter and Crystal arrive, they find that the note has been ripped. Alyx suggests that maybe one of the other teams had found it the night before. Crystal muses about how quick Alyx defended them, but pushes the thought away.

Alyx sniffs the note and asks Winter if she knows the scent. Immediately, Winter realizes that it's Cobalt's scent. They follow the trail and arrive to where the family is gathered. Alyx attacks and leaves them unconscious, while Winter and Crystal quickly seize the note. The teammates gather to read what the note says—''Congratulations! You have found the first official clue. Go to Xetrov. There will be your next clue.''

Winter, Crystal, and Alyx board the plane to Xetrov, excited by their lead. In the plane, Winter is happy, but also deeply worried, as they wouldn't be able to keep their lead for long. The book ends on an ominous note, with the sentences, ''But there was one thing Winter knew for sure. The clue hunt had changed everyone. And it had changer her and Crystal most of all.''

Characters
This book features the following characters:

Winter

Crystal

Sage

Mango

Blossom

Cherry

Stone

Cobalt

Diamond

Violet

Forest

Shade

Mr. Ocean

Alyx