hemlock bonus material

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A Quick Note: Bonus scenes were written after Hemlock was complete while deleted scenes existed in various drafts of the book. Both are likely to contain spoilers for Hemlock. All scenes © Kathleen Peacock Bonus Scene: Amy and Mac Discuss Spring Break As the only have not in a group of haves, spring break can be a minefield for Mackenzie Dobson. The following bonus scene takes place shortly before Hemlock opens. It was written for the Spring Break blog event on Book Sp(l)ot Reviews (http://book- splot.blogspot.com/ ) “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.” Amy sighed dramatically and flopped onto my bed, completely oblivious to the pile of pre-break homework she sent scattering to the floor. “You know the whole week is going to suck without you there.” I glanced up from my chem notes. “You’ll be fine. The guys will keep you company.” Amy sighed. “Not the same.” She held up three fingers. “Give me three good reasons why you can’t go. One?” “I don’t have the money, and I can’t ask Tess for it.” “Money isn’t an issue. You know my folks will pay.” www.HemlockTrilogy.com

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Want more of Hemlock? All of the bonus scenes, deleted scenes, and character interviews in one handy place. (Warning: Bonus material contains spoilers for Hemlock, book one)

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Hemlock Bonus Material

A Quick Note: Bonus scenes were written after Hemlock was complete while deleted scenes existed in various drafts of the book. Both are likely to contain spoilers for Hemlock.

All scenes © Kathleen Peacock

Bonus Scene: Amy and Mac Discuss Spring Break

As the only have not in a group of haves, spring break can be a minefield for Mackenzie Dobson. The following bonus scene takes place shortly before Hemlock opens. It was written for the Spring Break blog event on Book Sp(l)ot Reviews (http://book-splot.blogspot.com/)

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.” Amy sighed dramatically and flopped onto my bed, completely oblivious to the pile of pre-break homework she sent scattering to the floor. “You know the whole week is going to suck without you there.”

I glanced up from my chem notes. “You’ll be fine. The guys will keep you company.”

Amy sighed. “Not the same.” She held up three fingers. “Give me three good reasons why you can’t go. One?”

“I don’t have the money, and I can’t ask Tess for it.”

“Money isn’t an issue. You know my folks will pay.”

That makes it even more of an issue, I thought. But I didn’t say it. Saying it always made things awkward. It wasn’t Amy’s fault she was rich just like it wasn’t my fault I lived in a cramped apartment with my cousin. It just was.

Amy waited for my response. When I shrugged, she folded one finger down. “Two?”

“Heather’s going.”

“You can’t avoid Kyle’s girlfriends forever. This could be a chance to bond.”

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 2: Hemlock Bonus Material

I tugged my hair free of its ponytail and combed it out with my fingers. “I don’t avoid all of them. Just the ones who hate me.”

“That is all of them. Though Heather does take it to extremes.” Amy sat up and leaned forward, eyes twinkling. “If you want, I could jump her in the parking lot after school tomorrow.”

I laughed. “And do what? Give her a makeover?” Amy cried when she got paper cuts. The idea of her jumping someone was kind of hilarious.

She mock-scowled. “I could be tough. I’ve read The Outsiders. I think. Maybe I just saw the movie. The point is I could totally take her.”

I shook my head. “I don’t doubt it for a second—but no jumping Heather.”

“Fine. What’s reason number three?”

“I can’t leave Tess alone. Not when there was another attack two nights ago.” I didn’t mean for the words to sound dramatic, but they bled every ounce of cheer from the room.

Amy pulled a pillow to her chest. “Okay, that one’s kind of legit. But we don’t leave for another week. Maybe it’ll all blow over by then.”

“Maybe.”

“So you’ll think about coming?”

I shook my head and Amy whipped the pillow at me. She bit her lip as an uncharacteristically serious expression crossed her face. “I don’t like the idea of leaving you here, either. Especially with all of us going.”

I opened my mouth to tell her I’d be fine, but her phone suddenly went off. Taylor Swift filled the air—a ringtone Amy had assigned to Jason in a fit of sugar-fueled sentimentality.

She slipped out of the room. Two minutes later, she was back. “I’ve gotta go. Apparently, I promised I’d be somewhere an hour ago.”

I grinned. “Considerate.”

She paused in the doorway. “Promise me you’ll at least think about coming?”

“Okay,” I lied.

Three weeks later, I would have given anything to have that moment back, to tell Amy that I’d go—even if it meant swallowing my pride and letting her pay—and to have just five more days with my best friend.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 3: Hemlock Bonus Material

Deleted Scene: Mac and Kyle Get Ready for Amy’s Funeral

Hemlock originally opened with this scene. The black dress Mac is wearing mirrors the white dress Amy wears at the end of the book. The beginning ended up changing to introduce the dream and action elements a bit earlier (Amy didn't originally show up until chapter three).

The borrowed dress required curves and a chest that was bigger than a B cup. Since I had neither, it pooled around my stomach and hips. I tugged on a loose thread, wincing as the fabric puckered.

“I should have bought something,” I muttered. “Amy would never have let me out of the apartment wearing this.”

I watched Kyle in the full-length mirror. He was stretched out on my bed, hands clasped behind his head, staring at the ceiling. His charcoal suit—on loan, just like my dress—looked completely out of place against the pink and purple bedspread. He turned his head and his chestnut-colored hair—badly in need of a cut—fell over his eyes. “You look fine. No one is going to notice.”

Absently, I reached out and trailed my fingers along the mirror’s carved frame, tracing wooden vines and roses. The mirror, like the bedspread, had been a casualty of one of Amy’s redecorating campaigns. “Amy would notice.”

Kyle sighed—a soft, exasperated noise—and went back to staring into space. “Maybe,” he conceded, “but that doesn’t really matter anymore.”

“But—”

“Please, Mac,” he said, voice so far away he might as well have been on another continent. “Today is going to be hard enough without wondering what Amy would think of the whole thing.”

I focused on my reflection, searching my face for any sign that this was a dream and that I’d wake up. Almost involuntarily, my eyes were drawn to the photo taped to the corner of the mirror: two girls who couldn’t look, or act, less alike. Me with my messy blond ponytail, ruler-straight hips, and a bemused but aloof expression. Amy with her ink-black hair, hourglass figure, and come-hither smile.

I tolerated the camera. She flirted with it. The way she did with everyone and everything.

This wasn’t happening. Couldn’t be.

It was just a dream.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 4: Hemlock Bonus Material

If I could think of the next few hours as something I would eventually wake from, I might survive the afternoon.

Deleted Scene: Were-junkies at the Restaurant

This scene took place just before Kyle calls Mac at work. Since the were-junkies didn’t figure prominently in the story and Stacey Keith never appears again, it was cut for pacing reasons.

The gunshot-slap of high heels snagged my attention as I walked out of the kitchen. Stacey Keith, fellow waitress and gossip queen, hurtled towards me. “You have to take my table.” No preamble. No please. No tact.

Color me suspicious. “Why?” I knew Stacey wouldn’t give me an extra table’s worth of tips out of the goodness of her heart.

She made a face and tossed her red hair over one shoulder. So much for the rule about long hair being tied back. “Look behind you. Table four. They’re were-junkies. I don’t make enough to wait on freaks like that.”

I didn’t bother pointing out that she and I usually averaged the same in tips or ask why she thought I’d be willing wait on a pair of junkies when my best friend had been murdered by a werewolf just five months ago. Other people and their petty considerations did not exist in Stacey Land. “I’m not covering for you. It’s your table.”

She muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “witch” and stomped off. One of the older waitresses gave me a sympathetic smile as she passed. Only Stacey would have asked me to go over there.

I turned and watched her take their drink orders. Two guys, both in their twenties. They looked normal, but a lot of the smarter junkies tried to blend in. They must have asked her something about the attacks.

My stomach knotted.

Were-junkies were the only people I hated more than reporters. Over the summer, I’d had my fill of both. At least the reporters were doing their jobs; the were-junkies were just nuts. They followed rumors and wolf attacks, hoping to get bit. It was sick. If they saw a real werewolf, they’d probably wet their pants.

One of the men took out a map and began circling points on it with a red pen. Yup: definitely junkies. Hemlock had become some sort of holy pilgrimage for them and they always tried to hit every spot connected to the white werewolf that had terrorized the town.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 5: Hemlock Bonus Material

The wolf that had killed my best friend.

Deleted Scene: Mac and Jason #1

This scene took place after Mac left the restaurant. It was cut when the altercation with Trey was added. In retrospect, I’m not sure the Rebel Without a Cause reference works. I became a HUGE fan of the movie in high school after catching it on cable at 3 AM.

Jason pulled a slim bottle from his jacket pocket. “I really don’t feel like a dose of reality right now.”

Did he ever? “I was serious about not cleaning up your puke.”

“I won’t drink enough to get drunk.” He took a swig. “Well, not enough to puke,” he amended. He studied me for a moment, like he was trying to work out a puzzle. “I thought Kyle was picking you up?”

“Something came up.” I rocked back on my heels, not looking him in the eye.

“Someone, you mean.”

“Whatever.” I was suddenly very tired. The last thing I wanted was to hear Jason speculate about what Kyle might be doing with Heather. “Can we please go upstairs? If the cops catch you drinking outside…”

“They’ll pick me up and call my father. It’ll be just like that scene from Rebel Without a Cause.”

“Right.” I turned and headed for the steps. “Except it’s not the 1950’s, you don’t have a red jacket, your father wouldn’t come bail you out, and, oh yeah, you’re not James Dean.”

Deleted Scene - Mac & Jason #2

This takes place after the first scene. Mac and Jason head upstairs and Mac gets some upsetting family news. The book originally had some subplots about Mac’s family. Most of them were cut, but a few of the bigger ones were moved to the sequels.

Jason loosened his embrace and steered me towards the couch. “Sit. Water or something stronger?”

“Water,” I said, tucking my legs up underneath me as I settled on the sofa.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 6: Hemlock Bonus Material

He headed into the kitchen and I heard the old pipes clang to life as he ran the faucet. A second later, he was back, a glass of tap water in his hand.

“You were out of bottled.”

“No point in spending money on something you can get from the sink,” I said absently as I took the glass from him and pressed its cool surface to the spot where my neck and shoulders met. I had already been tense; the past few minutes had left my muscles coiled like springs.

Jason watched me for a moment and then sighed and sat. He turned so that he was sitting at an angle. “You’re gonna end up with the back of an eighty-year-old if you keep lugging those trays around.” He nudged me until I shifted and put my back to him.

Not all of the tension was from work, but neither of us came out and said so. It was easier not to talk about what had happened.

His fingers started tracing slow, firm patterns on my neck, and I found myself sinking into the touch. “Better?”

“Much.” My voice came out a little husky and I took a sip of water. The glass shook as Jason slipped a hand under my shirt for better access to my shoulder. His fingers stroked my collar bone and a confusing rush of warmth race along my skin. Something in my stomach tightened and an ache—a strangely pleasant ache—radiated outward from my chest.

I wasn't supposed to have that ache. Not when it came to Jason. Not ever.

This isn't right.

Water sloshed over the sides of the glass as I pulled away. “I think I’ll hop in the shower and head to bed,” I said, setting the glass on the scarred coffee table. I stood so quickly that a wave of dizziness made the room swim.

“Mac…” Something in Jason’s green eyes darkened.

Like a coward, I looked away. “You’re still welcome to crash.”

Before he could reply, I strode from the room, not stopping until the bathroom door was locked behind me.

I tried to tell myself I wasn't running, but that was just one more lie.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 7: Hemlock Bonus Material

Deleted Scene: Mac and Kyle on the Run

In one of the early drafts of Hemlock, Mac and Kyle actually left town in an attempt to escape the attention of the Trackers.

I turned on my side and stared at Kyle in the semi-dark. We had gotten a discount on the room because the last guest had stolen the curtains. The neon glow from a sign across the street cast red shadows on his face and bare chest, and it was hard not to let my gaze linger over the planes and angles of his body.

I had seen Kyle shirtless a thousand times, but that one stupid kiss had changed everything.

“Are you awake?” I whispered.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think Jason’s okay?”

Kyle opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. After a long moment, he rolled onto his side and studied my expression. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my forehead. I found myself turning my face into his touch as his fingertips lingered on my skin. It was the first time he had touched me since his revelation about Heather.

“You’re worried about him. Even after everything he did.”

“Aren’t you?”

Kyle didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. We both knew you didn’t stop caring just because it was the healthier option.

I stared into his eyes. Strong emotions seemed to bring the wolf closer to the surface and those husky-blues, still unfamiliar, gazed back at me. I badly wanted the familiar warmth of Kyle’s brown eyes, but the blue held a strange pull. Ice was dangerous: you could fall through and lose yourself in the space between heartbeats.

Slowly, I reached out and trailed my hand from his shoulder to the top of his jeans and then back.

I wanted to lose myself, I realized. I wanted to forget—even for just a few minutes—how completely messed up everything had become.

How messed up we had become.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 8: Hemlock Bonus Material

Kyle sighed, a soft rush of breath that stirred my hair. He closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose. A deep, calming breath. I didn’t want him to be calm; I wanted him to be as confused and lonely as I was.

I rolled him and he let me. One fluid motion that put the mattress at his back with me on top. I held my face inches from his. Then, before I could lose my nerve, I lowered my lips and kissed him.

A low groan trickled from Kyle’s throat as his lips parted under mine. The kiss was gentle at first, but it quickly slid into something feverish and almost desperate.

As Kyle’s arms strained around me, as he kissed me like he could drink me down, I tasted the edge of the oblivion I craved.

“Wait…” The word was long and drawn out, as though it had been wrenched from deep inside his chest. Gently but firmly, he put his hands on my shoulders and eased me back. “This isn’t right.”

I slid off of him, stunned. The heat that had been building in the rest of my body rushed to my face as I moved to the edge of the bed. I stared at the far wall because looking at him was suddenly impossible. “Because you love Heather?”

“Yes.” There was a strange catch in Kyle’s voice, but I didn’t examine it too closely. I didn’t want to examine anything too closely.

An ache spread through my chest, leaving me hollow inside.

I used to be so good at putting up walls. Walls so that I didn’t say the wrong thing. Walls so that I didn’t get hurt. It was a skill I hadn’t needed for a long time. Now, when I needed it the most, it was too rusty to be effective.

Or maybe it was just a skill I couldn’t use against Kyle.

The mattress creaked as he stood.

“I think I should sleep in the car.”

“You don’t have to.” My voice was dead and automatic.

“Yeah, actually, I do.” There it was, that catch again. It sounded almost like regret. But that couldn’t be it.

The door opened and shut.

After awhile, I laid back down.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 9: Hemlock Bonus Material

I didn’t sleep.

Character Interview: Jason

The following character interview was posted on Ensconced in YA (http://cahreviews.blogspot.ca) during the Bad Boy Rehab Hop (hosted by I am A Reader not a Writer and The Book Hookup). In one of the early drafts of Hemlock, Mac and Kyle actually left town in an attempt to escape the attention of the Trackers.

1. Can you tell us a little about Hemlock and a little about your childhood?

My childhood? You mean the part where my father never hugged me and I was raised by the help? How about we skip story time and I buy you a drink?

Besides, you already know about Hemlock. Everyone does. Scene of the worst werewolf killing spree in history. You probably even know who I am.

2. We know you and Mac are tight. Can you tell us about the first time you met Mac and what was your first impression of her?

Mac tells that story better than I do. Besides, she had already been around for a couple of weeks before that. There were a lot of rumors about her—most of them stupid—because she wouldn't answer questions. Not even to say where she was from or what had happened to her parents. Knowing what I know about her father and the way she grew up… Well, it makes sense in retrospect.

At the time, though, she was just this scrawny blond mystery who looked like she had never had a decent meal in her life.

3. What is your favorite memory of your best friend, Kyle?

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 10: Hemlock Bonus Material

I’d tell you, but that would ruin the manly image I’m trying to cultivate. Note the stubble on my rugged chin and the drink in my hand. Next question.

4. I know this next question is going to be hard. I know you are having a tough time getting over Amy. I can't imagine finding her like you did, murdered. My readers and I would love to remember her. Can you please tell us about your first date with her?

We were six. Our mothers—probably thinking ahead to future generations of Hemlock elite—had arranged a play date. I beheaded Amy’s Barbie doll collection and she hit me in the face with a plastic unicorn. It was true love. I still have the scar.

5. I've noticed you've been hanging out with the Trackers more. Can you tell us a little about their group and what got you interested in joining them?

They hunt werewolves and werewolves killed my girlfriend. It’s not complicated. Plus, there’s this whole secret handshake and a membership card that gets you a ten percent discount at participating restaurants.

Seriously, you’re asking a lot of very personal questions. You’re not a reporter, are you?

6. What is your favorite TV show?

Fair enough. A reporter would never ask that. The Bachelor.

7. Ice cream flavor?

And ruin my perfectly chiseled abs?

8. Favorite hobby?

Hunting wolves like the vermin they are.

9. Favorite movie?

Inception. I don’t understand half of it, so that must mean it’s good.

10. What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

You’re an optimist. Most people think I’ll get myself killed before graduation. Hell, maybe they’re right.

Character Interview: Amy

The following character was posted on Bookish Notions (http://bookishnotions.wordpress.com) as part of the Hemlock blog tour.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 11: Hemlock Bonus Material

The Amy who appears in Hemlock is different than the friend Mac knew in life. She talks in riddles and is sometimes cruel. She often acts as a mirror, reflecting thoughts Mac tries to bury or things she doesn’t like about herself. Death has changed her (or at least the image of her which Mac’s mind projects). The interview is from the perspective of the Amy who haunts Mac’s dreams.

BN: You had a very different childhood than your best friend Mac. What was it like for you growing up in Hemlock?

Mac and her childhood trauma. For someone who wants to forget the past, she spends a lot of time thinking about it. I mean, I get it, but maybe things would have turned out differently if she spent more time in the now.

My childhood? Normal, I guess. There was a lot of pressure to live up to my family name. Perfect daughter. Perfect grades. Perfect boyfriend. Perfect cage.

BN: In Hemlock, Mac says her generation remembers exactly what they were doing when the government announced the existence of werewolves, much like their grandparents remember the JFK assassination. What were you doing when the werewolf announcement was made?

I was on a play date with Jason. He was decapitating my Barbie collection, and I was crying hysterically. His Nanny had told him about the French Revolution a few days before and how they chopped off your head if you asked for cake.

I ran downstairs to get my mom and she and Jason’s mother were both staring at the TV.

BN: What was it about Mac, the new girl in town, that made you want to be friends? And how has that friendship affected you?

She didn’t know me. She didn’t have any preconceived notions of who I was or what I should be. Everyone else did. And she was different. She had this whole life that was about as far from mine as you could get.

I think my friendship with Mac made me want to be a better person. She was always so good and so loyal—the kind of person I wished I could be. Whenever I tried to be good, though, it always seemed to backfire.

BN: What do you believe the future holds for the friends you left behind?

I have no idea. That’s part of why I’ve been hanging around. It’s the show of the decade and I have a front row seat.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 12: Hemlock Bonus Material

BN: If you could have one more day with your friends and/or family, how would you spend that day?

There’s someone I owe an apology to. I’d like to think I’d be brave enough to make it and that he cared enough about me to forgive me.

Guess I’ll never know, though. There aren’t any second chances. Not when you’re dead.

About the Books

Coming September 10th

from Katherine Tegen Books/

HarperCollins

Thornhill, Hemlock Book Two (September 10, 2013)

Mac can’t lose another friend. Even if he doesn’t want to be found.

The ripple effect caused by Mac’s best friend Amy’s murder has driven Mac’s new love, Kyle, to leave Hemlock and disappear from her life forever. But Mac knows that Kyle plans to enroll in a rehabilitation camp, where he can live with other werewolves. She refuses to accept his decision, especially since the camps are rumored to be tortuous. So she sets out in search of Kyle with a barely sober Jason—and Amy’s all-seeing ghost—in tow.

Clues lead Mac to find Kyle in a werewolf den in Colorado—but their reunion is cut short by a Tracker raid. Now Mac and Kyle are trapped inside the electric fences of Thornhill, a camp for young werewolves. As she devises an escape plan, Mac uncovers dangerous secrets buried within the walls of Thornhill—and realizes that the risk to the people she loves is greater than ever before.

Hemlock Book One (Now Available)

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac's life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac's hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy's killer:

A white werewolf.

www.HemlockTrilogy.com

Page 13: Hemlock Bonus Material

Available from Katherine Tegen Books/

HarperCollins

(Also available in the UK as Deadly Hemlock from

Simon & Schuster)

Lupine syndrome--also known as the werewolf virus--is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy's murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy's boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

About Kathleen

Kathleen spent her teen years crushing on authors and writing short stories about vampires. She put her writing dreams on hold while attending art school, but tripped over them when office life left her feeling restless.

Follow her at:

Twitter: @KathleenPeacock Facebook: www.facebook.com/KathleenPeacockBooksBlog: www.kathleenpeacock.blogspot.comWebsite: www.kathleenpeacock.com

www.HemlockTrilogy.com