I am happy to announce today is my stop on the Alex Neptune Zombie Fighter by David Owen blog tour.
This is the second book in the Alex Neptune series published by Usborne.
The ocean no longer wanted Alex Neptune to die, but he was beginning to wonder if his friends did instead.
A mammoth wave cast a dark shadow over their rowing boat, frothing and spitting as it rose, ready to swamp the tiny wooden craft. Zoey Wu swiped her fringe clear of her eyes and faced it defiantly. She crouched at the front of the boat, one hand trailing in the churning ocean, the other raised to tame the rebellious water. The wave strained against her control like a great white shark on a dog lead.
“Remember what I said about summoning waves to face away from you?” Alex said.
Zoey gritted her teeth as she fought to restrain the water. “It’s not my fault I’m too good at stupid sea magic!”
The towering strength of her summoned wave was no real surprise. Alex had quickly learned that if he asked Zoey to conjure a puddle, she was more likely to deliver a flood.
His friend was right – it was his fault she was struggling to control her magic. Alex was supposed to be teaching her to do exactly that. The problem was, no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t really know how.
“Use your power to direct the wave away from us,” Alex instructed gently, trying again. “Remember, your magic is a natural connection to the sea. Don’t try and force it – guide the water.”
“Should I start rowing away?” asked Anil Chatterjee, gripping the oars tightly from his seat in the middle of the boat. “Maybe very fast?”
“No, I can do this!” Zoey nodded confirmation to herself and stuck her tongue between her teeth. Then she lashed her raised hand sideways as if trying to swat a fly. Alex felt her sea magic surge, a flare of power that made him stagger.
The wave responded by twisting around on the spot to face away from the boat.
“Yes!” Zoey cheered.
Reeling dizzily, the wave kept turning, coiling around itself like a rope. Each twist stretched it taller and narrower until it had braided itself into a tottering waterspout.
“Push it the other way!” Alex shouted.
“I’m definitely going to start rowing away now.” Anil pulled hard on the oars.
But it was too late. The waterspout seethed and lurched forwards to snatch up the rowing boat in its furious grasp.
Zoey tumbled backwards. “I’ve lost control!”
Alex lunged to touch the tossing surface of the sea before the waterspout could devour them. Sea magic flowed through his body like salt water streaming along his veins, fizzing cold and strong. But he couldn’t make contact in time to release his power into the ocean and unravel the danger.
Because Anil had moved faster. Yelping in panic, he had dropped the oars so that they slid out of their locks and beneath the raging waves. When Anil plunged a hand in after them, magic gushed recklessly from his fingertips, surging along the tangled threads of the ocean. It picked apart the whirling waterspout, collapsing it into a wave that washed roughly over the boat, almost capsizing them.
Cold water sloshed over Alex’s skin as he picked himself up from the bottom of the swaying boat. He nodded his thanks to Anil, who still clung tightly to the side, gasping with the effort of pouring out his magic. Zoey sat up from where she’d fallen under the central bench.
“That was close.” She wrung out her sleeves before glaring down at her hands. “The power is right there. Loads of it! I just can’t make it do what I want.”
“And I can only actually use my magic when we’re about to die.” Anil flexed his fingers as if they were somehow faulty.
“You’re both still learning,” Alex said. The wave had soaked him to the skin, and he shivered. “It’ll be a while before either of you can fully control your power.”
If they all survived long enough.
Alex had a lot more experience with sea magic. Last summer, he had discovered that Haven Bay, his sleepy seaside home, was actually an ancient place of the sea’s power – the last one left in the world. That meant it came complete with the last remaining Water Dragon, a powerful
protector of the ocean. They had bonded and Alex’s own magic had been unlocked.
Since then, he had had the chance to practise his newfound powers on nefarious pirates trying to steal magic for themselves and an army of overgrown ocean parasites that had tried to turn the Water Dragon against him.
His friends’ sea magic had only awakened a few months ago, when the original dragon had surrendered its physical form to fully pour its power into the ocean and save the world from the parasite infestation. That left its baby – the new Water Dragon – still learning its magic too.
Which meant Alex was somehow left as the most experienced magic user of the group and had inherited the unwanted role of teacher.
He was happy that Zoey and Anil now had magic too. It would make them a stronger team in their mission to protect Haven Bay. As the last place of power, keeping it safe from anybody who would exploit its strength was crucial to defending the entire ocean.
Alex had hoped that sharing his magic would take some of the pressure off him. But teaching was just a different kind of pressure. He knew his friends were disappointed not to be learning more quickly. Despite him having many more months of experience, he didn’t feel qualified to be coaching anybody. Before, there had been an ancient Water Dragon with centuries of experience to guide them. There was no way he could live up to that.
The young new Water Dragon bobbed up to the surface beside their rowing boat, lifting its scaly, lion-like head to check on them. It had doubled in size over the winter, maybe more, and the grey and green scales on its long, serpentine back had hardened into fitted plates of armour. The whiskery spines under its chin had thickened to the size of icicles.
Having worked as a freelance games journalist and taught on a BA Creative Writing course for three years, David Owen’s debut novel, Panther, was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and was followed by three further highly acclaimed YA novels. Alex Neptune is his first series for younger readers, born of his love for nail-biting heists, fantastical monsters and heartfelt friendships.
Much To Do About Writing 