J a Empson

Then This Happened J a Empson

Publisher Marketing: It's 14 years since a mysterious global catastrophe - survivors call it The Event - wiped out most human life and literally reshaped the Earth. Whole continents split and sank. Felix is 13 and has no family, like most survivors. He also has no memory of the first eight years of his life. His reluctant guardian Anna refuses to fill in the gaps: she thinks ignorance is bliss. They live in the small farming settlement of Doggett Island in what's left of England - sea levels have risen by over 400 feet, drowning every major city. Felix spends most days out on his kite boat, catching fish for the islanders. Despite this service, they prefer Felix to keep his distance, and not just because of his fishy smell. Felix is a 'kinny', one of a group of children his age who create very destructive gravity spikes if they get upset. It can even happen in their sleep. Kinnies seem to be some kind of side effect of The Event. The remnants of the British Army have formed a military government 50 miles across the London Sea in Aldershot, though it has little real power. The government offers Felix training to control his abilities and sends Edith, a kinny who's been through the programme, to collect him. But before they can set out, a militia group attacks Doggett, hunting for Felix. Felix and Edith escape with little more than the clothes on their backs. Now they must try to outrun the gunmen in a desperate flight across a devastated, lawless land whose dangers aren't always visible. Meanwhile, Felix discovers his power is far greater than he realised - but it may just save their lives long enough for them to discover why they're being hunted in the first place. The answers could lie in Felix's long-forgotten past...