Mattie's Compass

When Mattie's grandparents go on a two-week Caribbean vacation, she and her dad receive a postcard heralding their safe arrival. Three months later, there has been no further contact: no calls, no text messages, and no sign of life. Mattie and her dad, Kwan, a martial arts master, embark upon a seafaring journey to find the elderly couple with a seasoned captain at the helm. But a sudden storm batters their ship, killing the captain and crew members before the boat crashes on an uncharted island. Right away, Mattie and Kwan realize how unusual and menacing the island is.

Mattie thinks they are in the Bermuda Triangle, but things aren’t always what they appear to be. No, it’s NOT the mythological Bermuda Triangle…but an anomalous island where one scientist tampers with the weather, causing storms on the high sea, then places the island beneath an electromagnetic field that renders it invisible as well as inescapable. Plus, there’s evidence of genetic engineering found in plant life such as pink-stemmed rose bushes with blue and purple flowers. Although the island plant life might be harmless enough, the “human” life appears sinister. Right away, the castaways are spied on by an odd humanoid ape and shortly after, pirates attack them. At first, Mattie is a reluctant karate kid, but soon joins in with Kwan, the Taekwondo master, and the two overtake the anachronistic cretins with their head-high kicks as well as their jumping/spinning kick techniques. Battles intensify because the pirates – via artificial intelligence – learn new moves and prove harder to fend off in subsequent attacks. But where did such pirates come from? They are the evil and whimsical brainchild of a husband and wife duo of mad scientists who've created a variety of bio-engineered species with which Mattie and Kwan must contend – ranging from huge dengue-infected mosquitoes to lizards that mewl like kittens and spit poison, to Sumo Wrestlers – and they all attack on command.

One day, Mattie inadvertently discovers Gramps locked in a jungle jailhouse and she and Kwan encounter Raphaela – a survivor of a previous shipwreck. Raphaela befriends Mattie and it doesn’t take long for them to bond. Raphaela and Kwan are drawn to each other, but question whether their attraction is genuine or if it's because they are the only eligible singles on this dystopian isle. Meanwhile, Raphaela as well as Gramps each bring a special skill to help the four castaways survive. Curiously, the odd hybrid ape appears to be benevolent because it makes food drops. The strange primate, who wears flowing scarves is a friendly creature born from another experiment by the husband and wife mad scientists. Rumor has it that a human’s brain was transplanted into the ape and, Kwan as well as Raphaela suspect the transplanted brain might have once belonged to Mattie's grandmother. Did the two mad scientists really transplant the grandmother’s brain into an ape's body? Will the crazy scientist who tampers with the weather, not totally mad, but not completely innocent…will the weather master who conjures storms on the high seas lift the electromagnetic field? Will Mattie, Kwan, Raphaela, and Gramps manage to escape the forbidding island or merely eek out an interminable existence? And what effect does this unforgiving world have on the impressionable Mattie?