Title: Alyssa McCarthy's Magical Missions, Book 1, From Frights to Flaws
Author: Sunayna
Prasad
Genre: MG
Fantasy
Twelve-year-old Alyssa McCarthy can no longer
stand the toughness of her uncle and wants a better life. But one day she
discovers not only the existence of magic, but also a villain hunting her down.
The villain uses magic and magical technology to kidnap Alyssa to the Fiji
Islands. As much as she wants to go home, she has to face some dangerous
challenges first. Not only that, the villain himself must also be defeated. Can
Alyssa succeed, even with the help of her mentors?
Author Bio
Sunayna Prasad has been writing stories for over thirteen years,
starting at the age of six. Now nineteen, she will start her junior year of
college this fall, and will study accessory design as well as continue to write
for children. Aside from that, Sunayna also likes to cook, watch movies, and
draw. She lives on Long Island, New York, with her family.
Book Excerpts
Excerpt
1:
The sound of the rain banging against the
window distracted Alyssa from washing her lunch dishes. She stared out the
window and watched every drop. What better way to spend a Thursday noon than to
wash dishes? No hard work involved—just looking out the window.
Gone
were the happy days of living in her uncle’s house. No more family fun. No more
sweets and desserts. Just a structured life of strict and unfair rules. Alyssa
longed for a normal and better life—the kind she’d lived before her parents had
died in a car crash five years ago. She wanted to be like many children her
age, but when would it happen? Not any time soon.
Unless…
she could find her godfather’s phone number and call him without her uncle
knowing. One of the rules here was that all phone calls had to be earned unless
there was an important reason to call someone. She hadn’t talked to her
godfather ever since she’d also lost her aunt three years ago. She had never
been able to find his number nor had she ever succeeded at convincing her uncle
to let her talk to him. But she still remembered how sweet, fun, and caring
he’d been. He even could be her legal guardian since her parents had designated
him as one. If she could find his number and ask about moving in with him, her
life would be happier.
But now
something didn’t seem right with the raindrops, which took Alyssa’s mind off of
her godfather. They turned grayish blue. Huh? How could that be? That broke the
laws of nature. Too distract her more, though, the blue deepened into a dark
grayish blue. What could be going on?
Excerpt
2:
“Let’s go inside,” said Alyssa. She opened the
backdoor and stepped inside after Hailey. They walked down the hallway to the
front area of the house—only for a strange voice with a French accent to say,
“Bonjour, Mesdemoiselles.”
Turning
to the kitchen, Alyssa and Hailey shrieked at the strange man. He stood only a
few inches taller than her, despite his beach ball-sized belly. The top of his
bald head shone, a tassel wild black hair surrounding it. A bushy mustache
covered the area between his nose and upper lip. More importantly, he wore an
evil smile, filled with yellow teeth.
“Hello!”
called Uncle Bruce. “Who’s here?”
Everyone
turned to him as he ran down the stairs. But the stranger held out his hand,
making some sort of stick appear.
“Somnum Harena!” he roared.
Orange
sand swirled out of the stick, finding its way into Uncle Bruce’s eyes. He
cried out in pain, falling onto the floor.
“Dad!”
exclaimed Hailey.
“Silence!”
shouted the man, pointing his stick at Hailey. “He won’t wake up for another
twelve hours!”
But
that stick was no stick—it had to be his wand.
What else could release swirling sand? Nothing. So that man had to be none
other than…
“B-Beau
Duchamp?” Alyssa identified him, guessing.
“Yes,
although I’d prefer ‘Master Beau,’ if you don’t mind.”
“Never
mind, what did you do to my dad?” yelled Hailey.
“I
put him to sleep,” said Master Beau.
The
girls gasped.
“I
meant that literally. I didn’t kill
him.”
“Still—get
out of here!” commanded Alyssa.
“No!”
bellowed Master Beau. “There’s a reason I did all that stuff to harm you! I
need you to have zero protections so
that I can take you to the Fiji Islands as soon as possible!”
Excerpt
3:
Alyssa moaned and let out quick breaths
through her gritted teeth. If the snake had given up, she’d stay sitting down
until she felt better. But there was no time for that. The snake still had an
interest in biting her. It continued to slither, breathing ash. Shrieking,
Alyssa bolted up and turned around. But wait a minute—she was heading into the
rainforest. Not only would she receive scrapes and cuts from various branches
and plants, but unless she saw a walking trail, she’d also have a tough time
fleeing. She might as well sacrifice herself to the snake.
Facing
vines, twigs, trees, bushes, and fronds, Alyssa had to find her way around
them, which, of course, was no scoop of vanilla ice cream. Her legs ached from
all the different movements she made. She ran sideways from a tree, jumped over
a couple of twigs and vines, and zigzagged around trees and bushes. Thank
goodness the snake hadn’t caught her so far. Even better luck, a trail lay in
front of her. Perfect—no more ground obstacles—at least for now.
Alyssa’s
skinny legs and body kept her energy going, but she still wished she could sit
or lie down. Her legs felt like they’d been clogged with broken cobblestones.
But the snake didn’t lose energy at all. In fact, it continued to slither,
which meant that she had to run more.
She
hastened down the trail, inhaling and exhaling hoarse breaths. Her throat had
dried up, making her cough along the way. The ash the snake breathed increased
her coughing, drying her throat until it could dry no more. She stopped as she
coughed, but once she opened her eyes… she might have to let the snake bite
her.
