Excerpt from The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

16 year–old Leilani, an epileptic, and her father are visiting Oahu, Hawaii, when global disaster strikes due to a cosmic event. Technology and power fail, and Hawaii is cut off from the world. Paradise disappears as the islands revert to traditional ways of survival. Chapter 10 opens as Waikiki disintegrates into chaos and Lei and Dad escape from their hotel.

CHAPTER 10

A piercing buzz rockets through my ears. White, flashing lights batter my eyelids. Oh, no, again? Already?

"Leilani, wake up! Come on." I can barely hear words over the buzz.

I'm being gently shaken. Dad is standing over me. It's still dark, but white lights

flicker on and off at regular intervals. The lanai door is wide open, and a gentle breeze soothes my sweaty face. I hear nothing but the ungodly alarm. A fire alarm?

"Time to go," he says. "Now!"

I sit up, scrambling up the muddy walls of the dark, murky pit where my mind has crouched. "What time is it? What day?"

"Nearly five o'clock Monday morning." Dad hands me some clothes. "Come on. The bags are ready. We just have to get down to the car."

"Is there really a fire?" I pull on the shorts and T-shirt he's thrust upon me.

"Yes. They've been torching things up and down the beach all night."

What? "Who?"

"The Anti-Tourist Brigade. Please, hurry!" Dad yanks our phones out of the wall and stuffs them and their chargers into his pockets.

I swing my backpack onto my shoulder and buckle the waistband. The smell of smoke drifts into the room from the balcony.

"Now."

We dart out of the room, each of us with a backpack and a duffel and tote bags filled with our food. The neighboring door bursts open, and a mother with two boys flees down the hallway. A man shouts after them from the room, "We're right behind you!" and the door closes.

The lights in the hallway are making me dizzy.

Dad's reading my mind. "Are you okay with the lights?"

I gasp and freeze in the hallway. Dad bumps into me. "What? What is it?" he asks.

"My pills. Did you pack them? They were in the bathroom."

Dad grows pale. "Shoot. No!" He turns back to the door and tries to open it. Locked.

"Oh, no," I mumble.

Dad freezes. He laughs nervously. "I think I left the car keys in there, too."

He fumbles through his pockets with his good hand while navigating around the hip strap of his pack. He pulls the key card into view and swipes it through the reader on the doorknob. No response. Again. Nothing.

From the room next to ours, a man and another boy emerge into the hallway, rolling two suitcases. They race away into the flashing darkness.

"It's expired," Dad says. "We can't get in."

Almost without thought, I press my hand against the closing door of the neighboring room. "Do you remember if there's a connecting door we can break down?"

"Good thinking." We push into the room.

"Nothing. Dammit."

The smell of smoke is stronger. A helicopter zooms past the lanai. I gasp. "Wait," I say. My heart's pounding as a new idea takes root within my mind. Calm down, I think. You have to stay calm.

I drop my bags and take off the pack. I walk out onto the lanai, nervous and hopeful.

Dad follows me outside and freezes. "Lei. That's crazy. Stop."

I stare at our lanai, my mind strangely focused. The alarm isn't so bad out here, and I can finally hear myself think. The petals of the Emerald Orchid are brighter than ever, and they bathe the side of the tower in eerie green light. The balconies have high lips, crowned with decorative handrailings. The distance between them is about eight feet. There's a very thin molding running along the wall, but no one could sidle along it without falling off. My eyes turn back to the distance between the lips. If I stood up on top of this wall, I could probably jump far enough to grab onto the next railing.

Excerpted from The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan. Copyright © 2014 by Austin Aslan. Excerpted by permission of Wendy Lamb Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.