Sea Change

"The figure stood still for a long time, as if waiting for something to happen. Dawn began to paint the tiled roofs of the cottages red, but the light did not reach down into the alley. A mist grew around the figure, and dark shapes moved within the mist. It raised its head, and sniffed at the air, like a dog that has caught the scent of a rabbit.

Then it spoke, the voice dry and papery and sounding as if it came from a long way away.

“One is coming,” it said, and sniffed at the air again. “A boy.” The shapes in the mist moved restlessly.

Then the shadows pressed in even closer around it, and when the dawn chased the last of the night from the alley there was nothing there other than an empty lobster basket set out to dry."

When John is sent to stay with his sister in a small fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast, his parents thought that it would give him a chance to get over the tragedy that happened at school.

But when John arrives in Saltcliff, he is threatened by a strange old man who has waited years for him to appear, he is followed by a mysterious black dog, and he learns that he has a part to play in an ancient legend that is older than the village itself.

Can John leave the tragedies of his past behind and find the courage to save the village?

And most important of all, can he stay out of the mist...