A fresh and stirring fish-out-of-water MG fantasy about a13-year-old whose love of robotics and hatred of water is challenged when she finds out she's from a secret mermaid society.

On Marina Fuentes’ 13th birthday, her whole world is turned upside-down when she finds out her family has been keeping a huge secret from her: they’re mermaids.  

When her First Change ceremony doesn’t go as planned and she doesn’t get her mermaid tail, Marina’s family tries everything to get her to connect with her “element”—but Marina doesn’t even want to be a mermaid! To make matters worse, she’s hated water her whole life, but now she can’t control the unbearably itchy and scratchy scales that pop up when she touches it. 

The only thing Marina wants is to go back to normal. And the only way she can do that is by getting her hands on a magical pearl earned through a series of mermaid trials. When her attempt at getting one puts her in the pathway of a Sea Witch who promises she can help her, Marina must question everything she knows and find out who—or what—she is. 

Marina only knows one thing for sure: she is NOT a mermaid!