There’s Something In the Water

Drafting

Seventeen-year-old Halle Kingsley is this close to the end of high school. All she needs now is to score a spot aboard the prestigious marine vessel Alafoss to help clinch her college applications. There are just two problems with her plan: her thalassophobia, and her academic rival, Tabitha Baybridge.

Halle Kingsley is on the precipice. College is around the corner, and she needs to make a choice—if not for her tightly-wound oncologist mom, for her own future beyond her Catholic high school—especially because neither view nonbinary people as, well, people. So much for coming out at the end of the year.

Determined to make marine biology work as a prospective college major that could conveniently get her as far away from the East Coast as possible, she spins her thalassophobia into something useful for once: she submits an application to a prestigious internship aboard the Álafoss, a research vessel sailing into the Arctic Sea from Grímsey, Iceland. She’ll get to face her greatest fear, proving to herself she’s not scared of what’s beneath the water’s surface. Unhappily, Halle has competition for the single spot: high school golden girl Tabitha Baybridge, who’s been sucking up to their honors marine bio teacher the whole year.

When a second position opens on board, this time for a lowly research assistant position (sans stipend), Halle jumps at the chance. She can prove to her mom she’s better than second best—even if it means being terrified of the deep, dark water beneath her feet.

It’s hard enough to deal with her own shifting identity —and the shame she feels about it—with Tabitha aboard, but Halle buckles down to squeeze as much out of her seaweed-sifting position as she can. When a freak storm takes their boat off course, knocking out their instruments, Halle has bigger problems than sniping with Tabitha in their shared bunk room. They’re lost at sea, the land that should be only a day’s sail away never appearing on the horizon. Their program director grows sick, taking to her private room. Tabitha wants to believe help is on the way, but Halle has her doubts.

As days pass, Halle dismisses the flashes just beneath the surface of the dark ocean as tricks of her panic and exhaustion. When the shortwave crackles to life with echoing, alien voices, she knows there’s something other than water past the prow of the ship. There’s something in the water. It’s getting braver. Closer. It’s infecting the people on the Álafoss until one by one they disappear into the sea. Halle knows it’s only a matter of time before the insistent tug to dive into the endless water becomes impossible to ignore. She knows deep down, there may be a monster inside of her, too.

One Liner

A teen girl wrestles with her greatest fears coming to life aboard a boat while struggling with her nonbinary identity.

Comps

THOSE WE DROWN by Amy Goldsmith, Yellowjackets

Audience

Teens who enjoy books with strong mental health and queer representation backgrounded by horror

Word Count

Estimated 85,000