"Lily doesn't believe in making wishes. Not anymore. Not since Anders died. Wishes can't fix the terrible thing that happened. Wishing won't change how it feels. But Lily doesn't believe in the impossible. She has a secret so extraordinary, so magical, no one would believe that it's true. No one except Anders, of course. Nothing about this summer is turning out how Lily would have wished. But wishes, like seasons, can change"--

Twelve-year-old Kela is still mourning her mother when she finds a mermaid's comb while she and her friend are looking for sea glass on her Caribbean island; such combs have magic in them, and touching it opens a connection to the mermaid Ophidia who can grant her wish, to bring her mother back to life--but all wishes have consequences, and magic demands a price which may prove to be more painful than the loss of her mother.