Description
🌊 What's the deal with mermaids (a.k.a sirens), anyway? They've had their claws in human hearts and imaginations for literal centuries. But are they really magical? Nope. Brynnlie Fletcher knows better. They're just glorified fish. Desperate to pretend her chaotic life is normal, Brynnlie ignores the fact that her family's failing aquarium in sleepy Fayetteville, Illinois, is in deep trouble -- until it's already sinking. What can a straight-Cs girl do to help? Roll up her sleeves and observe the aquarium's star attraction: an elusive creature whose very existence defies science. All she needs is a breakthrough. How hard can that be? But the more Brynnlie studies the merman, the more he seems to be studying her back -- and the higher the stakes rise. Secrets emerge. Dust-covered files, buried mistakes. People she trusted have been lying for years. Keeping her research clinical becomes impossible. So does keeping her heart out of it. ~~~ He was born in the deep: a creature meant to live and die in darkness, far from human reach. But he wanted more. That reckless desire was his undoing. It's why the monsters caught him -- and why they still hold him, generations later. Nameless. Hopeless. Watching. Until one curious girl dares to pull him from the shadows of his glass cage. Brynnlie -- the stubborn wannabe-scientist with too much heart -- becomes the hook that tugs the lost parts of him closer to the surface. She tempts him with glimpses of a world beyond the white coats and fluorescent lights. He doesn't know why he lets her in. And by the time he does, it's already too late. They say experience is the best teacher. But he never seems to learn. ~~~ For fans of slow-burn sci-fi, haunting romance, and morally gray mysteries, Surface Level is a story about captivity, connection -- and what happens when curiosity cracks the glass. New parts drop weekly, so be on the lookout!
Chapter 1
