For Ayana Outerbridge, a biracial fourteen year old girl, summer vacations on the evergreen Pacific Northwest coastline had once been a time of play and relaxation. But now her father is dead, and all that was bright is now dark. ????Until one day she finds a strange and startlingly beautiful seashell...??? Just off shore, the river otter Sleek has broken the Law. He has entered the forbidden Garden to retrieve a mind-elevating gift for his true love...