In this harsh flooded world, only devotion to the sea gods keeps the island alive. So sixteen-year-old Easla buries the forbidden feelings she has for another girl and shapes herself into what her village expects her to be—a talented, pious hunter. But one day, the coral reef protecting Easla’s village sinks, releasing the poisoned sea into their lagoon. Desperate to save her ruined paradise, Easla dives into the forbidden ocean’s depths in search of the gods who abandoned them. What she finds instead is a whole world of survivors she never knew existed, challenging everything she believes.

But this underwater marine lab is also on the brink of collapse, and its leader has her own plans to explain Easla’s sudden appearance. As Easla finds herself pulled into training for a desperate attack against an unknown enemy, once again conforming to a new leader’s demands, she learns just how far people will go to survive and begins to ask…if there are no gods to save them, can she be her own savior?

A deep-sea oil rig welder hacks her way into the Lottery to win a better life on the Moon, only to discover it's a televised competition with deadly consequences.