At first she notices something unusual about the fish swimming around in their tanks in the little aquarium-they seem to be growing very old, very quickly, and Lizzy Grape can tell they are weeping by some sixth sense she mysteriously possesses. Stranger still is her ability to breathe underwater with a conch shell and the conversation she has with an octopus named Iddo who tells her remember the Way to the Deep. Soon 12-year-old Lizzy is plunged into the world of the Waterpeople, keepers and protectors of the sea, and the only connection to her magical past. They send Lizzy and her friends on an urgent mission to find a frightening treasure hidden beneath the darkly enchanted Otter Island . . . a place of hidden snares, surprising doorways, and unexpected beings from other realms.