Paola Santiago and the River of Tears

**Paola Santiago and the River of Tears** is the first book of the Paola Santiago series written by Tehlor Kay Mejia.

## Synopsis

*Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It's all they've heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.*

Hating her mother's humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it's the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right. . . .

Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.

## Chapter Summary

### *Chapter 1*

> "It was 118 degrees in Silver Springs, Arizona, and the Gila River was thick with Algae."
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* Pao, Dante and Emma are at the Gila river.
* Pao is lost in thought about algae before her friends draw her attention.
* The trio decide to head home, as it's getting late.
* When Emma asks what Pao was thinking about, Pao tells her it's algae. Emma comes up with the idea to throw algae at Dante, and both her and Pao do it, but Dante shrieks and races away. They follow him until they're breathless and laughing, and then dump the algae back into the river.
* Emma gets a phone call, and says she needs to go home for dinner.
* Pao confirms with Emma that she is coming to the river.
* Pao and Dante continue to walk down the street to their apartment building.
* Before Pao goes up the stairs, Dante tells Pao that he thinks that her passion about algae is actually pretty cool, and blushes, then walks up the stairs. Pao wants to linger on her feelings for a bit longer, but she steels herself and goes inside her apartment.

### *Chapter 2*

> "When Pao opened the door to apartment C, the smell of incense was overwhelming."
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* Pao's mother is reading tarot.
* Pao reminds her that it's time for dinner.
* Her mother gets up and looks in the freezer, finding a Ziploc bag full of Senora Mata's cheese-and-jalapeno tamales. She preheats the oven for forty-five minutes.
* Pao, feeling guilty about being mad at her mother, as well as not wanting to eat reheated tamales, lies, saying that she's not hungry and she's going to lie down.
* She falls asleep, and dreams about Emma's hand reaching from the water to grab her wrist and pull her down, under the surface.
* Pao wakes up at 1:15 am. Planning to eat ceral from the box, she heads to the kitchen, only to find a plate covered by a pot lid which contained two of the three cheese tamales, and a short note from her mother. Although Pao tries not to compare this situation with the food Emma undoubtedly eats every day, she still feels disappointed.