The Smile Beneath the Water

by PaperGhost

Ximena Alarcón Tzompantzi, 24 · Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico

Ximena Alarcón, a 24-year-old chinampera and aspiring biologist in Xochimilco, runs a small axolotl breeding project on her grandmother's floating garden. When she recognizes the distinctive scar of one of her tagged ajolotes in a viral news photo from Wales, she uncovers a trafficking ring that reaches into the people she trusts most—and must decide how far she'll go to protect a creature her abuela calls 'the smile of the water.'