We’re beyond ready to get spooked by Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, the latest Rick Riordan Presents adventure by Tehlor Kay Mejia. But before we all shut our laptops and turn off our phones so we can focus, it’s time to introduce our hero.

Paola’s just starting a regular summer with her best friends Dante and Emma, along with fantasies of biofuel experiments and other scientific daydreams to occupy her studious mind. But when Emma goes missing, she and Dante have to go to the mysterious and forbidden Gila River in search of her. Along the way, Paola encounters creatures from the kinds of Mexican American myths and folklore her logical mind had never taken seriously before.

Meet Paola!