I shoot him three times. The last rubber bullet snaps his head back, raising an ugly red spot right between his eyes. He falls backward, crashing spread-eagled on the deck.

My hysteria turns to despair. I sob and drop the gun.

I’m not sure how long I spend weeping at my brother’s side. He’ll live. His pulse is strong. Still…I’m mourning. Something between us has died.

Nearby, Gem groans. “Ana?”

I wipe my face. “Hey…” Still wobbly, I straggle to Gem’s side. He looks groggy and cross-eyed, but otherwise not too bad for somebody who was recently smacked with a ratchet.

I hold up two fingers. “How many fingers?”

He squints. “Twenty-five?”

“Yeah, you’ll be fine.”

“Is Dev—?”

“Taken care of,” I say, trying to keep my voice from breaking. “I shot him with rubber bullets.”

Gem’s eyes widen. “That couldn’t have been easy, Ana. Are you—?”

“I’m okay,” I lie. “I’ll be okay.”

I try to help him sit up, but he groans and lies down again. “I think maybe I should just…stay here for a minute. Why has the boat stopped?”

I hadn’t even noticed. The engines have gone silent. We’re dead in the water. This means someone stopped the boat. Which means there are more enemies on board.

“I’ll check the bridge,” I say.

“You look terrible.”

“Thanks. Don’t worry, I’ve got this gun.”

“It’s a nice gun,” Gem agrees. “Be careful.”

I totter off. I imagine I’ll be defeated if I have to fight anything more dangerous than a three-year-old with a pool noodle, but I have to secure the ship.

In the bridge, I get another surprise. Standing over the unconscious body of an LI upperclassman is a frizzy-haired girl in a nemonium dive suit, a Leyden gun in her hand.

“Ester?” I croak.

She turns, looking embarrassed. “So I got your comm message. It turns out dolphins aren’t the only ones who can fit through that chute that leads to the tank in your cabin.”

“I love you so much right now,” I say.

“I know. I think you’re about to pass out.”

As usual, Ester is right. My knees buckle. She catches me as I collapse, and my consciousness sinks deeper than my body has ever gone.

Chapter Sixty

I’ve always been better at making messes than cleaning them up.

We have some big messes to deal with at Lincoln Base.

The next two days, I am out of commission. Franklin and Ester hook me up to the machines in the Nautilus’s sick bay, which I’m told will slowly rehydrate me, replenish my blood supply, and ensure that my internal organs do not explode.