“I won’t be a monster’s bride,” Allie said, then she grabbed the doors of the cabinet and forced them closed, nearly catching the McGill’s hand in the process. The McGill glared at her. “Who said I’d ask you?” Then he stormed away.

Allie waited until she was sure he was gone, then waited twice that long again before she returned to the cabinet and pulled it open.

“What are you doing in here! Do you know how dangerous it is? If they find out you escaped—”

“They won’t find out. There are hundreds of kids in there—its not like they count us all the time”

“If you’re caught, you’re history.”

“So I won’t get caught.”

Allie looked around. “Did Lief come with you? Is he hiding somewhere else?”

Nick shook his head. “He’s still in there with the others.” Then he smiled. “It’s a mess in there, I got them all tangled up.”

“How is hiding in here any better than hanging in there?”

“I’m not staying in this cabinet. As soon as I can, I’m getting off this ship, and I’m bringing back help.”

“And exactly how are you going to do that?”

“That’s the part I haven’t figured out yet.”

“I’m the one with the plan,” said Allie. “Escaping now will just screw things up!”

“We’ve been waiting on your ‘plan’ for weeks.”

Weeks, thought Allie. Has it been weeks? “The best plans take time,” she told him.

Nick took a moment to look her over, then said, “I think you like it with the McGill. You’ve got some kind of power over him, don’t you? I don’t know what it is, but you do, and you like it.”

Allie wanted to just grab him and shake him. It was an insulting suggestion. It was preposterous. It was true.

“I have a scheme to get us all out of here, if you just wait.”

“I’m not waiting anymore. And anyway, two schemes are better than one.”

Allie clenched her fists and growled, sounding more like the McGill than she cared to admit. “Even if you get off the ship, who do you think is going to help you?”

“Mary,” Nick said.

Allie laughed at that, and realized how loud her voice had gotten. She looked around to make sure they were still alone, then brought her voice down to an intense whisper. “She didn’t help us before, and she won’t help us now.”

“I can convince her to. I know I can.”

“You’re an idiot!”

“We’ll see who’s the idiot!”

As frustrating as this was, Allie did not want to stand around and argue. Every moment they spoke was another moment they were in danger of being caught.

“I can steal a lifeboat,” Nick said.

“Once they realize it’s gone, it won’t take long to figure out who took it. The McGill will punish Lief, and probably me, too.”

“We can cut Lief down—all three of us can go!”

Allie thought about it, but shook her head. “The McGill thinks I’m teaching him how to possess people. The second he realizes I’m gone, he’ll come after me.” No, thought Allie. The best way to get Nick off the ship would be to do it secretly, and in such a way that there were no telltale signs that he had gone.