“A river barge. Or a canal boat.” I prodded his ribs. “You should like that.”

“Not my type of canal boat.”

“You want all boats to look like a gondola.”

He sniffed and elbowed me forward as the ladder cleared. He set a worried eye on the knotted rope and wood slats. “After you.”

“Just like climbing the tiers,” I called from halfway down. Easy, even with my hands done up in gauze. I dropped into the stern and held the base of the ladder taut for him. Another thing I knew to do without thinking. His grip on the side ropes was white-knuckled, but his tight face suggested pain and weakness more than fear. I caught his elbow as he found the last rung and felt him sway and shudder. Illness was sapping his strength.

The stern pit was wide and deep, so the doorway into the lighted cabin was tall enough for even Rubio’s comfort. The woody interior was fitted with two long rows of tables with raised rims to keep the books from sliding off. Strings of LEDs swagged cheerfully among the rafters. Right off, I saw why Jenn had pushed herself into the dinghy so eagerly. It wasn’t to flirt with Daniel. It was to pick his brain about the Mainland. Should’ve guessed.

Maybe a dozen other denfolk jostled up and down the center aisle, picking up a book, setting it back down, squeezing past each other in the tight space. Stocky Ellie Mae leaned up on tiptoes to riffle through a stack of thin pamphlets shoved way to the back. Daniel eased through the crowd, offering help and suggestions. Jenn shadowed him, dropping a question into every gap in his sales pitch.

“But there’s a thousand miles of coastline,” she pressed him, as Rubio and I came up. “If the military is fracturing like you say, there’s no way they could monitor all of it!”

“True.” Daniel leaned past her to return a book to its proper stack. “In a small boat at night, you could probably slip ashore somewhere. But then what? You’d need someone to pick you up, or who’s willing to take you in once you get there.”

Jenn chewed her lip. As far as she knew, her relatives were far off in the Midwest.

“It’s not just about avoiding what’s left of the police or the Navy,” Daniel said patiently. “They’re mostly gate-keeping along the coasts. The danger inland is civilian patrols protecting their turf. Outsiders and refugees are not at all welcome. Say you do locate your cousins. How will you get to them?”

“The usual way, I guess. Trains? A bus? I could hitch a ride.”