“No, no, you don’t want to do that!” Daniel’s look seemed to ask what century she was living in. “Even if a ride did come along, it’d likely be your last. As for trains and buses, maybe you’d get lucky, but you’ll need the right tickets and transit permits, and even then, I’m told they’re running far and few between, the schedule shared only with insiders.”

“Wait, wait!” Jenn flattened her palms at her temples. “I know it’s bad along the coast, but it has to be better someplace!”

“Why?” Rubio muttered. “No one’s doing anything to make it better . . .”

I saw Jenn headed for a meltdown and kicked his shin.

He coughed lightly into his fist. “Listen, Dan, about those art books?”

“Over this way.”

“Wait . . .” Jenn made to follow.

I linked an arm with her elbow. “Give the guy some space. He’s trying to do business.”

“But you hear what he’s saying?” She gazed after Daniel like her exit tix were hidden in his pocket. “I can’t . . . I won’t believe . . .”

I couldn’t blame her. Hard to be told it was bad everywhere, hard to let go of the hope for an escape hatch. Hadn’t quite absorbed it myself. “Hey, he’s just saying what he’s heard, not what he knows for sure. Could all change tomorrow. You’ll find those cousins, and they’ll figure how to get you there. The search’ll go better once the internet’s up to speed again.”

“If it ever is!” She flicked away frustrated tears and threw a last look at Daniel’s receding back. “Where does he get his info?”

“All sorts pass through the Souk.” Not my place to mention Daniel’s source.

The close crowd was getting to me, so I elbow-walked Jenn back to the stern, offering whatever silly encouragement I could invent. She’d miss it if I didn’t. When she’d retreated up the ladder, I settled on a storage seat for a breather. The night was unusually dry, and very dark. No moonglow spreading behind the overcast. The dance of the cabin lights across the water was broken by colliding ripples from the war canoes now silently patrolling the Lagoon and the gentle rocking of the Book Boat as people moved around inside.

I flexed my bandaged hands. The blisters were shrinking, cooling off from the medics’ herbal salve. A long, hard day on the water hadn’t totally wrecked me, and there I was again, feeling most at home on the back of a boat. Rubio had it right. There was a connection here, if only I could follow it out.

Daniel came out of the cabin with an older Smith I hadn’t met yet, a pudgy dark-skinned guy cradling a stack of water-stained paperbacks.

He patted the top cover. “I saved one of hers from Abel, but it burned with the den.”