Because of course we can march into the harbor with an unregulated Reckoner, but god forbid a presumed-dead girl turns up alive and well in the background of a viral video. It’s not like anyone would recognize me anyway—all of my hair is hacked off and I’m dressed in Swift’s clothes. It’s been months since the Nereid went down. Everyone’s probably given up on me by now.

When did I start thinking that?

The realization doesn’t bowl me over or anything. It’s something that’s always been there. Everyone at home thinks I’m dead. They think the pirates killed me when they sacked the Nereid, or else I took the pill when I was captured. Nothing’s given them reason to assume otherwise. No one’s looking for me anymore.

And it’s sort of freeing, being a dead girl walking. As the docking arms extend and bring the Minnow in, I feel lighter. There’s an itch building in me, a longing for something other than the ship’s deck below my feet. I want solidity and stillness and everything I’ve lost at sea. I want to run without running out of hallway.

That’s obviously not happening with my wrist chained to Swift, but I can dream.

As the Minnow puts down its ramp and the crew pours off the ship, Swift guides me through the crowd, her knuckles white on the bag of money. She’s so protective of it that I can’t help but wonder if it’s been ripped from her hands before. Swift wasn’t always one of the top dogs on this ship. While she hasn’t told me much about the time before Santa Elena raised her out of the ranks, looking at the way she guards her sack of cash, I’m starting to think that the captain’s favor was sorely needed.

We spill out onto the dock, and immediately Swift takes off, dragging me after her. I yelp when the cuffs bite into my hand, but nothing’s slowing her down now. She charges for a set of rickety steps at one end of the dock and thunders up them, climbing furiously for the upper levels of the city. I barely have time to look down, and given how much the stairs shake underneath us, I don’t think I want to. I glance back over my shoulder at the Minnow, and then we’re around the corner. For the first time in months, the ocean is out of sight.