“I got overwhelmed,” I start. “Just being in there, being with a normal family—”

Swift scoffs.

“Shut up, your family’s plenty normal. I mean, it’s just …
god, I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again. I don’t have any way off the Minnow. When the people around here think that I’m a slave, they aren’t far off. If I weren’t, well … ” I lift my hand, giving the handcuffs a shake. “I’d run. No question about it, I’d try to find a boat shipping off that I could stow away on and just go. But I’m chained to you, and … and I don’t mean that in just the literal way,” I say, trying not to let bitterness tinge my words. Swift’s shared the truth with me. It’s only fair that I do the same.

“I’d run with you,” she blurts. “I’m so sick of who I have to be for the captain every damn day. I’m tired of her stupid mind games, of her playing us against each other like it’s all a big joke and then executing us when we slip up. No lie, I’d go wherever you’d run to, if it weren’t for … ” She jerks her head upward toward the house we just left.

“You provide for them.”

“I’m the only one who can. Oma’s too weak to work, Dad has to take care of all of the kids and that’s a full-time job, and … well, Mom shipped out when I was seven. And Teresa and Eva’s mom left when I was thirteen. Every time Dad gets someone to settle down with him, they always end up going back out to sea, and they never come back. The second time it happened, we got left with two little kids, and we didn’t have any income. So I became the income. Found a captain who’d take me, worked my way up, and every penny of that salary goes to keeping them alive. If that stops … I don’t know what’s going to happen. Dad’s got the kids to look after. He can’t work, and now there’s this new baby—I still haven’t gotten that story—I just—” She punches the ground with her free hand, her teeth bared in a snarl. “I didn’t sign on for any of this, but I can’t stop it now.”