“This’ll go faster if you help. Get the armpieces on. I’ll handle the legs.” Swift snatches a few components off the counter and tosses them to me.

“Swift.”

She ignores me, already working on securing a plated skirt around my waist. My breath hitches when her fingers brush against my wetsuit.

“Swift.”

“Please, just … just let me … ”

I feel like my bones have been inverted. I’ve been broken, and everything’s been pieced back together wrong. When I step off this boat and onto Bao’s back, I’ll be completely free. Once the pursuit is disabled, I can go with them. I can expose Fabian Murphy for the traitor he is. I can escape the Minnow and Santa Elena and all of the blood and death I was supposed to unleash. I wanted to get away from that.

My fingers fumble over the armpieces, locking them into place around my biceps. I slide the Otachi onto my forearms, cinching my fingers in the controls. With a deep breath, I point them out across the sea and fire the homing signal. The noise of the call rattles the deck, and somewhere off in the deep, Bao’s reply thunders in return.

As she finishes up with my legs, Swift takes a step back to admire her handiwork. “You look like a fucking knight,” she says, glowing with pride as a smile breaks over her face.

Relief rushes through me. At least here at the end, I get to see her happy one last time.

There’s one piece left. Swift lifts the helmet off the counter and hands me my earpiece. I slip the little device in, and she sets the helmet over my head. “Jesus, cheer up. You’re going home, just like you want,” she grumbles.

But that’s not what I want, not at all. Everything I want, everything I have left, is standing right in front of me, and I’m about to leave her behind.

The sea opens up beneath the deck as Bao’s head crests out of the water. He lets his jaw hang open, putting the nubby spikes that line his mouth on display. His rank breath washes out over us. I take a hesitant step away from Swift, toward the monster I’ve raised. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do, so I flash the beacon again, and Bao slides his beak onto the trainer deck. His head is so massive that it barely fits in the rear port, and I think back to the days when he was small enough to swim in the makeshift pool. He’s come so far.

I’ve come even farther.

“Cas?”

I pause, my heart thundering in my chest as I turn to face her, as I meet that red-rimmed gaze that’s boring into me.

“There’s line-hooks in the belt. They’ll anchor you.”

Oh.