The ship’s interior is more well-lit than I expected. I’d call it homey if it weren’t for the bullet holes in the walls and the pirate girl marching me through it. Probably has something to do with the strips of wood plastered to the walls in a halfhearted attempt at paneling.

We come to a heavy steel door at the end of the narrow corridor, which she twists open and shoves me through without another word. My head cracks against a low shelf and I yelp loud enough that she pauses. We make eye contact—her in her sleek body armor with a gun tucked in her pants, and me in my soaking wetsuit.

“You’re going to be useful,” she says, and no more than that. She slams the door behind her, leaving me with a throbbing head in what I’m just now realizing is a janitorial closet.

And the pill is still in my collar.

She didn’t bind my hands. I reach up with shaking fingers and tug the zipper, flaying open the hidden pocket. The little blue capsule tumbles into my palm, and I sink to my knees in the tangle of mops and cleaning solvents.

My heart is thundering, and I feel as if every inch of my being is rearing away from the promise of death that sits nestled in my hand.

Do it now. Do it fast.

My whole arm is shaking.

How can I know for sure that this pill is the only solution? What if I could escape? What if the pirates aren’t after trade secrets? My mind runs wild with possibilities, with options so much better than a quick death.

I tug at the ends of my limp, damp hair, trying to rein in my thoughts. The things I know for sure form such a short list. The Nereid is taken. Durga is dead. I’ve been captured by pirates. My name is Cas Leung. I smell like Reckoner blood.

And there’s so much I’m not sure of. They might be sinking the ship right now, killing all of the people onboard. They might be stripping it and leaving it disabled in the middle of the NeoPacific. I wonder if Mr. Kagawa is still alive. I wonder what usefulness the pirate captain has planned for me.

I wonder if I’ll ever see my family again.

I should have grabbed my phone instead of the beacon. There was never any hope of beating these guys, not with our Reckoner bleeding out. I used my last seconds of freedom in a futile attempt to spare Durga from an agonizing death and buy the pirates’ mercy, and I couldn’t even do that. I could have called home, could have told my family that I love them.