Before tonight, my safety on the Minnow was tied to Bao. My bout in the Slew made it clear enough that I can’t defend myself on my own. But if I’m going to make it in this big blue world, I’ll have to learn. And if I’m going to learn, I need the best teacher the seas can give me.

“You have an empty trainee slot,” I say, fighting to keep my voice even as I think of what happened to Code. “I’ve gotten used to sleeping in that bunk, and I want everything else that comes with it. Sign me on as Code’s replacement.”

“Name your terms.”

This is the tricky bit. I’m still delirious from that blow to the head, and exhaustion is weighing heavy on my shoulders. I can’t flub this negotiation, or it’ll all be for naught. With fumbling fingers, I pluck the Otachi from my left wrist. “The people on those boats know exactly who and what came after them. They don’t want me back—they want Bao taken out. Me, I’m nothing. I’m just another person from the fringes now. But he’s a threat to the NeoPacific’s economic ecosystem, an imbalance that needs to be corrected. As long as we have him, they’ll be after us.” I hold out the device with one hand and unlatch the line-hooks from my belt with the other. “So my first condition is that Bao goes free. I’ll set this to call him and then drop it. He’ll follow it to the depths until he can’t any more, and the Minnow takes off. We give him the slip and never go near him again.”

“And what’s your second condition?” the captain asks.

The smell of Bao’s singed flesh is overwhelming as I gather my courage and say, “You never ask me to kill a Reckoner. Give me a place on your ship and I’ll do anything you command, except for that.”

The captain snorts, throwing her head back as a laugh breaks out of her. “Hate to say it, Cassandra, but if that situation were to arise, I’ve already got a trainee with a knack for that sort of thing.” She claps Swift on the back.

I feel as if my stomach’s been tied to a sinking stone. But it takes me a second to fully catch her meaning.

“You—” I stutter. “But you—”

“I put the Nereid ’s beast out of its misery, kid. This clever devil here”—she gives Swift’s shoulders a shake—“snuck into your stables and dosed it with enough cull serum to tear it apart from the inside before the bucket left its berth. With man or monster, Swift always knows where to put a killing blow. Why else do you think I keep her worthless ass around?”