The Minnow’s pace slows. We must have caught up to the ship. The engines’ pitch descends until their low thrum rattles the deck beneath us, matching Bao’s groans. With the partitions down and the engine noise masking his complaints, we’ve managed to almost completely disguise the fact that we’ve got a Reckoner onboard.

It hits me. This is the first time in weeks that we’ve come into contact with another ship, the first time since we left the Nereid to sink that there’ve been good, decent people nearby. People with radios and uplinks. People who could tell my parents that I’m alive, who could get an armada on our tail, rescue me, and confiscate Bao.

People whom Santa Elena is about to butcher.

I want to throw up the partitions and toss Bao into the water. I want to dive in after, to flail my arms and scream for help. I want to get aboard that ship and find their radio, call home, get someone to come save me.

But there’s a flaw with that plan. I’m on the Minnow, coming from the Minnow. They’d see me as a pirate before anything else, and they’d shoot me on sight.

I’m all by myself down here, locked away from everyone that might hear me, so I feel no shame when I suck in a huge breath and scream like I’ve been stabbed. Bao jerks his head at the noise, but he’s too weak out of the water to do anything about it. I let my lungs empty until the sound chokes off, and when I draw my next breath I feel lighter.

So I scream again.

But this time I can’t get it all the way out before a loud explosion rocks the ship, causing the deck beneath my feet to lurch. Bao kicks, his claws scrabbling against the metal floor.

It’s starting.

Muffled thuds ring out from the upper decks as the Minnow returns fire. They’ll target the ship’s engines first, taking out any chance of it fleeing. That’s part of the reason Reckoner trainer decks are positioned right over the engines. A boat that’s dead in the water is so much harder for a beast to defend, so we keep the Reckoners’ focus close to the thrusters.

My first solo battle, on the Nereid, was so atypical. I’d been utterly focused on Durga back then, and I’d seen nothing but the Minnow’s victory in the aftermath. A sick sort of curiosity grips me, a frustration that I can’t see the attack in progress. Dad taught me the basics of pirate tactics when I was little, and I want to see them put into practice.