Courchene took Raymond from Emily and used her sling to tie the child to his back. He glided along the dark surface, kicking hard so as to keep the baby’s head from going underwater. Emily followed. I went after them. Behind me, I heard the others slip into the water on the starboard side. The bullets keep coming as we swam toward Bluff Island, a rocky, hilly shape far away in the dark.

I looked behind me and saw the Oolong tilt and slip beneath the waves.

In the distance, someone called for help, and then went silent.

The shooting stopped. I guess they thought they’d gotten us all.

My shoes felt like stones on my feet. I kicked them off. Still, I was impeded by my good denim pants, my grey Peter Pan–collared shirt. I wriggled out of my clothes, down to my underwear, and let them drift to the bottom. I became a small frog in the massive sea. Waves broke over my head and I choked. I kept kicking. I tried to find the pattern of the waves and snatch breath between them. Beneath me, water creatures writhed and turned. I saw a man o’ war jellyfish down there, massive, translucent, and pulsing. It was twice my size, and ascending to the surface. I stroked away, as hard and fast as I could. My arms and legs ached, but I kept going. After what seemed like half the night, I reached a flat face of brown rock, covered in barnacles. I swam a little to the right and found a low ledge I could hoist myself up onto. From there, I found small toeholds in the rock to get myself up onto a higher ledge.

Courchene, Raymond, and Emily were there two rocks over. I couldn’t see any of the others. Through the channel where the Oolong had gone down, a patrol went by to inspect the damage.

We lay flat on our bellies until the patrol sputtered away.

“We can’t stay here,” Courchene said.

I nodded to my left. “A sea cave. We could hide in there.”

“We could get trapped in there by the tide,” said Courchene.

“It goes all the way through to the other side,” Emily said.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I came here once, with Tak-Wing and some of his cricket club friends, for a launch boat picnic before the occupation. We had egg sandwiches and English cucumbers.”

“Those days belong to another planet,” I said.

“I wonder if the Japanese know,” said Courchene.

“It’s too narrow for a boat to go through anyway,” said Emily. “We could hide on the other side.”