A layer of ice covered the water in her cave. It was only an inch or so thick and peculiarly flexible in the way of freshly frozen salt water. Nilas, Luce remembered. That was what this weird elastic ice was called. Her struggle had wrenched part of it free of the water’s surface so that a giant whitish air pocket shaped almost like an uneven skirt extended from Luce’s rib cage and concealed most of her tail. Luce reached down and tore the nilas open, then slid deeper into the water. The ice layer wasn’t that strong, she told herself; it hadn’t even come close to trapping her for real. And horrible as her dream had been, it was torn like the ice now. There was nothing to be afraid of.

At least not just yet.

∗ ∗ ∗

When the storm finally passed Luce swam weakly from her cave into a vague haze of blue daylight. It was a little warmer, and the film of ice had melted, much to her relief, but there was no way she could tell how many days she’d gone without eating anything. She was so hungry that her body veered sloppily through the water. It would be crazy to let herself get stuck without food like that again, Luce realized. She needed to plan ahead. Once she made it to her dining beach she looked for the little Inuit larva but there was no trace of her. Luce sat disconsolately cracking shellfish, trying to gather her strength.

Much as she wanted to find Dorian, there was something else she needed to do first. Luce gazed to the north. Pack ice came from there in a steady procession like a herd of pale animals. As soon as she could swim steadily again she’d head that way.

Two hours later Luce was skimming through her old tribe’s territory, keeping underwater to avoid the ice but also to make it less likely that she’d be seen. She had to wait until she could catch one of the girls from the tribe out on her own, and that might take some time. Luce slipped behind a jag between the tribe’s cave and their dining beach and waited. They were probably all still frightened enough of the orcas to stick near the cliffs.

It wasn’t long before she heard the voices of the tribe as they swam back to their cave. Even from a distance they sounded shrill and irritable, all bickering at once. “If Anais says we’re staying,” Luce heard Jenna snap, “then we’re staying! If you don’t like it you can go look for a new queen!”

“Stop shoving me!” Kayley yelped just as someone else whose voice Luce couldn’t place said, “But Jenna, that storm was so horrible . . .”