She didn’t have to surrender. She didn’t have to fight. For she saw what I had seen. From where we stood, the land had disappeared. The dock had been eaten away. In its place was a wall of darkness, of swirling shadows whipped into a frenzy by the blood in the air. They vaulted down the dock, and Van Alen’s last surviving guardsmen disappeared with choked-off screams.

Ida Greene grabbed Van Alen by the shoulders and dragged him backward toward the edge of the dock. Ugly and Cherub ran alongside. The shadows ate away the dock, a few inches a second, until there was only a single plank left for the gallant warriors to stand on. There, the shadows stopped, edging back and forth, almost hesitant, and I gnawed on my knuckle, waiting for the surprise that only I knew was coming.

Juliette lacked my patience.

She stood, unslung her rifle, and leaned on the ship’s rail. She peered down the sight and squeezed the trigger. Van Alen didn’t say a word when he caught the bullet in his back. He sank to one knee and bled from both sides.

Now the shadows pounced.

Now the engines exploded.

A ball of fire tore through the starboard side of the ship, scorching the deck and driving the shadows back. Water rushed through the gash in the hull. The freighter lurched horribly toward the dock, throwing Juliette and myself into the railing. The fire was bright enough to turn night into day and cast off every shadow for ten blocks in either direction. By its light, I saw Van Alen collapsed in a heap on the dock, surrounded by Mrs. Greene, Ugly, and Cherub. By the same light, Juliette saw me.

“I told you, Gilda, this was not your concern,” she called, as her ship sank deeper into the water. She leaned against the railing, holding her rifle at her hip. I looked straight at it, and I felt I could see all the way down the darkened barrel and into the hell that lay on the other side. I could not tell if I was ready to die.

“My life would be simpler if I took other people’s advice,” I said, “but I simply don’t have the patience.”

“Take one step, and I’ll put a bullet through your heart.”