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all escape from Sumter, Thomas?” she asked. “From what I’ve heard, you were trapped in a room. Chief and his men were armed. Dare was there too. So what happened?”
    I couldn’t be sure, but her tone sounded suspicious. It annoyed me, that. With Dare closing fast, and others waiting to descend the ladder, I didn’t have time to answer, or even to consider why she’d ask me that question now. I turned my back on her and beckoned Nyla and Griffin over.
    One by one, the elementals slid first one foot and then the other onto the ladder. The rope was strong, but the ladder shifted from side to side as the ship rocked in the swell. The healthiest of our crew—Tarn, Marin, Dennis—treaded water, waiting to assist the injured.
    When it was my father’s turn to go down, he paused. “I’m staying with you,” he said.
    Alice, who was on the other side of the deck, spun around. “No. Only Thomas and me. Dare has a history with you, Ordyn,” she reminded my father. “We need him to believe he’ll get no resistance from us.”
    Still my father hesitated. Then, as the Sumter ship sailed toward our starboard side, he followed the others into the water.
    I raised the rope ladder and untied it, hiding all evidence of what we’d done.
    â€œMay as well throw it in the water,” said Alice, joining me. “We won’t be needing it anymore.”
    â€œHow are we going to get onto the other ship?”
    â€œThe deck’s lower than this one. We’ll jump.”
    I tossed the ladder over the side. It floated for a moment, and then sank. When I turned around, Alice was crouched beside the hatch door that led below deck. “Once the men are trapped down there, you get out, hear me? Even if I don’t make it, you bolt that door and board the other ship.”
    â€œI won’t leave without you, Alice.”
    â€œYes, you will. And if I have to, I’ll leave without you too. Because this is bigger than either one of us, you hear? This is
everything
.”
    The Sumter ship pulled alongside us. The sails had been reefed, allowing the vessel to glide to a halt. As Alice had said, it was lower in the water, so I couldn’t see anything except the masts, but I could just make out the men’s faces peeking at us over our ship’s railing. Each of them held a gun.
    An object flew onto our deck and landed with a clatter. Before I could get a good look at it, it was dragged backward, scraping angry lines in the wooden planks. With a clang, it anchored against the railing—a hook, tethering the ships together.
    Instinctively I edged closer to Alice. “You ready?” she asked.
    I didn’t even know for sure what was about to happen. “Yes,” I lied.
    A hand appeared on the railing. Then an arm. For a moment, I considered attacking him before he had a chance to get on board, but Alice gripped my sleeve and held me back, forcing me to stick to the plan.
    We edged toward the Sumter ship, close enough to see a sliver of the deck. Close enough that when, with a twitch of her head, Alice directed my attention to the water, I made out the heads of the elementals as they slid to the far side of the ship. None of the men was paying any attention to the ocean, though.
    My father was watching me. Ananias was as well. They were waiting for a nod, the signal that they were clear to board the Sumter ship. Neither Alice nor I could give it yet, though.
    The first Sumter colonist slid over the rail and landed on the deck. Someone tossed a rifle up to him. He pointed it at us, hands shaking, and yelled, “Ship’s secure.”
    Alice had the appearance of a cat poised to pounce.
    Another man labored to climb aboard. He was older, bald. As he took up position beside the first man, he rubbed his leg and frowned.
    A third man joined them. Even older. Even slower. When he caught his rifle, he took several moments to aim it.
    I wanted to