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out through my nose, and the water pushes out the bottom, and I see Cameron in front of me, nodding.
    I see.
    I see the netting behind me, covered in algae, but I can’t see much farther because it’s nearly dark. I see Dom in the wetsuit rising up from the bottom with another tank, and I watch as Cameron switches it out. Cameron illuminates his watch and presses himself against the netting as beams of light pass across the surface of the water.
    We wait.
    Dom has another set of equipment in his hands that must be for Casey. Beside me, Cameron leans forward, as if he’s waiting to see her swim out of the darkness. I understand. Cameron and Casey were supposed to meet up with us here, but I have screwed that up.
    We breathe underwater for a long time. Long enough for us to hear the motor of a boat ripping overhead. Long enough for me to stop worrying about Casey and instead worry about running out of air.
    Dom disappears into the darkness below us again, comes back with another set of tanks, and my fingers grasp ineffectively at the straps. I am a prune. I am a bleeding, blind prune,and I start breathing too fast, unable to control the panic. Because I am sure I will either become prey to something that has caught the scent of my blood, or else I will surely suffocate under here, in the darkness—and they will pull up my body a few days from now, and they’ll test all the newly born, and they’ll put my soul in a cage again.
    And then just like that, Cameron touches my shoulder and points up. Dom is near the surface, waving at us. I claw at the steel, pulling myself up out of the water. It’s as dark on the surface as it was underneath. This must be what we were waiting for.
    Darkness.
    I burst through the surface and spit out the mouthpiece, sucking in real, salty air. Waves, water, move around me, and I feel exposed, despite the darkness. My fingers tighten around the steel, digging through the algae. Cameron is still close, but he has his own equipment now. I wonder if he forgot that he doesn’t need to rely on me anymore.
    There are lights in the distance, from the island. And there are lights through the steel netting, from boats on the other side. And in the distance, far away, I see land. There is no way we will make it with this canister. I realize that, having gone through two already. There is no way we will make it without being seen.
    I wonder if this is a suicide mission.
    I wonder what will happen to my soul.
    The others have removed their mouthpieces as well, speaking in quick, low voices to each other.
    â€œWhat’s the plan?” I ask, as the current pushes my body into the steel.
    â€œWe climb. And then we swim,” Cameron says.
    I look, wide-eyed, at Cameron.
    â€œThere was a robotic sub,” he whispers quickly, “that we left just outside the cage, on the other side. Casey put your tracker on it.” He nods, as if he’s convincing himself she made it. “They’re not looking over here.”
    I want to believe him, but the beam from a boat cuts across the surface, and we all dive underneath for a moment. When I resurface, I expect them to make a new plan.
    â€œClimb,” Dom says.
    I have come this far. They have come this far with me. My muscles twitch in anticipation, because this is something I can do. And so I climb.
    This I do faster than either of them. I make it to the top and hook my legs over the other side, flattening myself against the netting, and see nothing but dark water, waiting to swallow me up.
    The boats cast their beams of light across the surface in a steady pattern. If light hits us, we are found. We need to get back into the water. Back
under
the water. I count the seconds in my head. The light moves in a steady, obvious pattern. Automated and predictable, but still, they need to move faster.
    The rope on my ankle tugs as I slip down the other side. The ocean is dark, except for the beams of light cutting across in