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we thought this was your only chance—humankind’s only chance—to survive. The earth’s atmosphere is continuing to heat up at an alarming rate.”
    â€œYou’re wrong. The climate scientists keep saying the earth is finally cooling again.”
    â€œThey’re all lying. So far, none of the carbon dioxide removal programs have made any difference. Severe droughts and blistering temperatures mean more famines lie ahead; famines on a scale that will lead to even more catastrophic wars. Our own government will only grow more repressive and cruel. That’s why we agreed to join the Neptune Project. Your father and I wanted you to have a chance to live free of the Western Collective.”
    â€œYou think we can actually live in the sea? You know how dangerous it is down there. We’ll probably get eaten in the first twenty-four hours.”
    â€œNo, you won’t, because the dolphins will protect you. You can defend yourself with your spearguns. Your father and I have been preparing you for this moment all your life.”
    The idea that my father has been a part of this is like a slug in my gut. My mother turns to Lena.
    â€œLena, I have to give you your shot now. The soldiers could find us anytime, and it takes several hours for the virus to trigger the final changes in your lungs that will allow you to breathe water.”
    â€œI’d rather die than become some kind of fish mutate,” Lena says defiantly.
    â€œAre you very sure about that?” my mother asks her in a level tone. “Because that’s exactly what will happen. The next time you have a lung attack, the doctors inland will take a sample of your blood, and then they’ll realize just how different you are from most humans. I expect they’ll put you in some sort of prison, and without the right meds, you will eventually die, gasping for air, and they’ll let you.”
    Lena pales. After a long moment she jerks up the sleeve on her shirt.
    â€œI will never forgive my father, my mother, or you, for doing this to me,” she says coldly.
    For the first time in a long time, Lena and I see eye to eye.

AFTER LENA GETS HER SHOT , my mother moves us out of the lab and down the passageway that leads to the sea caves beneath our cottage. The air here is damp with mist thrown up by the waves smashing against the black rock walls below us. It’s dark, too, with just a little daylight filtering in from outside.
    My mother stops in a small chamber above the first of the caves. She switches on an electric lantern and opens up the seapacks. Over the echoing rush of the waves, she explains the equipment she’s put together for us. I’m still too shocked to concentrate as she points out the navigational tools and charts, spearguns and knives, food, hammocks, and some small gold discn coins she says we’ll need.
    Robry, though, listens carefully to everything she says. Lena huddles off to the side with her arms wrapped around her knees, not even pretending to listen. I might feel sorrier for her if I weren’t so busy fighting my own fear.
    I stare at the black waves plunging and frothing against the glistening sides of the cave below our chamber. I love the sea, but the idea of living in it terrifies me. My mother was right about one thing: she and my father have packed my brain full of information about the ocean. The world beneath the waves can be beautiful, but it’s also a dangerous place, where larger predators constantly devour smaller ones.
    I don’t want to be devoured. I don’t want Robry to be devoured, either. I wouldn’t even wish that on Lena.
    I look at Robry’s determined face as he listens to Gillian’s equipment lecture, and anger burns through me again. “I can’t believe you did this to Robry. How could Alicia have let you mess with his genes?”
    My mother stops talking and sighs. “Let me? Nere, she begged me. One day I was