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built a reputation of hating everything—the figs they served with dinner, our math requirements, the board games stacked in the library archives. Arden had prided herself on being separate from everyone else, on relying on no one. She had, for the first twelve years that I’d known her, insisted she was not like the rest of us orphans at School—she had parents waiting for her in the City of Sand. It wasn’t until we found each other in the wild, and Arden became ill, that she disclosed the truth. There were never any parents. Her grandfather, a bitter man who died when she was six, had raised her. Those words— I love you —took me by surprise. I had thought they simply weren’t in her vocabulary.
    I let the dog sniff my hand, ignoring my nerves as my fingers approached her mouth. Then I petted her head, stroking her muzzle and ears. I was about to run my hand along her back when something knocked against the underside of the boat. I gripped the sides and looked at Arden, the same thought in our minds: a shark. We were over a hundred yards out in the bay. Maeve was no longer watching us, and the water below was menacingly black.
    â€œWhat do we do?” she asked, peering over the side. Heddy sniffed the bottom of the boat, growling.
    I froze, my hands tightening on the gunwales. “Don’t move,” I said. But the boat rocked again. When I looked over the side, a dark mass was right below us.
    â€œWhat the hell …,” Arden muttered, pointing into the water. Then she started laughing, her hand covering her mouth. “Is that a seal? Look—there’s more!” Another appeared next to it, then another. Their slick, brown heads popped up from the surface then ducked quickly below.
    I loosened my grip on the boat, laughing at myself, at the panicked thoughts of Maeve and Califia, of imagined sharks. “They’re all around us.” I leaned over the edge, letting my fingertips graze the water. There were nearly ten seals surrounding the boat, their friendly little faces peering up at us. A tiny one flipped over and swam on its back. A few yards away, a larger one with long white whiskers let out a yelping bark. Heddy barked in response, scaring them all below the surface.
    â€œDon’t mind her,” Arden called, looking happier than I’d seen her since we’d escaped. “Heddy, you scared them.” She wagged a finger at the big dog.
    The seals took off into the bay. The tiny one looked back, as if apologizing for his friends’ rude behavior. “Nice meeting you, too!” Arden called, raising her hand in a wave. Heddy let out another loud bark, seeming satisfied with herself.
    The seals kept going until they were just tiny black dots on the surface of the bay. The sun didn’t seem too bright anymore. The birds were welcome visitors overhead. Sitting in the boat with Arden, I forgot about Maeve and whatever she was planning back on shore. I was with my friend. We were out on the windblown water, alone and free.

six
    WHEN WE RETURNED TO THE DOCK, THE SUN WAS LOW IN THE sky. The restaurant that had become Califia’s de facto dining hall was livelier than it had been in weeks. I parted a tangled curtain of vines and ivy, exposing the restored interior. A long bar jutted out from one wall. Wooden tables and benches were crowded together in the center of the room, covered with the remains of boiled Dungeness crab, sole, and abalone. A two-foot-tall statue of Sappho was perched on a shelf in the corner; it had earned the place the affectionate nickname “Sappho’s Bust.”
    â€œWell, looky here!” Betty called from behind the bar, her big cheeks already red from a few beers. “It’s Lady and the Tramp!” The women on the stools all laughed. One took a quick swig of bathtub ale, the homemade beer Betty brewed.
    Arden glanced sideways at me, frowning. “I suppose I’m the tramp?”
    I took in