In a few moments, I decided three things.

1.) I needed to face my father on my own terms.

2.) I needed to do whatever I was going to do alone.

3.) Castor was definitely staring at me.

I looked at him. "Stay here," I signed, hoping he'd understand. "Here" was normally understandable enough for the people who'd never bothered to learn sign language.

When I was sure everyone understood me, I started down to where my father was waiting. I picked through the rocks until I was right in front of him.

"What are you doing?" His eyebrows were creeping up his forehead.

I looked at my feet.

"Arriana," he signed, his fist curled into an "a," mimicking my curling hair.

"I can't take this anymore. I'm done."

He looked at me like I was an idiot. "That's not a reason to abandon your family."

"Maybe not to you," I took a deep breath. "You got Mom here."

"She agrees nothing good ever came out of going off on an adventure like this."

"Funny," I said, my face not reflecting the words, "because you've definitely gone on adventures before. Both of you."

"We were young and stupid. And look where it got us." He looked down.

"I'm young and stupid now. You have to let me go."

"Why?" He made a big sign, and I was suddenly aware no one else had gotten off the ship.

"I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not living like this anymore."

"Living like what?"

I looked at him. He looked like he genuinely didn't understand. "Like the rope between you and mom in a tug-of-war."

He sighed. "I'm not letting you go on your own. There's a war brewing, and I don't want you out there."

"I can handle myself," but I knew it was a moot point. I wasn't going to do anything different and have my father's consent.

A rock hit the back of my leg and I spun around. Castor was skittering down the rocky hill. He met my glare and immediately stopped.

I turned back to my father. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm leaving now. You can come with me or you can swim back with your mother."

"And them?"

He shrugged and turned around.

I ran after him. "What's happening to them?"

He shook me off, and I saw the answer in his eyes. "I'm not doing this," I repeated, but he turned away.

Juniper was waiting for me with big eyes. "What's happening?"

I saw the Red Revenge looming out of the water, my mother bobbing contentedly beside it.

"My father can't take 'no' for an answer."

I stared stormily after him. I looked down at the water and met my mother's eyes.

"I'm not doing this," I repeated for the world to see.

"What else are you going to do?" My mother's eyes danced, and I could feel the mockery in her short, decisive hand movements.

"I don't know. I don't really care."

She smirked, her gaze eventually shifting away from me. Castor was making his own landslide above me. Her lips moved quickly and he froze.

I backed away from her. The side of my hand banged into my palm. "Stop."

"Stop what? Talking?" She was talking and signing at the same time.

I shook my head and trudged uphill.

I felt her eyes on my back. It annoyed her that I wasn't looking at her, but I kept the same pace.

Castor met my eyes. He stayed dangerously still, like the moment before the prey takes off running. Only, he didn't seem ready to run. I went as high as I could go, and he didn't follow me. I could see the edge of South Hellendun, the Red Revenge, a few rock islands like my current one, and a whole expanse of sea. I realized my predicament.

There was absolutely nowhere to go.

ψψψ

I could've left at any time, but my father's face and his sureness that I'd give in were enough to keep my feet firmly rooted on the little island.

Tendrils of smoke endeavored to make the stars shining in the sky thin and hazy. It rose, almost seeming desperate as it climbed further and further away from the surviving men huddled around the fire.

They'd barely found enough shrubbery on the island to make their fire, let alone sustain it for any period of time. They were relying on some miracle to either dry the wood they'd found by the shore that was soaked through, have a ship pass by and see the fire, have the same ship make it past the sirens that floated lazily around in clumps or deliver them in any number of increasingly less likely ways.

Castor kept turning intermittently to stare at me. I strictly avoided eye contact and stared intently at my thumb, flickering in the firelight.

Eventually, I stumbled off to try to get as much sleep as I could. In the morning, I would talk to Juniper and see what she thought of the situation. I didn't know why I  care or why I was staying at all other than to spite my father.

I curled up into a ball, finding the dirt considerably softer than the hard rock. I didn't fall asleep easily. I'd found a dark little hole to curl up in, and everyone seemed to be steering clear of me. Except for Castor.

I stared down at my thumb again, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in my stomach. I was successfully throwing away my life, my family, and I was sure several other things that I was going to miss.

I wanted to crawl back in my hammock and go to sleep. I rolled over. I was facing into a rock, and I wasn't even slightly more comfortable.

I wasn't falling asleep. I took a deep breath and tried to lay as still as I could. Some of the men on the Red Revenge insisted laying still long enough would help you drift off. The thing was I couldn't lay still.

I wrapped my hands around my knife. I closed my eyes and hoped for sleep, and at some point, I must've found it.