"We put all of our shit in the canoe," Effy reminded Kate, standing straight and taking a deep breath. She wasn't the type who often gasped for air, preferring to spend those precious few seconds in a swirl of sparks and misplaced vertigo, and in spite of the work that'd left her arms sore, neither did sweat shine on her brow. There were times when Effy was a fire that threatened to burn itself out of existence in any second, but on the whole, she was quiet, invisible those months to all but the watchful.

"Which made it sink into the sand, I bet," she surmised, glancing back behind them at the deep rut that the boat left, showing their progress from only minutes ago. "And there's only two of us girls." She watched the water lap up against the side of the canoe, leaving sand clinging in its wake.

"D'you want front or back?"