Fen reflects on the discipline that years in the water have taught her. She knows how to stay physically calm by controlling her breathing and enduring pain, but Dominic remains the one thing that unsettles her. Fen loves her father and Shearwater, yet she is increasingly angered by Dominic's stubborn silence and by his habit of talking to her dead mother while refusing to admit anything is wrong. To Fen, the island is slowly killing the family.

Because Shearwater never grows truly dark for long, Fen sleeps little. She rises to swim with the seals, where she feels most at ease and most herself. In the water she plays with King Brown and tries to race Silver, knowing she can never match their grace or endurance. These moments show how deeply Fen belongs to the island's animal world.

Fen intends to go check on the rescued woman in the lighthouse, but noise on the beach draws her to a seal colony instead. There she finds Freckles in labor among King Brown's harem. Fen watches anxiously because the pup appears headfirst rather than flippers first and seems motionless for too long. She considers intervening but waits, and that restraint proves right when the pup finally slips free and lifts its head alive.

Watching mother and pup together reminds Fen that pup season is her favorite time of year and the part of Shearwater she will miss most when the family leaves. The chapter ends with a broader reflection on the island's haunted atmosphere: Fen believes Shearwater is full of the dead, visible in strange green lights, but she is not afraid of them. In her view, the living are the true source of harm.