In Chapter 4, the narrative introduces Mika’s love for the sea. Wherever Mika goes, she ensures that every home she chooses has some view of the water: “It didn’t matter if she was looking across a garden with a tree house or through the shutters of a tiny shed or out of the window of a slightly grotty flat—the sea was the sea” (42). She’s attracted to the sea because she “would never wake up one day and find it gone. It knew all her secrets. It knew her. And it stayed” (43). The sea symbolizes Mika’s desire for consistency and companionship. She finds comfort in the sea because it’s always present, and she can rely on it to keep her company when she has no one else.

Mika visits the sea twice in the novel, both times in relation to her attempts to connect to others. The first instance is in Chapter 7, during her first afternoon at Nowhere House. Mika invites the girls to the beach with her as a way to bond with her new students, but Jamie won’t let them go. Mika visits the sea alone, as she always has.