The Zodiac Cycle

1.16 Apology

"Uh, what now?" The group was standing on the beach along the northern shore in Cordelia.

The dot was nearly 10 miles offshore, smack dab in the middle of the water.

Nolan chuckled, "who doesn't like fish now?"

"Huh?" George didnt understand the joke.

Amber walked over to Nolan, putting her hands on his shoulders. He immediately brushed them off and she awkwardly put them together as if praying instead. "Nolan, do you think you could go find the next dot please?"

"Perhaps, if you apologize to Ash for how you acted when we first met." He had been waiting for a moment like this.

Ash snickered.

Amber turned beet red, making a very annoyed face. "Really? What about the greater good? Saving the world and all that?"

"I'm sure we can manage without this one." Nolan crossed his arms and lifted his chin a bit.

Amber looked at Ash who was smirking. "Nope, huh uh, I can do something else. I'm not going to apologize for being right." The rest of the group had settled into the sand or against rocks, watching the commotion.

"You werent right though." Keith put one finger up.

"Shut up Keith." Amber waved him off and put her hands on her hips.

"Fine," Nolan glared. "then say you were wrong out loud."

"I literally just said..." Amber closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose, taking a few breaths. "Why is this so important to you?"

Nolan didnt falter. He refused to. "I dont need to explain myself. Apologize, or admit you were wrong. If you dont, then I guess we have to save the world without the pisces."

Amber mumbled something to herself, glancing at Ash again. "Fine." She groaned, running her hand through her hair. "I . . . was wrong to look down on you, both of you."

Nolan smiled a bit, that was probably the most he was going to get out of her, but it was enough. "Alright, hand me the tracker." He reaches his hand out to Keith.

"Its not waterproof." Keith looked at Nolan, holding the tracker on his lap.

Nolan took a deep breath. "What?"

"I said it's not..."

"I know what you said! But seriously? Am I supposed to go in blind?" Nolan asked frantically. "It's 10 miles out in the middle of the ocean and I'm not going to have any guide to get me there!"

Ash stood up and set his hands gently on Nolan's shoulders. "Calm down, why dont you look as close as you can on the Tracker so you can have somewhere to start and come back if you cant find them. Okay?"

Nolan agreed, and studied the dot on the tracker as carefully as he could before removing his shoes, hoodie, shirt, and pants. He had on a pair of shorts underneath specifically for this kind of thing. He stretched a bit, it had been a while since he had been in the open ocean.

Before he set off he turned to wave at the others, who were all gaping at the fact that he was muscular (and that he had webbed toes too).

Ash huffed softly giving nolan a quick wink. Nolan smiled in return, took one last look at the Tracker, and dove into the water. It was late September and the water was already cooling down for the winter. Nolan pressed his feet together and his arms to his side, allowing his tail to push him forward.

The cold water didnt bother him much. He had pretty thick skin, and he got to the point he could remember from the map fairly quickly. Keith had said that the Pisces would have their mark on their left elbow, so Nolan swam through the busy, underwater town looking for such. The town was what he knew to be called a stack. There were a few shops and most of the living areas on the sea floor, but most everything else was floating above, connected to the ground by large, thick chains to keep them from being taken away by the currents or any stray riptides. Several of the shops above were dual-friendly, meaning they had pockets of air for species were more mammal-based. The shops were mostly rounded and colorful, some made out of coral and others made out of thick seaweed laced together in intricate patterns. From what he had seen on the Tracker, the Pisces would be near the edge of town.