Ocean Blue

Chapter 18

Hunk stopped in mid-run, holding everyone else back. "Hang on, what about Pidge?"

"What about her?" Allura asked.

"Well- um- she's still out there, alone and scared and hurt. Also, our one-hour timeline has expired. Shouldn't we go back to the beach? What if Keith and Daxton found Pidge and are at the beach right now, waiting for us? Shouldn't we check?"

Shiro shook his head. "Daxton wasn't ever really here, and Pidge was just bait. And we swallowed it, hook, line and sinker. Right now, our first priority is finding Keith. If we find Pidge along the way, great. If we don't, we'll find her later. She's not in much danger, except from wild animals, and Pidge is smart. She can handle those. Right now, we need to get moving. I'd say that we should split up to cover more ground, but that proved to be a bad idea last time, and I don't want to risk it again while that woman is out there."

"Athakathi," Allura hissed.

"How do you know?"

"The way that she disappeared. And the way that she dressed. She's from my tribe's area, I know it. She's probably the one that Lotor warned us of, the one making the Ilimu."

"Galra," Hunk automatically corrected.

"Whatever they are, they're after something that was or is on this island," Shiro informed them, "and they think that Keith knows where it is. So we need to get moving and find him before they do." He started walking. "Let's go."

Allura trotted to keep up with him. "How do you know this?"

"The thakathi told me. Her name is Haggar, and she's incredibly powerful; if this amulet thing is halfas powerful as Lotor said that it was, then we're all in trouble."

"And, what, you believe her about what she said? She could be trying to trick us!"

"I know, but it's the only information that we have, and we have to act on it before anything happens."

"And- how are we finding Keith? Do you have a trail? Have you found something to indicate which way he went?"

"No," Shiro replied shortly.

"Then how do you know that we're going the right way?"

Shiro stopped, looking her dead in the eye. His grey eyes were like clouds before a storm; dangerous and brimming with power. "I don't," he answered quietly.

Xxx

Romelle steered her ship in silently up along a pirate ship. "Are you ready?" she whispered quietly to Quintisha. This was it. The moment she'd been waiting for. She had learned from an informant (a barman who had wanted to get a certain panther off of his chest before it bit through his throat) that a young, red-headed boy with markings like hers had been seen with pirates. A nasty lot. Ship name?

"Tweeling zwaarden," Romelle breathed, reading the ship name. Dutch. Twin Swords. Apparently, the ship was co-captained by a pair of Dutch twins. She was close to finding her brother. She could feel it. She just... had to hope that this particular batch of pirates wasn't Galra. Because if the stories that her grandfather had told her were true... she was no match for them, even with Quintisha.

"Quintisha, climb," she ordered.

Quintisha scaled the side of the ship, a rope clenched in his teeth. Once he got to the top, he braced himself, holding the rope tightly. Romelle seized the end of the rope, tied it to her boat, and slowly made her way to the top of the ship, hand over hand up the rope. As she clambered over the railing, she slipped, toppling back over the side.