Ocean Blue

Chapter 27

"Coran! Coran, there they are!"

At Hunk's shout, wind swirled around Keith and Lance, depositing them on the deck. Lance grinned.

"We're back! What's going on? Keith isn't telling me!"

"Shiro, Pidge and Allura were captured," Hunk told him, "They're being kept kind of underwater? We need you to rescue them."

"How? How am I supposed to get into the cage?"

"Unlock it with your water and swim them out!"

"Okay. Are they here?"

Keith's shoulders drooped. "No. Sunrise island. The pirates got the piece of map. We failed."

"Nah, we haven't failed yet! We haven't failed until Haggar has got the amulet! And, uh, she hasn't! So we're going to rescue the others, regroup, plan, and get that piece of map back. Then we'll go get- um- do we know where the last map piece is?"

Keith shook his head. "No. Not a clue. We've got 'black as the night' and 'hidden by a princess', but there are a lot of princesses out there. Could be anyone."

"Right. Well, we'll sprint across and burn that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we're going to Sunrise Island. I'll swim down there—"

Keith nodded. "I'll come with you."

"No, you won't. You're not good in a fight underwater, even with that sword of yours."

"Hey! I—"

"Lance is right," Coran interjected, "and besides, Keith, you look exhausted. Not to mention your broken ribs- no. You're staying on board."

The wind swirled the mermaid tear off of Keith's chest, and he immediately made the transformation back to human, yelping as his tail separated into legs, and the gills healed up. Lance rolled his eyes.

"You wore pants when you transformed?"

"Sure- I wasn't going to wear a skirt."

"No wonder you swam weird."

"I did not!"

"Yes you did! I thought it was because you were a coral mermaid, and you were covering your back-fin, but geeze, you transformed with pants!"

Keith bristled, and Coran quickly dumped Lance in the ocean before Keith could snap back.

"That's enough. Lance, you need to get moving, and Keith, you need to get back in bed, because when we rescue Allura, she'll kill all three of us if she suspects that you've been traipsing about through the ocean."

Keith opened his mouth to ask how Coran could just act as if they had dropped Allura off on an island and she would simply walk on board soon, but then he saw the hint of desperation in Coran's eyes, and he snapped his mouth shut. Coran had to act as if everything were normal. If he didn't, he would be admitting that they might not get the others back. And that was something that Coran couldn't do.

Xxx

Lance splashed into the waters of Sunrise Island, diving down and looking for a way into the waters that Shiro, Allura and Pidge were suspended above. If the tides affected the water levels, then the water had to connect to the ocean somehow.

A yawning cave entrance loomed ahead of him, and he ducked underwater, keeping a mental clock of how long the swim was. He might be able to get in this way, but could the others get out?

Xxx

Keith glanced out of the window at the pirate ship that hovered out of reach, taunting them. Coran had put some kind of air-barrier around them that reflected light or something- Keith hadn't bothered with the details, but he knew that they were invisible.