Shame flooded Bastian. It turned his cheeks red and made him hug his own waist in an attempt to appear smaller. He had never raised a hand to anyone, outside of combat, in his life. "Lachlan, I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to."

"Yes," Lachlan said in a whisper, "you did." He turned from Bastian, his copper curls hiding his eyes. His shoulders hunched over and Bastian's heart broke to see his friend so obviously sad. Bastian reached out, but a flash of pink in the corner of his eye made him pause.

Ambrosia had her hands over her mouth, shock in her eyes. Bastian pulled his hand back to his chest and turned from Lachlan. He hadn't meant to hit his friend, but he couldn't ignore the insult to Ambrosia either. She was important to him.

Zareb swam forward while Varrick supported him. "Bastian, we should get moving." His gruff voice was calm, despite all the tension in the water. "We can't linger out in the open."

Varya nodded her agreement. "We are not too far from the Selach borders, Triton. I believe we can make it in time if we swim steadily."

Ambrosia uncovered her mouth and spoke up, her voice shaky. "We are only a few hours from Atlantis, Triton. I believe my people can help us the rest of the way. You need medical attention, and we lost a good amount of our supplies when we went over the waterfall."

Lachlan's spine stiffened, his back ramrod straight. Bastian knew his friend wanted to speak, but Lachlan remained silent. He obviously thought his opinion would be wasted.

In this situation, a Triton should be able to take full command of the group. Why couldn't Bastian ever seem to live up to the title he had inherited? Bastian squared his shoulders and inhaled deeply. "Let's move forward, then. To Atlantis. We're running out of time."

Zareb nodded, his face inscrutable. Whatever thoughts he had on what had happened, he kept them to himself. Lachlan swam to Zareb's side and took him from Varrick's supporting arms. Ambrosia moved to Bastian's side. She was still a little pale from the swimming they had done, but she didn't complain.

Together, they moved towards the Thief's Ridge. From what little Bastian knew about this section of the ocean, the stories about Thief's Ridge were not pleasant. Most merchants tried to avoid the ridge if at all possible, but the narrow channel housed one of the quickest underwater currents in the entire Southern oceans.

If you caught a ride on the current, you could conceivably make it from the Southern pole all the way to the middle oceans in only a few days. Unfortunately, the Ridge was usually occupied by less noble merfolk who preyed on merchants that rode the current. It only took one successful ambush for a merchant to lose everything.

As they swam forward, the water grew colder. A chill swept over Bastian, but he wasn't sure it was just the cold water that made him shiver. Instinctively, he moved closer to his friends, and they stared as the imposing cliffs of the Thief's Ridge seemed to loom larger.

Ambrosia moved forward first. "Stay close to me." Her voice was softer than usual, and she still looked pale, but her chin was raised into the air defiantly. Her pearl pink hair shimmered in the low light of the water, and Bastian followed her without thinking about it. 

Ambrosia moved slowly, her gaze constantly darting from left to right as they swam into the gap between the Ridges. Dark stone cast deep shadows that made everything almost black once more. The water started to rush past them, picking them up and carrying them with the current. Without the light, the water grew colder.

Bastian reached out and grabbed Ambrosia's hand. She looked back, surprise on her face, before she relaxed into a smile. Her fingers squeezed his gently. Why did she always seem to know what he was thinking?

His heart fluttered as Ambrosia continued to hold his hand, even as the water picked up speed around them. When they had swam only a few minutes, a low growl came from behind Bastian. He whirled to look at the new threat, prepared to throw himself between it and Ambrosia. Instead, the white fangs of Varya's mouth greeted him. Her eyes were dark, and her back was arched, but she didn't seem to be growling at him.

Varya was looking up, at the dark stone above and to the right of the party. Bastian followed her gaze and stiffened as he spotted what she had; the glint of light off something metal. Raiders.

Before he could open his mouth to shout a warning, Ambrosia's gentle voice rose above the noise of the current. "Hail, Children of Atlantis! Asisya's daughter greets you!"

From above, a call went out, sounding like nothing Bastian had ever heard before. It was a series of staccato notes that seemed to be some sort of melody, but the notes screeched against Bastian's ears. Summoned by the noise, ropes rolled out from inside the rocks above them. They floated gently down until the current caught the strands and sent them waving in front of Bastian and his friends. Ambrosia gripped one with her free hand and smiled at Bastian. "Come on!"

Bewildered, he followed her lead and grabbed hold of a rope. Someone tugged him upwards, toward the rocks, and he let out a startled noise as he moved swiftly out of the current.

The rope was pulled into a small cavern that had formed in the cliff side. Inside the cavern, a group of shadowed people were pulling the ropes that held his friends upwards. Bastian squinted to see them better, and one of the shadows laughed.

"I thought you merfolk were supposed to have decent night sight?" A deep voice rumbled out into the water. Even as he spoke, the others did not stop working and, one by one, each of Bastian's friends was pulled into the cavern.

"Merfolk? Are you not—"

Ambrosia interrupted Bastian by squealing excitedly and throwing herself at the shadow. "Theron! I can't believe my luck!"

Once more, the deep voice rumbled out in laughter. "Ambrosia! You've been gone far too long, sweet pearl."

A sharp pain cut through Bastian's heart at the affectionate tone Theron addressed Ambrosia with. Who was this Theron? And, more importantly, was he handsomer than Bastian?

A tenor voice sang sweetly, and the cavern filled with green light summoned by Lachlan's song. In front of them, the shadows became visible.

Ambrosia was beside a creature whose top half looked human and whose bottom half resembled that of an octopus. Seven tentacles of varying thickness sprouted from his waist and supported his upper body.

And his eyes were on Ambrosia.