(Jerome's POV)

A night passed, and then another, so we were only a day's journey from the town-or so Seto told me. Quentin still stumbled around awkwardly, though, not used to his tail or being so top heavy. I was pretty darn sure he got frustrated and fed up with it all, but he managed to keep his emotions in and remain calm and humorous on the outside. I had to say, I felt almost proud of him. From that moment on, though, I told the entire group that I would carry both the bags twenty-four/seven. After all, I could handle it easily, and the squids were trying to turn humans into squids, not baccas.

"What the heck is this thing?" Adam asked that morning, kicking an object around the fire pit. I didn't pay any attention; I just kept shoving all our food into a bag. Deadlox had gone into the woods somewhere; I had no idea what for.

"What's what?" Jason asked, taking down the large tent, aided by Seto.

"This," Adam said, bending over and picking it up.

Quentin cast a glance over to him; he himself was doing the impossible task of finding a way to sit down without sitting on his tail. "Adam, are you an idiot?" he asked, almost laughing. It sounded threatening, though, with his deepened voice. "That's an ax, for Notch's sake."

"Oh," Adam said. His cheeks went from a skin-toned gray to a darker gray-I assumed he blushed.

"Wait," I said, letting a few apples fall out of the bag as I looked at him. "You found an ax just lying around our campsite?" Sure enough, he was holding an ax-just the right shade to be iron.

"Yeah."

Seto stuffed the tent that Jason had neatly folded into a small backpack without any neatness at all, resulting in a look of disapproval from Jason. "Adam, I swear, you are the one with the weirdest luck out of all of us," he said, shaking his head.

"Um, hello? Mudkip-human thing over here!" Quentin shouted.

"Second only to Quentin," Seto added, rolling his eyes.

"Can I see it?" I asked, scooping up the last few apples. He handed it over, handle first. I had never really seen an ax before-the spaceship had been stockpiled with stuff like light sabers and laser guns-but it was obvious that this one was in good condition. The blade was reflecting the sunlight, and I could tell with just a glance that it was sharp and untarnished. The handle had been sandpapered and shined, with no splinters whatsoever. "Wow."

I twitched my ears as Quentin let out an almost silent growl. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye; he still couldn't figure out a way to sit down. I bit my lip and looked away. I heard him take a deep breath, again so quietly that only a bacca's sense of hearing would pick it up, and try again. And again. And again. I felt a stab of sympathy. What would it be like if you just suddenly couldn't even sit down?

"Jerome. Put the ax DOWN," Seto said warningly, shaking a finger at me like a mother. "You know Ty doesn't want you playing with lethal weapons."

"But Se-to," I whined, sounding like a five-year-old, "It's so shiny and sharp!" Everybody laughed, Adam the loudest. "What?" I said, back to my normal voice. "What did I do?" Everybody laughed even more, and I cracked a grin. Even Quentin was laughing.

"Aw, Dillon wants an ax too," Jason said, grabbing Dillon around the waist and holding him up to Seto's face. Dillon started squeaking madly. "Can he have one, Seto?"

Seto tipped his head to one side for a second, stroking his chin as if he was thinking. "No," he decided. "Only Jerome gets an ax"

"It's all mine!" I shouted. In hindsight, it probably was extremely loud and not a very good idea; all the birds within a couple meters got up and fluttered into the sky. I wasn't paying attention to that, though. At the time, I couldn't help but think that without Ty around, things were a lot less serious.

Adam's entire body suddenly stiffened, the muscles standing out. I leaned to one side to get a better look at him and saw that his amulet was flat against his chest. Uh-oh.

"Adam, you okay?" Jason asked warily. Quentin apparently gave up on trying to sit down and stepped over to us, biting his lip.

"I... they're..." he shook his head, putting his palms over his sunglasses. I felt my ear twitch and then I heard somebody say something.

"So, we attack now or what?"

In the corner of my eye, I saw that Quentin had almost froze and his eyes were darting around, as if trying to locate something. "Quentin, you okay buddy?"

"You didn't hear that?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"The... the squid?" I asked quietly, pretty sure of the answer. He nodded once.

"There are squids here!" I shouted at everybody, making a sweeping motion with my arm to get Quentin behind me. I heard footsteps as everybody lined up in between Jason and I, who unlatched his gun, pointing it behind us. Why did I have to be on the end? I gripped the ax tightly; I had almost forgotten that I was still holding it.

"Wow, this guy's NOT a total idiot," I heard somebody say. "What a feat." There was some extremely annoying laughter. I gritted my teeth.

"So..." I heard a voice say, as three squid robots stepped out from behind the trees, "Do we take these five as well? We didn't get anybody to carry."

"Where did they even come from?"

"Does that really matter? Let's just grab 'em and run."

Adam's breaths started coming raggedly from behind me. Quentin looked like he was about to hyperventilate, and I myself was almost frozen with terror. Jason and Seto looked uneasy, but nowhere near as scared as us.

"So we're taking them?" A squid said.

"Yep," another replied. They charged us.

Jason shot one immediately, causing its tank to spurt water everywhere. It let out a few meaningless screams and choking noises as he shot twice more, widening the hole, letting all the water drain out. He was just about to fire again when the second squid knocked the gun out of his hand, sending it flying into the woods. He started to scramble for it, Dillon, flying over as well, but the squid plucked the bat right out of the air and kept one of its metallic arms firm on his shoulder. He shot the squid a look of disgust. Quentin tried to punch it, but he didn't even crack the glass. The squid gave him an amused look.

The third squid charged straight at me. Almost without thinking, I raised my ax, inviting it forward. It swiped at me with one of its arms and I dodged, the ax feeling light as a feather in my hands. I rolled underneath it as it tried to punch me again, coming up to chop off one of its arms before getting the other as well. “Not so tough now, huh Biggums?” I taunted, feeling adrenaline course through my veins.

The squid made its robot stumble forward a few feet and I raised my ax, blocking the tank just as it was about to smash my face in. The blade was just wide enough to cover my snout. I held it back easily before shoving it forward and slashing the tank with my ax It scratched the glass almost all the way through, and before the squid could react I cut again this time in an opposite direction, making an X. It jumped backwards but I followed it, my ax held in my hand. I drove it into the tank, twisting it around as I did so, making a small leak appear in the tank. I hacked at the hole like a lumberjack gone mad until the water came rushing out in torrents. Without hesitating, I whirled around to face the squid holding Jason.

It had already ran away.

Barely feeling out of breath, I straightened my tie. I let the ax-the ax, not my ax-fall to my side. “You okay?” I asked Jason.

I could tell that his eyes were wide, even behind his helmet. “Yeah... you, you know that... uh...”

“What?” I asked. I looked over my shoulder to see if there was something behind me, but nothing was there.

“Jerome...” Quentin said slowly.

“You're friggen' amazing with an ax,” Adam said.

“Oh,” I said, feeling my face go hot. “Well, uh... thanks.” Honestly, I hadn't thought I was that great. I had never even gotten the chance to use an ax before.

“Guys, you know what this means, right?” Seto asked, looking at everybody in the group.

“What?” Quentin asked, his tail twitching ever so slightly. I don't even think he noticed.

“We have an ax murderer here,” Seto said.

“What?! How did squids find axes?!” Ty shouted, running up from the woods to join our little circle, his hair looking a little damp. Everybody took one look at him-more specifically, his face-and burst out laughing.

(Ty's POV)

I left the camp early that morning, telling Jason that I was just going for a walk. I grabbed an apple to take with me and told him that they wouldn't have to wait for me to pack up camp. He gave me a strange look but nodded anyways, stroking Dillon. The instant he was out of sight, I tossed the apple onto the ground. I wasn't all that hungry.

I moved through the trees, the wind cutting through my hair and on my neck, pulling back the collar of my shirt. I felt my gills scream for something to do to help my lungs, and I picked up speed. I swung my arms in sync with my legs, running through the woods and darting around the trees. My headphones slipped down the side of my head. I kept running until I found the place I had been heading for; a small pond I had seen while we were traveling yesterday.

I slowed to a stop and stood next to the water, watching my reflection. I remembered exactly what I had looked like before the squids dragged me under: terrified, yes, but with hair that hadn't grown long from time spent in a cell, a face that looked younger, more innocent, no headphones and a shirt that was a little too big, with bright green eyes. Now, my hair covered half my face, and my one visible eye was red. Green headphones that showed I had murdered somebody were placed around my ears. I looked older, not nearly as carefree, more responsible. My shirt fit perfectly. And, of course, little slits on each side of my neck that widened in sync with my breathing. That person, whoever it was, wasn't me.

I didn't stop to think about what I did next. In one smooth motion, I pulled my headphones off and laid them on the grass. I kicked off my shoes and left them there, too, and pulled my shirt over my head. I took a deep breath. Was I ready to do this? What if it didn't work? As much as I didn't want them too, my hands shook. I clenched them into fists and tossed my head, sending my hair back behind my ears. I took a deep breath and dived into the pond.

I swum deep, holding my breath. I got to the point that if I had decided to turn around and swim to the surface, I wouldn't have made it if I couldn't take a breath. I forced my eyes open; they kept closing on me. Then I settled to a standing position on the bottom of the pond. My lungs were screaming. I let the breath out.

Oxygen came rushing back in.

I felt the water being filtered through my gills, letting me breathe. My hair floated around my face. I stood there, half in amazement, half wanting to kick myself for my amazement. I had gills. I could breathe underwater. There was nothing amazing about that.

A small fish darted past me, its scales flickering a yellowish-green. I kicked and followed it, jerkily and slowly figuring out how to swim. I had never actually gone swimming before, apart from when I had escaped. This was different than running away from some sort of insane species. I managed to take control of my limbs and swam a few meters, twisting my body in a three-sixty for the fun of it. My gills automatically breathed for me, taking in just as much air as I needed. I flung my arms out to my sides and pushed myself off of a rock, spiraling through the water.

I felt a dizziness sweep over me, but a kind of eager, excited dizziness. I felt like a child, dancing underwater, but I pushed it out of my mind. I felt the water tickle my face, chest and feet when I kicked off again. I allowed myself a small smile.

After a long while, I forced myself up to the surface again. I let myself dry in the sun until only my hair was damp, and then I pulled on the rest of my clothes almost regretfully. Then I headed back to camp, promising myself that I would go swimming again soon.