By the time everyone finally went to sleep, it had to be quite past midnight.
    The next morning, they continued their walk through the woods. At around noon they found themselves at the shore of a river, which was littered with dozens of boats and canoes, some busted beyond repair.
    "What is this?" Seto asked.
    Sky hesitated, looking down at their map. "...A shortcut." He said, looking up. "We could get within a couple miles of the base tonight."
    "Does this shortcut have a name?" Mitch asked.
    "The Skeleton River." Jerome said. "Used to be tons of mermaids or sirens or whatever in there that would drag down a bunch of guys by luring them with their looks."
    "Screw that. Nope." Seto put his hands up.
    "Amanda and CV could be killed because of a second we waisted." Sky said firmly. "We're taking whatever shortcuts we can get."
    Seto stared. "... Fine."
    "At least we can refill our canteens." Ty pointed out.
    "Nah, I wouldn't do that." Husky said.
    "Salt water?" Sky asked.
    Husky nodded.
    The Commander's apprentice sighed. "Great."
    Sky took a deep breath. "C'mon." He flipped over one of the boats and yelped as a black snake slithered out of it.
    "OH GODS!" Ian screamed as he darted behind Husky.
    Seto cried out and held out his hand and a spark of purple shot out, freezing the snake stiff.
    Everyone stared at the snake, then at Seto.
    He shrugged. "That was lucky." He climbed into the boat.
    Everyone stared after him.
    "I wasn't the only one who..." Husky pointed at him in astonishment.
    Seto blinked. "Huh?"
    "Nothing." Husky said quickly.
    "Alright, we'll double up in the boats." Sky said, getting in with Seto.
    Ty dragged Jason to a boat. "Boat buddies."
    "sOMEONE TRADE ME."
    Predictably, Mitch and Jerome went together, and Husky went with Ian.
    Then the group set off down the river.
    Husky's eyes kept dilating and contracting as he looked around nervously. "I don't like it... This river is wrong..."
    "What do you mean?" Ian asked nervously.
    "Well for one... The water is over a thousand feet deep where we are..." Husky said quietly.
    Ian's eyes widened and the others exchanged nervous glances.
    "I can feel the dead in the water..." Husky stared straight ahead. "I can feel the bones, crushed under the weight of the water, hundreds of meters below..." He moved a hand over the edge of the boat, and touched the water. "I can... See them..." Suddenly, a hand reached out of the water; reaching to Husky. He didn't appear to notice.
    Ian screamed. "HUSKY!" He grabbed his friend's hand and yanked it back from the hand.
    Husky gasped and fell back, tumbling backwards out of the boat.
    "Husky!" Sky dropped his paddle.
    "Oh shit!" Ty gasped.
    "H-He'll be fine right?!" Ian cried, looking over the edge. "He c-can breathe underwater, right?!"
    Sky didn't answer as he quickly paddled over, cursing underneath his breath.
    Ian screamed as a hand grabbed the side of his boat and he turned on his shield. "Get away! G-Get away!"
    Sky paddled harder. "IAN!"
    Ian kicked the hand hard and it let go quickly. There was a silent, scary moment when nobody said anything, waiting for something to happen. Then, suddenly, Mitch and Jerome's boat flipped over.
    "Mitch! Jerome! Shit!" Jason screamed.
    Ian's breathing quickened, eyes wide with panic as a creature suddenly poked its her up above Jason and Ty's boat, staring at them with big, innocent eyes.
   Jason and Ty were frozen, staring at her with wide eyes. Sky was also wide eyed. "Guys..." He said softly as he put down his paddle. "No one. move."
    Jason's face crossed with curiosity.
    "Oh no." Sky groaned.
    Jason reached out a hand.
    "Jason no don't!" Ty hissed.
    "Don't worry, I'm a scientist, I know what I'm doi-" He yelped as the mermaid suddenly hissed and grabbed his wrist, dragging him over the edge.
    "JASON!" Ty stood.
    "Ty don't fucking do it!" Sky screamed.
    Ty looked at him in a panic, standing still. But before he could jump in or sit down, the boat shook heavily and he fell over the side.
    "TY, NO!"
    Then another mermaid poked her head over the side of Seto and Sky's boat.
    Ian stared with wide eyes, close to hyperventilating. "D-Don't do it...!"
    Sky and Seto were frozen, syating at her.
    She stared back with milky white pupil-less eyes.
    Sky glanced back at Seto with wide eyes. Ian was frozen, helpless.
    Seto moved to the other side of the boat slowly, and suddenly, a different mermaid leapt up from that side and dragged him over the edge as well.
    Ian covered his mouth, Sky frozen.
    "Okay... Don't move..." Sky said. "Just. Stay. Still."
    Ian blinked shakily in acknowledgment.
    The two hesitated for a moment before another mermaid came staring at Sky from the water.
    "Who are you." He said lowly. "What do you want."
    She stared at him for a moment longer before she raised her head and sneered at him with sharp teeth. "BLOOD." She screeched.
    Ian held back a sob as he heard that, Sky's eyes widening with horror.
   Then Sky's boat was hit by something and he cried out as the mermaid shot up and grabbed his neck, dragging him under the surface.
    He kicked her away as he felt the cold water surround him and he looked around. His friends were being surrounded by the mermaids, some trying to fight back; Husky was nowhere to be seen. He saw a mermaid head to Ian's boat, when suddenly, the water all around started to tremble.
    He looked around wildly, his eyes wide as his heart pounded in his chest.
    He saw the water above, reflecting sun, start to move. The shore got bigger and Sky didn't understand how but suddenly, it all rose and he felt himself lying on solid ground.
    He looked around, breathing heavily. "Guys?!"
    Then he froze. All the water in the river had been parted to the sides and every mermaid was trapped on the ground, hissing and screaming angrily as they tried to breathe in vain. The others were all standing up; Husky had already been standing. His hands were raised, his eyes shut tight. "Better start running!"
Sky looked up at the walls of the now ravine; the river was only twenty feet deep.
    "I thought you said this was thousands of feet deep!" Ty said.
    "The mermaids messed with my perception!" Husky said. "Now run, I don't know how long I can hold this!"
    Sky stared at him before he started running downstream, and the others soon followed.
    They ran faster than half knew they could, soon out of the danger zone.
    They made it to shallower waters and they climbed out. No sooner had they done so than the water collapsed down and the river was filled again.
    Ian looked at them with wide eyes from the boat he was still inside. "Where's H-Husky?!"
    "He's still under..." Sky said with wide eyes.
    "The mermaids suffocated, we can get him!" Jason said.
    Ian stared down at the water, before he stood up slowly, shaking slightly.
    Seto's eyes widened. "Ian don't be an idiot, you can't swim! Sky, go get Husky!"
    Sky nodded and dove into the water, Ian biting his lip anxiously as his boat drifted downstream.
    Husky was alive as Sky dragged him onto the shore, but hardly conscious. All six on shore stared down at him. "Husky?! Can you hear me?!" Seto asked, kneeling beside him.
    Husky groaned weakly.
    "Is that a yes?!"
    "Y-Yes, Har-Harry Potter..."
    "Oh thank god, he's fine." Seto sighed in relief. "Well... That could've gone worse..."
    Sky looked up. "...Where's Ian?"
    As the others looked up, they saw his boat docked on the other side of the river; but he wasn't inside.
    Sky groaned. "Oh no..."

Ian walked through the forest, his head down.
    "Don't be a wimp..."A voice is his head said, sounding very much like his own. "C'mon, man up..."
    "I'm barely even a man..." Ian muttered to himself.
    "Oh come on, you're gonna feel sorry for yourself? You're better than that."
    "Give me proof, then..."
    "You have all the proof you need."
    "Well I don't see it..."
    Suddenly, he stepped into a clearing and blinked. There was a single stone in the center.
    He tilted his head and walked toward it slowly. It was a gravestone.
    His eyes widened.

Felicia Imel
1951-2013
A Great Mentor, Friend, and Mother.

    Resting in front of the stone was a necklace.
    It had a silver chain that glittered in the sunshine, and a thin metal circle attached to it, the symbol of a hood with curved sides carved in the middle of it. Something the color of gold gleamed on the sides.
    Ian stared at it in wonder, his eyes wide as he picked it up.
    He stared at its side, squinting his eyes.
    "Stay your blade... From the flesh of an innocent?" He read aloud.
    He flipped it to the other side curiously.
    "A gift."
    Ian jumped and looked around. "Wh-Who's there?!"
   "I'm behind you, idiot."
    Ian spun around and his eyes widened.
    A woman with dark raven hair with pink streaks in it stood right behind him, her bright amber eyes pericing into his.
    Ian looked at her in confusion. "Uh...?"
    "Hm. You're not him. But you are at the same time. You must be this dimension's vision..."
    "...Huh?"
    "Don't mind an old lady's rambling, young one." She smiled slightly. "Its nice that someone visited my grave."
    Ian's eyes widened and he looked at the stone. "You're...?"
    "Dead? Yep."
    "Oh..."
    She glanced at the necklace. "... Try it on."
    Ian looked down at it before he put it around his neck carefully.
    The ghost smiled. "It looks good on you."
     Ian smiled back. "Thanks!"
    "... Keep it."
    Ian's eyes widened. "O-Oh, no, I couldn't...!"
    "I insist. I have no need for it."
    Ian opened his mouth to protest again, but stopped. He smiled again and nodded, gripping the charm on the necklace tightly. "Thank you..."
    She smiled. "Just remember; that stands for strength and loyalty. Something that you have a lot of."
    Ian sighed. "If you say so ma'am..."
    She chuckled. "I know a lot of things Ian, I'm very certain of what I say." She winked, and before Ian could ask how she knew his name, she disappeared.
    He looked at the grave again and smiled before he tucked the necklace under his collar.
    "Ian? You there? Ian!"
    He looked up. "O-Over here!"
    There was a sigh of relief. "There you are!" Sky came tumbling through the bushes. "Why'd you run off?!"
    "S-Sorry..."
    Sky sighed. "C'mon, the others set up camp already. Husky's fine, by the way."
    Ian nodded, and as they walked away he looked back at the grave.
    The woman was sitting on it, waving to him. He smiled and waved back before he turned away again.
    Ian went to sleep early. Husky passed out early as well.
    Sky looked at his map and sighed. "Still got another day's travel..." He murmured.
    Ty sighed beside him.
    Sky buried his face in his hands. "What are we gonna do..."
    "Keep traveling."
    "What if we don't get there in time, Ty...?"
    "We will. Have faith!"
    "They could be dead already..."
    "Then we get their bodies, bury them, and avenge them."
    "No, Ty, don't... Don't say it like that..."
    "How do you want me to say it?"
    "Say... Say we're gonna make it..."
    "...We're gonna make it."
    Sky nodded, lowering his head.
    Ty hugged him gently.
    Sky just stared at the ground silently.
    "Trust me Sky."
    "I know... I trust you..." Sky sighed and stood up. "Get some rest... We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow..."
    "You sleep too..."
    Sky shook his head. "I'm not tired..." Then he disappeared inside his tent.
    Ty sighed and went into his own tent.