(Hey, Tobias, do you see anywhere we- oh, yeah,) Jake started to say, before remembering that Tobias was too far away to hear us. (So... anybody else see a good spot to demorph?)

I stuck my head above the water, searching for somewhere secluded. But there wasn't much shelter - just sheer cliffs and rock spires as far as I could see.

(I don't think there's anywhere we can hide,) I replied, (If we demorph here, we will have to hope there is nobody around.)

(This place is pretty remote,) Marco said, (I haven't seen any boats for a while. Could be we're really unlucky and there's people up on the cliffs, but... well, look at them. Would you want to be climbing around up there? Rachel, please don't answer that, we all know you'd say "yes".)

(We'll have to risk it, then,) Jake decided, (If nothing else, I want to reset the morphing clock before we head home. We'll demorph two at a time - if something goes wrong, those of us in morph can help the others stay afloat. Rachel, Toby, you're up first.)

Jake was probably doing me a favor by letting me go first - they knew I was not looking forward to demorphing at sea, but at least this way I could get it over with sooner. I moved up as close to the rocks as I could get, and, hoping the water was shallow enough, began to demorph. And as my body rapidly became more Hork-Bajir than dolphin, I began having trouble keeping my head above water. Even when I was able to stand on two legs again, I couldn't get a firm grip on the rocks beneath my feet. Then a large wave knocked me off-balance, and carried both Rachel and I into the cliffside.

"Aah!"

Bracing myself against the cliff, I managed to stand up in the waist-deep water. But it was painful - the blade on my left knee had snapped off, and that leg felt as if it was on fire. And without the benefit of a dolphin's brain, my fears had returned, as strong as they'd ever been. I was standing in a place where nobody of my species had ever stood, and had no right to be - a hostile ocean on a distant planet, at risk of being knocked into the water and never coming up against. I began to scream.

A friendly voice brought me back from the edge of panic.

"Toby? Just stay calm."

Rachel was standing next to me. I could barely see through the sting of saltwater in my eyes, but I caught a glimpse of yellow hair and pale skin, and felt her hand on my shoulder.

"Take a deep breath, and hold it for ten seconds... Good. Do it again... and again..."

I followed Rachel's instruction. My leg hurt even more, but I was able to maintain some degree of mental clarity.

"Are you ready to morph again?"

"Yes," I choked out through a mouthful of salt.

Morphing takes energy, and it is draining enough to shift rapidly between morphs on dry land. Doing it at sea, precariously balanced on an unsteady rock surface, with the waves constantly trying to bowl you over, is almost exhausting. Right now, morphing was the only safe option. Besides, it was a relief to retreat back into a mind

(All right, Cassie and Lee, your turn.)

(Wait up,) Rachel said, (Toby and I had some trouble the rest of you guys don't need to repeat.)

(What kind of trouble?) Marco nervously asked.

(Nothing we can't fix - we just need those of us who aren't demorphing to hold the others in place so nobody gets knocked against that cliff.)

Four of us swam in a circle while Lee and Cassie demorphed, drawing in closer as they became smaller. One of them stumbled, and grabbed hold of my dorsal fin to stay afloat. Then they remorphed, and joined the circle while Jake and Marco swam into the middle. And once again, one of them used me to stay afloat while demorphed.

(So that took about, what, fifteen minutes?) Jake said as he finished morphing again, (That gives us about two and a half hours to explore AND get back to this rock. Unless you guys want to try demorphing on the high seas.)

(Hard pass,) Rachel said, (Even I'm not that big of a risk-taker.)

(And I couldn't even keep my head above water when I had something to stand on,) Cassie agreed, (No way can we try that so far out.)

(Right. So, where do we go?) Lee said, (We've got a lot of territory to explore, and a hard time limit.)

(Cassie, Toby, you guys are the ones who were getting those psychic messages,) Marco said, (You guys feel like there's a particular direction we should go from here?)

(We need to go northwest,) I said, with supreme confidence.

Why did I say that? I shouldn't have had any reason to. I hadn't even intended to answer Marco. But the idea of going northwest just came to me, almost as if I hadn't actually thought it - I was just the conduit the idea had passed through.

(Northwest?) Jake asked, skeptically, (You sure?)

(Yes,) Cassie said, (The Andalite ship is in that direction.)

She couldn't have possibly known that. And I couldn't have possibly known that she was right. Not by any rational metric. But what did we have to lose? We needed to start somewhere. Besides, as Marco pointed out, we were the two who'd heard the Andalite's message first - in our sleep. Maybe their location was embedded in our subconscious minds.

(Okay... I guess we're going northwest,) Jake said. (Toby? Lead the way.)