Shark wars, p.3
Shark Wars, page 3
Thrash dismissed Barkley but swam around Gray, looking him over. “I thought you were a great white, but you’re not. You’re just a pup! Don’t think I’ve seen a shark like you before. What are you, anyway?”
“I’m a reef shark,” Gray answered proudly.
Thrash laughed. “Oh, that’s good! Yeah, right, reef shark! Goblin loves a sense of humor. Sometimes.” The tiger indicated the direction he wanted them to follow. “Come on, he’s going to want to look you over.”
Neither of them moved. “Look us over?” asked Barkley.
“To be a part of Goblin Shiver,” answered Thrash. “We’re at war with Razor Shiver and can always use another shark who knows how to fight. Whatever you are.”
Barkley swam between the large tiger and Gray. “Actually, we’re not real big joiners, Thrash. We’re more rogue fish.”
“Rogues swim alone,” said Thrash with a hint of malice. “That’s why they’re rogues.”
Barkley got flustered. “Sure, we know that, everyone knows that! We’re a rogue pair. It’s a new thing we invented. Again, nice meeting you. We’ll be going now.” The dogfish kept his voice low when he passed Gray. “Let’s get out of here while the getting’s good.”
Gray followed, unsure why Barkley was acting so strangely but knowing deep down he didn’t want to be involved with a maniac tiger shark that talked about wars and had almost eaten him a moment ago. “Yeah, rogue pair. That’s us.”
Thrash caught Gray’s eye before he swam away. “You’ll have to pick a side sooner or later, pup. Everyone will have to pick a side.” With a chuckle and a dismissive flick of his tail, the tiger shark left.
“Let’s go home,” Barkley told Gray, who quietly followed his friend.
Their first trip into the open water had been a real eye opener, but not in a good way.
CHAPTER 5
“NO, NO, NO!” YELLED GOBLIN LOUD ENOUGH to attract attention all around his homewaters. He gnashed his teeth so hard he felt one break and saw it drift to the sandy bottom. A crab scuttled over and began probing the tooth to see if there was anything to eat inside it. It almost made Goblin laugh, but the situation was too serious to allow that right now. “We need to keep up all our patrols! Razor Shiver isn’t going to rest and neither can we!”
“You’re telling me what you want, and I’m trying to tell you what’s possible,” Ripper replied evenly. The big, battle-scarred hammerhead was close to insubordination. But then he ducked his head and added, “I suppose we could promote a couple of the pups into full shiver sharks to make up for—you know—”
Goblin took time to appear thoughtful. His mother, the shiver leader before him, had always told him to do this. “Good idea. Let them flex their fins a little. When I was a pup, I couldn’t wait to get into the thick of things!”
It wasn’t as if he was much older than a pup now, being just fifteen. For great whites, fifteen was physically mature. But some of the sharkkind that Ripper was thinking of were a little too young and weren’t experienced enough to survive a real battle. They could be used for patrols and as an early warning system, though, which would free up his veterans for more important things. Not a perfect solution, but it would do for now.
Goblin stared imperiously at his Five in the Line. Ripper was his first, a giant hammerhead and the only shark who might be tougher than himself. Thrash, the tiger, was his second. Goblin’s third was Streak, a blue shark who was small for her kind but made up for it in sheer ferocity. Churn was an oceanic whitetip and his fourth. Goblin had known Churn since the whitetip was a pup. Then there was his fifth: Velenka, a sleek, black mako.
Velenka was undoubtedly the smartest and most beautiful shark he ever met. Such big eyes. She could have been his fourth, maybe even third. She was invaluable as an adviser. Why the mako didn’t make a move up the Line was puzzling to Goblin. Velenka hadn’t even won her rank by combat, as was custom when a position in the Line opened. It was done by vote after Goblin’s last fifth, Hawley, was found floating on the surface in the chop-chop three months ago. Hawley wasn’t attacked by sharkkind; there were no bite marks. His corpse was grotesquely swollen as if he had died a week earlier. But Goblin swam with the thresher the night before he was found, so he knew that wasn’t the case. He had trusted Hawley most of all, and the thresher worshipped Goblin like an older brother. It was a bitter loss, but that was life in the open waters of the Big Blue.
“What do you want to do, Goblin?” asked Velenka. The mako spoke more than any of the others even though she was only his fifth. It was a little odd, even presumptuous, but Velenka did keep things on point. The others waited for Goblin’s answer.
“Can’t you see I’m thinking?” He snapped at the mako, his bulk nudging hers out of hover. “Do you have a current you’re late for? Someplace more interesting to go?”
“I didn’t mean any disrespect,” she answered.
“And that’s why I’m not feeding on your carcass!” he yelled.
His shiver, now called Goblin Shiver instead of Riptide Shiver, had gotten their tails kicked by the bull sharks of Razor Shiver a day ago. They’d lost two soldiers and hadn’t sent any bulls to the Sparkle Blue. Razor and his shiver controlled the best hunting grounds in the entire North Atlantis and also owned a prized territory for the Tuna Run. This annoyed Goblin. It was because of Razor naming his shiver after himself that Goblin had done the same. He would never admit that, of course. Razor Shiver weren’t the only tough gang of sharkkind on the Western edge of the Atlantis, but they were the strongest today. Food was growing scarce, with fewer and fewer large groupings to feed on. Goblin and his shiver would stay near the muck-sucking bottom if he couldn’t figure out a way to recruit more warriors and conquer new territory!
And to top things off, Thrash now swam in as though he was being chased by a prehistore nightmare with a story about a pair of rogue sharks named Gray and Barkley. And this Gray was a mysterious giant type of Sharkkind Thrash had never seen before! His Five in the Line and the rest of the full members of the shiver were looking at Goblin now, waiting for answers. His shiver sharks hovered listlessly behind the Line, speaking and joking in low voices with each other. At one time there would have been order, every mariner hovering in its own row, waiting for the leader’s orders to be carried out by subcommanders. When Goblin was young, discipline and numbers were the mark of a true battle shiver. But now…
Everyone was always waiting for answers from him. It was what Goblin liked least about being leader. Sometimes he wished his mother were still around. She would know what to do, he thought to himself.
Goblin turned to Thrash. “You’re sure they weren’t just passing through? Maybe from the Sific Ocean?”
The tiger shook his head from side to side. “Nah, they mentioned a coral reef. I think they’re from somewhere near shore. They were soft.”
“Beat you, didn’t they?” noted Ripper. Goblin saw that the tiger took the insult personally, but if Thrash got mad the big hammerhead could take care of himself. That’s why he was Goblin’s first.
“Who cares about a couple of yokels from the boonie-greenie who don’t know anything about the Big Blue?” yelled Streak. The undersize blue was seething. “We lost Scrape and Jonquil to the bulls! Let’s attack and even the score!”
Streak would want to fight no matter what because Scrape was her brother. But Goblin was pretty sure the blue didn’t care one way or another that Jonquil was gone. He had just joined the shiver recently.
“Bad idea!” cried Churn. “We should take some time to regroup.” The whitetip had almost been eaten by Razor himself in the battle and sported a ragged bite mark across the gills to show just how close he’d come to death. Churn was now one jumpy fin and would be for a while longer.
“Coward!” Streak yelled angrily. “Swim off the Line, useless! Go find a turtle shell to hide inside!”
Churn might be jumpy, but he was much bigger than Streak. Goblin was about to lose control as his third and fourth tried to eat each other! But then, the smell of an enemy interrupted the budding fight. Everyone looked over as a solitary bull swam close enough to be seen, but far enough away to retreat. Goblin’s spine tingled with the sense of impending battle. He was about to charge the bull when Velenka spoke.
“I don’t think he’s here for trouble,” she said.
“How would you know?” snarled Streak.
Velenka took no notice of the blue’s tone but answered the question instead. “You know what an attack looks like better than anyone, Streak. What do you think?”
Streak calmed herself and watched the lone bull for a moment. “Okay, he’s not on offense. But who is he and why’s he here?”
“That’s exactly what we should ask him.” Velenka swam forward, drawing Goblin with her. “Maybe this has something to do with the two sharks Thrash saw?” The mako seemed happiest when she was puzzling something out. Or scheming. She once told Goblin that her hero was the legendary Machiakelpi, the mako who swam in the First Shiver and supposedly ruled the entire Sific after Tyro left for the Sparkle Blue. Goblin had to admit Velenka was a schemer worthy of Machiakelpi’s reputation.
“Keep your place behind me, Fifth!” He took the lead. Maybe this shark was an opportunity. If it was, Goblin wanted the credit for leading. And it wasn’t as though he would let Velenka meet the bull without him.
Velenka tried to keep her excitement in check but felt her spine tingling as they swam to meet Kilo. She knew that the bull would play his part and pretend they’d never met before. But could he play it well enough so that Goblin wouldn’t sense something out of the ordinary? That was the question. That was why she needed to carefully control the conversation. Goblin might be dim, but he wasn’t without instinct. You didn’t stay shiver leader for long without good instincts.
And who was the mysterious giant Thrash had tussled with? No one else had noticed the large tooth lodged underneath the tiger’s fin. Was it important? Its shape looked so familiar for some reason. Velenka had knocked the tooth free before anyone could see, and it floated into the darkness below. She didn’t need Goblin distracted just now, not when she was setting her plan into action.
Velenka would send Thrash back in the direction the mysterious sharks came from to find their home. Perhaps Kilo and his bulls could be useful in this also. Always bend circumstance to your advantage. Machiakelpi taught that eons ago. Good advice, then and now.
“Maybe I should find out why this bull is here?” Velenka asked Goblin. “That way you can watch for lies when he speaks. Besides, why should this puny flipper talk to you, our shiver leader, as if he’s your equal?”
Goblin nodded as they stopped a few body lengths from Kilo. “Good,” he said quietly. “Do it.”
Velenka smiled as she swam forward. There was destiny in the current! She could feel it!
CHAPTER 6
AFTER SWIMMING FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT— the sun was rising by the time Gray and Barkley got back—they reached the reef. How had they gotten so far away?
The worst part was the place was in an uproar. Gray hoped in vain it wasn’t because of them.
Of course he was very, very wrong.
Atlas led the Line, along with many other shiver sharks, in a ragged, three-level triangle formation. That was weird. Gray had never seen them do that. What did it mean? They certainly didn’t look happy, though.
“Gray!” cried his mom. “Are you all right?” She tried to swim ahead of Atlas but was slowed by Quickeyes and Onyx.
Atlas gave her a hard look. “Sandy, please.” Gray’s mom nodded, and the Coral Shiver leader spoke again, “Gray, Barkley—are you okay?” Quickeyes and Onyx swam overhead, watching the distant waters. Why were they doing that?
“We are,” answered Barkley. Gray quickly agreed with his friend.
“Now tell me exactly where you were, and anything that happened,” Atlas ordered. Gray had never seen the old bull shark so…commanding before. Barkley told the story with Gray adding bits and pieces. Oddly, the more the story went on, the angrier Atlas and the others became. Except Gray’s mom. She got scared.
A full council of all the reef dwellers was called. The sharks of Coral Shiver wanted to make the decision by themselves but were overruled by Prime Minister Shocks. Shocks would have probably let Atlas, Sandy, and the others in Line hand out Gray’s punishment, but the other reef dwellers demanded their say.
Gray wasn’t sure what was happening, exactly, but his mom was even more upset than yesterday. Quickeyes and Onyx took turns staring at Gray as if they wanted to eat him. Overbiter was busy gnawing on his own tail fin. He used to be second in the Line years ago and sometimes didn’t remember he wasn’t a member of the council anymore. Atlas and the rest never said anything and let him stay. Supposedly he had been a great warrior long ago. Yeah, right.
Shocks sent a weak bolt of electricity arcing into the water, calling everyone in the area to attention. Gray had never seen so many dweller leaders gathered at one time! There were all kinds of fish; tangs, grouper, lantern fish, angelfish, hatchet fish, clown fish, puffers, wrasse, frog fish, sunfish, doctor, and surgeonfish. Every other non-fish dweller seemed to be here too: big and small rays, eels of all sizes and colors, anemones, urchins, shellheads, turtles, and many, many others.
This would be really neat if I wasn’t the reason they were here, Gray thought as he floated above the flat stone that was traditionally known as Speakers Rock. It didn’t seem like he would get to speak, but there was no good area for everyone to see him otherwise, so Atlas allowed it.
Barkley was asked questions by the manta rays, their pilot fish nearby. Some of these rays were wider than Gray, and their larger cousins, the giants, were bigger in all ways. Supposedly rays were distant cousins of sharkkind from prehistore times. He didn’t really believe it as they weren’t very good hunters, living mostly on floating greenie, krill, and shellheads. They did have really cool stingers, but didn’t use them for hunting. What a waste!
Gray watched his mother become more and more agitated as Prime Minister Shocks spoke with her. Gray wished he could hear, but they were in a place where the currents masked their conversation. The other dwellers who could listen in seemed satisfied, though. Suddenly the current shifted, and Gray could hear parts of what his mom and Shocks were talking about.
“You know what’s out there!” his mother said. “Battle shivers are on the move! The Indi King’s armada—”
The tide shifted, and Gray could only hear Shock’s reply in bits, “…are only rumors!”
Battle shivers? That was the kind of intensely interesting stuff Gray always wanted to hear about—the stuff adults whispered and then stopped discussing whenever he or Barkley got close. For a moment Gray thought his mother was going to bite the distinguished eel. Shocks spoke to the next group of dwellers, and pretty soon everyone except Gray knew what was happening.
Come on!
Atlas and the other sharkkind in the Line tried to calm his mom, but it wasn’t working. Gray felt awful. Why do I keep disappointing her? She broke free and swam toward him. Prime Minster Shocks tried to get ahead of her, but she left the eel tumbling in her wake with a furious tail stroke. “That’s totally out of order, Sandy!” he harrumphed.
“I want a minute with my son!” she yelled, close to tears, her barbels quivering. After a stare down, Shocks gave her a curt nod. She approached Gray and said, “Just tell the truth, okay? We’ll get through this.”
Get through what? he wondered. Gray was becoming irritated. A growing shark has to eat! They couldn’t punish him for that. But a creeping feeling in his belly told him that they could.
Prime Minister Shocks let off another low-voltage attention grabber that quieted everyone. “Gray, please swim over here so everyone can listen to you answer my questions.”
“Umm, sure.” Gray moved to the area where the current would catch his words and broadcast them.
“Why did you leave the reef homewaters last night?” Shocks asked.
Everyone was listening and watching intently and Gray became nervous. “I, umm, I mean, we—” He looked over at Barkley. “We saw some fish and got hungry. They were mixed with shrimp, very delicious, by the way, and also—”
The gathered dwellers’ whispering rose in volume as Shocks cut him off. “But wasn’t it you who convinced your friend to go? In fact, didn’t he say that you shouldn’t leave the reef?”
“Well, yeah. But he’s always trying to keep me from doing fun stuff—” Gray stopped in confusion as the murmurs from the dwellers got louder, in some cases surging to outright yelling. Except for his mother. She was crying now. Atlas glared again. Gray continued with his point, speaking over the crowd so he would be heard. “Hey, I was hungry!” For some reason this made things much worse.
Shocks zapped the water with a heavy charge to quiet the crowd enough so he could speak. “ORDER!” he yelled. “I will have order!” The eel turned to Gray. “Is that why you left the reef and drew the attention of a tiger shark, who was himself a member of a shiver? Because you were hungry?”
“Umm, well, I didn’t go out there with the intention of meeting anyone, but, yes, I was hungry.”
“So you put your hunger ahead of the safety of everyone on the reef. Is that right? I hope you’re at least full!”
It took a moment for Gray to realize what he was being asked. Unfortunately, his mouth was already speaking. “I’m still a little hungry but—wait-—what?”
The gathered dwellers exploded, everyone shouting, clacking their claws, basically making any loud noise they could as a sign of their anger. Prime Minster Shocks futilely shot electrical charges into the water. He needed to call the rest of his eel friends to raise the voltage before he got everyone’s attention and order was restored.
“Mom!” said Gray as she swam close to him. “I’m really sorry! I’m—”
