Shark wars, p.9
Shark Wars, page 9
A thrill ran down Velenka’s spine at the thought of the thin current she was swimming. Everything was in her reach. Everything! “Your mother was a great shark,” she began. “She led us well for years. And Hawley was a great friend.”
“You got that right,” Goblin replied.
Velenka stroked his back with her tail. “But times are different. You know that.”
“Stupid landsharks and their giant nets,” Goblin grumbled. “They sweep the Big Blue clear, and we’re left to fight for scraps.”
“And that’s why what you’re doing is right. You’re leading us to victory.” Velenka scraped against his flank the way he liked. “When the bulls are under your control, think how many more territories you can conquer!” Velenka saw that the thought appealed to him, but then his mood darkened once more.
“I’d rather it be a stand-up fight,” Goblin told her.
Not this again! “We don’t have the strength.”
The big white whirled. “Then Razor and I, one-on-one, like the old days! There’s honor in that!” Velenka was silent for a fin flick too long.
“You don’t think I can beat him? Is that it?”
“Of course I do,” she soothed. “But what if you were injured during your noble fight? What if he gets lucky and takes a piece of your tail?”
“I wouldn’t be able to lead. Ripper or someone else would come at me for being weak,” he agreed grudgingly.
“And your plans—who would see them through?” Velenka asked with all the sincerity she could muster. Pfah! She hated playing fawning fish to his “great leader.” But for now, it had to be done.
“Many of them were your ideas, Velenka,” he growled.
Did he suspect? No, this was a lucky strike. “I only agreed with what was on your mind, Goblin,” she told him with a smile. “Can anyone really make you do something you don’t want to?”
Now the great white laughed. “Not likely!”
The tension in her spine released with an almost audible whoosh in her ears. She could always count on Goblin’s opinion of himself being very high. They swam onward, and she was forced to listen to him prattle on. For now.
CHAPTER 17
GRAY HEADED TOWARD THE AREA INSIDE THE homewaters where many of the shiver sharks slept. It had a nice current that allowed you to easily hover and doze. He felt guilty about having such a good time at Slaggernacks. He hadn’t even seen Mari and the others leave. “What’s so bad about the place, anyway?” he muttered.
Just then, Barkley streamed into view. Gray was glad for a chance to talk with him alone. It might get awkward after the dogfish rightly apologized for being such a little puffer. Barkley could be such an emotional shark.
“Gray! Gray!” he panted. “I’m so glad I found you.”
“It’s okay, Barkley,” Gray told him. “I forgive you.”
“What? You forgive me?” The dogfish slowed sharply. “You forgive me for being such a total flipper?”
“You weren’t a total flipper.”
“I’m not talking about me, jelly-brain!” the dogfish shouted.
Gray didn’t say anything. He wasn’t going to get into another fight with his friend tonight. Instead, he swam by without saying a word.
Barkley caught up with him. “Okay, we can figure out who was the bigger flipper later. I have something very important to tell you!”
Gray stopped. He was still miffed but would hear the dogfish out. “Go on.”
The tone Gray used irritated Barkley for some reason, but he shook it off. “You’re in danger! Goblin and Velenka are planning something.”
“Planning what?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t come out and say it, but they want to use you somehow.”
“She and Goblin?” Gray asked.
“No, she was talking to Thrash.”
Gray looked at Barkley incredulously. “So now Goblin, Velenka, and Thrash are plotting against me? What about Ripper, Streak, and Churn? Won’t they feel left out?”
“Please take this seriously, Gray! They’re planning something that involves you, and it didn’t sound good!” The dogfish hovered, gills pumping furiously, waiting for his reply. “Well?”
Gray shook his head. “Barkley, you sound like Yappy with his crazy stories.”
The dogfish bumped him hard. “I’m trying to save your life!”
“It was only a game,” Gray told him. “I can teach you.”
Barkley swam in a furious circle, talking to himself. “Tyro’s tail! He thinks this is about Tuna Roll! What am I going to do?”
“Calm down.”
Barkley yelled toward the surface, “ARRGH!”
“What are you two doing?” asked Mari. “Half the homewaters can hear you.” The rest of Rogue Shiver came through a nearby curtain of kelp, watching curiously.
Barkley told everyone, “While I was out hunting, I overheard Velenka and Thrash talking about some plan of Goblin’s. It doesn’t sound good.”
Mari, Shell, and Striiker looked to Gray for an explanation. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
Snork finally said, “We’re going to need more information, Barkley.” The group gathered by a coral tower, instinctively moving behind it so they couldn’t be seen from the homewaters.
“I know it’s not much to go on,” the dogfish began, lowering his voice for some reason. “But Velenka was talking about an alliance with the bulls. And Thrash didn’t like that.”
Shell looked dubious. “Goblin and the bulls? Unlikely.”
“Could you have misunderstood?” Mari asked uncertainly.
Barkley shook his head. “No. And also, Gray’s part of their plan. Somehow.”
“Of course he is,” Striiker said sarcastically. “He’s the center of attention in every ocean.”
“I am not!” Gray exclaimed. “This is all in Barkley’s jelly head. If anything’s in there at all! He’s mad that Goblin and Thrash gave him a hard time. And what’s so wrong with that, Barkley? I’m saying this as your friend, but you need a little toughening up.”
For a moment it was so quiet that Gray could easily hear a single sardine swimming in the distance, its tiny flippers making a switswitswit sound as it passed.
Then the dogfish exploded, slapping his tail against the coral spire with a CRACK! “It’s not about being tough!” he yelled. “It’s about looking out for your friends!”
Striiker swam over to Barkley, getting his attention. “I’m sorry I have to ask this just to be sure—this has nothing to do with your really bad day at Tuna Roll?”
The dogfish gave Striiker a death stare and said nothing, though his gills pumped furiously. Barkley swam in front of Gray. “One more time—please believe me when I say that I’m trying to help you! Goblin has a plan and it involves you!”
“Of course I do!” Everyone spun around to see Goblin grinning, accompanied by Velenka. “I have a plan for all of you, and it involves being good members of this shiver.”
“There, see?” Gray said to Barkley.
“What about the bulls? What about Gray?” the dogfish accused.
Velenka swam very close to Goblin, rubbing his flank. She spoke so low only he could hear. Though Goblin was perfectly motionless, it seemed as if he wanted to rush forward and swallow Barkley whole. “My plan with the bulls is to rip them to shreds,” Goblin spit. “My plan for Gray is to let him help. Something wrong with that?”
“Unless you don’t think you’re up to it,” Velenka remarked to Gray.
“I’m more than up to it!” Gray countered.
Goblin sighed. “If the rest of you want to leave, then go. I’ve got bigger fish to hunt.” As if to prove his point, the great white snapped up an unlucky sea trout that swam a hair too close to his massive jaws.
Mari swam over to Velenka, eye to eye. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Velenka told her. “You don’t deserve to be a part of this shiver, you ungrateful turtle!” Mari rushed the mako, but Velenka did a nifty turn and slammed her in the side. “Like you could ever be my match!”
Striiker and Shell blocked Mari from making another sprint at Velenka.
“Go!” said Goblin in a commanding voice. “All of you leave this place. You can stay until we go to Tuna Run. If you’re hunting in my territory after that, you’ll swim the Sparkle Blue.” Barkley stared at the great white, probably a little longer than he should have. “What, doggie? What now?”
“And Gray?” asked Barkley. “Can he leave with us, too?”
“Sure,” Goblin told them. “None of you are worth the distractions you’re causing.”
Striiker looked very unsure of himself as he said, “Then, we’ll do that.” He, Snork, Mari, and Shell withdrew, swimming away from the Goblin Shiver homewaters, looking back from time to time. Almost automatically they headed in the direction of the landshark wreck.
Gray felt torn. He didn’t want to see his friends leave. “Mari, you really want to go?”
“I do.”
Barkley stared straight at him. “Are you coming?”
Gray looked first at Goblin and Velenka, then at Barkley and the rest of Rogue Shiver.
“No. I’m staying.”
CHAPTER 18
GOBLIN RIPPED AND TORE AT THE GREENIE, shredding the strands between his razor-sharp teeth and imagining the dogfish as his victim. But Barkley wouldn’t go straight to the Sparkle Blue. Oh, no. Goblin would make sure his last moments alive were painful. Then he would eat every last morsel of the ungrateful little flipper.
“I want to kill them all!” Goblin yelled loudly. Velenka’s eyes seemed to grow larger, if that were even possible. She had big eyes for a shark. It was part of her beauty, he supposed. They were well away from anyone who could hear, near a roaring volcanic vent, which added a constant hiss and rumble to the water. If you weren’t directly in front of the shark you were talking to, your words were lost in the noise.
“How would that look to Kilo?” she yelled back, although not with anger, but just to be heard over the noise. Velenka knew better. The fish he chewed and spit out did nothing to relieve his temper and neither did the greenie.
“I’ve wanted to deal with Mari and Striiker since they ran away! And the others were feeding in my territory! My territory!” Goblin began taking massive hunks out of a hard coral bed, destroying an entire section. He might lose a few teeth but it made him feel better. “They’ll swim free when we leave for Tuna Run! And they deserve to swim the Sparkle Blue!” he yelled.
“What if I could keep them from escaping?” Velenka mused. “Put them somewhere to wait for your justice?”
Goblin stopped. “‘To wait for my justice.’ I like the sound of that.” If anyone could, Velenka would find some underhanded way to stop them. This wasn’t how he’d normally deal with a problem; it wasn’t in his nature to slink around like a mako, the sneakiest of sharks. He confronted problems head-on, with a snap of his powerful jaws. But they couldn’t do that right now. Not in his shiver’s weakened state. Not with Razor waiting to attack.
“What about Gray?” he asked. “Why are you so interested in keeping him in the shiver? He’s just a pup.”
“Exactly,” she answered.
The vague response infuriated Goblin, but he wasn’t about to let on he was bothered. Velenka constantly spoke in riddles and double-talk, never getting directly to the point unless forced. “So?”
“Have you been to the prehistore vault lately?” she asked.
“Not since I was a pup myself. Get on with it.”
“You really should visit again,” Velenka continued. “There’s a legend among the mako about a shark who will unite the shivers of the Big Blue.”
“Yeah, every sharkkind has a legend where they’ll be the ones to end up on top,” Goblin said dismissively. “Bunch of wishy-washy mush.”
“That’s mostly true,” she agreed, “but in this case, you can be that shark.”
He laughed, his anger momentarily subsiding. “That’s crazy talk. After we get Razor’s territory, maybe we’ll conquer a few more. But the entire Big Blue? Impossible.”
“Not for a great leader such as yourself.” Velenka rubbed against him and whispered in his ear. “That is, a leader who has a megalodon in his Line and obeying his orders.”
He chuckled. “That would be nice, Velenka. Now find me one.”
“I already have,” she said smugly. “His name is Gray.”
Goblin was thinking of tail-slapping that smug smile off her face when he stopped cold. Velenka was right! The sameness of the teeth and the overall shape—how had he not noticed that? Goblin himself was huge for his kind, bigger than all but a few he’d ever met in the Big Blue. But the prehistore skeleton in the vault was gigantic! It could finish him in two bites, its mouth was that large. That’s what Gray, the big reef shark really was—a megalodon! And the pup didn’t even know it!
“With him in the Line, you’d be invincible,” the mako whispered in his ear.
With a megalodon in his shiver—maybe as his first—Goblin would be unbeatable.
Goblin saw Velenka smile and something struck him as little off. He would have to swim carefully into this particular greenie.
Very carefully.
CHAPTER 19
GRAY LEFT SLAGGERNACKS AS THE SUN ROSE and shined into the Big Blue. He hadn’t meant to be out so late, but patrol was boring with no sign of anything anywhere, and Thrash convinced him to stay. He and the tiger ended up having a great time, but now Gray was exhausted, having gotten no sleep. He and Thrash had spent countless hours flank to flank in the last few weeks. He could tell at first that the tiger wasn’t too fond of him, and the feeling was mutual. He had attacked Gray when they’d first met, after all. But keeping up a dislike for one another was a miserable way to spend time. So, grudgingly, they began to talk and Gray grew used to most of Thrash’s quirks and now thought the shark was all right. The tiger was kind of a braggart, and there was always some commotion when he was around, but Gray wasn’t perfect, either.
“Ocean Spray really brought it tonight, eh?” Thrash said as he nudged Gray. Ocean Spray was a musical group consisting of a baby whale singer, two bottlenose dolphins backing him up, and an entire dance troupe of singing sea horses. They were pretty impressive. “That whale pup would make good eating, huh?”
“Isn’t there a treaty with the whales to not do that?” Gray asked. The idea of feeding on the sweet-faced, adorable calf horrified Gray.
“Right, the treaty. How could I forget? I love the treaty!” Thrash said loudly as a group of dolphins passed. Then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “But if you’re on deep patrol and find a lost pup? Well, the Big Blue can be a dangerous place.”
Gray was okay with Thrash most of the time, but this was getting to be one of those times he wasn’t. He yawned exaggeratedly. “I’m beat. Heading home now.”
“Come on,” Thrash prodded, “we aren’t patrolling today. Let’s get a bite.”
Gray was hungry. And he didn’t like sleeping with an empty stomach, which rumbled just thinking about food, in fact. Since Barkley and the rest of Rogue left Goblin Shiver over a month ago, he had grown longer by another foot at least, as well as gained a good deal of weight. I’m going to be the fattest shark ever, Gray thought. As if on cue, his stomach grumbled so loud even Thrash could hear it.
They went to an area by the North edge of the homewaters. There was a carpet of high greenie nicknamed Hydenseek. You could always find a snack at Hydenseek if you nosed around a little. Today it didn’t take long at all, and soon they were both satisfied.
“That was another good idea,” Gray told the tiger as he playfully bumped flanks with him. “You’re just full of them today.”
Thrash swished a fin, signaling for quiet. “Look there,” he whispered. They watched as a turtle led her young toward the greenie field.
“Hey, turtles aren’t dumb fish. We can’t eat them!” Gray said.
Thrash stared at him and snorted. “Says who?”
“You know. Everyone,” Gray replied. “And we just ate, remember?”
“Things that talk get eaten all the time in the Big Blue, you know.” Thrash took a couple of lazy tail strokes in the reptiles’ direction. “Let’s scare them.”
Gray was uncomfortable. He liked turtles. The ones at the reef had always been polite and even nice to him. “I’m really tired, Thrash.”
“Do what you want,” said the tiger as he swam toward the turtles. “I’m going to have me some fun!”
Gray didn’t want to leave Thrash alone with the turtles, although he didn’t know what he’d do if the tiger wanted to do more than scare them. He reluctantly followed. The female turtle—the mother, as the hatchlings were undoubtedly hers—had no chance of escaping. She motioned for her young to head into the greenie. Gray could hear her voice pitch into a squeak, crying, “Swim and hide! Swim and hide, children!” But the hatchlings were so scared, they just crowded closer to their mother.
Thrash glided after her slowly, but still much faster than the turtle could manage, and said things like, “I’m in the mood for turtle pups!” and “Here comes a big, bad shaaark!” He lazily slid with the current so he was now facing the turtles and blocking them from the safety of the greenie. He gnashed his teeth together. “Just swim inside! You won’t feel a thing!” Thrash laughed; a deep, mocking rumble.
The mother turtle panicked and began screaming, “Heeeelllp! Someone help me!” She was surprisingly loud for such a small dweller. This scared the hatchlings so much that they froze and echoed the mother, screaming the same thing, “Heeeelllp! Someone help me!” in their own tiny voices.
The tiger laughed at the turtle family’s distress. He looked over at Gray. “You just going to hover there like a bump on a reef? Get in here and have some fun!”
