Into the Abyss (19 page)

Mari was a few tail strokes ahead as they drifted through the seaweed. The problem was that there wasn’t enough green-greenie to remain hidden and
keep
drifting. She stopped on the edge, swimming slowly against the current. While the ghostfin training was amazing, it wasn’t foolproof. And not every Indi patrol was inattentive.

“Down there!” shouted a hammerhead. An Indi patrol-in-force usually numbered from eight to twelve sharkkind. This one was right in the middle. Ten well-trained mariners against an old tiger and a young thresher? That would be no fight at all.

Whalem broke cover and zipped upward, shouting, “Go! That’s an order!” Technically he did still outrank the thresher. He didn’t wait to see if Mari would listen but
zoomed off, angling away from the patrol. The Indi mariners could still catch them both if they split themselves.

Unless they know exactly who they’re chasing, Whalem thought.

“Attention, Indi mariners!” he yelled. “This is a test! Can you catch your old mariner prime?”

“It’s him!” said a tiger shark in the patrol. “It’s really him!”

Whalem tried his best, but the ten Indi sharks quickly made up the distance and surrounded him. For a moment, no one did anything.

The lead mariner looked at Whalem. “The emperor says you’re a traitor. That you tried to kill him.”

Whalem recognized the shark, a tiger from the second battle fin, but didn’t remember his name. “The emperor says many things. What do you think?”

“Another of our patrols is coming,” said a sharp-eyed mako.

The second group of mariners was speeding its way over. The leader turned gruff. “I think we caught ourselves a traitor—that’s what I think!”

Then Whalem was rammed from behind and knocked out.

It was silent, and he saw sparkling lights everywhere. Dark blobs swam toward Whalem, but he wasn’t afraid. He was happy.

And I don’t ache at all! Whalem flexed his body. He felt stronger than he had in
decades
. It’s like I’m a youngling again!

The shapes got closer and focused themselves into sharks, swimming between the dancing lights. They waved in greeting with tails and fins. They called to him, though Whalem couldn’t quite hear what they were saying yet.

But he would soon! He just knew it!

And there was his best friend, the former king of Indi Shiver, Romulus Victor! Finnivus’s father, but more importantly Whalem’s best friend! Somehow whatever Whalem wanted to say to Romulus about his son wasn’t important anymore. He only wanted to go swimming and hunting with his friend. And there were other sharks he knew from times long ago! That certainly was odd. Why was he meeting these sharks today? It didn’t matter! They were his best friends and closest family. He would swim between the sparkles in the water and have the best of times!

It was beautiful.

But then the dancing lights dimmed.

His friends and family began to fade away.

“Romulus!” Whalem shouted. “I want to go with you!”

“Not yet, flipper,” his friend told him. “But soon!”

Whalem tried to swim after Romulus but found he could barely move. His tail hurt, and his spine ached like it usually did—worse, even. Then there were other
dark blobs in front of him but no dancing sparkles in the water. It didn’t feel the same.

This time, there was fear.

There was one shark in particular, getting closer and closer. He felt a dull tap across his snout. Then another. The third tap stung, and he became fully conscious. Everything came rushing back. Whalem’s heart sank when he saw the terrible smile of the shark in front of him.

“Are you alive?” asked Finnivus. “Please don’t die.”

The court joined with the emperor’s high-pitched laughing. It turned Whalem’s stomach.

The emperor looked over to another shark with Indi tattoos, now beaten to an inch of his life. “I will feast on your head if he dies, you fool!”

Whalem guessed Finnivus was speaking to the shark that had rammed him. Or at least the one blamed for it. “He was just doing his duty,” Whalem croaked.

Whalem was chained in a
squaline
harness, an invention of landsharks given to the first Indi king thousands of years ago. These chains were useful when questioning or holding a prisoner. They hadn’t put the bite blocker in his mouth, though. That usually went with the chains. Finnivus probably didn’t think they needed it for an old fin like Whalem.

He was probably right.

“You’re alive! I’m so happy!” cried Finnivus in mock joy. “Thank Tyro! Oh, this is going to be good.”
He giggled, that high-pitched titter of his. “I’ve waited—
we’ve
waited—for this day. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Whalem had no illusions of swimming anywhere but the Sparkle Blue. There was a rush of freedom, sharp and invigorating, that came with this knowledge. He shook off his aches and grinned.

“First off, when you constantly misuse the royal
we
,
you
sound like an idiot.”

The court gasped. Whalem thought he saw Tydal let out an involuntary snort, but he was dizzy from his beating and most likely seeing things.

“And your laugh!” he continued. “It’s the stupidest laugh in the seven seas. Sharkkind and dwellers can barely stop themselves from ramming their heads into the nearest coral reef just to avoid hearing it!”

Finnivus’s eyes blazed with the intensity of a thousand volcanoes. “You—you—I
hate
you!” he spit.

“That’s … good,” Whalem replied, then pitched his voice so everyone in the court would hear. “Because if I were a beloved member of this poisonous urchin’s nest, it would mean I’d have become evil, too!”

The court gasped even louder, then grumbled in anger. A few of the bolder sea toadies called for Whalem’s head.

“SILENCE!” shrieked the emperor. “I’m thinking!”

Whalem got a look at the mako Velenka. She seemed beaten down, less of a beauty than the day she had joined
Finnivus’s shiver. But that’s what happened when you swam in evil’s wake. It marked you.

Finnivus twitched like he was being eaten from the inside. Perhaps his own evil was bubbling through his stomach. Whalem wouldn’t be surprised. Nevertheless, he tired of this entire show.

“No, Finnivus,” Whalem began. “You only
think
you’re thinking. You see, to
think
, you’d have to possess a brain. And your head is filled with chowder. Now, I’m bored with you, so why don’t you get my head onto your feeding platter? I do hope it gives you gas, though!”

There was dead silence in the court. Whalem couldn’t hear anything, not even the tide. It seemed the entire ocean waited to see what Finnivus would do.

The emperor came closer and closer. Whalem prepared himself for a bite to the gills. But Finnivus didn’t attack. He smiled instead, a horrible grin that showed off his brilliant, white teeth.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Finnivus hissed. “It was clever, that, and almost worked. I nearly sent you to the Sparkle Blue.” Finnivus looked at Tydal. “First Court Shark, bring
our
royal urchins to the court.” He swung his head back to Whalem. “After all, in a nest of poisonous urchins, what’s a few more?”

Whalem shot forward, trying to get at Finnivus. But the
squaline
were much stronger and didn’t even need to move out of hover to hold him in place.

“Ah, here they are! Excellent!” said Finnivus. He
preened for the royal court. “I am ready to pronounce my sentence. It is …
mercy
.”

There were shocked exclamations from everyone present. A few of the bolder ones cried out, “No!” Whalem didn’t for one second believe that mercy would make an appearance today, though.

The mad emperor continued, “For all his years of service to myself and my father before me, I cannot take his life.” Finnivus smiled directly at him, and Whalem felt a stab of fear. “But there must be
some
punishment.” Finnivus considered, then gestured. “I will need a fin. Your left one.”

“Take it,” Whalem said, relieved. “Seems like an even trade to be done with you!”

Finnivus laughed. “Oh, no, Whalem. You won’t be leaving just yet. The royal urchins, in addition to secreting the acid that creates our tattoos, can also give forth a liquid that will cut right though a shark’s body, or in your case, a fin. But, you see, this acid from
our
royal urchins is so strong, it immediately
shuts
the wound, so you won’t bleed to death. After a day, you’ll be fine.”

Finnivus got very close, and Whalem could see lunacy flickering in his eyes like a spastic lantern fish. “That’s when I’ll take your right fin. And after that, your tail. Then I will have my
squaline
drag you through the water, so you’ll be forced to breathe. And my royal seasoners will put food in your mouth, so you’ll be forced to eat. You’ll stay alive and listen to my most musical laugh
for years … because
we
are merciful.” Finnivus went to his throne on the blue whale and nodded. “Begin!”

Whalem hadn’t noticed that the urchins were already on his fin. He felt the acid drip from their bodies and howled.

But after a moment, the pain ceased, and the colorful lights returned.

How everything
sparkled
!

Then, Whalem was with his friends again, and he was happy.

“I SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!” MARI
sobbed after she told Gray the grim news about Whalem. “I should have attacked!”

“Then you would both be dead,” Gray consoled. Mari swam away when Whalem yelled for her to do so, thinking he would do the same. But he didn’t, of course. He saved her life with his bravery. When Mari saw the Indi scouts capture Whalem, she followed them to the royal court. She stayed and watched to the sickening and horrible end.

At one time he might have cried, but now Gray received word of Whalem’s death without shedding a tear. The old tiger had helped their mariners train and gain a sense of pride. Everyone in Riptide United respected him immensely.

Now he was gone.

Along with Lochlan, and Shell, and too many others to
count, Gray thought. But all he felt was numbness. He had no more tears left.

The Black Wave was coming, and that was all that mattered.

Later that evening, by the glow of a thousand lumos, every mariner and shiver shark assembled in the Riptide homewaters. Gray could hear the tall greenie behind him brushing the cliffs below the colorful terraces, gently swishing right, then left. There were more fins than he had ever seen in one place, and all were waiting for him to speak. Word had spread like blood in the water that the Indi armada was close. No more than a day’s swim now. The storm was upon them. All that was left to do was try to keep from being swept away.

The mariners were fins up and at the hover while everyone else, even the pups and dwellers, floated or perched where they could. Gray gazed at the homewaters from his position over Speakers Rock. He could see his best friends from Rogue, the trusted sharkkind of AuzyAuzy, his beloved mother and the Riptide fins, and their new allies from Hammer and Vortex Shivers. They all waited for him. For a moment Gray didn’t think he could form a sentence, the weight of the moment threatening to crush him. But then the words came.

“Most of us have lost someone to Finnivus and his insane quest to form an empire.” His words were soft, but the currents from Speakers Rock carried them
everywhere. “If there were a way to talk or swim away from this moment, I’d gladly take it. But there isn’t.”

Gray paused. How did it come to pass that he was responsible for so many lives? “I know I haven’t been a very good leader. No one wishes that Lochlan were here to guide us into battle more than myself. But Lochlan, and those we’ve lost, have gone to a better place. We don’t have to worry about them anymore. We do need to save ourselves.”

Someone shouted, “They’re unstoppable!” There was an angry buzz from the crowd. Everyone shared this feeling, but no one wanted it spoken aloud.

Gray nodded. “It seems impossible. I know, believe me, I do. The Indi armada is big and terrifying. And we had to be saved by Lochlan and Takiza from a far smaller force because I crumbled … . But, that won’t happen again. I promise to be the kind of leader you can count on. You see, I don’t believe that Tyro created the oceans and everything in them to be used as a mad shark’s plaything. Sheer numbers alone won’t be the final word in this story. If there’s just one shark with a good heart facing Finnivus and his armada, I think that shark will win. Somehow, that shark will triumph! And I see more than one good shark in front of me!”