Into the Abyss (3 page)

“Which way is that?” asked Gray.

Lochlan frowned, flicking his tail. “That we’re weak and our cause is hopeless.”

Gray met later with Barkley and the rest of Rogue’s Line: Striiker the great white, Mari the thresher, Shell the bull shark, and of course Snork the sawfish. The Five in a Line concept was created by Tyro, the First Fish, because the Big Blue could be a dangerous place. In times such as these, Gray was glad to know that in case he couldn’t lead, someone else would be there to swim into his place. The group gathered after a hasty meeting with Hammer and Vortex Shivers. Lochlan assured both Grinder and Silversun that patrols would be tripled close to the
Riptide homewaters and long-distance scouts would be sent out to make sure the Indi armada wasn’t nearby.

The ancient and grand Speakers Rock meeting area of the Riptide homewaters was eerily empty. The small dwellers were keeping hidden and large ones such as whales and giant mantas hadn’t visited since the Battle of Riptide.

Gray was still shaken by the grim message sent in the form of the mauled long-range scout. The Indi armada was readying itself to move, he just knew it. The only reason to take out their scouts—other than being vindictive—was to keep your own movements secret. Finnivus and his Black Wave were coming, and the waters would turn red with blood when they arrived.

Gray was so big that he could take care of himself against anyone or anything in the Big Blue. In fact, Barkley would tell me I could stand to lose a few pounds, Gray thought. No, he was scared for the others. How could he protect
everyone
he loved? His mother and the sharks he’d grown up with, his five best friends here, his new friends from AuzyAuzy—now all battle brothers and sisters—and a host of dwellers like Yappy and Prime Minister Shocks were at risk.

At least Gray was sure that Lochlan and his Line needed no protecting. And probably Takiza, who had suddenly left again without telling anyone. Where was the mysterious, magical betta?
He
could definitely take care of himself. But still. Gray didn’t like the fact that
everyone he knew was in danger. “How did it come to this?” he whispered.

“It’s not your fault, Gray,” Barkley answered. “It isn’t anything we did. We’re just alive and in the way.”

Striiker bristled and slashed his crescent-shaped tail through the water in frustration. “Barkley’s right. We didn’t ask that big flipper Finnivus to swim halfway’round the world and attack us!”

But Shell got to the truth of the matter. “We do seem to be smack in the middle of it, though.”

Mari gave Gray a sympathetic rub on the flank with her long thresher tail. “With everything that’s been heaped on you, it’s okay to cry if you want.”

“But
please
don’t,” Shell muttered, a little louder than he intended. Everyone laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Snork. “I cry when I’m sad. It always makes me feel better.”

“Of course you would, but Gray
can’t
!” Striiker emphasized. “You’re not a leader. Leaders don’t get respect from other sharkkind by bawling their way around the Big Blue.”

“Striiker, quit being a tailbender,” Mari told the great white.

Snork didn’t take offense. He waggled his serrated bill in agreement. “That’s okay. I know I’m not tough. But I’m trying to learn!” The sawfish said this with such enthusiasm that it caused another round of laughter.

“So what’s the latest with Hammer and Vortex Shivers?”
asked Barkley, because they hadn’t been allowed in that meeting. The dogfish was smart. Probably the smartest fin Gray knew. It made hiding any setback extremely difficult.

Gray gave a noncommittal swish of his tail. “Those negotiations are moving forward with vigor, and Lochlan and I are expecting good news any day now.”

Striiker looked at him quizzically along with everyone else. “What? Forward with
vigor
?”

Barkley sighed. “That was what Lochlan told Gray to say in case we asked.”

“Sounds pretty good!” Snork remarked.

“Too bad it’s a load of chum,” Shell said in his dry way.

Mari swam forward. “Really? Lochlan wants you to lie to us? Your friends?”

“No, not lie. Not exactly,” Gray hedged. “He just doesn’t want anyone to know he’s having a tough time getting them to join up … fully.”

“Or at all,” Barkley prodded.

“Or at all,” Gray agreed before he could stop himself. “I mean—no, not that. Something else. Something better.”

“We’ll be crushed without their mariners if Finnivus comes with his full armada,” Shell remarked. “We won’t take them by surprise twice.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Striiker agreed. “The amount of training they must do. They are the nearest thing to perfect mariners in the Big Blue.”

Mari bristled. “You
admire
them?”

“No. I
respect
them,” Striiker said, without the usual sarcasm or scorn he mustered when speaking about Finnivus and Indi Shiver. “We all should.”

Gray moved forward, halfway over Speakers Rock. “Maybe Grinder and Silversun would join up with Lochlan if they knew I was a megalodon?” Gray had learned the truth about his species from Velenka, the crafty mako who was now allied with Finnivus. Megalodons were thought to have died out millions of years ago. How Gray came to be here no one knew. Not even his mother, Sandy. She had rescued him when he was only a pup in a faraway ocean on a day when the very water was on fire, and mountains of rock were swallowed up by the Dark Blue in a gigantic seaquake.

For a moment there was only silence. Gray hoped everyone was speechless because his idea was so good.

“That’s gotta be the dumbest, most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard,” Barkley said, a tinge of awed amazement in his voice.

Striiker shook his massive head. “Nope, nope, you’re giving the idea too much credit. It’s the dumbest idea that
anyone
in the
entire
Big Blue has come up with.”

“Don’t forget about the past,” Shell added. “It might also be the worst idea of all time.”

“All right already!” Gray shouted. He was a little miffed. “I get it!” There had to be someone who was on his side. “Snork, what do you think?”

“It’s an … interesting way to go,” Snork began, before petering out.

“Wow, worst idea ever,” Gray told everyone. “You must be so proud to have me as your leader.”

Mari allowed herself to drift a bit closer with the current. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Striiker surprised Gray by adding a strong, “You got that right. But telling others that you’re a megalodon would cause—well, we don’t know what it would cause, actually. But nothing good.”

“I can guess,” Barkley said. “It would cause confusion and nervousness, even outright panic. And we need exactly none of those right now. Lochlan would probably tell you the same thing. Don’t worry, he’ll convince Grinder and Silversun to join us.”

Barkley’s words made everyone feel a little bit better. Gray hoped his friend was right. He really did. Everything counted on Lochlan’s persuasiveness and leadership. He had to succeed! Because Finnivus was coming, and the evil fish would stop at nothing to get his revenge on everyone Gray loved.

VELENKA WATCHED AS THE INDI ARMADA SWEPT
in and destroyed a pitiful force of prisoners—a captured shiver, a few Riptide scouts, and several sharkkind that had somehow displeased Finnivus in the past few weeks. One poor tiger shark was a mariner from the Indi armada. His mistake had been to
cough
during one of the emperor’s speeches.

Though blood clouded the water, the three battle fins of the Indi armada worked together smoothly, never a tail stroke out of place. They executed the orders of the mariner prime flawlessly and without hesitation. There were only a few of the opposing force still alive, all clumped into a terrified ball. Any who tried to flee were ripped apart by the Indi mariners.

“Kill them all!” screamed Finnivus. “Every single one!”

The mariner prime, a middle-aged tiger shark, dipped
his head and obeyed. Ever since Gray had destroyed Indi Shiver’s lantern fish signaler, the orders had to be relayed by fin signs, which weren’t nearly as fast as the signaler. The previous mariner prime had also been killed by Gray at the battle whose name could not be spoken. That had not been a good day for Indi Shiver.

Moments after the command was shouted by Finnivus, it was over. Not a single one of the opposing hundred and fifty prisoners remained.

“Excellent!” yelled Finnivus. “Well done!”

The mariner prime took his place at the head of the Indi armada. Every shark in the armada held attention hover and then bobbed their heads to the emperor. The precision of so many performing the move exactly at the same time made an odd
fwumph
noise in the reddish water.

Finnivus allowed the warm current to gently push him into his throne built on top of the Speakers Rock directly in the center of the Indi homewaters. Velenka took in the sight as the emperor ordered various court sharks this way and that. Finnivus was a boastful young fin, but he hadn’t been pulling her tail when he said the Indi homewaters were the most beautiful place in all the Big Blue. The royal court was arranged before him—at a lower depth, of course—and it had taken her breath away the first time she saw it. Crabs and urchins created glorious, colorful patterns that changed many times each day. Sometimes the designs were intricate lines
done in the Indi colors. Other times they were spot-on representations of Finnivus himself, swimming or hunting! It was amazing.

Behind his throne were the fantastic Floating Greenie Gardens of Indi. Beautiful kelp, seaweeds, and undersea flowers bloomed constantly for the enjoyment of Finnivus and his father before him, and his father before that, all the way back to times unremembered. Walls of delicate coral had been built by master dwellers that could either stop the current or allow it to whisk the blooms upward and form a spectacular path. This was so that whenever Finnivus decided to have a swim, he would not see anything that
wasn’t
beautiful.

It was truly the most wondrous place in the Big Blue, and Velenka wanted nothing more than to recline on the royal throne—which was made of lustrous, glowing corals that were regularly
polished
by sea snails! But the throne wasn’t hers to rest on. It belonged to Finnivus Victor Triumphant, emperor of—almost—the entire Big Blue. Velenka could understand his passion to be ruler of all the waters. She loved power, too, more than anything. But why risk your life for one little area of the Atlantis if you controlled everything else?

Finnivus, though, was crazed with anger. He had been routed and his royal court forced to flee from the Riptide homewaters. The arrogant tiger shark couldn’t just lean on his shining coral throne and relax. He would kill everyone who did not bow before him. And though
the tiger emperor hated leaving the Indi homewaters, you couldn’t conquer the seven seas if you stayed put, could you?

“This tastes terrible!” Finnivus yelled about his meal. “Bring me a fresh one this instant.”

“Immediately, Your Magnificence!” answered Tydal, the first court fish, as he whisked off to get another seasoned bass. The brown and yellow epaulette shark was in charge of the details in the court. Tydal was undoubtedly very good at his job to have survived this long.

Velenka knew that there was nothing wrong with the sea bass. The dwellers responsible for seasoning it would never have sent it from the preparation area if there was even the slightest doubt about its deliciousness. This was just Finnivus working himself into another mood about his favorite topic of hatred—Gray.

“They were only prisoners,” Finnivus muttered to himself about the recently concluded battle exercise.

Velenka didn’t react. Neither did anyone else in court. It was better to be sure you
had
to answer than to casually put forward an opinion. That could get you eaten. Or placed with the prisoners for the armada to practice on. Finnivus cast a glance directly at her from his throne. “Velenka. They were prisoners,” he said.

There was no avoiding this any longer. “Your Majesty?” she asked, dipping her head respectfully.