Shark Wars (5 page)

THE SHARKS WEREN'T ATTACKING. YET. THEY
were in a strong defensive position, though.

“Oh, I don't like this one bit. We're jelly drifters here!” Barkley exclaimed. Gray and Barkley began swimming in a slow figure-eight pattern that would let them speed away in case trouble started. Gray was larger than any of the four by a few tail-tips, but the biggest fish wasn't always the winner in the Big Blue. That much even he knew.

The four sharkkind slowed their advance and hovered against the current. They were barely five tail strokes away. For a moment the only sound was the slow current swishing past their flanks.

“So,” said the great white. “Any luck hunting?”

Barkley jumped in before Gray could reply, “Nope. Just seeing the sights. We're moving through. Sorry if this is your territory.”

“Oh, it's not!” piped in the sawfish. He stopped talking when the white gave him a look. The great white was definitely the leader. Now that the group was so close, Gray could see they were pups like he and Barkley. If any were older than their twelve summers, it wasn't by much. An uncomfortable silence descended on them all. The thresher girl, who seemed nice, gave a worried look to the great white and indicated they should leave. He nodded and the four were about to turn.

For some reason Gray didn't want them to go. “So, what are your names? This is my friend Barkley and I'm Gray.”

“I'm Snork!” replied the sawfish shark, a little too eagerly for anyone in either group. He was about to swim forward, maybe in greeting, but maybe for a sneak attack.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Snork, is it? Keep your distance, okay?” Barkley told the sawfish, whose nose looked sharp and deadly, chock-full of pointy spikes on either edge. Neither of them wanted to be filleted, so caution was a good thing.

The girl thresher didn't like this one bit. “You seem kind of rude, Barkley—is it?” she asked sarcastically, saying “is it” just like Barkley had, mocking him. This made Gray smile, which she saw and continued, “Snork's just being friendly, you know.”

“Yeah,” Gray piled on, “Snork's just being friendly.”

Wow, if looks could send you to the Sparkle Blue, Gray would have begun his eternal swim on the spot.

It turned out that Barkley's venomous stare was hilarious to the four sharks from the other group, and they laughed. “Oh, so now I'm the big flipper?” Barkley asked everyone. “I'm just being safe, you know!” For some reason this struck everyone as even funnier.

“You're hilarious!” exclaimed Snork, snorting as he laughed, making Barkley and Gray chortle along with everyone else. Pretty soon Gray's sides hurt he was laughing so much. It took a moment for everyone to catch their breath and introduce themselves properly.

Aside from Snork, the great white leader was Striiker, Shell was the big bull shark, and then there was Mari, who seemed pretty interested in Gray when he said he was a reef shark, but that could have been his imagination. Mari had that really cool thresher's tail, bent back at an angle that just looked awesome. Gray wondered if it made her faster.

“You're really a reef shark?” Mari asked.

“That's what my mom tells me,” he joked. Of course he was a reef shark. What else would he be?

“They must grow them real big by that reef of yours,” commented Shell. The bull was quieter than the rest. He seemed okay, though.

Barkley grew suspicious. “Enough about our reef. Where do you live?”

Now Striiker gave Barkley the stink eye. “Why do you want to know where we live?”

“Just making conversation.” Barkley swished his tail in a way that told Gray he was agitated. “Any reason you're so nervous?”

“I'm not nervous. Any reason
you're
so nervous?” Striiker shot right back.

Mari swam between them, taking position by Gray's right. “Okay you two, enough,” she said. “We're not part of any shiver, if that's what you're thinking. We're four friends who swim together because it's safer here if you do that.”

“So, you're like a rogue quad?” Gray asked. Barkley waved his tail for him to stop.

Striiker was genuinely puzzled. “Rogue quad? Is that even a thing?”

“I love it!” Snork exclaimed.

Gray explained, “Barkley told this shark we were a rogue pair when he got flustered.”

“Aww, did you have to go there?” Barkley said, flipping his fins in embarrassment. “I thought that giant tiger was going to kill us! A flipper named Thrash.”

There was an immediate chill in the water. Their new acquaintances moved back a couple of tail strokes from Barkley and Gray. “You know Thrash? Are you friends with Thrash?” Striiker asked evenly.

Gray answered, “Like Barkley said, he attacked us. So, no, we're not friends.” He proceeded to tell the entire story of their meeting with Thrash.

Barkley added a lot of description to the fight. Gray wasn't sure it was all true, but it sure sounded good. He ended with, “…and then that muck-sucker asked us to be a part of his gang, and I was like, ‘no way, lagoon scum, we're a rogue pair and way too cool for your dumb shiver!' And we let him see our tails when we left.” Barkley waved his tail in a derisive manner. It was kind of embarrassing. Almost no one believed that's what happened. Almost.

“You may be the coolest sharks, ever,” Snork whispered in wonder.

Striiker shook his head. “And on that note…” He rolled a slow turn, beckoning Mari and the other three sharks away from Gray and Barkley. Mari didn't move, sizing them up, instead.

“They did fight Thrash, and they're still here,” Mari told Striiker, who turned around. He didn't seem happy.

The bull shark agreed. “And they're not with Goblin.”

Striiker glared at Snork before he could add anything, then frowned at both Mari and Shell. “We just met them today! How do we know they can be trusted?”

“How do we know
you
can be trusted?” Barkley huffed. “By the way, what are we talking about?”

Gray had a pretty good idea and nodded to Mari to continue.

“The reason they're still swimming the Big Blue is because there were two of them against Thrash. The reason we're still around is because we four look out for each other. I think six would be better than four,” Mari explained.

Shell nodded in agreement. Barkley wasn't so sure. Striiker seemed annoyed but not totally against the idea. And Snork? Well, Snork was being friendly again. “Come on! With six sharks we could be a real shiver! A leader with Five in the Line!” he said.

The great white shook his head. “If we wanted that we could have all stayed in our shivers. Mostly.” Striiker gave a guilty glance to Shell, who for some reason looked away. He continued, “The one reason we like each other is because we aren't in shivers, which we know from experience is bad!”

“Hey, not all shivers are bad,” Barkley protested.

“Yeah, we came from a great shiver,” Gray told the four.

“The six of us could be a good shiver! A great shiver, even!” Snork almost bounced in the water as he got more and more excited, flexing his flippers back and forth. “And I have the perfect name! Rogue Shiver!”

And so, on the swim to their new homewaters, Rogue Shiver was born.

THE PALE MOON'S GLOW LIT THE WATERS WITH
a soft and eerie light. Gray sped toward the drove of snapper, slowing just enough to let them see him streaking their way. The group of fish angled away from his open maw—right between the walls of a cramped canyon where Rogue Shiver was waiting! The plan worked to perfection once again, and Gray was able to munch his share of snapper as they fled in the return direction after the rest caught theirs.

“We are getting so good at this!” Barkley remarked, finishing off a plump and juicy fish.

Gray nodded. Who would have thought that what had started out with the worst day of his life would turn into the best time of his life? It had been two weeks since Gray and Barkley formed Rogue Shiver with their new friends. After some initial wariness, mostly from Striiker, the group now mixed easily. They learned many things about each other, except for the whale in the water. The one topic nobody brought up was why each was swimming the Big Blue and not in another shiver.

“I'm stuffed,” said Snork. “We never ate this well when there were just four of us!” It turned out Snork was nearly thirteen and a half, the oldest of the group by six months, although he didn't act like it. Striiker and Mari were twelve like Gray and Barkley, and Shell had turned thirteen just last month.

“It's probably a good time for hunting or something,” Gray said.

Striiker harrumphed. “Let's go home. We don't want to be seen by Goblin Shiver's patrols.” For some reason, if anything was more annoying to the great white than having his leadership questioned, it was Gray being nice to him.

“Their name was much cooler when it was Riptide Shiver,” remarked Snork as he followed. “Since Goblin changed it, now
we
have the best shiver name in the whole Big Blue.”

They actually had performed a shiver creation ceremony. Snork insisted. Even Striiker went along with it, probably because he got to be leader. The others voted themselves in the order they had been subconsciously swimming in. Mari was elected first, Shell second, and Snork third. Gray was chosen as fourth in the Line. Mari wanted to vote Gray higher, much higher in fact, but he wouldn't hear of it. It did seem pretty funny that Snork—now that he knew Snork—was technically supposed to be tougher than him. Gray let it slide. He hadn't been in the open ocean for even one moon, and he knew the others were better suited toward making decisions.

Besides, Gray was happy to wait until the Tuna Run when he would rejoin his mother and Coral Shiver. Gray wanted to ask his new friends to come to the reef but hadn't found the right time. He didn't tell this to anyone, though, because he hadn't mentioned it to Barkley yet. The dogfish's mood was
not
good when he was chosen as Rogue Shiver's fifth.

“Are you kidding me?” his friend wailed. “There are only six of us, total! That's just embarrassing!” But when Mari asked whether he would rather be fifth in the Line or the only general member of Rogue Shiver, Barkley grumbled “Fine. Fifth. Great,” and swam away. It took an entire day to calm the dogfish down.

Their new home was only a short swim away and well hidden. Towering brown and blue-greenie waved majestically, forming a wall that made everyone feel safe. You could enter unseen by swimming beneath a short tunnel formed by a fallen cliff. And there was the perfect hiding spot. It was an old landshark ship,
really
old from what Barkley told them. And big!

The ship had three levels, and when it had ridden the chop-chop, humans used wooden planks called “oars” to move the bulky thing through the water! Aside from a large crack in the bottom of the ship now, it was through these oar openings that a nice current flowed, allowing easy breathing. This was much better than sleeping in open water where you could be spotted, or down in the greenie where you could get something in your gills. There was plenty of space inside, although one room on the end was filled with shiny yellow disks that spilled everywhere because the wooden boxes they were packed into had rotted through. No one liked that area, as the moldy boxes left a tang in the water you could taste, unlike the rest of the ship.

Even though the ship lay three times the depth of the reef, there was still good light from the sun and moon. But it wasn't like the reef where other dwellers would talk with the shiver. Here the shellheads, lumos, fish, and urchins stayed out of the way when Rogue Shiver was around. Gray tried to ask a sea dragon if she knew Yappy, but the little dweller slalomed into the greenie without saying a word. He hadn't thought he'd miss speaking with other dwellers, but he did.

Only when Gray and his new shiver were by the wreck did they relax completely. It had been a good day. No, a great day. Gray found himself staring at Mari's sleek thresher tail as they went inside the landshark ship.

Unfortunately, Barkley saw this and whispered, “Mari cuts a nice wake, eh?”

He felt his face color. “She's okay, I guess.”

They hung around the main cabin, enjoying the cool current streaming through the ship. Gray decided on the spot. It was finally time to tell the rest of Rogue Shiver how he got here.

“You've all heard of the Tuna Run?” he asked.

Striiker snorted. “I've been there twice!” Others in the group rolled their eyes. Apparently the great white spoke about this a little too often.

“Well, I think I should tell you how I got here and why I'm mentioning it now,” Gray told everyone.

“Everyone's tired, Gray.” Barkley swished his tail furiously. “We don't need to hear any of your long, boring stories.” But Gray was determined and told the entire tale. After he was finished, Mari, Striiker, Shell, and Snork stared at Barkley with a newfound respect.

The dogfish misread the situation. “What? Is there snapper between my teeth?” he asked, genuinely clueless.

Snork tapped his saw bill on Barkley's head. “You are the best friend a fin could have!”

Even the normally quiet Shell remarked, “Not many sharkkind would leave their home like that.”

Gray never thought he'd see the day when Barkley was speechless, but that day had come. The dogfish stuttered, actually embarrassed by the attention. “Yeah well, that's the way I roll. Anyway, we're talking about Gray who still hasn't said what any of this has to do with Tuna Run! So?” Barkley gave Gray a friendly bump in the flank with his snout.

“My mom wants me to find her at the Tuna Run. If I can prove I'm a good hunter, they'll let me back in.”

The reaction wasn't what Gray expected.

“You're leaving?” asked Mari.

“I knew they were just acting like our friends!” huffed Striiker. “They only needed a place to stay for a while.”

Shell stared at both of them as Snork said in a trembling voice, “Is that true, Gray?”

Gray had enough of Striiker. “You know, you're a real tail bender! I've been nothing but nice, and you just think the worst of me!”

“Tell me I'm wrong!” roared Striiker

Gray was ready to rumble, butting Striiker against the hull of the landshark ship. “If you'd let me finish, I was going to say you could all come back to the reef and be a part of Coral Shiver, you great, big krillhead!”

Striiker was speechless for a moment. “You'd do that for us?” he asked in wonder. “For me, even?”

Gray was taken aback by the vulnerability of the great white. “If you promised not to be such a flipper, then yes.”

“But if you think you'd be leading, or even in the Line, you'd be wrong,” said Barkley a little too loudly. He had taken up position above Gray and was still amped up and ready to fight the great white. “I mean, maybe one day, maybe. But you know how it is with new members. Take it from your fifth.” This got a chuckle from Striiker, which released all the tension among them. Pretty soon everyone was chattering excitedly, with Barkley telling the other four all the great things about Coral Shiver's reef.

But everything took an odd turn when Shell asked, “So it was still there when you guys went back?”

“Went back when?” asked Gray.

“The day when Barkley was named fifth and swam off,” the bull shark answered. “We thought you went for a visit or something. Some of us do that, from time to time. We didn't know you had been banished.”

“No, our home is farther than that,” Gray told him.

“And the reef's been there since Tyro swam past it,” Barkley guffawed. “Why wouldn't it still be there?”

Everyone grew quiet. A bad feeling prickled up Gray's spine. He looked at Mari for an explanation, but she shook her head and didn't say anything.

Striiker swam forward a bit. “You mentioned you were in a shiver by a reef when you fought Thrash. You shouldn't have done that.”

Barkley shook his head. “Gray didn't say
where
our homewaters were.”

“They found mine,” Snork whispered in a haunted voice. The happy-go-lucky sawfish was trembling. “They find every shiver they hear about.”

“Mostly, we're from shivers that Goblin found,” said Shell sadly. “He's at war with my old shiver, Razor Shiver. The only reason we're still alive is because we have more mariners than Goblin. Not because he doesn't want to destroy those homewaters.”

Mari was upset and didn't seem to want to speak, but Gray motioned her to tell him what she was thinking.

“Thrash is dumb, but if he told Goblin you were from a reef where he could find new recruits, he
will
find your reef.”

“Then what?” Gray asked, growing frantic. “What would he do?”

Snork's voice was faraway and reedy when he broke the silence. He whispered, “They eat anyone who doesn't join.”