Shark Wars (14 page)

GRAY GULPED DOWN THE LAST OF THE ALBACORE.
He could have caught more but wasn't in the mood. This was one of the rare times he remembered not having an appetite. He swam farther out than normal to hunt, wanting to get away from the feverish preparations Goblin was making for the Tuna Run. They Tuna Rolled constantly, even in the dark of a moonless night, which made it much harder, but Gray was proud to catch more than his share.

After one game where he landed three wahoo in a single heat from the back half position, Wisko gave him such a joyous slap of celebration that he almost ate her in self-defense. Wahoo were strange fish. For some reason his conversations with Velenka and Takiza kept bumping around in his head, mixing together. Since the day Gray was banished from Coral Shiver, he'd felt adrift, cut off from family and home. What would he do with his life? What kind of shark would he become? That was the question that would be answered by his time in the open waters, in the wild Big Blue.

The current Velenka was asking him to swim seemed to be a dark one. There was something hidden in the mako's black eyes, and Gray couldn't figure out just what it was. But Velenka was a shivermate and the same couldn't be said of Takiza. Did Gray really owe the odd little betta anything? Takiza seemingly swam the Big Blue with no ties to anyone. No loyalty to any fin or dweller but himself. How could that be swimming a good current? Yet, the little fish fought a tiger shark to protect a family of turtles. Who else would do that? Gray grew hot with shame when he realized he wasn't sure he would have stopped Thrash. He'd tried to guide the situation, but there was no way he would have thrown away his relationship with a fellow shiver shark over a bunch of turtles.

“Did you do it?”

Gray turned around as the troubling thoughts thankfully slipped from his mind and Striiker slid into view around a patch of waving greenie.

For some reason Gray's heart leapt. It was Striiker! “Hi! Where's everyone else?” he asked.

“Like you don't know!” the great white seethed. “What did Goblin give you to betray us?”

Same old Striiker. Gray was in the mood to fight, but he realized it was his own thoughts and deeds that made him angry, not Striiker being his usual abrasive self. Gray wasn't going to compound the situation by doing something else to regret. He shook his head and swam away. “I don't have time for this. Say hi to everyone.”

Luckily Gray didn't let Striiker out of his sight.

“Make time!” the great white yelled and charged straight at him!

Gray's training kicked in and he performed a halfcircle dive, easily avoiding the rush. “Look, Striiker, I've got a lot of things on my mind! You don't want to make me angry!” If his goal was to calm the great white by saying this, Gray failed spectacularly.

“Oh,
I
don't want
you
to get angry, huh?” Striiker came after him even harder.

But Gray was bigger, faster, and better trained now. And he
did
want to fight. “Let's dance!” Gray had learned that the landsharks called single combat
dancing
, which was also a thing they did when they were happy and to attract mates. He liked the term, and Ripper and Streak, in particular, would always show their teeth in a wicked, toothy smile and say, “Let's dance,” before single combat drills. It sent chills down your spine. Gray had started doing it too because he thought it was cool.

Gray rammed Striiker right in the gills with his snout. That'd teach him! Striiker slowed, wheezing, and hovered in a defensive position. “Why did you betray them?” he asked, gasping a bit. “They were your friends!”

“What are you talking about, jelly-brain?” Gray shouted. “You came out of the greenie and attacked me for no reason! Where's everyone else? Where's Barkley? And Mari? Answer before I make you my lunch!” The last words leapt out of Gray's mouth before he realized it. He would
never
eat another shark.

Would he?

In any case, an uncomfortable silence descended. Striiker was definitely freaked out and seemed to grow less sure of himself. “They were ambushed coming to see you.”

“WHAT?”

“A lionfish told Barkley that you wanted to come back to Rogue Shiver,” Striiker said.

Gray shook his head in disbelief. “I don't know any lionfish! Are they okay?” The questions came out in a rush. Striiker told him the entire story. He even seemed a little ashamed that he hadn't gone with the group. He felt guilty that they had been ambushed, but not about not helping Gray. He went out of his way to make that clear. Same old Striiker.

Striiker told Gray about how he had searched for days and finally saw Streak going out from the homewaters alone. He followed the blue shark and found where the group was being held. “It's usually one from the Line and a couple of shiver sharks guarding the cage,” he explained.

Gray was dazed. His shivermates were holding his friends captive. Could this be happening? “Maybe Goblin doesn't know?” Gray asked.

“Oh, grow up!” Striiker yelled angrily, “Of course he knows!”

“But he gave his word!”

“His word means nothing! All he wants is power!” Striiker swished his tail furiously. “And he doesn't care who he has to hurt. Believe me. That's why Mari and I left in the first place.”

“This can't be happening…” Gray whispered as his insides grew cold.

“I can't get them out of there alone,” Striiker told him. The great white was absolutely pained by what he forced himself to say next: “Will you help me?”

“Of course!”

Striiker winced from his bruised gills but got in Gray's face. “But don't think this means we're best fins or anything. After we get them, we're going to the Sific. That's
my
plan. You do whatever you want. Like always.”

Gray whirled and gave Striiker a tremendous tail slap to the face. Gray actually felt it all the way up his spine. “Keep running your mouth and see what happens, Striiker. And here's
my
plan: You show me where they are right now, or I'll beat the chowder out of you again.”

The great white was shocked. Then slowly, he started swimming.

Though he didn't feel proud of it, Gray had finally gotten the last word with Striiker.

GRAY PEERED THOUGH THE RED AND GOLD
greenie as Striiker watched their tails. There they were! Barkley, Mari, Shell, and Snork! How could someone be so cruel as to jam them together like that? To lock them where they couldn't flex their fins properly? He grew angry. How could sharkkind treat other sharks this way? Or any dweller for that matter? This was wrong! Whatever loyalty he felt toward Goblin and his shiver was carried away by the current.

“The coast seems clear,” Gray whispered, more to himself as he and Striiker hadn't exchanged a word during the swim over.

“Look again,” Striiker replied, flicking a fin toward a rocky outcropping several lengths away from the cage. Sure enough, there was Thrash. He was talking with two more shiver sharks. Gray's emotions clashed. Thrash was a battle brother to Gray! How could he, of all fins, do this? And all the while the tiger had smiled and laughed with him when they were in the homewaters and on patrol. “We should go in hard and fast,” Striiker said. “Scare them off.”

Gray shook his head. “They may scatter at first, but they'll turn back in an attack formation.” He couldn't see any way to get to the cage and free his friends without sending Thrash to the Sparkle Blue. And even now, Gray didn't want to do that. “Let me talk with him,” he told Striiker.

“Look, I don't want to argue over who's leading who here, but are you out of your mind?”

“Maybe I am, but why don't you listen to me for a change?”

After Gray told Striiker what he was planning, the great white gave him a begrudging nod. “Nice plan,” Striiker said as he went away, low, and in the greenie so as not to be seen. Gray waited for him to get into position and then simply swam into view.

To say Thrash was surprised was an understatement. “What the—Gray, hey, pal!” the tiger sputtered. “What are you doing here? I think Goblin needs you back at the homewaters.”

Gray acted as surprised as he could. He didn't look at the cage, pretending not to see it. “I was chasing a lower drove of grouper but lost them. You see where they went?”

As Thrash was forming an answer, Striiker whizzed in from above and speared one of the two other shiver sharks in the side, sending it spinning to the sand. The other, a small mako, raced upward and out of sight.

Thrash knew he had been tricked and launched himself at Gray, who barely missed losing his left fin. He jammed Thrash as he passed flankside with his dorsal fin, raking the tiger. Both turned in counterpoint, but Gray was the quicker one. He could stun Thrash without killing him. Striiker was behind the tiger, blocking his escape angle.

Suddenly, Snork yelled from the cage, “Look out! Above you!”

Streaking back into the fight, the forgotten mako was now in perfect position to mortally wound Striiker. Gray gave up his attack on Thrash and used his speed to collide with the attacking shark, knocking it away just in time to save Striiker. Now Thrash turned. If it wasn't for Striiker slashing toward the fin to distract the attacking tiger, Gray would have been killed for sure.

With the great white now chasing Thrash's tail, Gray made a quick half loop to gather speed for the downward attack called Orca Bears Down and slammed into Thrash. Striiker was about to tear out Thrash's gills when Gray yelled, “Stop!” The great white crashed into the tiger but didn't bite him.

“You've made a big mistake!” shrieked Thrash, protecting his injured side. “Goblin will kill you all!”

“Like he wasn't planning to do that, anyway!” Striiker answered.

Gray shook his head sadly at the tiger. “Thrash, how could you do this?”

“NO! How could you betray us?” the tiger yelled. “I'm under orders! What's your excuse?”

“I'm not an evil shark, that's my excuse.”

The other two shiver sharks got their fins under them and shakily joined Thrash. None was in any condition to fight, so they swam for the homewaters. “Tell Goblin I resign as his fifth,” Gray said.

Thrash laughed as he left. “You can tell him yourself. Just before he guts you!”

Gray looked at Striiker, who gave him a bump on the flank with his fin. They had saved each other's lives in mortal combat. Like it or not, they were battle brothers now, and the great white knew it. Gray wanted to say something and so did Striiker, but neither could find the words. Then Barkley kind of ruined everything when he shouted, “Hey, I hate to interrupt your tender moment, but could you guys get us out of here?” Relieved from having to say anything, Gray and Striiker swam to the cage.

“I can't believe you just did that!” Mari exclaimed. “Goblin will explode like an underwater volcano!”

Shell looked at Striiker from inside the whalebone cage. “So do we like Gray again?”

Striiker told the group, “He didn't have anything to do with you guys being ambushed.”

“Like I told youse,” Trank said.

“Who's that?”

“That's Trank!” Snork explained.

That didn't really answer anything, but Gray was busy figuring out the locking device on the cage. It was cunningly made. You needed to disengage two bars that meshed perfectly together. Perhaps if Striiker or Gray had small fins they could have opened it by pressing down, but both were too big. And the area in front of the door had a pylon blocking the way. You couldn't take a swimming start to crash through it.

The great white figured the same thing and shook his head. “No way. Our fins are too big and those whale bones are too tough to ram through.”

Gray got himself into a position hovering in front of the door. Striiker figured out what he thought Gray was about to do and said, “Did you hear me? You can't break those! Not enough room to speed up.”

“I'm not going to ram it,” Gray said. “I'm going to bite through.”

“I'm pulling for you,” Barkley said. “But are you sure that's a good idea?”

Gray got himself directly in front of the locking bars. “We'll see!” he said and then opened his mouth as wide as it would go. At first the petrified whalebone didn't give an inch. And for a heart-stopping second, he thought his jaws had locked in the painful position. Then his razor sharp teeth cut into the bars. With one last, loud, crunch! The door was ripped out.

After Gray spit the large bones out of his mouth, Striiker said, “Now
that
was impressive.”

“It feels good to get some fresh water pumping through these gills!” said Barkley. He bumped Gray. “I knew you'd help us. I mean, I was pretty sure.”

“Let's get swimming,” Gray told the group. “Striiker said he knows the way to the Sific. That is, if you're okay with me coming along.”

“Well, you're good in a fight, so that might be useful.” And that was that. Gray was about to follow when he noticed the rest of the group wasn't moving.

Striiker got annoyed, of course. “You have to move your tails back and forth if you want to go forward,” he sarcastically told them.

“We can't leave,” Barkley said.

The great white sighed. “Why?” Striiker flexed his flippers as if he'd like nothing better than to ram Barkley.

“I'll let Trank tell you,” the dogfish said. “Trank?” But the stonefish was nowhere to be seen. So Barkley and Mari explained everything they'd heard from him. When they were finished, there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind where they were going.

Rogue Shiver was going to the Tuna Run.