Shark Wars (2 page)

“YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A WEEK!” HIS MOTHER
said in a clipped voice, the barbels below her nostrils vibrating with emotion. They did that when she got mad. And she was angrier than Gray had seen her in a long while. Even madder than the time when he had talked Barkley into cutting school and got stung by a jellyfish. But seven days and nights of not swimming more than a body length away from the reef bed? Ridiculous! Was he some newborn pup that needed to hide in the greenie? No! Was he a bottom-feeding muck sucker that rooted in the sand for its meals? Disgusting! And again, no! Being grounded was no way for a big fin like him to spend even one day, much less a week!

But Gray's mouth was quicker than his brain so none of these perfectly good arguments made it into the conversation. Instead he blurted, “Awww, Mommm!”

“You broke your word to me,” she said in a quiet voice.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered.

Gray felt awful. Everyone in Coral Shiver respected his mother, proven by the fact that she had been chosen to be third in the Line. Gray was proud of that. Knowing how dangerous the Big Blue was, any shark in the Line could be your next leader. Usually shivers ranked five after their leader. It was an honor even though their shiver was small and didn't even have succession to the fifth, like a real battle shiver, only to the third.

Atlas was leader, of course. Then there was Quickeyes the thresher as his first and Onyx the blacktip as second. Onyx had these awesome markings down his flanks, almost like they were put there on purpose. But how? When Gray asked about the markings he got yelled at by both Onyx and his mom so he never asked again.

In a shiver, any shark could challenge for position, even for leader. But if you didn't have experience in the Line, you wouldn't be accepted as a contender by the full-member shiver sharks.

Since he was still technically a pup, Gray wasn't even a full member of Coral Shiver yet. “You have to earn the Line's respect before you can join as a shiver shark,” his mother had told him when he was younger. Well, he hadn't earned any today.

“I know it's wrong to go toward the lagoon, but when I saw the lobster, I got so hungry!” Gray told her.

His mother sighed. “You're a growing shark, Gray. No one says you shouldn't eat.” She looked him over from head to tail. He was now almost twice her length. “You just have to be smart about it. You have to do what's best for everyone, not just yourself. Even if that means you go hungry for a little while.”

“I'm sorry,” said Gray once again.

They entered the ancient lava vent, which was the entrance to the hidden reef and their homewaters. Landsharks lived in a floating base by the other reef, nearer to their shore. Ours is much nicer, thought Gray as he followed his mom's swishing tail down the secret path through the giant kelp bed. There was green-greenie, blue-greenie, and even yellow and brown-greenie. The greenie was long enough that it looked like just another giant seaweed bed from above. And if you didn't know where the path began while swimming in, you'd most likely get lost or hung up. Even landsharks stayed away because their boats got snared by the greenie that floated all the way up to the chop-chop. Crabs used their sharp claws to clip and trim the secret lane of the tangly plant. Supposedly. Gray had never actually seen them do it and didn't really believe shellheads were smart enough to follow instructions like that.

“Gray, the Coral Shiver homewaters are a special place,” Sandy told him.

“I know that, Mom. I do live here.”

Sandy let out an exasperated sigh. “That's not what I mean. What we have here is different than many parts of the Big Blue.”

Gray got excited. She was talking about the Big Blue in the way that meant open ocean! Would she let him go to the Tuna Run this year? He wasn't allowed last time because he was too young. They
had
to let him go this season! He couldn't help himself, and asked, “Can I go with you into the Big Blue for the Tuna Run? To see how it's different?”

“Absolutely not!” she said so sharply that Gray darted into the thick kelp. When he poked his head out, his mom sighed. She motioned for him to come out from the weedy bed. “I'm sorry I yelled. The open waters of the Big Blue are amazing and wonderful in places. But they can also be dangerous. Sharkkind and dwellers that make their home there aren't as nice as the ones here.”

“Okay, Mom,” Gray answered. “I'm not planning any trips away from the reef. I promise.”

“You won't because you're grounded. And Barkley—come out here!”

Gray turned and saw Barkley hiding in the greenie. His eyes popped open as Sandy stared right at him. He nudged himself forward, smiling nervously. “Oh, here's the path! Silly me, I got lost. Hello, Miss Sandy.”

Her eyes narrowed on the dogfish. “Hello to you, Barkley. Now, both of you get to class.” And with a whisk of her tail she was gone.

“Grounded a whole week. Bummer,” remarked the dogfish matter-of-factly. “By the way…told you so.”

“By the way,” Gray answered, “quit being a flipper.”

Barkley led them around the main area of the reef. Most days at least one or two of the groups representing the different types of reef dwellers would meet about something or other. Anemones, starfish, sea cucumbers, jellies, tropicals, even shellheads, would speak with each other. Gray didn't know why. It wasn't as if they were smart like sharkkind. Most dwellers, or non-sharks, never spoke to sharkkind in general except when something important happened.

Even so, Prime Minister Shocks set the schedule so there wouldn't be what he called “unpleasantness” between groups that might make a meal out of each other. A group of urchins was talking with a cluster of brightly colored tangs. Gray knew these different groups each had their own hierarchy, even the shellheads supposedly, but didn't believe they could have anything interesting or important to say. They were colorful, though. He'd give them that.

Gray loved the riot of colors in the reef. Between the dwellers, algae, greenie, corals, mollusks, and plants, it was like an undersea rainbow. He saw a rainbow in the sky once, and it was a pale imitation of the undersea world. And at night the reef glowed even more spectacularly in places where the lumos gave off their pretty lights.

“Oh, I see a spot! Follow me!” said Barkley as he swam forward to claim an area near the front of the class and close to Miss Lamprey.

“What a sucker fish,” muttered Gray. The dogfish heard and glared.

Miss Lamprey held class in different areas around the reef depending on what was being taught that day. Gray settled in, getting a few irritated looks from groups of angel and parrot fish whose view he accidentally blocked. One particularly annoying parrot fish went right through his mouth and yelled “Move it, wide load!” He almost told the parrot fish he wasn't fat, just big cartilaged, but he knew Miss Lamprey would make him repeat everything to the entire class if she heard. The fish swam around his eyes to be annoying before finding a new place a tail length away. Gray swallowed the urge to put the fish in its place by eating it. He was hungry again. Lately, Gray was always hungry. But he definitely didn't want to get into more trouble by eating a reef dweller.

His mother raised him to never harm anything that lived on or around this particular reef, just as every reef dweller did. There were exceptions, of course. The bottom feeders had their own disgusting ways of eating anything and everything, but sharkkind kept to a higher standard.

“It's not what we do here, Gray,” she told him from his earliest days. “If a fish has color, find another. Silver or brown, gulp it down.” That's what he learned when he was a pup. Or, even more of a pup than he was now. There was a difference between dumb fish that grouped together and mindlessly swam around (those you could eat) and the smarter ones who could hold a conversation (those you weren't supposed to eat). That's not to say any shark, being big or tough enough, couldn't eat whatever he or she wanted. But the decisions you made spoke to what type of citizen of the Big Blue you were. His mother said that sharkkind who chose to hunt intelligent ocean dwellers were more than bad sharks; they were evil. Gray thought it was worth the wait to find a cluster of dumb fish anyhow. There were always more of them!

Besides, breaking the rules carried consequences. One of Barkley's cousins, Hegger, ate a scarlet grouper when he and Barkley were little. Despite the name, a colored grouper was not a mindless, grouping fish. And this particular scarlet grouper lived on the reef. Anyway, Hegger was
accidentally
stung by an urchin the next day and almost died. Hegger swore it was a payback and he was probably right. Urchins were low down, poisonous sneaks who did that sort of thing.

The lesson in Miss Lamprey's class today was about current and drift in the open waters of the Big Blue. Gray barely listened. When was he ever going to experience that? Never. Gray allowed himself to float upward a bit to stretch his flippers.

“Umm, Gray?” whispered Barkley. Gray looked over at the dogfish who smugly reminded him, “You're grounded, remember?” Technically he wasn't a body length from the reef bottom.

Gray grimaced and lowered himself. “Thanks, buddy. Who would have thought you could be so helpful with your snout so far up Miss Lamp—”

“Gray!” yelled Miss Lamprey, cutting him off. “Would you please stop bothering Barkley and pay attention?”

“Sorry, Miss Lamprey.” Gray settled almost on the seabed. He sighed and couldn't wait for moonrise. This day was a total bust.

THE CARIBBI SEA WHERE THE CORAL SHIVER
reef lay was clear and calm when the moon rose. After class Gray and Barkley went swimming. At least, in the areas where Gray was allowed after his punishment. Tonight everyone was getting along, however, which made them exceedingly dull to watch.

“You want to see if those crabs are still fighting?” Barkley asked.

“Who wants to watch a couple of shellheads whacking and clacking over some snail carcass? Gross!” They swam in silence but in the general direction of the feisty crabs, there being nothing better to do. “I'd give anything to be out in the open waters with cold water rushing down my flanks. I'm the type of fin that needs action and adventure!” Gray told his friend. “But where do I live? The quietest reef in the entire
history
of the Big Blue, that's where!”

“Well it's about to get a lot less quiet.” Barkley pointed his snout in the direction of a sea dragon whom everyone around the homewaters had nicknamed “Yappy.” Gray didn't even know his real name. “I hope you're happy,” the dogfish muttered. “You jinxed us.”

Most dwellers wouldn't talk to others not of their kind unless they had some sort of business, or knew them well, or it was an emergency. But Yappy talked with
anyone
he came across, no matter if they wanted to or not. One time everyone thought that ancient Janprickle the urchin had died. Yappy started talking to her and wouldn't stop for an entire day. Nonstop. In a crazy way, it was kind of impressive. Just as Janprickle's fellow urchins were going to
honor
the old dweller in their way by eating her—yuck—she shook herself a couple times and joined the conversation. Janprickle and Yappy talked for another whole day! Not only could Yappy talk you to death, apparently he could talk you
out
of death, too.

And for some reason Yappy thought Barkley and Gray were his best buddies, so it was extra inconvenient for them to bump into him. Even in the weak moonlight, Yappy's bright yellow body made him stand out. He also had blue stripes along his belly and orange highlights on the tips of his weedy flippers and tail. These were supposed to help him blend into the greenie when hunting small crabs and shrimp. But between the nonstop talking and his very bright coloring, it was hard to imagine Yappy blending in anywhere.

“Keep swimming. Don't make eye contact,” whispered Gray.

Barkley agreed wholeheartedly. “Nod and gnash your teeth like we're talking about something serious and maybe—”

“Hey fellas! Isn't the moon just gilly tonight? You ever wonder what the moon is made of?”

“Yappy—” Barkley attempted to get a word in edgewise.

“I heard if a marlin jumps at just the right angle when there's a full moon, he can spear it with his nose. Do you think marlins eat bits of the moon for fifteen nights, and it grows back the other fifteen?”

Barkley tried again, “Yap—”

“If they
are
eating the moon and not sharing, I say the council should get involved. I mean, who do those selfish, moon-eating morons think they are anyway?”

“YAPPY!” shouted Gray, blowing the much smaller sea dragon back a fluke length. This got his attention.

“Yes, Gray?”

“Barkley and I would love to hear your theories on marlins eating the moon, but we're doing some, umm, serious talking about…things.” Gray glanced at his friend to jump in anytime.

Barkley was never slow on the uptake. “That's right. Important shiver business. Sorry, we can't tell you about it. Or we could, but then we'd totally have to eat you.”

“I get it. My cousins in the Dark Blue are always up to super secret stuff about prophecies that could mean the end of the entire Big Blue as we know it! I can't tell you about that, either. Did you know my cousins are giants? Bigger than Gray even! They would just eat that drove of bluefin right up, I tell ya!” Yappy said as he rocked back and forth with the tide.

“Excellent!” Barkley chimed as the sea dragon opened his mouth to say something else. “Let's agree to keep our various secrets safe and swim away without any more talking, so we don't accidentally doom the seven seas.” Barkley tried to shove Gray forward.

“Wait, what did you mean by ‘drove of bluefin'?” asked Gray, suddenly very interested.

“You guys didn't know? The angelfish are sooo miffed. A double drove of bluefin totally stole a swarm of shrimp from them.” Yappy pointed toward the far end of the reef with a back fin. “Never heard such foul language from an angel in my life! Shocking, really.”

Gray fairly vibrated with excitement. A double drove of delicious bluefin was swimming around and distracted by shrimp? Near the reef? His stomach rumbled. That was two hundred fish at least.

Sharks counted fish groupings by cluster, drove, horde, shimmer, shoal, legion, and siege. Clusters were tens, droves were hundreds, a horde was in the thousands, shimmers were ten thousands, a shoal was one hundred to four hundred thousand, legions numbered at five hundred to nine hundred thousand, and a siege was over a
million
fish.

Gray had never seen anything larger than a lower shoal, and those were teeny-tiny krill. They really didn't count unless you could fill up on those ugly, shrimpy things. The older sharks in the shiver said that in the times of their fathers and their father's fathers the Tuna Run was every sixth moon and was always a double or triple siege. Gray couldn't even picture what two or three million fish might look like. And supposedly, a siege of bluefin was so fast and dense it could injure or even kill a shark. Gray was sure they were yanking his tail, though. How could a bunch of fish do that to a shark? Only by overeating, he thought, which was a chance Gray was willing to take if he got lucky enough to see a siege. If he ever even made it to a Tuna Run. But maybe he could have his own little Tuna Run right now!

“I do not like that look,” Barkley said as he watched the smiling Gray. “Not at all.”

“Let's go fishing!” Gray rocketed under and around several brightly colored coral pillars, scaring the heck out of the crabs, eels, and other dwellers trying to stealthily hunt on them.

Barkley struggled to keep up, panting. “Wait, stop!” Just then Gray did stop, reversing himself so fast the dogfish plowed into his tail fin. Barkley let out an “Ooof!”

“Quiet!” Gray told the dogfish. “Look.”

There they were: hundreds and hundreds of big, fat bluefin there for the taking!