Chapter 1

SUNLIGHT DAPPLED THE WARM WATER AS GRAY flexed his

powerful fins, gliding to a stop in a thick kelp bed. He used to hide in this

patch of green-greenie unseen when he was smaller, but now his tail poked

out. Gray made sure it waved back and forth with the warm tide so it

wouldn't give him away. He would have been spotted going to the shiver's

main hunting grounds, so he had snuck away in the opposite direction

toward the lagoon. Gray was a growing fish, but the council, and his mom,

Sandy, wouldn't let him hunt unsupervised. That was just unfair. He was

twelve years old! He was practically adult for any sharkkind. Almost,

anyway.

Even though his name was Gray, he was more bluish on his upper half

and white on the bottom, with what he thought was a really cool stripe

down each of his enormous flanks. "Everyone's jealous," he muttered.

Apparently Gray was big for a reef shark. And ever since he grew larger

than Atlas, the old bull shark who was Coral Shiver's leader, every fin

watched him with a mixture of curiosity and fear. Like I'm a freak or

something, he thought.

Gray pushed that from his mind and concentrated on the task at hand.

He'd get into trouble for sure if the council, or his mom, found out he was

this far away from the homewaters. And so near the lagoon, Gray thought.

But this is where the tasty, tasty lobsters hang out. He gnashed his rows of

razor-sharp teeth, imagining the satisfying crunch of a nice, plump

shellhead. The lobster that Gray was hunting wandered into the next kelp

bed over, which was even thicker than where Gray was hiding now, but no

problem. Many sharkkind didn't like swimming through greenie because

they were afraid they would get tangled. But not Gray. He swam where he

wanted, when he wanted. And today that happened to be in a kelp bed. Now

where was that lobster? Being such a great hunter, Gray was positive the

dumb shellhead didn't have a clue that certain doom was coming for it.

But suddenly his prey jetted forward, abandoning all stealth and gaining

speed. The lobster somehow sensed his presence and made a break for the

lagoon where Gray couldn't swim safely anymore, not since his growth

spurt. This was a little annoying. Gray used the currents to mask his

stalking to perfection! Or not…How did this little krillface know he was

watching? The lobster whizzed toward the mouth of the lagoon, where the

landsharks had built some sort of floating home. Gray's mom would be

really angry if she found out he was this close to the lagoon. But he wasn't

about to be seen by anyone except the lobster. "And ol' Lobby will keep my

secret once he's safely in my belly," Gray said out loud as he gained speed.

"Watcha doing, Gray?" asked Barkley the dogfish, disrupting Gray's

concentration and even startling him a bit. Just a bit, though.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Barkley could be very annoying. But still, he

was Gray's friend and one of the few fish that made him laugh. He was also

one of the few reef mates that would still spend time with Gray after his

enormous growth spurt the previous year. Most of his old friends got very

jumpy when he was around. Gray wondered why that was for a moment,

but then set about leaving Barkley in his wake.

"Trying to catch that lobster, huh? Listen to your older and wiser friend

—this isn't a good idea." Barkley was born a month before Gray and

brought that fact up whenever he could.

"I'm not taking a survey about what you think!" Gray groused.

"Hey, I just don't want to see you with your head stuck in a bucket

again." The dogfish grinned, now swimming upside down and eye to eye

with Gray. The memory still stung.

When Gray was a pup, he explored an ancient wreck of a landshark

boat, a galleon, and got his head stuck in a bucket which was something

humans used to carry stuff around in. It had been wedged on so tight Prime

Minister Shocks needed to ask three of the octos from the octopus clan to

pull the thing off. Gray was called "bucket head" that entire summer. He

pretended not to hear Barkley's teasing and increased his speed, but his

friend was annoyingly fast for a dogfish and kept pace.

"Seriously, Gray, Miss Lamprey hunts around here before class. If she

sees you, she'll tell your mom for sure," Barkley warned.

Everyone who grew up near the reef was taught by Miss Lamprey. They

learned not only about the world in which they lived, but also about the dry

world above the water where the two-legged landsharks ruled. Gray thought

learning about the human world—that's what they called themselves—was

a big waste of time. But it did make things easier if you knew the words for

things that didn't come from the Big Blue. Especially if you got your head

stuck in a bucket.

"Miss Lamprey can keep her pointy snout out of my business. And I

thought we agreed to never bring up the incident again!"

"Oh, riiight. Totally forgot. Sorry. Let's head back to the reef," Barkley

said as he tried to turn Gray by pressing against him. Ha! Fat chance. That

used to work, but now Gray was four times the size of the dogfish who

nonetheless strained against his bulk. "Seriously, stop being such a flipper!

We're going to be late for class!"

"I am not a flipper!" Gray told the dogfish. "I'm a total fin!" Being a fin

was very cool. Being a flipper wasn't.

"Well, you're not acting very finny!" Barkley said. Gray butted his

friend to the side and sped forward. "Hey! Come back!" shouted the

dogfish.

"Eat wake, buddy!" The lobster had passed into the mouth of the

lagoon. Talking with Barkley cost Gray valuable time. But it still wouldn't

be enough time for his prey to make it home. Gray would show the

shellhead who was the big fish in this patch of water.

He bore down on the lobster. Gray could feel the warm water whisking

through his gills and closed his mouth so it wouldn't slow him down. He

could smell the lobster as he closed the distance between them. So

delicious! He ground his teeth in anticipation. Closer. The lobster

disappeared momentarily into the fronds of kelp near the opening of the

lagoon. There wasn't enough to hide in, though. Gray sped through the

sparse greenie, opening his mouth for his strike when—whammo!

But it wasn't a good whammo. Not good at all. Gray had hit a hidden

shelf in the lagoon bed. He could feel his dorsal fin in the exposed air above

the waterline! The lobster turned and clacked its claws at Gray while

shimmying and flipping its tail back and forth. Was the shellhead doing

some sort of victory swim?! Impossible!

Crustaceans were just dumb snacks. It sure seemed to be enjoying itself,

though.

Barkley cruised to a stop, hovering near Gray. "Wow, that looked

painful. And dumb! Was it more painful than dumb, you think? Or the other

way 'round?"

Gray struggled, thrashing his tail to free himself. But he was stuck. "If

you're finished, I could use some help!"

"Fine, fine." Barkley quickly swam to the shallower side of the lagoon

and pushed. This accomplished nothing. He swam a tight circle and tried

butting Gray off the shelf. "You know, you might want to lay off the fatty

tuna and go on a seaweed diet for a while. I've heard it's very cleansing."

"Shut your cod hole and push!" Gray yelled. They were far too close to

the landshark colony. And humans had things called boats to move on top

of the Big Blue. One time Gray came upon a human in a rubber covering

floating by the bottom of the reef. He was chasing a group of mackerel and

didn't notice the human until they were snout to snout. It carried a spine

shooter, and sometimes those were dangerous, even to a shark as big as

Gray. But the landshark dropped it and blew bubbles instead, waving its

arms wildly, looking very fierce indeed! It scared Gray so much he swam

away as fast as he could! Close call. But this was more dangerous. Fish of

all sizes—even whales!—were caught and killed by humans from boats.

Gray thrashed even harder. With one final ram from Barkley at full

speed, he felt the ledge crumble, then disappear. He was free! Gray rejoiced

as his dorsal fin submerged and he angled for deeper water.

"That was a close one, buddy!" Barkley chuckled nervously. After a

moment, Gray did too. Pretty soon they were both cackling like crazy fish.

"Can you imagine what your mom would do if she found out?" Barkley

trailed off. Gray was laughing so hard he didn't notice his mother floating

off to the side, her eyes blazing. Uh-oh.

"I think I'm going to find out," Gray said to his friend.

But Barkley wasn't there, of course. The dogfish had wisely vanished.

How does he do that? Gray wondered silently as his mother frowned, her tail swishing in short, angry strokes