Chapter 3

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