Chapter 7

THE WORD ECHOED IN GRAY'S EARS LIKE THE TIDES.

Banished.

Prime Minister Shock's word was law by the reef, and even though

Gray was a big fish, the sentence would be carried out. The octos from the

octopus clan were waiting with their foul jets of black ink if he didn't obey.

And the seedier bottom feeders who lived on the dark side of the reef—Orin

the scorpion fish and his friends came to mind—were poisonous enough to

send even Gray to the Sparkle Blue if he caused trouble. Aside from his

mom and Barkley, Gray's only ally was Yappy! And that was only because

Yappy's family couldn't stop him from talking. Not until they caught him,

anyway.

For a moment Gray almost chuckled at the thought of Yappy zipping

around, with so many others chasing him and yelling, "This is a slippery

slope! What will you do when they come for you? Slippery slope! Slippery

slope!" But Gray sobered quickly, remembering how Barkley's family

ushered him away before he had the chance to react at all. That was

probably a good thing. The dogfish could get emotional sometimes.

"At least I didn't give them the satisfaction of throwing me out," Gray

muttered. He swam out, head high, on his own. Truthfully, the reef and

Coral Shiver homewaters were too small for a fin like him. Gray needed

space if he was going to live it up. Maybe Prime Minister Shocks had done

him a big, fat favor.

It sure didn't really feel that way, though.

Gray almost began to sob but stopped when he saw a giant sea turtle

staring as it leisurely floated by. "What you lookin' at, shellback? You want

a piece of me?" The turtle churned its stubby legs a little faster. For their

kind this was the equivalent of a panicked rush. Gray was satisfied with the

reaction, so he didn't go ram the turtle. "You better not tell anyone I was

crying!" he yelled at the turtle's receding figure. "Because I'm not!"

Gray had traveled for three entire days, near as he could figure. When he

was near the reef, he could sense the depth of the water and didn't need to

open his eyes to tell if it was day or night. In this open water, Gray stayed

near the surface to keep himself oriented. Not that he was afraid to go

deeper, of course. He just didn't want to go deeper right now. "At least the

sun shines into the water the same way," he said aloud. But it was colder

and the current stronger. Not like home at all. What I'd give to be grounded

by the reef again, he thought sadly.

Gray looked down to where the water darkened. Although he could

sense the bottom was there, he couldn't see it. How did dwellers there even

know what time it was? It was even colder than the water around him. And

always black as night. Gray's stomach churned. He was hungry, but the

ocean seemed absolutely empty! It was eerie. And when there were fish,

they came and went so fast he actually missed with his strikes. Compared to

the ones by the reef, these fish were bigger, stronger, and faster. Gray's

stomach growled again, and he grew scared. Maybe he'd just starve in the

open waters.

"Hey, Gray!" Gray almost jumped out of his skin. It was Barkley!

"Would you stop doing that?" Gray sputtered, momentarily forgetting

his situation. But only for a moment. They were a very long distance from

the reef. "What are you doing here?"

Barkley was uncharacteristically tongue-tied for a moment. "Umm,

nothing. Just stretching the ol' fins. You know me, always trying to broaden

my horizons."

"Go home."

Barkley made a rude noise. "Who do you think you are, ordering me

around? Takiza the magical fighting fish?"

Gray chuckled despite the situation. Takiza was a legendary fish who

supposedly could conjure whirlpools and underwater lightning with magic.

There were lots of fantastic stories about Takiza, who went by lots of

different names depending on whom you asked. One time he supposedly

fought ten great whites, the meanest of all sharkkind, and beat them easily

when they threatened a baby dolphin. It was a fantastic tale and obviously

just for amusement. "Be a good shark or Takiza will come and put you in

your place!" The worst part of it was that Barkley's dumb comment

reminded him of the reef and his mom telling him stories about Takiza,

which made him even more homesick.

Gray sighed. Even though he was arguing with Barkley, the truth was

that he wanted his friend to stay. But that was wrong. Gray was exiled and

Barkley wasn't. His home was by the reef, and Gray couldn't let him throw

that away. "I know what you're doing, but you should turn around."

"And I know what you're doing, Gray. But we've been friends since

you were born—I was born first, so of course I remember—and I want to

come along. I was going to sign up for Miss Lamprey's migration class this

year, anyway. This'll be like that, only better! Besides, you think I'm going

to let you hoard all the adventure like some adventure-hoarding hermit

crab?"

Gray replied with a subdued "Okay, then." It was all he could do not to

burst into tears. Tough fin you are, he thought to himself.

They found a swift current, which pulled them deeper and deeper into

the open waters of the Big Blue. Gray enjoyed the silence for a time. But

with Barkley being Barkley, silence never lasted too long.

"So, where we going?"

"Umm, into the open ocean," Gray answered with as much confidence

as he could muster.

Barkley sighed. "Yes, I'm aware of that—being here and all. We're into

the Atlantis Ocean now, North Atlantis, by the way. But where do you want

to end up?"

"I don't know. I started swimming in this direction after they kicked me

out. I didn't have some big exile plan ready to go. You know, you can get

annoying in a fin flick!" But Gray wasn't really mad at Barkley. He was

mad at himself. He was so upset after being banished that he had started

swimming without even thinking about where he was going. He certainly

didn't want to end up in the Arktik where he heard the very water froze,

forming jagged masses that could crush a shark!

Barkley flexed his flukes at Gray in irritation. "I'm hungry. How about

we find some food?"

Finally, something they could agree on. It took a while, but they did

find, and more importantly, catch some food. First Gray chased a small

horde of cod toward Barkley, who picked a few off. It was either a horde or

upper drove. The dogfish thought it was an upper drove of eight or nine

hundred. Gray didn't care as he was unable to catch even one since the

small horde or upper drove was fast-moving and left the area quickly. But

Barkley returned the favor by finding a lower cluster of sailfish. One

muscular game fish didn't know what hit it as Gray pounced from below,

taking most of it down with an enormous bite.

"Any cod left?" Gray asked after he'd finished off the last of the

sailfish.

"You know, sailfish work out constantly. They think their bodies are

temples. You might learn from that kind of thinking," Barkley told Gray

while jabbing Gray's stomach with his tail.

"Hey, I'm big cartilaged!"

Barkley swam away, leading Gray in a slightly different direction. What

was he doing?

"By the way, I'll pick the way we're heading, since it's my exile!" Gray

told his friend, perhaps a little too vehemently, as he corrected their course.

"Right. What grade did you get in navigation class again?" Barkley

asked innocently.

Oh, now he was playing dirty. Gray had taken the navigation test

immediately after eating a puffer fish which had not gone down well. It felt

as if the fish were inflating in his stomach, which cramped violently the

entire day. The galling part was that he got lost during the exam! Miss

Lamprey knew Gray was sick, which she took into account, but he got a

poor grade that cycle.

The truth was Gray didn't know where he was going. For the first time

in his life, he was swimming without a purpose. That scared him. Before, if

he was unsure of what to do, he'd ask his mom. But he couldn't do that

anymore. He was about to confess this to Barkley when the dogfish

whispered a fearful "Uh-oh."

There were four sharks swimming in a tight pack; a thresher, a bull, a

sawfish, and a great white. Miss Lamprey said great whites should be left

alone in the open ocean. She said they hunted other sharkkind, even when

they weren't hungry. For fun.

"Umm, Gray? How about we make like a sea frog and scoot?"

suggested Barkley.

It was a good idea. But too late.

The four sharks fanned out and swam toward them.