Chapter 8

THE SHARKS WEREN'T ATTACKING. YET. THEY were in a strong

defensive position, though.

"Oh, I don't like this one bit. We're jelly drifters here!" Barkley

exclaimed. Gray and Barkley began swimming in a slow figure-eight

pattern that would let them speed away in case trouble started. Gray was

larger than any of the four by a few tail-tips, but the biggest fish wasn't

always the winner in the Big Blue. That much even he knew.

The four sharkkind slowed their advance and hovered against the

current. They were barely five tail strokes away. For a moment the only

sound was the slow current swishing past their flanks.

"So," said the great white. "Any luck hunting?"

Barkley jumped in before Gray could reply, "Nope. Just seeing the

sights. We're moving through. Sorry if this is your territory."

"Oh, it's not!" piped in the sawfish. He stopped talking when the white

gave him a look. The great white was definitely the leader. Now that the

group was so close, Gray could see they were pups like he and Barkley. If

any were older than their twelve summers, it wasn't by much. An

uncomfortable silence descended on them all. The thresher girl, who

seemed nice, gave a worried look to the great white and indicated they

should leave. He nodded and the four were about to turn.

For some reason Gray didn't want them to go. "So, what are your

names? This is my friend Barkley and I'm Gray."

"I'm Snork!" replied the sawfish shark, a little too eagerly for anyone in

either group. He was about to swim forward, maybe in greeting, but maybe

for a sneak attack.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Snork, is it? Keep your distance, okay?" Barkley

told the sawfish, whose nose looked sharp and deadly, chock-full of pointy

spikes on either edge. Neither of them wanted to be filleted, so caution was

a good thing.

The girl thresher didn't like this one bit. "You seem kind of rude,

Barkley—is it?" she asked sarcastically, saying "is it" just like Barkley had,

mocking him. This made Gray smile, which she saw and continued,

"Snork's just being friendly, you know."

"Yeah," Gray piled on, "Snork's just being friendly."

Wow, if looks could send you to the Sparkle Blue, Gray would have

begun his eternal swim on the spot.

It turned out that Barkley's venomous stare was hilarious to the four

sharks from the other group, and they laughed. "Oh, so now I'm the big

flipper?" Barkley asked everyone. "I'm just being safe, you know!" For

some reason this struck everyone as even funnier.

"You're hilarious!" exclaimed Snork, snorting as he laughed, making

Barkley and Gray chortle along with everyone else. Pretty soon Gray's

sides hurt he was laughing so much. It took a moment for everyone to catch

their breath and introduce themselves properly.

Aside from Snork, the great white leader was Striiker, Shell was the big

bull shark, and then there was Mari, who seemed pretty interested in Gray

when he said he was a reef shark, but that could have been his imagination.

Mari had that really cool thresher's tail, bent back at an angle that just

looked awesome. Gray wondered if it made her faster.

"You're really a reef shark?" Mari asked.

"That's what my mom tells me," he joked. Of course he was a reef

shark. What else would he be?

"They must grow them real big by that reef of yours," commented

Shell. The bull was quieter than the rest. He seemed okay, though.

Barkley grew suspicious. "Enough about our reef. Where do you live?"

Now Striiker gave Barkley the stink eye. "Why do you want to know

where we live?"

"Just making conversation." Barkley swished his tail in a way that told

Gray he was agitated. "Any reason you're so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous. Any reason you're so nervous?" Striiker shot right

back.

Mari swam between them, taking position by Gray's right. "Okay you

two, enough," she said. "We're not part of any shiver, if that's what you're

thinking. We're four friends who swim together because it's safer here if

you do that."

"So, you're like a rogue quad?" Gray asked. Barkley waved his tail for

him to stop.

Striiker was genuinely puzzled. "Rogue quad? Is that even a thing?"

"I love it!" Snork exclaimed.

Gray explained, "Barkley told this shark we were a rogue pair when he

got flustered."

"Aww, did you have to go there?" Barkley said, flipping his fins in

embarrassment. "I thought that giant tiger was going to kill us! A flipper

named Thrash."

There was an immediate chill in the water. Their new acquaintances

moved back a couple of tail strokes from Barkley and Gray. "You know

Thrash? Are you friends with Thrash?" Striiker asked evenly.

Gray answered, "Like Barkley said, he attacked us. So, no, we're not

friends." He proceeded to tell the entire story of their meeting with Thrash.

Barkley added a lot of description to the fight. Gray wasn't sure it was

all true, but it sure sounded good. He ended with, "…and then that mucksucker asked us to be a part of his gang, and I was like, 'no way, lagoon

scum, we're a rogue pair and way too cool for your dumb shiver!' And we

let him see our tails when we left." Barkley waved his tail in a derisive

manner. It was kind of embarrassing. Almost no one believed that's what

happened. Almost.

"You may be the coolest sharks, ever," Snork whispered in wonder.

Striiker shook his head. "And on that note…" He rolled a slow turn,

beckoning Mari and the other three sharks away from Gray and Barkley.

Mari didn't move, sizing them up, instead.

"They did fight Thrash, and they're still here," Mari told Striiker, who

turned around. He didn't seem happy.

The bull shark agreed. "And they're not with Goblin."

Striiker glared at Snork before he could add anything, then frowned at

both Mari and Shell. "We just met them today! How do we know they can

be trusted?"

"How do we know you can be trusted?" Barkley huffed. "By the way,

what are we talking about?"

Gray had a pretty good idea and nodded to Mari to continue.

"The reason they're still swimming the Big Blue is because there were

two of them against Thrash. The reason we're still around is because we

four look out for each other. I think six would be better than four," Mari

explained.

Shell nodded in agreement. Barkley wasn't so sure. Striiker seemed

annoyed but not totally against the idea. And Snork? Well, Snork was being

friendly again. "Come on! With six sharks we could be a real shiver! A

leader with Five in the Line!" he said.

The great white shook his head. "If we wanted that we could have all

stayed in our shivers. Mostly." Striiker gave a guilty glance to Shell, who

for some reason looked away. He continued, "The one reason we like each

other is because we aren't in shivers, which we know from experience is

bad!"

"Hey, not all shivers are bad," Barkley protested.

"Yeah, we came from a great shiver," Gray told the four.

"The six of us could be a good shiver! A great shiver, even!" Snork

almost bounced in the water as he got more and more excited, flexing his

flippers back and forth. "And I have the perfect name! Rogue Shiver!"

And so, on the swim to their new homewaters, Rogue Shiver was born.