Chapter 9

THE PALE MOON'S GLOW LIT THE WATERS WITH a soft and eerie

light. Gray sped toward the drove of snapper, slowing just enough to let

them see him streaking their way. The group of fish angled away from his

open maw—right between the walls of a cramped canyon where Rogue

Shiver was waiting! The plan worked to perfection once again, and Gray

was able to munch his share of snapper as they fled in the return direction

after the rest caught theirs.

"We are getting so good at this!" Barkley remarked, finishing off a

plump and juicy fish.

Gray nodded. Who would have thought that what had started out with

the worst day of his life would turn into the best time of his life? It had been

two weeks since Gray and Barkley formed Rogue Shiver with their new

friends. After some initial wariness, mostly from Striiker, the group now

mixed easily. They learned many things about each other, except for the

whale in the water. The one topic nobody brought up was why each was

swimming the Big Blue and not in another shiver.

"I'm stuffed," said Snork. "We never ate this well when there were just

four of us!" It turned out Snork was nearly thirteen and a half, the oldest of

the group by six months, although he didn't act like it. Striiker and Mari

were twelve like Gray and Barkley, and Shell had turned thirteen just last

month.

"It's probably a good time for hunting or something," Gray said.

Striiker harrumphed. "Let's go home. We don't want to be seen by

Goblin Shiver's patrols." For some reason, if anything was more annoying

to the great white than having his leadership questioned, it was Gray being

nice to him.

"Their name was much cooler when it was Riptide Shiver," remarked

Snork as he followed. "Since Goblin changed it, now we have the best

shiver name in the whole Big Blue."

They actually had performed a shiver creation ceremony. Snork insisted.

Even Striiker went along with it, probably because he got to be leader. The

others voted themselves in the order they had been subconsciously

swimming in. Mari was elected first, Shell second, and Snork third. Gray

was chosen as fourth in the Line. Mari wanted to vote Gray higher, much

higher in fact, but he wouldn't hear of it. It did seem pretty funny that Snork

—now that he knew Snork—was technically supposed to be tougher than

him. Gray let it slide. He hadn't been in the open ocean for even one moon,

and he knew the others were better suited toward making decisions.

Besides, Gray was happy to wait until the Tuna Run when he would

rejoin his mother and Coral Shiver. Gray wanted to ask his new friends to

come to the reef but hadn't found the right time. He didn't tell this to

anyone, though, because he hadn't mentioned it to Barkley yet. The

dogfish's mood was not good when he was chosen as Rogue Shiver's fifth.

"Are you kidding me?" his friend wailed. "There are only six of us,

total! That's just embarrassing!" But when Mari asked whether he would

rather be fifth in the Line or the only general member of Rogue Shiver,

Barkley grumbled "Fine. Fifth. Great," and swam away. It took an entire

day to calm the dogfish down.

Their new home was only a short swim away and well hidden.

Towering brown and blue-greenie waved majestically, forming a wall that

made everyone feel safe. You could enter unseen by swimming beneath a

short tunnel formed by a fallen cliff. And there was the perfect hiding spot.

It was an old landshark ship, really old from what Barkley told them. And

big!

The ship had three levels, and when it had ridden the chop-chop,

humans used wooden planks called "oars" to move the bulky thing through

the water! Aside from a large crack in the bottom of the ship now, it was

through these oar openings that a nice current flowed, allowing easy

breathing. This was much better than sleeping in open water where you

could be spotted, or down in the greenie where you could get something in

your gills. There was plenty of space inside, although one room on the end

was filled with shiny yellow disks that spilled everywhere because the

wooden boxes they were packed into had rotted through. No one liked that

area, as the moldy boxes left a tang in the water you could taste, unlike the

rest of the ship.

Even though the ship lay three times the depth of the reef, there was still

good light from the sun and moon. But it wasn't like the reef where other

dwellers would talk with the shiver. Here the shellheads, lumos, fish, and

urchins stayed out of the way when Rogue Shiver was around. Gray tried to

ask a sea dragon if she knew Yappy, but the little dweller slalomed into the

greenie without saying a word. He hadn't thought he'd miss speaking with

other dwellers, but he did.

Only when Gray and his new shiver were by the wreck did they relax

completely. It had been a good day. No, a great day. Gray found himself

staring at Mari's sleek thresher tail as they went inside the landshark ship.

Unfortunately, Barkley saw this and whispered, "Mari cuts a nice wake,

eh?"

He felt his face color. "She's okay, I guess."

They hung around the main cabin, enjoying the cool current streaming

through the ship. Gray decided on the spot. It was finally time to tell the rest

of Rogue Shiver how he got here.

"You've all heard of the Tuna Run?" he asked.

Striiker snorted. "I've been there twice!" Others in the group rolled their

eyes. Apparently the great white spoke about this a little too often.

"Well, I think I should tell you how I got here and why I'm mentioning

it now," Gray told everyone.

"Everyone's tired, Gray." Barkley swished his tail furiously. "We don't

need to hear any of your long, boring stories." But Gray was determined

and told the entire tale. After he was finished, Mari, Striiker, Shell, and

Snork stared at Barkley with a newfound respect.

The dogfish misread the situation. "What? Is there snapper between my

teeth?" he asked, genuinely clueless.

Snork tapped his saw bill on Barkley's head. "You are the best friend a

fin could have!"

Even the normally quiet Shell remarked, "Not many sharkkind would

leave their home like that."

Gray never thought he'd see the day when Barkley was speechless, but

that day had come. The dogfish stuttered, actually embarrassed by the

attention. "Yeah well, that's the way I roll. Anyway, we're talking about

Gray who still hasn't said what any of this has to do with Tuna Run! So?"

Barkley gave Gray a friendly bump in the flank with his snout.

"My mom wants me to find her at the Tuna Run. If I can prove I'm a

good hunter, they'll let me back in."

The reaction wasn't what Gray expected.

"You're leaving?" asked Mari.

"I knew they were just acting like our friends!" huffed Striiker. "They

only needed a place to stay for a while."

Shell stared at both of them as Snork said in a trembling voice, "Is that

true, Gray?"

Gray had enough of Striiker. "You know, you're a real tail bender! I've

been nothing but nice, and you just think the worst of me!"

"Tell me I'm wrong!" roared Striiker

Gray was ready to rumble, butting Striiker against the hull of the

landshark ship. "If you'd let me finish, I was going to say you could all

come back to the reef and be a part of Coral Shiver, you great, big

krillhead!"

Striiker was speechless for a moment. "You'd do that for us?" he asked

in wonder. "For me, even?"

Gray was taken aback by the vulnerability of the great white. "If you

promised not to be such a flipper, then yes."

"But if you think you'd be leading, or even in the Line, you'd be

wrong," said Barkley a little too loudly. He had taken up position above

Gray and was still amped up and ready to fight the great white. "I mean,

maybe one day, maybe. But you know how it is with new members. Take it

from your fifth." This got a chuckle from Striiker, which released all the

tension among them. Pretty soon everyone was chattering excitedly, with

Barkley telling the other four all the great things about Coral Shiver's reef.

But everything took an odd turn when Shell asked, "So it was still there

when you guys went back?"

"Went back when?" asked Gray.

"The day when Barkley was named fifth and swam off," the bull shark

answered. "We thought you went for a visit or something. Some of us do

that, from time to time. We didn't know you had been banished."

"No, our home is farther than that," Gray told him.

"And the reef's been there since Tyro swam past it," Barkley guffawed.

"Why wouldn't it still be there?"

Everyone grew quiet. A bad feeling prickled up Gray's spine. He looked

at Mari for an explanation, but she shook her head and didn't say anything.

Striiker swam forward a bit. "You mentioned you were in a shiver by a

reef when you fought Thrash. You shouldn't have done that."

Barkley shook his head. "Gray didn't say where our homewaters were."

"They found mine," Snork whispered in a haunted voice. The happy-golucky sawfish was trembling. "They find every shiver they hear about."

"Mostly, we're from shivers that Goblin found," said Shell sadly. "He's

at war with my old shiver, Razor Shiver. The only reason we're still alive is

because we have more mariners than Goblin. Not because he doesn't want

to destroy those homewaters."

Mari was upset and didn't seem to want to speak, but Gray motioned

her to tell him what she was thinking.

"Thrash is dumb, but if he told Goblin you were from a reef where he

could find new recruits, he will find your reef."

"Then what?" Gray asked, growing frantic. "What would he do?"

Snork's voice was faraway and reedy when he broke the silence. He whispered, "They eat anyone who doesn't join."