Chapter 13

THE MOON HAD GONE THROUGH AN ENTIRE cycle since Rogue

Shiver had joined Goblin Shiver. Most days were spent patrolling their

territory and hunting. All the sharks from the shiver took turns swimming

patrol routes, but there was always a large group protecting the homewaters.

Other than a few probing patrols of their own, there was little sign of Razor

Shiver. Gray hadn't seen a single bull.

"You think maybe the war is over?" he asked Barkley. "It has been very

quiet." This was Gray's first time patrolling with the dogfish. He had been

looking forward to it all week. His friends hadn't adapted to their new lives

as well as Gray had to his. Mari and Striiker both seemed edgy or irritated

most of the time. Other than a few meetings by the Speakers Rock for

announcements or speeches by Goblin, Gray really didn't see his exshivermates at all. It seemed as though they were being intentionally kept

apart.

"No, it's not over," answered Barkley, "and this isn't a war. It's more

like a turf battle, which is why we didn't know anything about it. If there

was a war—a real war—we would have heard something, even by the reef."

The dogfish snapped up a mackerel that passed close to his mouth. "I think

we should leave. I hear the Sific Ocean is nice. Goblin would never follow

us all the way there," he told Gray while he munched on the fish.

"And what about your cousins?" Gray asked. "And my mom?"

"Easy. We sneak back through the territory when the time for the Tuna

Run comes."

Gray could see Streak and Ripper in the distance, waiting to continue

their patrol. "Let's talk about this some other time," he told the dogfish.

"Sure, Gray. Whatever." Barkley swam away without another word.

"Any trouble?" Streak asked.

"All quiet," Gray replied. The blue nodded, and the pair swam out.

"Well, well, well!" said Goblin, appearing from nowhere. "How's

everything going?"

"Fine, Goblin." Gray grew wary. The shiver leader hadn't ever stopped

to chat before.

"Follow me," the great white told him. They went to the edge of the

central area and then a little farther. Suddenly Goblin turned and attacked! It

was all Gray could do to evade his initial rush. Then they both spun a tight

turn and rammed each other. Gray was dazed, then Goblin started laughing.

"You don't know your own strength. For a young pup, you hit like Ripper!"

Gray was confused but couldn't help but puff with pride at the

compliment. Ripper was a warrior, a true mariner. That much he knew from

his short time here. "Umm, thanks."

"You've been with us a month now," Goblin said. "Are you getting your

sea legs?"

"'Sea legs'?"

The great white chuckled. "Right, you're from the boonie-greenie."

Gray was about to ask where the boonie-greenie was but thought better of

it. "'Sea legs' is a landshark saying for getting used to the ocean. Humans

sometimes get sick on their boats when the chop-chop is rough. When they

get used to the waves, they say their landshark legs have turned into 'sea

legs.' Get it?"

Gray understood very little of what Goblin was saying. Barkley would

have definitely known. Maybe he should have paid a little more attention in

Miss Lamprey's classes. In any case, an answer wasn't required.

"Did you know sharkkind used to talk with the humans? They even use

some of our words!"

"Aww, come on," Gray said before he could stop himself.

But Goblin didn't get angry. "No, really. These homewaters have been

led by great whites for thousands of years." Goblin thumped him on the

head with his tail in a joking way. Gray didn't mind, though, as the shiver

leader was talking and listening to him. That was something that Atlas

never did. "In those days the entire Atlantis Ocean was part of an empire

that ruled with an iron fin over all the seven seas."

Gray was fascinated. He listened as Goblin told him that an evil and

corrupt mako empress by the name of Silander ruled everything from her

giant kingdom in the Sific Ocean, which was a hundred times larger than

Goblin Shivers homewaters. She ordered her brutal, armored squaline,

which meant "fish soldier" in an ancient landshark language called Latin, to

collect food from the shivers until everyone was starving. "Squaline is also

where the concept of the Line comes from," Goblin noted. "But good

sharkkind in the Indi, Arktik, and Atlantis oceans rose up against her

empire. Riptide was formed back then, and it teamed with tattooed Indi

Shiver to strike the first blow in a long war."

Gray was hesitant to interrupt but asked, "Tattooed Indi Shiver?"

"No, they're called Indi Shiver, and they have tattoos." Goblin saw that

Gray didn't understand and explained further. "They mark themselves with

designs on their bodies by having urchins crawl along their skin and release

acid."

How cool was that? It was the most interesting story ever! Gray

listened, totally captivated as Goblin described the pitched battle between

armadas of sharkkind and dwellers on each side in the South Atlantis that

broke Silander's power. It was fittingly called the Battle of Silander's End.

After she lost, her own Line sent her to the Sparkle Blue. Then those

sharkkind fought among themselves over who would lead, and the empire

crumbled, never to rise again.

Gray just gaped. He couldn't believe he had never heard of this before.

What kind of school was Miss Lamprey leading? They spent a month

studying plankton! But Gray knew it wasn't her fault. The Caribbi sea was

off the beaten path, and she probably didn't know anything about the Battle

of Silander's End. Or maybe he wasn't paying attention that day in class. It

was definitely one or the other.

"So, are there still big battle shivers with armadas of sharkkind?" Gray

asked.

"No, they all splintered into smaller ones like here in the Atlantis. Some

say Indi Shiver has a new pup king who wants to be emperor of the Big

Blue. They say he's already taken over the Arktik."

Gray gasped. "Is it true?"

The great white chuckled. "No. These stories bubble up every now and

again. Ten years ago, a South Sific shiver was supposedly conquering

everything. Somewhere far away, there's probably a story about me wanting

to be emperor."

"Do you?"

The great white waggled a fin, pointing. "Can you guess how this part

of the Big Blue got its name?" Goblin asked. Gray didn't know, and the

story the great white told seemed even more unbelievable and made him

forget his question. The Atlantis Ocean wasn't named after sharkkind after

all. It was named for landsharks who called themselves Atlanteans! They

lived on a faraway island. All the shivers, even when they fought each

other, would protect Atlanteans if their ships sank in storms. In return, these

landsharks taught them things, just like Oceana told him.

The Atlanteans were the ones who showed sharkkind how to repair

battle wounds and even cure fever from the poisonous stings of urchins and

jellies with algae and mosses from the ocean. They forged metal armor for

sharkkind, with razor edges to cover fins, a spike for the tail, and protective

plating for the flanks. Sometimes humans even swam into battle with

sharks, protecting their dorsal topside while breathing air from a bladder

made of animal skin! The humans who lived on Europa got jealous of the

Atlanteans as they became more and more powerful and finally sank their

island. They killed many sharks while doing that. Because of this treachery,

all sharkkind vowed never to treat with humans ever again. Now any

landsharks that came into the Big Blue were fair game.

"Although they're not really worth it, even the fatter ones," said Goblin

as he made a face. "They're bony and don't taste good at all."

Goblin also told Gray about the measurements landsharks used. These

measurements did seem useful, especially when comparing them against the

mako standard of flippers and body lengths. It would be easier to tell

someone that a drove of halibut was a thousand feet down than to describe

it in tip-to-tails. Gray wondered how the landsharks could be so smart and

so stupid at the same time. After generations and generations of sailing on

the Big Blue, they still can't swim better than a turtle!

"Why are you telling me all this?" Gray asked.

Goblin smiled. "I see potential in you. Who knows, maybe one day you

could be in the Line. Maybe even my first." The initial emotion that hit

Gray wasn't pride—that would come later. His first emotion was fear, the

image of the ferocious, giant Ripper coming to his mind. Ripper wouldn't

like being displaced. Not at all. Goblin seemed to know what he was

thinking. "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to fight anyone today. You're

not ready yet. And besides, we don't battle for position much anymore.

Sharks die often enough without wasting lives."

"I—I don't know what to say," Gray stumbled over his words. "It's

so…umm…weird."

"Weird to be appreciated?" Goblin nodded. "I get it. Sometimes when

you grow up in a shiver where it's quiet, the sharks in the Line only see you

as the pup they scared in the greenie for a joke that one time."

"Or when you got your head stuck in a bucket," Gray added.

"What's that now?" asked Goblin.

Gray coughed. "Nothing. You were saying?"

"What I see is a big fin with lots of potential. That's why you're going

to the Tuna Run with me and the rest of the shiver."

"You mean it?" Gray fairly shouted. He was being invited as a hunter!

His own shiver didn't even want him as a member. Or they hadn't, until….

Suddenly Gray could only think about his mother. Goblin saw his sadness

and bumped him.

"None of that now," he told Gray. "You're going to the Tuna Run, pup.

And if you find your family, they'll see what a great hunter you've become. But you need to practice first."

"Practice for the Tuna Run? How can you do that?"

Goblin just smiled his toothy smile. "You'll see."