Chapter 28

GRAY PEERED THOUGH THE RED AND GOLD greenie as Striiker

watched their tails. There they were! Barkley, Mari, Shell, and Snork! How

could someone be so cruel as to jam them together like that? To lock them

where they couldn't flex their fins properly? He grew angry. How could

sharkkind treat other sharks this way? Or any dweller for that matter? This

was wrong! Whatever loyalty he felt toward Goblin and his shiver was

carried away by the current.

"The coast seems clear," Gray whispered, more to himself as he and

Striiker hadn't exchanged a word during the swim over.

"Look again," Striiker replied, flicking a fin toward a rocky outcropping

several lengths away from the cage. Sure enough, there was Thrash. He was

talking with two more shiver sharks. Gray's emotions clashed. Thrash was a

battle brother to Gray! How could he, of all fins, do this? And all the while

the tiger had smiled and laughed with him when they were in the

homewaters and on patrol. "We should go in hard and fast," Striiker said.

"Scare them off."

Gray shook his head. "They may scatter at first, but they'll turn back in

an attack formation." He couldn't see any way to get to the cage and free

his friends without sending Thrash to the Sparkle Blue. And even now,

Gray didn't want to do that. "Let me talk with him," he told Striiker.

"Look, I don't want to argue over who's leading who here, but are you

out of your mind?"

"Maybe I am, but why don't you listen to me for a change?"

After Gray told Striiker what he was planning, the great white gave him

a begrudging nod. "Nice plan," Striiker said as he went away, low, and in

the greenie so as not to be seen. Gray waited for him to get into position and

then simply swam into view.

To say Thrash was surprised was an understatement. "What the—Gray,

hey, pal!" the tiger sputtered. "What are you doing here? I think Goblin

needs you back at the homewaters."

Gray acted as surprised as he could. He didn't look at the cage,

pretending not to see it. "I was chasing a lower drove of grouper but lost

them. You see where they went?"

As Thrash was forming an answer, Striiker whizzed in from above and

speared one of the two other shiver sharks in the side, sending it spinning to

the sand. The other, a small mako, raced upward and out of sight.

Thrash knew he had been tricked and launched himself at Gray, who

barely missed losing his left fin. He jammed Thrash as he passed flankside

with his dorsal fin, raking the tiger. Both turned in counterpoint, but Gray

was the quicker one. He could stun Thrash without killing him. Striiker was

behind the tiger, blocking his escape angle.

Suddenly, Snork yelled from the cage, "Look out! Above you!"

Streaking back into the fight, the forgotten mako was now in perfect

position to mortally wound Striiker. Gray gave up his attack on Thrash and

used his speed to collide with the attacking shark, knocking it away just in

time to save Striiker. Now Thrash turned. If it wasn't for Striiker slashing

toward the fin to distract the attacking tiger, Gray would have been killed

for sure.

With the great white now chasing Thrash's tail, Gray made a quick half

loop to gather speed for the downward attack called Orca Bears Down and

slammed into Thrash. Striiker was about to tear out Thrash's gills when

Gray yelled, "Stop!" The great white crashed into the tiger but didn't bite

him.

"You've made a big mistake!" shrieked Thrash, protecting his injured

side. "Goblin will kill you all!"

"Like he wasn't planning to do that, anyway!" Striiker answered.

Gray shook his head sadly at the tiger. "Thrash, how could you do

this?"

"NO! How could you betray us?" the tiger yelled. "I'm under orders!

What's your excuse?"

"I'm not an evil shark, that's my excuse."

The other two shiver sharks got their fins under them and shakily joined

Thrash. None was in any condition to fight, so they swam for the

homewaters. "Tell Goblin I resign as his fifth," Gray said.

Thrash laughed as he left. "You can tell him yourself. Just before he

guts you!"

Gray looked at Striiker, who gave him a bump on the flank with his fin.

They had saved each other's lives in mortal combat. Like it or not, they

were battle brothers now, and the great white knew it. Gray wanted to say

something and so did Striiker, but neither could find the words. Then

Barkley kind of ruined everything when he shouted, "Hey, I hate to

interrupt your tender moment, but could you guys get us out of here?"

Relieved from having to say anything, Gray and Striiker swam to the cage.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Mari exclaimed. "Goblin will

explode like an underwater volcano!"

Shell looked at Striiker from inside the whalebone cage. "So do we like

Gray again?"

Striiker told the group, "He didn't have anything to do with you guys

being ambushed."

"Like I told youse," Trank said.

"Who's that?"

"That's Trank!" Snork explained.

That didn't really answer anything, but Gray was busy figuring out the

locking device on the cage. It was cunningly made. You needed to

disengage two bars that meshed perfectly together. Perhaps if Striiker or

Gray had small fins they could have opened it by pressing down, but both

were too big. And the area in front of the door had a pylon blocking the

way. You couldn't take a swimming start to crash through it.

The great white figured the same thing and shook his head. "No way.

Our fins are too big and those whale bones are too tough to ram through."

Gray got himself into a position hovering in front of the door. Striiker

figured out what he thought Gray was about to do and said, "Did you hear

me? You can't break those! Not enough room to speed up."

"I'm not going to ram it," Gray said. "I'm going to bite through."

"I'm pulling for you," Barkley said. "But are you sure that's a good

idea?"

Gray got himself directly in front of the locking bars. "We'll see!" he

said and then opened his mouth as wide as it would go. At first the petrified

whalebone didn't give an inch. And for a heart-stopping second, he thought

his jaws had locked in the painful position. Then his razor sharp teeth cut

into the bars. With one last, loud, crunch! The door was ripped out.

After Gray spit the large bones out of his mouth, Striiker said, "Now

that was impressive."

"It feels good to get some fresh water pumping through these gills!"

said Barkley. He bumped Gray. "I knew you'd help us. I mean, I was pretty

sure."

"Let's get swimming," Gray told the group. "Striiker said he knows the

way to the Sific. That is, if you're okay with me coming along."

"Well, you're good in a fight, so that might be useful." And that was

that. Gray was about to follow when he noticed the rest of the group wasn't

moving.

Striiker got annoyed, of course. "You have to move your tails back and

forth if you want to go forward," he sarcastically told them.

"We can't leave," Barkley said.

The great white sighed. "Why?" Striiker flexed his flippers as if he'd

like nothing better than to ram Barkley.

"I'll let Trank tell you," the dogfish said. "Trank?" But the stonefish

was nowhere to be seen. So Barkley and Mari explained everything they'd

heard from him. When they were finished, there wasn't a doubt in anyone's

mind where they were going.

Rogue Shiver was going to the Tuna Run.