Chapter 31

"PEEL AWAY WHEN YOU'RE OVER RAZOR SHIVER!" Striiker

yelled. "Don't get turned around and definitely don't get pushed inward! If

we do that we can surprise Goblin!"

"And Kilo," muttered Gray darkly as he increased the pace of his tail

strokes. The shark who had destroyed Gray's home finally had a name. The

current was fast and made even more deadly by the bluefin who tore

through the water as if they had been ordered to do so. Many shivers

whizzed by, arrayed in loose groups, now readying to feed. There were so

many!

One particular group caught Gray's eye. They weren't creeping up to

feed like the others. They hovered in a perfect formation of three precisely

stacked rows. And they were all marked. Tattooed, if Gray remembered the

word correctly. What were sharks from Indi Shiver doing here?

Gray's thoughts were interrupted by a panicked Snork shouting, "I think

we need to go faster!" as he struggled to keep up. The sawfish wasn't built

for speed, swimming and hunting near the seabed where his long nose was

an asset. If they went any faster, they would lose him entirely. They'd need

everyone before this was over, though. Gray turned to see what had him so

spooked.

Oh, no!

The main body of the Tuna Run rushed toward them like an undersea

tidal wave of fish! It was a siege. At least! Maybe a double siege!

"Must swim faster! Everyone must swim faster!" shouted Barkley as he

pushed Snork from behind.

Gray quickened his pace and swam for his life. The rock face to his

right faded into a blur with glowing patches of distorted light from lumo

clusters whizzing by at a terrifying pace. But they still weren't fast enough!

The siege engulfed them, and everyone was battered from side to side. If

they hadn't been swimming with the current, they would have undoubtedly

been swept away to the Sparkle Blue.

"Go straight! Don't turn!" he heard Mari shout. She was only a body

length away from him, but Gray couldn't see her at all, so thick were the

bluefin. Then Gray saw another tattooed shark. But it wasn't someone from

Indi Shiver.

It was Onyx! Gray hadn't put two and two together until this moment,

but those really cool markings on Onyx were Indi Shiver tattoos!

And next to Onyx was Gray's mother! "Mom!" he shouted. "MOM!"

He peeled off from the group.

"Are you crazy?!" shouted Striiker.

Mari yelled, "Gray, what are you doing?"

He took a look to see if Barkley was following, but the dogfish wasn't

there.

His mother saw Gray and flicked her tail in a motion that indicated for

him to stay away. She shouted, "It's too dangerous!"

Gray kept himself flowing with the tuna but was getting thumped more

and more, glancing blows that threatened to turn him over. "WHERE CAN

I FIND YOU?" he shouted. His mom answered, but Gray couldn't hear.

There were too many bluefin whizzing by. "WHERE?" he shouted again as

he was driven farther away by the mass of fish. Finally, Gray couldn't hold

out and was pushed away from his mother. "I WILL FIND YOU!" he

shouted. "I WILL FIND YOU!"

Then Gray was past them in an instant. She might have heard him. Were

there others from the reef? Was that Quickeyes next to her? Gray was so

focused on his mother he didn't know. But she was alive! His mother was

alive! There was no going back, no fighting the siege while in the thick of

it. Now, even glancing backward might get him killed. Gray would find her

later, but there were things that needed to be done first. Besides, he couldn't

have stopped if he wanted to.

Gray covered the distance left between himself and Razor Shiver in an

eel strike. It took all his strength to muscle his way from the grip of the

current and the running siege. He hoped the others had done the same.

Earlier, Gray held visions of skidding to a stop on a clam shell in front

of Goblin, revealing his evil plan, and looking good doing it. That wasn't

going to happen. As he forced his way sideways toward the rock face, he

was rammed in the flank by a massive bluefin. Boom! Boom! Boom! Gray

was smashed by three more and flipped over. Soon four-and five-hundredpound fish were buffeting him from every angle. It was like being caught in

the turbulence of a tidal wave and forced through a maze of coral, but a

hundred times worse. Somehow Gray was ejected from the mass. He hit the

wall sideways above Razor Shiver. Shell was already there, shaking his

head, dazed.

"You all right?" Gray yelled over the noise of the siege. Luckily both of

them were only bruised. The bull waggled his fins, indicating he was okay.

As Gray got his fins working again, he saw that Striiker and Mari were

much farther away, too distant to join with them for a while. They'd have to

fight their way against the current to where he and Shell were. Gray looked

for Barkley and Snork, but there was no sign of either. If they were gone

there would be time to grieve later. The coup was happening now!

Razor and his shiver sharks hunted the edge of the Run as it continued

roaring past. But he didn't see Kilo and ten other bulls swim into an attack

formation with Goblin, and twenty other sharkkind. Razor and his Line

would be shoved into the Tuna Run and never seen again!

It was all happening so fast! Gray needed to do something right now!

He pumped his tail ferociously, fighting the current, but couldn't reach

Goblin in time to stop the attack. The great white bore down on Razor and

the bull didn't see him.

Just then, by skill or crazy luck—probably crazy luck—Barkley shot

out of the siege of bluefin. He was spinning with tremendous speed and hit

Thrash, who then knocked into Goblin, Streak, and Ripper, sending them all

plunging beyond Razor. Even though it was only a short distance, it was

strategically huge because now they needed to fight the current to regain

position.

But before Goblin could get back into position to attack, Razor saw him

swimming with Kilo and other sharks from his shiver. He understood

instantly, and shouted, "Traitors!"

Every bull with Razor—easily forty—charged the outnumbered Goblin

Shiver and the disloyal bulls. It was chaos! Razor swam at the head of his

phalanx of sharks in a tight formation. They let themselves be carried

toward Goblin and his allies, who barely avoided being swept away. The

two shivers met near the edge of the safe area by the rock wall with a crash

loud enough to be heard over the roar of the bluefin—and now Gray and

Shell were in the middle of the battle!

"You!" shouted Goblin when he saw Gray. Anger and hate shined in his

eyes. The big great white would have gone straight for him if there weren't

so many bulls streaking in every direction. Gray swam away from Goblin

Shiver, avoiding raking attacks from Streak and another shiver shark, a

thresher. Shell and Gray were then spotted by Razor. Razor thought they,

too, were with Goblin!

Gray and Shell fought their way through Razor Shiver while staying in

front of Goblin and his forces. They swam full-speed ahead, flank to flank,

so tightly an urchin spine couldn't have fit between them. Everything was

flashing teeth, blood, confusion, and above all, the thunderous din of the

bluefin siege flashing by, a relentless, speeding, silvery mass. Gray didn't

want to kill anyone, but he defended himself fiercely. He butted two

attacking bulls off the safe area, and both were sucked into the Run as if

jerked away by a giant octopus tentacle.

While Gray and Shell were handling anything coming snout to snout,

swimming fast enough to keep Goblin Shiver from biting their tails, neither

was defended from above.

That's exactly where Velenka and three others attacked from.

They streaked downward, and there was nothing Gray or Shell could

do. If they stopped churning forward, Goblin Shiver would catch them. If

they stopped defending from the bulls attacking head-on, they were also

done.

"Get away from them!" came a shout.

It was Mari! And Striiker! They had fought the current and bluefin to

make it back when it mattered most. Mari would have taken Velenka's

dorsal if she hadn't peeled off her attack, which saved Gray. Striiker

smashed into Shell's pursuer, biting him in the gills and forcing the dying

shark into the current. All of the attackers were swept away by the Tuna

Run. Now Gray, Shell, Striiker, and Mari were up current from both shivers,

which were busy fighting with each other.

"What took you so long?" Gray shouted to Striiker and Mari over the

noise of the swimming tuna.

"Just doing a little sightseeing," the great white replied with a grin.

Everyone was catching their breath when Snork made his appearance.

He was scratched and bruised, but otherwise okay. "Sorry I'm late," he told

everyone.

But where was Barkley?

The area cleared as the siege moved itself farther away from the rock

face. Gray could now see the battle clearly. Both shivers lost many sharks,

but Razor's fins still outnumbered Goblin's. Razor's first said something to

him and the bull leader nodded. He yelled, "I'll deal with you all later!"

Razor and his shiver caught the current and disappeared with the thinning

bluefin.

They had done it! They'd stopped Goblin and Velenka's plan!

This triumphant feeling was short-lived as Gray saw their situation. The

Tuna Run tapered to a thin flow of stragglers and older fish. The current

also lessened, as it had been partly driven by the bluefin themselves, and

there weren't so many now. Goblin and his forces formed a massive attack

formation. There were at least twenty-five Goblin Shiver sharkkind in three

levels along with the remaining bulls.

Velenka stared at Gray and the others hatefully. "Kill them, Goblin! Eat

them alive!"

As if Goblin needed any goading. There was no way the five sharks of

Rogue Shiver could win this fight. Shell and Striiker were too injured to

swim away. Snork wasn't fast enough. And Gray wouldn't leave his friends

behind.

Not now, or ever again.

At least Goblin and his shiver sharks were slowed by their own injuries.

It wouldn't help for long, but it didn't allow Goblin and his force to charge

right away. "What are you waiting for?" cried Velenka from a distance.

Goblin panted for a moment, but that was all the time his hate would

allow him to rest. "ATTACK!" he cried and rushed Gray and his friends,

intent on eating them all.

But Goblin Shiver was exhausted from the fight with Razor. Struggling

against even the weakened current, they seemed as if they were swimming

in slow motion. Gray got in front of Mari, while Striiker and Shell swam to

either side of Gray to protect his flanks. It looked like Snork was running

away, but instead he made a vertical half loop and took position hovering

topside. Gray was so proud of his friends. But he suspected that their

formation wouldn't last more than a few seconds after the battle began.

"I see you've found better fins to call friends!" said Takiza, hovering

next to Gray's left eye.

"I guess so." If Gray had had any strength left at all, he would have

been more surprised to see Takiza. But he was too tired to be surprised. The

betta didn't seem to be affected by the currents whipsawing around them.

His frilly fins waved gently as if he was in a much calmer ocean. "How

have you been, otherwise?"

Gray was utterly worn out and sure he'd heard Takiza wrong. "You may

want to leave now!" he yelled over the dull roar of the bluefin passing.

"Goblin wants to eat us!"

"No. We have much to discuss," said the colorful betta. "I'd like you to

become my apprentice! Do you agree?"

Gray blinked at the smiling betta. The frilly fish was mad! "Fine," Gray

told him. "If we live through this, I'll be your apprentice."

"Excellent!"

The appearance of the betta caused Goblin to slow down. It seemed he

feared the tiny, ruffled fish. "This has nothing to do with you, Takiza!" the

great white growled.

"You have the manners of a lumpfish and the odor of sea kelp baking in

the sun," the betta told him. "Go now or I will become annoyed!"

Striiker's eyes popped open. "Who's this, now?"

"Shh!" Shell hissed.

Mari agreed. "Yeah, I wanna see this."

Goblin didn't take it well, that's for sure. "You'll grow annoyed? You—

you? Will…be…annoyed?!" he sputtered. "I'll show you annoy—"

That's as far as the great white got.

Takiza fluttered his frilly fins and did a slow barrel roll, and a whirling

mass of glowing water grew in the middle of the Goblin Shiver, sucking

them inside while it expanded. Velenka was so shocked that she just stared

at the betta as she was pulled into it, not swimming against the force even a

little.

Goblin did, though. And mightily.

It was impressive how the infuriated great white kept himself outside

the whirling maelstrom for a while, even though his tail was caught. "This

isn't over!" he shouted. Gray didn't know if he was talking to him or to

Takiza, but was too tired to care. "This isn't over, I tell you!" Then Goblin

was hauled into the roiling, shining, water ball.

The sharkkind inside were spinning at a tremendous speed. It wasn't

hurting them, Gray saw, but they'd be dizzy for a week. With a flick of

Takiza's tail, the ball moved into the current and was carried away into the

distance. The betta snapped his frilly fins and the glowing ball disappeared.

Goblin and everyone else tumbled away with the current.

Takiza passed Striiker, Mari, Shell, and Snork, giving them all polite

nods. Nobody returned the greeting, mainly because they were so awed and

dumbfounded. The siamese fighting fish stopped in front of Gray to say,

"I'll tell you when your training is to begin. Until then, I bid you good day."

And with that Takiza Jaelynn Betta vam Delacrest Waveland ka Boom

Boom swam away, humming a sprightly tune.

"Seriously, who is that?" asked Snork.

Just then, Barkley appeared. Gray's heart leapt when he saw his friend.

The dogfish had a giant lump on his head and was swimming at an angle.

"What happened?" he asked. "Did I miss anything?"

Everyone hooted with laughter. Barkley looked at them, perplexed.

"What?" he asked, which made everyone laugh even harder.