Chapter 4

"GRAY, THAT'S INTO THE OPEN OCEAN FOR SURE," Barkley said.

"And you're grounded!"

"Oh, come on! That's still Coral Shiver homewaters." Gray nodded to

himself, salivating. "And dumb fish are always fair game! Why, we could

get in trouble for not eating them!"

Barkley smiled sarcastically. "I know the rules on what to eat and when

to eat it better than you, megamouth." The dogfish tapped him on the belly

with his tail. "By the way, have you gained weight since this morning?"

"Hey, I'm big cartilaged!" Gray said indignantly. "And if you're done

insulting me…" He waggled a fluke at the fish.

"Fine, Overbiter is on duty for shiver business. Let's tell him about the

drove. We'll be heroes!" Barkley swished his tail happily at the thought.

Gray snorted. "Please! Overbiter is like a hundred and sleeps all the

time. He can't swim fast enough to catch these blues. You don't want to

make him look bad in front of everyone, do you?

Maybe embarrassing Overbiter wasn't Gray's main worry, but the

lemon shark was half senile. By the time they explained everything to him,

the bluefin would be long gone. Barkley hesitated as he glanced longingly

at the tuna feeding on the swarm of shrimp. "I'd hate to embarrass him, I

guess."

Barkley drooled a little and Gray knew he had him. "Let's get our fill,

and then go tell everyone. We'll still be heroes!"

The dogfish flicked his fins up and down in agreement and flashed

forward so suddenly it momentarily surprised Gray. He did not just do that!

Gray sped up, overtaking his friend. He aimed for a plump bluefin but never

got there. Two others accidentally swam into his open mouth just before he

was going to strike, along with a load of shrimp! It caught Gray by surprise

and he gagged. This would be a story told around the glowing algae pylons

for years to come—Gray the big, bad reef shark chokes to death on dinner!

An extremely large blue slammed into his throat, kicking in a reflexive

swallow. I really should remember that spot on my throat, he thought to

himself. But later! The combo of bluefin and shrimp was scrumptious!

Gray and Barkley laughed and ate. It was crazy! No sooner were they

done with one fish than they each caught another. The pair tried to keep

count of who caught the most but gave up; the bluefin were eaten so fast

and furiously. Then, as all groupings did, the fish thinned and disappeared.

Pretty soon only a couple of woozy shrimp were all that was left. Barkley

listed to the side. "Ohh, I think I might have eaten too much. By the way,

where are we?"

Good question. How long had they been feeding? Gray wasn't sure. The

reef wasn't in sight anymore. In fact, nothing around them looked familiar.

Gray couldn't even see the bottom. They were definitely off the reef and

into the open waters of the Big Blue now. They would get into serious

trouble if someone found out.

Gray was about to say something when he felt a prickle of electricity go

up his spine, a fin flick before a gray-and-white blur screamed into view.

This alarm system saved Gray's life at least twice when he was younger,

once when a huge moray eel hiding in a crevice surprised him. It was a

vague buzzing that set him on edge right before danger struck. He now

knew it was a survival instinct, but Gray hadn't felt it for a long time, not

since his growth spurt.

Just in time, with a stroke of his powerful tail, he was able to deflect a

shark's headlong attack at his dorsal fin. It was a tiger shark and he was

massive! Larger than Gray was, even!

Barkley was indignant. "What's your damage, jelly-brain? We're trying

to digest here!" He coasted in front of Gray protectively as the tiger carved

a turn and rushed at them once more. It must have dawned on Barkley that

being a motionless target wasn't the brightest idea because he dove

underneath the gnashing jaws of the tiger. The big flipper only gave a

halfhearted snap at the dogfish. He was plainly after Gray, since his size

made him the main threat.

Well, he's got that right! Gray thought as he sped up. They were lost,

probably in trouble, and now some flipper was trying to eat them! Enough

was enough. Gray accelerated out of the tiger's way before slashing his own

turn downward and underneath the attacking shark. The tiger lost sight of

Gray for a moment and hesitated. It was all the time Gray needed.

"You lose," said Barkley from his hovering position above the

momentarily confused tiger. Gray heard a satisfying "Whuufff!" as he

rammed the shark in the soft underbelly by his liver. The tiger tried to turn

but was momentarily paralyzed. Barkley hammered the dazed attacker next.

Or he tried. Because of his small size, he bounced off like a sea horse

against hard coral. Gray wouldn't let his advantage slip away, though. He

bore down on the tiger, ready to rip a fin off with his razor teeth.

"Wait! Wait!" yelled the tiger. "I'm with Goblin Shiver, and you're dead

meat if you touch me!"

Gray chose to ignore this, but had to come to an abrupt halt when

Barkley swam right in front of his mouth! "What are you doing?"

"Saving our lives!" Barkley whispered before turning to the tiger.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding!"

"Misunderstanding?" Gray sputtered. "He tried to eat us!"

The big shark recovered somewhat, and the chance to send him to the

Sparkle Blue passed. Gray hoped Barkley knew what he was doing. The

tiger wouldn't be easily beaten a second time.

"Listen to your friend," said the tiger. "This is Goblin Shiver territory.

You don't have permission to hunt here unless Goblin, or maybe Gafin,

give their say-so. And I know you don't know Goblin. So, do you know the

urchin king?"

Gray understood little of what the big tiger was saying. "We need

permission to hunt?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Of course you do! I thought you were from Razor Shiver, poaching our

feeding grounds," the tiger commented, watching Gray and Barkley for

their reactions. "But I can see I was wrong. My name is Thrash, by the

way."

"I'm Gray and this is Barkley."

"Where are you from?" the tiger named Thrash asked suspiciously.

"Coral Shiv—" Gray began, but Barkley cut him off immediately.

"A coral reef where we rested! But there were landsharks so we left.

Now we're here. Nice to meet you!"

Thrash dismissed Barkley but swam around Gray, looking him over. "I

thought you were a great white, but you're not. You're just a pup! Don't

think I've seen a shark like you before. What are you, anyway?"

"I'm a reef shark," Gray answered proudly.

Thrash laughed. "Oh, that's good! Yeah, right, reef shark! Goblin loves

a sense of humor. Sometimes." The tiger indicated the direction he wanted

them to follow. "Come on, he's going to want to look you over."

Neither of them moved. "Look us over?" asked Barkley.

"To be a part of Goblin Shiver," answered Thrash. "We're at war with

Razor Shiver and can always use another shark who knows how to fight.

Whatever you are."

Barkley swam between the large tiger and Gray. "Actually, we're not

real big joiners, Thrash. We're more rogue fish."

"Rogues swim alone," said Thrash with a hint of malice. "That's why

they're rogues."

Barkley got flustered. "Sure, we know that, everyone knows that! We're

a rogue pair. It's a new thing we invented. Again, nice meeting you. We'll

be going now." The dogfish kept his voice low when he passed Gray. "Let's

get out of here while the getting's good."

Gray followed, unsure why Barkley was acting so strangely but

knowing deep down he didn't want to be involved with a maniac tiger shark

that talked about wars and had almost eaten him a moment ago. "Yeah,

rogue pair. That's us."

Thrash caught Gray's eye before he swam away. "You'll have to pick a

side sooner or later, pup. Everyone will have to pick a side." With a chuckle

and a dismissive flick of his tail, the tiger shark left.

"Let's go home," Barkley told Gray, who quietly followed his friend.

Their first trip into the open water had been a real eye opener, but not in

a good way.