Kingdom of the Deep

by EJ Altbacker

  “Don’t let them get away!” cried Striiker from the diamondhead of the small block formation.

  Even though Gray could sense only ten mako finja, they were demon hard to spot. If you took your eyes off the renegades for even a fin flick, you would lose where they were because of their color-shifting ability. The finja would withdraw and stop moving for a moment, making themselves disappear to the untrained eye. Then they would rush in and take fins or strike at the gills of unsuspecting Riptide mariners. Gray used his ampullae and lateral line senses to follow their electrical shadows, which were among the brightest in the chaos.

  He sped up to an attack sprint and blasted one attacker, taking his left fin cleanly and sending him spiraling toward the Sparkle Blue. Gray saw another mako lurking behind the diamondhead position. The finja increased his speed and descended on a path that would give him a shot at Striiker’s dorsal fin.

  “Striiker!” Gray shouted in warning. But the screams of the injured and dying, along with the sounds of battle, were too loud. Gray cut a wicked turn downward until he nearly skimmed the seabed, then rocketed straight up in a modified Spinner Strikes attack.

  I’ve got to get there in time! Gray thought, gritting his teeth. Water flowed past his ears with a fwush as he sawed his tail back and forth to gain speed. Miraculously Gray managed to find a thin path through the battle and met the finja one tail stroke before he would have ripped Striiker’s dorsal off. He blasted the shark in the underbelly, his jaws closing tight. Blood bloomed in front of Gray’s eyes and he shook the instantly dead shark out of his mouth. Striiker could only react with a startled, “Whoa!”

  The great white gave him the briefest of nods before resuming his own fight. The mako finja were outnumbered and losing the battle. Gray wedged himself into Striiker’s ranks, taking the place of an injured mariner in front of the diamondhead. “Get out of here,” he shouted at the mariner. “You can’t do any more!” There were only three mako finja left alive, and two of those were injured. Gray gestured toward their positions. “Look sharp! There, there, and there!”

  “Come on, you stinking muck-suckers!” Striiker bellowed. “Let’s see how you do when we know where you are!” The finja would have to turn tail or be eaten alive.

  That was what should have happened.

  “It looks like you have some fight in you after all!” said an impossibly loud and cheery voice. “How about giving me a taste?” It was Hokuu, amplifying his words with his powers.

  Another half drove of mariners, these led by Mari with Snork, joined Striiker’s group. They were harried by the vicious makos, who battled harder because Hokuu had shown himself. The frilled shark didn’t feel the need to rush. He had proved he could rip through the Riptide mariners when they were at full strength. What were these few, distracted sharkkind going to do against him?

  “Why not fight a worthier opponent, Hokuu?” asked an equally loud voice.

  It was Takiza! The betta was arcing colored bolts of electricity into the water and projected a glowing nimbus around himself. It was a sight to take your breath away!

  It didn’t impress Hokuu much. “How many times have I told you, Nulo—never waste power in useless displays!”

  The electric bolts gathered and zipped away from Takiza. They careened jaggedly through the water. The betta’s control over the electricity was complete, and it divided into branches, which shocked the remaining three finja. They jerked and shuddered, then were still. The makos sank as everyone watched.

  “You have said a great many things, Hokuu,” Takiza answered. “Most of it untrue as well as unwise.”

  The frilled shark’s eyes glowed with hatred. “You always were an impudent fish. Come, Taki, show me what you’ve learned since I was your master! Let’s see if it keeps you alive!”

  Off to the side and totally ignored, Striiker looked at Gray. “Should we help?”

  As if in answer Hokuu launched his own vicious, forking bolt of electricity at them. Takiza deflected it before the energy would have roasted Gray and everyone else in the tattered Riptide formation.

  “I think we stay out of the way for now,” he told the Riptide leader.

  “I vote with Gray,” Snork agreed, his eyes wide.

  Gray gestured to his friends with a fin. “But be ready. I’m going in for a closer look.” He descended into the greenie using a light current to tuck himself into the kelp field. Maybe in the confusion of the fight he could get close enough to attack.

  Or maybe I’ll be roasted alive, Gray thought. Still, he moved forward as stealthily as he could while Striiker reorganized his mauled force.

  “Come, you preening puffer fish!” shouted Hokuu. “Dip your snout into the muck and call me Shiro once more! Perhaps then I’ll let you live!”

  Takiza did nothing. He drifted with the current as if he didn’t have a care in the world. This seriously annoyed Hokuu, and secretly Gray was overjoyed. He knew better than anyone how angry Takiza could make someone!

  “Okay, if that’s the way you’d like to play it!” The frilled shark swam in a twisting circle, his head meeting his tail but moving ever forward. A vivid green energy grew in the water in the center of the circle. This ball of light was so bright Gray had to look away.

  “Catch!” said Hokuu, and the power zoomed straight at Takiza. The betta zipped to the side so fast Gray barely saw the movement.

  But the energy took its own wicked turn toward Takiza’s new position. If the betta was surprised, he didn’t show it. Takiza again moved in a blur and stopped right in front of Hokuu. He released his own power, blasting the frilled shark, then rocketing away.

  The searing energy that Hokuu let go still trailed Takiza, though. The frilled shark yelled a strangled “Wha?” and juked away as it exploded in the water where he was a split second before with a deep thwooom!

  Hokuu faced Takiza, waving his tail from side to side in an admonishing way. “Very sneaky, Nulo. When did you become so devious?”

  “I had an excellent teacher,” Takiza replied.

  Far from being angry at this insult, Hokuu laughed. “Oh, you!” he said. “Taki, I’m almost sorry to send you to the Sparkle Blue!” Faster than Gray’s eye could follow, the frilled shark blurred and then flipped out his tail. Another sizzling bolt of energy, this one violet in color, shot from the end of his body.

  Takiza was too slow. He avoided the worst of the detonation but was buffeted by the disturbance afterward. “You see? You’ll never be my equal! You will always be Nulo!”

  Then Hokuu sent four bright yellow globes of energy firing toward Takiza. These were slower than the electric ones but more powerful. The betta, noticeably slower, managed to avoid the first three. The fourth blasted a coral spire he was using for cover. The explosion shattered the coral and sent jagged pieces streaking through the water. Luckily, Takiza created a glowing shield, so he wasn’t pierced by any of the razor-sharp missiles.

  “Yet I am . . . still here,” Takiza said with some effort.

  Hokuu rushed forward and stopped ten tail strokes in front of Takiza. This time he vomited a putrid liquid from his mouth. It came out in a thick, greenish stream. The vile projection melted Takiza’s golden shield and it became smaller and smaller. Gray could feel the wrongness of the vomit. It was evil and would most certainly send Takiza to the Sparkle Blue if it touched him. The betta’s power sputtered and began to fail.

  Without thinking, Gray burst from cover. Hokuu was so intent on killing his master that the frill didn’t notice until it was almost too late.

  Almost.

  “You!” Hokuu yelled as he jigged sideways and avoided Gray’s snapping jaws. He grinned, but Hokuu was angry he had to stop his attack against Takiza. “I wondered when you were going to show up!” The frill flashed leftward but lost the betta, who also took the split-second distraction to disappear. Gray did
a quick roll and went after the frilled shark, who avoided him easily once again. “I don’t want to hurt you, so stay out of this.” Hokuu craned his snaky neck this way and that, searching for Takiza, who was nowhere to be found.

  Striiker readied the Riptide mariners, drifting forward with the current. “Fins up! We’re going in!”

  “Let’s get him!” cried Snork. Barkley, Mari, and everyone in the Riptide formation were all ready.

  “Ganging up on me, eh?” Hokuu said, amplifying his voice again. “Nulo, where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he sang.

  “He’s here!” Gray said as he lunged again. “We all are!”

  Hokuu yelled over his shoulder, “Okay, Taki, if you don’t want to do this now, I can wait!” The frilled shark turned to Gray, then Striiker and his mariners. “I’ll see you all later. Maybe in an hour, maybe a day. You won’t know until it’s too late!”

  And with that Hokuu whooshed away so fast he left nothing but a stream of bubbles.

  “At least we chased him away,” Gray said.

  Then Takiza was with them, shaking his head. “Hokuu left because he chose to. Nothing more.”

  “Why didn’t you get him?” Gray asked.

  “Had I attempted anything strong enough to injure Hokuu, I would have killed you,” Takiza replied.

  Striiker joined them along with Barkley, Mari, and Snork. “So what are we supposed to do now? If we stay here and Kaleth won’t help, we’re going to get munched.”

  “Can we draw them away by moving our mariners?” Mari offered, but not too forcefully.

  “Splitting up isn’t a good idea,” Barkley said.

  The sawfish voiced everyone’s worry. “What if Hokuu goes after the shiver sharks after we’re gone?”

  “We can’t take that chance,” Gray told everyone.

  “He’ll follow you and leave them alone,” said a familiar voice, “if I come along.”

  Everyone turned and gasped, “Velenka!”

  CHAPTER 23

  “SEIZE HER!” STRIIKER ORDERED. TWO RIPTIDE mariners mashed Velenka between their flanks. “Or do we just send her to the Sparkle Blue?” the big great white asked.

  Velenka struggled little, moving more because she was in pain. “I’m here to help! Stop crushing me!”

  Gray motioned to Striiker to let the mako speak. The great white gave a fin signal and the two mariners eased up, but hovered inches from her flanks.

  “Oh, come on!” Barkley groused. “Are we really going to listen to—or should I say, believe—anything she says? Tell me we’re not that stupid!”

  “We’re not, right?” asked Striiker.

  “No one is,” said Snork, eying the mako suspiciously.

  Mari nodded. “Gray, I believe in giving everyone a chance. I believe in second and third chances, even last chances. But in this case, Barkley’s right.”

  Velenka smiled at Mari. “And here I thought we were getting to be pals before I was kidnapped by that prehistore maniac.”

  “Kidnapped! Here we go again,” Barkley said, drawing his tail through the water in a circle. “Round and round. It always comes down to poor Velenka being forced to do all sorts of horrible things. But she’s not to blame! Oh no, never that!”

  “I really don’t like you,” Velenka told the dogfish. “Never have.”

  Gray gave Velenka a light slap on the flank to be quiet. The mako cringed much more than he would have guessed she would. She was definitely jumpy. Maybe that was good for them. “Velenka, we know you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t in your best interests. So what are those interests?”

  The mako grumbled about this but nodded. “My life. I like it. And Hokuu wants me and everyone else dead.”

  Mari wasn’t convinced. “Gray, she lured you into a trap for Finnivus by saying this same thing. You shouldn’t forget that.”

  It was true. Velenka had drawn him into a meeting that ended with Gray swimming for his life. If Gray hadn’t planned for her betrayal in advance, Finnivus would have had his head on a feeding platter. Velenka couldn’t be trusted. But she could be counted on doing anything to keep herself alive. The trick was telling those two things apart. Was she here as part of some plan? That’s what they had to know.

  “Why did Hokuu break you out of the Riptide homewaters?’ Gray asked.

  The mako ground her teeth in frustration. “I don’t know,” she wailed. “He gave me some reasons like I was supposed to talk to you about joining him. Things I knew would never work! But it seemed like he didn’t need me at all.”

  “I knew it!” Barkley said. “But I still don’t know why he’s doing that.”

  “Why would Hokuu follow you if you were with us?” Gray asked. “How can you be sure?”

  “He promised to eat me if I betrayed him,” she told everyone. “And I’m doing that right now, if you’ll let me.” Velenka gave Barkley a look. The dogfish forced his jaws shut before he snapped off a reply.

  “Speak, then,” Takiza said as he swam in front of her. His billowy fins waved back and forth in a soothing manner. “Be at peace.”

  Velenka snorted. “Peace. Right.”

  “Listen to my words,” soothed Takiza. “Watch my fins as they move one way then the other. Feel the current on your flanks. How relaxing it is. Let the water whisk your worries away. You are among friends.”

  Velenka’s usual deceptive smile fell from her face and she repeated, “Friends,” in a dreamy voice. The mako’s features were less guarded and, Gray thought, somehow more honest. In fact, without her expression of constant guile, Velenka was beautiful.

  Barkley stared at her, open-mouthed, until he forced himself to look away. “Come on! This is dumb!” he huffed.

  “No, look,” Snork said, gesturing with his tail. “She’s nice now. This is the shark she hides underneath her regular self.”

  Though Takiza continued to wave his gossamer fins in front of Velenka’s eyes, he regarded Snork, studying him for a moment as if seeing him for the first time. Gray thought this was odd since the betta had never given the sawfish a second look before.

  “Snork, you’re talking crazy,” whispered Striiker.

  “Shh!” Mari told them in a low voice. “Watch.”

  Takiza’s fins drifted with the current. “You will answer my questions truthfully and hold nothing back.”

  “I will answer truthfully,” Velenka whispered, her blacker-than-black eyes gazing peacefully at Takiza.

  “Why are you here?”

  “If Hokuu’s plan works, I’ll die. I’d do anything to stop that.”

  Barkley nodded at Gray. “This is working, all right,” he whispered.

  “What are Hokuu’s plans?” Takiza asked.

  “To release the prehistores when the full moon rises above the chop-chop,” she answered. “Fifth Shiver will conquer the Big Blue.”

  “That’s only a few days away!” Barkley hissed. “We have no time to do anything!”

  “Quiet!” Gray said, chucking his friend’s jaws shut with his tail.

  Takiza sighed in despair before continuing, “How will Hokuu do this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Striiker frowned. “We’re in trouble.”

  “And we don’t know where we’re going,” Snork added.

  Takiza gave Snork and Striiker a glare before turning his attention back to Velenka. “But you have an idea where to go, do you not?” prodded the betta in a relaxing voice.

  “It has something to do with a place Gray has been, not so long ago,” Velenka whispered. “Hokuu said Gray didn’t realize how close he had gotten. I think that’s the place where he’ll release Drinnok and the prehistores.”

  “Rest now and do not listen to our conversation,” Takiza said as Velenka hovered obedientl
y. The betta turned to Gray. “So, where have you been?”

  “The Arktik? That doesn’t seem right.”

  Takiza shook his head. “Unlikely. The waters are too cold for the prehistores to immediately swim into them. They will need time to adjust to those temperatures. Where else?”

  “You’ve been with me almost everywhere,” he answered. “If we’re counting since we defeated Finnivus, there’s been more than a few.”

  “Think harder, Gray,” Mari told him.

  Takiza pressed, “It would be a place where the barrier between the Big Blue and the under-waters were weak. A place of disturbance and chaos.”

  “Disturbance and chaos,” Snork repeated. “Like a seaquake or something?”

  “Or something!” Gray exclaimed. “The disputed lands between AuzyAuzy and Hammer Shivers. There are steam vents in the area. It’s warmer there. It’s near an area they call the fire waters because there are volcanoes. Could that be it?”

  Takiza nodded. “It may very well be.”

  “All the way to the South Sific before the full moon?” Striiker asked. “That’s a tailcramper of a swim. And if we’re wrong . . . ”

  “It has to be the right place,” Gray whispered.

  “Are we absolutely sure Velenka’s not lying?” asked Mari.

  Snork waved his serrated bill back and forth. “Nope, she’s not. Look at her.” As everyone else took in the mako’s serene expression, Gray saw Takiza studying Snork once more.

  Barkley in particular was fascinated by Velenka’s peacefulness. Or something. “Takiza, may I ask her a few questions?”

  “Be my guest,” the betta told him, gesturing with a fin.

  Barkley swam closer. “Velenka, did you come here as a part of a plan to betray us?”

  “No,” she answered. “I’m afraid for my life.”

  “How did you escape?”

  “I waited until Hokuu was fighting you. Then I sent my guard to the Sparkle Blue and hid until he left.”