Kingdom of the Deep

by EJ Altbacker

  There was a slight haziness, but not from the sulfur and silt in the water.

  This haze glowed.

  It wasn’t caused by any lumo or reflection. This infused the waters all around them. When he breathed, this glow became part of him, giving energy in addition to the oxygen in the water. Gray looked deeper, but not with his eyes. He felt the energy and saw that it was coming from millions and millions of tiny sparkles. Countless, everywhere, and all around! Some glowed brightly, others stuttered and disappeared, new ones taking their place in an endless cycle. Gray’s heart leapt from the simplicity and beauty that he had never known was all around him and everyone else living in the Big Blue.

  “I see it!” Gray whispered. “I can see it now. It’s . . . beautiful.”

  “Draw the energy inside yourself,” Takiza told him.

  Gray concentrated on pulling the sparkles—there were so many!—into himself. But the more he tried, the farther the dancing shimmers moved away.

  “You must not force the energy. Do not command,” Takiza soothed. “Instead, ask politely.”

  Gray opened himself, inviting the energy his way. Slowly the flitting motes drifted toward him. The sparks didn’t go into his mouth like Gray thought they would. Instead, they merged with him wherever they touched his body. Gray began to feel giddy and excited.

  “Good,” Takiza whispered. “Control your emotions. Take what the waters give you and swim slowly as if hovering against a light current.”

  Gray waved his tail back and forth.

  It shouldn’t have moved him forward at all, really.

  But it did.

  Gray shot forward as fast he had ever swum in his life. “YEE-HAA!” he shouted in joy. “I’m doing it! I-am-doing-it!” The ground below blurred into a continuous green-and-brown ribbon. “It’s incredible! It’s amazing! It’s—WHOA!”

  Gray’s words caught in his throat as the mountainside of the valley that he and the Riptide mariners had swum past appeared out of nowhere! If Takiza hadn’t somehow moved them twenty tail strokes to the left, they would have splattered themselves against the rocks. Gray concentrated on keeping a straight line with blue water ahead.

  When they were moving smoothly, Takiza tapped him on the snout. The betta had no trouble staying there, of course. “Avoid smashing into things at this speed, Gray. It would be unwise.”

  “Yes, Shiro,” he answered, a little embarrassed.

  Gray could feel the power in the ocean and all the living things they sped past. The glowing sparkles anticipated his path and moved so that they would enter his body as he passed. They gave him so much energy it was almost too much to bear.

  “Slow down, we are approaching the Seazarein homewaters,” Takiza told him.

  Gray reduced his tail strokes until the ground below moved at less than a blur. Fewer of the glowing sparks crossed his path. Then with a pop! Gray was swimming normally again. But he didn’t feel tired at all. He felt refreshed!

  They were only a short swim to the entrance of Kaleth’s throne cavern. The Seazarein’s homewaters were still and quiet. “There is blood in the water,” Takiza said in a low voice. “Quickly, inside!”

  Gray swam swiftly, readying himself to battle Hokuu. Takiza detached from his snout and flashed forward, using his own powers. Gray tried to do fast swim but found he couldn’t. Maybe he was tired. Maybe Takiza was the only reason Gray had been successful. He didn’t know. The betta disappeared into the cave first and Gray followed. The smell of blood was thicker there. He accelerated, bursting into the cave, shouting, “AHHHH!” to scare Hokuu if he was waiting.

  But the frilled shark wasn’t there.

  Gray retched. Ten of the Seazarein’s guardians, once so fearsome, were ripped and torn. They floated and tumbled in the light current of the royal cavern, all swimming the Sparkle Blue. And lying across her throne was Kaleth. She had a series of jagged bites taken from her body, with a deeper one on her gills.

  Judijoan was by her side. The oarfish bent her neck and faced Gray and Takiza. “You did this,” she accused. “Because of you, the Seazarein is dead!”

  CHAPTER 29

  GRAY WATCHED, DUMBFOUNDED, AS THE Seazarein’s torn body lay across her throne. Takiza hung his head as Judijoan scowled. “This is on your heads.”

  Then Kaleth stirred.

  “Old friend,” she said in a breathy whisper. “Hokuu did this and no one else. It’s not right to blame them.”

  “You’re alive!” Judijoan gestured at Gray with the tail of her long body. “Don’t hover there like a lumpfish! Find the doctor and surgeonfish!”

  Before Gray could streak out of the cave, Kaleth called out in a surprisingly strong voice. “Stop! It’s no use, Judijoan. I will swim the Sparkle Blue soon.”

  “No!” cried the oarfish, stuttering ripples flowing along her long body.

  Kaleth weakly curled her tail, motioning Gray and Takiza forward. “Come closer. We must speak before I leave these waters.”

  The betta bobbed his snout lower than Gray had ever seen. “I apologize for having deceived you. I ask your forgiveness.”

  Kaleth nodded. “Of course. And I understand why you did what you did.”

  Gray dipped his snout also. “Kaleth, I’m sorry if I made you mad by failing so many times. I tried my best. And thank you so much for sending your guardians to protect us.”

  Kaleth smiled regretfully. “Gray, I did not send my guardians to protect you, but to use Takiza as bait to draw Hokuu out from hiding.”

  “An admirable idea,” Takiza said.

  The Seazarein wiggled her injured body. “As you can see, it didn’t work as I had hoped. Hokuu was always two tail strokes ahead of me.”

  Gray was shocked by this confession. Kaleth patted his flank with her ruined tail.

  “I know I’ve disappointed you with this action, Gray. When you’re making the decisions, remember that sometimes distasteful things have to be done for the good of all. Sometimes you will be forced to be the bad fin.” Kaleth coughed, releasing a cloud of blood as she did. “And tell Barkley I apologize. If I had listened to him, perhaps I would not have landed in Hokuu’s trap. Your friend has the wits and heart of a megalodon.”

  “He’ll be pleased for that, and sorry for this. And I’ll try and understand what you, and even Takiza, have done,” Gray told them. “I know you’re both good fish at heart, even though you’ve done bad things. I’m happy to not have to face those kinds of decisions.”

  “But you will, Gray,” Kaleth wheezed. “You are the Seazarein now.”

  And then Kaleth’s gills stopped moving, and she swam the Sparkle Blue.

  A few days later, Gray glided down the Seazarein’s throne, carving a path between his friends and the remaining guardians who watched from either side. Judijoan said the words that would make him Seazarein, but Gray hardly heard them. He had barely been a passable Aquasidor and now he was being promoted to Seazarein Emprex, ruler of the entire Big Blue?

  This is crazy, he thought.

  He hoped against hope that Kaleth would come out from a hiding place, alive and well, and Takiza would say something like, “Did you actually think we were serious?” even though he wouldn’t say it like that. There would be bigger words and more insults. But Takiza didn’t speak.

  Instead, his master dipped his snout to Gray as he passed.

  Then everyone did!

  Has the entire Big Blue gone mad? Gray thought for the hundredth time.

  He reached the end of the hall to the ramped area before the throne. Judijoan hovered straight up and down in the water, towering over everyone. “Bow before Tyro and all the Big Blue,” she commanded, and Gray did so. “Arise now, Seazarein Emprex of all the waters, emperor of the seven seas and magister guardian of the Big Blue.”

  Gray turned as everyon
e chanted, “Hail! Hail! Hail!”

  Judijoan whispered, “It’s customary to say a few words.”

  “About what?” he asked the oarfiah.

  “About anything you think is proper. After all, you are Seazarein Emprex,” she answered in a low, exasperated tone. “Act like one.”

  “Right,” Gray mumbled.

  Everyone in the cavern waited. He could see the strain on their faces. Shear and his guardians numbered barely twenty now, and all were injured. That used to be the size of the Aquasidor’s guard. Takiza was as unreadable as ever, but somehow he seemed older and more frail. Gray’s friends from Riptide Shiver were there: Barkley, Mari, Striiker, and Snork. They were beaten down by the destruction of their homewaters and everything else they had been through. At least Snork mustered a hopeful smile and flicked his tail in support. Other than that there was a pall hovering in the cavern, a sense of bleak hopelessness.

  They had no clue when Hokuu would set his plan into action to release the prehistores. The frill had fooled them so thoroughly with the trap he’d set it was foolish to think they could figure out where this would really happen. It felt like they were living on borrowed time.

  Gray cleared his throat. “It’s been a very tough month. Here we are, so soon after one threat, facing something even worse. Those of you who know me understand I’d gladly find a quiet reef and live out my days in peace. But that isn’t the current we’re in today. The current we swim is a dark one, full of danger and sorrow. Though we’re fewer than we’d like, it’s up to us to stop Hokuu. I know, Riptide has already been destroyed, so what’s the point? Because it’s not just our Big Blue that’s threatened, but everyone’s.”

  Gray swished his tail as he looked over the sharkkind gathered in the cavern. “There will be many sharks and dwellers in the far reaches of the oceans who won’t even know what we are doing. They won’t know how much they owe to you brave few. But I do and I thank you for it from the bottom of my heart. I could never manage it by myself and I’m thankful you’re here with me. I promise to never ask anything of you that I wouldn’t do myself. And on the day we meet Hokuu and his allies in the battle waters, I’ll be there, swimming the diamondhead.”

  Gray drifted down the ceremony pathway, stopping in front of Barkley. “Will you swim with me, Bark?” he asked his friend.

  “You know I will,” the dogfish answered, giving Gray a tap to the flank.

  “And you, Mari?” She nodded, unable to say the words.

  “I am so there!” Striiker yelled, not waiting to be asked.

  “Don’t forget me!” Snork added.

  Shear moved forward. He wasn’t thrilled when he heard that Gray would be Seazarein. Not by a long shot. Now he dipped his snout. “The guardians are with you.”

  Gray looked to Takiza. The betta nodded before saying, “And I will be at your side also . . . even when you do not wish it.”

  This caused a ripple of laughter in the cavern. It was a welcome sound, and soon everyone was thumping him on the flank. It was wonderful.

  But in the back of his mind Gray wondered . . . just where was Hokuu?

  And what would he do next?

  EPILOGUE

  THE FIRE WATERS WERE GLORIOUSLY HOT, almost boiling. The sea here was black from the sulfur and rich earth that came hissing from the steam and lava vents. The seabed below glowed in places, orange light shining through the murk before it was snuffed out in a sizzle or, better yet, an explosion of jagged lava chunks. Hokuu could feel the pulsating pools of hot lava just below the surface, waiting, waiting to thunder into the ocean.

  This was where it would begin.

  This was where the new watery world order would take hold.

  The Seazarein was dead!

  Hokuu knew the soft-hearted fool would never allow Gray to be without protection, no matter what she told everyone else. And most of Kaleth’s guardians had also gone up in a flash of glorious heat.

  How sweet was that?

  Very sweet indeed.

  But it would have been even better if he had been able to send his bothersome ex-apprentice, Takiza, to the Sparkle Blue. Gray had somehow overcome Hokuu’s considerable power and gotten free at the absolute worst time, saving his irritating master from certain death!

  Could Gray have been faking the first time they fought and not used all his shar-kata powers?

  No, the boy wasn’t that smart. He couldn’t be. It was only dumb luck taking the form of a fat pup.

  Hokuu would finish Takiza and get control of Gray. Failing that, though, he would send the meddling megalodon to the Sparkle Blue to be with his father. Drinnok would want him done away with in any case. Drinnok would storm into this world like a flashnboomer and all would bow before him before being swept away.

  It would start here, in these fire waters.

  Not yet.

  But soon.

  A giant geyser of lava erupted from the seabed five tail strokes to his right and Hokuu was almost burned to a crisp. That was fine. Sometimes you got a little singed when you swam the fire waters.

  Hokuu wouldn’t have it any other way.

  It will be glorious, he thought.

  Acknowledgments

  First I’d like to thank Ben Schrank, president and publisher of Razorbill, who took a huge chance by letting a first-time author write this book series.

  Also in the Penguin family, thanks to Emily Romero, Erin Dempsey, Scottie Bowditch, Courtney Wood, Lisa Kelly, Anna Jarzab, Mia Garcia, Tarah Theoret, Shanta Newlin, Bernadette Cruz, and everyone else from marketing, publicity, and sales. My hardworking design and production team: Vivian Kirklin in managing editorial, Kristin Smith in design, and Amy White in production. And special thanks to Laura Arnold, my fantastic editor and fin-tastic conspirator on all things Shark Wars.

  I’d also like to thank Wil Monte and his talented crew at Millipede Creative Development, led by Jason Rawlings, for creating the Shark Wars game app. I hope to one day meet you lot in Melbourne for a pint. Thanks to illustrator Martin Ansin for the Shark Wars covers and endpapers, which look better than I could have ever imagined; and of course my agent Ken Wright at Writers House for all his hard work.

  To my good friend Jim Krieg, who has done so much that I can never repay him, although I will certainly try. And finally to my family and friends who were so supportive through the years. Best wishes to you all.

  EJ ALTBACKER is a screenwriter who has worked on television shows including Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Ben 10, Mucha Lucha, and Spider-Man. He lives in Hermosa Beach, California.

  Visit www.SharkWarsSeries.com to learn more and to play the Shark Wars game!