by EJ Altbacker
Then Gray saw him.
But he wasn’t moving.
And his gills were so still.
Gray’s heart caught in his throat as he slowed himself to a hover, the little betta’s body drifting with the slow current next to his left eye. For a moment the water caught Takiza’s frilly fins, making them bloom splendidly, but otherwise there was no movement.
Not even a fin flick.
The eyes of Takiza Jaelynn Betta vam Delacrest Waveland ka Boom Boom stared blankly into the Big Blue.
“Takiza?” Gray said in a whisper as tears welled up in his eyes. “Takiza?”
There was no answer.
“Oh, no, no, no,” was all Gray could keep repeating.
He sobbed a few times. He tried to keep his grief and pain inside, but then, like a tidal wave, everything came pouring out. How could the noble fish have sacrificed himself? For what? Finnivus was still alive!
Gray gave himself over to full-blown bawling for many minutes until he saw the little betta looking crossly at him, shaking his head in disapproval.
“TAKIZA!” shouted Gray.
“The first time I’ve slept soundly in a hundred years, and you disturb me with your hysterical sobbing!” Takiza shook himself and fluttered his gossamer fins this way and that. He grunted as if everything was to his satisfaction.
“Oh, Takiza! I—”
Gray was cut off by a sizable tail slap across the snout that made him wince. “How many times do I have to tell you to address me as Shiro?” Takiza shook his head once more. “Of all my apprentices throughout the ages, Nulo, you are truly the most Nulo.”
“But at least I’m the best at being worst,” Gray said, grinning. “I have that going for me, right?”
The betta snorted. He caught himself and scowled. “What am I to do with you? Keep up your training, Nulo. I must see to things much more important than listening to you weep or your pathetic attempts at humor. Do try and stay out of trouble for a little while until I return!” And with that, Takiza flared his fins once more and swam away.
Gray called after him, “I’ll miss you, too, Shiro!”
Takiza didn’t answer as he disappeared into the Big Blue, but somehow, Gray could tell the little betta was smiling.
EPILOGUE
“I WILL KILL THEM ALL!” SHOUTED FINNIVUS. “They have dishonored my—our!—armada! But what if they’re coming after me right now? What if that evil Lochlan and his Golden Rush want to send me to the Sparkle Blue? Where are my guards? I must have more guards! I order them to protect me! And destroy the sharks responsible for this!”
Tydal watched the emperor alternate between fear and rage as what remained of their forces travelled back toward the Indi homewaters. Normally, each sharkkind in the court would fight tooth and fin to be nearest to His Highness. Not today. Most in the court stayed as far away as their rank permitted. This was a day of disaster. Tydal wouldn’t be surprised if Finnivus had the whole thing wiped from the royal history. How had Whalem escaped? How had that giant hammerhead called Ripper attacked Velenka in the middle of the royal court? If it hadn’t been for the quickness of the squaline—who had first thought Ripper was after Finnivus—she wouldn’t have had a one-flippered seal’s chance in a feeding frenzy of having remained with the living. As it was this aptly named Ripper had killed two of Finnivus’s personal guards and still managed to get away!
But the most shocking thing of all was that the Indi Shiver armada had been defeated.
Tydal could only think of this in the hushed silence of his mind. The force against their mariners was smaller and not as well-trained. But they had won anyway! True, many things happened, not the least of which was a giant shark destroying the lantern fish signaler. How a fish that size managed to sneak into the homewaters unseen was simply baffling.
“They have not seen the last of us!” yelled Finnivus. “I am the emperor of the Big Blue, and they have rebelled from my just and gentle rule! They task me! They will pay!”
Tydal knew that once Finnivus was less panicked, he would gather his forces and bring another, far larger armada back to these waters. The tides of the entire North Atlantis would turn red with blood. How could anything stand against Finnivus’s royal wrath? It was impossible.
But when Tydal had woken up this morning, he would have said any of the things that had happened today were impossible.
The armada had been defeated. Finnivus was swimming home in disgrace. There was much to think about. Tydal replayed in his mind how the emperor had shrieked when the hammerhead seemed to be hurtling toward him.
Tydal was careful not to show any emotion as he watched Finnivus sob, but inside, he laughed.
Takiza swam away with all the dignity he could muster. To be found floating in the water like a piece of drifting garbage! Absolutely galling! Little did the young pup know how close Takiza had come to swimming the Sparkle Blue. Even after giving Lochlan’s mariners the maredsoo brought from the Dark Blue’s depths by his increasingly capable apprentice, Takiza knew they wouldn’t make it in time. He’d used his powers to speed the current, pushing it faster and faster to make up the difference.
By the time they’d arrived at the battle, Takiza could see the motes of color dancing on the edge of his vision that preceded everyone’s journey into the Sparkle Blue. He allowed himself a smile. How his apprentice had led on a moment’s notice! How easily Gray had filled the role of commander! Even though Takiza made sure to ask—a force as proud and capable as the Golden Rush would not blindly follow just anyone—they trusted Gray with their lives upon meeting him! It gave Takiza hope for the first time in a long time.
The Indi armada had been defeated because they had been caught by surprise.
That wouldn’t be the case next time.
But these were thoughts for another day.
Takiza would go to a safe place and rest. He needed to regenerate his strength, or he would surely fail. It was such a long current to swim, and he despaired of successfully completing his journey. But he would try.
Tyro would expect nothing less.
Coming in Spring 2012
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Turn the page for a sneak peek!
GRAY TORE THROUGH THE WATER, MINDLESS OF the shrieking crowd all around him. His concentration was total as his huge opponent barreled forward using an attacking move called Spearfisher Streaks by the Cliffs. Gray feinted to the left before slipping into the Swordfish Parries. There was a tremendous shock down Gray’s spine as his snout struck the left flank of the ferocious great white. A solid hit!
The crowd’s yells and excited thrashing vibrated the water so much that his hearing and lateral line senses were nearly useless. But the battlefield was well lit—that wasn’t the problem. No, the problem was that there was absolutely no quit in his foe, who recovered quickly and zoomed straight for him once more.
I didn’t even slow him down, thought Gray, gnashing his rows of curved and razor-sharp teeth in frustration.
The great white was wickedly agile, carving turns through the water that Gray was hard pressed to deflect or defend against. But he had learned much in the months since the Battle of Riptide. “Come on, come on,” Gray muttered to himself. “I know you want to do it.” The huge shark tried Yellowfin Feeding on Minnows, which Gray ruined by using Waving Greenie. Then the great white went for a Topside Slide, which was a deadly dorsal fin attack. But Gray knew it was a trick. And sure enough, at the last moment the charging shark switched into his favorite move—the one Gray had been waiting for him to use—Orca Bears Down.
Gotcha! Gray thought triumphantly. He rolled into a rising current, madly churning his tail to shift sideways just enough so the hurtling shark missed him by a fin length. Then Gray streaked after the great white and performed the very same move, Orca Bears Down.
&nb
sp; There was a satisfying “Oof!” from the great white as he was driven into the seabed. With a tail waggle he signaled surrender, and the match was over.
Gray had finally won. He had finally beaten King Lochlan Boola Naka Fiji, and it was glorious!
“Yes! Yes! I knew you would come at me with Orca Bears Down!” Gray exclaimed triumphantly as Lochlan spat sand from his mouth.
“Went to that feeding ground once too often, eh? Oh, I’m going to be tasting sand for a week! Good match, though!”
Gray flexed his pectoral fins. “I don’t blame you for trying. You’ve beaten me, like, twenty times with it!”
The crowd watching their match, mostly sharkkind and dwellers from Rogue and Coral Shivers, began chanting, “Gray! Gray! Gray!” He waved his tail to everyone in the stadium, acknowledging the cheers. His mother Sandy was there, as were his younger brother and sister, Riprap and Ebbie. Of course his friends from Rogue were right in front. Striiker was fighting in the arena next, Gray saw. If there was fighting to be done, his first in Line would be there. But Shell, Mari, Snork, and Barkley preferred to just hover and watch.
“I have to go with Lochlan,” Gray told Barkley, Sandy, and the others. “I’ll meet you all later!”
Gray felt a small electric charge roll through the water. He looked back to the arena and sure enough, Prime Minister Shocks was motioning Striiker and an AuzyAuzy mariner forward for their match. The eel’s electricity was especially useful when he wanted everyone’s attention, like at dweller council meetings, where things could get a little shouty. After a few instructions to tell both combatants to keep it clean and bloodless, another bolt of electricity signaled the start of the match. Gray and Lochlan swam off, the shouts of the excited crowd rolling with them as they glided away from the training field and to their meeting with the leaders of Hammer and Vortex Shivers.
Gray sighed, finally able to relax a little. He was glad the match was over. Gray liked training, of course. But this felt more like fighting to entertain others. Something was just not right about that. Not when so much blood had spilled. But taking back the Riptide homewaters from Finnivus and his armada demanded some celebration. And Lochlan told Gray that he needed to prove his worth in front of the two other shivers that were here to talk about joining their cause. Finnivus and the Indi armada had been sent swimming back to their homewaters, that was true. But the hateful emperor would be back to seek vengeance. This wasn’t a matter of if, but when. That was why Lochlan had sent messengers to Hammer and Vortex Shivers.
“Besides,” Lochlan told Gray, “We really should break in the place with a bang-o, doncha think?”
To Gray’s thinking this whole week had been one heck of a bang-o. After long and often boisterous council meetings, Gray had decided to resurrect Riptide Shiver. After all, it had been an ancient and honorable shiver for thousands of years before Goblin, its previous leader. “And in a few years, no one will even remember that flipper,” Striiker had said. Whalem’s long-range scouts had confirmed that Finnivus was still in the Indi Shiver homewaters.They could breathe easy, at least for a little while, and so they had this party. Lochlan had told Gray it was a working party. They would work to gain allies during the festivities. Most everyone else treated it like a party-party, though.
I wish I could, thought Gray.
Even though there was laughter and excitement because of today’s celebration, underneath that he felt a dreadful tingle in the water. It was the feeling of a danger, not close right now, but coming for sure. Gray thought back to the momentous event that was the reason for the celebration. And the reason every fin should be on edge.
It had been six months since the combined forces of AuzyAuzy, Coral, and Rogue Shivers had defeated the Indi armada and sent Emperor Finnivus frantically swimming all the way back to the Indi Ocean and his own homewaters. Finnivus was a cruel and vicious tiger shark, the leader of an ancient shiver that wanted to conquer all the Big Blue. The emperor had been miraculously beaten, but Finnivus wasn’t the type of fin to forgive and forget. He would come to wipe them out. And that was why, even though the celebration was fun, Gray couldn’t shake the feeling in the water that seemed to say, Watch your tails, everyone. Watch your tails.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to all the great people at Razorbill for putting up with me, but most of all Ben Schrank, who took a huge chance by choosing someone who never wrote a book before; Jessica Rothenberg, past super-editor, future super-novelist; Emily Romero, Erin Dempsey, Mia Garcia, Shanta Newlin, Bernadette Cruz, and everyone else from marketing and pubicity; also Gillian Levinson and finally Laura Arnold, my fin-tastic Shark Wars editor.
Special thanks to everyone in Los Angeles who helped me over the years but especially the awesome Jim Krieg, who I met in film school and who despite that still picks up the phone when I call; John Semper, who hired me first; Mark Hoffmeier, great writer and fantasy football superstar. Also my friends from Notre Dame, Go Irish! And finally my sister Jude, who’s not the most annoying sister in the world, most of the time.
Visit www.SharkWarsSeries.com to learn more and to play the Shark Wars game!
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. He is also the author of Shark Wars.
