Into the Abyss

by EJ Altbacker

  There was a muted cheer. They wanted to believe.

  Gray continued, “Together, we are mighty. Finnivus fights for power to crush and destroy us. But we—we fight for our homes, we fight for our loved ones, and most of all, we fight for what’s right and good.”

  The eyes of the gathered fins and dwellers were riveted on him.

  “We will not break, because this is our time! There are no fins or dwellers I would rather have at my flank than the ones hovering here right now. And I know something that Finnivus doesn’t. I know he’s already lost. He’s made a terrible mistake. He’s underestimated every single one of you. I know what you’re made of, and it’s more than he can handle. I see it in your eyes. And Finnivus will see it when it’s too late. His time in the Big Blue grows shorter with every tail stroke his mariners take toward us. His black wave of cruelty and terror will crash against the mountain of our resolve. This is our home. And no one, but no one, will push us from it!”

  Everything seemed to slow down, which was odd. The only time Gray had experienced this was in the middle of battle. But in a way, this was a battle—for the hearts and minds of everyone in Riptide United. Would they become stronger as he had because of his lesson with Takiza? Or would they shatter?

  For one terrifying second Gray couldn’t hear a single thing. He thought his words had utterly failed.

  Then he felt a tickle.

  But it wasn’t a tickle.

  It was a thunderous vibration—a shout so powerful it became the opposite of loud, almost a thing of silence. The cheer swept through the homewaters. It was without a doubt the loudest shout Gray had ever heard—or in this case, felt—in his life. It might have been the mightiest cheer ever cheered in the Big Blue.

  It was that loud.

  And for the first time in a long time, Gray was filled with hope.

  BARKLEY DRAFTED BEHIND MARI AS THEY swam silently in the darkness. There were three hours before the sun rose above the chop-chop, and the Indi forces were massed just a two-hour swim from the Riptide homewaters. At sunrise the Black Wave would begin their final journey to the Riptide homewaters to launch their attack.

  Finnivus meant to wipe every single one of them out.

  Sledge took his turn in the lead position, or fang point, as Peen called it. Everyone in the ghostfins had learned to swim in close order, with their snouts under the belly of the shark ahead of them, leaving room so their side-to-side tail strokes wouldn’t be fouled. Barkley had noticed years ago that when he followed someone, there was a space just behind them where it was easier to swim. The shark in front did the work of cutting through the current for the shark behind him. Barkley guessed that more than two sharkkind could move together like this, and it would smooth the current for all, requiring less work to swim through.

  And he was right!

  It took some practice, but once the unit learned how, close order swimming gave several benefits. Their smaller silhouette made them harder to see. And when they were in the sea snake, as Peen had named it—which is why the lead position was fang point—the group could swim almost as fast as a wahoo. When the shark at fang point got tired, it slid to the tail of the snake where it got the easiest swimming so it could regain its strength. Then the next shark in line would become fang point and swim as fast as it could, pulling everyone forward at its top speed. Sure, the sea snake couldn’t carve turns that well, but if you knew where you were going, you’d get there in half the time.

  The ghostfins had left immediately after Gray’s tremendous speech at the Riptide homewaters. Barkley’s heart swelled with pride just thinking about it. His best friend would find a way to beat Finnivus. He knew it! But they couldn’t take victory for granted. For them to win, they needed every advantage they could muster. And part of that would be to get rid of one huge disadvantage.

  Barkley snuck a peek up the sea snake formation past Mari to look at Deni, the mako pup mariner they had captured from the Indi armada. Whalem had known nothing about the pup soldiers and their schedules.

  No one wanted to tear their way through an armada of pups to fight the Indi armada. The sharks in Riptide didn’t have the stomach for that. Riptide United needed to take the younglings out of the fight.

  After Deni’s Aunt Larissa told him the truth about Finnivus, the young shark didn’t hold anything back. He gave them every scrap of knowledge he could remember. Deni wanted to immediately swim back and save his friends. Instead, Barkley hatched another plan.

  Planning something and doing it were two very different things. Barkley’s stomach obviously knew the difference because it churned and gurgled as it warned him that his plan was suicide. But he was the leader of the ghostfins and so it wouldn’t do to panic-vomit in the middle of the mission. That certainly wouldn’t give an impression of calm and cool leadership. Not at all.

  Sledge flicked his tail for everyone to take cover. The ghostfins silently merged with the greenie, which was thankfully plentiful in this particular area.

  “There they are,” Sledge whispered as he gestured with a fin at the pup mariners.

  “They’re almost done for the day,” Deni said in a quiet voice.

  The pup mariners dispersed after their drill instructor yelled the final command. They were too young to be very good fighters. Really, they shouldn’t have even done such hard training at their early age. Their hides weren’t thick enough for combat exercises.

  But it was the several hours of indoctrination they received every day that did the most damage. During that time they sang songs and recited poems about how good their dear leader Finnivus was, and how they would take revenge on anyone who opposed him. Throw in stories about how Gray and Lochlan had eaten their parents alive, and what you got was a raging pup ready to swim the Sparkle Blue at a flick of Finnivus’s royal fin.

  “Okay,” Deni told the ghostfins in a hushed voice. “Today was a short training day, probably going over last orders before the battle. They’ll eat from what the royal hunters gathered and get some rest. That will be our best chance to talk with them.”

  “I still think this is crazy,” Sledge said to Barkley. “If they turn on you, you’ll never get out alive.”

  Barkley took a deep breath, his heart thudding in his chest at the truth of those words. “If that’s what happens, I’ll see you in the Sparkle Blue.”

  “I’ll convince them,” said Deni. “I will.”

  Snork nodded. “He’s very convincing.” The sawfish had taken Deni around the homewaters and become fast friends with the pup.

  There was still the matter of the guards. Deni had had no idea that these “helper sharks,” as he knew them, were really there to make sure no one spoke to them. That way the pups wouldn’t be exposed to any information that might get them asking questions. “That’s why we never get to swim around freely!” he sputtered when he realized the truth.

  The only reason the ghostfins had caught Deni that day was because he had snuck out to do his own hunting. “Because what kind of shark has his food always brought to him?” he’d explained.

  What kind of shark indeed, Barkley thought. Maybe if Finnivus had hunted the open waters by himself a few more times, he would have turned out differently.

  “Okay, you all know what to do,” Barkley told his team. “We are ghostfins. I want us in and out without them ever knowing we were there. You get me?” The other sharks gave a fin flick that they understood.

  “Let’s swim,” Barkley said.

  The ghostfins easily got by the patrols on the backside of the camp. Indi didn’t think they had anything to fear from the direction they had just come from. That was probably true.

  Most of the time, Barkley thought, as his team moved noiselessly through the water.

  Training had stirred up the seabed, and there was a fine layer of silt floating in the water. This made it a little harder to see, which was fine with Barkley. In addition to the patrols, though, a pair of sharks hovered at the entrance to the rocky trench where the
pups were resting. Those two would have to be disabled, not killed. Barkley didn’t want to put any fresh blood in the water. That would attract unwanted attention.

  Deni looked back for the go sign and Barkley nodded.

  The young shark swam up to a couple of sharks that he obviously knew. They were excited to see him and yelled, “Deni, Deni!” even though he hastily shushed them.

  Curious, the guards headed over. Barkley’s spine tingled a warning. Why would they be so interested?

  Then it hit him. Deni said that any shark caught breaking the rules was “dismissed” from the group.

  But knowing Finnivus, they wouldn’t really be dismissed. He would have those sharks killed just to be safe. Sure enough the guards became menacing and ordered Deni and the two other sharks to a secluded area.

  Barkley signaled to his ghostfins: Take them down.

  It was over in a fin flick. The guards were knocked senseless. Since they were a thresher and a hammerhead, Mari and Peen took their places while Barkley, Deni, and the two shaken younglings went inside to the rest of the pup mariners.

  “What did the helpers want with us?” asked the young blue. “They seemed mad, like they might, you know …”

  The blue shark trailed off, and Barkley finished his thought. “They were going to send you to the Sparkle Blue.”

  “Why’d they wanna go and do that?” squeaked a tiger shark pup.

  “Because you saw Deni, and they knew he’d been outside.”

  “So?” asked the hammerhead. “I don’t understand!”

  Other pups gathered around. They were amazed to see Deni again. They had been told that Gray had eaten him alive, of course.

  “Your friend wasn’t eaten by my friend, or anyone else in our shiver!” Barkley said. “Finnivus has been lying to you.”

  The pup soldiers didn’t like hearing this one bit. “Who are you to talk about our dear leader that way?” one asked.

  Barkley explained further. Like Deni, the pups didn’t want to believe at first. They were confused and angry.

  “Listen to him,” Deni told the group, quieting everyone down. “Barkley’s telling the truth. My Aunt Larissa was there! She said it was Indi that attacked us!”

  “You—you mean, someone is alive from your shiver?” asked a female mako.

  “That’s what I’m telling you!” Deni said. “And there are others, too!”

  “Is that true?” another pup asked Barkley, her voice cracking.

  “Name one!” demanded another.

  “Okay, there’s Jetty Shiver—”

  “Who from Jetty?” asked a more fully grown whitetip, still at least two years younger than Barkley, though. “I know everyone. If you lie to me, you’re chum.”

  Barkley had thought there might be questions like this, so he’d taken the precaution of memorizing a few names from each shiver. “There’s a whitetip named Poole who’s a mariner for us. Good fin.”

  The whitetip’s mouth hung open in disbelief. After a moment he asked, “Are you sure his name is Poole?”

  “Who’s Poole?” asked one of the pups to the whitetip.

  “My father,” he answered. The whitetip looked around, tears forming in his eyes. “I think the dogfish is telling the truth. I think—I think—” The young shark broke down.

  “Is my mother there?” asked one pup.

  “Is my father alive?” asked another.

  The situation was threatening to get out of hand. The pups were becoming too emotional.

  Sledge scared everyone when his voice sounded from the gloom. Not one of the hundred sharks had seen him come in. “I hate to interrupt this group rub, but if you get any louder, we’ll all be chowder.”

  Barkley nodded, taking control. “Sledge is right. We’ve got to get out of here, and we have to do it so no one notices. Do you mariners think you can do that? Can you use your training and swim out of here with us and back to the sharkkind who love you?”

  There were lots of glistening eyes, but the pups all nodded.

  THE GHOSTFINS HAD BROUGHT THE LAST OF THE Indi Shiver pups into the Riptide homewaters within the past hour. Gray was amazed how Barkley led his team. His friend was brilliant. Gray made the decision to move the dogfish up the Line, whether Barkley wanted it or not. He let himself smile at the image of Finnivus raging when he found out his secret weapon had been stolen out from under his snout.

  And it warmed his heart to see a few happy reunions involving the stolen younglings. Unfortunately, for most there was only sadness. They found out the truth and had to experience their loss all over again. In the future, Gray thought this might be a good thing. It would make them stronger.

  But to reach the future, they had to survive today.

  The Black Wave’s advance scouts weren’t far advanced now. Skirmishes were flaring between the heavy patrols. Grinder, Silversun, Barkley, Jaunt, Quickeyes, Onyx, and Striiker made their last-minute preparations.

  The first clash in the battle waters would be important. If their forces crumbled, there would be nothing to stop Finnivus from taking the Riptide homewaters and forcing their mariners into the open ocean. There, without cover and at the mercy of random currents, they would be picked off by the larger and better-conditioned Indi mariners.

  I can’t let that happen! thought Gray.

  “Everything is set, righty-right,” said Jaunt. “And yer mum says she loves you.”

  Gray nodded. His mother was in charge of the pup mariners, who had to be ordered to keep from joining the fight. Gray never even considered the possibility. Just because Finnivus used the younglings as a weapon didn’t make that right for Riptide United to do it. In fact, Gray would have loved to keep every one of his friends out of the fighting, behind the lines with his mother. But all of them refused.

  And, Gray knew in his heart, they would be useful to have in the thick of things. He cared about Mari, Snork, Barkley, and the rest, but he also needed them. If they had to swim the Sparkle Blue to save the shiver, then that’s the way it would go. Gray hated himself for thinking that way, but he was the leader. He couldn’t hold his friends out of harm’s way while asking everyone else to sacrifice those closest to them.

  Gray looked down the rows of sharks from his position at the diamondhead. He saw Grinder give him a tail waggle. The hammerhead was eager for the battle. On his right, Silversun spoke to his sharkkind. The port jackson shark wasn’t fast enough to swim with his mariners. Gray knew this tore him up inside, but Silversun was there now. He would be in charge of the last line of homewater defenses along with Onyx. They would send their last battle fin of reinforcements if it were needed.

  “We have to win this,” Gray muttered a little too loudly.

  “Too right, that,” said Jaunt. “We’ll give them what-for, you’ll see.”

  Striiker grunted, stretching this way and that. “Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to tear into these flippers.”

  “You’ll get your chance,” Gray told him.

  “I see them! They’re coming!” shouted one of the forward guards.

  The Indi armada swam against a light current, appearing out of the blue water in their standard pyramid formation.

  But it was massive.

  Gray’s heart sank. He knew that they would be outnumbered more than two to one, but seeing it from barely three hundred tail strokes away was a different thing. The armada was easily more than two thousand sharkkind strong, even without their pup mariners. Gray felt terror prickling down his spine but didn’t allow it to overcome him.

  You have to be strong for everyone! he thought.

  “Match and set formation,” Gray told Olph. The dolphin above his dorsal fin click-razzed, and the command went out. Most of the non-AuzyAuzy sharks had learned which series of clicks, whistles, and razzes meant what and moved their position even before their subcommanders repeated the order. The pyramid formation was a handy starting point for a massed battle. If you knew what you were doing. If you don’t muck-suck i
t up. Gray squashed the thought before it spread any further.

  A lone tiger shark swam out from the Indi armada, which stopped, hovering against the tide like a gigantic monster. For a moment Gray didn’t know what was happening, and a surge of panic arced through him because he didn’t.

  “Royal herald,” whispered Jaunt. “For a parley message.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Gray said.

  Jaunt flexed her fins. “Don’t go. Could be a trap.”

  Striiker agreed. “She’s right.”

  “I have to.”

  Gray swam out to meet the herald, who was terrified. Whalem had told stories about how many heralds Finnivus had doomed.

  “The Emperor Finnivus Victor Triumphant wishes to tell you, umm, wishes to tell you—”

  “Go on.” Gray nodded.

  “I’m sorry about this.” The herald went on nervously, “The emperor wishes to tell you that your h-h-head is filled with chowder and you are a—a … fat, krill-faced, jelly-headed … whale that should go and hide your snout … in the m-m-muck with the other turtles as he, oh my, eats everyone from your home shiver. That concludes Finnivus Victor Triumphant’s message to you. Do you h-h-have a reply for … me?”

  The herald tensed, waiting for the attack he thought was sure to come. Whalem said that by law the royal herald had to remain for whatever answer came and not defend himself. Unfortunately, being herald for Finnivus meant the reply could be a bite to the gills.

  Gray simply said, “Tell him I’m not going to do that.”

  “Is that your entire message?” asked the tiger, cautiously optimistic about swimming away alive.

  “Yes,” Gray told him. “You heralds have a tough job. I wish it were different for you.”

  The tiger was confused by the comment but quickly retreated to the royal court. Gray remained out in front of the Riptide United formation until he saw his message passed on. Then he yelled as loud as he could.