Free The Battle of Riptide by EJ Altbacker

she was quicker, avoiding his lunge. The poison was working. And with the octo entangling his tail, bending the top half downward, Goblin couldn’t swim at full speed. But his rage provided a momentary edge. He almost caught Velenka with a quick rolling turn, but she dove underneath a coral lattice, and he got a mouthful of rock for his efforts.
    â€œI’ll ki-ki-kill you,” he slurred. The poison was working. But she hadn’t left anything to chance.
    The delicate box jellyfish floated eerily through the water toward Goblin. How it moved, she didn’t really know. This cube-shaped jelly was the most toxic predator in all the Big Blue. Goblin stiffened as if he had swum into an invisible wall when the jellyfish stung him in the gills. The stonefish below his belly struck at will—Goblin’s futile snaps no longer worried them.
    The box jelly continued stinging, now floating over Goblin, attached to him by more than twenty translucent tendrils. It was a terrible sight, but Velenka couldn’t look away. She had never heard of jellies dealing with sharkkind or dweller, even in ancient times. That Gafin could offer its services was remarkable. She would have to be careful in dealing with the urchin king.
    With a last audible hiss, Goblin rolled belly up. The great white was paralyzed and dying but stared hatefully as Velenka glided toward him.
    â€œI tried to tell you,” she said. “But you wouldn’t listen. Do you think everyone is so eager to die for your
honor
? No, we’re not.”
    Then Velenka bit Goblin in the gills.
    As she swam away, small fish and crabs gathered to eat.

IT HAD BEEN THREE DAYS SINCE THE SPIRITED discussion with Takiza at the Coral Shiver homewaters. The ancient betta insisted Gray come with him right that minute. He wasn’t big on explaining anything to Striiker, whom he called “a shark with chowder for brains,” or even to Quickeyes, the Coral leader.
    But Takiza
did
answer questions from Gray’s mother. Through her, the little betta had managed to convince everyone it was a good idea for him and Gray to swim off together. Gray believed it was a good idea, too. He had been so excited to train with the mysterious and powerful Takiza—fish of legend! What an honor! Gray thought he would travel with his new teacher for a few days, all the while learning cool, mysterious secrets!
    That was then. Now, he was miserable.
    â€œAgain!” Takiza bellowed. Gray followed the lightning quick Siamese fighting fish through a forest of razor sharp coral spires. “Faster!” The spires, while colorful, were hidden by curtains of greenie growing from the ocean floor. Takiza was training Gray in waters much deeper than he usually swam. They were in an area two days east of Goblin Shiver territory, almost smack in the middle of the North Atlantis Ocean. If they continued a few more days, they would reach the lower edge of the Atlantis Spine, the huge mountain range that formed the guiding landmark of the Tuna Run. If they went a few days farther than that, they would be hovering where the tuna actually swam.
    The Big Blue was very deep here, almost at the point where it became known as the Dark Blue. But even at this depth, which Takiza said definitely wasn’t the Dark Blue, it was uncomfortable and gave Gray the shivers. He wasn’t sure whether that was from the colder temperature, the eerie darkness, or the water that physically pressed against him. Gray hadn’t believed that the water was
actually
squeezing him until Takiza explained that the weight of all the water above them caused that feeling.
    And yet this depth was nothing, apparently. Gray could see the ledge underneath his right flank fall away into total blackness. Takiza told him that this giant hole in the ocean floor was called the Maw. It did kind of look like a huge mouth that would eat you if you were foolish enough to swim there. Inside the Maw was where the Dark