Free Into the Abyss by EJ Altbacker

couldn’t think straight. Everything seemed kind of fuzzy, like when the warm waters of the Caribbi Sea where he grew up had a mass of plankton float by. Maybe he should just relax and take a nap until his head cleared …
    Wait a second!
    Gray shook his snout from side to side, clearing it. He couldn’t go to sleep in the Maw! What was he thinking? Gray tried to move forward and discovered it wasn’t a rock in the middle of the Maw. It was the
mountain wall
of the Maw!
    Sometime during his descent Gray had turned
sideways
! But when? For how far? And in which direction? Since he hit his head, Gray couldn’t remember. And everything was dark around him.
    “You look losssst, friend,” said a hissing voice.
    Gray tried to move away but hit the mountain wall again! “Who’s that?” he asked, hoping his voice didn’t crack too much.
    “They call me Mog,” the voice answered. “Jussst hold sssstill.”
    Gray might be dumb every now and again—like when I started swimming down here, he thought—but he wasn’t
that
stupid. He rocketed away from where he thought the unseen voice was coming from. It was then that Gray felt the thickest, ropiest greenie ever, wrapping onto his flank. He adjusted his course, but the greenie stuck to his side.
    Then a light flared!
    It was a small light, not even that bright, but in the total blackness around him it was like a flashnboomer had gone off! Gray saw that what he
thought
was thick greenie wasn’t greenie at all.
    It was a giant octopus’s tentacle!
    There were voices speaking, but his concentration was totally on the monster attached to him. The ugly head seemed larger than Gray himself. Its beaky mouth screeched, a sound that chilled his blood. And the huge octo’s other creepy, super-long, and very thick arms were coming for him, too!
    The light went out when someone screamed in terror.
    Is that high-pitched screaming coming from me? Gray thought woozily.
    He churned his tail back and forth but didn’t feel he was moving. He spun around and saw the huge octo holding onto his side. Gray was dragging it! He had to getthis deep-sea horror off or else the giant Maw dweller would have him for lunch.
    As if reading his mind, the creature growled in a raspy voice, “Sssstay sssstillll!”
    Two more voices started talking! “What’s his name again?” asked one.
    The other, more irritated, answered, “I don’t remember. Big dumb fin? Chunky pup? Something like that?”
    Gray felt himself being dragged closer to the immense octopus. He was about to give in to complete terror when he remembered something Takiza had told him: A clear mind is your best weapon.
    Gray stopped struggling and let the cold waters wash over him.
    Then, he knew.
    If he were dragging the immense octo, swimming away would tire him out. He needed to attack and get it to detach. Gray turned and streaked at the Maw dweller, whose giant eyes—each the size of a fully inflated giant puffer fish—blinked in surprise.
    BAMMO! Gray rammed the octo in its big, fat head, driving it down into the darkness.
    “Ouuuuch!” it yelped.
    That was kind of odd. Not really the reaction a Maw monster should have, Gray thought. He heard the other voices again, but now they were closer.
    Another light pierced the darkness around him.
    Gray found a devilfish floating by his eye. The little horror’smouth bristled with long needle teeth, and its black, slimy skin glistened in its light.
    “I hope you’re happy! Now Mog is going to have a lump!”
    A smaller devilfish, attached to the larger one’s side with his fangs, said, “I can see why Takiza doesn’t take you anywhere!”
    As if through a haze, their names floated into Gray’s mind. “Briny? Hank?” he asked, not sure if it could be true.
    “See?” said Briny, the larger of the two. “He’s coming around. I told you he didn’t do it on purpose!”
    “Do what?” asked Gray.
    The smaller, male devilfish moved from his position on Briny’s side. “First