Free Kingdom of the Deep by EJ Altbacker Page A

Drinnok is a sharkkind with vision, proved by the fact that he agrees with me. I’ll advise after I free him from the prison of the under-waters. It will all happen very soon.” He looked up toward the chop-chop. The moon shone into the calm water, half full. “Oh, I can’t wait for the moon to fill out. A full moon is beautiful, and that’s when our beautiful, new world will begin. One where we sweep away everything that’s already here.”
    The frilled shark swam away, humming as he did so, his body rising and falling effortlessly with the current.
    A feeling of despair engulfed Velenka.
    Hokuu was mad. Crazier than Finnivus, even.
    And the frilled shark was stronger than an armada of sharks.
    What could she do? Velenka had no idea.

CHAPTER 11
    â€œBARKLEY!” GRAY WHISPERED AS LOUD AS HE dared. “Barkley!”
    The dogfish was nowhere to be seen. Gray and Barkley had slipped away to talk privately in the gold-greenie kelp forest of Fathomir, but then a patrol of finja had come looking for them. Gray managed to hide but had lost his friend. He was still numb from the news they’d received from Sledge yesterday. Gray felt guilty at not being there in Riptide’s time of need. He was their leader!
    Was
.
    Gray moved carefully through the massive stalks of greenie, making sure not to disturb them as he passed. He used his senses to keep well away from any large electric shadows, which he could feel but not see. They were the finja looking for him. They would find him eventually and Gray could only claim to be lost for so long.
    â€œBarkley!” he whisper-shouted, trying to locate his friend. Even though the work he was doing as Aquasidor was important, he missed Riptide. He pushed those feelings away to do what needed to be done. Now the homewaters were gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t even leave Fathomir to mourn those that were swimming the Sparkle Blue.
    The Seazarein wasn’t going to let him. That much was clear. He was being followed everywhere. Kaleth said her finja would stop him if he tried to leave, and Gray believed her. But he
could
hide. Though the guardians were the best mariners he had ever seen, even better than Finnivus’s
squaline
, Gray’s training had given him enough skill to make himself scarce when he wanted.
    Take that, Shear! he thought.
    Had Barkley left? He was good, but Gray found it hard to believe his friend could outwit the guardians and sprint headlong toward Riptide without being discovered.
    It was then he heard a “
psst
.” Gray looked around for the source of the noise, which sounded like a small steam vent, but he knew it wasn’t.
    â€œDown here,” Barkley whispered, so low that only Gray would hear it.
    â€œWhat are we going to do?” Gray asked quietly. “As you may have guessed, those finja are pretty good hunters.”
    Barkley moved his snout out from the kelp he was hiding in. He had a few strands of greenie hanging off it. The dogfish shook his head and most of the seaweed drifted away. “Yeah, I know, it looks weird. I got the idea from Takiza. I’m
being
the greenie.”
    â€œI want to go with you,” Gray told his friend.
    â€œThere’s no way I can sneak you out,” Barkley answered. “And no, that’s not a fat joke.”
    â€œI wasn’t even thinking that!” protested Gray.
    His friend’s greenie-covered tail dropped with embarrassment. “Oh, you usually swim straight there.”
    â€œNot today!”
    â€œOkay, sorry,” Barkley told Gray. “But the fact is you’re just too big and fat to sneak out of here.” Gray snorted as the dogfish grinned. “You see what I did there?” his friend teased.
    They chuckled for the first time since they’d heard the horrible news.
    â€œGray, you may have to listen to Kaleth, but I don’t. What are your orders for me?” Then Barkley