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could sing so sweetly it would make you cry. So why was being a
flipper
looked down upon? Gray puzzled on this and found he didn’t know. But he did realize one thing. He probably wouldn’t be saying “Always be a fin, never a flipper” ever again.

CHAPTER 5
    MARI SWAM DOWN THE SHIMMERING LAVA TUBE toward Velenka’s prison in the Riptide homewaters. It was gleaming because Mari had ordered lumos to take up position every fin length, one every two feet or so, on both sides of the passage. You could swim down to the cells much faster now since you could see where you were going. The effect was weird. If you accelerated, the lumos blurred into a multi-colored stripe that flashed past you: green, light blue, pink, red, dark blue, green, orange, and so on. The sight should have been pretty, but the lower Mari descended, the more stale the water tasted. She felt sad for anyone kept in the prison, but Velenka had earned her place there.
    Previously there had been only a few glowing anemones placed at areas where the lava tube bent and turned. It saved the sharks going down from scrapes and bruises from brushing against the sharp walls. None of the anemones who were there when the intruder breached the defenses of the Riptide homewaters had seen anything. But three
had
mysteriously died that night.
    Mari didn’t believe it was a coincidence. That was too much of a fluke.
    â€œVelenka,” she whispered to herself, scraping her teeth back and forth. The sleek, blacker-than-black mako was involved. But how? And why? Mari didn’t have a clue. Now that she was done deploying the ghostfins and had checked with Striiker—currently the leader of Riptide Shiver since Gray had been made Aquasidor—she was determined to find out.
    Mari thought Striiker would be pleased to be made leader. He had been, for a minute. But when everyone began looking to him for answers, it made him grumpy. Be careful what you wish for, Mari thought as she swam around the last bend before entering the prison cavern.
    â€œHalt!” cried one of the two shiver shark guards in the chamber. “Identify yourself!”
    â€œMari, first in the Line of Riptide Shiver,” she replied, slowing herself so she glided into the cavern in a non-threatening way. She was pleased to see that the two ghostfins she had placed inside were waiting in a high position above the lava tube’s exit, perfect for striking an intruder’s dorsal fin or tail.
    The guard came to attention hover and dipped his snout. “I knew it was you, Mari, but you said—”
    â€œYou did well,” Mari told the shiver shark, a small hammerhead. “Don’t trust your eyes. They can be fooled. The voice is harder, so always make them answer you. If they don’t—”
    â€œWe attack,” the guard said, gesturing to the two members of the ghostfins.
    Velenka sarcastically slapped her tail on the smooth wall of her cell as Mari came into view. Even though there were five times the number of lumos in the prison cavern than before, the mako was still hard to spot.
    â€œPlaying big tough mariner today, Mari?” she asked. “Such a fun game for a pup! Can I play, too? I have lots of free time.”
    The young hammerhead glared at Velenka, about to lose his temper.
    â€œTake a break,” Mari told him. “I need to talk with the prisoner.” The guard gave her a stiff head bob and swam up the lava tube with his partner. “You too.” She motioned at the pair of ghostfins.
    â€œWe don’t need a break,” said the more senior of the two. He was looking out for her, Mari knew.
    She gave them a more vigorous tail waggle this time. “Stay in the tube if you like, but give us some privacy.”
    The two ghostfins didn’t like it but swam a quick half circle from their position and left the cavern.
    â€œSeems like a lot of trouble to speak with little ol’ me,” Velenka