Ever - #1, Silent Mouth

CHAPTER ONE

Flip drifted silently through the water, watching the waterbirds skitter across the surface of the water. They were catching fish, he knew. Every morning, sharply at dawn, they would walk near the manatee's territory to gulp down the tiny silver fish that danced around the blubbery gray bodies of the reef's inhabitants.

"FLIP!" Someone yelled, nearly crashing into him but veering to the left at the last minute and instead smashing his head directly into a huge rock formation jutting out of the seafloor. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Watching the birds," Flip said limply, holding his lower jaw high as though he was thinking intensely. But Skid, his questioner, obviously knew that he was by the shore for a different reason. "I love their elegant wings. They sort of work like flippers, but in the air." He checked his large gray flippers to make sure they weren't secretly wings.

"Flip," Skid growled, "We both know why you're actually here."

"Why?" Flip murmured, too scared to admit what he was doing.

"You want to be a sky animal," Skid grumbled. "What's wrong with you? The nearby reef and our wonderful home river are full of yummy seagrass, and abundant in life. There are no predators, and the hollow rocks and coral provide good shelter."

He waved one flipper at the bright eyesore of the coral reef, filled with schools of tropical fish sauntering by. It didn't appeal to Flip almost at all.

"But... down here it feels like I'm trapped in quicksand. We can only get around because of the rivers." He shivered. "But what if there... weren't any? Besides, there are lots of places we haven't explored yet. I'm sure if we could-"

"But we can't." Skid said, moving his flippers as he inched across the water. "We have flippers, not paws, talons, or wings. That's how it's always been."

"It just makes me feel a little useless."

"FLIP! SKID! GET OVER HERE NOW!"

The two brother manatees exchanged looks and bumbled over the sand toward their home, a small caving in the rocks. A small manatee and a larger, gruff, female manatee were waiting for them at the mouth of the cave. They stopped near them, shuddering under their mother's stiff glare.

"Mother...." Skid started, turning to the bigger sea cow. "I tried to get him, but he kept droning on about exploration and having wings."

"What has deluded my son's mind?" Mother Dive murmured, flashing the scales underneath her tail at her 'disappointing' children and disappearing into a large patch of kelp where she was probably going to feed. Their sister Bubbles, who had been treading beside Dive moments ago, spoke up in a high voice.

"She must think you're silly for thinking about birds," She said, her voice hushing to a low whisper. "I don't blame you. I'm sick of floundering about in this fish-pond too."

Flip smiled weakly. It made him happy that someone agreed with him for once. It was a nice change. He splashed a current of water at his sister and wandered off to find a good patch of seagrass to munch on. He could feel the patches of growing algae on the back of his neck prickle slightly, as if he was about to run into a world of danger. He shook this thought off, following the tail-shaped mark in the sand that must have been a path another had traveled on not too long ago. It wasn't a flat, oval-shaped tail, though. It was obviously fluked, meaning another large sea mammal had called this place home before the manatees could drive them out. He sniffed the air. The scent of the traveler must have been carried away through the water in the recent storm.

Flip turned a corner and stumbled back, his eyes watering and his neck prickling more than ever. He flapped his tail up and down wildly, trying to clear away the horrible scene before his eyes. A scent flared up in his nostrils- the foul, pungent scent of death.

In front of him was the half-eaten corpse of a lone orca. Flesh was torn up, allowing parts of the ribs to show, and whatever predator had ambushed the desperate creature didn't have enough time or appetite to consume the whole thing. Streams of blood drifted silently through the water, making Flip horrified. What had killed this innocent creature? It was an orca... but it didn't deserve the death it had gotten. Whatever killed him had no cause to eat him. The fish had most likely nibbled it off bit by bit until it was only a limp skeleton.

Only one patch of skin was visible- the white rim around the eye. It was strange seeing that area dangling limply off the skeleton. He wondered why the fish hadn't eaten that part.

Flip poked his head above the rim of the water, listening. Crocodiles were snoozing on the beach, chatting snappily as they kept their eyes focused on the things beyond the beach. Their teeth were crooked and dangerous, and their pupiless black eyes seemed to stare into his soul, but he did not pop back underwater.

"Hey, crocs!" He called, immediately receiving attention he only half wanted from the large semi-aquatic predators. All of their scaly heads turned toward him, their gaze locked with annoyance. The largest crocodile who had several scars raking down his body came forward, hissing and snapping, almost playfully, with his jaws.

"What do you want, ssssssea mammal?" He growled.

"Did you kill the orca?" Flip demanded, keeping his head uncomfortably above the water but sucking in more oxygen.

"What do you mean, did we kill the orca?" He let out a strong, billowing laugh. "Of coursssssse we did! That orca is an egg-crussssssher!"

The other crocodiles nodded in agreement, flexing their sharp webbed feet and grinning to show their enormous teeth. Flip swam a little backward, worried they were about to chase after him.

"But don't crocodiles lay their eggs on land?" Flip said with a frown. "Use logic. Plus, why would an orca want to crush your eggs anyway?"

"How do you know we lay the eggsssssss on land?" Questioned a female crocodile in a dangerously angry tone. Then she turned toward the scarred leader with a snarl. "I think he crushed the eggs, Claw!"

"Intelligent accusation, Snarl." Claw said adoringly. Then his yellow catlike eyes narrowed, and he surged forward into the water with his jaws open wide to swallow Flip whole. "GET HIM! AND ONCE YOU HAVE HIM CORNERED, SSSSSSSTRIP HIM DOWN TO THE BONES!"

The crocodiles fell into the water one by one, snarling and flailing in the water so that they could tear him to shreds. Rage burned in their eyes and he knew he would have no chance if they got ahold of him, but he had a head start. Flip wriggled and moved every muscle in his body, gritting his yellow teeth. The crocodiles were so close he could feel their nasty, rotten breath on his flank as they struck but missed, snorting streams of furious bubbles.

"COME BACK HERE YOU INFANT-KILLER!" Claw swam forward, closing in his talons and then falling back with his eyes nearly smoking from how fiery they were. "YOU CAN'T RUN!"

"I certainly can," Flip growled, throwing the crocodiles off-course with his huge flat tail and using it as a propeller to get away to the shelter of an enormous coral structure that opened up into a small cave mouth just big enough for him to squeeze into. He smashed his head into the rocks above the opening and dislodged a million loose pebbles. These built up into a mound that blocked up the entrance enough that the crocodiles couldn't get in. They swam around it, trying to find another opening but coming up empty-handed. They sniggered at each other, and then started back so they could continue their sunbathing.

"This isn't over," Claw snarled back at him as they shimmied away back toward the shore in a crooked line.

Flip started nudging the small stones away with his snout, trying to re-open the entrance. He let out a long sigh.

This is probably going to take a while, He thought as the pebbles gathered at the root of the rock pile two-by-two. Then he looked up at the sky through a small peek-hole in the pebble wall. He could just see above the rim of the water and catch a glimpse of a blurry image of raptors circling, ready to dive and catch fish.

I don't mean to be hopeful- but I sure do hope they catch a crocodile.