Into the Open Water

Fizz had been talking about the Coral Bloom for weeks. Weeks. If they hadn't known what it was before, everyone at the reef had heard about it now - a moment when the reef lights up all at once, color exploding through the water like the ocean itself is celebrating. It only happened every few years.

Fizz had been humming a little tune about it - a little sound that he thought fit. He had thought about what it would look like - everyone described it differently, some said a thousand tiny lights turning on at once, some said it was more like color spreading through water the way paint does. He had decided he wasn't going to imagine it anymore. He was just going to go. Today. Right now. He was already halfway out the door of the reef before he remembered his nana. He'd better at least let her know.

She found him spinning circles near the edge of the reef, too restless to stay still. She watched him for a moment with that look she had - part pride, part something that was almost worry but not quite, and a specific kind of patience she kept just for him.

"I know, I know," he said before she could speak. "I'll be careful."

She laughed. "I was going to say I'm proud of you. A big journey like this, all by yourself. It's brave." She nudged him gently with her fin. "But also - be careful. The open water has some big things in it. Pay attention out there. Not just to where you're going, but to what's around you."

Fizz promised. He meant it. And then he was off - arrowing out of the reef like a tiny bright missile, already humming again.

The open ocean was nothing like the reef. The reef was color and noise and neighbors. Out here, the water was wide and blue and full of strangers - and Fizz loved every single second of it. He raced a young sea turtle who was not particularly interested in racing but got pulled into it anyway. (The turtle did not win. Fizz wasn't sure the turtle even understood they were racing.) He stopped to watch a school of silver fish turn all at once like a single spinning ribbon, and spent a happy ten minutes trying to figure out how they did that - and then getting in their way trying to join them.

He helped a confused little crab who had somehow ended up much too far from the seafloor. Fizz found him just floating there, clacking his claws at nothing. Neither of them could figure out how he'd gotten there, but they spent a cheerful few minutes working on the problem together before the crab caught a downward current and disappeared. Fizz hoped he made it home.

A pod of dolphins passed overhead, close enough that their clicks and whistles filled the water all around him. Fizz clicked back. He had absolutely no idea what he said, but one of them dove down and gave him a long look before rejoining the group. Fizz decided he had probably said something very interesting.

The ocean was enormous and full of things and Fizz was exactly where he wanted to be.

After about an hour of swimming against a strong current that had appeared out of nowhere, Fizz was tired enough to stop for a break. He hung in the water, catching his breath. And that's when he noticed it.

The little fish - the ones that were usually darting around a cluster of rocks nearby - they were gone. All of them. He looked around. The water was quiet. Not peaceful quiet. Empty quiet. Not another creature in sight. He stopped humming. His nana's voice. Pay attention to what's around you. Not just where you're going.

He went completely still and looked - really looked - at the water ahead. Dark shapes. A slow shadow, wide and heavy, cutting through the blue maybe thirty fin-lengths away. A shark. Not hunting, not charging. Just moving. But moving right along the path Fizz was traveling. His stomach dropped. He was not scared of much. He was a little scared of this.

Looking down, he spotted a small cluster of rocks. He dove and tucked himself into a crack and went completely still. Which was very hard for Fizz. He was not a creature built for stillness.

He waited. The shark moved in long lazy loops, like it had all the time in the world. Every time Fizz thought maybe it was finally heading off, it turned back. Pretty soon it was circling right over his little rock hideout, and Fizz had been still for so long he was starting to feel it in his fins.

He had done the right things. He had paid attention. He had hidden. But he was stuck. The shark showed no sign of leaving, and the Coral Bloom was still somewhere out there, waiting. Sometimes doing everything right isn't enough to get yourself unstuck. Fizz stayed behind the rocks and tried very hard to think instead of just bolting.

Suddenly - all at once - the water went dark. Not slowly, like a cloud passing - all at once, like a curtain dropping. A deep black ink cloud spread between Fizz and the shark, swirling and expanding until everything was completely swallowed up.

Then a voice. Quiet and quick, from somewhere off to his right. "This way. Hurry. Now."

Fizz could not see anything. Not the shark, not whoever was talking, not even his own fin in front of his face. He went anyway. He swam hard toward the voice, through the ink-black water, not looking back, just swimming. The ink slowly cleared. And there, floating in front of him, was an octopus - small, completely calm, watching him with steady eyes, eight arms drifting gently in the current.

"You're okay," the octopus said.

Fizz stared at him. His brain was going in about forty directions at once. "What - how did you - where did that -"

The octopus held up one arm and released a tiny, careful puff of ink into the water between them. "Ink," he said simply.

Fizz stared at the little ink cloud. Then he started laughing.

His name was Inky. He'd been moving through the same stretch of water when he spotted Fizz tucked behind the rocks, and the shark making its slow circles. He had watched for a moment, figured out the timing, and acted.

"You saw all of that," Fizz said. "Before I even knew you were there."

"I was paying attention," Inky said. Not unkindly. Just as a fact.

Fizz was quiet for a second - which was somewhat unusual for Fizz. "My nana told me that. Watch what's around you, not just where you're going." He paused. "I did. I noticed the fish disappear. That's how I knew something was wrong."

Inky looked at him. "That was good thinking."

"Still got stuck."

"Yes," Inky said. "But you found safety. That part was yours."

Fizz felt something settle in him. Something that had been humming with worry went quiet, in a good way. He had paid attention. He had done his part. He had just needed help with the rest - and there was nothing wrong with that.

"You weren't scared of it, were you? The shark."

"Not of the shark," the octopus said. "I know that shark. I've been watching it for weeks. I was scared I wouldn't get you out in time. That was the part I didn't know."

Fizz didn't say anything, but just started humming as they swam together.

"Where are you headed?" Fizz asked eventually.

"Nowhere specific."

Fizz looked at him. He could not imagine having nowhere specific to be. That was possibly the most interesting thing he had heard all day. He grinned - the biggest grin he had in him. "Have you heard of the Coral Bloom?"

Inky shook his head slowly.

"Then you're coming with me."