Chapter 6

6 The sharks silently swam closer. The closer they got, the more Grace wanted to swim off with the dolphins! But she reminded herself that she was a Sea Dragon. Just thinking that made her feel braver. She took a deep breath. "Stay calm," FinFin reminded her gently.

Grace nodded, but it wasn't easy when there were sharks approaching! She knew nerves were not such a bad thing. She often felt nervous before a swim meet. It helped her think and move fast! Zoe and Sofia appeared on either side of Grace. "We've got this," Zoe said steadily. "We're almost as big as those sharks." "Totally," Sofia agreed. "Plus, we can roar!" Grace felt a wave of relief. Facing off against a school of Shiver Sharks was the scariest thing she'd ever done. But it was so much better having friends to share in the adventure. Grace puffed out her chest and spread her wings wide, making herself as big as she could. "Stop right there, Shiver Sharks!" she called. "We need to talk to you."

To her surprise, the sharks stopped instantly. Even more surprising was what happened next. The sharks began to shiver! "That's weird. Are they cold?" Zoe muttered. "I can hear their teeth chattering." "I think they might be scared!" Sofia whispered. Grace stared at the huge creatures. It seemed impossible, but the Shiver Sharks did look like

they were trembling with fear. Grace risked swimming a little bit closer. Instantly, the sharks shrieked and disappeared into the gloomy depths. "Please don't come any closer!" one of them called in a shaky voice. "What's wrong?" Grace asked. "You're Shiver Sharks. You're the scariest creatures in the sea!" One of the sharks, who was speckled with light green dots, came closer. "You have that all wrong. Everyone does. We're not the scariest creatures. We're the most scared ones!" Grace was so surprised she burst out laughing. "Don't laugh," said the green-spotted shark. "Everyone we meet says we're terrifying. All the other sea creatures swim off, screaming, when we approach. How do you think that makes us feel? The screaming hurts our ears. And it makes us so jumpy." "Sorry," Zoe said gently, swimming up beside Grace. "The Diamond Dolphins told us you were

scary." "You shouldn't believe everything you're told," another shark said, sliding up beside the green-spotted one. "You do look very scary," Sofia added. "Well, we're not. Shiver Sharks are vegetarians, you know. And we're very shy. We keep trying to invite the dolphins to Shark City for tea and races so they can see that we're not scary. It takes a lot of courage for us to do that. We get so nervous!" "We hate being rejected," said a sad-looking shark. "Whenever we work up the courage to ask them, they just swim off. It's not very polite!" "It is kind of rude," Sofia agreed. "Poor sharks. How about we visit your city instead? Would you like that?" "You mean it?" the spotted shark asked. A murmur of excitement rippled through the group. "We've never had visitors before!" "I would have cleaned up!"

"Will you stay for tea and races?" asked another shark. "We make the best sea tea. And racing is our favorite pastime." Grace looked over at Sofia. The Shiver Sharks didn't seem very frightening. But did they want to visit a whole city full of them? And did they have time? They had a dolphin leader to rescue. FinFin murmured in Grace's ear. "It's a good idea. That way you can make sure they don't have the Sea Keeper." Grace nodded. She did not think the Shiver Sharks had taken the dolphin leader. But FinFin was right. It was a good idea to check. "This way!" called the sharks excitedly. They had all stopped shivering. Instead, they swished their tails happily. The three Sea Dragons followed along behind. Grace still felt a little worried. She really hoped this wasn't a trap! But they needed to find the dolphin leader, and visiting Shark City would give them the perfect chance to look.