01 A Way Home

CHAPTER 1 A WAY HOME Tag, Skyla, Blaze, Claw, and Talia stood inside the firehawks' Golden Temple. The temple was beautiful. It had high ceilings, shiny golden pillars, and fountains that sparkled with rainbow-colored water.

"There must be a way we can go home," Skyla said, then sighed. Her bushy tail flicked back and forth. "The Land of the Firehawks is amazing, but I want to go back to Perodia." Tag nodded sadly. "But how? We lost the golden feathers. And the Ember Stone alone is not strong enough to open a portal." He remembered how they had used the golden feathers and the Ember Stone together to open portals to the Cloud Kingdom and to the Land of the Firehawks.

"We need to find a powerful magical object to open a portal," Blaze said. "This land is full of magic," Claw said. "There must be one here somewhere." Tag sighed. "Grey would know what to do," he said. He wished the leader of the Owls of Valor was there with them. "Or he could find the answer in one of his books." "If it's books you want, I can help," Talia said. "Follow me." The friends followed Talia along a hallway until they reached a small door. It was carved out of the stone wall. Talia ducked down and walked through it. Tag followed, and his feathers brushed the top of the door.

They entered another hallway that looked like a tunnel. It was dark, damp, and cold, and Talia's and Blaze's heads almost touched the ceiling. Torches hung from the wall. Talia ruffled her feathers, and they lit up one by one, lighting the way. They walked until the path broke into two directions. One went to the right, and one went to the left. Talia chose the left.

"What is down the other path?" Claw asked as they followed her down the tunnel. "That path is closed," Talia replied. "No one can go down there." "Why?" Claw asked. "It is said to hold great danger," Talia replied. The tunnel widened as they walked, until... "Wow!" Blaze gasped. Tag's beak hung open in surprise. They were in a gigantic room, full of shelves stacked with books. It was just like Grey's library but much bigger.

"It's wonderful!" Skyla said. Talia nodded. "These books contain all of our firehawk history. It could be a good place to search for clues about magical objects." Then she left the friends alone. Tag gazed around at the thousands of books and scrolls. He felt a bit dizzy. It could take years to search through all these books, he thought. How would they ever find what they were looking for?