04 Lost!

CHAPTER 4 LOST! "Claw?" Tag called out. There was no reply. "CLAW!" he called again with a shaky voice. But only his echo replied: Claw... Claw... Claw. There was a sudden loud scraping noise. "What is that?" Skyla whispered. Blaze's feathers grew brighter, and Skyla squealed. The walls were moving!

Tag turned around, but a new wall blocked the way back to the entrance. "That wall wasn't there before!" Tag cried. "This place is a maze. A magical maze!" Blaze yelled. The walls moved left and right. Then a wall moved right in front of Skyla—and blocked her behind it! "Tag!" Skyla cried. "Blaze!" Tag pressed his wings against the wall, trying to move it.

Skyla was trapped on the other side! "Blaze!" Tag cried. "Use your fireballs. Maybe they could blast a hole in the wall." Tag moved back, waiting for a fireball to fly past him, but nothing happened. There was another loud scraping noise. Suddenly, everything went dark. "Blaze?" Tag said. He turned around. But another wall had appeared behind Tag, blocking him from Blaze. Tag touched the wall. His heart was thumping. "Blaze!" he called.

"I can see a path!" Blaze shouted through the wall. "I'm going to follow it. Maybe it will lead me out of the maze so I can go get help." "Okay," Tag replied. He ran to where Skyla was trapped. "Skyla!" he called through the wall. "Do you see a path?" "I think so," Skyla said. Her voice sounded quiet behind the wall. "Follow the path," Tag told her. "I'll find another way to reach you." There was a loud scraping noise again. The wall beside Tag moved... and revealed a new path! He raced down it.

After a while, he stopped for a rest and shouted out to his friends. "Blaze! Skyla! Can you hear me?" But there was no reply. Why did I make them come down this path with me? Tag thought. I should have listened to Talia. It is too dangerous here! He thought of his friend Coralie, the seal who had been lost in the Crystal Caverns until Tag, Skyla, and Blaze had rescued her. Tag felt very alone.

He put his head in his wings, when suddenly SCRITCH! SCRATCH! RUMBLE RUMBLE! He sat up and listened. Something was moving through the maze. SCRITCH! SCRATCH! RUMBLE RUMBLE! The sound was getting closer. It was too loud to be Skyla or Blaze. SCRITCH! SCRATCH! RUMBLE RUMBLE! And it was heading right for Tag!