07 An Enemy Returns

CHAPTER 7 AN ENEMY RETURNS Bod and the friends followed Grey up into his tree. They walked up the spiral staircase to the very top, where Grey kept his books. Grey searched his books frantically. Then he found one and shouted loudly.

"Aha! It's right here!" he said. "How could I have missed this?" "What is it?" Claw asked. They gathered closer to read the book. "The Shadow is an ancient magic," Grey read. "Older than even the first firehawk's egg. It finds other power-hungry creatures to use its dark magic. As long as the magic exists, so does The Shadow."

"But Blaze defeated The Shadow with the Ember Stone!" Skyla cried. Grey nodded. "I thought so. But now I think that was only a piece of The Shadow that we defeated. Perhaps another piece lived on and found a new evil creature." "And now it has grown more powerful!" Tag said. His head felt dizzy at the thought of The Shadow returning.

"The Shadow must have found someone like Thorn who wanted to use its dark magic for evil. The missing animals and the orange-eyed creature you saw could mean that The Shadow is working with someone new and creating an army again," Grey said. Blaze's feathers shook. "They must have taken my mom!" "But where?" Tag asked. "Can you check your maps, Grey?" Grey pulled out some papers from a pile and blew the dust off.

"I do have one special map," he said. "It shows you things that are lost. Maybe it can show us where Talia is." He waved his wing over the map. Pink and purple lights sparkled across the paper, but it stayed blank. Grey frowned. "Hmm. That should have worked," he said.

He lifted the map to take a closer look. "What's that?" Bod asked, pointing to the underside of the map. Grey turned it over. A tiny dot glowed pink. "But there's nothing on that side," he said. "Unless..." Grey's face went pale. He quickly grabbed another book and flicked through it. "I have heard of a hidden land," Grey said slowly. "But I thought it was only a myth. I didn't think it could be real." "What is it?" Blaze asked. "The Underland," Grey said shakily. "It is a dark and dangerous place, hidden deep beneath the surface of Perodia. If Talia is trapped there, she is in very great danger."