14 The Ember Stone

CHAPTER 14 THE EMBER STONE Tag, Blaze, and Skyla flew back up the hill as fast as they could. "Fly faster!" Tag said. They finally landed outside the bears' cave. "We have your honeycomb!" Tag called.

Hank and Herbert peeked their heads out of the cave. "You do?" they asked. Tag nodded. He reached into the sack where he had placed the honeycomb for safekeeping. Then he pulled it out to show the bears. The bears licked their lips. "Yummy!" they said, holding their big paws out to grab it. Tag held it back. "What about the Ember Stone?" he asked, Skyla crossed her arms and nodded. "We had a deal," she said. "You'll get this honeycomb when you hand over the stone." "Peep!" Blaze agreed, stamping her feet. Herbert disappeared into the cave.

OWOWOWOOOOOOOOW! Herbert howled, then run back out of the cave. He stood empty-handed, licking his paw. "I can't touch the stone!" he said between licks. "It's too hot!" Blaze gave a loud peep. "It's not too hot for Blaze," Tag said with a grin. The bears stood back to let the firehawk pass into the cave. Tag watched as the dark cave filled with purple light. Blaze hopped back out with the piece of the Ember Stone in her beak.

Tag handed the bears the honeycomb. "Thank you!" Herbert said, chomping. "Good luck with the rest of your journey," Hank said, licking sticky honey from his paws. The bears headed back into their cave. Blaze set the stone down on the ground. She took the other piece out of Tag's suck. Both pieces glowed warm and bright. Slowly the pieces moved toward each other. The closer they moved, the warmer and hotter they became, With a bright flash of light, they joined to make one bigger piece!

But the magical Ember Stone was still not complete. There was clearly at least one piece left for them to find. Tag pulled out the map. "Where to next?" Skyla asked as she peered over his shoulder. Blaze hopped up and down excitedly as a new spot started to glow on the paper. "East," Tag said, reading the map. "The next piece is at Lullaby Lake."