10 Underwater Magic

CHAPTER 10 UNDERWATER MAGIC Tag, Skyla, Blaze, and Nova hid in the willow trees. CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! Tag caught his breath as he listened to the tiger bats' beaks snapping in the sky above. After a while, the tiger bats flapped away.

"Phew!" Nova sighed. She smiled at her new friends. "So, what brings you to Lullaby Lake?" she asked, fluttering over Tag's head. "We are on a long journey, in search of all the pieces of the Ember Stone," Tag told her. "Our magical map led us here for the next piece, but Thorn showed up." "He tried to steal our piece, but he dropped it into the lake," Blaze explained.

"So that's why Thorn came to our lake!" Nova said. "We knew something strange was happening when those electric eels magically appeared." "I'm sorry," Tag replied. "We're trying to get our stone back. But we haven't been able to get past Thorn's spies—the electric eels," Skyla said. "And you and your friends keep putting us to sleep," Tag added. Nova's face turned pink. "I'm sorry," she said. "But we have to protect our piece of the Ember Stone." She clapped her hand over her mouth. Then I did see our stone glow! Tag thought. It glowed because it was near the nixies' piece of the stone!

"You have the next piece! Where is it?" Tag asked, his eyes wide. "My father will explain everything," Nova said, pointing to the water. "I will take you to him—at the bottom of the lake." "I can't swim!" Skyla cried. "You don't need to swim," Nova said with a smile. "What about the eels? And the tiger bats? I'm sure they're still nearby," Tag said. Nova's wings glowed. "Leave them to me." She flew into a tree and picked a handful of soft blossoms.

"Put these in your ears," she said. Tag, Blaze, and Skyla placed the fluffy blossoms in their ears. Tag watched as Nova opened her mouth and started singing. Her wings glowed brighter. The tiger bats came out from beneath a willow tree across the lake, as though in a trance. Then they fell to the ground, sleeping soundly. Nova stopped singing and waved at the friends to remove the blossoms. "Follow me," Nova said, flying toward the water. Nova's wings glowed a soft pink color. She held out her hands, and tiny, glittery sparkles rose to make four shiny bubbles. The bubbles grew and grew until they were as big as Blaze.

Nova pointed to the bubbles. "These will take us beneath the water." Tag scratched his head. "How?" he asked. BLOOP! "Like that!" The nixie laughed at Blaze, who had stepped inside a bubble. Then she stepped inside one, too. "Peep!" Blaze smiled. Tag took a step forward. BLOOP! "What if my bubble pops underwater?" Skyla called from inside hers.