11 The Nixie Kingdom

CHAPTER 11 THE NIXIE KINGDOM The lake was deeper than Tag had thought. He felt he was sinking to the bottom like a rock. But really, he was floating down, down, down. Tiny, golden lights surrounded them, guiding them to the bottom of the lake.

Tag looked over at his friends. Their bubbles were full of air—so they could breathe underwater! Colorful fish swam in and out of weeds. Blaze waved at one fish, but it ignored her and swam past. Skyla did not look so happy. Her tail flicked back and forth as she held her paws over her eyes. "Electric eels!" Blaze cried out suddenly, pointing. Tag could see orange eyes peering out from the weeds. Nova waved at Tag and his friends to put the blossoms back in their ears. Then she opened her mouth. She was singing again. The eels quickly drifted away and the friends removed the blossoms.

On the lake bottom, Tag spotted another glimmering light. It sparkled gold and silver through the water. The light grew bigger and bigger as the friends' bubbles floated closer to it. Soon, their rainbow-colored bubbles floated above a giant bubble at the very bottom of Lullaby Lake. There was a huge palace in the middle. It glittered silver beneath the dome. "This is where you live?" Tag asked, his eyes wide. "Welcome to the Nixie Kingdom!" Nova said.