04 The Lost Stone

CHAPTER 4 THE LOST STONE "Thorn has spies in the water!" Tag shouted. "Eels!" Blaze and Tag circled above the lake, watching the eels' flashing blue light and glowing orange eyes. BUZZZZ! BUZZZZ! "What's that sound?" Tag asked.

Blaze soared closer to the water. BUZZZZ! The sound grew louder and the flashes of blue light grew brighter. Blaze dipped her beak in the lake. "Ow!" Blaze cried, zooming up out of the water. "They're electric eels!" Tag said. Tag and Blaze headed back to shore.

"What happened out there?" Skyla asked as Blaze rubbed her beak. "Our stone is at the bottom of the lake," Blaze said. "And Thorn's spies are guarding it," Tag said. He put his head in his wings. They had already come so far to find the pieces that made up their stone—traveling to Fire Island, the Crystal Caverns, and the Whispering Oak. Those three pieces had joined to make one stone, but now that stone was lost underwater.

"This is all my fault!" Tag cried. "I should have stopped Thorn from taking our stone. Now it looks like he will get our stone and the next piece." Blaze stamped her feet. "No!" she cried. Skyla turned to Tag. "It wasn't your fault Thorn stole our stone," she said. "We can get it back, I know we can." "Peep!" Blaze agreed. Tag smiled. "Okay," he said. "But how? If we touch the water, we'll be zapped!" "Use a branch?" Blaze suggested.

"That won't work," Tag said. "A branch wouldn't be long enough to reach the bottom of the lake." Skyla looked back at the willow trees. "I have an idea!" she said. Tag and Blaze followed Skyla to camp, where she quickly got to work. She gathered one of their nests and twisted the branches and twigs and leaves together into a new shape. "We can't go in the water," Skyla said, "but we can get closer to the stone by going on the water."

"A raft!" Tag said as he saw what his friend was making. "We can use it to float out on the lake!" "But we still need something to reach the stone under the water..." Blaze said. Skyla winked, then pulled down a long, sturdy branch from the tree. She twisted together some leaves to make a net and tied it to the end. When she was finished, she showed them her handiwork. "Who wants to go fishing?" she asked.