16 Grey's Army

CHAPTER 16 GREY'S ARMY "Perry!" Grey hooted out a window. There was a rumble outside, and a mole popped up out of the earth. She hurried into Grey's tree. "We need you and your friends to tunnel to different parts of Perodia," Grey told Perry. He lifted a wing at Tag to speak.

Tag nodded. "Please find Thaddeus and the spider monkeys at Fire Island, Coralie and the seals at the Crystal Caverns, the bears and grumblebees in the flower-filled meadow near the Whispering Oak, and Stanley the sloth at Lullaby Lake." Maybe, Tag thought, with our friends' help, we can save Perodia, "I'm on it!" Perry said, giving Tag a wink before she raced outside and back into her hole.

"What about Nova and the nixies?" Blaze asked. Tag pulled out the magical shell Nova had given him. "The nixies live underwater," he said. "The moles can't reach them. We'll have to figure out how to use—" TA-RAAAA! TA-RAAA! Loud horns sounded. They called every creature in Valor Wood and beyond—to let them know to be ready to fight. "Take Tag, Skyla, and Blaze to the clearing!" Grey told Maximus. "I'll meet you there." The three friends felt hopeful as they rushed out of Grey's tree.

But when they stepped outside, the sky was even darker than before. The sun had disappeared behind thick, dark clouds, and a storm raged around them. Flashes of lightning filled the air, with big crashes of thunder that shook the ground. "The Shadow is almost here!" Skyla shouted. "Our friends will never make it in time!" Tag held Skyla's paw in one wing and Blaze's wing in the other. He looked at his friends. "We still have the Ember Stone," he said.

"And you have me," Blaze added. Together, they raced to a large clearing. Tag gasped. All the creatures from Valor Wood were there. Owls and squirrels, mice and rabbits, young and old. Holding weapons and wearing armor. Ready for battle. And there, right in the middle, stood the fiercest, strongest warriors in all of Perodia: the Owls of Valor.

Grey swooped down over their heads to land on a tree stump in the middle of the clearing. Tag pulled out his dagger. Beside him, Skyla held up her slingshot, and Blaze's feathers glowed. "We're ready," Grey said. "For the battle for Perodia."