05 Into the Cloud Kingdom

CHAPTER 5 INTO THE CLOUD KINGDOM Blaze hopped up and down. Skyla cheered and joined her friend. Tag couldn't help but smile. Maybe they would find Blaze's family after all. "I can't believe we did it!" Skyla said.

"Hooray!" Blaze shouted. "We found the Cloud Kingdom!" She stopped suddenly. "Now we need to find my family. Where should we look?" Blaze and Skyla both turned to Tag. Tag laughed. "Calm down," he said. "Let's try to figure out where we are first."

He looked around. The Cloud Kingdom was like nothing he had seen before. This world was filled with color. There were flowers and plants of blue and red and yellow and purple. The air smelled as sweet as sugar plums and candy. Tag stepped forward, but the ground felt strange beneath his feet. It was soft, white, and fluffy. Tag was walking on clouds. "Watch this!" Blaze shouted. She leaped in the air. When she landed, she bounced up, then down again. "My turn!" Skyla said. She flipped in the air, then landed on another fluffy cloud. "Let's go explore!"

Tag moved slowly. He didn't like the feeling of bouncing up and down. It made his tummy feel funny. Instead, he flew after his friends. First they explored a patch of strange trees. "Look at those!" Tag called. The trees had bright yellow trunks that curved out of the ground like giant springs. On the end of their twisting branches were pastel-colored flowers. The flowers looked just like cotton-candy balls.

Then the friends wandered past huge rocks that looked like they were made from crystal. The sunshine shone through them, filling the air with tiny rainbows. Everywhere they went, they found more strange and wonderful sights.

Tag landed beside his friends. He still had an uneasy feeling. "What's wrong, Tag?" Skyla asked, bouncing over. Blaze joined them. "Where is everyone?" Tag asked. "We've been exploring the Cloud Kingdom for hours, but we haven't seen one creature. Not even an insect." "Maybe they are asleep?" Skyla said. "That's another thing," Tag replied. "When we walked through the portal, it was still night in Perodia. How is the sun already up here?" Blaze shrugged.