04 The Swamp

CHAPTER 4 THE SWAMP "Run, Skyla!" Tag yelled. SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH! Tag and Skyla ran through the silvery water as quickly as they could. But the bright-eyed creatures crawled closer and closer.

Tag and Skyla stood back-to-back in the water as the creatures surrounded them. Tag's wing shook as he held his dagger. The moonlight reflected off of the tree trunks onto the water below.

Hundreds of toads stared up at Tag and Skyla. "There are so many of them!" Tag said. He wished that Blaze was here. Her powers were so strong. She would be able to scare them away with her cry, or blast them with a fireball. He and Skyla only had their weapons. The toads croaked and splashed around in front of them, but they didn't seem to be coming any closer.

"What are they doing?" Skyla asked. Tag scratched his head. "I'm not sure. They're not looking at us anymore." He stepped toward a large, balloon-shaped toad sitting on a log floating nearby. "Hello," Tag said. The toad stared at Tag. "Hello!" it croaked. Then it stuck out its long tongue, and PLOP! It jumped into the water to join its friends.

Tag sighed and put his dagger away. "They are just normal toads," he said. "I don't think they'll hurt us." "I think they are playing," Skyla added. She put her paw on a log and some of the sticky glitter on her fur came off onto it. "Excuse me," she said to a nearby toad, "we're looking for our friend. Can you help us find— CROAK! The toad jumped away from Skyla. "Huh," Skyla said. "I guess he didn't want to talk."

She turned to another group of toads. "Can any of you help us find our friend?" she asked. "Get away!" the toads croaked. They quickly swam off. "Wait!" Skyla called. "We won't hurt you." "What was that all about? Those toads left in a hurry," Tag said. Skyla shrugged. "Maybe we scared them."