Something disturbed Alex, bring her out of her deep sleep. She still had her eyes closed, but she was awake. She was not sure what brought her out of her sleep. A few seconds ticked by, and she began to dose off, but a faint whisper quickly brought her out of it.

"Aaalllleeexxx," She thought she heard someone whisper her name, but it sounded too faint to be a voice. Alex listened for it again, but there was nothing for silence. Once again, Alex started to dose off, dismissing the noises as her mind playing tricks on her, or maybe it was just the wind.

"Alex," She heard her name once more, this time much louder and clear. There was also the addition of a faint nudged on her shoulder. To her disappointment, it was not her mind playing tricks. Slowly she opened her eyes, reliving a blurry figure in front of her. She blinked her eyes few times, trying to bring them into focus, and suddenly her vision sharpened, revealing Colt's batty face right in front of her, upside down. Startled by this, she tried to move back but lost her grip and fell off her roost, hitting her head on the ledge below. She had forgotten she was the one hanging upside down, not Colt.

"Ow," she cried out in pain, rubbing the spot where she hit her head, expecting to feel blood. Luckily, she didn't feel any but she did feel a nasty bump on her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Colt asked as he came over and began to examine where she hit her head.

"Yeah, I am fine. You just startled me," Alex responded to him, "Talk about a wake-up call."

"Sorry about that," He apologized to her with concern in his voice. It was clear that this wasn't Colt's intention of waking her like this.

"No, it is my fault. I forgot I was sleeping upside down," Alex admitted. She would have to be more careful in the future when waking up if she would continue to sleep upside down. Looking around, Alex was a bit disappointed to see the familiar surroundings of Tree Heaven. A small part of her still hoped that she would wake up in her bed back home and that this was just a dream. Unfortunately, as much as she would love that, it was just not the case.

"Well, it looks like just a bump, nothing too severe, but best to check your memory just in case you have a concussion. Do you remember where we are?" Colt asked her, but she just rolled her eyes at that question. Did she really have to do this?

"Colt, I am fine, honestly," She insisted to him, but Colt was not so sure.

"Well, if you are fine, then just answer the question."

Alex just rolled her eyes again in frustration at this. If Colt wanted her to answer the question, she would give him the answer.

"We are in Tree Heaven, home of the Silverwing colony. Now you might ask how we end up here, well I will tell you. Somehow you and I got ourselves turned into bats and found ourselves in an unfamiliar forest. Luckily we ran in another bat, which led us here," she recalled him, giving him a smirk once she finished, "Do you need me to answer any more questions, or am I fine?"

"Nah, you're fine," Colt answered as he stood up and offering her help up, but she decided to continue to toy with him.

"Can't be too sure, Colt. Let see, my favourite colour is navy blue, we have known each other since we were kids and you slept with a teddy bear till age…" She was about to answer when Colt cut her off by reaching down and grabbing her arm.

"Alright, that is enough. You're definitely fine," Colt said as he pulled her to her feet. There was a small moment of silence between them before they both burst out in laugh in amusement. Even in all this, they could still find time to laugh. It only lasted for a few seconds before Alex looked over to Colt. He looked more tired now than when they went to sleep.

"How did you sleep?" She asked him.

"On and off most of the night," Colt responded, shaking his hand, forgetting that they slept through the day.

"You mean day," She corrected him.

"Right, yeah, I forgot. So, use to sleeping at night," Colt said, "I am assuming that you slept fine considering you dosed off right away."

Alex assumed she slept through most of the day. She wasn't exactly sure how long she slept for. Mostly she relied on checking the time on her smartphone, but that was clearly absent at this time.

"Yeah, I think so. How long do you think we slept for?" Alex asked.

"Not sure. I haven't been outside yet, but from my guess, it's a few hours after since the sun has gone down," Colt assumed.

"What makes you say that?" She asked him.

"There is nobody around," Colt answered. She looked around and noticed that the other bats that were roosted close by when they went to sleep were now all gone, leaving the Goldwing completely alone in their area of Tree Heaven.

"Where do you think they have gone," She asked but knew the answer once she asked the question.

"Mostly likely out hunting or doing what bats do," Colt answered her.

Hearing that, Alex felt her stomach grumble in hunger. She was desperate for food but, at the same time, not looking forward to it. The thought of eating a bug just sickened her. How could a bug be edible?

"Come on," Colt said to her as he took off. Alex followed him. Her arms still ached from flying around the night before. The duo made their way down Tree Heaven's trunk. It was odd to see how empty it was now. It was full of bats when they first arrived, but now it was almost entirely deserted with a few bats still hanging around. Making their way out of the opening they used to enter the tree last night, Alex felt the cold fresh night air against her fur, which provided some warmth for her from the cool autumn air.

The duo grabbed a quick drink from the lake and head for the forest. They flew for a bit, trying to get some distance between them and Tree Heaven and keeping an eye out for any other silverwing as well as owls. After flying for a bit, they found an area that seemed private. There were no silverwings around as well as owls. She remembered how silently the owl showed up the last night, and she was sure to keep her eye on the lookout.

"Do you think this is a good spot?" Colt asked her.

"Yeah, looks as good as it can be," she agreed, and the duo landed on a tree branch. Looking around, she could see a few beetles fly around the forest. How would she able to bring herself to eat one, let alone catch one.

"So, how is this going to work?" She asked Colt, who just shrugged, unsure as well.

"I don't know," he said, zeroing in on a beetle flying around in the distance.

"But I will give it a try," He said, taking off after the beetle, leaving Alex to watch. She watched Colt fly straight at the beetle with all of his might, only for the beetle to move to the side cause him to overshoot it and missing the bug. Colt, not yet defeat, came at the beetle again, this time at a much slower speed. Like before, the beetle moves sideways, trying to dodge the incoming bat, but his time, Colt anticipated the beetle's movement and caught it with his mouth. Alex felt her stomach turn in disgust as she watched Colt ate the beetle. His face was full of confusion as he chewed it and swallowed it.

"How is it?" She asked him, wanting to know how it tasted, but without responding, Colt went after another beetle just like before. This time, he caught with his foot instead of his mouth and circled back to the tree branch.

"Here, take it," He told her. Alex held her hands out, and Colt dropped the dead beetle into them and then landed next to her.

"As bad as that looks, it doesn't taste horrible," Colt told her.

"Are you just saying that to try to make me feel better," She snapped back at him, not wanting to be fooled by him.

"Honestly, I am not lying, trust me," Colt assured her. Alex took a deep look at the dead beetle in her hands, looking less appetizing as each second ticked by. One of the insect's legs was twitching uncontrollably, and there was green liquid oozing from one of its sides. Just then, the beetle's wing busted uncontrollably, almost causing her to drop before it fell to silence again.

"I thought this thing was dead?" She cried out.

"Just eat the dam thing," Colt shouted, and her stomach growled out in hunger like it knew that this was food. Alex took a deep breath in and held it as she put the beetle into her mouth, feeling the insect's legs tickling the roof of her mouth. Alex had to force herself not to spit it out immediately, and with one big bite, her teeth crunch through the beetle's shell. She felt the warm liquid of the beetle ooze around her mouth and expected to taste something horrible. Instead, she was rewarded with rather good taste. It had a strange meaty taste like nothing she ever had before, with a tad bit of gameness you expect from something like deer or elk. Swallowing, she felt a tad bit of relief to her hunger.

"So?" Colt asked her.

"You are right. It not horrible," Alex admitted to him. It was a lot better than what she was expecting. Although the whole eat a bug thing still made her feel a bit sick, it was a relief that they were edible.

All of a sudden, a beetle whizzed by her head.

"That one's mine," She called out and took off after still hungry for more.

Shade flew through the forest that surrounded Tree Heaven. His stomach was stuffed from his nightly hunt of mosquitoes and beetles, and he decided to bring his attention to finding the two newcomers. So far tonight, he has only seen his fellow silverwings with no sign of any goldwings. Earlier that night, he heard that the two goldwings were still asleep, and so he decided to go for a quick hunt to pass the time, but when Shade returned, he was told that the two had already left to go hunting.

Shade assumed they would be with the rest of the Silverwing colony, but it seemed his assumption was wrong. If they were not with the rest of the Silverwing colony, then they must off veer off on their own somewhere.

The forest that surrounded Tree Heaven was split into two regions, with the western region where most of the silverwings liked to hunt, well the eastern region was avoided due to the owl camp close by. Although it was safe for them to fly at night and that owls couldn't harm them due to the law, most silverwings found it best to stay clear from them in general. He knew if the Goldwing were not here, then they must be in the eastern part. He passed by a tree branch where he saw Chinook talking Breeze and Todd. Shade couldn't help but wonder what those three were talking about. It seemed were ever Chinook went, Todd and Breeze followed him closely behind. He couldn't understand why because the only thing Chinook did was show off and talk non-stop about his father. What often frustrated Shade the most was these stories were completely false and could easily be disproven with facts. As much fun it was to disprove his stories, Shade focused more on finding the two goldwings.

It only took a few minutes for Shade to make his way into the eastern region. Unlike the rest of the silverwings, Shade wasn't scared of the owls. Shade knew he was safe as long as he flew at night and followed the law. In the pasted, he has come here many times to hunt. The bug count was always higher since most of the silverwings avoided this part of the forest. His mother warned him to stay clear of this area, but he just ignored her warnings. He wasn't scared of any owls.

He searched through the forest for a few minutes, catching a few more mosquitoes along the way, adding to his already full stomach. He was having no luck finding those two and was about to give up his efforts, thinking that wait back at Tree Heaven for the duo to return might be easier than searching the whole forest when he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking over, it was the female goldwing. She was standing on a tree branch, watching something with her back against him. Without thinking and full of excitement, Shade flew over to the tree branch, landing behind her, not realizing how silent his approach was.

"Hi," He greeted her, but she must have been unaware of his presents because she let out a scream, leaping away from him and trying to turn to see who was behind her at the same time. In doing so, she lost her balance and caused her to stumble onto her butt. She looked up at him with terror on her face, but when she let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was another bat.

Shade felt like he just ate a rock as his stomach sank deep into his body. This was not what he intended to do, and it couldn't have gone any worse. If he didn't have fur on his face, it would clearly be turning red due to embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you like that," He apologized to her, reaching out to help her back to her feet, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Honestly, you're not the first one to do that to me so far tonight," The female Goldwing responded to him with a slight chuckle at the end as Shade helped her to her feet. As he expected, she was much taller than he was. One thing that stuck out most to him was her hair. Her amber hair seemed to be knotted in a strange pattern going down her right side.

"Is that so? Well, that isn't how I wanted to introduce myself. So how about I begin again. Hi, I'm Shade," He introduced himself with a friendly smile.

"Well Shade, My name is Alexandra, but everyone calls me Alex for short," Alex responds with a smile, "It is nice to meet you, Shade." It was clear that Alex was older than he was and the rest of the silverwing newborns but not by much. She was still younger than his mother, so maybe she was at most a year older than he has.

"So, what are you doing out here, Alex?" He asked her, trying to start a conversation, but before she could answer, the male Goldwing joined them, landing next to Alex.

"Is everything okay? I heard you scream," he asked Alex.

"I'm fine, Colt. I just had an unexpected visitor," Alex answered to him, then bring her attention back to Shade, "Colt, this is Shade. Shade, this Colt."

"Hello," Shade greeted him with a wave, but all he got from Colt was just a nod before he brought his attention back to Alex.

"Are you done eating because we should take a look around and figured out where we are?" Colt asked her.

"What are you two looking for?" Shade butted in, unable to stop his curiosity in what the two were looking for.

"We are just looking for something," Colt responded.

"Well, what is it? Maybe I could help. I know this forest pretty well," Shade asked, trying to get more information. He knew the forest better than any other newborn, spending countless nights exploring almost every corner of it and getting in trouble the odd time with his mother for going outside of Tree Heaven's boundaries.

"He could maybe be some help to us, Colt. He is a local after all," Alex suggested to Colt, seeing Shade's usefulness as well. Colt fell silent for a second before agreeing with a nod.

"Sure, why not? It wouldn't hurt," Colt said, bring his attention back to the silverwing, "Okay, Shade, this might sound odd but are there any human buildings around here?"

"Human buildings?" Shade asked to make sure he heard him correctly. What were they doing looking for human buildings?

Colt gave him a nod to confirm that he indeed heard that correctly.

Shade knew what human buildings were from what his mother has told him but has never seen them before. She told him that they were these incredible structures that the humans construct out of stone, wood and metal, and live inside of them. Unfortunately, there were no human buildings for thousands of wingbeats in any direction. Now, why were Alex and Colt looking for these structures? It took the young bat a second when he remembered that it was common for bats to use this structure as a land maker to navigate. That was most likely why they were looking for them, but unfortunately, there was nothing for thousands of wingbeats in any direction. Shade was about to tell them the bad news when he remembers that there was something that the humans used that was close by that the two might be interested in.

"Well, there are no human buildings, but there is a road," Shade answered, remembering the human road that ran through the forest.

"A road?" Alex asked, looking over at Colt, who gestured with his hand for Shade to continue.

"Yeah, it cuts through the forest like a river of stone," Shade answered. He knew what these roads were used for. The humans had these great metal machines that travel at enormous speeds down them. He was warned to always fly above the tree line when crossing this road to avoid getting hit by them.

"Where is it?" Colt asked, clearly intrigued by this road. Shade smiled back to him.

"It is easier if I show you. Follow me."

"So you made a friend," Alex heard Colt's comment as the two followed Shade, leading them this road he knew about. Just like with Chinook, they hanged back a bit, keeping Shade out of earshot of their conversation. Unfortunately, this seemed to be more of a challenge due to Shade's size. The young bat was small than Alex, which made him slower. She repeatedly had to force herself to slow down to keep that distance.

"I guess so," Alex replied, "He kind snuck up on me."

"I am guessing that is why you yell?" Colt asked, "I came racing back to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, sorry about that," She apologized. At the time, she wasn't expecting company, "So what is the plan when we find this road?"

"Well, hopefully, it is a main road or highway. Find few cars, see what state or province their license plates are and go from there. Might even be a sign that will tell us where we are."

"You're not going steal any of the license plates like when we were kids?" she joked with him. Back when they were kids, Colt would go around stealing the license plates off of cars. He said he was trying to collect all 51 American states and the thirteen Canadian provinces and territories. She remembered him even coming close at one point, missing only a few states before his uncle had to bail him out of jail. To her surprise, he even had a Hawaii license plate in the collection, though she wondered how he got his hands on that plate since he had never been there before. He most likely bought it online somewhere.

"No, not this time," Colt responded with a laugh, "Once we know where we are, we can pick a direction and make our way home."

Alex did wonder when they made it home, then what. It wasn't like they knew how they transformed into bats in the first place. She was about to ask him, but Shade called out to them.

"Over there," The young silverwing called out and landed on a tree branch, followed Alex and then Colt. Shade pointed to a far distance where there was a road the cut through the forest.

"That is what you two are looking for, right?" Shade asked.

Alex looked at the road in the far distance, and to her disappointment, it was not the busy highway road she and Colt were hoping for but little more than a deserted logging road.

"Have you seen any cars or trucks on this road," Colt asked Shade?

"What is a car or truck?" Shade asked, confused about what Colt was talking about.

"You know, those machines, the human use," Alex asked, thinking that Shade understands that. Of course, he wouldn't know what a car or truck was. He was a bat.

"Oh, those. Funny, I had never heard anyone called them that before," Shade said and then shaking his head, "No, I have never seen any of those on this road. My mother told me to stay away from those machines because they go insanely fast and hit you in a second."

Alex looked over to Colt, who was clear studying the road.

"We could follow the road," Alex suggested to him.

"For how long he asked," Colt asked, "Those logging roads can run hundreds of miles in any direction into the middle of nowhere. We could be following it for days in the wrong direction."

Alex signed at that realization. So there were no buildings or roads to tell them where they were.

"Maybe there is a landmark around Tree Heaven that could help," Shade suggested to the two.

"Maybe," Colt said, "You know these forest well, Shade?"

"Yeah, I have been flying around them all my life,

"Why don't you show us around then," Colt asked the young silverwing.

"Come on, follow me. I will give you the grand tour," Shade said, taking off of the branch.

Some time went by as they followed Shade through the forest but saw nothing but trees, rocks and water with no traces of humans anywhere.

"Colt," A familiar voice called out from behind. Alex looked back and saw Mercury behind them. The trio landed on a tree branch, Mercury joined them a few seconds later.

"Mercury, what can I do for you?" Colt asked him.

"Freida wants to meet with you right away," Mercury told him.

"Alright then, Alex, let's head back to..." Colt began before Mercury cut him off.

"Just you, Colt. Freida only to request to meet with you alone. I am afraid that Alex cannot join you," Mercury said.

Alex looked over at Colt, who was clear displeased by this,

"Listen, either Alex comes with me, or I don't go," Colt protested back to messenger bat. Mercury's face tightened with displeasure at this, and he was about to respond when Alex decides to get involved and try and calm things down before it got ugly.

"Listen, Colt, why don't you go meet with Freida? I will stay with Shade. He can continue to show me around," she suggested looking over at Shade, who was clearly for this idea.

Colt took her aside, turning away from Shade and Mercury to hide what he was about to say.

"Are you sure?" Colt whispered to her.

"Yeah, I will be fine," She whispered back to him.

Colt took a second to think before coming to his decision.

"Alright, fine," Colt agreed to the idea with a sign, "Just stay safe."

"You know I will," Alex respond back to him.

"Alright, Mercury, take me to Freida," Colt said to messenger bat, and Mercury took off with Colt following him, heading in the direction back to Tree Heaven, leaving Alex and Shade on the branch.

"Come on, Alex, there is something really cool I want to show you that you might be interested in," Shade said to her as he took off. She followed after him, but she couldn't shake the thought of why Freida wanted to meet Colt alone, but she knew she would find out the next time she saw him.

Mercury led Colt back to Tree Heaven, entering the tree and guiding him to the tree's upper part just like before. At first, Colt thought he was going back to the same place where he met the elders but was surprised when they passed it and continued up the tree's trunk. At this point, Colt wasn't sure exactly where he was being led to. After a few seconds, more of flying and Mercury stopped in front of a small opening in the tree's side. Colt land next to him, confused about where to go from here.

"She is waiting for you inside," Mercury said, pointing at the small hole. Hesitant, Colt poked his head through the opening, unsure what to expect. He was a bit surprised to find that the entrance led into a small chamber. From the looks of it, it had been carved into the tree's side. Roosted alone in the center of the room was Freida, looking back at him.

"Colt, please come in," Freida said, welcoming him into the chamber. Colt took a few steps in but still hesitant about what this was all about. Mercury was now standing in front chamber's entrance behind, almost like he was guarding it. This made Colt's heart begin to beat faster at the thought of being trapped, his only escape route block and the feeling of being trapped.

"Mercury, you may leave us," she said to her messenger and to Colt relief, Mercury left them, leaving just him and Freida. He felt his heart begin to calm back its normal pace. Colt wasn't sure why he was suddenly so paranoid. Maybe it was the lack of sleep starting to kick in, clouding his mind and judgement or did he have a reason to be?

"You wanted to see me?" Colt asked Freida, and she left her roost, landing in front of him. He could see a closer look at the head elder bat. Her fur was matted in some places, and there was a strange musty odour coming from the elder bat, the same smell you would expect in a retirement home, Colt assumed.

"Yes. I figure it would be best to talk to you in here in my private chamber, away from prying ears."

A private conversation did not seem too bad. Colt would have rather that yesterday when he and Alex first showed up. He found Aurora and Lucretia incredibly quiet, thinking back to it. He could not remember if they even spoke during the whole meeting. Then, there was Bathsheba, who was the opposite of those two. She spoke out like she was in command and quickly to came to her decision on him and Alex. Had she been in charge, she would have to throw Alex and him without within seconds of meeting them.

"Okay, I see. What do you want to talk about," Colt asked her, unsure at exactly what elder bat wanted to talk about?

"As you may have already been aware, in the coming nights, my colony and I are going to start our migration south. The reason why I asked to see you is that I was thinking about asking you and Alex to join us on our journey down south to our winter roost, Hibernaculum," She explained to him with a smile. This was all news to him. He was completely unaware that bats even migrated south like birds. He always assumed that bats hibernated in the same roost that they called home in the summer. This also brought another problem to Colt's attention, if he and Alex don't find a way back to being human, they would have to find a way to survive the fast approaching winter. This was just another problem to add to their growing list the two already had.

"Actually, no. I was unaware of this, but that is awfully kind of you, but we…" Colt started before Freida cut off.

"Let me finish," She cut him off, losing the friendly tone, being replaced with a much more serious one, "The problem is that I don't know the truth about you two. I feel the truth in your words, but I also feel like that is not the whole story. I feel like you are hiding something from me."

"Well, um," Colt was lost for words. He was not sure if the old bat was catching on to his lie.

"Please tell me, you have nothing to fear here," She asked, returning to her calming, inviting tone and putting her hand onto his shoulder. At that moment, Colt was not sure what he should do. He could either keep lying or tell her the truth. He took in a deep breath and came to a decision.

"Alright, this might sound completely crazy but let me get straight to the point. Alex and I are humans," He told her, thinking he sounded complete nuts saying it. He figured at this point, if he was going to get anywhere in trying to figure this out, he must tell her.

Freida paused at hearing this, trying to process what she just heard, but then her eye lit up with amazement.

"So a real human?" Freida asked, need confirmation if she heard him correctly.

"Yes, I am a human, and so is Alex," Colt repeat back to her, "Well, we were."

"In all my years of being alive, I never thought I would be talking to a real human," Freida said with amazement in her voice.

"So, you believe me," He asked.

"Believe you, yes. No one is that crazy to come up with something like that," Freida said with a smile and then scanning Colt's body with her eyes, "I would never have thought humans possess the powers to change into animals."

Colt felt a great sense of relief at hearing Freida's words. Freida believed him and maybe one step closer to figuring all this out.

"We don't," He insured the elder bat with a smirk, "This is something else."

"Something else? Please tell me," Freida asked.

"Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"Whichever one suits you best, but more detail, more I might be able to help," Freida said.

Colt didn't really know how Freida could help Alex and him. She was a bat, but at this point, what did he have to lose. Any help is better than no help at this time.

"It happened last evening. Alex and I were coming back from my uncle's cabin up north. We were flying back, and I was piloting the plane when this storm came out of nowhere," Colt explained to her, but she motioned him to stop.

"I beg your pardon, but I am not used to human terms. What is a plane?" She asked. Colt remembered Shade asking him the same question about cars and trucks earlier that night. He remembered him referring to them as giants metal machines.

"Those huge flying machines, that's a plane," He explained, and Freida gave the nod like she understood what he was talking about, so he continued," This storm was like nothing I have ever seen. A few minutes of fly in that, next thing I know, the plane is going down. I wake up after the crash, severely hurt, pretty much dying at that point. I search the crash site to find Alex's…"

Colt choked on his words. He could barely bring himself to say as he remembered seeing Alex's lifeless face and blood-stained hair. He could feel her skin was ice cold.

"There in front of me was Alex's lifeless body. I tried to revive her but fail to do so, and then I succumb to injuries. Next thing you know, I wake up reincarnated as a bat and find Alex alive but in the same situation. We then ran into Chinook and played off that we are just a couple of bats who needed shelter, and that pretty much brings us to the present."

Freida remained silent once again as she pieced together what she just heard.

"I am not sure what to make of your story, Colt," Freida began, "To be honest, this a first for me. I have never heard of anyone being reincarnated before."

"So, you haven't got a clue on what is going on then?"

Freida signed.

"Unfortunately not," Freida said with a sign, "Perhaps I can be of assistance to you."

"How so?"

"Just follow me. There is something I want to show you. It might help you in some way."

Author Notes

Hello again. Sorry about those who got a notification that this chapter was out when it wasn't. I posted the wrong version of the chapter and didn't notice until I clicked the button. Anyways, work is starting to get busy, so it might be a few months till I get the next one out.

Thanks for reading!