Chapter 7: Bad Dreams
Right before sunrise the Silverwings and I sought shelter in the attic of an old barn.
Feeling exhausted from the long flight, the bats quickly fell asleep, hanging upside down from the ceiling joists with their wings wrapped around their bodies like cozy blankets.
I also laid down and made myself as comfortable as possible on the straw which wasn't so easy.
The stems were just too prickly and not as soft as the leaves I used to sleep on before in Tree-Heaven but it was better than nothing. Digging myself in with a yawn I watched some mothers snuggling their pups into their wings. Then I fell asleep but the events of what happened still hunted me in my dreams.
With a soft yawn, I wake up and wonder why it is so quiet around me.
According to the lack of light, I assume it must be nighttime already so why can't I hear bats chattering like usual? Are they all out hunting together?
I climb out of the crevice just to find myself all alone in Tree-Heaven.
''They didn't go on their migration without me or did they?'' A slight panic overcomes me but I take a few breaths to calm myself down. No, they wouldn't do that to me. Frieda said we would meet someone on the journey who might be able to help me get back to my bigger self. I doubt she was lying about that.
Still confused about the missing Silverwings I walk around trying to find someone but the whole oak seems to be completely abandoned.
''Hello! Anybody here?'' I call out. No answer. ''Hm, maybe I should check if I can find someone outside.'' I look at the entrance but hesitate for a moment, knowing I'm not allowed to go out so other animals won't see me. On the other hand, I need to know what is going on. Therefore, I pull myself together and walk towards the hole the Silvewings use as their front door.
''Just a little peak. That should be ok.'' I crawl outside and look around. Besides the surrounding forest, there is not much to see in the dark. Also, it is still pretty quiet.
Too quiet for my taste. There are no insects whizzing around and no wind that rustles through the leaves. Everything is just dead silent.
Again I feel a shiver going through my spine. This is just too creepy. What is going on?
I walk a bit farther away from the nursery and through the high grass.
Suddenly I freeze hearing wings flapping out of nowhere. Looking up, I see Shade floating above me and I sigh with relief.
''Geez, Shade don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack here. Can you please tell me what's going on and ...?'' I brake off noticing the appalled look on his face. ''Uh, Shade? What is...?''
''Vanessa what-what have we done?'' he breathes starring with fear at something right behind me.
''What are you talking about Shade? What did we do?'' Instead of answering Shade just shakes his head, still staring past me with tears shining in his eyes. Slowly I begin to worry about what is going on but before I can ask more, I smell something burning and hear some cracking behind me. Confused about it I turn around and gasp seeing Tree-Heaven blazing in flames.
''What in the world?!'' Only now I feel the heat. An unbearable warmth engulfing me along with thick smoke that burns into my lungs and brings tears into my eyes.
''Why? ... How? ''I ask and cough violently because of the smoke while watching the ancient oak getting devoured by fire. ''We ... we have to do something!'' I turn around seeking for help.
''Quick! We need to fetch water! We have to extinguish the flames!''
''We can't extinguish it. The fire is already too big.''
Stunned, I look up and see Mercury hovering above me with a surprisingly calm expression on his face.
''He's right. There is nothing we can do,'' says Ariel who appears beside him.
''But...we can't let Tree-Heaven burn down!''
''Are you deaf human?'' comes Bathsheba's harsh voice right next to me. ''The tree is lost. Thanks to you and that troublemaker Shade!''
''What? No, that's not true!'' I protest but the elder just keeps glaring at me hatefully.
''Frieda should have never allowed you to stay with us. Now, look what you have done!''
Again I try reasoning with her. ''That isn't our fault. It's the owls. They burned the tree.''
''Just because you two saw the sun.''
''Why did you do that? You knew it was forbidden,'' Ariel asks me with disappointment while Mercury just shakes his head, looking at me. ''I should have never brought you to our colony,'' he says.
''But ...'' Desperately I look around searching for support but all I see are bats whose faces appear as images in the blazing flames all around me.
'''You shouldn't be here!'' they say.
''Why did you come here?''
''You humans are all the same. No one can trust you!''
''Thanks to you, we have no home anymore!''
''No, please, listen! That's not true. It's the owl's fault! Not Shade's! Not mine!'' Tears burn in my eyes and I clench my teeth together refusing to cry. I hold my ears and try to block out the angry voices, but it's too much and they seem to go straight through my mind.
They surround me in a sinister circle and begin pushing me further towards the flames.
''Stop it! Please!'' But the voices don't cease. They just get louder and angrier and push me further and further. Then I stumble backward and fall straight into the fire screaming in fright.''
''Vanessa, Wake up!''
With a gasp, I opened my eyes, feeling someone shaking me violently by the shoulders. I turned around and saw Mercury looking at me with concern.
''Are you alright?'' he asked worriedly.
I took a few breaths to calm myself down from the dream I just had and nodded slowly.
''Y-yes ... I'm fine.''
''You sure? I saw you tossing around in your sleep and then heard you screaming.''
''Oh,'' I said, feeling slightly embarrassed and looked around hoping I didn't wake anybody else up as well.
''Don't worry your scream wasn't that loud. I probably wouldn't even have heard it at all if I didn't fly over to you,'' Mercury said, noticing me glancing around nervously.
He couldn't fool me. I knew bat ears a very sensitive. For sure someone must have heard me beside him but it seemed they were all either too tired or just didn't care about it. Still, it was nice of him to soothe me like this.
''Now, what happened?'' Mercury asked, ''Did you have a nightmare or something?''
''Well, ...'' I thought about it. Normally I quickly forgot most of what happens in my dreams but this time every detail was stuck in my head as if it all happened for real and not just parts of it.
''Do you want to talk about it?'' he asked cautiously. I didn't even notice him sitting down next to me on the straw. Blinking away some tears I shook my head. ''You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I could also get Ariel or Frieda for you if prefer talking to them instead.'' Again I shook my head.
''No, thank you. I'm fine. I just need to be alone for a moment,'' I mumbled, not looking at him. Mercury frowned obviously not believing me. ''Please!'' I asked him forcefully whereupon he briefly nodded before flying back up to his roost.
As soon as he was gone I rolled myself back into the straw.
For a while, I just laid there staring into nothingness still thinking about my dream and more. Silent tears streamed over my eyes and I clenched my teeth together, not allowing myself to cry. Eventually, I got too tired to stay awake any longer and fell asleep.
Early the next night, the Silverwings continued their journey towards Stonehold in order to meet there with the adult males of the colony before migrating together to Hibernaculum.
As one of the strongest fliers, Chinook flew close to the top where the elders were.
However, instead of being excited that it wasn't long until he would finally meet his father for the first time in his life, his thoughts went far away.
Unenthusiastically he flapped his wings up and down, not caring what's going on around him and so didn't notice Todd catching up to him with a frown on his face.
''Nice going Chickenwing,'' the chubby mocked him, causing Chinook to glare at him with his neck fur standing up in annoyance.
''What do you mean?'' he demanded to know.
''Well, this is as much your fault as it is Shade or Vanessa's,'' said Todd.
''What?''
''If you hadn't taken up Shade on that stupid dare this wouldn't have happened.''
''I'll show you who's a chicken, '' Chinook snarled, feeling exasperated about Todd's assertion and tried to tackle him in midair but the other bat easily dodged his attack.
''Chinook, just remember. I know what you did.''
The dark blue male threw his friend another glare before turning away, his expression changing to guilt.
Meanwhile, a few thousand wing beats away from the Silverwings, a small maple leaf floated through the wind towards a city close to the forest. Like in all big cities, the streets showed brightly thanks to numerous lanterns and shining signs, while cars honked on the streets and sirens howled.
Undeterred, the leaf kept floating around through the wind until it came across a building where it got sucked into the ventilation shaft and into the interior of the building. Again, the maple leaf swirled around until it finally landed on the grassy ground in the midst of an artificial jungle.
Behind a wall of glass stood a desk with scientific utensils such as test tubes with different kinds of chemicals inside and other things. Also, there was light in the room but not a signal person to see.
Suddenly footsteps approached the leaf, and a shadow hovered above it.
After a short consideration, the leaf got picked up by a sharp claw and a pair of sly yellow eyes studied it more closely before looking up to the ventilation shaft it had come from. A satisfying grin appeared on his face as lightning flashed behind the large glass window on the roof, followed by thunder. Finally, the time had come. Tonight, he would be free.
''Meh,'' I said disgruntled while laying down on Ariel's back, trying to make myself as small as possible, but I was already soaking wet from the heavy rain.
The storm had caught us without warning and the strong wind made it hard for everyone to keep on course.
''Are you doing alright dear?'' Ariel asked me over her shoulder and I nodded, my eyes squeezed shut due to the rain. Since our departure from the barn, she kept asking me if I was fine from time to time. It was nice but also a little annoying and I wondered if Mercury might have told her anything about my bad dream yesterday.
''Don't worry we will be out of the storm in no time. You will see.''
I nodded again and wished I had an umbrella or something with me and were back on the ground instead hundreds of miles up in the air. ''I'll just close my eyes and snooze a little,'' I thought and tried not to think too much of the height but then the wind increased and I dug my fingers deeper into Ariel's fur not wanting to fall off.
''Heavy gusts!'' I heard Frieda calling from the top as the wind blew stronger, ''Keep in tight formation!'' At her command, the Silverwings flew closer together while I kept hold on Ariel as tight as I could. Luckily she was a strong flier and therefore had no big problems with my extra weight on her back though she did start panting a little from the effort.
Shade, however, seemed to have more problems keeping up. Looking back, I noticed him desperately flapping his short wings to keep up with the bats up front but the wind pushed him further away towards the end of the colony.
''Come on, I know you can do it runt,'' Chinook said to him in a strangely encouraging tone before flying ahead. Shade tried to fly faster but without success.
''You are lagging too far behind. Hang on to your mother boy!'' cried Bathsheba, who supervised the rear end as she flew past him with a disapproving shake of her head.
Again Shade tried to force his wings to carry him faster but to his chagrin, it didn't work. Even the older and weaker bats in the colony passed him already.
Lightning flashed and Shade got thrown further away. Seeing this I quickly reported it to Ariel who turned around with a gasp and immediately flew over to her son's side.
''Cling to me Shade!'' she cried out to him through the rain and glided under him but the young Silverwing just shook his head.
''No,'' he said determined while flapped his wings even harder now,'' I'm fine. Besides, you are already caring Vanessa.''
''So? You need a break. Someone else can carry me for a while,'' I called to him, feeling slightly annoyed because of his childish behavior. This wasn't the time or place to try proving that he's not a weakling.
''Seriously, I'm fine. I can handle it,'' he repeated panting and threw a brief irritated glance at me.
I snorted in annoyance and squinted my eyes because of the fierce wind and the rain.
''Now, come on Shade. Don't be such a baby and get over here!'' Forgetting my high anxiety for a moment I got up to my knees on Ariel's back and reached over to grab Shade by his feet in order to pull him down to his mother. At that moment, another lightning struck down, this time straight through the middle of the colony, scattering them apart.
Thanks to the turbulence I lost my balance on Ariel's back and fell off, accidentally pulling Shade with me into the depths whose feet I managed to get a hold on.
''SHADE! VANESSA!'' Ariel cried out in horror.
Mercury heard her and immediately flew over to help. Without hesitation, he passed the other Silverwings as fast as he could, fear written on his face. He stretched out his hand in an attempt to save us and for a moment he managed to get a hold on a part of my leaf dress but it ripped off as he tried to pull me and Shade back up.
''AHHH! MERCURY, ARIEL! HELP!'' Shade and I cried out in panic as we helplessly plunged down through the clouds.
AN: Another chapter where not much has changed except for some details.