Chapter 7

The Three Lawbreakers

The way the sun came up and grew brightly fascinated Kassidy. Neither she nor the boys could stop staring at how magnificent the sunrise was and the light from the sun brought so much warmth to Kassidy. All her worries faded as she stared at the sun. It was like watching earth being created for the first time.

"It's so… beautiful," Shade said as he smiled towards the sunrise. "And… warm."

Kassidy found the sunrise to be beautiful as well and as she kept staring towards the sun she started to smile. As Kassidy smiled she began to glow like the sun.

"It sure is," Kassidy said. All the sudden, a screech sounded in the sky and when Kassidy saw what it was her heart sank. Coming towards them fast with its talons extended was a fierce-looking owl. Her eyes went wide and she gasped. "Guys, fly!"

Holden and Shade gasped when they saw the owl coming towards them and together, all three of them dropped from the tree branch and flew off towards Tree Haven before the owl could catch one of them and instead grabbed the tree branch. The three of them flew through the forest as fast as they could to get away from the owl and as they did, Kassidy could feel panic flowing through, but she didn't dare look back.

"This way!" Shade shouted towards Kassidy and Holden.

Shade led them through a log and as they flew through it, the owl's talons started to smash through the log to try and smash one of them, but they dodged the owl's strikes. Holden was close to being smashed by the talons and he yelped but he managed to maneuver out of its way. All three of them made it out and they continued to fly as fast as they could back to Tree Haven. They could hear the owl behind them and they were losing their breaths, but they kept going.

Kassidy saw a tree branch ahead of her and this gave her an idea. She used her hand as she was flying to concentrate on the branch and she imagined it being pulled and as she did she clenched her hand and as she did, the branch was pulling back. Kassidy looked back at the owl and then looked back at the branch and as soon as all three of them passed the branch, she unclenched her hand and then the branch smacked right into the owl sending it flying through the forest, leaving behind some feathers to float down to the forest floor.

"I got him!" Kassidy shouted.

"Guys, I knew this was a bad idea!" Holden shouted. "We're going to be the owls' next pellets!"

"Don't think about that, Holden! Just fly!"

All the sudden the owl came out of nowhere and its screech filled the air and it tried to attack one of them, but they all dodged it just in time. Kassidy dashed for Tree Haven and didn't look back at the owl. She just concentrated on getting back to Tree Haven as fast as she could. She flapped through the forest and focused on her main priority to getting back to Tree Haven. Kassidy could feel the carbon dioxide as she breathed hard, but up ahead of her she could see the hollow tree with its furrowed bark, and thick, gnarled roots buckling from the ground. Wasting no time she flew across a lake and flew towards Tree Haven. As soon as she got close to it she made her way inside the entrance-even though there were many other entrances she could fly through-and as soon as she got inside she landed and placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

Landing next to her was Shade and he was catching his breath and he looked scared. Kassidy and Shade looked at each other while still trying to catch their breaths. "Kass, you alright?" Shade asked.

"I'm fine," Kassidy said. She then realized something and looked towards the entrance. "Wait, where's Holden?"

Kassidy and Shade's eyes went wide when they heard Holden screaming. They quickly got to the entrance and looked outside. They gasped when they saw that the owl was chasing down Holden as he was trying as hard as he could to get to Tree Haven.

"Holden!" Kassidy and Shade shouted simultaneously.

Holden was flying across the lake and he was breathing hard. The owl was gaining on him and then all the sudden the owl pinned Holden underwater as soon as he got close to him. Thinking fast, Kassidy focused on the lake and pictured the lake being a wave and then with all her strength she used the wave of her hand to send a wave towards the owl. Not having a lot of time to process what was going on, the wave swallowed the owl into the lake. Holden swam up to the surface to catch his breath and he coughed. He then flew out of the water and flew towards Tree Haven. The owl got out from the water and screeched and then flew out of the water and continued to chase Holden down, and looked questioned about what just happened.

Kassidy and Shade shouted at Holden to hurry and that the owl was gaining and as they did, Holden flew as fast as he could and didn't look back. Then, Holden all the sudden burst through the entrance Kassidy and Shade came through and crashed into them before the owl could get him. All three of them plummeted to the floor and groaned and as they did they heard the owl screech one last time. They all got up and as Kassidy and Shade checked outside, Holden put his back to the wall and was catching his breath and he had his eyes wide very scared. Kassidy and Shade saw the owl fly away and all it left behind were deep claw marks on the ground of the entrance.

Kassidy and Shade then looked at Holden worried. "Holden, you alright?" Kassidy asked.

Holden didn't respond and kept trying to catch his breath.

"Shade Cassiel Silverwing!" All three of them looked to see that it was Ariel and she landed near them. She had a worried look on her face and she gathered Shade in her wings and hugged him. "Thank Nocturna you're safe." She then looked at Kassidy and Holden. "All three of you." She then looked angry. "What were you kids doing out there?"

Kassidy rubbed her forearm and she knew that she, Holden, and Shade made a big mistake of looking at the sun. She felt ashamed of not going back to Tree Haven like they were supposed to and she also felt ashamed of getting Ariel worried. She bit her bottom lip and didn't know what to say.

Shade got out of Ariel's hug. "Nothing…" he said nervously.

Ariel looked at Shade. "Nothing? That owl nearly killed you, kids!"

"We got away though."

"Do you have any idea of what you've done?" Ariel shook her head as she placed her hand on her head. "Oh, kids… you broke the law."

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade then heard whispering and they looked up including Ariel to find that the colony was staring at them. Some were looking at them shocked while others were looking at them angrily. Kassidy's eyes went wide and she then really did feel ashamed of what she and the boys did. She wanted to look away from everyone and shut these voices out, but she didn't want anyone to see that they were getting to her. The disappointment was everywhere around her and she thought it was her fault.

She then heard wing flaps coming towards them, and she saw that it was Todd and Breeze. They landed on a higher ledge near them.

"You guys are in so much guano," Todd said. "Chinook's going to be grounded for a week."

"Why?" Shade asked. "He didn't do anything-" he then lowered his voice, "that big mouse."

"So, Shade," Breeze said. "Did you, Kassidy, and Holden see it? You know…"

"Todd!" A feminine voice shouted and Kassidy looked to where she heard it. Three female bats were standing next to each other and they were mad. One of the females then pointed outward. "Roost!" Todd and Breeze's claws scraped against the ground as they moved forward and then they took off for their roost. The female bat-which Kassidy assumed was Todd's Mom-looked at Ariel. "Ariel, this has gone too far!"

"Far too far," Another one of the females said in the group.

Another female that was taller than the other two took off and then landed on a ledge that was high and near Kassidy, Shade, and Ariel. "Keep those lawbreakers away from my baby!" She then looked at Kassidy and pointed at her. "Especially that devil of a witch!"

Kassidy no longer felt shame, but felt anger and then she felt the flame surge through her veins and as she felt it she clenched her teeth in rage at what that female bat said-which she assumed was Chinook's Mom-and she turned her fingers into fists. Kassidy was about to stomp right over to the female bat and tell her off, but before she could, Ariel put her wing up in front of Kassidy. She looked at Ariel and then she realized she saw her get angry and she also realized she was about to get out of control if she yelled at Chinook's Mom. Kassidy couldn't believe she was about to lose it.

Ariel looked back at Chinook's Mom as she put down her wing and pointed at her. "Don't you ever call her a devil again, Isis."

Kassidy was surprised Ariel stood up for her and her anger dissolved. She didn't think Ariel would've done that, considering she broke the law but she was glad she was caring enough to do that.

Isis was about to say something, but all the sudden Holden yelled out in pain. Kassidy, Shade, Ariel, and a lot of the bats looked at Holden. Holden had his hand behind his back and he then took his hand from behind his back and looked at it. Holden's eyes were even wider and his hand was shaking.

"Holden, what's wrong?" Kassidy asked. She quickly got to Holden and looked at his hand and on it was blood. Kassidy's eyes went wide and when she looked at Holden, he looked like he was having a hard time standing and some of the color on him was draining. "Holden, you're bleeding! We need to get you help!"

"What's going on?" Ariel asked as she and Shade got near Kassidy and Holden.

"Holden's bleeding, he needs help!" Holden put his hand on his head and he was breathing hard. "Holden?" His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he then collapsed to the ground and this got most of the colony to gasp or scream. "Holden!" Kassidy saw that on Holden's back was a huge gash coming from his shoulder to lower back. Kassidy's heart was beating fast as she got on her knees next to Holden. His eyes weren't opening. "Holden, stay with me!" Kassidy looked up at the colony no longer caring if the colony was still shocked or mad at them and she was desperate. "He needs help! Please, he's losing a lot of blood!"

"Grab the boy and get the herbs we need!" Someone shouted in the colony.

A couple of bats flew down to Holden and grabbed him and flew him away to get the help he needed. Kassidy got up slowly and watched as Holden was being carried away shocked as did Shade and Ariel.

In the shadows perched on a tree branch, the two figures were in hawk forms. They were looking at an old and hollow looking tree which they found out was called Tree Haven when the male figure looked through Kassidy's eyes. The male figure was interested to know that Kassidy and her two friends broke a law. He saw through Kassidy's vision all the bats that were looking at her and her friends were shocked or mad and this made him smile seeing that. He could tell that when the one female bat named Isis called her a devil she got angry. The male figure knew Kassidy would've gotten out of control if that one female bat that called herself Ariel wouldn't have stopped her.

The male figure was delighted when he saw through Kassidy's vision that she and her friends were about to be killed by an owl and he sort of hoped the owl would kill her, but he wanted to do it himself. He saw that Kassidy looked like a tough and smart girl when she and her friends were escaping the owl. She managed to save them not once but twice in one day. This was only the beginning for her and her friends and he could feel it.

The male figure tried to see through Kassidy's eyes again, but when he did all he could see was a block. He got out of Kassidy's vision confused, but he all the sudden realized that Kassidy was blocking her vision to anyone. He then tried her two other friends, but he could only see a block and blackness from the boys. He clenched his jaw in anger.

Clever girl, he thought.

It wouldn't stop him or his female companion, however. He would do whatever it takes to watch Kassidy, no matter what.

The next day, Shade and Kassidy were roosting on their usual ledge in Tree Haven. Ariel had grounded Shade and Kassidy and she was planning on doing the same thing to Holden as soon as he recovered from yesterday. They were allowed to hunt for an hour, but Ariel had to be close to them and they had to stay in Tree Haven until the migration. Shade tried to feel sorry for what he'd done, but it wasn't easy, especially when he realized he, Kassidy, and Holden were famous, at least to the newborns. A lot of the newborns were asking him and Kassidy a lot of questions and Shade was too happy to oblige, mostly sticking to the truth and he tried to make up a few details, but Kassidy made sure that he didn't. Kassidy though wasn't in any mood for storytelling or answering questions and mostly let Shade handle it because she was worried for Holden.

Even though Shade was delighted to tell the newborns of what happened, he was worried like Kassidy about Holden. He looked extremely pale when he was on the ground and Shade wished he could erase that from his mind, it was that disturbing to see a bat so injured. A lot of the Silverwings were doing all they could to help Holden, even his Mom was helping. He hoped Holden would make it and not die. He lost a Dad but he didn't want to lose a friend.

Yesterday the elders called upon him and Kassidy and they went to the elders and Ariel went with them. The elders did look disappointed they stayed outside to see the sun, especially Bathsheba and Ariel tried to protect Shade and Kassidy. Shade told them that he thought the law was wrong and this earned many gasps from the colony. He explained to them why he thought it was wrong, but Bathsheba didn't want to have it and suggested that he, Kassidy, and Holden should be turned in to the owls.

Ariel begged the elders not to let that happen and as kind, as Frieda was, she didn't want to turn in Shade, Kassidy, or Holden. The most mysterious thing about Frieda was the fact that she had a silver band on her left forearm and Shade never knew why or how she got it. Kassidy confessed to Shade when the elders dismissed them that she now noticed the silver band on her forearm. Kassidy then told Shade that what Frieda had was something that humans put on animals to track their movements so they can collect data and observe what some of the animals are doing and this got Shade interested.

Kassidy wanted to take the blame and when she said it was her fault for seeing the sun, Bathsheba immediately started to accuse her. Kassidy looked at Bathsheba very angry, but she tried to calm down. Shade was grateful to have a good friend like Kassidy, but he honestly didn't want her to take the blame alone, so he said it was his fault too. However he's noticed that Kassidy looked angry a lot, but whenever it looked like she would get too angry she would breathe calmly. Shade didn't question it and just thought she didn't want to cause trouble. But he knew it probably would've gotten out of hand yesterday with Isis if Ariel hadn't of stopped her.

He thought Kassidy was very brave and smart and didn't think anything could stop her. She wanted to save her family and he knew she was worried sick for them and he knew she didn't want him, his Mom, or even Holden to worry about her. Sometimes during the day she would talk in her sleep and then she would wake up breathing hard and sweating and whenever he, Ariel, or Holden woke up to see her awake and ask her about it she would say she was fine and say it was just a daymare. Shade sometimes wondered if Kassidy was hiding something disturbing, but he didn't want to get her angry and ask that question. What confused him though was the fact that Kassidy did a spell on him to prevent anyone from looking through his vision. He asked her why she did that spell and she told him that she had the strangest feeling that they were being watched by someone through magic. She also told him it lasts for almost a day and said that she needed to keep doing this spell for them, especially Holden.

Kassidy and Shade were hanging on the ledge quietly and waited for Ariel to bring back news of Holden. Shade looked at Kassidy and inspected her, but he didn't see her glowing. Yesterday when they saw the sun, he saw that Kassidy was glowing as she was smiling. Shade was amazed by not only the sun but the way Kassidy was glowing like the sun. It was like she was born from the sun when she was glowing.

"You think Holden's alright?" Shade asked.

Kassidy turned her head to Shade and her eyes were blood-shot red. She was having a hard time sleeping and she tried to sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I hope so…" Kassidy said. "I don't know what I'm going to tell Holden's family if Holden dies. That's if I can find a way to get back to my normal self. This is my fault, if I would've known Holden was way far behind us I would've gone back for him and if he does die I'm never going to forgive myself…" Kassidy rubbed her arms and she looked down.

Shade didn't want Kassidy to feel this way, so he put his hand on her shoulder and when he did, Kassidy looked at him. "It's not your fault, Kass. You didn't know that Holden was far behind us and neither did I."

"I hope he doesn't end up like…" Kassidy stopped and Shade looked at her confused. "Never mind."

Shade put his hand down and decided to talk about a different subject. "So… that sun was something wasn't it? We didn't turn into ashes."

"Yeah… it was. If there's anything I know that would've turned into ashes if they went out into the sun is vampires."

Shade tilted his head to the side curiously. "What're vampires?"

"They're undead human beings that can transform into bats. They drink blood to fill their hunger." Shade felt disturbed by what Kassidy said. "I highly doubt you'll meet one though."

Shade breathed in relief. "And I hope I don't."

"Have you ever heard of gargoyles?"

"No."

"Gargoyles are part of a fantasy, but these creatures are pretty fascinating. They can roam and fly around at night, but when daylight comes they turn into statues."

Shade was interested to know about some more creatures Kassidy knew about that he didn't. He found it amusing that a lot of bats thought that if a bat looked at the sun they would turn to ashes, but that didn't happen to them. He was intrigued to know that there were other creatures that were sensitive to the sun and as he thought about it though this made him think about his Dad. Shade asked his Mom more about his Dad and she did the best she could to answer his questions. The one thing that his Mom told him yesterday while Kassidy was sleeping was that his Dad wanted to see the sun and this surprised Shade. He asked her why she didn't tell him this and she told him that she didn't want to give him any ideas. What relieved Shade though was the fact his Dad was not a coward like Chinook said.

Shade and Kassidy then saw Ariel land near them and Shade hoped she had good news. He didn't want to hear that something bad happened to Holden. She looked tired from helping Holden all day and looked like she could use some rest.

"How's Holden?" Kassidy asked. "Is he going to be okay?"

Ariel looked at Shade and Kassidy and nodded. "He'll be alright." Shade and Kassidy were holding their breaths and they breathed out relieved to hear that Holden was alright. "He in fact just woke up and he wants to see you two."

"Can we go see him?" Shade asked.

Ariel nodded. "I knew you two would've wanted to see him anyways. Now don't keep him waiting."

Shade and Kassidy looked at each other and then dropped from the ledge and then flew to where Holden was. They flew past older bats that were too old to hunt and preferred it inside Tree Haven. They both knew where they were going but Kassidy was much faster than Shade and Shade would give anything to have wings like Kassidy's. He harbored a secret fear that he wasn't strong enough to make the migration but he didn't tell anyone because he didn't want anyone to worry about him. He wanted to prove though that he could make it without any help whatsoever.

They eventually flew through an entrance to where Holden was and they stayed airborne, seeing where Holden was. They then saw he was on the ceiling and he was waving to them. "Hey, guys."

Shade and Kassidy flew to Holden and they got on either side of him as they landed on the ceiling. They looked at Holden's gash and on it, there were leaves covering it just like there were leaves covering his and Kassidy's wounds from that car crash. There was some sort of medicine on Holden's back that the leaves covered and Shade was glad he couldn't see Holden's gash. They then looked back at Holden concerned.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Kassidy asked.

"Well, the bad news is, is that it hurts a little." Holden then put his arms on Kassidy and Shade's shoulders and smiled at them. "But the good news is, is that I now have an interesting story to talk about." Kassidy and Shade smiled. "So… Ariel told me what happened… and she grounded me."

"Don't worry, she grounded us as well."

"So what happened while I was out?"

"You won't believe this," Shade said. "We're practically famous right now-well mostly with the newborns though."

Holden's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, they were asking questions nonstop."

Holden's smile then came back. "How did Chinook handle it?"

"He didn't want to hear any of it," Kassidy said. "So he stayed away. I'm probably going to guess that this is going to haunt him for a while."

"I now wish I would've been there."

Kassidy's smile went down and she looked concerned again. "It's pure faith that you managed to survive this. You really had us worried, Holden."

Holden and Shade's smiles went down. Holden sighed. "Well, I'm sorry I worried you guys. I can't promise something like this won't happen again, but I'll try to make it happen."

"Whatever you say, but we can't really blame you, you're still learning."

"Yeah," Shade said, "and besides, once the migration begins we'll make sure you don't end up in a tight situation."

"Hello, young ones," The three of them felt a rush of air and they looked to see that Frieda landed in front of them. She looked at Holden. "How are you feeling, Holden?"

Holden looked at Frieda surprised as he put down his arms from Kassidy and Shade's shoulders, but he managed to speak. "I'm getting better, Frieda, thanks for asking."

Frieda nodded and then looked from Holden to Shade to Kassidy. "Tell me about the sun."

The three friends looked at each other and no one said anything. Shade's tongue felt heavy as he looked back at Frieda and she looked at them with those piercing eyes. Her wings creaked as she folded them against her body, and he was aware of a slightly musty odor rising off her, the smell of age, he supposed. But she smiled at them, and her face wrinkled at the eyes, and Shade felt less nervous.

"Well, we saw it," he began hesitantly, and then stumbled on and he, Kassidy, and Holden told her everything they could remember. It wasn't much, but all of them, especially Kassidy, were eager to tell it, delighted really. Frieda listened carefully nodding, now and then.

"You've seen it too, haven't you?" Kassidy asked as if she could see Frieda's past.

"You're right, I have," Frieda said. "A long time ago."

"It's round, isn't it, like the moon?" Shade asked.

"Yes. But bigger. Even Kassidy and Holden know this."

He shook his head in amazement and he looked at his friends. He couldn't even imagine the brightness of it. He couldn't even imagine Kassidy and Holden standing under it and looking at it for a while. He then looked back at Frieda.

"You just wanted to see it like Kassidy and Holden get to? Like me?" He asked Frieda.

She nodded. "When I was younger, a lot of us did. Some were willing to die for it. Not like now. They don't care. They might think the law is unfair, but they aren't willing to fight it. Like Bathsheba. And in many ways they're wise. Look at Holden, look what almost happened to you and Kassidy."

The three friends looked at each other. Holden felt his back nervously and Shade could tell that he didn't want to think about almost getting killed by an owl. He almost got killed when he was underwater but luckily Kassidy managed to save him by using one of her spells.

Kassidy looked back at Frieda. "Why aren't you allowed to see it? I mean, I know it's the law, but why?"

"We're banished creatures, Kassidy, and have been for millions of years."

"Yikes," Holden said.

"Banished? For what?" Kassidy asked confused.

"Yeah," Shade said. "What did we do?"

"It's easier if you hear for yourselves." Frieda looked at Holden. "Are you good to fly?"

Holden nodded. "Yeah, I'm good to fly."

"Then follow me."

A/N- Hey, guys, so there's chapter 7. You're probably wondering why I didn't include the part where Kassidy, Shade, and Ariel go see the elders and the reason being is because we all know what's going to happen. I won't be including a lot of scenes from the series mostly because I want to focus more on the main characters of this story. I hope you can understand that and be ready for the next chapter, later.