Chapter 8

Echoes, Owls, and Fire

Kassidy didn't know what to expect as she followed Frieda with Holden and Shade. She had no idea what Frieda meant by "Hear for yourselves". What was that supposed to mean? She didn't question Frieda but continued to follow her. They spiraled down the length of the great trunk and Kassidy couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the tree. She could tell that the boys were thinking the same thing as they looked around them. They continued all the way down until they landed on a mossy bottom. Holden was disgusted by how weird the moss felt and he gagged, but Kassidy was much more aware of how much cooler it was, and she could smell the strong scent of soil and wood. That was then she realized that they were beneath the earth. There was a small archway of gnarled wood and Frieda scuttled towards it on all fours and the three friends copied her and continued to follow her through, and then down and as they did, their echoes bounced harshly against the walls of the narrow passageway.

"Here we are," said Frieda up ahead.

Kassidy noticed that there was no longer a floor up ahead of them and Frieda flew down it. Shade was next and he opened his wings and swooped down in what Kassidy saw to be a large cave. She spread opened her wings and made her way down. She then looked at Holden and she saw that he wasn't paying attention and was still looking around him.

"Holden, watch your step," Kassidy said while airborne.

"Wha-" Before Holden could finish, he yelped when he didn't see that there was no longer a floor and fell but he managed to spread his wings out and flap them before he fell any further.

"Be careful, Holden," Frieda said. "I don't you to hurt yourself more."

Kassidy and Holden continued to fly behind Shade and Frieda and as they did, Kassidy could feel that it got colder in here. Winter would be here soon and she could feel it coming. She then heard the wind-or so she thought. She listened harder and she then realized that it wasn't the wind but rather it was voices. It was very low but there was no doubt about it, she was hearing voices-rather many of them actually. There was mumbling and every one of them sounded as though they were talking over one another.

"Is someone down here?" Holden asked. "I feel like I'm hearing things right now."

"You're hearing voices," Frieda said. "But there is nobody down here."

"Huh?"

"You'll see it more clearly when we get there. This way."

Kassidy was confused like Holden, but she kept quiet and they all then went deeper to the bottom of the cave, and then they landed on a narrow ledge. In a small niche in the rough stone, all three of the friends saw a panel of mud and mulched-up leaves. The voices were coming from behind it.

"Quickly now," Frieda told them and pushed through the soft center of the panel with her nose.

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade flew into a small, completely round, and totally deserted cave. But it wasn't truly deserted. All around them, like currents of warm air, were voices, moaning at their ears, getting caught in their fur, and their wings. Kassidy felt as though she stepped into an alien world but in an interesting way. She looked around her amazed as did the boys as they were airborne.

Frieda flew towards them and then stopped in midair. She pointed towards a long, lone, curly branch hanging from the ceiling. "Roost there."

Obeying her, all three of them landed on the branch and then Frieda joined them. The four of them then folded their wings tightly. Kassidy and Shade looked at Frieda, but Holden kept looking around him.

"This is… pretty creepy," Holden said. He looked back at everyone as if he was expecting anyone to make a comment about what he just said.

"I don't understand," Shade said. "Where are we?"

"This room is called the echo chamber," Frieda said. "It holds all of our colony's history, sung by Silverwings long dead. The walls of the chamber are polished so smoothly they will echo here forever."

The three of them looked around them again. The voices were everywhere around them, from males to females and Kassidy caught parts of what some were saying.

"…in the winter of that year…"

"…owls took their revenge…"

"…fifteen newborns dead in the nursery…"

"…rebellion crushed after the battle…"

Kassidy looked back at Frieda. "Who are all these voices?"

"These voices you hear, Kassidy, is from elders from many generations," Frieda said. "Every year one of the elders is appointed to sing the year's stories to the walls, and there they stay."

"How do you keep them all straight?" Shade asked as his ears flickered from one eddy of sound to the next.

"It takes a certain talent. Concentration, patience. Few can do it, but I have a feeling about you three." Frieda pointed at them.

"What do you mean? Do we just try to listen to them and pray that something will happen?" Holden asked. "There's too many of them, what are they saying?"

"You tell me, simply concentrate and listen. Not everyone has the gift."

The three of them looked at each other and then all of them closed their eyes. Kassidy could hear some of the voices getting louder and it felt as though there were actually people around her whispering to her.

"I hear so many voices… they're all speaking at once," Shade said.

"Pick one," Frieda said.

Kassidy did as Frieda said and concentrated. Nothing seemed to be happening but after a couple of minutes, she then started to notice something appear in her vision. She wanted to open her eyes, but she didn't want to lose this, so her eyes remained shut. She saw leaves that were big and this surprised her and it was as if she were moving through them like she was controlling her own avatar. Then a forest appeared before her.

"Many seasons passed…" Kassidy heard a voice speaking as she saw the vision. "At the dawning of the ages…the birds and the beasts existed without order…" She saw different animals appear and they were either prey or predators. "No one knew the hunters from the hunted…All creatures struggled for their place in the world without boundaries or laws…" Kassidy started to see many animals kill one another, whether it was birds or beasts she saw them kill one another as if it was for sport. "Alliances were formed and war was waged between the great two kingdoms..." Kassidy then saw in horror as animals fought brutally against each other. They attacked each other and everywhere she looked she saw blood shedding everywhere, bodies plummeting from the sky, and other bodies on the ground crashing against something. It was like watching the Trojan War. "The birds… and the beasts…But we bats being both, but neither, refused to join the battle…" Kassidy saw that bats were standing by while there was a war going on and she saw that they were just watching all that was happening. "When war finally ended, the great treaty was formed…Because we refused to take sides…" She saw that all birds and beasts were gathered around in what she saw was where the great treaty took place and they all looked furious at the bats for the decision they made. "The birds and the beasts banished us… for all eternity…" She then saw as bats flew inside a cave and then she heard voices say chillingly: "To the darkness of the night…"

Kassidy opened her eyes all the sudden and she was very shocked with what she saw and heard. It was like going through one of her nightmares. She felt as though she'd been away a long time.

So that's why this law exists… Kassidy thought.

"We were forbidden from ever glimpsing the sun again," Frieda said.

Kassidy looked at the boys and they were as shocked as she was. Holden looked like he just saw a horror movie while Shade looked somewhat mad at what he just saw.

"That's just messed up…" Holden said.

"No kidding," Shade said. "Is that how we got stuck with the law? That is so unfair, I hate the owls!"

"You must rule your anger and not let your anger rule you," Frieda said sternly while pointing at Shade. "Only foolish deeds will come of that."

Hearing Frieda say that could only make Kassidy look down, she somehow didn't know how she could rule her anger. It's not always easy for her to control her anger, considering she has to hide her magic from almost everyone. She wished she didn't have this problem but she had no choice but to live with it. She bit her bottom lip and didn't want to talk about anger, but she knew that Frieda was right.

"Why didn't the bats take any sides, Frieda?" Kassidy asked.

"Back then we were considered to be both bird and beast and because of that we were forced to choose between one of them, but we decided not to because we didn't want either side to think we were traitors. But instead, it only turned for the worse for us."

Kassidy crossed her arms. "That was a very cowardly decision."

Kassidy expected Frieda to call her out as Bathsheba would, but instead, she stared very calmly at her. Frieda nodded at Kassidy. "It was indeed a cowardly decision but we didn't realize it then until the war was over, and I can't even deny it. However, life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." The three friends looked at each other briefly and then back to Frieda. "After the war was over, there was a saying that Nocturna one day appeared and told the bats that we would be freed from our banishment and that we would be able to see the sun once again. It was Nocturna's Promise."

"Did that actually happen?" Holden asked.

"Some say it's true while others say it's a lie."

"So does that mean that there might be another war?" Shade asked.

Kassidy found this very interesting and wanted to know more like when she's reading a book or learning a spell. She actually found this more interesting than all the other wars she's ever heard or learned about.

"Maybe," Frieda said. "I don't know."

"When? When will it happen?"

The bat elder shook her head. "Maybe not in my lifetime, or yours." She paused. "But I think it will be sooner than that."

"How come?" Shade asked startled.

"Because of this," Frieda told Shade, unfolding her wing and revealing the silver band on her forearm.

Shade gasped as if seeing it for the first time while Holden and Kassidy looked at it confused. Kassidy didn't know what Frieda's band had to do with anything, but she knew what its purpose was for. Holden was scratching his head as though he was asked how to spell something.

"You see it, don't you?" Frieda asked.

All three of them nodded.

"How did you get it?" Shade asked.

"The humans gave it to me when I was young. Not much older than you, really. There were a couple of us in the forest one night, and they took hold of us and fastened the bands and let us go. I believe it's a sign, Shade. A sign of the promise to come. I don't know what part the humans play in it, but I believe they've come to help us in some way."

Frieda looked at Kassidy and Holden and she smiled weakly at them. Kassidy and Holden looked at each other using only their eyes and then back to Frieda. Kassidy knew some humans that were helping any way they could for any animal to survive. Some were even going to go extinct because of what her kind did them. Sometimes she wished she wasn't human because some of them were cruel to the animals and some of the animals didn't understand some things. She could understand though where Frieda was going with this.

"We humans help a lot of animals, even bats," Kassidy said. "Some of us are even going the lengths to find easier ways to help them. Sometimes we even tag them or band them so we can see how they live out here, kind of like your band, Frieda. But why did you show us this?"

What was the point?

There was nothing she could do to change the past or even change the future. She may be a witch, but magic wasn't always simple.

"You three are different; you're not like the others. I see something in all of you that I don't want to smother." She looked at Shade. "Shade, you're curious. You want to know about things." She then looked at Holden. "Holden, you're a risk-taker. You say what you want and you're never afraid to say your sentences." She then looked at Kassidy. "Kassidy, you're caring. You go as far as to risk yourself to protect the ones you know and love." She then looked at all three of them. "You three are by far the most interesting friends I have ever seen, and I'm glad you three found each other."

All three of them flushed at the compliments. Kassidy had many more questions to ask Frieda, but there was a fluttering of wings and when she looked to see who it was, it was Mercury.

"Pardon me, Frieda," Mercury was airborne and he looked very worried. "Brutus, supreme commander of the owls has arrived."

Kassidy's eyes widened and she, Holden, and Shade looked at each other with their jaws wide open. They all knew that the owls were here for them.

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade stood next to each other and Chinook, Todd, and Breeze were near them for no apparent reason. They stared at the owl-who was Brutus-that was on a higher branch and he looked very brutal enough to rip them with his sharp beak or even his sharp talons. He was a horned owl with brown and gray feathers along with three stripes on each side of his wings. He also had eyes that were very yellow. He looked very serious and Kassidy knew this wasn't a good sign.

The colony was whispering around them as they looked at the owl. No one knew for sure what was going to happen and neither did the three friends.

"Guys?" Holden whispered. "If we die tonight, just know that it was a pleasure getting to know you guys better."

"Let's not think about that right now," Kassidy whispered to Holden. "Let's just wait and see where our fate lies right now."

"Agreed," Shade said.

Frieda and Bathsheba whispered to each other and after a couple of minutes of whispering, Frieda looked at Brutus and got closer to him. "General Brutus," Frieda bowed her head a little and then looked back up at Brutus. "Please accept my deep apologies for keeping you waiting."

"Where are they?" Brutus asked with a voice so deep it was like a roll of thunder.

"They're over there," Frieda turned and pointed towards where the three friends were.

Chinook, Todd, and Breeze moved away leaving only Kassidy, Holden, and Shade for Brutus to look at. Kassidy could feel that the General was staring at her mostly-which really wasn't surprising to her but she stood strong and kept staring at the General without fidgeting. Kassidy noticed that Holden was trembling while Shade just stared at Brutus nervously.

She then heard wing flaps and she saw that Ariel got next to them. She gathered the three of them closely and she didn't hesitate while she did so.

"It appears what I've been told is true, Frieda," Brutus said. "A soldier of mine said that witchcraft was used so these three could escape and he told me that it was the one that looked like a devil." Brutus pointed at Kassidy and everyone looked at her. She hated the attention she was getting right now. "If what my soldier says is true about her using magic then she needs to be wiped out of existence immediately. Bring them to me, so we can settle this."

Kassidy could feel that Ariel held on to her tightly. She saw the worried look in her eyes and she couldn't blame Ariel. She was about to lose her son and two kids that she treated like they were her children. However, Kassidy didn't want anyone else to get hurt and as she looked around her she could see the fear in the colony's eyes. If they had to be sacrificed then she would be the first one to offer herself to die.

"No," Frieda said and this surprised Kassidy.

"Do as I say!" Brutus narrowed his eyes.

"I will not."

Kassidy looked at her friends and they were as surprised as she was that Frieda wouldn't give them up. Holden was still shaking nervously and this made Kassidy want to calm him down and tell him that everything would be okay. But would it?

"Frieda, such a decision jeopardizes the balance of nature," Brutus said.

"Brutus, you and I have flown in this forest for far too long," Frieda said softly. "You don't really believe that three young bats, glimpsing the sun will upset the balance of nature, do you? Look into your heart."

"I will not be manipulated. Emotions have no place in the execution of the law. Even when I now know that there's a bat that possesses the one thing that no one should have."

"My point exactly," Bathsheba said. "The owls are well within their-"

"General Brutus," Frieda said cutting off Bathsheba, "with all due respect, Kassidy has proven to the colony that her magic means no harm to anyone. She only wanted to use it on your soldier because she was protecting her friends. She would never use her magic for any bad purposes."

Kassidy saw that Bathsheba glowered at Frieda for standing up for her. Bathsheba hated Kassidy since she first laid her eyes on her. Since Bathsheba hated Kassidy, Kassidy hated Bathsheba.

"And as head of this colony," Frieda continued firmly, "I stand firm on this. No Silverwings will be sacrificed, for the sake of your unjust law. Whether with powers or not, no one will be sacrificed."

General Brutus looked unsatisfied with Frieda's answer and his feathers pricked up furiously. "Unjust law?" He said harshly and he landed near Frieda and this caused the three elders to back away, but Frieda stood her ground and kept staring at Brutus. Kassidy hoped Brutus wouldn't rip Frieda's head off. Brutus looked closely at Frieda. "Give them to us."

"No!" Frieda lifted her fist up determined. "I have spoken." She then lowered her fist.

Brutus looked at Kassidy and scowled at her as though she hurt him. Kassidy didn't look away and kept staring at Brutus's icy glare. He then looked back at Frieda. "I hope you feel satisfied for not handing them over to us, Frieda, especially not handing over that devil of a witch to us. I have a feeling though she will bring destruction to every bird and beast and when that day comes you will then know that I was right." Brutus spread opened his wings and took off. "Prepare to suffer the consequences!" He then flew away.

Kassidy didn't know what to say about what Brutus just said and all she could do was stare at him in shock as he flew away. Was she that dangerous-looking? She looked at her hands and then clenched them after looking at them for a couple of seconds and clenched her teeth.

Don't listen to him… control yourself.

What if Brutus was right though? Would if she did bring destruction to every animal she came across? She didn't harm anyone and she didn't want to unless she had to protect herself or anyone else she knew. What was going to happen though?

"What does he mean by that?" Holden asked nervously.

The colony was whispering and they were really nervous about what Brutus meant by the consequences. Kassidy looked around her and now she grew worried about not only her kidnapped family, her friends but also all the Silverwings. She now wished she offered herself to the General.

All the sudden she heard Bathsheba gasping towards the sky and she pointed. "Look!"

Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Ariel looked up and they were shocked and Kassidy gasped. Flying in an arrow formation, owls were carrying sticks with fire on them. They were heading for the tree. A lot of the Silverwings were frightened and they took off from Tree Haven, as did Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Ariel. The colony screamed as the owls dove for the tree and as they did they threw the sticks burning with fire on them into the open knotholes of Tree Haven. The tree burned and the fire grew and as it did it was turning into a smoky wreckage.

Kassidy landed on the ground and she realized that neither Holden, Shade nor Ariel were insight. She looked at the tree and a lot of the Silverwings were doing everything they could to burn out the fire. She knew that using branches wouldn't burn all the fire entirely. She knew she had to do something and fast.

Kassidy clenched her teeth and took off from the ground. She then was airborne in the sky and she then looked at the lake. If she was going to burn out the fire she would do it with water. Concentrating she focused on making the water float and as she did, she used her hand to start and lift some water. With enough concentration, water began to come up, but as it came up some sort of force was dragging it down like it didn't want to come up. Confused, Kassidy concentrated harder and didn't take her eyes off the lake, but the water kept fighting her with her magic. Like someone didn't want her to put out the fire.

"What's going-"

Before Kassidy could finish her sentence, an owl knocked her out of the sky and Kassidy screamed as she fell. She tried to fly but the owl knocked into her so hard that she was spinning while falling from the sky. Kassidy kept falling until she hit the side of a ledge and then she hit the ground.

Holden was helping Shade and Ariel put out the fire on Tree Haven. He was scared to death of what the owls did, but he kept putting out flames with a tree branch. They lost Kassidy when they took off from Tree Haven, but Holden hoped she was somewhere safe.

All the sudden Shade fell next to him and then he then heard a grunt. Holden looked and he saw that a branch was on Ariel and it was bigger than her. Holden's eyes widened as she heard Ariel in pain.

"No!" Shade flew to his Mom and desperately tried to get the branch off of her, but it was too heavy for him. "Mom!"

"Hang on!" Holden said as he got to Shade's side. "You won't lift this on your own!"

Holden and Shade worked together to lift the branch off Ariel but it was too heavy for them. They kept trying however and didn't give up.

"Shade! Holden!" Holden and Shade looked up to see that it was Chinook.

"Chinook!" Shade said as Chinook landed.

"You guys need some muscle. Let me in there."

Together all three of them lifted the branch and as they did the branch started to move. The branch then lifted and when it did, Ariel crawled her way to safety. They then dropped the branch as soon as Ariel got to safety. Holden and Shade looked at Chinook and Holden was surprised that Chinook helped them.

Shade sighed in relief. "Thanks, Chinook, we owe you one."

"Look around," Chinook said as he indicated to the sky. "It's not just me you guys owe." Chinook then took off and made his way to safety as did most of the other colony members.

Holden and Shade looked at each other as if knowing that Chinook was right. They then looked at Ariel and she was rubbing her arm. They got to her and together, all three of them took off and made their way to safety.

"Silverwings," Holden heard Frieda's desperate shout, "retreat! We must all retreat, now!"

The colony made their way to the safety of the trees and as they did they roosted on them. Holden, Shade, and Ariel landed on a tree branch and looked around them. Holden looked around desperately to see if he could see Kassidy anywhere, but no matter where he looked he couldn't see Kassidy. She wasn't in any of the trees.

"Where's Kassidy?" Ariel asked desperately. "I can't find her in any of the trees!"

A sickening feeling swirled around in Holden's stomach and he looked back towards the tree that was burning. His eyes widened.

"You don't think…?" Shade said.

"Oh, no…" Holden said.

Kassidy groaned in pain and she was about to get up but she suddenly felt something burn her shoulder and she yelled in pain. She rubbed her shoulder and it stung her badly as she hissed, but she tried not to let it bother her. Smoke crawled in Kassidy's mouth and nose that she had to cough. She covered her nose and mouth and looked around her. She was shocked when she saw that fire was burning all around her.

She was inside the tree.

Hearing some cracking, she looked up to see that burnt wood was falling towards her. Kassidy gasped and rolled out of the way before the wood could crush her and then she dove to the ground when she saw more wood falling and then she covered her head. She looked up to see that she missed the wood by nearly an inch. Her eyes started to sting like her shoulder burn and she coughed more rapidly. She knew she couldn't stay in here otherwise she'd be burned alive.

Without hesitating, Kassidy took off and made her way to an entrance she could fly out through and as she did she continued to cough but she tried to hold her breath. The smoke only got worse as she couldn't see through it. She used her echo vision to help her and as she continued to fly her vision started to get blurry. She then hit the ground and coughed more. She didn't want this to be the end. She wanted to do a lot of things and she wanted to find her family, she didn't want to leave from existence just yet. She didn't want to die just yet like her parents did.

All the sudden she felt a gust of wind through her fur and it felt cold. She looked up and through her blurry vision, she saw an entrance. She was relieved and it was like someone was actually trying to help her. Kassidy crawled towards it and as she did she felt her strength come back and she crawled faster and with enough effort she managed to get to the hole and as soon as her head got outside of the tree, she immediately jumped into the lake. She then landed in the lake with a huge splash and the water surrounded her completely. Kassidy then swam up to the surface and gasped to catch her breath as soon as her head was out of the water. She looked around her and she then saw the colony was safe in trees. She kicked her legs and began to swim for land.

She swam as fast as she could to land and she didn't stop for a moment for a breather, even though her lungs were on fire. As she got close to land she could hear voices calling out her name. She then knew it was Holden, Shade, and Ariel's voices. She could also hear the colony gasping and she knew it was for her. She then got to land and crawled her way out of the water and as soon as her whole body got on land, she collapsed to the ground and coughed rapidly.

She heard wing flaps and she looked up to see that it was Holden, Shade, and Ariel flying towards her worried. They landed near her and they helped her up as she was soaking wet. Even though she was wet, Ariel hugged her while Holden and Shade stood by but worried for Kassidy. She felt the burn on her shoulder as Ariel hugged her, but she held in the pain.

"Kassidy, oh, Kass," Ariel said. Kassidy looked up at Ariel and she had tears in her eyes. "You're alright. You scared us."

Ariel gasped and Kassidy, Shade, and Holden looked at her confused. Ariel was looking towards Kassidy's shoulder shocked and Kassidy immediately knew it and tried to cover it with her hand. "It's okay, it's nothing really," Kassidy said trying to convince Ariel.

Ariel removed Kassidy's hand from her shoulder and she looked at Kassidy's burn. "Kass, you're burnt… we need to get your shoulder treated."

Shade immediately hugged Kassidy. "I can't believe you were in there… I'm so glad to see you…"

"Me too, Shade," Kassidy said and she was glad that she had company.

"Justice has been served!" All four looked to see that Brutus was flying by them and he was leaving with the rest of the owls that burned down Tree Haven. Shade looked at them mad and Kassidy couldn't really blame him as she too did the same thing.

They all then looked towards Tree Haven and it was breaking and burning fast. Kassidy watched with Holden, Shade, and Ariel as Tree Haven burned down and would no longer be there anymore. She then saw floating in the sky projections as the fire and smoke rose from the tree and then she heard the voices of what used to be the stories of the echo chamber. As the projections and voices rose in the sky they began to disappear. Then there was no more of the projections or the voices and if any bat had been within a thousand wing beats, he would have heard a million faint voices, streaming up from the echo chamber, their stories released at last, and lost forever in the sky.

Kassidy kept watching in shock and couldn't believe this was happening. "What have we done?"

The two figures smiled as they watched the colony's tree burn in the shadows and while they did they had themselves a little picnic as they watched the show like they were at the movies. They were now in the forms of owls and this made their day. The male figure messed around with Kassidy's magic and it was too much fun for him. They enjoyed everyone screaming and fleeing for their lives as everything turned into a disaster. What they really enjoyed was the part where one of the owls knocked into Kassidy and she fell into the tree while it was burning, even though she didn't get killed.

It was too good to be true for them and it was most delightful for them. They couldn't wait to see what more of this crazy world had to offer to Kassidy and her friends. They also couldn't wait to have more fun.

A/N- Hey, guys, sorry I took so long. If you don't know I will be busy a lot with basketball and some other work. This took me a while but I'm finally finished.

When Frieda talked to Kassidy, Holden, and Shade I used the quote "Life can be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." It's by Soren Kierkegaard and I chose it because I found it very inspiring. Things are getting pretty crazy for these three friends and they will soon face more danger to come. Much more danger, later.