Chapter 11

Four Bats and an Island

"Holden," Holden felt tapping and he grunted, not wanting to wake up and wanted to sleep more. The tapping felt harder this time and Holden was getting annoyed. "Holden, wake up."

Holden stirred awake and he yawned as he rubbed his eyes. He furled his wings against his body and looked at Shade tiresome. "What? Why did you wake me?"

Shade was looking around him nervously. "I heard something… I think someone's in here."

"Smalls, it's probably just those stupid mice again." Holden turned his back to Shade. "Now will you leave me alone? I'm trying to-"

Holden then heard wing flaps and that made his eyes widen. He slowly turned to look at Shade and he was looking at him. They then heard something crawling and they looked to where they heard it and it was near a totem pole of where a beam was.

Shade looked at Holden. "Did that sound like a mouse to you?"

Holden knew for sure that mice didn't have wings. They heard more crawling and wing flaps and at this point, Holden was getting freaked out as he and Shade used their echo vision to find the source that was making all that noise. What was making all that noise? He wanted it to stop. He didn't know what could be in here but he didn't want to know. He still wished he could still believe that it was mice causing all that ruckus and go back to sleep, but he clearly couldn't. He almost died from that storm last night but he didn't want to die like this. He so badly wanted to get back in his human form and go home.

Holden tried to stay calm and didn't want to make this a big deal. Maybe he was just overreacting like Shade and that they were doing it for nothing. They kept looking around and using their echo vision as they kept hearing the crawling and the flapping of wings.

All the sudden Holden and Shade saw something fly near them and they screamed as did the other figure. Before they could clearly see what it was, the figure flew behind a totem pole. Shade was covering his eyes while Holden's jaw was hanging wide open as if he just encountered something out of the ordinary. Holden couldn't tell what it was but he saw there was some brightness from it. Not only that, he thought that scream sounded like it came from a female.

Holden then saw the figure look from behind the totem pole and Holden noticed that it was a bat and it was a she. Holden closed his mouth and Holden didn't know if he should be terrified of her or not. She had pale blonde hair, light green eyes, beige fur, a dark brown mane, and orange wings. She looked a little frightened and then she frowned. She didn't look terrifying but she certainly didn't look happy.

"You're… you're a bat," Holden said.

"You're a genius-of course I'm a bat," said the female bat sarcastically as she had one hand and one foot on the totem pole.

"Huh?" Shade uncovered his eyes and he looked at the female bat. He looked at her curiously. "Who are you?"

"Not so fast." The female bat looked at Shade. "I ask the questions around here." She then pointed at Shade. "What's your name?"

"Shade…"

The female bat then pointed at Holden. "And yours?"

Holden didn't like this bat's attitude and she kind of reminded him of Kassidy. He furrowed his brow at her. "Holden and who the hell do you think you are of scaring the bejesus out of us?"

"As I said, I ask the questions around here. This is my roost after all."

"Oh, I see, so we're supposed to answer your questions like you own this whole island? Yeah, real mature."

"Actually, this is my island and you and your friend here were not invited in here."

Holden crossed his arms. "Well sorry, maybe you should've had a sign saying 'No trespassing' and then maybe we wouldn't have flown in here. But can you really blame us? The sun was coming up and this was our only option."

The female bat looked at him confused and then frowned again. "Don't know what planet you're from but where I'm from, I don't have signs."

"And what is the name of your island anyway, 'Weird bat's island?'"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the mouth of a fly? You're obnoxious as them because you're talking is making me go insane. You would be much more likable if it wasn't for that hole in your mouth that noise comes out of."

Holden's eyes widened at what the female bat just said. Ouch.

"What's going on?"

Holden shook his head and he thought he recognized that voice. He and Shade looked to where they heard that voice and they were stunned when they saw who it was. Same ruby red hair and mane, same yale blue fur and wings, same choker, and the same tattoos. Hanging from a beam upside down was Kassidy. She was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and from the looks of it she looked really exhausted.

Shade beamed. "Kass!" He took off immediately and made his way over to Kassidy and as soon as he got to her he flew straight into her and Kassidy yelped and they fell to the ground. They hit the ground but Shade was on top of her and he hugged her tightly. "You're here!"

Kassidy looked surprised but when she looked to see who it was she smiled. "Shade, it's you!"

Holden took off and then landed next to Kassidy and Shade and he was actually glad to see Kassidy. He couldn't believe he didn't see Kassidy in here. Shade got off of Kassidy and she got up and then looked at Holden. She still looked really strong, even though she looked tired.

"Holden, you're here as well."

"Did we give you a heart attack?" Kassidy then got mad and punched Holden in the arm. "Ow!"

Kassidy then punched Shade in the arm. "Ow!"

Holden and Shade rubbed their arms. Holden hated to admit it but her punch was really hard and he thought he could already feel a bruise coming on.

"That's for not listening to Ariel and I. You're lucky that you two are even alive right now. I've been searching for you guys all night and I had to fly off course just to try and rescue you guys and now Ariel is probably extremely worried for all three of us."

Holden had no idea that Kassidy was searching for them all night and it did probably explain why she looked really tired. He felt bad that Kassidy went through all that just to go find them. But Frieda was right when she said that Kassidy was willing to go as far as to risk herself for her friends and family.

Shade looked at her very guilty. "I'm sorry, Kass… we should've listened to you and my Mom, you're right."

Holden rubbed his neck and then sighed. "I'm… I'm sorry too."

Kassidy then breathed through her nose and she then sighed. She no longer looked mad but she did have a worried expression on her face. He sometimes didn't understand Kassidy. "Well… the important thing is, is that I didn't find you two dead. I'm glad that you guys are okay."

The female bat landed near Kassidy and Holden furrowed his brow again at her. Who was that female bat and what was her problem? "So… these must be the two bats you were looking for." The female bat then looked at Kassidy. "What's your relationship with them?"

Kassidy looked at the female bat. "These are my friends. I'm sure they told you their names by now."

"They did and the one named Holden really has got one big loud mouth."

"Uh, hello?" Holden said. "I'm standing right here."

"That's how he is," Kassidy said. "And yeah, he can be annoying at times."

Holden did feel mad but he decided to not make this such a big deal. He did talk a lot and sometimes he doesn't realize it and usually he'd talk loud just so everyone could hear him loud and clear. Sometimes he can take it too far with his talking and sometimes the results didn't end too well for him and the others. This was one of the reasons why he was considered a trouble maker.

Shade was looking at the female bat confused. "What's wrong with your fur?"

The female bat looked at Shade confused. "Wrong? What do you mean?" She looked at her fur and then she looked at Shade while scowling with her hands on her hips. "There is nothing wrong with my fur."

"Eh, it's all… light."

The female bat looked at Holden. "I'm guessing you don't know what I am either."

Holden didn't change his expression. "If I knew what you were I would've said it in a millisecond."

The female bat smiled sarcastically. "Huh, one small and clueless and one obnoxious and also clueless." She rolled her eyes. "Your friend here guessed on the first try and she got it right. I'm a Brightwing of course." The Brightwing lifted her long and narrow wings.

"I-I didn't know there were other kinds of bats," Shade said.

"Where have you been living, under a rock?" The Brightwing said as she lowered her wings.

"No… in a tree." Shade said lowering his voice while looking at the ground.

"There are a lot of different kinds of bats, Shade," Kassidy said. "It's okay that you didn't know, but at least you're learning something new."

The Brightwing looked at Kassidy. "So, what brings you guys out here?"

Kassidy looked at the Brightwing. "We were migrating with the other Silverwings to our next destination and then we got caught in this huge storm and that's when these two fell from the sky and that's when I had to go and try and save them."

"So that means we're separated from the colony," Shade said.

"Yeah… that's pretty much it."

The Brightwing looked at Shade and Holden and then she laid her eyes on Shade. "Guess your wings weren't big enough to make the flight." Shade looked offended by what the Brightwing just said and she then looked at Holden. "But you've got some big wings but yet you fell from the sky? Pretty interesting when you think about it."

Holden didn't even know why he was still in here with her when she was going to act like this. She didn't know the real reason why he couldn't keep up with the colony and he hated his wings for making him fall from the sky. Why couldn't he have a strong flight like Kassidy? Why did this have to be so embarrassing for him? Why did it have to be him?

"You know what?" Holden said. "Screw it, I don't need this. I'm outta here." Holden turned around and spread opened his wings and was about to take off.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" The Brightwing asked.

Holden looked at the Brightwing. "Anywhere where I can get away from you."

"Actually, I don't even know why I wanted to talk to you," Shade said as he flew over to Holden and landed next to him. He then narrowed his eyes at the Brightwing. "I'm with Holden on this one."

"Guys, will you two stop acting ridiculous?" Kassidy asked as she looked at the boys annoyed with her arms crossed. "She's just teasing you."

"She wasn't teasing us when she showed herself," Holden said.

"You've only known her for a few minutes now, give her a chance. She's really not that bad."

Holden didn't want to believe that the Brightwing wasn't that bad. To him, she looked very unwelcoming to the boys. Holden then thought of something that he never thought about until just now. Where was her colony and why wasn't she with them?

The Brightwing flew over to the boys and then landed in between them and then she put her arms on their shoulders. "She does have a point, you've only known little ol' me for a few minutes. How about I show you guys around the island? Just so you know where my territory is." The Brightwing then took off towards the hole of where the boys came in.

Holden didn't look at the Brightwing and then he fake coughed and said: "Bitch."

"Oh, and by the way," Holden jumped when he saw the Brightwing near him airborne. He didn't even hear her come near him. "My name's Marina." Marina then took off for the hole again.

Kassidy got near Holden and Shade and they looked at her. "Come on, plus I think you guys will get to know her better if you talked to her nicely." Kassidy then took off after Marina.

Holden couldn't believe that Kassidy had no problem with Marina. Why didn't she have a problem with her? He then wondered how long they've been talking for since they met.

Shade sighed annoyed. "Guess we got no choice."

"You can say that again," Holden said.

The boys then took off to follow Kassidy and Marina. Holden hated the idea of having Marina as a tour guide and Kassidy suggesting that they tried talking nicely to her, but Holden wouldn't promise that he would make that happen.

Kassidy flew next to Marina and the boys were flying behind them. She knew that neither of the two wanted to fly next to Marina, so she decided that it would be best that if she flew next to her as she gave a tour. Kassidy was pretty astonished that Marina practically owned almost all this island. She gave her tour to them like it was nothing, as if she's done this before, and she looked pretty confident while doing so.

As they were flying, Kassidy saw that Shade was looking around the island pretty fascinated like when four English siblings, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan entered through a wardrobe to find themselves in Narnia. Holden, on the other hand, was not enjoying this. Every time when Kassidy looked back to look at the boys, Holden would sometimes grunt under his breath or roll his eyes as Marina kept talking. Holden didn't even notice Kassidy staring at him a little mad and when he saw she was, Kassidy mouthed to him to "Knock it off". He started to behave a little bit better, but not fully. She didn't like that Holden was acting like this again and it was getting quite irritating, to say the least.

She looked back at Marina and she was still giving them the tour. "From the barnacle-covered rocks to the old cedar tree, that's mine. From the waterfall to the north cove, that's mine."

"You have this whole place to yourself?" Shade asked.

"Pretty much." Marina smiled.

Shade looked down at the ocean they were flying over and was still fascinated. "We're totally surrounded by water."

"Well duh, that's what an island is," Marina said looking annoyed that Shade didn't know that.

"If I'm being honest right now, I think that's pretty cool," Kassidy said as they were flying over the ocean. "Having a whole island to yourself must be something. How long have you lived here?"

Marina looked at Kassidy. "Since late spring."

"That's refreshing to hear," Holden said scoffing and that got an annoyed look from Marina. "So really, it's just you?"

"Until you guys came along. It's really not that bad here."

"Being alone on an island? I have a hard time believing that."

"You know what I have a hard time believing? You falling from the sky."

Kassidy sighed annoyed that Holden wasn't trying to be friendly towards Marina. Now she knew for sure she wanted to learn that spell to mute someone's voice.

"Hey," Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked at Shade and he was pointing at something in the ocean, "what're those?"

Kassidy heard splashing and when she looked down she was in awe to see that in the ocean were orcas and she instantly smiled. "Oh my god, orcas!" She flew down towards the ocean-and even though they were also known as killer whales-she flew close but far enough away from them to get a better look at them. "This is amazing! I've always wanted to see one. This is off my bucket list."

There were a whole load of animals Kassidy wanted to see and this made her day to see an orca. One down, plenty to go-even though she's seen some of the animals in zoos she wanted to see them for real in other places.

She then heard Marina laughing and she looked up to see Marina and Shade flying over a whale as it blew water out of its blowhole. Holden, however, was still in midair and still didn't change his attitude. Marina then looked over her shoulder at Shade. "Can't handle the pace, kid?"

Shade was breathing hard but managed to look at Marina as he flew with his eyes widened. "What? Huh, I'm just uh…uh… keeping my bearings! Heh…"

"You're obviously too small to make it back to the mainland. Never mind catching up to your colony, so-"

"I don't care!" Shade shouted at Marina. "I'm not going back."

Kassidy shook her head shocked and she immediately flew towards Shade and Marina. She got near Shade as did Holden and he looked confused at the outburst Shade just said. Shade didn't look at them but Kassidy furrowed her brow. "What're you talking about?" Kassidy said. "Of course you need to go back. We all need to go back to the colony. Why the hell don't you care?"

Shade looked at Kassidy a little guilty. "Kass, don't you get it? Why should we go back when we broke the law? It's probably best that we-"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," Marina said as she stopped in front of Kassidy, Holden, and Shade to stop them and she looked at them seriously as they were all airborne. "You three broke a law?"

Yesterday, Kassidy didn't tell Marina that she and her friends broke the law of looking at the sun. Mostly because she was more concerned for her friends than talking about breaking the law. Even though it was a big deal she didn't want to bring it up but since Shade said it out loud she knew they weren't getting out of this. She didn't know how Marina would react but she had the slightest hint at what it might be.

"Yeah, it was one of those days where we were just hanging out," Holden said. "Then an idea crept into Shade's mind and-"

"We looked at the sun," Shade said getting to the point and Marina's eyes went wide and she gasped.

Shade flew into the forest and Kassidy and Holden followed. Holden was clucking his tongue as he furrowed his brow. Shade looked at neither Kassidy nor Holden but he kept on flying. "Well congrats, smalls," Holden scoffed. "You handled that very well back there."

Shade ignored Holden and kept on flying until he landed on a high tree branch upside down and he folded his wings against his body. Kassidy and Holden landed near him and they folded their wings against their bodies and looked at Shade. Kassidy was getting sick of how the boys were behaving so far and she felt as though she was a single mother trying to raise kids. She really couldn't believe that Shade didn't want to go back but she understood why he didn't. She told herself she wouldn't go find the colony until she had the boys with her and she intended on getting them and herself back to them.

Kassidy then heard wing flaps and felt some wind and she looked to see that Marina landed upside down near them. She was still shocked by what Shade said and Kassidy could tell. She could read it all on Marina's face. "You guys looked at the sun?" Marina then started to laugh. "Uh, huh, you're pulling my wing."

"No, we really did," Shade said. "But the owls found out and destroyed our home. Holden and Kassidy even got proof."

Marina looked at Kassidy and Holden. "What kind of proof?"

Holden sighed annoyed and then he used his thumb to point at his back. "You see that scratch there?" Marina looked at Holden's back and her eyes went wide. "I got this when an owl was chasing us down."

Kassidy rubbed her temples and she sighed. Looking back at the owls and the burning of Tree Haven was not something Kassidy liked to look back on, like when she found out her parents were dead and her horrific dreams. Trying not to think about any of that wasn't easy for Kassidy but she tried to bottle it all up and hope for the best.

Kassidy then looked back at Marina. "This burn mark right here-" she pointed at her burn on her shoulder, "I got it from trying to save our home."

It wasn't technically Kassidy and Holden's home but Kassidy treated it like it was home. Shade, Frieda, Ariel, Mercury, and some other bats were nice enough to them- well most of the bats anyways. It was still heartbreaking that Tree Haven was gone and the thought of even watching that scene over and over again could only make it feel like torture.

Marina looked uncomfortable when she saw Kassidy and Holden's injuries that Kassidy noticed she was rubbing her arm. Guess she believes us now.

"We may be alive, but it doesn't change the fact that it's our fault," Shade looked at the ground sadly. "The colony's better off without us… especially me."

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and Kassidy could tell that Holden felt the same sympathy for Shade as she did. They all knew they did something wrong but Kassidy knew that it was something they could not change and that they had to stick by what they did. She then got closer to Shade and as soon as she did she put her hand on his shoulder and as soon as she did, Shade looked at her.

"Shade, do you remember what I said to you when you were navigating Holden and me to my jeep? I said that you shouldn't let them get to you. I know they were frightened and mad at us for what we did but you still have a Mom that loves you and if you didn't return how do you think she would feel? She's spent her whole life trying to protect you and you do care about her don't you?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Then show her that you do by finding the colony with us. You know that I'm right, we have to find them. Lawbreakers or not they're still our colony no matter what."

Shade looked behind Kassidy at Holden with a thoughtful look in his eyes. After a few seconds, he finally looked at Kassidy and sighed. "Alright… I don't even know what I was thinking. I'll go back to the colony with you guys."

Kassidy took her hand off Shade's shoulder. "Sometimes we think clearly and sometimes we don't, it's just the way of life."

"Smalls, I hate to say it but I would've carried you if you still refused to go with us to find the colony," Holden said.

Shade rolled his eyes while smirking. "I can already see how that would work out for you."

Marina looked at all three of the Silverwings and smiled weakly. "I gotta say, you guys are some pairs of bats." Marina then looked at Kassidy and her expression changed to confusion. "By the way, what's a jeep?"

Kassidy thought that since Marina knew that she was a witch and that she and the boys broke the law she figured that maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell her that she and Holden were humans. She, after all, did say that Kassidy looked trustworthy-even though a lot looked at her and said that she looked dangerous. What harm would it do if she told her? "Well here's something that's going to be more shocking-seeing as though you now know that I'm a witch and that we broke the law."

"Wait, you told her that you're a witch?" Holden asked.

"Actually, I saw her use her magic," Marina said. "That's actually how we met and what she did was quite something."

"Yeah, so anyways," Kassidy continued, "a jeep is a type of transportation used to go from one place to another and that's what Holden I use at certain times." Kassidy could tell that Marina was not getting this as she saw that she had more confusion in her eyes. "Holden and I are humans."

Marina's eyes went wide and she looked from Kassidy to Holden a couple of times. She then looked at Shade and he was nodding his head at her. She then thought about it and everything was silent as if everything around them was actually watching them to see what would happen next. She then looked back at Kassidy. "Now that you say you and Holden are humans it does make sense. You and Holden used words that I never heard of before and Holden did fall from the sky from a storm. But how did you turn into bats exactly?"

Kassidy then started to explain to Marina about everything and Holden and Shade did a little explaining too but mostly Kassidy talked. They told her about the car crash, the robbery, the kidnapping of her family and so forth and Marina listened carefully and didn't stop them and as they did she only got more shocked. Talking about that stuff was hard to get out but Kassidy managed to get the story out and so did her friends.

"Wow… that's really horrible," Marina said. "So you have no idea who the culprit or culprits might be?"

"No. But I'm determined to find out and I'll do anything to save my family," Kassidy looked down a little angry and she curled her hands into fists. "Even if it means I'd have to sell my soul to save them."

Kassidy meant what she said. What mattered the most to her was her family's safety. Whoever had them had to be very dangerous. After the wreckage, she saw in the house and that note she read was not a good sign. She couldn't even imagine what the person or these people were doing to them right now. They were probably scared of what was going on, especially her cousins. Addison and Reese were two innocent little girls and the thought of them even getting hurt could only make Kassidy feel some anger but not too much, seeing as though she didn't want to unleash the flame. If her family was hurt by that person or those people she would never forgive them for what they did.

Marina dropped to a branch below them and she looked up at Kassidy with a weak smile. "Well… I'm sure you'll find them. Whoever has them can't hide them forever."

"You've got a band!" Shade was pointing at the band Marina had on.

Holden looked and he saw Marina's band on her forearm before she could hide it. "She does have a band, you're right."

"What band?" Marina asked. "Oh, you mean this band?" Marina lifted her forearm with the band on it and she looked at it. She then looked back at Shade and Holden sharply. "You two got a problem with it?"

"Why would we? It's a band and it's not like we're having a fashion show."

"Yeah… what he said, and besides should we have a problem with it?" Shade asked.

"Don't you know?" Marina said. "It's cursed." She turned her hands into fists and she bared her teeth.

Shade yelped and his expression had fear in it. "C-Cursed?"

"I'm hungry, let's hunt." Marina then took off.

Shade then looked at Kassidy. "I-Is that… possible? Can a band be cursed?"

Kassidy looked back at Marina and this really got her confused. Humans didn't curse bands, the bands were actually meant to help the animals. What was this whole curse thing about?

She looked back at Shade. "I don't know where she got that idea from but I know for a fact that cursed bands are not a thing. Like I said when we were in the echo chamber, the bands are used for a good purpose."

"Are curses real?"

Kassidy was about to respond but then Marina's voice intervened. "Hey, branch buddies, you coming or not?"

Holden grunted. "Let's go, guys before crazy head gets more on my nerves. Besides I'm hungry too." Holden released his grip on the branch he was hanging from and he flew off and then he said under his breath: "Man, what I would give to have some pizza right now."

Kassidy looked back at Shade and he was still creeped out by what Marina said. She wanted him to take his mind off of it for a little bit. Hunting, after all, wouldn't be bad for him.

Kassidy smiled weakly at Shade. "Come on, let's go hunting. I think we both need it anyways.

Shade smiled weakly and he nodded. They both let go of the branch and they flew off to catch up with Holden and Marina.

A/N- Another chapter down, guys. It took a while but I got it done. Well I'll have the next chapter out soon and until then, I'll see you guys later.