Chapter 17

The Price of Having Magic

Concentrate… Concentrate... Concentrate…

It'd been a while for Kassidy since the last time she practiced using her magic. She was using the best of her memories to try and remember some of the hard spells she couldn't get right and she was struggling. She made sure to practice the easy ones first and it wasn't hard for her to do that. While she was practicing, Marina was sorting through herbs and putting them in the right place and to Kassidy's surprise, Holden was helping her. Shade was on the ceiling resting his wing and once in a while he would test it to see how it felt and Zephyr was working on the flight paths again and he was talking to himself and while they all did their things they would look at Kassidy to see her do her magic, not that Kassidy asked them to watch her.

This time she was trying to do an invisibility spell and she pictured the best she could her whole body and face and usually when she did this spell she would need a mirror just so she could get a better idea of what she wanted. But since she didn't have a mirror she needed to do it from the heart, besides she couldn't always rely on a mirror. As she concentrated she lifted her hand in the air and she closed her eyes, breathed, and hoped for the best. She then flicked her wrist hard and then there was silence. When she opened her eyes she sighed frustrated.

It didn't work.

Trying not to overreact she did her breathing technique and after that, she rubbed her eyes after a while of practicing the hard magic. When she watched her parents do hard magic she thought they made it look easy. The more she practiced though, the more likely she would be advanced like her parents used to be.

"What was the spell you were trying to do this time?" Holden asked.

Kassidy looked at Holden. "The invisibility one… and as you probably have noticed I failed to make myself invisible."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of some of these spells," Marina said. "Besides you're very smart and I think you'll get them down in no time."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"I think you could use a break from practicing, why don't you help us sort these herbs out? It could help you relax."

The spells were getting Kassidy frustrated but as she thought about it maybe she should take a break from it and besides sorting things never got her angry. "Sure, why not?"

Kassidy got to Holden and Marina and started to help them organize the herbs in the right places. She sometimes used her levitation spell to navigate the herbs to the rightful place and it was oddly satisfying for her. She may not be advanced yet but she was at least grateful for at least learning the easier spells.

"So that pentagram mark is going to be pretty hard to find," Holden said. "I mean it's not like we can just go asking around if they have a pentagram mark on their palm."

"I know," Kassidy kept sorting through the herbs. "But we somehow need to try and if we don't we might be like this for the rest of our lives."

"And I hope that I won't be like that for the rest of my life."

"Why do you need to find a pentagram on someone's palm?" Marina asked.

Kassidy looked at Marina's confused face. "When someone has a pentagram on the palm of their hand it means they have magic, like this one."

Kassidy lifted the hand with the pentagram on her palm and Marina looked at it amazed. "I've never seen a star like that one before. It looks so different." Kassidy then saw that Marina was thinking of something and after a few seconds of thinking she looked back at Kassidy as she lowered her hand. "You know maybe when you do find someone with that pentagram on their palm maybe you could ask him or her if they could help you with some of the spells you're having problems with."

Kassidy never thought about that before and it did seem like a good idea. If she did find someone with the pentagram on their palm maybe she could not only ask them to help her and Holden to transform them back to their human selves but maybe also ask them if they could help her with her magic-if it wouldn't be of any trouble. Also if she could also trust them, her parents had taught her that if she were to trust someone she at least had to see what their personality was like.

"Well we'll just see how things go from here," Kassidy said. Holden then picked up a berry and he looked at it without putting it where it needs to go and was about to plop it into his mouth. "Holden, don't eat that!"

Holden looked at Kassidy confused. "Why?"

"You can't just try to eat something like that and hope it'll taste good. It may look like food you can eat but it's not."

"It's a berry though."

"I wouldn't eat that," the three of them looked at Zephyr and he was still looking at the flight paths. "But you might want to squeeze a little of its juice under your band, Marina." Marina looked at Zephyr uncertain as he turned to look at her. "Go ahead, I can hear your skin chafing under that metal."

Marina picked up a berry that was near her and she then applied its juice under her band and as she did, she sighed relieved. "That feels good."

"Stupid berry," Holden mumbled as he scowled at the berry in his hand.

"Never underestimate any type of herb, Holden," Zephyr said as he looked at him.

Holden looked at Zephyr confused. "Huh?"

"A lot of herbs are very useful in some situations, they're not just something that grows you know."

Holden looked back at the berry but he didn't scowl at it. Instead, he sighed and put the berry in its rightful place. "I probably wouldn't have liked it anyway…"

Marina then had a sad look on her face and Kassidy could tell that something was on her mind. Marina then flew up to Zephyr and landed on one of the boards near him. "Zephyr… do you know why the humans banded me? Is it actually a curse?"

"My child, the actions of the humans are inconsistent and… difficult to interpret. But perhaps your friends here will explain." Zephyr looked at Kassidy and Holden and Marina looked as well.

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other surprised that Zephyr knew that they were humans. They then looked back at Marina and Zephyr and they flew up to them and landed near Marina. "How'd you know we were humans?" Holden asked.

"Your scent is quite different from a bat's scent. When I caught yours and Kassidy's I knew there was something different about you two."

Kassidy looked at Marina and she put her arm around her shoulder. "Your band isn't a bad thing, Marina. It's actually a good thing. We, humans, do this because we're trying to help a lot of animals from not going extinct, like Brightwings."

Zephyr landed near them. "Marina, you are special but that has nothing to do with any bands." He then placed his claw on Marina's band.

Kassidy noticed that Shade was looking at them and as he did, Kassidy put her arm down from Marina's shoulder. Shade wasn't in a good mood and so she and her friends let him be until he was cooled down since yesterday's incident. She knew Shade was still mad at the pigeons and Brutus.

Zephyr then wobbled away and as he did, he then bumped into herbs that were hanging up near him but he ignored it and kept walking. Holden snorted at what just happened and Kassidy heard it and she smacked the back side of his head. Holden bared his teeth in pain and was trying not to say "Ow" as he rubbed the back side of his head. Holden then looked at Kassidy and she furrowed her brow at him.

Shade then landed beside them. "The old guy's as blind as a mole!"

Kassidy then turned her attention to Shade with her brow still furrowed. "Shade!"

"Technically, I'm blinder," Zephyr said not caring what Shade said.

"Who in their right mind would put a guy who can't see in charge of traffic control?" Shade then sat down frustrated.

"Would you stop acting like that?" Kassidy said. "Maybe hearing can sometimes be the best way of seeing, ever thought about that?"

Zephyr looked at Kassidy. "Incredible insight for one so young."

Shade had his back to everyone still frustrated with his arms crossed. "Tch."

"I heard that."

"Huh?" Shade then grumbled to himself still angry.

Holden crossed his arms. "Dude, take a chill pill will ya? You're acting childish right now."

Shade stood up and looked at Holden. "I'm not acting childish!"

"Right now you are."

Shade grumbled and turned away from Holden. "Whatever, I'm going to go test my wing. Maybe catch a bug or two."

Shade then flew to the throat of the gargoyle and made his way outside and Zephyr shook his head. Ever since yesterday, he's been acting somewhat distant lately and this made Kassidy rub her temples. She understood that he was still angry but Holden had a point when he said he needed to take a chill pill.

As Kassidy was thinking she then felt her burnt shoulder and she hissed, rubbing her shoulder. She almost forgot about it and so badly needed medicine for it. She then started to spit into her hand and rub the saliva onto her shoulder.

"I think you're going to need this for your shoulder," Zephyr said.

Kassidy looked at Zephyr and Kassidy couldn't believe what Zephyr had in his hand and she then smiled. "Aloe vera, just what I needed."

Zephyr handed the aloe vera to Kassidy and Kassidy took it. She then snapped a piece off the plant and started to apply the gel that was on the inside of it onto her shoulder and she sighed relived and it felt soothing on her shoulder. As she let the gel sooth her shoulder she then looked at Zephyr and thought he was really nice. She then thought of something and sighed at the thought of not having the time ask him something that was on her mind lately since they got here.

"Zephyr… do you despise me? A lot have been judging me lately because of how I look and… because I'm a witch."

Zephyr placed his hand on Kassidy's shoulder. "Despise is a strong word, my child. I may be blind but I know you have a good heart. A lot are just afraid because they're not used to new things or change. You by far are very different." Zephyr gently grabbed Kassidy's arm and inspected her tattoos and touched the bat and the skull with roses growing out of it and as he did the three friends watched. Zephyr then gently dropped her arm and then looked at her back and nodded while he looked at her tattoo and touched it. Finally he then looked at Kassidy's choker. "May I?"

Kassidy nodded and slipped her choker off her neck and gave it to Zephyr. He tapped his finger against the material of it and then gently and slowly stretched it and as he did the three friends looked at each other. Kassidy felt naked without her choker but she didn't let that bother her.

After Zephyr inspected her choker he then looked at Kassidy. "A strange feeling to this human design." He then looked at Kassidy's tattoos. "And I can feel the strange markings on you. Very fascinating."

He then handed Kassidy her choker and Kassidy slipped her choker back onto her neck. "The markings on me are called tattoos and the human design is called a choker." She said as she got her hair from out of the choker.

"Interesting names for what you have." Kassidy was glad that Zephyr didn't actually despise her. There were a lot of good people out there but not a whole lot. "I can also hear the magic that flows through your body."

Kassidy was surprised and so were Marina and Holden. She didn't even know he could hear her magic inside her and she didn't even know that could be a thing. She thought this bat was by far interesting. "You can hear my magic?"

Zephyr slowly nodded. "It flows and sounds like a river. When I heard the magic I could also hear something much louder than the gentleness of peaceful magic. I could hear the crackling of fire." Kassidy looked at the ground and as she did she sighed and rubbed her arm. "I can hear your sadness and anger at the same time and I can tell that you're afraid to show your true colors." Kassidy then felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see that it was Zephyr. "Some emotions will always find its way to break you but there are some you can't always hide."

Kassidy looked at her friends and they were looking at her concerned. She knew they had every right to be concerned about her. Some things have been bothering her and it's been eating her up on the inside. She also knew that Zephyr was right about her showing her true colors. If she ever showed the fire on her body as she got angry she didn't know what her friends would do. She didn't even want to know.

Zephyr's ears then flicked forward and he took off for the gargoyle's throat and landed near it and walked outside. Kassidy and her friends got confused and they followed Zephyr. When they got to Zephyr he was looking towards something and they didn't know what he was looking towards but when they looked they gasped. Pigeons were chasing a bat in the sky but it wasn't just any bat.

It was Shade.

The pigeons were chasing him though the city and Shade was having a hard time getting away from them and Kassidy could tell that he was getting out of breath. She cursed in her head and watched as the pigeons were chasing Shade.

"Smalls is getting chased by a pigeon gang," Holden shouted out loud.

"He needs help," Marina said.

Kassidy was about to take off to go help Shade, but Zephyr stopped her and he looked at her as she stared at him confused. "I'll handle this."

Zephyr walked a little more distance and as he did, the three friends saw Shade land under the ledge of a city building breathing hard and they saw the pigeons advance towards Shade. Kassidy then noticed Zephyr was doing something but she didn't know what but he was humming to himself and had his eyes closed. She looked from Shade to Zephyr a few times and then all the sudden a bat popped out of nowhere and that got the pigeons attention and they chased it. She couldn't get a good look at the bat as the pigeons were cooing and chasing the random bat. All the sudden the bat disappeared into thin air.

Kassidy shook her head surprised and she didn't see the bat anywhere in sight. Her friends were surprised as her. The pigeons were looking around them confused and didn't know where the bat went. Kassidy didn't know what to think right now. Did that bat have magic?

All the sudden the random bat popped out of nowhere again and he took off for a random direction and the pigeons chased him into the night. Kassidy opened her mouth and then she closed them as she saw as Shade made his way back to the cathedral. She then heard Zephyr laugh and he then flew back inside and as he did the three friends looked at each other confused.

"What just happened?" Holden asked.

"I… don't know," Kassidy said.

The three friends took off and made their way back inside and when they got back inside they landed next to Zephyr on a board. Kassidy was trying to think what just happened out there. A bat pops out of nowhere and then disappears. No one could do that… unless…

Kassidy looked at Zephyr and she knew Zephyr had something to do with this. It made sense, he was obviously doing something. It couldn't have been magic however, he didn't have the pentagram mark on his palm as she did. What did he do?

Shade came bursting in and he landed beside the three of them. "Did you guys see that? Some bat saved me!"

"Yeah, we saw it," Holden said. "It was weird, one minute that random bat dude was there and the next he wasn't like… he did the invisibility spell Kassidy was trying to do."

Kassidy shook her head and she crossed her arms. "I don't think so. I think there's something more to that." Kassidy looked at Zephyr. "You know how he did it, don't you?"

Zephyr turned to look at Kassidy and he smiled at her and that's all Kassidy had to know in order for her to know if she was right.

Yesterday was quite interesting for him to say the least. He never would have thought that he'd come across royalty one day but here he was right now in the big city with his wife now working together with a Vampyrum bat who happens to be a Prince with his brother-in-law. He thought it was by far so hilarious that a Prince like Goth had to have a brother-in-law like Throbb.

Martin was in a dark alleyway with Dianna and they were smoking on cigarettes. The taste was so satisfying to Martin and never once in his life had he have any problems from smoking. Martin sucked on his cigarette and then he held in the smoke and then after holding it in for a while he then blew it out. He then pictured a skull in his head, easily getting all the details right and then using the flick of his wrist he turned the smoke into a skull. The smoke skull then disappeared into thin air. Martin smirked at the creation he made.

"Aren't you a little old to be doing the easy tricks?" Dianna asked as she tapped her cigarette to get some of the ashes off her bud and even though she had long claws she always found her ways of doing things with her weapons.

Martin chuckled. "I'm never too old for anything, darling."

He and Dianna went their own way while Goth and Throbb went their own way and they all went hunting and find the four bats they were looking for. They all agreed that they would meet up sometime later. Martin then started to think about Kassidy. How that girl was smart and pretty strong and she kind of reminded him of himself when he was her age. That thought could only make him roll his eyes as he continued to smoke.

"So how about those two 'royalty' bats?" Dianna then started to laugh. "They really must've not been paying attention when those scientists took them, but I can see why they would've wanted to take them. I know I would've, considering I'm a scientist myself."

Dianna was a genius and she was by far the best scientist that Martin ever came across. She was known to be as the mad scientist because of her experiments and her creations she's been working on. She had a lot of experiment and creation ideas in her journals and notes and some of her creations were close to being completed.

"I can't imagine them surviving out here," Martin said as Dianna sucked on her cigarette. "You can even tell that they're actually getting cold right now."

Dianna puffed out smoke after holding it in for a while. "That's for sure, and already I don't like those two twerps. Maybe we should just kill them and look for those four kids ourselves."

They have gotten to know Goth and Throbb a little better yesterday and he and Dianna managed to talk about a little about themselves as well. What got on Martin's nerves however was when Goth mentioned Cama Zotz a lot. He knew who Cama Zotz was but he didn't care about who he was. Martin didn't mention that to Goth, however.

"Patience, love," Martin said. "Even though I already hate their guts as much as you do we could use the extra help. Besides, we already made a deal with them, but don't worry. We'll kill them when the deal is completed." Martin then gave Dianna an evil smile. "You know perfectly well how my deals can be and it makes me wonder what royal flesh tastes like."

Dianna smiled evilly and then she and Martin started to chuckle.

Kassidy was meditating on the ground and she was doing her breathing technique. She wanted to get back to practicing her magic but she wanted to calm down first before she got started. Everything was pretty quiet around her as she was meditating and it made her relax. As she was meditating, Holden and Marina were helping Zephyr with the herbs once again while Shade was roosting on a board all by himself. Kassidy asked Shade if he wanted to do this with her but he refused but Kassidy didn't push him to do it.

Her ears then flicked forward at the sound of cooing. Kassidy opened her eyes and she thought it was her mind playing tricks with her but she then heard the cooing again. She looked up but didn't see anything but she then looked to Shade and he was looking up confused. She knew he heard it too. Shade took off from his spot and made his way up and without hesitating, Kassidy stood up and followed Shade. Shade then landed on a beam higher up and Kassidy landed next to him. They both looked at each other and they both knew what they were thinking and they looked up.

Kassidy noticed that Holden and Marina landed near them and Holden was about to speak but Shade shushed him and he pointed up. Kassidy then saw a female pigeon walking on the beam and she had one of her wings on her other one. Kassidy was surprised but she could tell that something was wrong with the pigeon and from the looks of it she could see not only pain but fear in her eyes. She thought that something must've attacked her but how did she get in here?

Kassidy then saw Shade take off from his spot and he flew up to the pigeon. "You are one of those birds who tried to kill me out there."

The pigeon looked at Shade scared but shocked at the same time and Shade landed under a beam near the pigeon and Kassidy saw that there was something about Shade's expression that Kassidy knew was the one thing that she experienced a lot: anger. Kassidy had never seen Shade act like this and she knew that he wasn't acting like the Shade she knew.

"No… you're mistaken," the pigeon said innocently to Shade. "Can't you see? I'm hurt."

Kassidy could tell that Holden and Marina were shocked with what they were seeing. Kassidy wanted to help the pigeon, even if they were attacked by one. Shade, however, didn't change his expression and kept staring at the pigeon angrily.

"Owls probably killed my dad," Shade said as he crawled on the beam near the pigeon and the pigeon was backing away frightened. "They burned down my home and then you guys tried to kill me and my friends! I hate all birds!"

"Shade, stop it," Kassidy shouted. "Leave her alone!"

"Smalls, what are you, psycho?" Holden shouted.

The pigeon then all the sudden stepped on a board and it fell and the pigeon looked down and then looked back at Shade shaking. "Can't you see? I'm not a threat."

The board that the pigeon was standing on then started to break and Kassidy noticed it and gasped. She knew that if the pigeon moved even an inch the board would break and she would fall and she couldn't fly because of her injury. "Shade, it's not going to hold her weight there, you need to snap out of it!"

The pigeon was shaking as she looked down at the cracked board and then she looked back at Shade. "Please… I just came here to hide."

"Hide, from what?" Shade asked.

"G-Giant bats. They attacked my family."

Kassidy's eyes widened and she wondered who would've done this to that poor pigeon? Hegland… that pigeon… could it be that they were telling the truth? She thought it actually couldn't be true.

"Well they probably had a good reason," Shade shouted. "I know I would!"

"Shade, she's hurt!" Marina said. "Back off!"

The pigeon then moaned in pain and rubbed her wing more. "Please… don't you see what you're doing?"

Shade moved closer to her and didn't listen to what anyone had to say and then all the sudden the board under the pigeon broke and the pigeon fell and she cooed while screaming. Kassidy gasped as the pigeon fell as did Marina and Holden and as Kassidy saw the pigeon fell it brought back that horrible memory. That one memory that haunted her dreams sometimes. "No!"

Kassidy quickly used all the details she knew of the levitation spell and then she used her hands and focused them on the pigeon and as soon as she did the pigeon stopped falling. Kassidy breathed hard and as she did the pigeon looked around her confused and then she looked up and noticed Kassidy was doing it and she was surprised. Kassidy then gradually brought the pigeon to the nearest beam and gently placed her down. Kassidy then quickly took off and made her way to the pigeon and as she did, Holden and Marina followed her. They all then landed near the pigeon and looked at her worried.

"Are you alright?" Kassidy asked.

The pigeon slowly nodded at Kassidy. "Yes… thank you…" The pigeon then passed out.

Kassidy was breathing hard again at what she just saw. She couldn't believe that someone was about to die again and she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't believe what Shade did.

The three of them then heard landing and they turned around to see that it was Shade and this time he wasn't angry. Instead he was shocked and worried at the same time for the pigeon. He looked at Kassidy. "Is… she alright?"

Kassidy could feel her blood boil and she looked at Shade furiously and she walked up to Shade and Shade looked at her nervously. "What were you thinking?"

"Kass… I can explain-"

"Didn't you see she was hurt? How could you? She would've died, Shade, if I wasn't there to save her!"

"I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me I just-"

"She was innocent!" All the sudden Kassidy didn't realize that flames were bursting all over her body and Shade gasped. "Seeing her almost die is too much to bear! Why were you blind and deaf to not see and hear what was happening?! Are you really that heartless?! Seeing her almost die reminds me of what happened to my parents!"

Kassidy all the sudden realized what was happening and she was shocked. The flames on her died down and she saw not only Shade but Holden and Marina looking at her shocked. She breathed hard and she backed away slowly and then she took off for the gargoyle's throat and flew outside and she flew as far and as fast as she could possibly go.

Holden stared to where Kassidy flew out shocked by what just happened. He couldn't believe that fire spread all over her body like she was actually a devil. This explained why she was breathing a lot when she looked like she was about to get too mad. Also what Zephyr said about him hearing more of the crackling of fire rather than the peaceful magic. He couldn't believe he didn't realize this before. Who was he kidding? He doesn't realize a lot.

Zephyr landed on the beam the three friends were on and wobbled over to the pigeon and felt the wing that was hurt. Holden looked at the pigeon and he felt sorry for the pigeon. Whoever attacked her and her family must've been pretty big to have hurt and scare her. She said it was giant bats but Holden didn't believe that there were giant bats. He wanted to believe that what these pigeons were saying about giant bats weren't true.

"How's her wing?" Holden asked.

Zephyr looked at Holden. "She'll be alright, her wing is sprained is all but I'm sure I'll be able to fix it."

"Did you see-uh hear that?" Marina asked.

Zephyr looked at Marina. "I heard two young bats blinded by their anger. Then I saw something change in them." Zephyr then turned to look at Shade and he pointed his finger at him. "You must never underestimate the power of a kind act. Even towards one's enemy, real or imagined." Shade looked down guilty and as he did, Marina put her hand on his shoulder. Zephyr closed his eyes and he breathed. "Kassidy couldn't hold her anger and I fear it's because of something tragic she went through… but know I don't believe she intended on scaring any of you."

The three friends looked at each other. Holden wondered what Kassidy could possibly have gone through to get her this upset. He then thought about what she said about her parents when she yelled at Shade. He thought that maybe it had something to do with that.

Shade sighed. "I can't believe Kassidy could do that whenever she gets angry… she hates me now…"

"Shade, that's not true," Marina said.

Shade looked at Marina. "You saw how angry she was and I don't blame her, I would be too if I was her. This is my fault…"

Holden looked to the gargoyle's throat and thought long and hard until he knew what he had to do. He looked back at Shade and Marina. "I'm going to go find Kassidy, you guys stay here."

With that, Holden took off and he set his way to go find Kassidy.

A/N- Well that's chapter 17 everyone. There's really not much to say but I think Kassidy and Holden will have a nice talk in the next chapter.

The OC characters are mine and the other following characters belong to the owners themselves.