Chapter 24

Skyward

Everything went by fast.

Her heartbeats were fast as she watched as her Dad was trying to stop the car, but it didn't stop.

It kept going.

Kassidy and her parents were going down a hill at a very fast speed and Kassidy was breathing somewhat fast as she saw they were approaching a traffic light. She could only focus her attention straight ahead and didn't pay attention to what her parents were saying or how they were reacting. She then saw that the traffic light turned red and she then saw a huge truck driving forward as they went forward fast and before she could react, everything blacked out.

Kassidy's eyes shot open and she was breathing hard as sweat made its way down her face. She kept telling herself that it was just a dream and that she wasn't in the same car crash months ago. She hated this dream so much that she wished she could do a spell to make this dream stop but she didn't even know if that was even a thing.

She pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes as she took deep breaths to try and relax. What on earth did she need to do to make this dream go away? Why can't it just leave her alone and wriggle in her some sweet dreams? It was like this dream was punishing her.

Kassidy then wiped the sweat off her face and as she did she then felt a warm breath near her face. She turned to see that Marina was roosting next to her still sleeping. Kassidy was glad for once that she didn't wake anybody up. Or for that matter, Marina.

Last night was hell for Kassidy and she remembered the argument she and Holden had like they were actual enemies. She wouldn't forget what she said to Holden and quite frankly she wouldn't take back what she said. He acted like no friend towards her and to think she thought that they could be friends. She felt like a fool for even trying to be friends with Holden, and who was she to think that Holden would change himself? He was never going to change no matter if he was human, a bat, or anything else.

Even though she was still mad at him, Kassidy had to get Holden home. He, after all, did have a life back in Canada-which was a party life. She'd be glad to get rid of him out of her life as soon as possible and when they got back home to Canada she was going to tell Principal Chester that she was done being Holden's tutor. What she was concerned about, however, was if Holden would try to get evidence from her that she was a witch just so he could reveal to everyone he knew what she truly was. If he did try to do that she was going to do that forgetting spell on him, no matter how hard that spell seemed.

Kassidy and Marina were roosting in a hole of a tree and they were lucky to find one like this before the sun came up. Kassidy was very grateful for Marina for being a good friend and keeping her company after yesterday's argument. She did tell Marina that she didn't have to but she insisted that she wanted to because she was her friend.

The giant bats were getting to her, especially Martin. Even thinking about the name Martin made Kassidy want to wipe it out of existence. That made her laugh on the inside, knowing that could never happen.

She looked towards the knothole of the tree and she saw the sunlight coming through it. Kassidy carefully flew off the ceiling without waking Marina and landed on the ground to look outside. She made sure nothing was out there and she saw no signs of owls coming her way. But then she saw the sun and it was slowly going down. She smiled weakly at how beautiful it looked and it was exactly how she saw it when it was coming up. A huge orb made of fire.

She looked around her some more and she knew this was going to be a stupid idea but at this point, she didn't care anymore. If anyone saw her then she was glad because she thought that bats should have the right to look at the sun. It would be like a protest of some sort.

Kassidy then flew outside and landed on a tree branch of the tree she was roosting in with Marina and started to look at the sun again. She continued to smile weakly as the sun continued to sink further away. The warmth she felt from it was like it was giving her the strength to continue further on her missions to find the colony before the owls did and to find her family. She felt as though the sun was her only hope of staying strong and determined.

Slowly she started to raise her leg and then she put her foot on the side of her thigh and then she slowly brought her hands together and started to meditate. She slowly breathed in and out as the sun was almost gone and as she did the wind blew in her face along with her hair but she didn't flinch. She was as cool as a cucumber.

After a while, she then heard a hoarse-screech. She opened her eyes halfway and what she saw in the sky wasn't an owl but rather a hawk. The hawk was magnificent as it glided in the sky and Kassidy could tell that it was a male. It was a red-tailed one and it was a medium-size and it had long, broad wings and a short, wide tail with a reddish-brown color. The feathers on it were dark brown, light brown, and white and it had a white chest with its belly to it's underwings it had brown lines and spots on it. The hawk looked like a strong warrior with its sharp beak and talons.

Kassidy watched as it glided and as she did she saw the hawk stare at her with those brownish-orange eyes. In those very eyes though she didn't see a bird wanting to attack, instead she saw it looking at her calmly. She wondered if this hawk knew of what was happening. She also wondered what it was going to do next.

Then the hawk turned around and made a flap of its wings and it made no sound and as it did he glided towards the sun that still brightly shined and as it did, Kassidy kind of squinted her eyes but the next thing she knew the hawk was gone and the sun was down. This made her confused.

"Kass, where are you?" Kassidy snapped out of her stance when she heard Marina's voice.

She looked down and she saw Marina poking her head out from the knothole. "I'm up here," Kassidy said.

Marina looked up to Kassidy and she flew out of the knothole towards her. She then landed on the tree branch Kassidy was on. "How long have you been out here for?"

"For a while."

Marina narrowed her eyes at Kassidy. "Kass, were you out here when the sun was still up?"

Kassidy crossed her arms. "Yeah, I was and I don't regret it."

"Kass, you know we can't be out here when the sun's up."

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "Marina, calm down, I'm still standing here and no one's taking me anywhere."

"But still…"

Kassidy put her hands on Marina's shoulders. "Don't worry, what hasn't killed me yet has made me stronger." She then put her hands down from Marina's shoulders.

Marina then sighed. "If you don't want me to worry then you shouldn't do that again."

Even though Kassidy didn't regret looking at the sun again she could tell that she really got Marina worried. She thought it might be best if she didn't do it again, even though it relieved her from the stress she's been going through. When this was all over she would look at the sun again.

"So I've been meaning to talk to you about something," Marina said. "Did you see anything suspicious about Martin yesterday?"

Kassidy sighed. "No, I was trying to spy on him but Goth came to talk to me and that's when I lost sight of Martin. The only thing I saw Martin do was eating a squirrel and drinking water. But next time I'll definitely find something out of the ordinary about those four giant bats."

All the sudden two figures landed behind Marina and they both touched Marina's shoulders using only one hand and Marina screeched and she got behind Kassidy fast. Then Kassidy and Marina heard laughing and they looked to see that it was Martin and Dianna. Marina's eyes were widened in fear but Kassidy looked at them angrily.

"Evening, ladies," Martin said as he and Dianna continued to laugh.

Kassidy bared her teeth at the two spouses. "Are you kidding me? That's not funny! She probably thought it was something else!"

Martin and Dianna wiped away their tears of laughter. "Forgive us," Martin said. "We just couldn't contain ourselves. You have to admit that we got Marina pretty good."

"I can't believe it actually worked," Dianna said.

Kassidy was about to say something but she then saw two figures hang upside-down on a tree branch above them and she looked to see that it was Goth and Throbb. "Is everything alright, amigos?" Goth asked.

Martin walked right in between Kassidy and Marina as he looked at Goth. "Nothing for you to worry about." Martin then put his hands on Kassidy and Marina's shoulders and this made Marina shudder a little while Kassidy looked at him annoyed. "We were just messing with two." He then looked back at Kassidy and Marina. "No hard feelings, right ladies?"

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other and Kassidy could tell that Marina was getting really uncomfortable near Martin. Marina even gulped. Kassidy kept a note in her mind that Martin liked to scare anyone, especially Marina.

"Um… yeah," Marina said nervously.

Kassidy got Martin's hand off her shoulder. "Sure, whatever."

Martin put his hand down from Marina's shoulder and then, Kassidy saw Shade and Holden flying towards them. They then planted their feet on the tree branch Goth and Throbb were on and hung upside-down. As soon as Kassidy laid her eyes on Holden she started to feel the same anger as she did yesterday as she crossed her arms and furrowed her brow at him. When Holden looked at Kassidy he furrowed his brow as well and crossed his arms.

"Brooks," Kassidy said.

"Kimler," Holden said.

As the two stared at each other in anger, Shade noticed Goth and Throbb looking at the two confused. He smiled the best smile he could put on his face. "We sometimes use our middle names when we're addressing each other." Shade then looked back at Kassidy and Holden and they didn't take their eyes off of each other. "So… is there anything you guys would like to say to each other? I'm sorry, apologizing, anything?"

Kassidy and Holden didn't look at anyone as they continued to stare at each other as if one of them could turn the other into stone. They didn't blink or flinch as everyone watched them to see what would happen.

Holden then smiled sarcastically at Kassidy. "Sure, I'm sorry you like to be cast alone and not socialize with others a lot like a normal being."

Kassidy realized what Holden was trying to do and if he wanted to play that game then she would gladly play it as well. She then smiled sarcastically as well. "I'm sorry that you're scared a lot and can't hunt properly as the rest of us can."

Shade and Marina were looking at Kassidy and Holden shocked.

"And I'm sorry you're not an expert at magic like Martin is and can't do it perfectly."

"And I'm sorry that you're a dumb screw up that can't do anything properly."

"Okay," Shade said before Kassidy and Holden could say anything further," I got a better idea. How about we go do some hunting and then we can continue on our way to the next point to try and catch up with the colony? Then maybe you guys can apologize when you're ready?" Shade was looking at them hopefully but Kassidy and Holden didn't look at him.

"Pft, half wit," Kassidy said.

"Lunatic," Holden said.

Kassidy and Holden then took off in different directions leaving the others still roosting on their tree branches.

This was not good. It really wasn't. It was really bad.

Shade had never seen Kassidy and Holden fight like that before. They did argue sometimes but never like this. They went at each other as he and Chinook would but this was much worse than his arguments with Chinook.

He was hunting in the same area with Marina while the others were hunting in different parts of the forest. He was trying to catch enough food for the journey but he couldn't take his mind off of the way Kassidy and Holden were arguing. He missed a few catches because of his thinking but he really didn't care. Marina didn't even tease him on the fact that he couldn't catch a few bugs today.

In fact, she didn't act like herself today. She looked really timid about something but Shade couldn't understand what it was that made her act like that. He tried to ask her what was going on with her but she didn't want to talk about it. He didn't ask her again because last time she snapped at him back on the island. He could still see the anger in Marina's eyes when he tried to talk to her about the band she had on her.

Marina was chasing after a beetle and Shade watched her as he was flying. Then to his surprise, Marina sighed and she landed on a tree branch and hung upside-down. Shade stopped in midair and he looked at Marina confused. She was rubbing her banded arm as she looked down at the ground.

"Marina, you don't want it?" Shade asked.

Marina didn't look at Shade as she continued to rub her banded arm. "No… I've lost my appetite. You can take it, Shade."

Shade looked at the beetle and it wasn't far ahead. He took his chance to fly after it and as he did he used his sound vision on it. Then using his wing, he guided the beetle to his mouth and he started to eat it. After he finished down the beetle he looked back towards Marina and she was still roosting on the same tree branch. Shade turned around and he flew towards her. When he got to where Marina was roosting he landed on the tree branch and hung upside-down near her.

Marina didn't bother to look at him as she continued to rub her banded arm. He couldn't tell what she was thinking about but he wondered if she was thinking about Kassidy and Holden. Or for that matter something else.

"Shade, Kassidy and Holden are really mad at each other," Marina said. "This has to be the first time they had an argument like that."

Shade then sighed. "I know… and I don't if they'll ever make up…"

Marina looked at Shade. "Do you think they always fought like that when they were humans?"

Now that Marina said it, Shade never really thought about that before. When he first met them they never told him what their relationship was. He always thought that they were friends. Could he be wrong though?

"I don't know… but I hope they'll make up soon. I mean they can't stay mad at each other for long can they?"

Marina's eyes then went down. "It all depends on the situation, Shade. Right now I think this might be a very bad situation."

They then heard a whoosh and flying past them chasing after a beetle was Holden. Shade saw that he looked really frustrated as he was chasing down the beetle. His teeth were bared and his fur was bristled as he kept pumping his wings at a fast and furious rate.

Here we go again, Shade thought.

Shade then looked back at Marina. "I'm going to go talk to Holden." Shade dropped from his roost and he flew after Holden. He was soon close enough to Holden but Holden didn't look at him as he kept chasing after the beetle. "Holden, are you really still mad at Kass?"

"And what if I am still mad at her?" Holden asked as he continued to chase the beetle. "It's not my fault she's being crabby to everyone."

Shade furrowed his brow at Holden. "You guys need to stop acting like this towards each other. For sun's sake, you guys are friends. We're all friends."

"You clearly don't get it, Smalls. Our relationship was not what you thought it was."

"What're you talking about?"

"Forget it, smalls."

"No, I want to know what you meant by-"

Holden looked at Shade with that frustrated look. "I said I don't want to talk about it, alright!?"

Holden then flew away to continue on with chasing the beetle leaving Shade stunned as he glided in midair. Holden had never yelled at him like that before. In fact, he never yelled at him before. Did he have to yell at Shade like that just because he wanted to know about his and Kassidy's relationship?

Then in a swift motion, Holden caught the beetle in his mouth. He then landed on a tree branch and ate his beetle and Shade didn't even think he was trying to taste his meal.

Shade then sighed and he flew to Holden and when he got near him he stayed airborne and furrowed his brow at him. "Look, I don't know what you guys used to be but I can't stress to you enough about how this is getting out of hand. Be mad at each other all you want but just remember this: we're all still in this together."

Without waiting for a response from Holden, Shade flew away from him. He couldn't deal with the fact that his first friends were angry with each other. If they wouldn't make up with each other then what would happen next? Would Shade lose them for good?

In a far off distance, beasts were gathered around and it was a meeting held by General Brutus. Many different types of beasts were gathered here: mice, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, all different types. Whether it was prey or predator they were still gathered by orders of General Brutus. Among the beasts, there was one type of beast that some of the prey were very skittish by.

Wolves.

Wolves were very vicious when it comes to hunting and a lot knew that. The wolves couldn't deny it. Even Quacey couldn't deny it.

Quacey was here with his cousin, Luger-who was the alpha-and he was also here with two of Luger's best wolves, Virtuoso and Kiba. Even though Quacey was here with these three he felt out of place because he was pretty different from these three. It may not seem as though he was but it was because he was trying not to show it.

If anyone saw him and Luger together you couldn't tell that they were related. Luger was a symphony blue color with yellow eyes and he always had a grin that Quacey never liked. Quacey, on the other hand, was a steel blue color with blue-gray eyes and he had only one ear. Quacey lost his ear by a coyote when he was just a pup and ever since he lost it he was always known as the one-eared freak and he was teased a lot because he only had one ear.

Even though he was quite different from his pack, Luger gave him the position of being a beta since he became the alpha of the pack. They weren't ever close but Quacey thought that the only reason why Luger gave him this position was that he was his only relative he knew of. Their parents and siblings were long gone and that was basically the only thing they had in common and nothing more. Luger was always the popular one getting all the attention while Quacey was always the outsider.

He was still an outsider.

"And the disappearance of two owls by a bat is the final straw," Brutus said loudly so that all the beasts would hear him. "The disappearance of them could only mean one thing. Death. I am closing the skies to all bats!"

The beasts started to talk to one another about what Brutus just said and Quacey never would've thought that any type of bat would do something like this. He looked to Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba but they didn't seem to mind about what Brutus just said.

"All bats are fair game," Brutus continued, "until the treaty violators are brought to justice."

Quacey then saw one of the rats step forward and he was known as King Remus and he was here with his brother, King Romulus. They were both a purple color and Remus was sort of brighter in purple than his brother. Romulus was darker in purple. They really stood out though from all the other animals in the forests because they were wearing crowns that were made from their garbage home.

"It seems to me that you owls have been far too self-serving," Remus said to Brutus having no fear of him. "Life and death are a part of the natural cycle of things."

"This was an unnatural act!" The owls that were with Brutus started to hoot in agreement with him. "We must stick together." Brutus then leaned forward sternly. "Can I count on your support or not?"

The animals started to chitter and whisper among themselves not sure what to do right now and Quacey looked from one set of animals to another because he wasn't sure what to do at this moment. He didn't know whether to believe the General's words or not. He started to wonder how the General knew it was a bat that caused the disappearance of two owls.

He then heard a sigh and he looked over to see the white kermode bear herself, Ursa and a lot looked at her as well. She sat on her haunches with some weird type of food that Quacey couldn't figure out what it was. From the smell of it though he could catch a whiff of different types of food from nature, like fish. Everyone knows of Ursa being taken in by the humans and the humans gave her a strange tag on her ear and since then they've been bringing her, her own special stash of food. He couldn't even imagine what the food the humans brought to her tasted like.

Quacey may look like he only eats meat just because he's a wolf but he's mostly an omnivore rather than a carnivore. He took it from his mother and she always told him, "Sometimes you must eat something else rather than meat because the meat will not always come to you and sometimes it can't always fill you up." She also said to him, "Sometimes you must be the one to eat herbs that grow because at least there's more of it than flesh."

He never tried to talk to Ursa before and a lot barely do for that matter. Not that they were afraid of her it was the fact that she wasn't very sociable with others. She preferred to be on her own. Quacey could kind of relate to that.

"I don't wanna get involved in this," Ursa said and then she swallowed her whole hand full of food and began to eat it.

Looking at the way Ursa ate her food kind of made Quacey disgusted. He knew better though than to show disgust to other animals. Like his mother would always say, "It's better to show respect rather than rudeness."

Remus looked back to Brutus. "This isn't our fight," Remus said agreeing with Ursa and then an owl came up to Remus furrowing his brow at the King as he neared him but Remus didn't show any signs of fear. "What're you going to do, eat me because I don't agree?" He asked challenging the owl.

"What's in it for us?" Luger asked Brutus with the smile that Quacey didn't like.

Quacey knew his cousin well enough to know that he always wanted something no matter what the cost was. That always made Quacey sick to the stomach.

"Obeying the law," Brutus said to Luger. "That's in it for you."

Luger then looked at Virtuoso and Kiba. "Like that's ever persuaded us before." The three of them chuckled and the other beasts in the forest started to chatter again amongst themselves again.

Quacey furrowed his brow at Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba. "You really think that's funny?"

Luger looked at Quacey still smiling. "It is the truth though, cuz."

"But really, that wasn't funny."

Luger growled at Quacey. "Don't make this any more difficult, Quacey."

"Silence!" The cousins stopped looking at each other and then back to Brutus and he slammed his talons against the bark of a stump he was standing on. Quacey could tell that Brutus was in no mood for this. "Either you're with us. Or you're with the bats."

Brutus looked at every beast to hear their answer and everyone looked at him quietly. Quacey could tell at this very moment that the beasts had no choice but to stick with them.

A/N- Well this really wasn't how I wanted to end this chapter but this was all I could do. You may have noticed that I used the same dream for Kassidy again and I will be doing that again sometime soon, so please don't tell me that I wrote the same thing in Kassidy's dream because I already know. I really couldn't think of anything to name this chapter so I decided to go with Skyward because Kassidy sees the hawk in the sky. When it came to the wolves in this story I thought, "Why didn't they have a good wolf?" So that's when I came up with the character, Quacey so you'll be seeing him in the story. That includes the hawk as well, he'll be an important character later on in the story.

As far as this story goes, I was going to make this a two-story book but when I look at the story I have so far I have a lot of chapters and words in this. So I'm going to be making this story a trilogy. Plus it would make sense, considering the SilverWing story is a trilogy as well. I will also be making a few changes in this story, just to give you a heads up. Next chapter will be here soon and I will get it in as soon as I can.