Chapter 29

Not According to Plan

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Holden wished he didn't help that owl and now he, Shade, and Marina were being surrounded by owls. They were trapped. The worst part was that General Brutus was among them, standing on a tree stump that looked like a chair. He thought that this never would've happened if they kept to their original plan to get to the towers of fire and save Kassidy. He blamed the scrawny owl for this.

He could feel his face dripping with sweat when Brutus's yellow eyes laid on him and his friends. Brutus looked much angrier than he did back at the clock tower and he looked like he was ready to rip their heads off. All Brutus did though was stare at them icily.

Brutus then brought his head down closer to them. "You again, lawbreakers?" Holden gulped and he did his best not to wipe the sweat off of him for he didn't want anyone to suspect that he was getting really nervous. "I see you two also brought your friend." The three then looked at each other. "You don't quit, do you?" Brutus shouted.

"We didn't do anything," Shade shouted at Brutus and then he pointed to the scrawny owl that was standing near the stump Brutus was on. "W-We were trying to help this runty owl!"

"That runty owl is my son, Orestes."

Without thinking, Holden made a low whistle and he looked back at Shade and Marina. "Wow, did not see that one coming," he whispered. He looked at the owl named Orestes and Holden could not see any similarities between him and Brutus. He then saw a spider hanging near Orestes's face and when Orestes saw the spider he yelped. Holden snorted and couldn't believe how ridiculous he was. However, he noticed Brutus was glaring at him and he then lowered his head. "Sorry…"

"We stopped to help him," Marina said. "He was caught in a trap-"

"Enough, Brightwing!" Brutus shouted as he flared his wings out dangerously. "You'll soon regret you ever joined up with these… these… pintsized, owl killing, barbarians!"

Holden's eyes widened but Shade bared his teeth and furrowed his brow at Brutus. "A barbarian?" He then pointed at Brutus. "You burned down Tree Haven! And we're not killing owls! Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb are! They're giant bats from the jungle down south that kidnapped our friend!"

"Oh, yes," Brutus scoffed, "the giant meat-eating bats, and now there's four of them."

"Technically they're cannibals…" Holden said nervously and he could feel his hands shaking. "But not only that, the giant bat named Martin has magic like our friend does."

Brutus looked at Holden. "So now they're cannibals and one of them now has magic like that devil does."

"If we were owl killers would we have saved your son?" Marina asked as she gestured to Orestes.

Orestes looked at Brutus. "Father, they did save me…"

Brutus looked at Orestes. "Quit defending them, boy!"

Orestes furrowed his brow at his Father as he lifted his wings up frustrated. "You never listen to me!"

Holden couldn't believe this guy, they saved his son but yet he doesn't give a crap about that. He thought Brutus was very deaf. However, he knew what it was like for a Father to never listen. He and his Dad never had a close relationship and they barely had anything in common. His brother, however, managed to be a lot like their Dad. His Dad wanted him to be in different sports for school but Holden wanted to dance. Lewis didn't say no to their Dad's suggestion and now he played varsity in basketball and baseball in high school around his junior year.

Holden and his Dad would constantly argue about a lot of things and everyday, Holden would try to tell his Dad that he wanted to live his own life but his Dad would never listen. Holden understood that his Dad was still angry with him because he never tried out for sports like his little brother did. He did like to watch sports but he never wanted to play one. All he wanted to do was dance.

Brutus looked away from Orestes not caring what he said and he glared at the three friends. "You say that witch was kidnapped but I don't believe she was. She must've done some sort of spell on my son to make him think what he's thinking right now. I know she's hiding somewhere and I know you know she's hiding somewhere as well. Now tell me where that demon is!"

At this point, Holden no longer felt fear and instead, he felt anger towards Brutus. He clenched his hands into fists and he growled at him. "Our friend is not a demon!" Everyone looked at Holden surprised. "Her name is Kassidy and she's a good person! If you want to blame anyone you can blame those giant bats! You should also be grateful that we even came to your son's rescue because if we hadn't he would've been a goner! Our friend's in danger right now and she could be killed by those giant bats! I didn't think it would come down to this but you should know something."

Holden took a breather and then he continued. "Kassidy and I are not actually bats; we're humans."

Brutus blinked a few times and no one said a word. Holden couldn't believe he actually managed to speak up to Brutus like that. He felt like he should give himself a pat on the shoulder.

But then, Brutus burst out laughing and the owls around them started to laugh along with him, all except for Orestes. Holden didn't feel embarrassed but he felt his anger rising as he growled more. If he had magic, flames would've spread all over his body at this moment. He really hated Brutus at this point.

After Brutus and the other owls stopped laughing, Brutus then looked back at Holden. "So now you have the guts to try and be brave towards me, but I think you have finally lost it, lawbreaker."

"It's true! The only reason why Kassidy and I are bats is because she accidentally used her necklace to transform us into what we are! All we wanted to do was find help so we could go home! We're from Canada! We've had a whole load of crap happening to the four of us and now our biggest problem is that those four giant bats have Kassidy! You don't even care about her and it's all because of what she has on her and it's because she's a witch!"

"Enough!" Brutus boomed and Holden's eyes widened when Brutus flew over to him and landed near him. Brutus towered over Holden and he brought his face closer to his. "One more out of you and I'll retrace that scar on your back." Holden didn't say another word and he didn't even breathe. Seeing that Holden wasn't going to speak any further, Brutus then turned away from him and looked at an owl that had a black moustache on him. "Lock them up! And I want the best soldiers to track down that witch, immediately!"

"Yes, sir," the owl with the mustache said.

"I know they won't reveal where the colony or the witch is, so Orestes and I will need time to think of the most excruciating painful way to loosen their tongues."

The three friends were shocked and before they could do anything, three owls grabbed them and dragged them away to their prison cell.

He kept banging his head on the wall of their prison cell in anger. He didn't care he was now getting a headache from all the headbanging on the wall. Holden didn't know what to do at this point. Shade and Marina kept watching Holden bang his head against the wall and at any moment he could give himself brain damage.

"If we hadn't saved that owl this never would've happened," Shade said angrily.

"We did the right thing," Marina said. "If we ignored Orestes he'd be dead! And we'd all feel terrible!"

Holden snarled and he looked at Marina with anger fuming in him. "Oh, we'd all feel terrible for an owl that happens to be the son of that General?! You know this is all your fault!"

Marina looked at Holden surprised but then she bared her teeth at him with her brow furrowed. "My fault?!"

"Yeah, if you hadn't of made us help Origami we would've been able to help Kassidy in time! But no! You just had to pick that owl over Kassidy!"

"His name's Orestes and it was the right thing to do! I want to save Kassidy as much as you do but this was the right thing to do! Kassidy would've been glad we helped him!"

"But because we did she could already be dead by now!" Holden looked towards the cell door and he walked towards it.

"Holden, what're you doing?" Shade asked.

"These owls and their god damn cells!" Holden then kicked at the cell door at a very hard force but when he did he yelped in pain when he felt one of his toes get stubbed. He hopped on one foot as he rubbed his toe and grunted in pain.

"Hey, quiet it down in there!" the three of them flinched at the sound of the owl guarding their cell.

Holden cursed as he placed his foot on the ground and kept rubbing his stubbed toe. He couldn't believe he stubbed his toe on their cell door.

Shade and Marina looked at Holden worried as he kept rubbing his stubbed toe. Right now he was acting like an actual rough prisoner that he sees a lot on television. If he were human his Dad would've killed him if he ever gotten arrested for doing something reckless. The good news was that he never got arrested in his human form but the bad news was that he was now in a cell in his bat form.

Holden sighed as he stopped rubbing his toe and he looked back at Marina. "I'm sorry… I'm just worried about Kass…"

Marina sighed and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "We all are and right now we can't argue. We have to work together to try and get out of this mess."

"But how can we get out of here?"

"I'm sure we can come up with something," Shade said. "How hard could it be?"

The frequency of electricity sounding from the power lines was like music to Martin's ears. The power lines would lead them to the towers of fire and when it did he would take what was rightfully his. The orphan.

Martin was roosting with his wife on a tree branch away from Goth and Throbb and they had their own branch talking to each other as they were watching the orphan. They were taking a break from all the flying but Martin felt like he could keep going. He couldn't wait until his time came to kill the orphan and the rest of her family. He couldn't decide how he wanted to kill them because there many ways for anyone to die and there were too many good ones.

He was also glad that the deal with Goth and Throbb would be done and over with soon. Like Dianna, he couldn't stand those two and the sooner the deal would be completed the sooner he and Dianna could kill them. He was even planning on cutting off their heads so he could hang them on his wall. That thought made him chuckle.

Martin reached his hand out towards the power lines and when he did, he commanded his electricity spell to bring some of the electricity from the power lines to him and it was too easy for him and some of the electricity wavered towards Martin's fingers like he was part of an electric circuit. The electricity felt good as he felt it flow in his veins and some of it was even on him. Martin couldn't help but grin as he looked at his hands that still had the electricity being visible. He then demolished the electricity off of him.

He then looked at Dianna still grinning. "Can you feel it, love? Can you feel our goals being completed tonight?"

Dianna's claws sung in the air and they sliced a fly in half and Martin could tell that it was really bugging her. He was glad that he married a killer woman. She was very deadly like him.

Dianna then grinned at Martin. "Without a doubt, darling."

Martin looked at the still sleeping girl and her back was against a tree as she was sitting on its branch near where Goth and Throbb were roosting. He tightened his hand on the branch he was crouching on and he could feel pieces of bark spread on his hand as the branch was now creaking. Looking at her and thinking about her family, he could feel his blood boiling. Her family did him wrong and ever since that exact day he vowed to kill every last one of the Kimlers.

Oh, my god, this is so hard to come up with a plan!

Holden was getting frustrated because he, Shade, and Marina couldn't come up with a way to get out of their prison as they were sitting on the ground. To Holden, it felt like a very hard exam he had to take.

As the three of them were trying to think, they then heard talking outside their cell. Holden thought he recognized one of their voices. The three friends then saw the owl guarding their cell fly away. Holden furrowed his brow confused.

"Psst, you three," The three friends then saw Orestes near their cell and he was looking towards them. "You wanna get out of here?"

Holden narrowed his eyes at Orestes and he didn't trust him. He thought Orestes was playing some sort of trick on them.

"Uh, no thanks," Shade said and even though Holden wanted out he didn't want him to set them free.

"What?!" Marina exclaimed.

Holden looked at Marina. "Don't you get it? The minute he lets us out, he cries out for help, we get torn to shreds, and he gets a medal!"

Marina was looking at Holden furiously but the three of them noticed that Orestes was about to leave. "Wait!" Marina then stood up from where she was sitting. "Why would you let us go? Your Father would kill you."

Holden was about to say something but he decided it was not worth it because they all agreed not to argue. Even though he had the strongest urge to say it he kept his mouth shut.

Orestes had his eyes narrowed. "My Father wouldn't care if I was dead anyway. All he cares about is that stupid war." He then sighed.

Holden was surprised by what Orestes said. At that moment he didn't know what to say. He put his face in his hands and didn't know what to do.

"You got that right," Shade said and Holden looked up to see Shade already near the cell door looking at Orestes and Shade was looking at Orestes very angry. "The guy's out of control! He's a maniac, he's a warmongering lunatic, he's a..." Shade trailed off when he noticed Orestes looking away from them ashamed. "Uh… oh, sorry…"

Holden sighed and he couldn't believe he was about to do this. He got up and got near the cell door with Shade and Marina. "Hey, man, I know we got off on a bad start but I know how it feels to live with a Dad that is very strict. I'm pretty much punished every day because of a lot of stupid actions I've done in the past." Orestes looked at Holden curiously. "I remember when it was Halloween around my sophomore year and my friends and I were planning on throwing toilet paper rolls on one of my teacher's houses because he always gave us a hard time in gym class. It was by far the most hilarious thing in my life and my friends and I couldn't stop laughing, however, we all ended up getting in trouble. My Dad even grounded my ass for a long time and my friends and I had to clean up the toilet paper mess we made on our gym teacher's property and not only that, our gym teacher really pushed my friends and I whenever our next class was with him."

Even though this might've been a bad time, he started to laugh when he remembered toilet papering Mr. Gull's house. His house looked more like a mummy than it did a house. Holden wanted to stop laughing because he wanted to be serious but he couldn't bring himself to stop laughing. To his surprise, Orestes started to chuckle a little.

"I don't think I would've had it me to do something like that if I was you," Orestes said. He then looked closely at Holden. "Are you and that friend of yours-Kassidy-actually humans?" Holden nodded and Orestes's eyes widened. "Wow, I have questions."

"You can ask me questions, on one condition." Orestes looked at Holden confused. "You said you could let us out of here, so…"

"Oh, yeah," Orestes looked around him nervously but he then used his talon to lift a latch to the cell door and then the three friends flew out of their prison immediately in relief.

The three of them looked back at Orestes. "Thanks," Marina said.

"Guys, I don't wanna rush things but we need to still find Kass," Holden said.

"Then let's get out of here, now," Shade said.

Marina looked at Shade. "And go where?"

"To the fire towers."

"But we don't know where they are. We don't even know where we are."

Shade sighed as if knowing Marina was right while Holden cursed and he growled to himself as he rubbed his eyes with two fingers. "Great, that's just great," Holden said. "Next thing you're gonna tell us is that we're doomed."

"Hey, I know where that is," Orestes said as he had his wing up as if he was raising it to answer a teacher's question.

The three of them looked at Orestes surprised. "You do?" Shade asked.

"Yeah, if by that you mean the power electrical relay station constructed by his kind," Orestes pointed at Holden and the three of them looked at Orestes confused, especially Holden as he was looking at him dumbfounded.

"Uh… I guess that's it."

"I… don't know what that is but if you ever met Kass, she would know exactly what you're talking about," Holden said. "Can you tell us how to get there? We need to get there fast."

"Well if you want fast then it'd be quicker if I took you there," Orestes then lifted his wings up. "Come on." He then flew off the branch they were all on.

The three of them looked at each other very glad and then they unfurled their wings and took off to follow Orestes. Holden could not have been more grateful than he was for Orestes. He thought that he might not be so bad after all.

They were following behind Martin and Dianna as they were following the human constructions to where they needed to go. The sound from these constructions was like a pattern and it repeated over and over non-stop. Goth couldn't imagine why the humans needed something like this.

Throbb was carrying Kassidy as she was still under Martin's sleep spell and her head was hung forward as the wind blew her bloody red hair in her face. She was still and didn't flinch, even when Throbb grabbed her when they had to leave once again. If she were awake when Throbb tried to grab her, Goth could predict a lot of things that could've happened. Throbb was not enjoying his job as the bat carrier but neither of the three didn't care.

"Are we there yet?" Throbb whined and Goth literally could hear Dianna growl. "Can any of you see the towers of fire? I am so tired from all this flying and carrying her around! Can one of you carry her this time?"

"This is your punishment, Throbb," Martin said as he looked over his shoulder at him annoyed. "And if we were there would we still be flying?"

"The cold… I am sure it is slowing my wings and I am so hungry. I could eat a moth!" Throbb then started to rethink his words. "Maybe… two moths."

Dianna looked at Throbb with her brow furrowed but she was then breathing through her nose and Goth could tell she was trying not to yell at Throbb. She looked like she wanted to say something but she growled more and turned her head away and started to mumble under breath about Throbb and called him some awful names.

Throbb then looked at Kassidy and he had a hungry look in his eyes as he was staring at Kassidy. He was licking his lips but Goth growled at Throbb to prevent him from doing anything stupid and he knew that if Throbb tried to eat Kassidy, Martin would've called off the deal. He looked at Martin and to his relief, he wasn't looking at them and instead was speaking to Dianna in silence.

"Goth, I'm hungry," Throbb whispered. "I want to eat bats."

Goth looked back at Throbb. "Martin wants her and if you even ate her he would've called off the deal and not help us. You do want to get back to the jungle don't you?" He whispered.

Throbb looked at Kassidy and started to think and then he looked back at Goth and nodded. "More than anything."

"Then don't eat her." Goth then looked away and then smirked to himself. "Soon enough, we will be dining at the Silverwing buffet."

"Buffet? As in… dining without limits?" Throbb then started to chuckle. "Excelente." Goth then heard Throbb lick his lips. "Better than one bat."

In a matter of moments, the four Vampyrum bats came to a place of the fire towers. It looked dangerous but it was surrounded by high tech that not one kind of any other animal could build, except for the humans. How can a human build something like this? It was like a god built this construction instead of the humans. What was this place even used for?

Martin and Dianna landed on top of a small looking human building and Goth and Throbb landed behind them, but before Throbb could do that, he dropped Kassidy on the roof and then he and Goth started to crawl and sniff around for any living Silverwing they could sink their fangs into. As they were sniffing around, Goth noticed that Martin and Dianna weren't helping them. Goth had his eyes narrowed at them and he was about to shout at them to help them but before he could open his mouth he remembered how Martin strangled him yesterday and he did not want to go through that again. However, he couldn't pick up a scent of any bat, which meant that they weren't here.

Martin was breathing in the air and as he did, Martin then exhaled with a delightful grin that crept across his face. He and Dianna were staring at the place before them with grins upon their faces like it was actually their home. Martin then crossed his arms. "So much electricity, but it can never be destroyed. It's always around us."

Making sure that Goth was correct-and mostly because he didn't want to hear Martin's talking about electricity-he tore off a piece of the roof and looked inside. Sure enough, there were no Silverwings to be seen. Throbb was about to do the same thing but Goth stopped him. "Not so fast." He then looked to the sky. "It looks like dinner has not yet arrived." Goth looked down from the sky and noticed that Martin and Dianna were not on the roof with them. He looked around him confused but he couldn't see the two of them. "Where have those two gone?"

Martin and Dianna had their ways of disappearing a lot without making any noise and Goth wasn't sure how to feel about it. Throbb was looking around him confused as well and before he could even say a word, thunderstruck and it started to rain. Goth and Throbb's eyes widened as they could feel their bodies getting wet and some of the raindrops didn't even feel or look like rain. Goth growled annoyed and he then covered himself and so did Throbb and they started to shake in this dreadful, cold rain. Leaves were blowing their way and the weather was getting worse. The wind was blowing very hard as the rain continued to pour heavily that it almost knocked Kassidy off the roof but Goth was quick enough to grab her before she even fell off. He pulled her back up and plopped her back onto the roof.

"I can be hungry or cold," Goth said. "Not both. I don't know where Martin and Dianna are but we need to roost now." Goth looked at the hole he made in the roof and he started to make his way in it as he folded his wings across his body. He then eventually slipped inside and landed on a beam. He then looked up at Throbb. "Drop the witch, I'll catch her."

Throbb groaned but he nodded. He then came back seconds later with Kassidy in his hands and her wings were wrapped against her body. He then slid Kassidy through the hole and when he did he then released her and just in time, Goth caught Kassidy in his arms. He looked at her and her head and bloody red hair was hanging over Goth's arm. Looking at her, she looked very peaceful in her sleep and Goth could feel her warm breath on him. She was very light as he was holding her like she was made of air. Even when she was asleep she still looked beautiful.

Goth looked away from Kassidy and when he did he came face to face with snake eyes and he jumped, but Goth furrowed his brow when he saw that it was just Martin and roosting beside him was Dianna and she was looking at her claws. Goth thought Kassidy did make a point when she said that Dianna had an obsession over her claws.

Goth was then confused about something. "How'd you get in here?"

"Oh, we just went through that," Martin pointed towards something and Goth looked to where Martin was pointing to and there was a wide-open hole and the hole had something attached to it.

Goth closed his eyes frustrated and he had his teeth bared as he wasn't looking at Martin and Dianna. He so badly wanted to yell at them for not telling him and Throbb about that hole. He then tried to calm down and when he did he looked up towards the hole he made on the roof. "Throbb, use the other-" before Goth could finish, Throbb tried to slip in through the hole Goth made on the roof but when he tried to he instantly got stuck. Goth narrowed his eyes at Throbb. "Entrance."

Throbb was struggling to get out of his stuck situation. Goth slowly looked at Martin and Dianna a little embarrassed and as he did, Martin was looking at Throbb not impressed while Dianna sarcastically smiled at Goth. "So… brother-in-law."

All Goth wanted to do at this moment was to make Throbb disappear so he wouldn't be any more embarrassed than he already was. It was that embarrassing.

Martin sighed annoyed. "I got this."

Martin lifted his hand up towards Throbb and then he flicked his wrist down and when he did, Throbb yelped when Martin's magic pulled him down towards the ground. He crashed to the ground and he then groaned. He slowly looked up at Martin and tried to smile. "Gracias…" He then passed out.

Martin rolled his eyes and he then looked at Kassidy in Goth's arms. "I'll take her." Martin then scooped Kassidy out of Goth's arms and he then placed her on the beam they were all on.

Martin looked around him and he hummed to himself as he had his side of his finger on his mouth, thinking. He then slowly started to smile. He lifted his hand out towards Kassidy and when he did she was then floating. Goth watched as Martin used his magic on Kassidy and he guided her towards the ground and when he did he then placed her against what Goth saw was one of those wooden creations humans used to eat their food at. What Kassidy's back was leaning against looked like a skinny tree but it wasn't.

Goth then saw Martin use his magic on something else and he saw something skinny that was floating and it looked like a vine but it wasn't green and it wrapped around Kassidy and what her back was leaning against tightly. Martin then flew off the beam he was on and he landed near Kassidy and as he did he then lifted his hand up near the vine-like object and when he did it started to glow. The glowing then stopped as soon as Martin put his hand down. He then looked at something and he lifted his hand up towards it and when he did a circular object that was gray dropped near Martin and when it did, Goth could hear a very annoying sound coming from it as Martin was ripping something off it. Martin ripped off a small piece from the circular object and when he did he then placed it over Kassidy's mouth. Martin then grinned darkly at Kassidy as she was still asleep.

"Even though the Silverwings are not here yet and neither are her friends," Martin said, "we can wait." He then bent his knees down near Kassidy. "I think it's time for the Sleeping Beauty to wake up." He lifted his hand up towards Kassidy's eyes and began to wake her up as he darkly chuckled.

A/N- Well that takes chapter 29. So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I had to make a lot of changes to the story so I recommend that you look through to see what I changed. I was planning on doing parts in this but I realized that if I even did that I might have to make a lot of changes so I got rid of them. You're probably getting annoyed with the changes I made and I deeply apologize, I just don't like to see errors in my stories. I know I said I wanted to make this a quadrilogy but now I'm sticking to making this into a trilogy because my chapters are going to be long anyway. Next chapter will be out soon and have a nice day, later.