Chapter 34

The Lovely Beasts

Some time had passed as the four individuals set on their way to try and catch up with the colony but before they left they snacked on whatever bugs they could find for their hunger until they could eat no more. Sure, they were stuffed but they needed to eat all that they could for the journey but the food was put aside for now until they needed it again. However, all these four could think about was how they would finally be safe from the owls' wrath and the colony would be safe. With the giant bats out of the way, it was safe to say that Orestes really saved them and that the owls might put this whole hunting down the Silverwings thing aside once they see that it was the giant bats that were causing the trouble and once they do they might leave the Silverwings be and let them continue on with their lives.

Even though they weren't for sure if Brutus would call off hunting down the Silverwings they made sure to be cautious of their surroundings just in case. But they had high hopes for this whole ordeal to end. It was after all the giant bats' fault and not theirs for causing trouble. Even though Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at the sun it wasn't as serious as a giant bat killing an owl for food.

The wind was picking up and it felt like it was getting colder every day and it wouldn't be long until snowflakes started to fall and then everything around them would eventually turn into a bleak snow environment. For Kassidy, she didn't have a problem with cold weather, even when it came to snow. She loved the snow. It was like looking at an enchanted world. The snow was like huge mounds of ice cream, when it came to ice and icicles it was like looking at crystals, and when it came to snowflakes it was like little specks of magic doing a spell.

Kassidy used to live in Ohio in America, of course, and it was no wonder as to why she wasn't bothered by the coldness. Even when she moved to Canada, to live with her cousins, her Aunt, and her Uncle with her dog she was still not bothered by the coldness. Even though Canada's cold weathers were much colder than the cold weathers in America. She had to admit though, that the weather in Ohio was strange at some points but it didn't kill her or anybody else for that matter.

As much as the whole giant bats being gone and not bothering them anymore was a good thing, Kassidy couldn't help but still have guiltiness in her for what she had done to Martin. Sure, he was dangerous like the other giant bats but it didn't help her in the fact that she had killed a wizard of a bat. The dream she had got to her and the other Kassidy in her dream… she hated her.

She hated herself at this moment.

All of which happened with Martin and the dream she had was practically eating and gnawing at her on the inside like bacteria and it made her cringe slightly but even though it did it infuriated her that this thought wouldn't go away. She took deep breaths and instead focused on helping her friends finding the colony.

"Any trace of your colony?" Marina asked.

They've been searching and there was no trace of them. Not even a clue as to where they might now be. No footprints, no fur, not even a whiff of their scent.

Shade breathed but said: "Not even an echo. They can't be far from here but we've gotta rest."

"Thank god," Holden said. "My arms are killing me and it's like they turned into noodles." Shade and Marina looked at Holden confused and Holden's face turned red realizing once again that what he was saying didn't make any amount of sense. "Uh… never mind."

Without responding to Holden, they all flew to a nearby tree and glided onto its tree branch until their feet were secured onto its hard bark. They were all taking breathers after a while of flying. "I don't mind flying on," Marina said but Kassidy could tell she looked out of breath as the rest of them were.

Kassidy had to admit, she wanted to continue on as well. It was better than standing around in one place. Yes, her arms were aching but she didn't want to stop. For better or worse she wanted to keep going.

"The Silverwings will be roosting too," Shade said with a smile as Marina and Holden hung upside-down. "We won't lose any time and Martin's dead while the other three are being taken care of by Orestes, so we won't have to worry about them."

Holden and Marina smiled as well but Kassidy couldn't bring herself to do it. Her ears flattened against her head as she looked down at the ground with her arms crossed still feeling guilty about what she did to Martin.

"Hey, Kass," Holden said but Kassidy didn't look at him. "What's with the face? Aren't you glad that those ruffians are out of the way?"

Kassidy sighed. "I would be… if I now know that I'm a murderer myself…"

"Kass, come on-"

"I frickin killed Martin, Holden. I didn't mean to kill him and now his body's probably getting eaten up by an animal all thanks to me… I'm pretty much now a murderer…"

"Kass, you're not a murderer," Shade said. "You were only trying to protect us and you did what you needed to do. That was self-defense, not murder."

Kassidy slid her hand in her red hair and thought about what Shade said. He did make a point but it still didn't help that she killed someone with magic. "I still killed someone though… If I'm not a murderer then what am I?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked to see that Holden was smiling weakly at her. "You remember what Frieda told the three of us alone?"

When Holden mentioned Frieda talking to her, Holden, and Shade she started to remember everything that happened on that day, before the owls burned down Tree Haven. It was quite an experience for her and the boys after what they've been taught and told by Frieda. She then nodded. "Yeah."

"She told Shade that he was curious when it comes to knowing things, she told me that I was a risk-taker when it comes to conversation, and then she told you that you were caring. Caring enough that you are willing to go as far as protect the ones that you know and care about and what happened yesterday proves my point. You pretty much saved us and without what you did we wouldn't be here today."

Kassidy's eyes widened in surprise by what Holden said and Shade and Marina looked pretty surprised by what he said as well. The more she thought about what Holden said the more she could see that he was pretty much right. Yesterday was insane but she started to feel better thanks to what Holden said. Maybe what she did was necessary and it would make sense like Shade said it was self-defense, not murder.

The stress of being a murderer died away and the dream she had died away as well like it was dust. She started to feel relief, her friends didn't see her as a murderer and she couldn't have asked for better friends than these three. In a way, they all did have one thing in common.

They were all different.

Kassidy smiled weakly at Holden, Shade, and Marina. "God even though we've had our arguments and disagreements, I'm lucky to have you guys as friends."

Holden laughed as he wrapped his arm around Kassidy's shoulder. "Couldn't have agreed more."

Marina swung upwards as she smiled. "You feel better, Kass?"

Kassidy laughed. "Does this give you my answer?"

They all laughed like good friends would and then they eventually settled down trying not to make too much of a scene. It was still good for them to laugh, though.

"Well, it's good to know that you're better," Marina said. "Because these two make a point even though they can sometimes be in their heads." Marin poked the side of Shade's head and Shade yelped and then rubbed it.

"Wha-hey," Shade said to Marina a little annoyed. "That's not entirely true!"

Holden got a little annoyed, however, Kassidy laughed again. "Yeah, Smalls is right… it's not true," Holden said.

Marina laughed as she ruffled Shade's hair. "Whatever you two say." Shade pulled away from Marina and his hair was now a wild mess and this made the girls laugh more as he fixed his hair.

Kassidy settled down and wiped away tears of laughter as she then composed herself as did Marina. "I think the colony is going to like you very much, Marina."

"You think so?" Marina asked.

"Oh, I think so too," Shade said enthusiastically. "You're gonna love the Silverwings, Marina. All of them: my mom, and… and Mercury, even Chinook."

"Oh, don't even get started with Chinook," Holden said. "Dude's got liabetes."

Kassidy rolled her eyes and she elbowed Holden in the gut and Holden grunted after she did so. He groaned as he held his stomach. "Well he's not the only one that has liabetes, you do too."

Holden was about to protest but Marina said: "And Frieda?"

Kassidy grinned and nodded. "Hell yeah, even Frieda. She's the kindest bat you'll ever meet."

Shade nodded in agreement. "Yeah, everyone loves her."

"Even the different ones, like us," Holden said.

After what they said, Marina looked even more excited to meet the colony. Kassidy would be too if she was her. She could tell even the boys would be too.

A thought did cross her mind though, what if they wouldn't get to the colony? What if things wouldn't go as planned? She shook her head and had to get that thought out of her mind. She couldn't let that get to her. Their main priority was to get to the colony and that's what they needed to do.

Finding a way to transform her and Holden back into humans would be a difficult task as would finding her family. She knew there had to be some way to transform them back into humans and finding her family but where to start she had no idea. It was about as difficult as trying to find a missing earring in the middle of the woods.

Kassidy didn't want to give up, she just couldn't. Her family needed her more than anything and wherever they were she would do everything she could to find them.

Everything.

It wasn't long when the beasts teamed up with the owls just so they could track down the Silverwings faster but things seemed to be serious at the moment when the beasts were all called to a meeting held by General Brutus himself. It was scary for them last time when Brutus held a meeting with them because things would've gone downhill for them if they didn't team up with the owls. It was either that or their lives and risking their lives just to not help Brutus would only jeopardize every beast.

Once again, Quacey was with Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba and they were heading over to the meeting that Brutus was holding for the beasts and after hearing that they were required to be at the meeting they didn't argue and went. As they were walking, Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba were talking to each other leaving Quacey in the back alone. Even though he was the beta he had no desire to get in on their conversation because he knew what they were talking about anyways. It was, of course, hunting. Quacey rolled his eyes every time that topic was brought up and he didn't like to talk about that stuff and be a show-off of a wolf. That was the opposite of Luger and this was mainly one of the reasons why he was one of the popular wolves in the pack.

To even think that his cousin was the alpha and the only reason why he was because Quacey's Uncle was the oldest sibling while his Father was the second oldest of the litter. Perhaps if his Father was the oldest things would've been different. To even think he could be alpha one day was impossible. The pack didn't give him any respect like they give Luger respect and the thing was that Quacey was much more mature than his cousin. He might not ever be the alpha but he didn't care.

"Quacey, would you hurry up?" Luger said annoyed seeing Quacey was a little far behind them. "We're probably missing the meeting because of you, slowpoke."

Kiba and Virtuoso chuckled at what Luger said and this made Quacey roll his eyes but he picked up his pace and as he did, he could hear beasts in the distance chattering. The good thing was that they haven't missed the meeting just yet. However, he did hear two loud voices arguing with each other and he could distinctly make out one of the beast's voices to be King Remus's. When they got close enough to the meeting without the beasts noticing them they took their places.

Brutus was at the same stump as last time with some owl guards and there were a lot of them this time and they looked like they were on the lookout for something. Something dangerous for that matter and Quacey couldn't tell what it was that they were on the lookout for but they certainly looked furious but scared about something that he could not tell what it was that was making them act like this. Something told him, however, that something was up.

"Silence!" General Brutus's voice boomed throughout the forest like thunder and this got every animals' attention. "I have called for this meeting because we are all in danger and it involves the Silverwings. We have a new problem, the Silverwings have a new leader and their leader is very, very dangerous. Any who have laid eyes on her can tell that she poses a threat to everyone. I have seen her and she is one of the hell spawns and this hell spawn is named Kassidy and she's a witch!" Brutus flared out his wings angrily.

The beasts started to gasp and they all looked frightened of what Brutus said. "This witch is not to be trusted and as all of you know there were rumors that giant bats were lurking around the forests, hunting for any birds and beasts. Some of you may have believed them, others of you may have not but what I'm about to tell you will change everything. They do exist."

The beasts gasped once again and the General continued: "I didn't believe they existed but I saw them, there were three of them and they were as tall as an owl, but they will pose no threat anymore and they will be punished for what they have done. However, these giant bats weren't just killing for food; they were killing to help the Silverwings with their vengeance. These giant bats are from a different land and how they got here in the first place is all because of the witch. The witch is plotting something much bigger than vengeance on the owls and I fear what it might be but if it is indeed true then she and the Silverwings must be stopped before they destroy this animal kingdom. How I know is because one of the giant bats told me so.

"Not only is this witch not to be trusted but the Silverwings can't as well. One of them even claimed that he and the witch were humans." Brutus looked closely at every animal. "Would any of you believe such a thing!?"

The animals were silent but they were now really scared of what Brutus told them. Mothers brought their children closer to them as if this so-called witch was here wanting to kill them and some were shaking at the thought of a witch. Witches were said to be myths but to think that there was an actual witch among the bats was but horrifying. How it was possible? Quacey didn't know but this sounded bad.

"So you say that there's a witch," King Remus spoke up for all to hear not looking frightened of what Brutus said, "which I would like to point out can't be possible. No one has ever seen a witch and they're myths. How is it possible that a bat is a witch and how would you know?"

General Brutus straightened his back and he narrowed his eyes. "How I know? I know because that witch has cast a spell on my son, Orestes." The beasts gasped once again and they were starting to freak out as they chatted loudly. "Silence!" The beasts quieted down and as soon as they did, Brutus continued: "As I said before: the witch and the Silverwings are to not be trusted and we must be ready for them because the witch wants a war. With our alliance, we can stop her and the Silverwings. The witch is a Silverwing, she has bloody red hair, blue eyes, wears this thing around her neck, and possesses drawings on her. She has two on her arm: one of a bat and one of a skull with roses growing out of it and she has one on her back and it has a wolf on it."

Quacey furrowed his brow confused at what Brutus said and described the Silverwing witch. That was not something anyone would hear everyday about any animal and it was especially not something to hear that one of the animals was a witch. It was beyond crazy and the thought of what she might do… Quacey did not want to even think about it. Magic was only told in stories but to think that magic actually existed was something that no one would ever thought would happen.

What caught Quacey's attention was the part where Brutus said that the witch had drawings on her. What animal would have drawings on them? The thing that sounded strange to Quacey was that Brutus said that one of the drawings on the witch was of a wolf. Why would she have one of the drawings on her to be a wolf?

As Quacey was thinking about this, he noticed Luger and the other two wolves looked interested in what Brutus said about the witch. He could tell because they were looking at one another with grins. They didn't seem to be worried about this witch that Brutus spoke of like the other beasts were.

Luger looked back at Brutus. "How very interesting," Luger whispered to the three wolves. "This is quite some pieces of information that he's saying."

"Working together is our only hope of stopping the witch and the Silverwings before they do much more damage than they've already done," Brutus continued. "However, that campaign requires cooperation. According to the articles of war, you beasts must elect a leader."

At that, Quacey noticed that Luger gave a grin at the mention of being a leader of the beasts. Quacey rolled his eyes. Of course, Luger wanted this and it was no surprise. Taking over things is what Luger liked to do.

"I Remus King of the rats-" and before Remus could continue what he said he looked at his brother and Romulus was trying to get his attention. "Yeah, and my brother Romulus also King of the rats, humbly accept this responsibility."

Quacey heard his cousin growl and he started to walk forward into the opening. "I think not, vermin." The other three followed behind and even though Quacey knew his cousin was going to do something like this he decided to stay quiet. "I will lead the beasts."

The beasts looked petrified to see the wolves and whimpered or backed away in hopes of not getting eaten by them. Quacey tried to ignore them for he wasn't in the mood to deal with this. He wasn't hungry at the moment, however, he could see that the other three wolves looked hungry to devour one of these little critters but they were smart enough to not do it at this moment when there was a meeting.

"You!?" Remus said in disbelief. "Never! My brother and I rule over hundreds, nay thousands, nay hundreds of thousands-"

"Yeah, yeah," Luger said not caring as he and the other three sat on their haunches near where Brutus was. "Wolves don't slave under tyrants. We find the pack more efficient."

Quacey looked up at Brutus and he could tell that he wasn't in a mood for this. He didn't blame the General for he thought that his cousin wanting to be the leader of the beasts was just ridiculous. He knew there was no way the other beasts would allow this because they were practically dangerous to the other beasts' eyes.

"I refuse to take orders from this barbarian!" Remus shouted as he pointed at Luger and looked at Brutus.

Luger looked at Remus furiously. "And I will not be led by these garbage sniffers!" Luger spat.

"Enough!" Brutus shouted loud and clear before things could get more heated up. "Neither of you rule." Brutus straightened his back and looked around him.

As Brutus was looking around him, Quacey noticed that Virtuoso was looking at something and this made him tilt his head in confusion. She nudged Luger to get his attention and she indicated to him what she was looking at. Luger looked and so did Quacey and Kiba and they were all looking at the white kermode bear herself, Ursa. Quacey didn't know what the point was at looking at her and he didn't know what Virtuoso was getting at here. They watched as Ursa was trying to grab some berries from a tree branch and while she did she managed to grab some, however after she did it resulted in her getting smacked in the head by the tree branch she grabbed the berries from and she yelped in pain as the berries and leaves plummeted to the ground from her mouth and she rubbed her head from the impact. Quacey winced at that and couldn't imagine how painful that felt.

Luger indicated with his head to the three of them with a grin and Quacey knew what this meant. They were going to have a private discussion. Quacey, Virtuoso, and Kiba gathered in a circle and Luger then said: "I think Virtuoso here has given us a great idea and I have a feeling this might be the best idea yet." He whispered.

Quacey furrowed his brow confused still not getting what Luger was getting at here. "What do you mean by that?" Quacey whispered.

Luger looked at Quacey then whispered: "I'll explain later." Luger got out of the circle and got back near Brutus and sat on his haunches once again and the other three sat on their haunches with Luger as well. "In the interest of your campaign, Brutus, I nominate Ursa the kermode bear."

Quacey looked at his cousin like he was crazy. What?

"Huh?" Ursa said surprised and all the beasts looked at her. "Say what?"

Quacey looked at Luger confused but his cousin only grinned at him. He didn't like the look on Luger's face which told him that he was planning something. But what exactly? He knew his cousin well enough to know that he had sneaky plans like this and he could tell that he had another one yet again.

Brutus looked deep in thought about this as he hummed to himself. "Why not?" This made Quacey look up at him surprised. "Being a one of a kind in this forest she can represent all beasts fairly."

It was true, there were barely any bears like Ursa around these forests, however, Quacey wasn't sure if Ursa was leader material. Quacey wasn't one to judge but he could see that she didn't like to get involved with this stuff. She seemed to be focused on other things.

"Huh?" Remus said but he then looked at Brutus with his brow furrowed. "Ursa's no leader!"

"I have to agree with the rat on this one. Look at me." Ursa used her paw to indicate herself. "I'm out of shape… I don't work well in groups… Did I mention that I-I have attention deficit disorder?" As if proving her point a butterfly flew by and she looked and pointed at it. "Look, a butterfly."

Quacey could tell that Ursa was lying just so she could get out of this and it was quite obvious. He cleared his throat and looked up at Brutus. "Sir, if she feels that she can't do this then maybe-"

Quacey felt a paw hit him in the back of the head and Quacey held in the yelp he was about to produce. He looked to see that Luger was the one that did it and Luger was glaring at him dangerously. Quacey glared back in return and this made the beasts whisper to each other as Brutus stared at them confused.

Luger chuckled and looked back at Brutus. "You'll have to excuse him he sometimes doesn't know what he's talking about and you could say that he's had problems before."

Quacey's eyes widened at his cousin. Brutus narrowed his eyes at the cousins as he hummed but he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He then looked at all the beasts. "All in favor of electing Ursa?"

Practically almost every beast raised their paw and Brutus even raised his wing. Seeing that Remus and Romulus haven't raised their paws yet, Luger snarled at them. Romulus smiled nervously and raised Remus's hand and his hand and Remus growled annoyed at his brother. The only one that hadn't raised his paw yet was Quacey as he wasn't sure about this. Everyone looked at Quacey to see if this was his vote or not. He looked at Ursa and she was staring at him and it looked like hope in her eyes. Hope that he wouldn't vote for her.

"Quacey…" Quacey heard his cousin say whispering annoyed as he grinned as if everything was normal but he could tell it was a grin of annoyance. "Raise your paw…"

Seeing that Quacey had no choice he sighed and he hesitantly raised his paw but it was then raised. Ursa no longer looked hopeful as she sighed and looked nervous as she was now the new leader of the beasts.

After the meeting, Quacey and the other three wolves were gathered in a circle for a meeting of their own. Luger looked pissed at Quacey for some reason and Quacey still couldn't quite understand why Luger wanted him to vote for Ursa that much. Whatever the reason, Luger looked like he wanted to rip his head off every time he looked at him.

"I think we can all agree that meeting was quite something for us," Luger said and Virtuoso and Kiba nodded in agreement as Quacey just furrowed his brow at his cousin. "But one thing's for certain, with Ursa in the picture as the leader of the beasts we can hunt as much as we want."

This made Virtuoso and Kiba grin at each other and Quacey's eyes widened when he realized why Luger wanted them to vote for Ursa as the new leader. It was so they could hunt for more than they usually do. Predators have to eat up to a certain amount and when they have their hunting was done. That law was around for many centuries and every predator had to respect that law. You can hunt for survival but keeping the population of prey at ease is important.

Quacey's mother always taught him that if they didn't have that law there wouldn't be enough prey for them to go around. Otherwise the wolves would've gone extinct a long time ago like some other animals that never lived on for certain reasons that neither he nor any other animal up until this day knows why. Some say it was because of the climate others say it was because of the humans. Whatever the reason those animals were long gone.

"We had to live by that law for a long time and what has that brought for us?" Luger said. "I'll tell you what: the death of starvation. We wolves had to suffer this because we don't get enough meat and that law has done nothing good for us. Well no more. It is time that we wolves hunt more as we should so we can have enough food in our stomachs so we don't die. More food means we won't perish. We are wolves and wolves will not go extinct! " Luger stamped his paw to the ground and Kiba and Virtuoso agreed with him.

Quacey sighed and shook his head. "Luger, this is crazy. Trying to be a leader is one thing but hunting over our limit while Ursa's in charge? That's crossing the line."

The three wolves glared at Quacey and Luger growled in annoyance and got in Quacey's face. "You listen here, cuz, I'm doing the wolves here a favor and the least you can be at this moment is grateful because we can now hunt more since Ursa's now the leader. If you weren't related to me, I wouldn't have given you the position as beta and you would've been stuck as an omega or worse…" Luger growled at the last sentence and Quacey just stared at his cousin furiously. Luger turned away from Quacey and looked at Kiba. "Go alert some of the other wolves." Luger then smiled. "They'll want to hear about this."

Kiba smiled as he nodded and as he turned to walk away he whispered in Quacey's ear: "One-eared freak." He then chuckled and this made Quacey growl as Kiba dashed away.

"I think it's time we did some hunting," Luger said and he turned away to go hunt.

"I agree," Virtuoso said and she and Luger chuckled as they ran off to do some hunting leaving Quacey behind.

Quacey stared at the two of them still furious as he couldn't believe what was happening. How could Luger do this? This would only make things worse. However, he realized that there was no point in talking to him out of this because he never listened to him anyway.

He sighed as his ear flattened on his head and he turned and walked away as his head was lowered. He couldn't do anything about this since he wasn't the alpha. He wasn't even the leader of the beasts. There was nothing he could do about this but he hoped something good would happen. Just one good thing.

A/N- I'm back with another chapter and Quacey and the other beasts are back! Soon our four bat friends will be in one hell of a ride with the beasts! I have no idea why I called this chapter what it is but I thought it fit well.