Chapter 44

The Art of Dance and Mystery

"If I could have your attention," Scirocco said to get the banded colony's attention. "Let us welcome our new sister to the colony with a celebration! Let us make her feel at home!"

For what seemed like a while, the four friends had it in themselves to finally get out of their group hug, and when they did they saw the banded colony start to cheer and get excited and the colony started to get things prepared to welcome Marina into the colony. Kassidy wasn't sure how long it would be until the storm died down, but it seemed like she, Holden, and Shade would be around as this celebration was going. If anyone tried to talk down to Shade like Scirocco did while they were still here, she wouldn't hesitate to stand up for Shade.

Marina seemed to be excited that a celebration would be held here for her, but at the same time, it looked like she was trying not to upset Kassidy, Holden, and Shade. "A celebration?"

Betty came up to Marina and when she did she laughed heartily. "Whenever a new member joins the colony we hold a celebration for them like what we're now doing for you."

"Hang on, hang on," Holden said as he approached Betty. "So in a way you guys are throwing a party for her?"

Betty nodded. "Pretty much."

Holden then pointed at Betty. "And would there happen to be booze being served at this celebration?"

"Oh yeah," Sebastian said enthusiastically as he approached Holden. "We got lots of alcohol here!"

When Sebastian answered Holden's question his eyes lit up excitedly as he smiled. "Man, I haven't partied in a while, this is my lucky day!"

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Holden as now wasn't a good time to think about partying since they had other things to focus on. "Holden-"

"Where's it all at?"

Sebastian laughed and then lifted his wings. "Allow me to show you, bro. We got the best in the house." The Graywing then took off.

"Sweet!" He then looked to Shade who disapproved of this whole partying thing as much as Kassidy did. "You're with me, Smalls!"

Shade shook his head in confusion. "Wait, what?"

Holden then pushed Shade off the bookshelf and when he did, Shade yelped. Luckily though, the sky-blue Silverwing managed to catch his flight in time and as he did Holden was already flying next to him and he started to laugh. Kassidy, Marina, Betty, and Triss looked down at the boys and as they did, Kassidy still had her brow furrowed but the other three seemed relaxed and Kassidy could tell that Shade didn't like what Holden did.

"Come on, let's go," Holden said enthusiastically towards Shade and then flew off before Shade could even protest.

Shade sighed in annoyance but quickly tried to catch up with Holden and Sebastian. "Alright, alright, I'm coming!"

As the boys went to get some alcohol, Betty started to laugh. "Seems like Holden likes these sorts of things?"

Kassidy looked to Betty when she asked the question. "Holden loves to go to parties and where we're from he's very popular."

"Can't say that I'm surprised, he is pretty handsome." Betty then pointed to some female bats. "Been hearing those three talk about Holden for quite a bit now even." She then giggled.

Of course, Holden had the girls' attention and he was pretty good-looking, that much was certain. However, Holden had certainly changed a lot the more they've been traveling together and he was acting less of a douche, but he still had that douchiness to him that could be unbearable sometimes. At least he wasn't like the giant bats though, but he tended to take his words too far at some points. To Kassidy though, she could tell he really was trying to shape up his attitude and was trying to make better choices, and if he kept that all up he'd do better in school.

"Since we're now going to celebrate this calls for a makeover," Triss said excitedly as she wrapped her wings around Kassidy and Marina. "Come on you two, let's get you dolled up."

"Umm… makeup?" Marina asked.

"You'll see what I mean when we get in there." Triss then pointed towards a bathroom.

Kassidy really wasn't in a mood to party. How could she when her family was kidnapped, the owls were after them, and the giant bats were after them? Who knew where the giant bats were at this point? Kassidy started to wonder where Lightning could even be and hoped he wasn't hurt or something. So much was going through her head that the last thing she wanted to think about was a party.

"I appreciate the offer Ja-" before Kassidy was about to say the Greenwing's old name she quickly said her new name. "Triss, but I'm really in no party mood and I really don't like wearing makeup."

"Girl, come on," Triss said. "It'll be fun, and I can promise you that I'll do your makeup pretty good. Trust me, you won't regret it." She then winked at her.

It was hard enough as it was that the red-haired Silverwing and the boys had to leave Marina with a new colony when the storm died down and Kassidy was stressed enough as it was. They had a lot to deal with that she wasn't sure that partying would even help her to relax… especially after she ate that gray rabbit. Besides, she really didn't like parties that much anyway, she always felt out of place in them like a centipede among millipedes. Partying was more of one of Holden's strengths than hers, and she didn't even want to focus on partying with how their situations were.

However, she really didn't want to upset Marina, and that was the last thing Kassidy wanted to do. If she and the boys left an upset Marina the Brightwing would probably wish to forget about them and all because they didn't want to spend a final moment with her having fun. If the gothic Silverwing was being honest right now though she usually had a hard time having fun as she was most of the time very serious, but she tried to have fun whenever she could. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to try and have fun tonight… just for a little bit though. Plus, she couldn't stop thinking about that portrait she saw a while ago, and when she got the chance she wanted to have a better look at it when a lot weren't watching her.

Kassidy then sighed and as she did she cursed in her head as she couldn't believe what she was about to do. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to-"

Before she could even finish what she was about to say, Triss squealed excitedly and hugged her tightly. "You definitely won't regret this decision, girl! Come on, come on!"

With that, the excited Greenwing took off and flew towards the bathroom and as she did, Betty laughed. "What I've always loved about her since she and Sebastian arrived is her enthusiasm."

"She's definitely got that going," Marina said, and she then looked at Kassidy and whispered to her. "This should be interesting."

"You can say that again," Kassidy whispered back and after she did the three bats flew after Triss into the bathroom.

When they all arrived in the bathroom Kassidy and Marina managed to get a good look around them. The walls were wooden like the other walls in the other room and they were adorned with wall decorations like art prints. Also on the walls were towel racks and hanging from the racks were pure white towels in different sizes and a mirror that was above a sink. The floor was ceramic tiles, had a brown rug near a tub that also had a shower to go along with it, and near that was a white toilet. In Kassidy's perspective, it was definitely a neater bathroom than a lot of the restrooms in many schools she's seen back when she used to live in Ohio. When she used to play basketball back then there were a lot of crappy restrooms she's seen, whether it be tight stalls, barely lockable stall doors, the smell, it was something she really didn't enjoy a lot.

The girls landed on top of the sink counter and as they did, Kassidy saw some makeup already set out and that got her to wonder how they managed to get all that out. It must've taken at least a dozen bats to get all that out. Triss then looked at them excitedly. "So, shall we get started?"

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other and after they did they looked back to Triss. "Sure," Marina responded.

"Great! You two take a seat and Betty and I will do the work."

Triss and Betty then went to choose what to put on the Silverwing and Brightwing and as they did, Kassidy and Marina took their seat on the counter. "So, that's makeup, huh?" Marina said.

Kassidy nodded. "Yeah, that's makeup. Something I really don't like to put on my face, but I guess having Triss put makeup on my face for this night won't be too bad. It's sort of like dying hair, only makeup doesn't stay on for a long time as hair dye does."

The blonde Brightwing looked at the red-haired Silverwing confused. "Hair dying? What's that?"

Of course, Marina was not all familiar with what Kassidy just said, but the Silverwing witch didn't mind explaining to her friend. Kassidy grabbed strands of her bloody red hair and swung them over her shoulder. "It's basically when you add a different color to your hair, whether it be strands or all of it. I even did it myself-only I used my magic and not actual dye."

After Kassidy explained, Marina looked as if she realized something as she then started to smile. "Oh, that's what hair dye is, we bats actually do the same thing only we call it hair coloring. Berry juice is what's used to color hair."

"Wow, humans and bats really do have some things in common." Kassidy then smirked and as she did she was starting to get more amazed with what the bats have been able to discover for themselves. "I'm starting to wonder what else humans and bats have in common now."

Marina chuckled. "I guess the more we know the more we see how much more we can have in common." She then looked curiously at the Silverwing's bloody red hair. "So, why did you change your original hair color to red? What did it use to be?"

The Silverwing combed her hair with her fingers once as if someone told her she had something stuck in it. "Well, I pretty much like to do things differently, and in a way, I have an artistic side to me. I just wanted to change my hair color to something wild, and I'll be honest I really didn't like my original hair color as it just wasn't me. It used to be a brown color, but now it's this color." She then pointed to her straight hair.

After some time of choosing the right makeup for Kassidy and Marina, Triss and Betty came back over and placed the makeup near the two. From what the Silverwing witch could see Betty chose some makeup that was very natural like lip gloss. As for the makeup Triss chose, the Silverwing saw she chose some dark-looking makeup like eyeliner. The red-haired Silverwing really wasn't looking forward to Triss doing her makeup, but she would try and trust that she knew what she was doing.

"Let's get this started," Triss said excitedly, and after she did she and Betty picked what to start with for Kassidy and Marina.

As the two bats were picking what to start with, Marina turned to Kassidy. "Hey, Kass?" Kassidy turned her head to look at her Brightwing friend. "After they do our makeup do you think maybe you could color bits of my hair? I think I'd like to try something different for a change."

After what Marina said that made Kassidy smirk. Her doing Marina's hair? She never would've thought that her friend would've wanted to have bits of her hair colored, but how could she say no? After all, Kassidy wanted to make the most of it with her friend and this was one of the best ways to make the most of it.

"Sure, and you can pick any color you want," Kassidy said. "If you want you can decide what should happen to my hair even."

Kassidy never really liked it whenever someone touched her hair, but she didn't want to make anyone upset. Especially not her friend, and the least she could do is try to have fun. Even if they've all been dragged down many problems on their journey and had much to worry about now, Kassidy had to try and at least make it look like she was having fun and while she was she wanted to have a better look at that portrait, even if it took the whole night to try and get a better look at it.

At that, Marina then smirked and nodded. "Deal."

The inside of the hut was immediately blaring with kick-ass music and colorful lights were everywhere in the room like it was more of a nightclub. Banded bats of all different species began to either chat with one another, dance, or drink alcohol and it was definitely a party one would love to be in attendance of. The snowstorm was still going on outside, but it would clear up soon enough for the most part anyway.

Holden was already having so much fun and when there was a party he always turned into a party animal. Partying was in his blood and partying was something he really didn't like to give up on as that was mainly his life. It helped him to escape from all the stress and anger he went through at school and home. It wasn't easy getting through every day, but whenever there was a party he didn't hesitate to go. Some may not approve of his partying, but he didn't give a damn. He was Holden Brooks, the life of the party for crying out loud. Even though he even said he wanted to change his habits and try to do better in school he still wanted to try and party whenever he could as that was something he could truly never give up on.

The purple Silverwing was on the counter with Shade and Sebastian and they were getting some alcohol, well Holden and Sebastian for the most part. They each had these very small cups to drink from and Holden and Sebastian were halfway done with their drinks. The three bats got beer and Holden really did miss that stuff. He was now very happy though to be not only partying but drinking as well.

"God, this stuff is good," Holden said enthusiastically and then he chugged the rest of his beer down.

Sebastian laughed and nodded in agreement. "It sure is, and it's definitely not every day we get to drink this stuff. We always save the booze for when new arrivals come." He then chugged down the rest of his beer as well.

Holden then looked to Shade and as he did he noticed that the small Silverwing barely spoke or even drank his booze and all he did was stare at his drink. The purple Silverwing wanted his friend to lighten up some, and he knew that some of the bats here really didn't like that Shade was here, but he just wanted to get him to have some fun. "Hey, Smalls. Come on, try some of that, it's not poisoned. Have some fun."

Shade looked between Holden and his drink a few times and after a minute he then sighed and took a sip of his drink and right as the alcohol hit the back of his throat, the small Silverwing's eyes widened and he immediately started to cough. "Wh-What's in this?!"

Holden and Sebastian started to laugh at Shade's expression as he continued to cough. "All I can say is that's how alcohol is made," Holden responded.

As Shade continued to cough some more, Holden noticed a couple of female bats with silver bands approach them and they looked hot. The two appeared to be twins and like Holden they both had brown eyes. They had light pink hair and the bat on the right had her hair over her right shoulder while the other one had her hair over her left shoulder. Holden even almost thought that they looked conjoined.

"Hey, handsome," the bat on the right said to Holden. "How good are you at dancing?"

At the word of dancing, Holden could only smirk at the hot bat. "I'm an amazing dancer, no matter what kind of celebration there is I always got some sweet moves."

The bat on the left giggled. "Could you show us?"

Holden was about to respond but before he could, Shade pulled him off to the side and looked at him seriously. "Holden, we're not here to party. What about the owls and the giant bats?"

All the purple Silverwing did was still smirk, and even though he wasn't drunk he really didn't want to worry at the moment. "Bro, chill. Once the snowstorm dies down we'll be oughta here in no time. Just enjoy yourself for now."

The sky blue Silverwing furrowed his brow at the purple Silverwing. "Easy for you to say…"

"Hey, handsome," one of the light pink-haired bat twins said. "Come on, let's dance!"

Holden looked to the twins and indicated to them that he'd be over and then he looked at Shade. "I'll be back, got some dancing to do."

"I hope one of them throws up on you," Shade said sarcastically.

All Holden did was shrug his shoulders and went over to the twins and as soon as he did he started to dance with them. The purple Silverwing wasn't interested in either of the two as he already had a girlfriend, but he thought it wouldn't hurt to dance with them. Their dancing was pretty good, but their dancing wasn't as good as Holden's. He was killing it on the floor and every move he did was spot on and a lot of the banded bats were even looking at him impressed.

As the song was slowly coming to an end he noticed that almost all the banded bats in the hut were drawing their attention to something and they looked amazed by what they were seeing. Confused, Holden looked to see what everyone was looking at and what he saw literally had his jaw drop. Standing outside of the bathroom were his two friends and it was clear to see that they changed their appearance. Marina had some natural-looking makeup on and on the ends of her pale blonde hair there appeared to be some hot pink dye. However, Holden's attention hadn't been drawn on both of his friends as he couldn't keep his eyes off of Kassidy. The red-haired Silverwing had some gothic-looking makeup on and her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail.

The more that Holden stared at Kassidy the more he felt his heart pounding wildly. Just by looking at her it almost looked like she was wearing a sexy blue dress and the purple Silverwing still couldn't stop staring at her. She almost looked like she could've been part of a magazine cover. The purple Silverwing found himself frozen on the spot and it was almost like the world around him turned black and it was just him and Kassidy in that black void. His breath was caught in his throat and he couldn't bring himself to say anything at that moment.

Holden never really took full notice of Kassidy, but now that he was staring at her at that moment he thought that she looked beautiful. How had he not noticed that before about her? Did beauty really run down in generations of people that wielded magic? Even though he was no expert on how magic worked it didn't matter. All he could do was stare astonished at the stunning-looking red-haired Silverwing before him.

At the moment Kassidy stepped out with Marina, Triss, and Betty she felt instantly uncomfortable as many pairs of eyes were staring at them. All she wanted to do was go back into the bathroom and not come back out, but it was too late to turn back now. If she even tried to go back into the bathroom Marina, Triss, and Betty would've tried to pull her out of there. The red-haired Silverwing would just have to deal with this.

Marina really liked what Kassidy did with her hair and Kassidy had to admit that the color her friend chose really suited her well, and even though the blue Silverwing hated pink she was glad that Marina was satisfied with how her hair turned out. When it was the Brightwing's turn to choose the fate of the Silverwing's hair she surprisingly chose a hair tie for her. The Brightwing wasn't sure what the hair tie's purpose was, but when Kassidy explained how it worked the Brightwing went through all the effort of making Kassidy's hair into a high ponytail and she did a rather good job of it.

As she was trying to avoid making eye contact with a lot of the bats, Kassidy noticed someone, in particular, staring directly at her. The moment she saw Holden she was rather surprised to see how he was staring at her and he never stared at her like that before. The purple Silverwing made no efforts in approaching them and all he did was stare at her astonished, and all Kassidy could wonder was this: why was he staring at her like that? Was there something Triss messed up on? Kassidy wasn't sure, but she felt the need to go talk to him to be sure if he was alright or not.

Kassidy turned her head towards Marina, Triss, and Betty. "I'm gonna go check to see if Holden's alright."

"Good idea," Marina said. "In the meantime, I'll go find Shade."

Kassidy nodded and after she did she started to approach Holden and the closer she got the more that the purple Silverwing still hadn't moved from his spot. When she finally got to him, the red-haired Silverwing crossed her arms. "Hey, you okay?"

"Umm…" Holden looked at a loss for words as if his tongue was tied.

The gothic Silverwing stared at him confused as she had never seen him at a loss for words before. "Do you need something? Water, food, anything?"

The purple Silverwing then shook his head and after he did he looked back at Kassidy. "No… I'm fine. You look… great."

At that, Kassidy smirked and rolled her eyes. "You can thank Triss for this. She's the one that convinced me to get a makeover." The Silverwing then started to sniff the air and when she did she looked back at the purple Silverwing. "Let me guess: you had alcohol."

Holden laughed and after he did he nodded. "Yeah, I did." He then looked at Kassidy's hair. "Did Ja- I mean Triss do your hair?"

"Actually, Marina did my hair and you gotta give credit to her, she did a pretty good job at it. Since she did my hair I used my magic to have the ends of her hair in hot pink. It was only fair anyways."

Another song came to an end and right, as it did another song, started to play and many more bats started to dance along with its beat. As the song was playing, Kassidy and Holden looked back at each other and the purple Silverwing was smiling at the blue Silverwing. It was a smile that Kassidy had never seen him use before towards her, but it was a rather nice-looking smile. One that a lot of the girls would've fallen in love with.

"Hey, so… you wanna dance?" Holden asked.

At first, the Silverwing witch thought of saying that they had other things to worry about than dancing, but the more she looked at him the more she could see he really did want to dance with her. She wanted to focus on trying to find her family and the colony, and dancing was the last thing she wanted to think about. But how could she just let him down like that? Kassidy thought that maybe it wouldn't hurt to dance for just a bit, after all the snowstorm was still going.

Kassidy cursed in her head, but she didn't want Holden to see her stressed. So, as best as she could she smiled. "Sure."

If Holden's eyes would've they probably would've smiled as he looked content with her answer. With that, the two went to find some more room to dance and when they did the purple Silverwing immediately started to get his groove on. At first, Kassidy was hesitant as she didn't know where to start, but she then gave herself a good reminder that she managed to dance pretty well back in the city. Surely she could do it again. After all, she wasn't going to die if she danced.

The Silverwing witch slowly started to awkwardly dance, but after a few more seconds she started to get comfortable with the dancing. Kassidy felt like Holden did better at dancing than she and she wanted to feel embarrassed about her dance moves, but she tried not to think about it. After all, dancing was about having fun. Their steps started to go along with the tempo of the music, and never once had these two faltered.

As the two continued to dance, Kassidy noticed their friends watching, but she couldn't help but notice that Shade wasn't enjoying himself. She couldn't say that she blamed him. After all, she could only imagine how out of place he felt here. The Silverwing witch wanted to be out of here as much as Shade, but she still had that portrait to look at again, and as soon as she was done dancing to this song she would go check it out. He and Marina were talking to each other at least, and the sky-blue Silverwing wouldn't feel lonely in this hut.

When Kassidy looked back at Holden she saw him get closer to her as they continued to dance and whether he noticed or not his steps were very smooth. She felt his breath graze through her fur with that alcohol odor in it, but she didn't mind it at all. As long as he didn't do anything stupid then he wouldn't be receiving a smack in the face from her. Kassidy wasn't one to trust a lot of people, but at this moment she felt like she could trust Holden, especially since he wasn't too drunk. To her, he was sometimes a douche, but sometimes he was also a nice guy and most of the time it really was hard to believe he was nice.

The more the Silverwing witch danced with him the more she started to enjoy herself to the point that she even smiled. She tried not to smile too much though as she didn't want to glow and make a scene in the hut, but she had to admit that she was starting to have fun. Holden said he would get her to have fun and he managed to accomplish that. It was not often Kassidy got to have fun anyways… especially after her parents died. It was two times now that Holden managed to get her to have fun, and the red-haired witch had to give him points for that. He may have done some stupid things before, but he certainly knew how to have fun, and it was no wonder he was pretty popular at school.

When Kassidy looked over her shoulder to see how her friends were doing she noticed two bats with them. Shade, Marina, Triss, and Sebastian were looking at the two bats pretty angrily and it looked like they were arguing with them about something. Betty on the other hand looked like she was trying to calm them all down. The Silverwing witch was concerned at that moment and wanted to see what was going on. Whatever it was she had the feeling it had something to do with Shade.

"Kass?" Holden asked. "You okay?"

Kassidy looked at Holden to see him looking at her confused. "Holden, I think something's going on over there. I'm gonna go check it out."

Without waiting for a response from Holden she went over to where their friends and the two bats were and when she got over to them she managed to have a good look at the two bats. One of them being a male had light brown hair, a canary yellow mane, blonde fur, honey gold wings, and amber eyes. The other was a female and her fur was a pale lily color, with a pale brown mane, warm black wings, gray eyes, and pale blue hair. What stood out from the female bat was that she was surprisingly shorter than Shade. From what Kassidy could see with those two bats the one with the gold-looking wings looked like a tricolored bat while the female looked like an eastern small-footed bat, and of course, with all the reading she's done on bats she was practically a genius when it came to them.

"Hey, is there a problem over here?" Kassidy asked.

"Oh, nothing much," the small-footed bat said as she looked at the Silverwing witch. "We've just been telling him how sorry we felt he didn't have a band."

"Seriously?" Shade said angrily and then pointed at the smaller bat. "You were rudely saying how I didn't belong here and that I wasn't special! How is that feeling sorry?"

"Take it easy, runt," the tricolored bat said casually. "We were only saying the truth, no need to get frustrated."

Right at the moment the tricolored bat called Shade the one thing he hated the sky-blue Silverwing looked up at him more angrily. Already, Kassidy didn't like how those two bats were acting towards her friend and she hated to see him upset like this. She furrowed her brow at those two and as she did Holden came over looking confused and he looked at her as if to ask what was going on. The red-haired Silverwing indicated to the two bats with her ocean blue eyes as if to say that those two were causing trouble.

"Don't call me runt! If anyone's the runt here it's your friend there."

"Excuse you?" The small-footed bat said angrily as she got in Shade's face.

"Hey, get your flea-bitten face out of his face," Marina said angrily.

"Okay, okay, let's all calm down," Betty said getting in between the two bats and the others. "Let's just work something out and forget about all this."

"Oh, please," the small-footed bat said annoyed towards Betty. "Just because you're Scirocco's favorite, Betty doesn't mean you get to act all leader-like."

"I'm sorry, who the hell are you two?" Holden asked rather annoyed.

"The Goldwing is named Eurion while his Moonwing girlfriend is named Neoma," Triss dryly said. "You can also refer to them as the maggots of the hut if you'd like."

"Oi, you better watch what you say," the Goldwing named Eurion said as he pointed at Triss.

"You should be the one that watches what you say, asshat," Kassidy said angrily. "Just because Shade's not banded doesn't mean you get to talk crap to him. So you and your bratty girlfriend be on your merry little way, or there's going to be trouble."

"And what're you going to do about it?" The Moonwing named Neoma said challengingly. "Cast one of your little spells on us?"

Kassidy looked down at Neoma, casting a dangerous glare at her. "Don't be going there with me, keep it up though and something like that may definitely happen."

Out of all things, Kassidy and her friends meet a couple that were very rude. They were almost like those couples that were football players and cheerleaders that liked to boast about anything and get on everyone's nerves. The Silverwing witch did not appreciate at all what they said to Shade, and there was no way in hell she was going to let them continue to talk down to Shade like that. They were damn lucky she wasn't anything like Martin.

"You don't get to talk to my girlfriend that way, red," Eurion said.

"Hey, do yourself a favor and back off," Holden said with his brow furrowed as he got near the Goldwing.

"Oh, why? Is it because you're afraid I'll trip your girlfriend over as she's dancing awfully?"

At that, Kassidy's eyes widened in anger and she could even hear some of the banded bats oohing at what the Goldwing said, even the music stopped playing. Dancing awfully? Her dancing wasn't that bad, sure, it wasn't advanced but she at least tried to make it work. At least she wasn't being rude like those two were. But when he also said girlfriend that took her a little by surprise. Did he honestly think that they were dating? Holden already had a girlfriend anyways and the Silverwing witch could not even imagine herself being with one of the most popular guys in school.

"Oh, no you didn't," Kassidy said angrily.

"Oh, yes he did," The Moonwing said with a grin as she waved her finger in front of the female Silverwing's face.

"Get your grubby little finger out of my face, unless you wanna meet with my hand because if you don't shut your mouth the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth."

At that, Kassidy heard more oohing as the Moonwing looked at her furiously. In a way, the Silverwing witch was not surprised that they had to deal with some more rude animals on their journey and these two just happened to be the few on the list. She wasn't going to put up with them, no sir. Kassidy knew better though than to use violence on someone and she only said what she said so she could get these two to stop talking. She tried not to bring a fist to every fight and the only times she did was only to defend herself.

"Burn," Triss shouted to the Goldwing and Moonwing.

Neoma placed her hands on her hips. "You think you're so tough huh? Bet you and your boyfriend there wouldn't even beat us in dancing."

"He's not even my-" Before Kassidy could say anything further, Shade beat her to it.

"They're better at dancing than you two," Shade commented. "In fact, they'll blow you away with their moves."

"Tch, I'd like to see them try," the Goldwing said not convinced.

"Oh, you'd like that now wouldn't you?" Holden said. "Fine, we accept your challenge. We'll show you that we're better at dancing than you two."

The Silverwing witch wasn't too sure about this. She had never done a dance-off and the thought of dancing in front of everyone actually made her feel a little nervous. Back when she used to play basketball she had no problem with the crowd, but this was different. Everyone would be watching them dance and Kassidy felt like she would mess up on something and make a fool of herself. She didn't want to back down though. The Silverwing witch didn't want anyone to think that she was afraid. She had to prove to these two that she could dance, but how would she be able to dance with Holden as her partner? He was better at dancing than her for crying out loud.

Kassidy then brought Holden close to her and whispered. "Holden, what am I supposed to do? I have never done anything like this before. What if I mess up?"

Holden looked at Kassidy with a reassuring look and whispered back. "Kass, don't worry. Just don't think about it and let your body move to the beat. Be yourself and don't stop whatever happens. I believe in you."

At Holden's words, Kassidy felt like she gained some confidence. It was barely often she felt nervous about something, but Holden managed to calm down her nervousness. It was strange though that he was the one reassuring her about something while she was the one mostly doing the reassuring. Either way, though she was glad Holden was the one that managed to reassure her. After all, dancing was like writing with a pencil on paper.

Kassidy gave Holden a look that told him thanks and after she did they looked back at the two bats. "So, we doing this or not?" The Moonwing asked impatiently.

The purple Silverwing crossed his arms as his brow furrowed once more. "Apportez-le."

A lot of the bats in the hut looked at each other confused after what Holden said and so did their friends. With Kassidy learning a little French though she thought she knew what the purple Silverwing said. The Moonwing, of course, had no idea what Holden said. "I don't speak gibberish, so what does that mean?" The Moonwing asked.

"Bring it." Holden then looked to the bats in charge of the music. "Hit it!"

The bats in charge of the music got the radio playing again and a different song came on that had a good rhythm to it and as it was playing the Goldwing and Moonwing were the first to kick off their dance moves. Kassidy had to admit that they started off pretty good as they moved to the beat like it was nothing and they made it look too easy. For two bats they certainly knew how to move.

Holden then took Kassidy's hand and when he did Kassidy twirled around a couple of times and at the last turn, Kassidy did a fast-looking dip. They then started to pick up the pace at the hip-hop dancing they were doing and as they were their friends were cheering them on and that was exactly the motivation they needed. The Silverwing witch didn't think about what anyone was thinking of her dancing, she did exactly what Holden said and she was doing it. She was dancing without the worries in the world.

For each turn the duos did in their dancing it got wild as the colony was cheering for their crazy moves. They were both pretty even at this point, but they would continue to dance until one duo gave up, and Kassidy and Holden certainly didn't want to give up at all. The Silverwing witch would continue this even for however long it took. As the duos continued to dance, Kassidy could already feel her body burning calories, but she continued to dance with Holden.

"Kass," Holden whispered and Kassidy looked at him as they continued to dance. "Brace yourself; I'm going to throw you up in the air."

Kassidy looked at him as if he was crazy. "What? You can't be serious."

"Trust me, I'll catch you. Try and do something while you're in the air. I promise I'll catch you."

The Silverwing witch wasn't too sure about this as she felt like she might hurt herself. But, if Holden could promise he could catch her then she would believe him. This was going to be a risky move but she was willing to try it for him. After all, it was pretty much like flying.

"Alright, I believe you."

They did a few more moves and after they did, Holden lifted Kassidy to the air and when he did a lot of the bats gasped as they watched Holden toss her in the air. Everything seemed to have slowed down at that moment as the red-haired Silverwing was in the air, but as she was in the air she did a backward flip and it looked very graceful. It seemed like everyone held their breaths as Kassidy flipped in the air, but in a matter of moments Holden caught her in time and Kassidy spun once more and when that all happened almost everyone cheered. The two did a few more moves and when they got close enough to the Goldwing and Moonwing they ended it off with a kick-ass move that the two were not expecting and after they did the whole colony erupted with cheering. The Moonwing and Goldwing looked at them with jealousy and without saying a word they flew off in defeat.

Kassidy looked at Holden and when she did she couldn't stop smiling. She actually did it! She couldn't believe she even did it for the matter, but she felt very proud of herself and she couldn't have done it without Holden. As she continued to stare at Holden the Silverwing witch started to feel something inside she had never felt before. She couldn't quite describe it, but it was very strange for the matter.

The colony went back to partying and as they did their friends came over and started to congratulate them. "You guys were awesome," Sebastian exclaimed. "You showed them!"

Marina started to laugh. "Did you guys see their faces? Best thing I've seen tonight!"

"That goes double for me," Shade said. "I can't believe that move you two pulled off though. That was awesome!"

Holden smiled with pride as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Well, I couldn't have done it without Kass. She definitely can bring out the best."

Kassidy smirked at Holden. "Gee, thanks, but your dancing was better than mine."

The purple Silverwing turned his head to the red-haired Silverwing. "Are you kidding? You killed it out there, and you got almost everyone's reactions to prove that, including mine." He then indicated his head to the banded bats as if to prove his point.

When Kassidy looked she noticed that while most of the banded bats were doing their own things they would occasionally look at her and Holden from time to time impressed by what they did. She never would've thought that someone would be impressed by her dancing as usually people were impressed by how smart she was. Seeing how almost everyone here was pretty impressed by her dancing was pretty surprising, to say the least; she didn't even know she was pretty good at dancing as she always thought it was pretty crappy. Now that she saw what she saw it was clear she in fact had some good dancing after all. And she managed to gain that dancing confidence and all thanks to Holden.

As she looked at the banded colony she managed to see outside one of the windows that the snowstorm wasn't looking too bad now. It was still snowing, but it was still nothing too bad. Kassidy realized that she, Holden, and Shade could now leave, but she didn't want to leave yet. She still had that portrait to look at again. She thought that maybe that portrait wasn't all that important, but why did she still feel the need to look at it? Either way, she couldn't leave without looking at it more.

"It seems like you three gotta go now?" Betty asked.

Kassidy looked at Betty and as she did she shook her head. "Not yet, there's something I need to look at."

"Look at?" Shade asked confused. "What is there to look at?"

"I'll show you." Kassidy took off and as she did the others followed her as the banded bats were minding their own business.

It wasn't long until all seven of the bats got to where Kassidy wanted to go and when they did they landed upside down near the silver portrait Kassidy was looking at and when they did, the Silverwing witch managed to get a good look at the two people in the portrait. She still couldn't get the feeling out of the back of her head that she's seen these two from somewhere. Yes, it was odd that she was getting this feeling, but how could she have known them from somewhere?

Then, Kassidy's ocean blue eyes landed on the man in the portrait and when they did she started to notice something about his eyes… They were two different colors with one of them being brown while the other was green… Almost like Martin's eyes.

The red-haired Silverwing then looked at Holden, Shade, and Marina. "Guys? Do those two look familiar to you?"

The Silverwing boys and the banded Brightwing stared at the portrait very closely and as they were, Betty, Triss, and Sebastian stared at them confused. After a while of looking the three bats looked back at Kassidy. "For some reason, they do remind me of two others…" Shade said. "They remind me of-"

"Martin and Dianna," Kassidy said, cutting Shade off.

The sky-blue Silverwing nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

"They remind me of them too," Marina said. "Maybe it's just an odd coincidence?"

Kassidy looked back at the portrait and as she did she started to think. Why would those two people in that portrait look almost like Martin and Dianna? The more that she stared at it the more she started to feel like something wasn't right. Whoever those two were it was obvious that they owned the hut in the middle of these woods. But why would two looking rich people like those two own a place like this? At that moment, the blue-eyed Silverwing had the sudden urge to do a little investigating, and even though now would be a perfect time that she, Holden, and Shade left the hut she couldn't help but be in the detective mode now.

"I don't know," Kassidy said. "But something just doesn't feel right, and I can feel it. I wanna do some investigating."

"Investigating?" Shade said. "Kass, now really isn't a good time to do some investigating. We have to go and catch up with the colony."

"I know, but I can't help but feel that there's something in this hut that needs to be looked into." She then started to look around and as she did her eyes then came across something she's never noticed before: a closed door. She hummed to herself and as she did she took off and flew towards that door.

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

Kassidy ignored Holden's question and as she did she landed near the door and when she did she lifted her hand to where the doorknob was and concentrated the best she could on opening the door with her magic. She imaged the doorknob slowly turning clockwise and as she was the doorknob slowly began to turn and when the doorknob was turned enough the Silverwing witch imagined the door opening a crack and right as she did the door opened a crack. This was an easy spell Kassidy managed to learn and she was very glad she managed to open that door.

"You're not seriously considering going in there are you?" Holden said as he and the other six bats landed near her.

The blue-eyed witch looked at Holden. "Well, I gotta start somewhere if I'm gonna do some investigating."

The purple Silverwing crossed his arms. "This is kind of ridiculous if you ask me."

Kassidy rolled her eyes at Holden. "You don't have to go in there with me, but I'm going in. If anyone else wants to join me you're welcome to, but I'm not leaving this hut until I do some investigating."

The Silverwing witch then made her way into the room and as soon as she got in she saw that it was a bedroom. In the bedroom, there was a queen-sized bed, a lamp standing on a bedside table, a dresser, and a closet. It was a nice-looking room, even in Kassidy's perspective, and the walls were an eggshell white color. It was very clear to see that a lot of work was put into this very bedroom.

As she was looking around she noticed Holden, Shade, and Marina join her and they were looking around them as well. "This is a seriously nice bedroom," Holden commented. "Almost something my Dad has."

"So, you guys came to help me look around here?" Kassidy asked.

"We figured you could use the help," Marina said. "Betty, Triss, and Sebastian are waiting out there, but we're here to give you a hand."

At that, Kassidy couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, guys, you're the best."

"Hey, that's what friends are for," Shade said. "We always gotta help out."

Marina nodded in agreement. "So, where should we start first?"

"Just look around and see if you can find anything out of the ordinary," Kassidy answered. "Let me know if you find anything."

Kassidy's friends nodded and then they all started to look around the bedroom to see what they could find. As they were looking around, the blue-eyed Silverwing noticed something on one of the walls. It was a painting and it looked very beautiful. It had a misty mountain, a temple, and vibrant colors on the leaves of the trees, with a stone bridge that was over a water landscape. From what she could see it looked like that painting took place in China and to her, China had some beautiful places to look at and even though she had never been there before there were some beautiful places to be seen, and perhaps one day she would be able to see those beautiful places.

However, as Kassidy looked at the painting she hummed to herself. In a lot of mystery novels, she's read some people tried to hide things behind something like a painting, and the more she looked at it the more she felt like there was something behind it. Lifting her hand she then concentrated on levitating the painting off the wall and as she did it wasn't long until the painting came levitating off the wall like strings were lifting it. The Silverwing witch then levitated to painting off to the side and as soon as she did she looked back at the wall and on the wall, she saw what looked like a safe. It had a pushpin on it and the safe looked very big.

Kassidy flew up to the dresser that was near the painting and when she did she landed on top of it. "Hey guys, I found something."

As Kassidy was looking at the safe Shade and Marina joined her and looked at the safe very confused. "What is that?" Shade asked.

"It's a safe," Kassidy replied. "It's used to store things that are very important to some people." She then started to think as the side of her finger was on her lips. "I know there's a code for this, but I don't know how we're going to get this thing open without it."

"Hey, Kass," Holden called out and when he did, Kassidy, Shade, and Marina looked at him confused. He was in the closet and he had a small-looking strip of paper in his hands. "Don't know if this is helpful, but I found this in one of the shoeboxes. It's got five numbers on it: 8, 4, 3, 4, 7. I kind of thought it was a fortune from one of those fortune cookies, but this really didn't look like one."

When Holden said those exact numbers Kassidy thought that it was too good to be true as she then pressed those five numbers into the pushpin and after she did a bleep was heard indicating that it was right. "Yes!" She then looked at Holden. "I could literally hug you right now."

Holden smirked and as he did he crossed his arms. "Well, glad that I managed to find the lucky numbers."

The Silverwing witch then looked at Shade and Marina. "Alright, stand back. I'm gonna open this."

Shade and Marina kindly obliged and when they did, Kassidy lifted her hand once more and concentrated on opening the safe and it wasn't long until she easily managed to open the safe and as she did Holden landed near them. However, what she saw in there was not what she was expecting at all. She kind of assumed that loads of cash would've been stuffed in that safe, but instead she saw there were documents clustered in folders, journals, and a rectangular and carved out box with bottles in it. What caught her attention though had her eyes widened more than anything. There were two necklaces in there with one of them having a green pendant and the other having a blue pendant and the most shocking thing was the necklace with the blue pendant looked exactly like the one she lost after she and Holden crashed into a tree.

"What the hell?" Kassidy said as she then pulled out the necklace with the blue pendant and when she did she turned it over to see the one initial that she knew all too well on her pendant: K. It was clear now that the necklace was actually hers. "It's my necklace."

"What?" Marina said confused. "How did it get all the way out here?"

"I… I don't know…" She then looked back inside the safe and when she did she pulled out the other necklace right after she slipped her necklace around her neck. The pendant was very smooth just like her blue one and as she stared at it her heart started to pound… Most magic users had necklaces like these and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It couldn't be… could it?

She set the necklace off to the side and as she did she pulled out a lot of things from the safe and started to spread them out. "Whoa, whoa," Holden said. "What're you doing?"

"I need to see something." After she was done pulling out some things she debated on where to start, but her eyes then lied upon one particular folder that said, 'People who have done us wrong.'

Slowly but steadily, Kassidy opened the folder and when she did she pulled out a stack of photos and the first photo she saw was a man and there was a big red x on there. Confused, she then placed that photo off to the side and when she did she saw another photo and this time it was a female and there was a big red x on it too. She kept looking through the photos and as she did the pattern repeated with each photo having a big red x on each person. The more she went through them the more her friends started to get creeped out, but they didn't say anything. Kassidy did not like this at all and the more she looked through them the more she wanted she wanted to investigate. It was not every day she got to do something like this and she felt like she really was a detective.

Then, the next photo she came to next had her gasp. On the very folder was a middle-aged man. He had short black hair, an extended goatee, and blue eyes… and he had a huge red x on him… The man that Kassidy was staring at was her father.

"Kass, what's wrong?" Holden asked.

Kassidy could barely find it in herself to breathe as she stared at the photo of her father and couldn't even find it in herself to look at her friends. "That's… that's my Dad."

"Your Dad?" Shade said confused. "How did he get on there?"

"It's a photo, Shade. They're like drawings only photos are taken by these devices called cameras… Why's my Dad's photo in here though?"

"Okay, now this is getting creepy," Holden said.

Kassidy then went to the next photo and when she did her eyes widened more when she saw a woman with brown hair that was a bob cut, with blue eyes, and was wearing glasses… that woman she saw was her mother… and she too had a big red x on her. "My Mom's photo's in this as well…"

At that moment, Kassidy was honestly afraid to look at the next photo, but with enough courage, she managed to go to the next photo and when she did she couldn't help but let out a gasp once more. On the very photo was her and it was from when she was a junior. She was of course wearing her gothic clothes, but what this photo didn't have as the other ones did was a big red x.

"Is that you?" Marina asked with a little shakiness in her voice.

Slowly, Kassidy nodded. "Yeah… it is."

There were only four photos left to look at and Kassidy took it upon herself to look at all four of them and on the photos that didn't have a big red x on them was her Uncle, Aunt, and two little cousins. The blue-eyed Silverwing's heart started to pound rapidly and the thought of a stranger having her and her family's photos was very scary, to say the least. Who was keeping these photos? Whoever had them had something against her and her family. But why? What could she even have done to have someone despise her?

However, something struck her mind… the photos, the necklaces… the portrait. As she thought about all of this she didn't want to believe what she was thinking… But it was the only thing that could make sense. She couldn't believe what this was all coming to.

"Guys…" Kassidy still hadn't looked at her friends but began to speak slowly. "You may think I've gone crazy, but… I don't think Martin and Dianna are actually bats."

"What?" Shade said.

"Think about it… those two people in that portrait looked like Martin and Dianna, that there can't be a coincidence. Martin and Dianna don't have a Spanish accent like Goth and Throbb do, and seriously, no one could possibly be born with drawings on them. The snakes on Martin must be tattoos like mine. I think Martin and Dianna are actually humans."

"Holy sunlight," Marina said. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think Kass is right… but why would they have a photo of you and your family?"

"I don't know…"

"Kass," Holden said, and when he did Kass and the other two bats looked at the purple Silverwing, and when they did they saw him looking at something. "I think you might wanna look at this."

Confused, the three friends came to look at the paper Holden was looking at and when they did Shade and Marina looked at it confused and of course, it came to no surprise that they couldn't read what they were seeing. "What is that?" Shade asked.

At the very top of the paper, Kassidy saw that it was a birth certificate. "It's a birth certificate. It's used to record a person's birth."

The blue-eyed Silverwing then began to read the certificate, at first it seemed like nothing, but as she continued to read she read something very shocking. The birth certificate was Martin's and the Father's name read Adam Fletcher and Michele Maglic. At that moment, Kassidy felt like she was going to collapse and she could barely find it in herself to breathe once more. Her legs started to feel wobbly and her fingers started to feel shaky.

"Kass, what is it?" Shade asked.

The Silverwing witch didn't say anything at first, but after some time of gathering herself, she managed to slowly speak. "Michele Maglic…"

The three friends looked at her confused. "What about that name?" Holden asked.

Kassidy started to take a couple of deep breaths but didn't look at her friends. "Michele was my Grandmother's name… and Maglic… that was her maiden name…"

When she looked at her friends, Holden's eyes were widened while Shade and Marina looked at her confused. Kassidy knew that Shade and Marina were not familiar with maiden names since they weren't humans, but she knew what Holden was thinking in his mind. The blue-eyed witch felt like everything around her was collapsing after what she read and in a way she wished that it was not real, but that birth certificate held the truth… one that she couldn't change no matter what.

"Kass… what're you saying?" Marina asked.

After a shallow breath, Kassidy managed to speak the words that were almost like acid against her mouth. "Martin's my half Uncle…"

A/N- And there you have it with chapter 44! I had so much fun writing this, and I so cannot wait to write the next chapter, but I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!