Gone Batty

Chapter 3: Growing Accustomed to Things

Melody felt both nervous and thrilled to find herself in the home of a bat colony. Thrilled because she had studied bats all her life and now she was among them. Nervous because every winged creature inside the hollow tree was staring at her. She gulped silently. Each bat seemed to react differently to her arrival. The younger bats were clearly curious and some of them itched to try and get a closer look at her. It was the same reaction Shade had upon meeting her. The adult females were more guarded; a few of them even glared at her, not too happy of having a stranger in their home. The older bats seemed either curious or just didn't really pay her any mind. It was as if after one look at her, they decided that her arrival wasn't much of a big deal.

"Shade, you're home!" One adult female with orange hair flew down to them. She gave Melody one long look before turning to Shade. "And who is this?"

Shade smiled brightly at the female, "this is my friend Melody, mom. I found her stuck in a tree not too far from here."

Melody looked over at Shade with surprise. Mom? ...Friend?

"And look! She has a band just like Frieda." Shade lifted Melody's left wing to show his mother. There were more murmurs that came from above. Melody suddenly felt self conscious and pulled her arm away, hiding the silver band. She felt Shade's mother's eyes on her and kept her own eyes lowered, feeling shy.

"She's all alone, mom," Shade continued. "I just thought that Frieda might be able to help her."

Melody risked a glance back up at Shade's mother and was surprised to see her smile kindly at her. "Any friend of my son's is welcome here."

The girl felt her lips quirk up in return. "Thank you...Mrs..."

Shade's mother gave a small tinkling laugh, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Please, call me Ariel."

Melody felt her nervousness melt away at Ariel's pleasant response and nodded. She looked over at Shade who grinned back at her.

Ariel spread her large wings open and motioned gently to both of them. "It is morning. Both of you get some sleep. You can ask for an audience with Frieda in the evening."

'Sleep during the day?' Melody frowned slightly at that. She always got nasty headaches if she took naps during the day. However it didn't look like she would have much of a choice here. As long as she was a bat - she would have to at least get used to the new schedule.

"Alright, mom." Shade took into the air before hovering near Melody, "You can roost next to us. We have lots of room."

'Wait...roost?' That meant that Melody would have to sleep upside down. Melody winced at the idea. She was not sure that she was ready for that much of a change just yet. The thought of possibly falling in her sleep was not a pleasant one. She was not even sure how she managed it the first time around. Just the memory of waking up in the forest gave her the shivers.

"I don't know if I can sleep upside down," Melody blurted out, earning a surprised look from Shade's mother and the young bat himself.

"Sure you can. I've seen you roost in that pine tree," Shade brushed off Melody's remark like it was no big deal causing Melody to sigh. Sleeping upside down was probably second nature to him. No, she was sure it was.

"But I don't know how I even got up there, remember?" She stressed out, suddenly feeling rather tired of this conversation.

"What is this now?" Ariel pushed her way into the conversation, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You do not know how to roost?"

Melody bit her lip, "um...I..." What could she say? Suddenly, admitting that she was a human did not seem like such a good idea. Her fur prickled up as she could still feel the stares of the other bats. She could hear them whispering amongst themselves.