“No. Now get in the water."

Teaching Madison to swim was oddly comical. The moment that the bat- shifter's toes couldn't the floor of the pool anymore, she started to panic, and it took a lot of coaxing from Heda to calm her down. Even Timothy got into the act. He was on his school's swim team, and watching Madison flounder seemed to strike a nerve with him. Mr. Hannity just sat in a pool chair and watched, his eyes twinkling with delight. Lemonade magically appeared several times at poolside to the joy of all, and then it was back to drowning . . . uhm, swimming Lessons.

The only thing that kept Madison going was the knowledge that no one was going to allow her on the water-slide until she learned how to stay afloat. Once that had sunk in, she dedicated herself to the art of dog paddling. Finally, when the others were no longer afraid that she would sink like a rock, the water to the slide was turned on and away they went.

All in all, it was a joyful afternoon for them all. You would never have known that Morgan and Madison had not been "sisters" for their entire lives. Timothy, it turned out, was actually more fascinated by Heda when he found out who her mother was, leading to the repetition of "What's it like being Jessica Adler's daughter?" conversation. Tim had apparently done a paper on the insect-shifter uprising.

Swimming was great, dinner was excellent, and the tour of the house was impressive. But nothing compared to one simple question.

Mr. Hannity looked over at Heda.

"I don't mean to exclude you, but I was wondering if we might spend some time alone with Madison.

Maybe go for a nice night flight?"

Heda's heart swelled with an overload of joy at the look on Madison's face. Flying with other bats . . . flying with family.

There was nothing that she had wanted more when she was growing up.

“Fly?" she whispered.

"Yes. There's some wonderful wooded areas to the East that are great for stretching your wings. Interested?"

Madison just nodded.

"Can we go now?"

Madison was positively giddy. She and the Hannity clan had raced through any number of parks before getting to a small patch of wilderness, then she and Timothy had hunted bugs, Morgan had hung around in a peach tree, and Mr. Hannity . . . well, he watched. He seemed to be pretty good at just watching. Madison had not wanted the night to end.

The window to her bedroom had been left open so that she could fly in and change. By the time she was done, there was already a knock on her door. She opened up to find Morgan in a robe on the other side.

"Hey!" Madison said, her heart still fluttering.

"Hey," Morgan said, giving the newcomer a big hug.

"What's that for?" Madison replied.

"For being here."

"I still can't believe how well you're taking this. I mean, your parents may be getting divorced, and your brother . . . He's an asshole, but he's still your family."

Morgan sighed.

"Can I come in for a sec?" When Madison waved her in, she went and sat in the chair next to the bed.

"I'm mad at Alvin and Mom. Alvin was a jerk, but I've never known him to attack a girl.