A Birth day

"You ought to see her at karioke," Lee laughed. "She does a mean Tina Turner impression to Proud Mary." Robert looked at Lee, and then seeing he was serious, he looked at Tiggy, frowning. She shrugged, not denying it. "She's actually won three karioke championships for it."

"Four," Tiggy said.

"I'm not touching that one," Robert shook his head. "I'm going to go check on Angus to see if we can roust him awake just enough to port him home."

"Oh, Minister Lupin," Tiggy said, "I'll give you the tube of potion we used. A reveal spell will show you the formula in case he needs any more before I can bring some this afternoon."

"Thank you," Robert said, as she handed him the empty tube from her bag

"And I think Tig and I will head home so we can see you later. Thanks for the assist and some great coffee. We'll see you in a few hours," Lee said. Tiggy went over and took his arm, and they ported out.

Robert went to Angus and sat down on the edge of the bed and woke him. Angus woke with a start.

"Calm. You're safe," Robert said gently. "Feeling any better?"

"Some, yes," Angus said.

"Some discomfort still?"

"Compared with what I had, not so much. This is minor compared to what I had earlier. Are you sure it was just a spell?" Angus asked. Robert checked Angus for a moment.

"Well, that discomfort is not necessarily so little," Robert said. "That damned spell mocks a massive heart attack. No wonder you're rattled. That had to have scared the daylights out of you. I'll make you some more of the potion we gave you earlier once we get home to get rid of the rest of the discomfort, but it really is just the spell she cast. Actually, if she is capable of that sort of spell power, then we might be up against it this time trying to stop her. So here's my thought. I think we need to take you home and let you just rest a bit, and I'll bring you more potion just as soon as I can."

"Did you learn anything from Lee?"

"Quite a bit, actually. Now, listen to me, Lad. I do not want you, under any circumstances, to go after Suzanne or this woman or anyone else. I want you to sit your butt in your chair and stay there til I get you more potion. I don't care if Ruby needs to handcuff you to the chair. There's too much you don't know. I'll fill you in, but if you disobey me on this, I swear, I'll put you in a bug jar in my basement. You understand me?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Angus said.

"Jack," Robert called. "Get Marcus. Let's get the hell home, shall we?"

Marcus laughed when Jack said he'd knocked on three doors to find him.

"Sorry," Marcus said. "She's fine. She knows the truth, as much as I knew, but I might have minimized it just a little bit to keep from worrying her any further. Hopefully she remembers its just the effects of the spell when we get home with him. She's done well so far since getting back from Jeffrey's. I guess this might be one of the first tests she's had."

They walked back to where Angus and Robert was, and Angus heard Jack talk about carrying him over the threshold.

"You're going to carry me over the threshhold, and he's gonna put me in a bug jar," Angus said. "Marcus, you might need to rescue me from both of them." Marcus laughed out loud, and he helped Angus up, putting Angus' bad arm around his shoulder because for him to put his arm around Jack's shoulder meant Angus would have to reach for it.

"Let's go home," Robert said when they were all ready. In a moment, he had ported them home to the front porch of the duplex. Marcus opened the door.

"Honey, we're home," Marcus called to Ruby teasingly, intending to keep things light. "Where's breakfast?"

The teens seemed almost to freeze in their tracks, seeing Marcus and Jack bringing Angus in. Anise thought Angus looked rough, like he'd been through something awful.

"Stand down, Guys," Angus said. "It's fine. I'm okay. It just took the energy right out of me. You're going to work, and I'm going to sit here and spend a day of leisure while you lot go to work. That's the plan."

"You want some tea?" Ginger asked him.

"At this hour, he's going to want coffee," Anise said, knowing Angus's habits. "I'll get it."

"Don't fuss," Angus told them. "Just get ready for work, all of you." Marcus helped him to his chair. Angus looked to see Abbey standing in the living room with her little arms crossed, almost looking irked. "Abs?" he asked.

"Snaky woman hurted you," she scowled.

"What?" Robert looked at her. "Who did you say?"

"Snaky lady. She ugly. And she gots a big ugly snake."

"You saw her?" Robert asked. Abbey nodded.

"What else do you know? Do you know where she lives?"

"In the ground," she told Robert. "In a hole." Robert frowned. That didn't make any sense at all.

"I don't understand."

"She gots a box."

"Well, that cleared it right up," Robert said, intending for the adults to know it was sarcasm but he didn't want Abbey to know it was sarcasm.

"Well, now, that might make sense," Marcus said. "Especially if she wanted some of her followers to think she was the real Marie Laveau. Nice work, Ruby. If Abbey's right, she's got quite the con going on. There's a whole story here that we need to explain to you, Ruby."

"You and Jack read her in, and I'm going to get back and brew up a batch of Tiggy's potion. I'll either come over or send it over when I'm done," Robert said. He looked at Angus. "And you. Just remember--bug jar." He picked up the mug of tea that Ruby had just poured. "I'll bring the mug back. Thanks." He took the mug and went to the main building to brew the potion."

"Who's Tiggy..." Angus began. "Oh wait. That's that nine year old kid Lee had with him, isn't it?" Marcus began to laugh out loud.

"She's actually full grown," Marcus said.

"With a a full height of three foot, nothing? I don't think so," Angus said. Marcus laughed harder.

"She's 26," Marcus laughed. "And she's probably more like 4'9. She's a bit taller than three foot. And according to Lee she's a potions making genius. She made the potion that stopped that curse for you. Robert's going to make more for you to get rid of what little residual you still have."

"Roobee? Can I have red juice?" she asked.

"What sort of juice is that?" Marcus frowned.

"Oh, that's just a little thing I made for her on special occasions. I just mixed some cranberry juice with some regular lemon lime soda--just enough to give it some sweetness and some fizz. And I put it in her cup with some ice," Angus said. "She calls it red juice. I never did have a name for it."

"Sanks!" Abbey said. She climbed up in the chair on Angus's lap, not liking that Angus had been hurt. She just wanted to cuddle and drink her juice. "She no hurt you no more. Cris and I put our furs on and bite her. Then she no come back no more." Angus smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I appreciate that, Abs."

"Well, you basically have it right," Marcus said. "Apparently Angus saw a woman in his dream and it was she who broke through the protection spell Kate had around Angus. That's what woke him up," Marcus said. "We went to Paris to try to find out what her link was to Suzanne, and we ran into Lee and his people. It turns out this particular witch has started impersonating a famous American voodoo priestess from the 1800's, and even calling herself the same name--Marie Laveau. And, she's been killing both wizards and muggles. Lee believes she's been trying some of her potions and spells on muggles that she's kidnapped, like lab rats, and then tries them again on wizards that she takes. Lee wasn't sure what she was using them for, but I think Robert thinks she's doing it to try to fill some demand of Suzanne's. They think this woman is in it for the money, and we all know what Suzanne is doing. The spell this woman used on Angus is one that Robert thinks is used simply to intimidate and frighten and control. It causes the victim to go through the symptoms of a massive heart attack. That's what she cast on Angus. He has a bit of residual pain but compared to what he felt earlier, he's dramatically better. This Tiggy woman of Lee's has already made a potion to cure the effects of the spell, and she gave Angus what she had with her. That's what Robert has gone to make more of."

"Lee is coming back here at lunch time for a meeting with everyone to make some sort of plan. He needs our help," Angus said.

"The meeting is going to be in the main house, so you don't have to cook. Robert will let Zoe and Nicky do that. He told us he has a job for you and me. He told Angus he wants him to just rest for a bit this morning and that it was our job to keep Angus from going after either your mother or that creole woman because if he tries it, Robert said he was going to put Angus in one of his bug jars."

"I take your jar to my room, Aggie," Abbey said. "It be okay."

"You wouldn't let me out?" Angus frowned at her. She frowned right back at him.

"Noooo. Pip eat buggies. No want him eat you," she said. Marcus laughed.

"Well, thank you for making sure Pip doesn't eat me," Angus laughed.

"I think I'm going to get a piece of fruit or something. We missed breakfast," Marcus said. "You want something, Angus?"

"Whatever you're having," Angus said. "That's fine. Don't go to any trouble."