A Birth day

Aria heard Marcus and moved quickly over to him and gave him a tight hug as he woke " don't you scare me like that again or I'm coming after you, you get that" she said still with her face buried into his chest. Hearing him comment at Angus she looked up and chuckled. Ruby looked at Angus's shoulder again and nodded as she saw several find swimming around the wreak . " might want to wait till the frigate's out of sight before lighting a fire" she suggested the smoke might attract them."

Aria looked over and sighed " them? I saw them out the port hole before it all went black, think I hit my head when the boat tipped" she said touching a tender spot on the back of her head and showing red on her fingers " its not bad, I've had worse" she admitted and moved to check Ruby who she found had a single bump on her forehead. Turning back she looked over Marcus before sitting next to him again on the sand.

"That's why I didn't light a fire before you all woke up," Angus told Ruby. He opened the tool chest and found a small hatchet. "Bingo. Nice. I'll be back."

"Where are you going, Robinson Crusoe?" Marcus asked.

"Saplings and firewood," Angus said.

"One handed?"

"It's all I've got at the moment. When you three have your wits about you, you could look for some dry branches and kindling, if you're up to it," Angus suggested. He left their hiding place and started cutting some green saplings to bend them into a lean to, to give them a bit better shelter. And while he was at it, he was finding some dry branches and cutting them down to firewood size. It hurt like hell, but somebody had to do it. Besides, it kept him busy.

Marcus had started hunting firewood, and he found Angus hard at work with a little pile of saplings and a bit bigger pile of firewood. And blood running down his shoulder, his back, his chest and his arm.

"God, you're a mess. Come with me," Marcus said. "You'll scare Ruby to death like that." He led Angus to the shore and rinsed the blood off him. He took Angus's shirt, rinsed the blood out of it in he water and then tied it into a bit of a sling and hung it around Angus's neck. "Give me the hatchet. I'll chop. Why do you put some of that survival training to work and see if you can find us anything to eat that won't poison us. You can put whatever you find in the sling, and then when we empty it you can use it to take the weight off your arm."

Angus found some wild mushrooms and a number of different greens that would make a tasty salad. He didn't know if there were any foods at all tucked in the tool box, but he figured he'd look when he got a chance.

Meanwhile, Evan had finally been told about the weird, broken up message they'd gotten from Angus's boat. Someone had gotten a partial word "May" and a bunch of numbers. It took Evan just the briefest of moments before it added up with him.

"That's a mayday!" Evan shouted. "Get a ship ready, and get me a damned map. Get a move on. They're in trouble." He went to the floo and shouted through. "Robert, Jack, Edward, Anybody! Need the cavalry!"

Ruby looked at Marcus as Angus said he was going to get wood for a fire " all right" she said and stood up but then sat back down as Aria stood wobbled but stayed up on her feet .

"I'll do it" she said and headed down the beach looking for any drift wood they could use Ruby found a long stick not far from where she was sat and a sharp stone so she began whitling it into a spear so they could at least catch food if there were fish in the water. Aria returned with an arm full of whitened wood and placed it beside Ruby. She sat down next to her and looked at the spear she was working on.

"that looks good?" she said as Ruby handed it to her.

"your good at fishing with a spear, we need food, and Angus as good a cook as he is needs ingredient's" she said Aria nodded and slipped off her soaked coat leaving it hung on a branch hopefully to dry. Ruby watched her head to the shore and stand still then after a moment she pierced the water only to come back up empty . On her third try Aria jumped for joy as she caught a decent sized fish for them all and walked back to where Ruby sat.

" wonder what's taking the boys so long?" Aria sked and Ruby chuckled.

"Marcus is probably making sure Angus doesn't bugger up his shoulder or Robert will have his guts for garters" she said and chuckled knowing it was not true . Aria nodded and sat looking out at the ocean.

"wonder if Angus got off a distress call?" she asked " I remember shouting , something about no magic being able to be used." Ruby patted Aria's hand and smiled.

"Don't worry he'd have found away." she told her as she then picked up the fish " now whose cleaning this?" Aria laughed and picked up the stone Ruby had been using on the spear.

" I got it" she said.

MNrcus hauled back a big load of saplings and firewood.

"I chased Angus off to find some greens or whatever he can find here," Marcus said. "His idea of using young saplings is a good one. They'll be pliable. We can bend them into shape if we do it before they dry. And we found a lot of branches. I broke some down into firewood size. I think that'll last us a little, but I can cut more if we need to. I used his shirt as sort of a pouch for him to put whatever he salvages for us. And, yes, I did rinse the blood out of it before I had him putting potential food in it. He's alright, but I really don't want him chopping trees because it makes that shoulder bleed faster."

Marcus tried to use his medallion but it didn't work. He tried to fire some wandless spells and got absolutely nothing. He couldn't actually find his wand

"Damn," he sighed. "Lost my wand in that little swim we all took. And I actually liked that wand too. Guess I'll be going to Olivanders when we get back. You both have your wands? My medallion doesn't work and neither does my wandless magic."

Ruby saw Marcus return as did Aria who finished gutting the fish and placed it on the stick spear Ruby had made " that's good to know, we caught a fish" she said and held it up for him to see. Ruby chuckled and reached into her pocket taking out her rather wet wand and showed him as water dripped off its point to the sand below " its soggy but yeah I have mine."

Aria searched her pockets and found half a wand " dang it all" she said and held it up to Marcus. " mine broke." she said as Ruby tried to cast a spell with no success, " looks like what ever they did its still around us" Aria said.

"Nice spear fishing, Aria. Looks like a great fish. So, if our resident chef finds some greens, we might end up with fish and salad. I could do that. That thing with our magic is just really weird," Marcus replied. "I saw that magic surround the ship, but it seems like it has also affected us. I thought it was just making a sort of bubble around us that was affecting the ship but it looks like it somehow got us too. I didn't even have a chance to get back to the wheelhouse to try the muggle radio. If Angus didn't think of it, or if he couldn't get through, we could be on our own until we can either use our magic or until we can hollow out a canoe or something. No offense about being with you, but I really don't want to be stuck out here that long if we can do something different."

Nicky had alerted Robert to Evan's urgent SOS, and Robert was now paging any fighter on the estate that he could get. That had alerted Edward, Michael, Sam, Victor, and Kate. They were all hurrying now to the main house kitchen to find out what was going on.

Aria and Ruby both laughed " non taken , we both understand and want to get home too, but I agree it's weird as if they wanted us to be unable to use our magic" Aria said as Ruby nodded.

Jack and Jessie ran to the duplex and to Robert " what's wrong" Jack asked "is it priscilla again?" he asked as Jessie walked up beside him and waited for Robert to talk as they waited.

Ruby looked at Marcus and then at the pile of wood she also glanced out to see not seeing the ship any longer " okay any one got matches or a lighter coz we don't have magic so we're going to have to do this the muggle way, ships gone," she said placing a flat stick on the ground and picking up a thin one as she looked from Marcus to Aria " your the camping guys , not me" she said and chuckled.

"We don't know," Robert said, as everyone gathered. "Michael, you and I need to lead this one."

"Fine but what are we leading?" Michael asked.

"I just got an urgent SOS from Evan. Angus took Marcus and Ruby and Aria on a sailboat today for just a few hours' pleasure cruise. They were planning on being back before supper because Rosaria only packed them a lunch hamper. But--they got a partial distress call from Angus from the sailboat on the muggle radio. It was too staticky for them to get the whole message."

"Muggle?" Michael frowned deeper.

"He would only do that if he could not, for some reason, access his magic," Edward frowned. "The muggle radio is only there for a backup. They're definitely in trouble."

"Well, there's more," Robert continued. "There's some stormy weather over the Mediterranean, according to Evan. That's not unusual for winter, but it almost certainly forced Angus to deviate from the sailing plan he left behind at the charter office. How long ago he would have deviated or what he did as a deviation is not something we know. And, just to complicate things, there's one more thing. Evan has outfitted all the ships with a muggle GPS so that he can find any of the Donohue ships at any given moment. However, the GPS on the sailboat is gone. According to Evan, the charter staff had the sailboat on their muggle computer when Angus left port with it. Now, its completely gone, as if the ship simply doesn't exist."

"Well, that would mean one of two things," Edward said. "Either the GPS isn't working. Or the ship went down or somehow doesn't exist. The first scenario isn't necessarily a problem. The second one is disastrous."

"And surely the second one isn't that likely, given Angus's sailing skills."

"Not by Captain's error, no," Edward agreed. "And he always checks every ship before he takes it out. If there were a problem prior to launching, he'd have caught it. I'm surely not discounting that something could have happened at sea, but Angus would have done his level best to have kept them afloat. Something dire happened after they were underway. I hate to say it, but this looks darker by the moment. I hope they're still alive."

"But we've got four wizards--technically two wizards, two witches, and none of them, and no ship?" Kate asked. "Why haven't they signaled us? They've got their medallions."

"It's unlikely that all the medallions malfunctioned," Robert said. "I agree with Edward. Something's happened to the ship itself or their magic or both. Whatever it is, we have to get there immediately and launch a search. Evan was going to launch a search party, but I've told Evan we will be the search party. We're faster, better trained, and we can be there in moments."

"Well, you're in my territory now," Michael said, knowing he was the one who was always tasked at the Ministry with retrieving and rescuing agents in trouble.

"Indeed," Robert nodded, "and that's why you need to help lead this."

"I know the area and where he would most likely go to," Edward said, 'but I want to see his plans first. We'll have to try to take out another ship to go try to find them."

"Evan's getting a rescue vessel ready. He'll be waiting at the charter office for us. Under the circumstances, I suggest we not waste time," Robert said.

"But--lets not go without supplies," Michael said. "Robert, do please bring one of your larger size med kits--just in case someone is seriously injured. All of us needs to pack a bag in case we're there for a couple days."

"Edward, Nicky and Shannon could watch the babies for you," Kate said. "I'll ask Shannon to go over to the duplex and get them straight away."

"Good idea," Edward nodded. "I need to tell Simone anyway."

"Pack your bags, and get your gear, Gang. We're doing an emergency sea rescue," Robert said. "Try to be ready to port out to Tuscany in five minutes or less.  Let's go asap. We don't know that time might not be of the essence." Everyone broke up, on the run, to go pack their bags.

Jack and Jessie listened to Robert and nodded at each word each now focused on the job at hand, finding their people. Jack moved and accioed a black bag and handed it to Robert  as Jessie grabbed some food and blankets he shrunk them and placed them into his back pack that he slung over his shoulder and returned transfiguring their clothing to mission wear but more sturdy for being out on the ocean.

" okay got your bag added more kits and potions especially since it was mostly all used up" Jack said as he placed it by Roberts feet "I also added a pack of magic wrap. Just in case" he said and looked at Robert to say that he knew Angus would damage his shoulder again.

Angus brought back a large bundle of mushrooms and fresh greens and herbs that he had foraged. He had rinsed them before returning to their camp, and Marcus took the fish that Aria had caught and he roasted it over the fire. Angus speared the mushrooms on some thin twigs and he roasted them as well. While they were roasting, Angus tore the greens into small bites and mixed them. When the fish was roasted, Angus cut a pocket in each piece of fish and stuffed the roasted mushrooms and the fresh greens and herbs into the pockets. Marcus rooted in the tool box and found a couple of stray restaurant takeout salt packets in the very bottom . It wasn't a lot, but it would give them about a gram and a half of salt to use. Angus used it sparingly on the fish and then, using a grape leaf as a means to hold the fish, he handed everyone a piece of fish that was stuffed with the mushrooms and greens and herbs.

"Sorry, All. It's survival fare," Angus apologized in advance.

"Oh, well done, All," Marcus said, taking a bite of his fish. "No apologies needed, Angus. Gourmet Castaway. This is really very tasty. You might have to hang onto this recipe."


 
"Thank you," Robert replied to Jack. "The magic wraps are good ideas since we have no idea what we might run into.

Kate packed a clothing bag for her and Robert. She talked to Shannon about the babies, and then she made a hurried trip to the sickbay to fetch a couple surgical kits to add to Robert's medical bag just in case.

Edward apparated back to the duplex and told Simone about the situation and then hurried upstairs to pack for both of them. Sam and Victor were also racing back to the house to pack. They knew that someone might give them static about going, but this was their family. They needed to be there. While they were packing, Nicky and Shannon came over and got the babies and Finn. Edward had a brief conversation with Evan while Simone went up to Edward's lab and grabbed several bottles of Edward's potions that she thought might come in useful. Then she hurried back down and put them in their bag.

As they gathered, Robert began to feel frustration.

"I wish we had a damned portkey to the charter office," Robert sighed.

"We do," Michael said, drawing a key out of his pocket. "I made one when we were doing that underwater business last year."

"Good man," Robert nodded. When everyone was there, Michael told them to gather together, and then he ported them all to Tuscany. He landed in the alley right beside the charter office.

"Well done, Michael," Robert said. "i don't think you could have gotten us closer."

"I am to please," Michael smiled. Edward was already headed right for the chapter office, and Robert, Kate, Simone and Michael were right behind him.

The office workers saw Edward's man-on-a-mission stride when he entered the office.

"What have you got, Evan?" Edward shouted.

"Back here," Evan called. Edward motioned to the team members behind him, and he went through the office back into Evan's office where Evan had a mass of maps and paperwork spread across a large folding conference table in the center of the room.