"Thank you," Edward said. "She hasn't been communicating with me. so I have no idea what she's on about right now. Thanks for the heads up, though. "
"The cookies will be done in a moment. I know what he wanted with them, so when they cool, I'll finish the job for him," Simone smiled. "I'm starting to smell his chicken. He recently bought a new kind of smoked paprika that he's wanted to try, and I smell it. I think those chickens are going to smell like he cooked them outside over an open fire. They'll be completely divine. I'm glad you told us that Caprice took the boys outside. I would have thought, though, that if we had an intruder we'd have heard some sort of alarm. I know Kate told me that Jack tightened security, so I'd have thought that we'd have heard if someone was here who shouldn't be."
"Well, on an estate this large, though, anything can happen," Edward said. "Sometimes trouble comes without it being an intruder. It happens sometimes in Tuscany too. Let's not get overly excited until we know we need to."
Angus and Marcus hiked the better part of an hour, and then Angus saw Caprice suddenly off the ground, hovering over something. Angus started to rush forward, and at the last minute, Marcus yanked him back, hard, hard enough that they both ended on the ground.
"Sorry. Sharp drop off. There's our sinkhole, and it looks more like a damned crater to me," Marcus said. They both got to their feet and lit their wands and shined it down into the hole. It was so deep that at first, Angus couldn't see the bottom. And then Marcus heard crying, like a tiny voice. Caprice motioned to Angus and floated down into the hole.
"She wants me to climb down," Angus said.
"Then she should have told you to bring a bloody rope," Marcus scowled.
"I dont know if I'd have heard her. I'll have to freehand it," Angus said.
"Well, shit. That means we're freehanding it," Marcus sighed. The two of them started down, and the farther they went down, the more they heard the crying. It sounded like a small child. And then Angus saw it. It was Abbey.
"Abs!" Angus shouted. "I'm here. I'm coming, Abs! Hold on!" Angus hurried, taking somewhat risky choices to try to get to her sooner. But when he got there, he saw she was hurt. He believed she had a broken leg, most likely. She was dirty and bruised and hurt. "How did you get way out here?" Angus asked. "What happened?"
"I dreamed about her. She needed help..."
"Who?"
"The sparkle buggy," she pointed to the ground several feet from her.
"A sparkle bug?" Angus asked. Marcus slowly went over and looked at the tiny glowing light in a thick patch of weeds.
"Ah. Poor thing," Marcus said. "You know what you've got, Abbey. That's a fairy, and she's hurt. Maybe a broken wing." He looked up at Angus and shook his head. He wasn't expecting the tiny fairy to live.
"And the sparkle wormies. We have to help the wormies too," Abbey said.
"Those aren't worms, Abbey, Those are tiny baby fairy eggs. When they hatch, they'll weave themselves into cocoons like butterflies and when they break out of the cocoons, they'll be fairies like their mum."
"And what made you an authority on fairies?" Angus asked Marcus.
"Evelyn had to be an authority on something," Marcus shrugged. "She knew all sorts of things about some of the small magical creatures--including fairies."
"We gots to get them out," Abbey said. Angus was finding a straight stick. He used a spell to cut the stick in half and took off his jacket to take off his shirt. He cut one of the sleeves into ribbons and used the stick and the fabric scraps to tie the sticks onto either side of her leg as an inprovised splint. That made her really cry because it hurt, but once he got it into place, it was a little better. He cut off the other sleeve and used it to make a bit of a pouch to put the eggs into.
"You can't take the eggs to the main house. Bowtruckles think fairy eggs are a special delicacy," Marcus said. "Fudge and whats-her-name will eat them."
"Oh, fine. What's a few hundred more," Angus rolled his eyes.
"They only lay about fifty at a time," Marcus said.
"You're not being helpful," Angus said. "So my house is going from twelve to maybe 63? Fabulous," Angus said. He wiped away Abbey's tears and wrapped his jacket around her, and Marcus took off his jacket and gave it to Angus.
"I at least have a shirt," Marcus said. He enlarged the pocket on his shirt and stuffed some soft moss in the pocket for a cushion before he gently picked up the fairy and tucked the limp little creature in his pocket. "Abbey, can you hang onto the fairy eggs please? Be very gentle." She nodded. Angus picked her up.
"Lets apparate back," Marcus said. "I don't think we should try to freehand back up with her, not if we can apparate."
"Agreed," Angus said. Marcus took hold of Angus's arm, and he apparated them to the back yard. They walked into the kitchen.
"Oh my!" Kate said, seeing them with an injured Abbey. "We've been tearing the place apart looking for her. Let me find Robert. He's outside somewhere."
"I think she broke her leg," Angus said. Kate hit her medallion, knowing that would likely bring Robert and, probably, Jess too. Robert apparated there in a moment.
"Thank God," Robert said, deeply relieved. "I don't know how I'll ever thank you both. Kate, get me a clean nightgown for Abbey. Not pajamas. I'm taking her downstairs. Jess can help me if she's available, otherwise I can handle it." He took Abbey and now noticed all the small gauze patches all over Angus. "Looks like I need to see you when I'm done with her."
"Its nothing. Its been tended," Angus said. "Do you have any bug jars here?"
"Bug jars? Sure. Upstairs. Need a couple?"
"Yeah. I do," Angus said.
"Well, Kate, will you take care of whatever he's found after you bring me the nightgown?"
"Certainly," Kate replied. "Hold on, Boys, I'll be right with you." Robert headed downstairs with Abbey.
"We need to find Jack and tell him about that sinkhole and where it is. He'll need to get that cordoned off," Angus told Marcus.
by 
