A Birth day

Aria looked at Marcis and sighed nodding " yeah " she said but when she was paired with her father she groaned " shesh why me" she said softly then looked at Marcus " better come back" she said with a smile as she moved to her fathers side " because I do not want to be stuck with his old man" she said thumbing to Radagast. as he gathered a third of the men and moved them to the place Robert had pointed out now he stood and thought the bubbles " if you gentlemen would oblige " he said and threw down his bubble so it exploded " Aria remember your talent when you were a child" he asked Aria rolled her eyes .

"how could I you made me do it every evening" she said but shook her head the bubbles should be enough" she said and Radagast shook his head .

" stubborn" he said simply as Aria started throwing her baubles out shaking the ground under them making the sound loud " hope this is what Robert wanted . As the rest followed Radagast cast a spell to make the sound louder and louder like thunder around them.

Ruby moved with the second group and when Aria s group started they did the same from their direction feeling the sound intensify around them.

Caprice began to move faster and faster, and Marcus ran to keep up with her, she was deliberately missing certain obstacles as they ran, and Marcus was feeling something that felt like waves of painful tingling brushing against his skin every so often. It felt intensely negative. Marcus was feeling that it was some sort of boundary, and he began to understand that it was when one of the team had crossed this invisible boundary, then they were whisked off to some cockamamy place or circumstance. 

"I think this is making some sort of bizarre sense, in its own way," Marcus said.

"Good. That will help you," Caprice said. "Now, you need to remember that New Orleans is well below the water table. There are no cellars here because of it. Do not let what your eyes see deceive you. What the elemental wants you to see and feel is that you are going underground. You're not. Ignore your body's sensations and keep following me.

"Have you found him?"

"Yes, but in my noncorporeal form, I was helpless to do anything substantive to help him. You should fare better. You are both nearly out of time...." She paused, holding them up. "Look." She pointed in the distance, and Marcus could see specks of light. "Torches," she said. "They're gathering for the ritual. Most of the ones who came for the ritual are being drawn off by your other team mates. You should have 12 or so to fend off. Give your team mate almost all the rest of your bubbles. He will need them." she looked at Jack. 

"You," she told Jack, "drive the rest off. Roar like the beast that you have suppressed inside. Blow some of the bubbles. Set fires. Whatever it takes, but drive them off. Marcus needs time to get to him and release him." She looked back at Marcus. "You can pick a lock, right?"

"If I have something to pick it with. Wait." He reached up into her hair and took out Kate's large barrette, and he took the wires and broke them off and tucked the face of the barrette with the jewel on it in his pocket and made a mental note to get it repaired for her. 

"When you have them driven off, I will take you to help him get Angus out. He will need your strength. He is unconscious," she told Jack. She pointed out a battered looking house through the trees.

"It is supposed to look like the guest house. You will feel like you're going down to the cellar but you're going up to the third floor--to the attic. Don't think you can leave by the cellar window because it will actually be a very long way down." She pointed to what looked like a pair of exterior cellar doors. "That's your way in. It is unlocked. They will want to go get him to bring him for the ritual any minute." She looked at Jack. "You need to be a one man demolition team to drive them away from Angus. Go now."

Jack followed Caprice and Robert moving just as quick with them until they stopped hearing her talk to him and he nodded taking the bubbles he headed to the circle and let out a howl that he was sure shook the ground and made the air vibrate around them then he threw the bubbles howling once more this time louder with all the air in his lungs as the bubbles exploded around them. It was now cracks of lighting snapped around the room and Radagast stepped out with Aria following in her hand sat a ball of lighting her eyes bright light lightning a she cast them around the room almost floating to Roberts side as she made the lightning hit each bubble exploding them louder.

"hope we didn't miss the party cher" Radagast said smiling as his eyes sparkled in mischief at what he saw. " Aria." he said and she raised her hands above her head sending bolts once more hitting the baubles " her party piece" he said as Aria looked to Marcus before refocusing.

Fenrir heard Jack's howl, and he recognized the sort of warning it was giving. The pack knew it too. Fenrir and Dennis neither one waited for any sort of invitation and gave a return call, wanting to join Jack. Caprice reached over and touched Marcus's medallion. That allowed Dennis to hone in on Jack, and Dennis and Fenrir apparated to Jack's position and took up positions on either side of him. They saw what he was doing, and they joined in to help drive off everyone from Marcus. If there was one thing Fenrir knew well how to do, Fenrir knew how to cause all sorts of hell, and Dennis was willing to fight for his daughter's 'stepfather.' 


Marcus ran down the cellar steps and found a room of old musty smelling black river rock. It smelled moldy and damp down here. It was lit by dozens and dozens of flickering candles. Marcus needed a few minutes to weave his way through the winding passages to get to Angus but then he finally saw him. His pajama trousers had been changed to some sort of white heavy cotton trousers. 

It looked very much like a mausoleum down here, but Marcus firmly believed this was all illusion. Angus was chained, with big heavy, iron boat chains to a stone bier. A big old rusty padlock held the shackles in place. Marcus went to him to make sure he was still alive. When he got close, he could see Angus was still breathing, but he could see that there was some sort of a head injury because there was blood running from the back of Angus's head and running down the side of the stone. 

He focused on the lock. He worked steadily, and after a moment, he heard the tumblers roll, and the lock clicked open with a loud snapping sound.

"Go!" Caprice shouted at Jack. "Go now! Downstairs. You need to bring him out and take him back to his leader. Hurry, before the elemental can attack you."

Marcus was hurrying to open the shackles that bound all four of Angus's limbs so they could get him out. Marcus could see Angus had a lot of bruises forming. Clearly, Angus had had a hell of a brawl some time within the last couple hours. But, from what Marcus could see, Angus had also had far worse. Ruby would be relieved, Marcus thought.

Jack saw Aria and her father enter distracting the worshipers while he nodded to Caprice, he nodded to her and handed the last of the bubbles to the closet man and ran towards where Marcus had gone Aria kept hitting the worshippers with bolts containing them as she watched Jack disappear down into the place Marcus went but she focused on her task knowing Marcus would be fin.

Jack ran following Marcus scent then the scent of blood entering the room he ran right over to Marcus taking his claws he sliced the chain but it did nothing and pulled at them to move them off Angus lifting him bridle style " lets get out of here" he said grabbing Marcus too he ran full speed out the room and back the way they came . Pausing at Robert he placed Angus down as Ruby ran over and checked him but then looked at Robert knowing she was just panicking and to let him do the checking.

Aria sent a large bolt to the people sending them sprawling out cold on the floor slowly she let the sparks of electricity leave and eh stumbled back against Radagast " with a soft "fils de pute" she cursed as she stood on wobbly legs " you know it drains me" she said pushing away from him a she regained some strength.before walking away from him and sitting down.

Jessie walke dover to Jack as he let Fenrir deal with the worshippers " how is he?" he asked and Jack shrugged his shoulders . " we wait for Robert's assessment and that will be when were back at the duplex, but when we get back tighten those damn barriers and charms" he said Jessie nodded.

Caprice looked at Jack and Jessie. 

"The voodoo woman that helped you before," she told them. "Ila. Angus remembers her. Contact her tomorrow. Get her help to seal the land and the properties from the elemental. You will deal with the one controlling the elemental soon enough. For now, you need protection from the elemental because your property and Edward's is not shielded from that sort of magic. Your Fae friends can provide a little protection for now, but they can't do it on an ongoing basis because there are too few of them."

Nigel came up from the airboat he'd been on, and he joined Robert on the shore now. The two of them took a look at him. 

"It's a damned good thing he has a hard head," Nigel told Robert.

"Certainly is," Robert said. "Blunt force trauma injuries. His head took the worst of it."

"I've got 2 ribs here and some bruised vertebrae." Nigel said. They rolled Angus onto his side, and Robert cussed. 

"Look here," Robert said, pointing to some deep bruises that were forming on his back.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nigel asked.

"Certainly is," Robert said. Robert looked up at the others. "He's going to be okay, but he's gonna hurt for a bit. He clearly did his best to fight his way out, but it looks like he was either outnumbered or overpowered or both. They didn't care what they did to him because they were going to kill him anyway. We'll get him home, and we'll take care of him. Ruby, this is going to cause him some pain, but we know he's certainly had far, far worse. What matters is that we got him out in time." He stood up to talk to everyone that had come along. 

"Excellent work, every one of you. I can't begin to thank you enough. Well done. For anyone who wants breakfast, you're welcome to come back to the estate. For the rest of you who choose not to come, you have our gratitude, and you'll have a bonus, of course, in your checks. Mission accomplished, and teams dismissed. You're welcome to board the boats to go back to the pier and then, do please have a safe journey home. Goodnight."

Jack looked at Angus and Marcus and where Ruby knelt next to Angus as Nigel appeared and checked him out , he breathed out a little and heard Robert dismiss the men. Walking over he gently scooped Angus up into his arms " I'll send a message as soon as we get back , Jessie bring up his bed when we return I'll hold him until then" Jack said and Jessie nodded porting back to the duplex now that he could.

Jack looked to Robert " e should go" he said porting with Ruby back to the duplex where Jessie finishe dplacing a clean sheet on the special bed. Ruby let go of Jack and headed to the kitchen bringing back a clean bowl of warm water and a bottle of pain potion placing it beside the bed she started cleaning off the blood ready for a healer. Jess walked in and over to the bed checking him she nodded and began to heal his head and set the bruises to heal along with the ribs .

"Robert told you he'd be in pain tomorrow" she asked and Ruby nodded " I see the pain potion, good" she said smiling. Ari stayed sat on a tree stump watching the others leave Radagast helped her stand and ported her back to the duplex then sat her down accioing a glass of energy potion " drink" he said softly. Aria took it and sipped it slowly knowing too much too fast would send her head spinning and her face plant on the living room floor.

Jessie stepped back as Yu walke din wrapping his arms around him from behind. " told you I'd be back" he said Jessie chuckled and nodded as he felt Yu lean his head down " we should let them tend to him, we have some time alone before Chris returns and we can't do any good crowding them." he said softly as together they headed to the cabin.

Jack wrote a note to Ila and sent it threw the floo for her to come the following day.Jess finished her assessment and let everything heal while Ruby bandaged Angus head wound.

Robert ported Kate and Nigel home to the yard on the estate. 

"I'll go fetch your bag, shall I? Here. Take mine til I can fetch yours," Nigel said, heading inside. 

"Thank you," Robert said. He lifted Kate's face so he could look into her eyes. "Kate? Are you with me?"

"I am," she sighed. "I must say I am tapped, though."

"You don't normally let yourself be taken over for that long. Well done though. How's your shoulder? You feel alright?"

"It hurts, but I'll survive. Oh, speaking of that, I did bring back a souvenir." She reached in her shirt pocket and produced for him the brick that had been made of Ruby's note. She had shrunken it and tucked it in her pocket.

"So you take home the brick that clocked you?" he laughed. 

"It's unusual to see a note that is transfigured to a brick by an elemental."

"I see. Well, enjoy your souvenir, my dear. Are you steady enough on your feet to go inside? i think you should ask Nicky to brew you some seers' tea and then, once your energy is a bit more stable, I think you should turn in and get a little sleep. I was going to go into the office when we got back, but I think I will change my mind since we've been up all night. I'll take care of Angus, check on Poppy, and then, hopefully, I can come back and get a little shut eye myself."

"Well, don't stay too long. Get him settled, and let someone else stay with him for a little," Kate said.

"That's my plan," he said. "It isn't as if we're short on healers here. He won't stay in bed once he wakes up anyway. Not even if I transfigure him into a fitted sheet."

"Why is why you like him--because he's relentless," she laughed. "I'll see you in a little bit." She turned and headed to the house. Robert went to the duplex, knocked on the door and let himself in.

"Oh, Jess, glad you're here," Robert said. "Thanks for getting a head start. Nigel's fetching my bag, but he'll be along."

Marcus came downstairs with a clean pair of cornflower blue pajama trousers, along with Angus's summer bathrobe--it was a waffle weave cotton in a light blue color.

"Good. You're ahead of me too. Thank you, Marcus," Robert said.

"Is there anything else we can do to help?" Marcus asked.

"Well, actually, yes. He's going to need some seers' tea when he wakes, so one of you could brew some of that at some point. He doesn't need it the minute he wakes but sometime today would be nice. That, and Nigel and I might need some coffee. Oh, and he definitely is going to need some soft ice packs."

"Coming right up," Marcus said, knowing the ice packs were not as optional as the seers' tea. Nigel apparated into the living room with Robert's bag.

"Knock knock," Nigel said, knowing that by apparating in, he hadn't actually knocked.

"Come in, Nigel," Marcus laughed.

"Thank you," Nigel said, putting Robert's bag next to Robert. "So your boy is still out, I see."

"Yes, well, he took a hard hit, I think," Robert said. "It might take him a minute."

"Oh, hello, Jess," Nigel said. "Getting a head start? Good. I want to get a better look at the soft tissue stuff on his back."

"Me too," Robert said. The two of them turned him onto his side. 

"Not going to be pretty, is it?" Nigel said, looking at the bruises that were forming.

"Not at all," Robert replied. He ran his hand carefully down Angus's spine. "Bone bruises at L-1, L-2, and some at T-12. No fractures though."

"Good. That's what I thought but I wasnt entirely sure about that. Your hands are better than mine at that," Nigel replied. 

"Two rib fractures on the right--number 10 and 11," Robert said. 

"I'm more concerned about the soft tissue damage there," Nigel said.

"You should be because that's the troublemaker. His kidney has some soft tissue damage. I think, if we set healing spells in place and keep careful watch for the first week, maybe we can skate by treating it like a bruise."

"If he'll behave himself," Nigel said. "Look here, Jess. You'll see more of this in a muggle society than ours. See these odd shaped, big bruises that are starting to form on the right side of his back, here and here? They won't be fully formed for another couple days, but when they do all form, he's not going to be looking quite so fetching." He pointed out the smaller of the two large bruises to her--it was rather rectangular and was a couple of inches long. "That one will have some defined edges to it when it fully forms. That shape is caused by a man's steel-toed work boot that has a square toe to it. And you see this big bruise below it? That isn't nearly as big or as defined as its going to get. That one is going to start right over his right kidney, and it's going to go diagonally down his back and around towards the front of his rib cage. What you're seeing there is a full on, full foot print of the same square toed boot. Not a small man either." He saw one of Angus's shoes on the floor, picked it up, and held it up to the bruise that was forming. The bruise was already bigger than the sole of Angus's shoe. 

"Angus's shoe size is, I'm guessing..." Nigel said

"Angus wears a ten," Marcus said.

"Ah. Good. That is helpful," Nigel said. "This boot has to be close to a twelve, and it much wider. This says at some point they got the best of him, he was down on the ground, and some big galoot kicked him at least twice. By the looks of it, the damage could have been a good deal worse. It could have caused him very serious damage. As it is, he escaped with a minimum of damage. He must have been trying to protect himself."

"So, here's where it applies to us," Robert said. "This is going to need pain control, ice for swelling, huge amounts of rest, anti-inflammatory potions, very likely anti-nausea medications, and some very close monitoring and checking to make sure the kidney stay functioning as it should and that he doesn't develop any internal bleeding. I'm not expecting trouble, but we would not be providing quality care if we didn't keep checking for it."

"If he were purely my case," Nigel said, "I'd be putting him on bedrest for the first couple of days and then near bedrest for the rest of the week, but I do know that, first, it isn't my case. And second, Angus is one stubborn little buggar. He's going to do what he wants to do, regardless of what anyone tells him."

"I'll have a word with him," Robert said. "He doesn't try to be disagreeable. He really doesn't. He just wants the people in his house to be safe. If we can settle that for him, and keep Priscilla out of his head, he'll have a lot less problems with behaving. I'll have a word with Kate after she's had some sleep to see if there's anything else we can do to block any seer's energies from affecting him for awhile."

"I can talk to him too," Marcus said. 

"That would help," Robert said. "I will station Andrew here to keep a close eye on him for the next few days, perhaps for this week. We'll just have to see how he does. 

"Now, Ruby," Robert said, "between the concussion and the kidney bruising and spinal bruising, he's going to be pretty uncomfortable, especially if he tries to up and about. I'm going to settle his pain for him for the first couple of days, and then we'll see where we are. That should help settle him. If it's still causing him to be unsettled, let me know. I'll increase the pain potion or increase the pain relief spell. Soft ice packs will help too. 

"As for food and drink," he continued, "Gently encourage fluids. That will help the kidney. Don't overdo the coffee or the tea because those are harder on the kidney. Water, lemonade, decaffeinated beverages, perhaps some soda, broths and stocks are all fine. Even a gentle cream soup, like a cream of chicken or cream of mushroom would be fine. We don't want to overdo the fluids or the sodium either one. Andrew will be advising you on whether we need to push more or pull back depending on kidney function and blood pressure levels. Angus won't feel like eating anything particularly rich or spicy for a couple days anyway. 

"If things get too noisy or chaotic downstairs, I'd suggest you have Jack temporarily take that big double bed out of your room so we can move Angus's bed upstairs into the quiet. We can put a temporary twin up there for you if you like. I don't think that will last more than a few days, if at all. But his concussion may very well make him noise sensitive for a little. Or--as an alternative, send the babies over to Edward and Simone's side for a couple days. That might be even better. Less confusion. Now, I've thrown pages and pages of information at you. What questions do you have for me?"

Aria listened to Robert as Jess tended to Angus she slipped to the kitchen and put the kettle on . Jess looked up as she saw Nigel and Robert enter " I balanced out his energy's and started minor wounds healing" she said as she finished cleaning off the blood from his head wound. Each listened to Robert and Nigel while Jess monitored Angus when she was instructed to look at a wound she nodded she agree with Nigel " steel toe cap, that's what damaged his kidney" she said and looked at Nigel as he spoke to Robert.

Aria heard Robert mention seers tea and stood up " I'm on it" she said headed and made a pot of the seers tea with a warming spell on the pot to keep it just right, she saw Marcus head to get the ice packs from the freezer and walk back to Angus. Ruby stayed beside Angus but out of their way but when her name was spoken she looked up nodding at the mention of light broths and gentel liquids " okay I can make those" she said " I agree if Simone and Edward accept they can go stay with their grand father and mother a few days , not like their far away" she said and smiled warily at Robert as she saw Aria walk over with a tray with the seers tea and a flask .

"made some for Kate thought she might need it" she said then watched Ruby as Robert spoke of the beds and Ruby nodded.

"he could also stay right here not like hes not before and there's plenty of people to look after him" she said " but the change of beds sounds good, I'll get jack on that right away" she said as Jack entered followed by Jessie and Radagast gripped in Jacks hands " found this one sneaking around the main house." Jack said " with him not part of the.." he paused " organisation thought it best we keep an eye on him"

Aria groaned and shook her head saying nothing but giving her father glares that could kill.

"Thank you, Aria. I'll take it to Kate. She definitely needs it," Robert said.

"Ruby, if you send the babies to Edward and Simone, you won't need to move the furniture in the bedroom, not for awhile anyway," Marcus said. "The babies won't be on this side to uproot Angus. It should be fine. Now, if they can't babysit, then let's move furniture. In the meantime, let's see if Sam and Victor would mind us putting a temporary additional bed in their room for Andrew. Since Edward has three guest rooms, and they'll be using one for the babies, once Evan and Tara and the girls go back to Tuscany, Edward will still have two empty guest rooms. Andrew doesn't need two rooms. One would suit him nicely. And, even if he prefers to go back to his own apartment, he's only two doors down. It isn't far. I'm sure if we need an additional nurse or healer to monitor vital signs so Andrew can sleep, Jess might be able to find us someone we can trust. At this point, it sounds like the worst might be over in a week or two."

"Hopefully, yes," Robert said. When Jack and Jessie came in with Radagast, Robert folded his arms and looked at him. Nigel reached into Robert's bag and handed him a bottle of Veritaserum. "Thank you," Robert told Nigel, hoping not to use it. Radagast--not that I'm ungrateful for your help, but two things. First--how did you get here, before the battle or after? The land is unplottable, and protected with spells that even you don't know.  And, second, what were you doing, in broad daylight sneaking back onto my land and sneaking around my daughter's house?"

"I would give serious thought before you lay some malarkey on him," Marcus said. "You don't know how he deals with trouble, and honestly, you really don't want to know."