A Birth day

Ruby sat and listened as Robert spoke to Michael and sighed as he said they were muggles who were murdered hearing Angus she groans slightly " seems I'm the black sheep of the family or should I say we are" she added thinking of Jessie and the boys too. She listened more to them talking and shook her head. She heard Robert tell them about Lya and how she is recovering " that's good" she said and looked at Angus..

Aria was glad Lya was healing and was on the mend but she thought about what Robert had said about the bodies in the graves. " I'm guessing we need to find out who put these muggles in those graves." she said opening her book to read it as Ruby nodded to Marcus .

"Not you," Angus said. "I have yet to see you have murderous intentions on anyone. Nor have I seen anyone have any real motive to want to harm you either. We can' pick our families, so you and your siblings might be the only decent eggs in a whole family of truly rotten eggs."

"And you know what else?" Marcus asked.

"No. What?"

"I am really glad I don't have Robert's job. We have yet to get one little step ahead of them."

"Well, it sounds like they have at least a hundred years head start," Angus rolled his eyes. "How the hell are we supposed to get ahead of them?"

"We keep looking," Michael said. "I'm going to go to Shetland today or tomorrow if i have to go by myself."

"I'm going with you," Angus said.

"Have you lost your mind? You're on bedrest, remember? You can't go, which means I can't go. Someone else has to go. We're going to stay home, watch forbidden muggle movies and eat popcorn. That's what we're doing."

"Robert would cut me in half if I took you," Michael told Angus. "I think, at this point, anyone can go but you and your bodyguard. Next time--maybe. I'll have to see if anyone actually wants to go along with me to go grave digging in Satan's buttcrack."  That made Angus and Marcus both laugh.

Ruby looked up at Angus as he spoke and she smiled to him " thank you" she said softly to him feeling like she was not a bad egg but a good one along with her family " shows what ever this is can skip generations or we take after our bio fathers." she said not sure if Reg was her father after what she found out about him.

Aria listened to Angus then listened to Marcus and Michael talking " hey what about me , I could go with you , or do you need me here to guard Angus?"she asked the she chuckled at Michaels description " wow, Satan's butt crack nice description. " she said and chuckled.Then she looked at him as she thought of something." what about Jessie or Jack again they could go with you" she said

"You're welcome to come, so long as it works for Robert. I'm certainly open to whatever co-conspirators I can get," Michael said. "Hopefully we're not gone for more than perhaps an overnight at best. I tell you what. I'll make sure Robert's okay with it, and then I'll talk to Jessie and Jack. Four sounds like a nice round number, and if we need to take five, I might ask Evan since he's so eager to be involved in just about anything. And besides he did some of the fastest grave digging I've ever seen in New Orleans."

"He had extra motivation that night," Marcus said.

"As did we all, as I recall," Michael replied.

"I don't remember actually being dug out," Angus said, recalling that night.

"That's because you were in a full cardiac arrest, according to Robert," Michael said. "Kate was starting to dig you out with her bare hands, and when she told Evan she was digging for you, Evan fired one of the most intense defodio spells I've ever seen and unearthed that damned box. If we can find where those graves are, and if we don't have to take any freaking muggles, we might be able to make short work of this assignment. I'd like to go today if Robert can spare us. I'll talk to him and let you know, Aria. So, for now, I'll get back and see what I can put into motion. I'll see you lot later." Michael left and headed back to the main house."

Angus leaned back, thinking about this whole case, trying to turn it around in his head but the more he thought about it, the less sense it made.

"I've got nothing," Angus sighed.

"We need more facts or clues," Marcus said.

"So why would the ghost of Pearl go after Iya?"

"I dunno. Ghosts are not my forte," Marcus replied.

Aria listened to Marcus and nodded " that it does and their brute strength helps too " she said then listened to Marcus mention Even coming with them and she nodded " oh, good, hes a formidable fighter" she said smiling Michael described how Even had fired a defodio spell and blew away the soil covering Angus. "Quite the show that" she said and chuckled as she sat on the couch cross legged watching them and chuckling. Ruby looked at Angus not wanting to remember that day when she almost lost Angus leaning over she took his hand in her own feeling his hand warm in hers she smiled to him and sat back.

Aria stood up and walked to the kitchen thinking as she went " what about Kate she's good with ghosts?" she said returning with two fresh cups of coffee and handed one to Marcus " here " she said " have a feeling its going to be along day today " she said softly to him. She stood and blew across the top of her cup as she looked at them both and the floo. " I would hate to suggest it , but isn't Anise or was it ginger who is developing seer abilities too?" she asked not sure which one it was that had seen Capri e when they were together.

"I have a feeling that's why Robert has Kate with Iya hoping that Kate might be able to get some sort of impression of anyone goes after Iya again," Angus said. "It's been strange but I've seen both ghosts and living people in my dreams. Living people usually have a certain presence to me. Almost like a sense of spiritual warmth, sort of like body temperature, but not so. I know that doesn't make any sense. And when I've seen ghosts, they seem to have an absence of that. But Pearl. She's different somehow."

"Like what?" Marcus asked.

"She doesn't have that sort of spiritual warmth. But, she doesn't actually have an absence of it either. She almost gives off an icy energy. I haven't felt that from anyone else, ever. I don't know what it even means. I mean, I keep guessing I'm just wrong about it because I've never seen anyone else like it."

"I believe you. Hopefully, Kate or Iya, when she's better, can give you some sort of meaning of what it means," Marcus said. "Aria, if you're going to Shetland, you might want to pack a go bag, just in case. Michael seems to always be at the ready so if he decides to go, he usually is ready to go as soon as the rest of the team is. And Jack tends to be a bit that way too."

"Seers' abilities? That's Anise," Angus said. "Not Ginger. Anise has been at it certainly longer than I have but she's entirely self taught. I don't know if she could give me any more information on Pearl or not, and I just honestly don't want to throw any of the kids in Pearl's direction in case what I'm reading is far darker than I understand it to be."

Aria heard Angus and hummed then nodded her head " I'll do that" she said then looked to Marcus " want me to add somethings in for you too?" she asked looking at him as he spoke telling her that it was Anise who was the seer and he would not put her in the way of the dark witch seeing how dark this witch was right now. " hum agreed , might be too much for her and we don't want her hurt in any way" she said.

Ruby listened to them talking and nodded at the mention of keeping Anise out of the witches way and out of harms way. She was also glad that Kate and Lya were on the job of finding out more about this woman. She listened to Angus talk about he felt each person in his dreams. " makes sense if you think about it, people who are alive have warmth because they have blood and life, those you passed don't so are cold just as they would be in body" she said looking at Angus when he said that this woman felt different " oh, different, how?" she asked hoping to work out just how different this woman was.

"Nah, no thanks, Aria," Marcus said. "I have no doubt whatsoever that Robert won't let Angus go anywhere, if he has to bind him to the house to do it. I'll pester Robert to let us come over and watch some muggle movies in the theater of the main house. Nicky can make us some popcorn, and we can watch movies nonstop til the sun comes up while you're trudging through miles and miles of nothingness. Ruby, you going hiking in the barren hills, or are you hanging with Angus and me and the kids?"


"Well, I know this isn't going to make any sense at all," Angus told Ruby, "but the living people feel more...I don't know. This is hard to describe. Tangible, I think. I see them having thicker forms about them. Less transparent. I generally see them having almost a glow to them..."

"You're describing things that Khaat has said too over the years," Marcus said to Angus. "She calls it auras. It's a sort of glow she says the spirits have. She sees it in terms of whether they have good or bad intentions, but she's been at it longer too."

"Well, people who are living have warm colors to me, red, orange or yellowish. That sort of thing."

"Colors that would indicate a sort of bodily warmth. Makes sense. Sort of the same thing Ruby was just saying."

"When I see my gran in my dreams, she has usually a purplish glow. Kate always, always has a white glow around her. It feels powerful, and positive. Both. This woman--this Pearl, if that's who it is, makes me shiver. She doesn't feel alive, and she doesn't feel dead either. She just feels icy. I see her having a sort of creepy, eerie blue-ish color. It makes me want to stay as far away from her as I can get."

"Well, maybe that's a warning that she's loaded with dark energy," Marcus said.

"Oh, what a surprise that would be," Angus said sarcastically. "I doubt a whitelighter would be wanting to kill me. I haven't done anything to merit that. Not that I know of."


"Touche," Marcus laughed.

"Still, Robert said he thinks there is a chance Pearl might not be dead, simply because 120 or so isn't at all unreasonable for a wizard or a witch," Angus said. "But I don't think she looked that old. Not if what I'm remembering is accurate. You can do glamour spells. Can they hide stuff like that?"

"You mean take 100 years off someone's appearance?" Marcus asked. "No. As I've heard Robert say, he does magic, not miracles. Taking off 100 years? That would be truly miraculous for any glamour spell."

"So I don't know what the hell we're looking for. Ruby, you have any aunts or great aunts or female cousins your grandmother's or great grandmother's age that you know of? Is there another limb or three that we don't know about?" Angus asked.

Aria heard Marcus and nodded as she then headed to pack a bag for herself in case she or they had to leave in a hurry. Ruby looked to Marcus as he spoke " well as nice as all that sounds , if your okay with it I'm going hiking in the barren hills to get answers as to why my family are all nutcases." she said with a smirk looking to Angus as he spoke of how he saw people living against those who were passed on. "It makes sense as the living would have an aura and those passed won't , well not supposed to but Caprice s am amazing witch and powerful too so it stands to reason she would retain her aura."

Aria packed a change of clothing potions and one of Roberts med kits in case into a back pack . Walking down she placed it next to the couch and sat down and looked to Marcus and gave a slightly nod to tell him she was all packed and ready.

"By all means," Angus told Ruby. "I don't know that you'll wrap up the case there, but if it helps you find even one of the graves we're looking for, then its a step in the right direction. The thing that keeps running through my head is that Suzanne has always appeared to me to not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I keep thinking that not only does she have to hire someone to do the spellcasting for her, but also to do most of the planning."

"I agree with you," Marcus said. "And I honestly think that it isn't Tom either."

"No. It isn't. Every time I've done something retaliatory against the Geldings, Tom has come storming out of the house, demanding to know what I'm irked about, and then when I tell him, he grabs her, shakes the crap out of her and demands to know what the hell she's doing. He truly just doesn't ever know," Angus said.

"You're right," Marcus said, suddenly remembering. "He doesn't ever know, does he?"

"Not a lick of it. And since she's in Switzerland, I'm sure he knows even less now," Angus said.

"So, if you're a magical mastermind, working for a dumbbell, what's your motivation?"

"In this case, I think it's most likely money. Gelding is knowing, rightfully or not, as one of the wealthiest wizarding families anywhere. I realize money doesn't remedy all ills, but it sure helps."

"Agreed," Marcus nodded. "And my guess is that a mastermind would look at Suzanne's absence of IQ points, see her as an extremely weak link that they could exploit to snatch the Gelding fortune."

"Well, we don't dare let that happen because if what you're saying is true, then the cruelty that the new leader of the Gelding family business would know absolutely no bounds."

"You would have to think of something even darker than where my brain was going. Thanks a lot," Marcus said sarcastically, scowling.