Evie yawned as she watered the tiny sprouts. She had a long day ahead of her, so it was nice to have an easy morning. There were no new weeds to pull, no hoeing to be done, no seeds to plant, just plants to water and animals to feed. Hera was already settled in the grass, her whipcord tail swishing through the air lazily to slap at her flanks. 'Dite, her affectionate nickname for Aphrodite the chick, was twittering around the wild cherry trees along the edge of the farmyard. At least, she was pretty sure they were cherry trees, she'd never seen them in real life before, but they have the same pretty pink flowers and the right color bark for the fruit-bearing kind of cherry tree that she had found in her gardening books. In the summer, she should be able to harvest fresh cherries. Soon enough, Evie would also have eggs and milk to sell or keep. However, for now, she still liked how cute and adorable her baby chick and calf were, if just as useless as money-makers as the gorgeous cherry trees were. She set her watering can, hoe, and sickle on her porch and glanced down the road, then up. Both paths were clear and she felt her mood droop slightly. It was silly to expect Luke to greet her every morning, not after they'd just become friend and therefore had no established routine. But... she missed his exuberance already. She also hadn't seen either Renee or Toby in a couple days and she didn't know which one she missed most– Renee with her cheerful chattering or Toby's quiet humor and easy camaraderie.

"Well, I have to go to Harmonica tonight anyway, to hunt down that stone. I'll track down Toby then. I'll go up to Garmon now, get that Red Bell business outta the way, and borrow Luke's phone to call up Renee. I'll invite her to dinner tonight. And then I'll get to see everybody," Evie decided with immense satisfaction.

"Hmm?" Finn mumbled sleepily from her breast pocket. Evie rolled her eyes.

"Just talking to myself, Tinkerbell. Finish up your beauty sleep," she teased as she got to her feet.

"Who's Tin'erbell?" Finn slurred before snoring loudly.

Evie laughed as she jogged towards Garmon. (Unfortunately, she didn't look back to see the figure walking up from the Harmonica road.) She did her usual foraging, finding a strange blue herb that smelled heavenly and more mushrooms and blueberries. She'd made a bit of money with her foraging already, and her first crop of potatoes and turnips was almost ready for harvesting. The future was looking bright indeed. The bridge barely rattled under her feet she loped across so quickly, grinning and waving as Luke stepped outside the carpentry. He whooped and lifted her clear off her feet, which was looking more and more like his standard greeting.

"So, how'd your bell hunt go yesterday?" he asked when he set her back down.

"Well, I found the frame where the bell goes, but the bell itself was missing. Owen's hoping he'll find it today," Evie explained easily.

"So, you wanna help him, or are you gonna hang with me? Bo and I are gonna do some work on a mine cart today. If we can get it working again, it's a fast ride down to Harmonica, even back up again. I'm sure Simon's gonna be psyched to use it again."

"I don't know how much help I'll be, but I could always supply lunch and get in the way," Evie joked, walking with Luke.

"You won't be worse than me. Bo's good at fixing stuff, I'm good at making stuff. I like designing things, making them look cool and awesome."

"Well, someone's gotta do it."

"Evie!" Finn screeched from her chest area. Evie stopped dead and blinked down at her shirt where Finn's head was sticking out of her pocket.

"Evie?" Luke asked as he turned back to her, eyes flitting down to where hers were looking and just as quickly flittering away as he blushed. "What are you doing?"

"I can feel a Bell, Evie!" Finn exclaimed, pointy ears quivering in agitation.

"I– sorry– I thought I heard something–" Evie was answering Luke absently, head jerking up and eyes wide.

Luke stared at her, even more baffled.

"One… two…" called out another, familiar voice. Both Luke and Evie looked over to see Bo standing with his face to the blacksmith shop's wall as he counted loudly.

"Evie, LOOK! It's the Bell!" Finn shrieked, his tiny arm waving excitedly. Evie turned her head so quickly that her neck almost cracked. Sure enough, lying innocuously in the middle of the path, was a large red bell the same size and shape as the yellow one snug in her bag.

"Three… four…"

"What the crackers?" Evie muttered. Luke looked over at her, eyebrows flying high.

"What is it?"

"The Bell is right there."

"Five… six…"

"Dude! Is that it? I do remember it now!" Luke muttered in some amazement. "What are you waiting for, go snag it."

"Oh, right, duh. I'm just really confused. How'd it get in the middle of the road like that?" Evie laughed at herself and began walking towards it.

"Seven… eight…"

"Hey, Bo, I thought you were going to the cart?" Luke called as he followed Evie.

"Why is he counting like that?" Evie asked, frowning.

"Would you just hurry up, Evie!? We're so close!" Finn pleaded happily as he whizzed around her.

"It sounds like he's playing a game," Luke replied with a shrug.

"Nine… ten!"

"TEN!" screamed a very excited, high-pitched girl's voice. Two children came racing around the corner of the smithy. One was Paolo, whom Evie had already met, the second was a tiny, carroty-red-haired girl with a wide, mischievous grin. She all but kicked up dust as she ran towards the Bell, Paolo on her heels. Dread suddenly filled Evie's chest once the kids' destination became blindingly clear.

"Oh no, they aren't," Evie groaned as she picked up her pace.

"Oh yes they are, Chloe, don't–!" Luke shouted, waving his arms while his long legs churned next to Evie's.

"She's going to–" Finn cried out.

The girl who could only be Chloe let out a triumphant yell as she kicked the Bell as hard as possible and sent it flying.

"Holy sh-field goals, Batman," Evie muttered. She skidded to a stop and watched the Bell arc high into the air.

"Nooooo," Finn wailed.

The Bell clattered against the chimney of the blacksmith's like a basketball on the rim of a hoop, every breath holding tight in their throats, before it wobbled and… of course, fell in. Evelyn threw up her arms in exasperation. "Are you fiddlesticking kidding me right now?"

"Whoohoo! Perfect shot!" Chloe cheered, jumping up and down. Paolo laughed breathlessly and Bo whistled, impressed. Even Luke was bent over laughing beside Evie.

"You're too good at this game, Chlo'. I dunno if your gramps is gonna like that though…" Bo told her.

"That was amazing. Maybe you should be a soccer player not a blacksmith when you grow up," Luke called out, his laughs mellowing into chortles.

Evie sighed wearily. "I'm just surprised she didn't break her foot."

"What are we going to do, Evie? It's in a chimney," Finn shrilled.

The girl ran up to Evie to announce, "Hiya! I'm Chloe! Are you Evelyn?" with a grin wide enough to show off her missing tooth.

"Yeah, that's her. I coulda told you that," Paolo interjected at her side. "Hi, Evie. Why haven't you come back? Toby looked out for you all day yesterday!"

"He… did?" Evie stammered, blushing lightly as she smiled.

"CHLOE ANNE GRAVEL!" bellowed a gruff, deep voice. All three of the younger kids flinched and Chloe muttered 'uh oh' under her breath. Boots stomped on the wood of the deck outside the smithy, and they all turned to see Ramsey, fists on his hips, glaring down at them. His face and entire front half was so blackened with soot, Evie could barely make out the actual silver of his hair or the color of his clothes.

"It was an accident, Grampa! Honest! I didn't aim for the chimney!" Chloe wheedled, her eyes big and misty.

"What was it? Accident or not, missy, it got stuck in my chimney and the whole house filled with ash and smoke," Ramsey thundered down at her, eyes flashing. Chloe glanced down and dug the toe of her shoe into the dirt.

"Sorry, Gramps," she murmured.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ramsey? When you say stuck…?" Evie prompted with a grimace.

Ramsey glanced over at her, his anger cooling slightly. "It's very stuck. I can't reach it to tug it down. I tried to knock it down, but it won't budge an inch. I won't be able to use my forge at all until it's out."

"I'll help with that." Evie sighed again as Luke choked down more chuckles and patted her shoulder encouragingly. "It was the Bell, from the mine, that was kicked up there."

"The what?!" Ramsey roared, turning his flashing eyes back onto Chloe. "You kicked the Red Bell into the chimney? How in the world did you even have that?"

"I found it in the mine yesterday," Chloe sniffled. "I thought it looked just right for Kick the Can, so I grabbed it up before Owen saw it. I didn't know it'd get stuck," Chloe protested.

"What is it?" Bo asked in confusion. "I thought it was old junk from the mine. What's a redbell?"

"You're not a native here, Bo, but Chloe and Paolo are. They should've known better than to play Kick the Can with a Bell," Ramsey grumbled fiercely. Both children pouted and looked down, guilty and upset. "I'll be calling Ozzie, young'un. You'll be helping Chloe clean up this mess, too. As for you, Miss Evelyn. I've got an idea that might work to get the Bell out, but it'll take some time and energy outta you," Ramsey told her. Evie shrugged and held up her hands.

"I wouldn't expect less."

"It's okay, Evie. I'll help you however much I can. Promise," Luke assured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and jostling her a bit.

They all followed Ramsey into the smithy, Bo at his side fervently pleading to help the younger kids clean up since he also was playing with them. As the three 'troublemakers' clattered around getting cleaning supplies, Ramsey, Luke, and Evie stood around the forge, coughing at the soot still hovering in the air. Ramsey had a small, much creased and tattered booklet in his hands.

"This here is some simple mining tips. I think, if you can get one of each kind of ore, we might be able to heat them up, all together, enough to blow the Bell right out of the chimney. This here is what you need to be looking for–"

"Hey! I have one of those!" Evie interrupted, swinging her rucksack around to dig through it. Sure enough, the dark orange-red rock in her hand matched exactly the picture in the booklet.

"That's copper ore," Ramsey explained, sooty mustache twitching. "You'll still need one of iron, silver, gold, and rare. Iron and copper are pretty common, but the others are gonna be harder. 'Specially since the upper floors and the floors lower than ten are closed off. I s'ppose I could do it myself, or get Owen to do it, since we've got the experience, but I have to keep an eye on Chloe, and Owen's got that rock fall he's still clearing out of the ruins."

"I can definitely do it. I was the one asking about the Bell. I might as well follow through," Evie told Ramsey firmly. She took the booklet with a quick 'thanks' and tucking it into her back pocket.

"And I'll help her. I've gone down in the mines with Owen plenty of times," Luke spoke up. Ramsey eyed him wryly.

"You mostly went down there to get into trouble. You ain't a miner, boy. But you'll know enough to help, I s'ppose. You be careful down there. The Bell ain't going anywhere," Ramsey warned her kindly.

Evie snorted. "You're telling me. Thanks for your help, Mr. Ramsey."

"Oh, while we're talking ore. You'll probably find a lot of extras, and I'll only need one of each. Take any I don't need next door. I don't know if Ms. Mira is up to it, but her nephew is working in her shop. Perhaps he'll be able to refine your ores for you. One of these days, I'll get my forge running again and you can bring me the metal to fix up your old tools," Ramsey offered. Evie blinked.

"That's… that's great. Owen mentioned it, but didn't give me any details. I'll remember to keep ahold of all the ore I find. Thank you. Really," she said earnestly.

Ramsey smoothed his mustache, as if trying to keep from preening. "I don't know if that Julius-boy will be any use, he's a shiftless, irresponsible sort, needs to be told what to do. With Ms. Mira spending most her time at the church… I don't know if you'll be able to refine anything any time soon, but it's worth finding out."

"I'll be sure to go by and ask soon. Thank you, Mr. Ramsey. Good luck with babysitting," Evie joked with a short salute. She grabbed Luke's elbow and dragged him out.

"Hey, hey, what's the rush?" Luke whined.

"I have to go find four different kinds of ore, Luke! Who knows how long that'll take? One of them is literally called rare ore."

"It'll be fine. Owen can find that stuff in his sleep. He'll have all sorts of tips and I'm pretty good at swinging a hammer. We'll get it found in no time, don't worry," Luke said, rustling her hair affectionately. "Ramsey's right, that Bell ain't going anywhere."

"Can't anyone tell that's the problem!?" Finn snapped agitatedly.

Evie wished she could agree with him out loud.

Evie groaned as she slumped over the table at Brass Bar. Her muscles ached, there was dirt on top of dirt, tears in her clothes, and her stomach felt like it was eating itself it was so hungry. Even Luke was slouching in his seat.

"No time at all, huh? We found a whole lot of ore all right, but most of it was junk," Evie snarled tiredly. Luke winced a little. Owen and Kathy walked up then, amusement warring with compassion in the blonde's pretty emerald eyes. A tall, frosty glass of apple juice was set in front of Evie, as well as a plate of sandwiches.

"It's on me, Evie. It's my fault for letting that scamp get that Bell past me yesterday," Owen offered with a grin before chugging back his own cocktail. Luke was already gulping down blueberry juice like it was the nectar of the gods.

"Thank you, Owen. I'm starving," Evie moaned gratefully, dragging the offerings closer.

The ginger miner toasted her with a smile. "You worked hard all day today in the mines. For a newbie, you sure caught on fast. I was pretty impressed with your haul."

Evie's mouth twisted to the side.

"Hey, don't look like that, Evie. Most of it was junk, but you'll still get some auree for it, so it's not a total waste. Plus, you did find a bunch of iron and couple more copper. Only three more ores to go," Luke encouraged her, giving her a one-armed hug that almost lifted her out of her seat. Evie merely groaned and lolled her head onto Luke's shoulder.

"Just leave me here to drown in apple juice." The others laughed at her dramatics. The door opened then and Kathy got back to her feet, smiling broadly.

"Howdy, Fisher, don' see you here often," Kathy greeted. Evie sat up quickly, tugging at her clothes and rubbing at her dirty face before remembering her gloves were equally dirty. She yanked them off and quickly shoved a too-large mouthful of egg salad sandwich in her mouth all while Owen and Luke called out in greeting.

"I heard about my cousin getting into trouble this morning. I thought I'd see if Evelyn survived her first day mining," Toby answered as he walked over to their table. Evelyn glanced up, cheeks bulging and pink.

She swallowed hard, coughed too loudly, and then grinned awkwardly. "Yup, all in one piece. I think chopping down trees is harder on a body, but mining gets you a lot dirtier. I've got a lot of mining to do before I'm done though. I could only find one of the four ores I needed, even with this buffoon's help today," Evie explained, glaring over at Luke. Luke only laughed and snagged one of her sandwich halves, ignoring her squawk of outrage.

"We got all day tomorrow and you were doing real good before we called it quits. Tomorrow I bet we'll find all three," Luke said around a mouthful. Evie grimaced at him and slapped her hand over his face.

"You're disgusting, Carpenter."

"I guess that means you'll be too busy to go to the beach tomorrow morning? I was hoping to convince you to rest a bit. You haven't really stopped to enjoy the spring weather since you got here," Toby offered mildly, looking between Luke and Evie with a faint frown.

Evie's gaze dropped to the table and she traced her fingertip along the lip of her glass. "I would love to, it sounds really nice. But I wanna get that Bell outta that chimney sooner rather than later. I read that booklet during lunch and it's ridiculously difficult to find that rare ore on the first nine floors. If I could go deeper, or go into the upper mines, it'd be easier, but that's not an option," Evie sighed.

"It's true. The lower floors are still blocked, and the upper floors are too dark. No way would gramps be okay with a newbie like Evie going upstairs. Unlike this loafer here," Owen nudged Luke with an elbow, "I actually have my job to finish, or else I'd go up there myself."

"I'm not a loafer. I'm helping. Fixing up the mine cart is actually Bo's job. My dad only wanted me to help him to get me outta the shop. He says I've been wasting too much wood on my ideas and we can't afford that these days," Luke mumbled, looking almost morose for a moment. Evie rubbed at his head, knocking his bandana over his eyes, just to make him laugh.

"Heya, Lu, I'll need furniture soon enough, and you can fiddle around with them as much as you want," Evie teased. "No more woe-is-me faces from you. It's eerie."

"What'd I say about Lu, huh? And what's eerie?" Luke asked, nose scrunched up as he half-Nelsoned Evie and noogied her. She flailed under his arm, her shrill complaints about his armpit sweat muffled by his vest. Kathy and Owen snickered and made no move to help.

"She means odd, or strange, Luke," Toby answered, his small smirk widening as Evie managed to punch Luke hard enough in the side to get him to let her go.

"Bejeesus, woman, I think you broke a rib!" Luke wheezed.

Evie only tossed her hair over her shoulder and lifted her nose in the air as the others laughed. The rest of the dinner passed by too quickly, with laughter and a couple too many cocktails for Owen. Luke had Owen draped over his shoulders to drag his friend home, leaving Toby, Evie, and Kathy at the Brass Bar's door waving after them. Kathy frowned in concern as the two young men lumbered ungainly away.

"They'll be fine. Luke's more than strong enough to get Owen home," Toby tried to reassure her.

"Yeah, I know. It's the fact I know 'cuz it's happened so many times afore that worries me, Toby. No one else was drinkin' t'night, not even Luke. But Owen goes home like that almost every night these days," Kathy whispered sadly. She blinked and glanced over at Evie. "I shouldna said that. I'm so sorry, Evie. Owen's a real good guy, really. He jus' has a weakness for my dad's cocktails, is all."

"I know he's a good guy," Evie murmured, squeezing Kathy's hand gently. "It's getting late. I've got my own walk home to start. Do you mind if I walk with you first, Tobes?" Evie asked, smiling up at her friend. His easy smile in return made her chest feel too tight, but that wasn't too hard to ignore when her entire body felt too tight and sore already.

"Of course. If you'd like, we could walk on the beach a bit, before you go home?"

"The beach by the lighthouse? Sounds great," Evie agreed happily. "See you later, Kathy. Thank you for the dinner, even if Owen paid for it."

"Not a prob'm," Kathy chirped. She seemed to shake off her worry as she winked at the two. "Don' stay out too late, kiddos. Y'all both early birds 'n needin' some beauty sleep." She swung back into the Bar, humming happily.

Toby and Evie turned to the dock, walking close enough their arms brushed occasionally, but neither made a move away.

"It feels like I haven't seen you in ages, but I'm sure it's only been a day," Evie said with a small laugh. "It's strange to go a day without seeing you now."

"I don't think I've known you long enough to feel like that… but I agree anyway," Toby confessed with one of those private smiles. They passed by the Fishery, the windows already long dark, before making it to the beach. The Yellow Bell was heavy in her pack, but Evie let it go for just a little while longer. Toby's pace was already slow, a short yawn escaping him as they crunched over the sand. She clasped her hands behind her back, just under her rucksack, and smiled up at the risen moon.

"As soon as I get this ore business cleared up, we should definitely go fishing. I think fishing will be the easiest way to make money. Plus get some real food in my house. I'm living off charity and ramen noodles these days," she finally broke their silence with.

"Not the best way to live, I'm sure. A fresh grilled fish over rice is the best meal I could ask for," Toby murmured. He reached down and picked up a pink sakura shell. He dusted it off and handed it over to Evie nonchalantly. "Julius loves making necklaces from these shells. You'll get more auree for them now that he lives here than before he did."

"I haven't met him yet. He works next to the blacksmith's, right? Is he your friend?" Evie asked, clearing sand off the sakura shell, fingers too gentle over the ribbed surface.

"Hmm… he's not…not a friend?" Toby hedged in confusion. Evie snickered, ducking her head to stifle it. Toby's expression went wry. "You'll understand when you meet him. He's an odd one, but impossible to outright dislike."

"I'll make a point to meet him soon. Anyone who can get you to make that face is worth meeting at least once," Evie said around undignified giggle-snorts she couldn't quite contain.

"What face? I'm not making a face."

Evie pointed right at his nose, index finger wobbling erratically. "You are! It's hilarious!"

Toby shook his head and scooped up another shell to toss her way. She fumbled to catch it, but it only made her laugh harder as she clutched the shell to her chest.

She was still smiling goofily as she walked to the lighthouse. She'd managed to convince Toby she could walk home alone and sleep in a little to make up for it. Then, she'd snuck away the opposite direction the moment the door closed behind him. She felt a little guilty for white-lying like that, and even guiltier waking up the twinkle-snoring Finn in her pocket, but needs must and all. Finn was rubbing his eyes as she walked down the lower path past the lighthouse. Strangely, there wasn't any light streaming from the lighthouse above, but just ahead glowed a soft yellow beam. The new rancher squinted at the odd, pale glow, footsteps shuffling and heartbeat slowly speeding up. A small white cat ran up and twined between Evie's legs before leaping back towards the light. Evie stumbled and laughed, bracing against the dirt slope-wall to keep herself standing.

"Oh, fudgiscles, that frackin' cat about gave me a heart attack. At least we must be in the right–" Evie broke off and came to a halt, fear thudding in her throat.

A dark figure was bent over a large, round stone on the ground. The stone itself was glowing faintly and the face of the figure was thrown into relief in its glow as it turned to Evie and Finn. It was a stranger, a man, in a brown cowboy-like hat. The face was ridiculously handsome, eyes pale and glinting, but it was the cat twining around his ankles that had her shoulders slumping in relief rather than the man's movie-good-looks.

"Howdy there, miss," drawled a smooth, deep voice. As she neared, he took his hat off, exposing wavy golden-blonde hair. "My name is Jones. Dr. Calvin Jones."

"Uh, wow, I mean, hi. Um, you're not from here…" Evie stuttered uncertainly.

"No, I'm not," he agreed, smiling. His perfectly white even teeth flashed in the light of the moonstone. "I'm a professor… more a field archeologist than a professor really. I like researching and finding unique items, like this stone here." He waved a hand towards the stone at his feet, then stepped forward and held out a hand. "Could I learn your name, miss?"

"Evelyn," she blurted out, voice a little squeaky. She blushed cherry red and quickly shook his hand like a normally functioning person. "My name is Evelyn Tallesin." She noticed the strange start he made at her name, but continued on. "I'm new here, too, so I don't know much about it. The stone, I mean. Maybe you could ask the Mayor tomorrow?" Evelyn fibbed just a bit. Dr. Calvin Jones shook his head with a wry smile.

"There's not much more I can learn about it. I just wanted to see it for myself. It doesn't affect people, you see, just creatures and items already magical in nature. And well, there's no such thing as magic is there?" He seemed to be teasing her as those pale eyes danced and met her gaze.

"O-Of c-course not," Evie stammered.

"I've already got a copy and have it memorized, so, here, take this." He handed over a large-ish stone tablet. She gasped and almost dropped it at its surprising weight. "It's about these stones. Since you live here, you might like it." He winked then. "Besides, you've got a little bit of fey in you after all. If anyone could use the magic, it'd be a child of magic." He touched two fingers to the brim of his hat.

"Wh-wha– I couldn't possibly take this! It looks so old, and I don't even think I can read it!" Evie exclaimed, jaw agape and eyes most likely bulging unattractively.

"It looks like that strange letters on the mine entrance in Garmon. It looks like fairy letters, Evie," Finn breathed in shock, hovering over the face of the tablet and touching the worn down etchings reverently.

"I think you might be surprised just how easy it is to read." He said it with another mysterious, debonair smile and moved to saunter past her. She spun on her heel, following his movement.

"I'm not magic!" she squeaked indignantly to his back. He merely raised a hand in farewell.

"Another time, fey-girl. When there's less moonlight at work." And then his figure disappeared into the shadows.

"What in the sphincter?" Evie mumbled.

"You've got fey blood, Evie?" Finn asked, fluttering back up to her breast pocket and yawning despite himself.

"Of course not! You'd know that! You're the fairy. Let's get the Bell on the stupid stone so we can go home." Juggling rucksack and stone tablet, Evie managed to switch out the tablet for the Bell. She paused a moment, staring down at the stone in her pack, then closed it up and walked over to the moonstone.

It was still glowing, maybe even brighter than before. It was teetering ever closer to midnight, so maybe that had something to do with it. As she stepped up to the stone, the Bell in her hands began to glow as well. Finn gasped in time with Evie. The feeling of the moonlight filling the Bell seemed to seep straight from her hands into her heart, into her bones and blood. It pulsed underneath her skin and in the shining yellow of the Bell. Until slowly, the glow faded. When the pulsing ebbed into just her normal heartbeat, Evie stepped off the stone. Under the grime and dents and salt-tarnish, the darker tawny surface of the Bell still seemed to faintly glow.

"It worked, didn't it?" Finn whispered.

"It did, but not enough. There are two more. We probably have to use all three to wake Collin back up. Let's get home and sleep, little guy." Evie tucked the Bell back into her bag; Finn cheered in sleepy agreement.


A/N: EDIT: 2/11/18