"Machaela," I started, "when we were searching for the Stephens, you could sense air pockets beneath the debris, right?" She nodded. "Do you think you could sense small objects?"

She thought a minute. "Maybe. I wasn't really paying attention earlier, but I don't see why not. Why?"

I explained my idea to try to get some of the more important things from the collapsed house, and they agreed to give it a shot.

We split up around the house and started marking hieroglyphs in the dirt: one on each corner, and a few in straight lines between them, marking out the boundary for the spell. Then, we lined up in front of the house and started the spell to activate the glyphs. As we chanted, we lifted our hands, holding them level, then slowly tilted them from one side to the other. The debris from the house slowly lifted a couple feet off the ground, then followed our movements.

With Machaela leading us, we slowly lifted and sifted the remains of the house, making all the small items most likely to be treasured possessions fall to the bottom. Then, still chanting, we lifted our hands higher and began the final phase. We set a time duration, a boundary, and a warning signal, then sealed it with a command word: Drowah. Boundary. A shelf of shimmering light appeared beneath the hanging debris and the debris, released from our telekinesis, fell to rest on the boundary. We had one hour to sift through the small stuff before the boundary failed, and we'd get a two-minute warning to get out of the way.

I set an alarm as a precaution, and we got to work sifting, digging, searching through the remains of the house. I picked up pictures, albums, CDs, movies, clothes, jewelry, and anything else I could find whether it seemed personal or day-to-day, only ensuring that it looked whole. The unlimited space in my bag made the quantity I grabbed irrelevant. I saw the others focusing on the stuff that looked most important, as they had to run outside the boundary every so often to lay stuff on the ground.

More pictures, a dented jewelry box, a safe, a particularly soft blanket, a well-loved stuffed animal, all went into my bag. I grabbed games, foodstuff, papers from a half-flattened filing cabinet, a stack of clothes from two different sections of the house (hopefully some in there for Cindy, Susan, and John), and some books along with four suitcases I found in a corner.

By this point, we were running out of time, and I started focusing on finding the everyday things they would wish they had. Near the front door, I found winter gear. Back in the living room, I found a wallet, a purse, and a half-read book with the bookmark still in it. I grabbed someone's cellphone (with a cord still attached) right as the boundary flared above me, our two-minute warning. A second later, my phone chimed, confirming it.

"Time to move, guys!"

We picked our way through the smaller debris that hadn't lifted with the big stuff, the others carrying an armload. We had just enough time to get out of the way, as a few seconds after Mom cleared the debris field, the magical boundary dissolved and everything dropped back to its former place.

We put everything in front of the house, where I started picking things up and organizing them. The others gathered the smaller piles from around the border and moved them to the front, then started helping me organize which bag they would go into.

I dragged over the suitcases and a duffle bag Jesse had found, then turned to Machaela. "Do you know a spell that expands holding capacity without adding weight?"

She nodded and got to work on the duffle bag while I got to work packing everything we'd grabbed into the suitcases, using the clothes as padding. When she finished with the duffle, we were able to put everything else in there. Together, we'd saved a lot of stuff. Some of it they might not want to keep, but I'd rather let them get rid of damaged or insignificant objects than me leave something behind they wanted.

Once everything we'd grabbed was inside a suitcase, we each grabbed a load and started dragging them back to the house through the (extremely) slowly melting snow.

Susan and John came running outside as we came down the driveway, wondering what we had and where we had gone. As we got closer, Susan suddenly stopped and put her hand over her mouth.

"How did you get those suitcases?" she asked. We just grinned and led her inside.

Moving the bedding and setting the stuff where Jean could see everything from the couch, we set the bags down, then made sure each person was in front of a certain bag, as we had organized them by the most likely owner.

"We dug through your house some, and managed to find quite a bit," I told them softly. "I hope we got the treasures that stand out most in your mind."

Machaela started lighting the candles for the night as they opened their suitcases.

"Copper!" I hear Cindy squeal in excitement. She grabbed the well-loved stuffed dog I'd found and hugged it. After showing her parents and hugging it for a couple minutes, she settled down again, but Copper stayed in her lap as she explores more into the bag.

Susan reached into her suitcase to find clothes on top. Soft sweaters and hardy shoes padded the more delicate things beneath. Her breath caught when she saw the jewelry box. Gently pulling it from its cocoon, she started opening its drawers, searching for something. Machaela had seen the same thing, and her hand went to her pocket.

Knowing Machaela wouldn't bring whatever she'd found out yet, I spoke up. "Susan?" Susan stopped searching the box. "What are you looking for? What did you store in that jewelry box?"

She gave me a watery smile. "My Grammy's necklace was in there. It had a gold chain with a small gold cross pendant. A turquoise ring was also on the chain, but I don't see it here." She seemed to slump a bit. "It must have fallen out when everything collapsed."

I glanced over at Machaela, who had a happy smile on her face. With Susan distracted, Machaela walked up and slowly lowered the necklace into Susan's line of sight. A second later, Susan saw it and gasped. Cupping it in her hands, she just stared a moment, as if confirming it was really there, then she tackled Machaela in a hug.

"Where did you find it?" Susan wanted to know.

Machaela shrugged. "I don't know the layout of your house, but it was near a wall a few steps from a bed frame. I assume where your dresser used to be."

While Susan and Cindy explored the top layers of their suitcase, John had just watched, and I knew he cared more about their happiness than any stuff. He probably hadn't grown attached to a certain object the way girls tend to do; he would be more focused on fixing the situation, on wishing he'd been able the grab the things they'd need and how now to procure them. He enjoyed watching them be happy and forget for the moment, however, and I knew he wouldn't say anything about his worries.

I had caught him mumbling to himself a few times since the collapse—problem solving and working solutions—and his solutions usually came around to and stopped at a few objects he didn't have on him when the house came down, like his wallet or his phone or even his keys. He hadn't grabbed the everyday most-important-items when he left, since he hadn't actually left. He'd climbed out from.

I knew he was thinking of all these thing as he watched his wife and daughter exclaim over so many of the things in their bags, little things that they valued like a favorite book and the big things like Susan's purse. I caught his eye and smiled at him, nodding to his own bag. He raised an eyebrow and opened it up, finding a wallet laying on top. A grin spit his face and he looked at me. I nodded again.

On top of his bag were a few things I thought he'd find most important: a wallet, a set of keys, and a cellphone. His jaw dropped and I smiled, glad we'd guessed rightly when we decided those were his. Further down among some clothes were small hand tools and things that might come in handy in small odd jobs wherever they landed now that they didn't have a house, all found in what appeared to be the remains of a workshop where most people would have a garage.

They explored their bags well past sundown, finding knickknacks and valuables mixed in with clothes, foodstuff, and a few books. Four suitcases and an overstuffed duffel held all that remained of their possessions, but it was more than they'd had the night before, and they still had the most important things: each other.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of this very fluffy story. Thanks again to the two people who reviewed last chapter, and don't forget to tell me what you thought! :D Happy reading!