Martin walked back into his study and over to his desk where Mrs Perkins had left the phone. He had to phone his wife. As he dialled the number, he looked outside through the window and saw another crack of thunder illuminate the land. Looking in the direction of the north, where he had gone earlier, he had a feeling that those things at the pit were leaving what had brought them here and were probably now spreading out. He sighed in frustration as the phone rang, but no one picked it up.
"C'mon, Rebecca!" Martin growled as he placed a hand against the wall next to him as if he was trying to stop himself from falling over. "Pick up!"
A few moment passed with silence, save for the faint ringing from the phone and the pitter patter sound of the rain hitting the window. After a few moments, Martin sighed and slammed the phone down on the receiver. She had not picked up the phone. What was going on north of here had probably spread to London by now, or…what if…?
Martin shook that thought of his head. No! No, that can't be happening. No, it wasn't.
"I best get my coat then," he said.
He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed his coat and put it on, buttoning it up. He checked his pocket to make sure he had his car key, which he did.
"Oh, there's something I must not forget," he muttered to himself.
He walked out of the kitchen and up the steps, two at a time, to the corridor at the top and walked down the corridor to his room across the hall from Lizzy's. He opened the door and walked inside.
Martin's room was large, about the same size as Lizzy's, and square shaped with a bed placed against the middle of the right wall. Two small suitcases were placed underneath it. A small bedside cabinet was placed next to his bed with a small oil lamp, a photograph of him, Lizzy and Tinkerbell taken last summer, and his wedding ring. On the wall opposite Martin was a small window. Along the left wall was a bookcase filled with books and journals on his research and British wildlife. A small table was also placed along the left wall with an oil lamp on it and a chair resting behind it. Along the wall to the right of the door was a wooden wardrobe and along the wall to the left of the door was a small chest of drawers.
Martin walked over to his bed and pulled out one of the suitcases and placed it on his bed and opened it. He began to rifle through his wardrobe and chest of drawers and empty some of his clothes into them.
"Right, boxers, socks," he was muttering to himself as he packed his suitcase. "Another two pairs of trousers, a few tops,"
As he searched through his wardrobe, he came across a small wooden box. He picked it up and opened it and took out a small revolver pistol with several small clips of ammunition. He emptied the cartridges into his hand and put the box back in the wardrobe and then put the cartridges and the pistol in the suitcase. He might need it later on in case he came across one of those creatures, or maybe someone that might try and steal his luggage.
"Right, is that everything?" he asked himself, quickly looking around his room for anything he might have missed.
As he went to close his suitcase, he remembered the photograph and the ring on the bedside cabinet. He walked over to it and picked up the photograph of him, Lizzy and Tinkerbell, who was resting on Lizzy's shoulder, all of them smiling at the camera with a green field, several trees and a setting sun behind the hills in the background. He sighed. Back then, they had been happy and they had been happy for the last few days, but now….now all of that was changing. For the first time, they had to leave their home to go somewhere else where they would be safe. Then again, where would they go where they could be safe? For all he knew, these things could be spreading everywhere. Maybe across the entire county, maybe even the whole country or maybe even the world!
Martin picked up the ring. He sighed sadly as he gazed at it, remembering him and his wife's wedding day eleven years ago. They were young and happy and even more so when Lizzy had been born. It all seemed so long ago now. He was worried as well. She had not answered the phone call he had sent her. For all he knew, something could have happened, hopefully nothing had but he just could not get the feeling out of his head that something had happened in London as well.
Sighing once more, he put the photograph in the suitcase and put the ring in his pocket. He then closed his suitcase and walked towards the door. He stopped there and looked back at the room, probably for the last time and walked down the corridor and down the stairs into the kitchen and opened the door that led out into the storm raging outside. Martin checked to see if his coat was buttoned up tightly and ran outside, covering his head with his other arm, to his car, which was parked on the grass next to the cottage. He had pulled the tarpaulin up on the way back so the seats were dry. He placed the suitcase in the back of the car behind the seats and went to climb into the seats when he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, of course, I must warn the other fairies," he said to himself.
He climbed into the car seat and started the vehicle. The engine spluttered and the gunshot sounds of the backfiring momentarily filed the air before it was blocked out by another crack of thunder. He drove the car away from the cottage and towards the home tree on the other side of the field. As he drove, he swerved to avoid a small ditch and the car almost tipped over on its side, but, thankfully, it did not. The rain pounded down hard on the tarpaulin above him and some sprayed into his face. Martin grunted and wiped his face clean of the water.
Finally, after a bumpy and treacherous ride, he reached the home tree. He brought the car to a halt and climbed out of the car and ran over to the tree, his shoes squelching loudly as they landed on the soaked grass. When he reached the tree, he knelt down in the small clearing for the doves and peered through the open leafless entrance into the tree.
"Uh, hello?" he called.
Nothing came back in reply. No jingling replied or any squeaking from any animals they had kept in here.
"Hello, is anybody in the tree?" he called, peering in closer so his eye was almost covering entire doorway.
Still nothing came back. Now this was strange. They all knew his and Lizzy's voice so they would have come out, but…no one was in. His eyes looked around the interior of the tree, but saw that it just looked abandoned. Where had they gone?
Another crack of thunder illuminated the air and Martin jumped in surprise. There was no one here. He was going to have to tell Lizzy and her friends this when he re-joined them. He got up from the ground and ran back over to his car and jumped into the driver's seat and drove the car back across the field and in the direction Lizzy, Mr and Mrs Perkins and the fairies had gone.