Ellen shot him a smirk before asking, “After experiencing an extra sixteen months between then and now, can you?”
Harris thought for a second before saying, “It was on a Tuesday and I think it was last Tuesday when you learned of it.”
Ellen thought for a second before nodding and saying, “I believe you’re right. Anyway, Martha, how soon can I get those Legacy volumes?”
“There’s no reason why we can’t do it now,” Martha told her as Tony stepped into the doorway of the open front door followed by Wendi.
When all eyes turned towards Wendi and Tony, Wendi asked, “Is it safe to come in?”
“Yes,” Harris said before turning towards the table and picking up the crystal ball. “I’ll just put these things away.”
Martha helped Harris by picking up his notepad for him, but froze once she took hold of it. When everyone noticed that Martha was having a vision, she came out of it and looked towards Ellen.
“You had a vision,” Ellen accused.
Martha grinned before saying, “You sounded like your great-grandma just then.” Ellen slightly grinned. “And yes. Your father and uncle are in Saint Louis and they will soon figure out that the ‘stars of Saint Louis’ are a family.”
“Why in hell are they here?!” Ellen grumbled.
“Ellen, please watch your language around my son,” Wendi quickly and politely requested.
Ellen glanced towards Tony before saying, “Sorry. I just don’t understand why my dad and uncle are even here.”
“It’s not like Tony hasn’t heard worse,” Marc pointed out.
“Dad, please don’t start,” Wendi again requested.
When Marc just made a surrendering motion, Harris told Ellen, “Your dad and uncle are most likely in Saint Louis while looking for the Legacy volumes as well.”
Ellen slightly huffed in annoyance before asking, “Martha, how does my dad and uncle learn that the ‘stars of Saint Louis’ are a family?”
“My brother’s grandson is a cop, and he will pull your father over for a minor traffic violation,” Martha began. “It will dawn on your dad when he sees Joe’s name tag, which reads, ‘Officer Starr’.”
“How soon will Ellen’s dad be stopped?” Harris asked.
Martha shook her head and slightly shrugged before saying, “It could be five minutes from now to five hours from now.”
“Okay, well, did you see at which intersection he was going to be stopped at?” Harris asked.
“He’ll get pulled over for a rolling stop at a stop sign while traveling north on South Fourteenth Street while heading towards Park Avenue,” Martha answered.
“How far away is that intersection?” Harris asked.
“It’s about ten minutes from here,” Marc was the one to answer.
“I can call Joe and tell him to delay your dad, Ellen,” Martha suggested. “In order to give you and Harris time to get there.”
“We really don’t have to go there at all,” Ellen retorted.
“Ellen, if we don’t go talk to your dad and uncle, your dad and uncle could search for days without finding anything,” Harris told her.
“I’m really not seeing the incentive here to go see them,” Ellen told him.
“I thought you were going to be nice to your dad?” Harris questioned.
“I said, I’ll be nice when he’s around me,” Ellen began. “I didn’t say anything about going to him and volunteering information to make his life easier.”
“Ellen, you’re not projecting a positive energy,” Harris pointed out. Ellen gave him a curious look as he continued with, “and don’t forget what my mom had told you… about finding it in your heart to let go of your ill feelings towards your father.”
Ellen hesitated slightly before sighing and grumbling, “Fine. Let’s go stop my dad and uncle from knocking on people’s doors who have the last name of ‘Starr’.” Ellen then turned towards Martha, Wendi and Marc. “Can one of you come with us… to point the way?”
“I can take you two in my cab,” Marc said.
“You’re a cab driver,” Ellen verbally took note of, which sounded like a question.
Marc nodded before saying, “I’m still working actually, and for some reason I had a nagging feeling to come by here after I had dropped off my last fare.”
“You’re a psychic too?” Ellen asked.
“I don’t get the waking visions like she does,” Marc said while indicating to Martha. “I do get certain intuitions and the psychic dreams though from time to time.”
“Do you get visions, Wendi?” Ellen asked.
“I’m like my dad,” Wendi answered. “I get the psychic dreams and the intuitions, but not the waking visions.”
“Ellen. You, Harris and Marc should get going,” Martha prompted. “I’ll call Joe and have him delay your dad. Marc, once everyone has met up, show everyone to my storage space. Wendi, Tony and I will be there waiting.”
“Will do,” Marc agreed before turning towards Ellen and Harris. “Let’s go.”
“Bye for now,” Ellen told Martha, Wendi and Tony with a slight wave before walking towards the front door.
“See ya,” Tony said as the others waved.
Ellen exited the house first followed by Harris and then Marc.
On the northbound lane of South Fourteenth Street near Park Avenue, Mitchell was idling his pick-up truck on the side of the road while waiting for (Joe) Officer Starr to write out the ticket for a rolling stop at a stop sign and not wearing his seat belt.
Joe had just retaken his seat within his cruiser to write the ticket when his cell phone rang.
Joe glanced at who was calling before answering with, “If you didn’t get a vision of my life being in danger, Aunt Martha, this really isn’t a good time.”
“I did get a vision of you pulling over a blue pick-up truck with two brothers in the truck,” Martha said.
“I have them pulled over now,” Joe said as his interest piqued. “Is there something I need to know about them?”
“Those two are in Saint Louis to reclaim something that I’m keeping safe for their grandmother, but they don’t know where to look. One of the two has a sixteen-year-old daughter named Ellen, and Marc is driving Ellen to you as we speak. Once Marc gets there, he will escort everyone to me. So make sure the two brothers stay there until Marc can get there.”
“Will do. Bye.” Joe—after hanging up the phone and without writing the ticket—got out of his cruiser with Mitchell’s license in his hand. Mitchell’s window was down and he turned towards Joe when Joe stepped up. “Do either of you have a sixteen-year-old daughter named Ellen?”
“I do!” Mitchell quickly uttered. “Why do you ask?!”
“My cousin Marc is escorting her here as we speak,” Joe told him. “Once Marc gets here with Ellen, Marc will escort everyone to my Great Aunt Martha. My Great Aunt Martha has something belonging to your grandmother.”
“How…?” Mitchell got out before searching his thoughts on how to word his question properly.
“I don’t know if you two believe in psychics… and regardless if you two don’t, psychics exist and my Great Aunt Martha is one,” Joe supplied. “She called me while I was preparing to write you your ticket and told me what I had just told you.” Joe then held out Mitchell’s license for Mitchell to retake. “Here’s your driver’s license, Mr. Anderson. I’m letting you off with a warning.”
“Thank you, Officer Starr,” Mitchell said.
“Yes, thank you,” Brandon added.
Joe nodded before saying, “I don’t think my presence is necessary, so drive safe… and buckle-up.”
“Yes, officer,” Mitchell said as he went to put on his seat belt.
“Bye,” Joe said before he turned to walk away.
“Bye,” Mitchell and Brandon echoed.
Joe went back to his cruiser, got in and drove away with his police lights on. He drove twenty feet past Mitchell’s truck before turning off the police lights.
<
br /> Eight minutes later, Marc parked his cab behind Mitchell’s truck. Once Mitchell and Brandon saw that Ellen and Harris were in the cab, they opened their vehicle doors and climbed out.
Harris rolled down his window and shouted towards them, “Get back in your truck and follow us.”
Mitchell shook his head while walking towards the cab. Ellen stared annoyingly at him, and when he and Brandon stepped up, Mitchell said, “I would like to know how you found those diaries so easily.”
Harris took the time to explain who Claudia was, and how Claudia was able to get pertinent information for them to begin a proper search, along with how they were met by Wendi after arriving to Saint Louis. The explanation only took a brief moment, and once Harris was done, Harris saw that Mitchell had a question on his mind.
Mitchell slightly shook his head, and without asking the question that was clearly nagging at him, he said, “I’ll follow you.”
“Good,” Harris said.
Once Mitchell and Brandon got settled in the truck, Brandon asked, “So what do you think?”
“We’re still not getting the full story,” Mitchell said while starting his truck. “But I’m thinking if we hold out long enough, the full story will eventually surface on its own.”
“I’m thinking that the full story is connected to those diaries,” Brandon added as Marc drove away.
“I think so too,” Mitchell said as he watched Marc’s cab go past him at around ten-miles-per-hour. Once Marc had moved ahead far enough, Mitchell pulled out right behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, Marc parked his cab in the parking lot of the storage facility and in the parking space next to Wendi’s Jeep. Seconds later, Mitchell parked his truck next to the cab.
As Ellen, Harris, Mitchell, Brandon and Marc were gathering near the rear of the vehicles, Ellen told Mitchell, “You know, I’m surprised that your old pick-up had made it here from Kansas City.” Mitchell just gave Ellen a curious look. “The other day you were having mechanical problems.”
“The other day?” Mitchell echoed curiously.
“That day at the…” Ellen allowed herself to say before faintly saying the word ‘cemetery’. As she was receiving curious looks from Mitchell and Brandon, she continued with, “Yesterday I mean. Yesterday at the cemetery you were having trouble getting your pick-up started.”
“Yes,” Mitchell agreed while shaking off Ellen’s mistake. “It just had bad plugs.”
With a confused expression across her face, Ellen slightly shook her head while saying, “I’m no mechanic. So plugs to me will mean something that you would pull out to allow something to drain.”
Mitchell grinned before saying, “Spark plugs. It wasn’t getting the proper fire… the proper spark that it needed to start.”
Ellen politely grinned before saying, “I’ll take your word for that.”
“Being that you’re sixteen, you do drive, don’t you?” Mitchell asked as Martha, Wendi and Tony were approaching them.
Ellen slightly bowed her head before saying sullenly, “I’m not eligible to get my license right now.”
Mitchell was shooting her a confused look as Brandon was saying, “Sixteen-year-olds can get an intermediate license… unless…”
When Ellen made a facial expression of Brandon being on the right track, Mitchell asked, “What did you do to lose it?”
“The official report is that I was driving a drunk friend home in his car,” Ellen began. “I was fifteen and I didn’t have my driver’s permit with me at the time nor was there a proper supervising driver in the car. And I drove over my friend’s mailbox and ruined a part of the landscaping as I was attempting to park in his driveway.”
“Your drunk friend was the one driving, wasn’t he?” Brandon asked.
“He was,” Ellen answered while grabbing Harris’s full attention. “In fact, I wasn’t even in the car.”
“You had allowed yourself to lose your license for a year or two just because you have the hots for some boy?” Mitchell demanded to know.
“I didn’t have the hots for him,” Ellen retorted. “Charlie’s a nice guy and he would’ve gotten punished more severely than I did. Plus it so happened that I was in the middle of filming something for a class project that evening and I caught his action on tape. After I told the cops that I was the one who drove the car into the yard, I showed him the tape and then we came to an understanding for him to get that tape.”
“You blackmailed him?” Harris questioned incredulously.
“Not for money or services,” Ellen assured him. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“What else is there to blackmail someone for?” Wendi was the one to ask.
“Everyday for six months I had to see him take a safe dose of Antabuse—the drug that makes people react badly to alcohol after drinking it. And I had to see him attend twelve AA meetings,” Ellen said. “And he did it too. I don’t know if he went back to drinking once he got the tape, but at least for six months I had kept his ass from being a drunk driving teenager.”
“Ellen, the language,” Wendi warned.
“Sorry,” Ellen said while glancing towards Tony. She then saw Harris grinning and slightly shaking his head. “What?”
Harris saw that she was asking him and replied, “Tanya knew that there was more to that incident than the official report.”
Ellen grinned before saying, “The cops did too. One of them had even pulled me off to the side and had me describe the incident again, along with him making sure that I knew how long I’ll be waiting for my driver’s license if he ran the report as it currently was. Anyway that’s why I can’t get my license right now.”
“Did this happen before or after your mom had passed away?” Mitchell asked.
“Before,” Ellen said. “In fact, it was last December and just before my mom was diagnosed with having a brain tumor.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, Ellen, but those volumes are this way,” Martha said.
“Yes,” Ellen said while shooting Mitchell a warily glance. “Show me, please.”
Chapter Nine
Ellen, Harris, Mitchell, Brandon and Wendi had followed Martha into Martha’s rented storage space.
Marc knew what was there and he felt that Tony shouldn’t be around those books, especially the ones with the incantations, and so he and Tony remained near the vehicles.
Martha had Gloria’s forty Legacy volumes on a table and covered with a painter’s drop cloth. When Martha pulled back the drop cloth and exposed the Legacy volumes, Mitchell saw the expression on Ellen’s face light up.
“Which one of these is volume one?” Ellen asked eagerly as she stepped closer.
“There are forty volumes here and they are sporadically numbered from volume five to volume one hundred and five,” Martha informed.
“Volumes get lost or destroyed over the years, and I don’t know of any family to have a complete set,” Harris told Ellen as Martha picked up volume five.
Mitchell picked up one of the volumes at random as Martha continued with, “The last ten volumes are volume ninety-six through volume one hundred and five though.” Martha then held out the volume for Ellen to take. “Here’s volume five.”
As Ellen was taking the book from Martha, Mitchell opened to page one and read off the first passage. “Begin by shuffling the tarot cards and silently recite the words… Whoa! Wait! What the hell is this?!”
“What you began reading was the incantation on transferring psychic energy to the tarot cards, and the incantation should be recited silently by the tarot card reader prior to giving anyone a reading,” Harris informed.
“That sounds like witchcraft,” Brandon pointed out.
“That’s because it is witchcraft,” Ellen was the one to say. “Grandpa was a wizard. He just didn’t know it.”
“All of these books are on witchcraft?” Mitchell quickly asked.
“I’m going to guess that only two or three of those books are on incantations,” Harris was th
e one to say. “Those books have an ‘I’ before the number.” Mitchell glanced at the number on the volume that he held. “The rest are diaries of your ancestors. And those diaries can be a fascinating read if you take the time to read them.”
“Ellen, were you so focused on finding these books so you could learn witchcraft?” Mitchell demanded to know.
Ellen was trying to read the first page of the volume and said without thinking, “I do want to learn it, but mainly to protect Sonya until she’s old enough to protect herself.” Ellen had quickly realized the slip that she had made, and before Mitchell could ask, Ellen abruptly looked up and locked eyes with him while scolding herself under her breath, “Damn it, Ellen!”
Ellen saw the confused expression on Mitchell’s face just as he asked, “Who’s Sonya?”
As Ellen stood frozen in place while staring fearfully into Mitchell’s eyes, Harris told her, “You might as well tell him. I think he has the right to know anyway.”
After a moment of hesitating to even move, Ellen broke her statue stance and informed Mitchell, “Sonya is someone who I will protect with my life… and she’s your granddaughter.”
“My granddaughter?” Mitchell quickly questioned in a surprised tone.
“My sister Tanya was eight months pregnant at the time of the accident,” Harris supplied. “And she held out long enough for the doctor to safely deliver Sonya.”
“Sonya also carries the mark of Merlin,” Ellen added. “And anyone who carries the mark is a sorcerer or a sorceress.”
“And you don’t carry the mark, do you?” Mitchell asked Ellen.
Ellen shook her head before saying, “No. Being a witch is as powerful as I’ll ever be.”
“Aren’t witches and sorceress the same?” Brandon asked with a confused expression across his face.
“In the small picture, yes, but in the larger picture, no,” Harris was the one to say. Mitchell, Brandon and Wendi stared confusingly at Harris before he explained, “A witch and a sorceress can perform the same witchcraft, but a sorceress’s power will be of a much higher caliber. In fact, it’s like comparing a forty-four-caliber pistol to a small military cannon. However, any descendants of Merlin who doesn’t carry his mark will be of a higher caliber witch than the witches who aren’t related to Merlin.”
Legacy Page 15
