Once Ellen and Allyson got home from the party store, Ellen was the one to carry Sonya into the house as Allyson carried Ellen’s book bag, Sonya’s diaper bag and the store bags into the house.
“Place Sonya in her swing,” Allyson instructed as they reached the living room. Allyson then placed everything that she was carrying down on the couch.
“Alright,” Ellen agreed.
The infant swing was set up in the living room near the stereo and as Ellen was putting Sonya in the swing, Allyson was turning on the stereo.
Once Ellen started Sonya’s swing swinging, Allyson told her, “I don’t know how disciplined you are at getting your school work done, so at the risk of sounding too motherly, you should get started on it. And while you’re doing that, I’ll fix supper.”
Ellen amusingly grinned before saying, “I’m good at doing my homework without being reminded… constantly to do it like some people need to be, but thanks. I know you’re telling me to do my homework because you care about me.” Allyson pleasantly grinned. “And I will get right on it after I Email Sadie.”
Allyson nodded before asking, “Do you like chicken and dumplings?”
Ellen shrugged before saying, “I’ve heard of it, but I had never eaten it before.”
“Oh, in that case, I’ll fix it so you can try it,” Allyson said. “I fix it from scratch too, so you’ll have plenty of time to Email Sadie and then get your homework done.”
“Sounds good,” Ellen said before she and Allyson went their respective ways.
Tuesday morning at school, twenty minutes before the first class was to begin, Everett was walking through the moderately crowded halls towards his locker and saw that Ellen was opening up her locker. The nearest person to Ellen was ten lockers down from her left and his locker was two lockers from her right.
Everett stopped in his tracks once he saw Ellen, and after a brief moment of staring annoyingly at her, he took a calming breath and continued to his locker.
Ellen did a double-take when she saw who was next to her. Everett saw that Ellen was looking at him for a brief moment in his peripheral vision, and when she turned her attention back to what she was doing inside the locker, he turned towards her and informed, “You had cost RJ seven hundred dollars.” Ellen turned and stared confusingly at Everett. “You’re not going to respond?”
“I’m trying to decide which question to ask first from three questions,” Ellen explained.
“Ask all three and I’ll try to answer them if I can, after you’re finished,” Everett urged.
“Okay,” Ellen began. “Apparently you know RJ, but how do you know him? How do you know that I had met him, and how did I cost him seven hundred dollars?”
“Okay, the first one; RJ is my next door neighbor. Second, I was in the parking lot and I saw how you got Sergeant to come to you. And finally, that magical whammy you had done on Sergeant had turned him from a potential guard dog to a pet.”
“Magical whammy?” Ellen echoed in a confused tone.
“Andy had told me what he had told you,” Everett said barely loud enough for even Ellen to hear. “You know that I know that you’re a witch, and what you did last night had cost RJ seven hundred dollars.”
“During the sixteen years, two months and several days that I am, I have not even read nor do I know any magical incantations,” Ellen informed. “And the only thing I did last night was called a—what I thought was a stray dog—over to me. And I have always been good at getting stray dogs to come to me.”
“I’m not buying it,” Everett said in an indifferent tone.
“Well, I’m not selling anything,” Ellen retorted. “I’m telling you what’s what, and I couldn’t care less what you believe.”
“What I know is a fact; not a belief,” Everett insisted.
Ellen slightly hesitated before saying, “I’m going to be honest with you… especially since what I’m about to tell you seems to be unavoidable with me.” Everett gave Ellen a curious look. “Without doing anything I’m an animal pied piper who doesn’t need a pipe.”
“What does that mean?” Everett asked in a confused tone.
“I could be outside, minding my own business and if there are any animals or birds around me within so many feet from me—I don’t know how many feet though—they’ll come to me all willy-nilly. My dad’s like this, his brother is like this, my siblings were like this and my grandpa was like this.”
“Were and was?” Everett asked while taking note of the past tense.
Ellen took a breath before saying sullenly, “My dad’s dad, three of my brothers and my sister were all killed in the same incident before I was even born. Michael, the oldest sibling of us all and my dad survived the incident with injuries. Michael was also Sonya’s father. Fourteen days and a few hours ago, Michael and his wife were killed in an auto accident.”
Everett shot Ellen a confused look before asking, “How old is Sonya?”
Ellen slightly grinned before saying, “Tanya, Michael’s wife, was eight months pregnant with Sonya at the time of the accident, and as evident of Sonya being alive, the doctor was able to deliver her in time.”
“I’m sorry about your brother and sister-in-law… and your other siblings,” Everett said.
“Thanks.” Ellen then continued cautiously, “And at the risk of jinxing it… you are being civil to me.”
“Yes, well, I do consider myself a considerate person… in spite of who I’m talking to,” Everett said. Ellen slightly smirked. “And for the record, I’m not completely convinced of you or any of your relatives being an animal pied piper. And I’m definitely certain that you are a witch.”
Ellen grinned before saying, “For argument sake, let’s say that I’m a witch. Who’s to say that I’m not a good witch?”
Everett chuckled before saying, “This is real life and not the TV show ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with the Good Witch of the North or ‘Charmed’ with the Halliwell sisters.”
“So you think that there is no such thing as a good witch?” Ellen questioned.
Everett deliberated for a moment before informing, “Jessica and Karla seem like nice people, but one or both are hurting people.”
A curious expression came quickly across Ellen’s face as she demanded, “In what way?”
“Once a month for the past six months and on or around the night of the full moon, a highly intelligent and sane college student had gotten his or her mind turned into tapioca pudding,” Everett began. “The doctors are at a loss to explain it, and I doubt that the Hulu aliens are responsible for it. In fact, my bet is on Jessica or Karla or even both.”
“And you would know about the college students how?” Ellen prompted.
“My mom… well, my stepmom is a nurse in psychiatrics,” Everett got out before the male student who had the locker between Ellen and Everett stepped up.
When Ellen and Everett looked at the arriving student, the student gestured towards his locker while saying, “I need to get into my locker.”
“Hey, Danny,” Everett said while backing up.
Ellen overlapped Everett with, “No problem.” As Ellen backed up a step to give Danny some room, she looked around the hall and saw as to how crowded that it was becoming. “Everett, can we talk more about this later… in private?”
Before Everett could reply, a parrot landed on Ellen’s shoulder. When Ellen quickly looked at what had landed on her, the bird drew Danny’s attention along with the attention of the others in the hall by singing loudly, “Anchors aweigh, my boy. Anchors aweigh…”
“Stevie, what are you doing?!” a woman’s voice was heard approaching as Stevie continued to sing. Ellen, Everett and Danny turned to look and saw a senior student approaching. “I’m very sorry. Honest, this is the very first time I’ve seen Stevie fly up to strangers like that.”
“It’s fine,” Ellen assured her as the student went to retrieve her singing pet. “As long as Stevie doesn’t drop anything on me, there is no harm done.�
�
“Peyton?” Everett called while grabbing her attention. “Really? ‘Anchors aweigh’ is the song you chose to teach the bird?”
“My dad taught him that two years ago,” Peyton grumbled. “As a message to every boy I might want to date. Stevie hasn’t sung it for a while though. I don’t know why he chose to do it now.”
“This might not be any of my business, but why did you choose to bring a parrot into school today?” Ellen asked.
“We’re doing a play in drama class about pirates and Mr. Norton told me that it was okay to bring Stevie in for it as a live prop,” Peyton informed.
Everett saw the worry in Ellen’s eyes as she asked, “Are there anymore live props in this play besides Stevie?”
“Not that I know of,” Peyton said.
“Just wondering,” Ellen said with a polite grin.
“Okay, well, thanks for your understanding, and Stevie and I need to get going,” Peyton said before turning away.
“Bye,” Ellen said before Peyton had a chance to walk away.
“Bye,” Peyton echoed with a quick glance over her shoulder.
When Ellen looked at Everett, Everett questioned, “You weren’t joking about the birds and animals, were you?”
Danny gave Ellen a curious look as she shook her head with a grin.
“I don’t know if you’re superstitious, but for me, my blood relatives and my house, ignore all of those bird omens,” Ellen began. “Those bird omens are a wash when it comes to my family and me.”
“I sure hope that you two know what you two are talking about; because I sure don’t,” Danny said.
“We do,” Ellen said with an amused grin.
“To answer your question, Ellen, I need to get to class right now, but we can talk more at lunch,” Everett offered.
“Not in the lunchroom,” Ellen told him.
Everett thought for a moment before supplying, “At the track and field.”
Ellen nodded before saying, “Okay.”
Everett nodded before turning his attention to the inside of his locker. Ellen finished up at what she was doing, shut her locker and then casually walked down the hall to her first class.
At the beginning of the second lunch period, Ellen went to the track and field and saw Everett sitting alone on the bleachers.
Everett saw Ellen coming, and once she was close enough, he told her, “Since I’d agreed to come here and talk to you, I want you to answer my questions with honesty and without sidestepping the questions.”
“You’re not hiding a tape recorder or wearing a wire, are you?” Ellen asked while stepping up.
“No—to both,” Everett quickly said.
“Just checking, and yes, I’ll answer honestly,” Ellen said while she took a seat on the bleachers inches from him. “So who’s first?”
“Ladies first,” Everett urged.
Ellen grinned before saying, “Okay.” Ellen cleared her throat. “I’ll begin by correcting your belief…”
“If you tell me that you, Jessica and Karla aren’t witches, I’m out of here,” Everett warned in a stern tone.
“Jessica and Karla are sorceresses, not witches,” Ellen informed.
“Sorceresses?!” Everett quickly echoed.
“Wizards and sorceresses are more powerful than witches, and yes, they are sorceresses—powerful sorceresses, in fact.”
“How do you know that they are sorceresses? Not that I’m doubting what you say to be true, mind you.”
Ellen slightly grinned before saying, “You were right and wrong at the same time about me.” Everett shot her a curious look. “I’m not a witch, but fourteen days ago I learned that I could become one…”
“You learn that you can become a witch on the day when your niece was born?”
“Uh-huh,” Ellen acknowledged while nodding. “Tanya’s brother Harris informed me of it… oh and in case I didn’t mention it earlier, Tanya was my brother’s wife.”
“Okay,” Everett skeptically acknowledged.
“Anyway, my relatives on my dad’s side, Harris’s relatives on his mom’s side and—and going off of what Andy and Ted had said yesterday—Jessica and Karla’s relatives on their mom’s side are all Merlin’s descendants, and we can feel each other when we get near one another…”
“Wait a second,” Everett interrupted in a confused tone. “Why are Jessica and Karla sorceresses and you’re not?”
Ellen grinned before explaining the mark of Merlin, the three wizard lines, the Wizard Wars, how the wizard lines became weaker through the generations when twins were born, her family journals known as the Legacy volumes, the Phoenix stage and her plans to learn witchcraft to protect Sonya.
Ellen finished by saying, “And if Jessica, Karla or their mother finds out that I know about any of this and that I had told you, the three might come after us both.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Everett said sincerely. “I won’t be discussing this with anyone. Not even with Andy and Ted.”
Ellen amusingly grinned with a nod before asking, “Why isn’t Jessica and Karla’s mom on your suspect list?”
“Their mom is doing life in prison for murdering someone five years ago. She’s off my list because I don’t think she could attack someone while in prison.”
“Okay, I get why you had eliminated their mom, but what reason would Jessica or Karla have for turning people’s minds into tapioca pudding?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but does a witch or a wizard… or even a sorceress have to have a reason?”
“There’s always a reason for a witch, a wizard or a sorceress to kill… or maim someone,” Ellen informed. “I would never do them, but several incantations require human victims—‘sacrifices’ is actually the correct word—for the incantations to work.”
“If you don’t know witchcraft, then how do you know what is required for an incantation to work?”
Ellen grinned before saying, “I made a deal with Harris’s mother that I would read the first three Legacy volumes before opening the books on incantations. Those volumes are on the Wizard Wars and without actually going into details on how to work the incantations, the volumes are very informative about them. For instance killing someone during a certain incantation could bring a sick and dying person back to full health.”
“So it’s a magical trade,” Everett surmised. “An eye for an eye sort of deal.”
“Or mental health for mental health,” Ellen concluded as a thought had occurred to her.
“What are you talking about?” Everett asked in a confused tone.
“Jessica and Karla’s grandfather had a severe stroke more than a year ago that prevents him from verbal communication and walking and holding things,” Ellen relayed. “The doctors say that his mind is a prisoner of his own body and claim that his condition is permanent. Karla doesn’t think so though because his condition has been improving for the past six months.”
“So is that enough for Jessica and Karla to make your suspect list?” Everett asked.
“It does.” Ellen was quiet for a brief moment before asking in a confused tone, “Jessica and Karla’s mother is doing life in prison for murder?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“The thought of her going to prison for murder doesn’t make sense to me,” Ellen began. “Who did she kill and how?”
“She shot and killed a newspaper reporter at his work and in front of his co-workers,” Everett informed.
“Why would a powerful sorceress kill someone with a gun and in front of witnesses when magic would be a better murder weapon along with being impossible to prove in court?”
“Don’t know, but she did do it.”
“I’m not denying that she did it, but for a powerful sorceress to kill with a gun and in front of witnesses, she had to have wanted to go to prison.”
“Well that doesn’t make sense,” Everett uttered.
“Exactly,” Ellen agreed. “And I think we need to find out why.”
&n
bsp; “Hold on there, Nancy Drew,” Everett quickly said. “My grandmother was killed while investigating the Harman family, and a reporter was killed for whatever reason…”
“I’m investigating this with or without you,” Ellen interrupted with.
“And do you know where to begin your investigation?”
“With that dead reporter. I want to know why she wanted that reporter dead. Do you know the reporter’s name?”
Everett shook his head while saying, “Don’t know, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find out.”
“Okay,” Ellen said while nodding. “Do you think the info would be in the school library?”
“I doubt it. Public library would have old newspapers though and it would be in there.”
“Okay. After school I’ll go to the library. Want to join me?” Everett slightly chuckled. Ellen shot him a curious look while asking, “What?”
Everett grinned before saying, “I just find it bizarre that I want nothing to do with witches and wizards and a witch keeps inviting me to be a part of her plans.”
“I’m not a witch yet…” Ellen was only able to get out.
“You’d confessed that you’re planning to become one though—to protect Sonya, until she’s old enough to protect herself.”
“And because of that we can’t be friends?” Ellen quickly asked.
“If you would’ve asked me that just ten minutes ago, the answer would’ve been ‘yes’.”
Ellen grinned before prompting, “And now?”
Instead of verbally answering her, Everett slowly leaned in and gave Ellen a passionate kiss. Ellen pulled back after a second and looked down nervously.
“I’m sorry,” Everett said sincerely. “I thought we were making a connection.”
“We are,” Ellen informed while facing him. “I just have bad luck with relationships.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m a virgin. That fact isn’t going to change anytime soon. I don’t make out at the movies or if I’m watching a movie at home and the guys who had dated me in the past had hated those facts about me and moved on to some girl who would make out or have sex.”
Everett grinned before saying, “I’m not and wouldn’t be one of those guys.”
Legacy Page 26
