LITMIR.BIZ

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with more than that, I need to know what all have you told Everett.”

      “I told him about the Tri-Star Confederation, your offer for me to join the confederation and the definition of Immortal Magic,” Ellen began. “I didn’t think to tell him the part about him being a witch-finder.”

      “Everett, I was hoping that Ellen would decide not to tell you, but since she had, you must understand the importance of keeping the existence of the Tri-Star Confederation a secret,” Blaire said.

      “I’ll keep the secret,” Everett replied. “I promise.”

      “I hope so,” Blaire said.

      “So, Jessica? Karla? Have you two accepted the offer of joining?” Ellen asked.

      “We accepted,” Jessica and Karla said.

      “Blaire said that you haven’t given your answer yet,” Karla continued.

      “I thought about it, and I’ve decided to join,” Ellen said while looking towards Blaire.

      “Excellent,” Blaire said. “So does anyone have any questions?”

      “Has Harry joined?” Ellen quickly asked while glancing at him.

      “I have,” Harris said.

      “So are there any other questions,” Blaire asked.

      “Have you talked to Jessica and Karla about those books?” Ellen asked.

      “We were about to get to that when you and Everett were joining us,” Blaire said.

      “What books?” Jessica asked.

      “Those ancient books… or documents that your grandfather owned,” Ellen said.

      “Jessica. Karla. With your permission, Devon, Trevor and I would like to look at those books or documents,” Blaire said.

      ‘Sure’ and ‘Okay’ were the responses that Blaire received from Jessica and Karla.

      “It’s actually only one book though,” Jessica informed. “And how soon do you want to look at it?”

      “Until this wizard in New Orleans is dealt with, Devon, Trevor, Sadie and I won’t be going anywhere,” Blaire began. “So at your convenience.”

      “Okay,” Jessica said.

      “I have a question that I want to ask, but I keep forgetting to,” Everett announced.

      “Ask it,” Devon urged.

      “From Ellen, I learn that crystal balls are real,” Everett began. “But what about magical wands?”

      “Everett, I’m going to assume that you know how to operate a computer,” Trevor said.

      “I do,” Everett said in a confused tone.

      “So you would know about keyboard shortcuts?” Trevor questioned.

      “Again, yes,” Everett replied in the same confused tone.

      “Okay, well, a magical wand is nothing more than a magical token, and any object can be turned into a magical token, and magical tokens are nothing more than shortcuts to predetermine spells,” Trevor informed.

      “Give a better example,” Ellen requested with a confused expression on her face.

      Trevor grinned before saying, “The ‘levitating an object’ spell is eight lines long, but you can cast an incantation on a wand that will make the wand levitate an object with a single command word.”

      “And any object can be turned into a magical token that will make things levitate?” Ellen questioned.

      “Yes, but obviously carrying or waving a statue around to levitate things would be impractical… plus making you look ridiculous,” Trevor began. Ellen just amusingly grinned. “So most objects of choice that are turned into magical tokens are jewelry, rocks, wands and staffs. And when a wizard or a sorceress chooses to use a wand or a staff as a token, it’s mainly to dazzle or confound the attended audience. Also you can have as many magical tokens as you want; however, you will have to give each token its own individual command word or phrase, otherwise you will activate multiple tokens at the same time.”

      “Make sense,” Karla said.

      “Oh, and don’t fret if any of you would ever lose a magical token,” Devon added. “Magical tokens only work for the witch or the wizard who the tokens were cast for.”

      “That’s not a completely true statement,” Blaire quickly informed while glancing between Jessica and Karla. Everyone gave Blaire a curious look. “Blood is what binds a token to a person, and since twins… especially identical twins share the exact blood type and DNA, a token will work for either twin regardless of which twin that the token was cast for.”

      “Yes,” Devon agreed in a tone as if the knowledge of that fact had suddenly come back to him. “Twins are the only exceptions to my last statement. Anyway, Ellen, Jessica and Karla, here’s another tidbit that you three might be interested in. By becoming stage magicians—and as long as you three keep the spells small and trivial—you three can mask the fact that you three are practicing witchcraft in public. So if, or when people would see you performing witchcraft, those people will think that it’s a part of your bag of stage tricks.”

      “There’s a thought,” Karla said.

      “That would also ease Sonya into the world of witchcraft too, by introducing her to stage magic first,” Ellen added.

      “It would,” Blaire agreed.

      “Except I don’t want a career as a stage magician,” Ellen continued.

      “You don’t have to make a career out of it,” Trevor told Ellen. “Just take it up as a hobby; however, people will need to see you practicing that hobby before that façade will work.”

      When Ellen nodded in agreement with a polite grin, Devon said, “Here’s another tidbit that you might or might not be familiar with. The spell that changes man into beasts predates documented history, so lycanthropy—L-Y-C-A-N-T-H-R-O-P-Y—and liken—L-I-K-E-N—are one and the same, and as far as I know, both of those words had appeared in history at around the same time. However, some people choose to think of lycanthropy as the science behind the liken spell.”

      “And if you talk to anyone who studies or teaches myths or folklore, those people will most likely use the term lycanthropy… or—thanks to the ‘Underworld’ series—the word lycan—L-Y-C-A-N. So keep that fact in mind if a discussion comes up at school about it,” Blaire added. “Anyway, are there any other questions?”

      As Ellen tried to think of any questions that she might want answered, Jessica said, “I don’t have any.”

      “I don’t have any either,” Karla said.

      “What about voodoo dolls?” Everett asked, as if it was an afterthought. “Are they real?”

      “Yes… and no,” Trevor informed.

      “Yes and no?” Ellen echoed curiously.

      “To put a hex on someone, the witch or wizard would wrap the victim’s nail clippings, the victim’s hair and a small amount of the victim’s blood inside an enclosed sack, and then chant the appropriate hex incantation,” Trevor explained. “I’ve heard those sacks called several things, including hex bags. In any case, a voodoo doll is nothing more than a hex bag. And the only reason why a witch or a wizard would make the hex bag look like a doll is to openly scare the victim, and by openly scaring the victim, the victim could do more harm to him or herself while trying to avoid the hex dangers than the hex spell could ever do.”

       “Also, movies and storybooks do exaggerate the hex bag’s power,” Blaire added before looking towards Ellen. “And for examples, you can’t drown a person by immersing a voodoo doll underwater, or suffocate the person by putting the

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