they... wicked sorceresses?”
“No,” the teenager said simply.
“We hunt animals; not humans, so they might accept us.”
“We won’t volunteer that we are vampires, but if they would find out then we will plea our case. Until then, don’t let them find out your birth name.”
After a short deliberation, the eighteen-year-old woman nodded in agreement.
“I had a vision,” Ellen announced gravely, barely above a whisper to her group as she stepped up.
“That’s great,” Karla said.
“Who’s that guy you were talking to?” Everett asked.
Ellen gave Everett a curious look and saw that Everett was giving the teenager his focus as he tried to see through the crowd.
“He’s Patrick, and he’s not important,” Ellen told Everett before looking towards Karla. “What is important though is that I had a vision, and it wasn’t great.”
“You’ve wanted to get another vision,” Jessica pointed out. “So why isn’t that great?”
Ellen glanced warily towards Allen before saying, “The morning after you and Karla had stayed the night at my place, I’d told you about a dream that I had…”
“What about it?” Jessica interrupted.
“With the vision that I just had, I don’t think that dream was a random dream,” Ellen explained.
“What do you mean?” Jessica asked as Ellen was noticing that Everett was still trying to see the teenager through the crowd.
Ellen moved over and blocked Everett’s view while saying, “I believe that my dream was a psychic dream.” When Everett attempted to see around Ellen, Ellen demanded to know, “Are you jealous, Everett, that Patrick spoke to me?”
With a confused expression across his face, Everett looked at Ellen. After Ellen’s question had sunk in, he said, “No, that’s not… I’m trying to see Patrick’s aura.”
In a drawn out manner Ellen asked, “Why?”
“Because earlier, I don’t think I’d seen one,” Everett explained while looking around Ellen. “And as I was trying to verify what I think I saw, the dancers were getting in the way.” The dancers were no longer blocking Everett’s view; however, the teenager was no longer standing by the table. “And now he’s nowhere in sight.”
Ellen turned to search for the teenager too, but when she couldn’t spot him, she turned back towards Everett and said, “Patrick might’ve gone to the bathroom. When he gets back… from wherever he went, I’ll introduce you two. Meanwhile, can we focus on my disturbing vision?”
“What exactly did you see, Ellen?” Karla asked.
When Ellen glanced warily towards Allen again, Karla sweet-talked Allen into getting something from the food table for her.
As Allen was walking away, Karla told Ellen, “Now you can talk freely.”
With an amused expression on her face, Ellen said, “In my vision, the wizard was ritually killing someone in New Orleans.”
“And you’re sure that the wizard from your vision was the same one from your nightmare?” Jessica asked.
“It was most definitely the same one,” Ellen assured them.
“Please tell me that you aren’t planning on going to New Orleans,” Everett quickly requested.
Ellen thought of her answer before saying, “By your dad being a detective, I wouldn’t make it out of Georgia before he put out an APB on me. Plus rushing in blindly would be foolish, if not suicidal. So we need to learn everything we can about this wizard before we plan anything.”
“And how are we supposed to do that when all we know about this wizard is from what you had seen from your dream and vision?” Everett quickly questioned.
Ellen thought for a second before asking, “Could you sketch this person if I describe him to you?”
Everett shrugged, and before he could respond with more than that, a fifteen-year-old girl dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz stepped up to them.
When Ellen and her group looked, the girl timidly looked into Ellen’s eyes while saying shyly, “He sees you… too.”
Everett, Jessica, Karla and Simon stared curiously at the girl. Ellen stared curiously at the girl as well, as she asked, “Who’s seeing me?”
The girl made a gesture as if she was listening to an invisible someone next to her before saying shyly, “When you see him—the one who is in New Orleans—he sees you at the same time.” The girl then made another gesture as if she was listening to someone before she continued. “He doesn’t know where you are at though. Not right now anyway.”
“You’re a psychic,” Ellen accused. The girl made a gesture as if she was looking at an invisible someone for the proper response. “Is there someone else here? Someone who we can’t see?” The girl fearfully shot Ellen a ‘caught red handed’ look. “I assure you, you’re among friends. So if you see someone… or some spirit that we can’t see, we will believe you.”
The girl hesitated before nodding and saying shyly, “I can see ghosts, and a ghost had come in with you.”
“A ghost had come in with me?” Ellen asked in a surprised tone.
The girl glanced at the invisible someone before saying shyly, “Yes, and she’s here now.”
“Is she my Great-Grandma Gloria?” Ellen quickly asked.
The girl glanced at the ghost before saying shyly, “Her name is Eleanor…”
“Eleanor?!” Ellen echoed in a surprised tone. “Eleanor Thorne?”
The girl glanced at the ghost before nodding.
“Who’s Eleanor Thorne?” Karla asked.
“She’s my ancestor who had lived in the 1400s,” Ellen said as the girl made a gesture as if she was listening to Eleanor. “I had just started reading her volume last night, which her volume is actually the oldest original volume in my collection out of three originals.”
“Eleanor says that there’s a cloaking ritual in one of the volumes that you have,” the girl said shyly.
“Wait!” Ellen strongly requested. “What all has Eleanor told you?”
The girl glanced at the ghost before saying shyly, “You like to begin by telling the person who you are informing that you’re related to Merlin and allowing the person to form his or her own conclusion before continuing on.”
“So you know what I am?” Ellen questioned.
“You’re a sorceress,” the girl said shyly. “And Eleanor wants you to cast that cloaking ritual before that wizard in New Orleans discovers your location.”
“Hold up,” Ellen requested. “Before we continue this discussion, I would like to know your name.”
The girl stared timidly at Ellen before saying nervously, “It’s… it’s Andie.”
“Nice to meet you, Andie; I’m Ellen,” she began before pointing out the others. “Meet Everett, Jessica, Karla and Simon.”
“Hi,” Everett and Simon told Andie.
Jessica and Karla just waved.
“Allen is a part of our group too, and he’s at the food table while getting something to eat,” Ellen continued.
“Okay,” Andie said shyly while glancing towards the food table.
“Now getting