“Okay, shoot,” Blaire prompted.
“What is Immortal Magic?” Ellen questioned. Disconcerting expressions quickly came across Blaire’s, Devon’s and Trevor’s faces. Puzzled and unknowledgeable expressions came across Harris’s, Allyson’s and Sadie’s faces. “Did I say something wrong?”
With a slightly anxious tone to his voice, Devon calmly asked, “Where… where have you learned of Immortal Magic?”
“At the party I met Andie Cornell,” Ellen began. “Andie is fifteen—and a girl I would like to add, since her name could throw people off—and she’s a medium. To top that, one of my volumes has Eleanor Thorne’s spirit attached to it. Eleanor is an ancestor of mine who had lived in the 1400s and she had followed me to the party. When Eleanor saw that Andie could see her, Eleanor asked Andie to pass on a warning to me.”
“What kind of warning?” Harris asked quickly.
“Remember that nightmare I had, about me fighting a wizard?” Ellen asked. Harris nodded. “Well, it turns out that my nightmare wizard is flesh and blood, and he is ritually killing people in New Orleans. I caught a glimpse of his latest killing from a vision tonight, and the warning that Eleanor had wanted me to have, is that the wizard can see me at the same time I can see him.”
“He must’ve cast an echo spell on himself,” Trevor thought aloud.
“What’s an echo spell?” Ellen asked.
“It’s actually called something else… and I can’t think of its proper name at the moment, but it’s a spell that will alert him when a remote seer would have a vision of him as you did,” Trevor explained.
“Okay, well, Eleanor wants me to cast that permanent cloaking spell for individuals on myself before he locates me, which there is no way in hell that I will cast that spell on myself given the side-effects of the spell,” Ellen continued. “Eleanor then called me a fool because this wizard in New Orleans practices Immortal Magic—which brings me back to my question. What’s Immortal Magic?”
“Eleanor didn’t tell you?” Trevor asked.
“Eleanor said that she will explain it to me in person once this wizard has killed me, and then she vanished from Andie’s sight,” Ellen replied. “She was annoyed that I won’t do the cloaking spell.”
“It sounds as though she was concern for your safety, and she has the right to be,” Devon said.
“Is anyone going to explain what Immortal Magic is to me?” Ellen questioned.
“Harris had told me about the spells that you, he and your friend Jessica had learned,” Blaire began. Ellen gave Blaire her full attention. “All of those spells are a part of Mortal Magic. Earth Magic is another word for them, and it’s the magic that dwells inside the individual wizard or witch. Now Immortal Magic—also known as Eternal Magic—is the magic that comes from the spiritual world. So it’s actually borrowed magic, and it is also very dangerous to perform as the wizard or witch performing it greatly risks spiritual possession; however, if the wizard or witch could pull it off without becoming spiritually possessed, he or she could emulate God-like powers.”
Ellen’s eyes grew wide before demanding, “What kind of God-like powers?!”
“After obtaining the borrowed magic, he or she would have twice the power that Merlin had, and he or she could be capable of teleportation, levitation, shape-shifting, alchemy, resurrecting the dead… limb regeneration—and a full moon isn’t required for any of it,” Blaire explained.
“Wow!” Ellen uttered.
“After obtaining the borrowed magic, most witches or wizards are only capable of performing one or two powers from the God-like powers list,” Trevor added. “In any case, I never heard of one who was capable of performing more than three powers from the list.”
Ellen gave an acknowledging nod before asking, “So, how long does this borrowed magic last for before needing to… rest or recharge?”
Blaire shrugged before saying, “It depends on the individual and my guess is that a witch or a wizard could go hours… possibly a day even before needing to rest or recharge.”
“Wow,” Ellen again let out.
“Perhaps you should do that cloaking spell, Ellen,” Allyson suggested.
“I’m on this wizard’s radar, and I seriously doubt that a wizard who can emulate God-like powers will allow a mere cloaking spell to stand in his way of finding me,” Ellen countered. “No, the spell that I need to cast, I don’t have.”
“And what spell is that?” Harris questioned.
“The spell that activates my power over the beasts,” Ellen replied.
“And you think a few guard dogs will protect you?” Devon questioned.
“Guard dogs, hell,” Ellen retorted. “If I had that spell, I would create War Dogs.”
“You have a plan,” Sadie took note of.
“Eleanor has already warned me that this wizard will come after me once he learns my location,” Ellen began. “So if I had the spell that would activate my power over the beasts, I would round up as many dogs as I could. Take them to the woods or somewhere where they could hide out of sight, and I would wait as bait for this wizard to show up. I’m certain that this wizard will gloat on how easy he had found me, and while he’s gloating, I’ll give the dogs the command to attack.”
“That actually might work,” Devon said. “Especially if we were there as well.”
“I’m not a member of the Tri-Star Confederation,” Ellen reminded Devon, “nor have I decided if joining a coven is right for me. So I don’t expect you guys to risk your lives.”
“You’re a potential member and we’re here,” Devon replied.
“A wizard who practices Immortal Magic is also a threat to the Tri-Star Confederation,” Trevor added. “So by helping you to defeat this wizard, we’ll be helping ourselves as well.”
“Okay, thanks,” Ellen replied in a tone as if she didn’t know what else to say.
“It’s also good that you have a witch-finder as a friend,” Devon told Ellen.
“A witch-finder?” Ellen echoed in a confused tone.
“He’s talking about Everett,” Allyson supplied.
“Okay,” Ellen said in a tone as if to say, ‘if you say so.’ “Are you guys calling him that, or is that what he is?”
“That’s what he is,” Blaire replied.
“King William the First—or William the Conqueror as you might know him by—had a spell cast on a group of very talented archers prior to his invasion of England in order for the archers to spot a witch or a wizard among the apposing army,” Sadie supplied. “When King William the First and his men did invade, those archers were instructed to go after the witches and wizards as they spotted them. What King William the First didn’t take into account is that the ability to spot witches and wizards would be passed down to those archers’ descendants.”
Ellen gave Sadie the thumbs-up sign while saying, “Gotcha. Now what I don’t have is how someone would perform Immortal Magic… not that I want to do it mind you—I like not being spiritually possessed. I’m just curious on how to do it.”
“There are a few ways that a wizard or a witch could achieve Immortal Magic,” Blaire began. “The easiest way though is through a sacrificing ritual that will call forth a powerful spirit. The spirit will temporarily combine its essence with the witch or wizard, and practicing Immortal Magic frequently increases the chances of spiritual possession. The other ways are more involved, and