“Which spells can be linked to a magical token?”
“I’ll put it to you this way,” Trevor began. “The only spells that can’t be linked to a magical token are vivacious incantations.”
“What about precision incantations?” Ellen asked.
“Okay, the only spells that can’t be linked to a magical token are vivacious incantations and precision incantations,” Trevor amended. “Any other spell can be linked to a magical token.”
“I want to try it,” Ellen announced. Everyone gave Ellen a curious look. “I want to link a spell to a token.”
“Okay,” Trevor said in an uncertain tone. “Which one?”
“What are the common ones linked to magical tokens?” Ellen asked as they were approaching the vehicles.
“Linking spells to magical tokens are done more for convenience and not which one is more common,” Trevor told Ellen. “Which spell would you more like to cast with a single word or a short phrase?”
“Defensive spells,” Ellen uttered without putting too much thought into her answer. “One at least—one that will defend off an attack.”
As they stopped walking near the vehicles, Trevor informed, “Offensive and defensive incantations are known as combat incantations, and because of the complexity of combat incantations, a magical token holding a combat incantation can only be activated once.”
“Okay,” Ellen said while pondering what was said. “Could I… reload it? The object that I used for my token? With the same spell?”
“Of course,” Trevor said. “You can even cancel a spell attached to a token and attach a different spell to it.”
“Cool,” Ellen uttered. “Which spell would be the best one to defend off an attack?”
“I recommend one that will knock a person back several feet in order to give you time to assess the situation,” Devon suggested.
“If I’m defending myself against an attacking wizard, I would know what the situation was,” Ellen retorted.
“It’s not that simple, Ellen,” Blaire was the one to say. “Some peaceful yet untrusting wizards and sorceresses will attack first and ask questions later. At which you will want to defuse the attack without causing harm to that person, so you can explain that you are there peacefully. However, the untrusting wizard might not believe you, and come at you again. At which you will need to use a stronger defense against the attacking wizard. And even then, you will want to use a spell that will defuse the attack without causing harm.”
“Alright-alright,” Ellen quickly said. “I get it. I’ll go with the type of spell that Devon had suggested. I want to link that type of spell to a magical token.”
“Alright,” Trevor agreed. “They’re known as blow-back incantations. There are several different ones with varying effectiveness. Several years ago, I had memorized one of the powerful ones, and when we get back from dinner, I’ll instruct you on how to link it to a token.”
“Thanks,” Ellen said.
Trevor nodded before instructing, “In the meantime, think of a word or a short phrase that you would never use in a conversation. That word or phrase will be what you’ll say to activate the spell.”
“Okay,” Ellen agreed before she and the others went to their respective vehicles.
Winona, Riley and Brad left Bonnie’s house to search for the two vampires within the city; however, from a vampire locating spell that would be cast on a mirror or a crystal ball—that Winona’s father would do within Winona’s hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida—they knew exactly where to go.
After climbing into their rented van that had eight seats and side windows, Winona, Riley and Brad went to the house that had hosted the large Halloween party the night before, and as they drove up, they saw that the owners of the house were hosting another moderate size social event.
Brad was the one driving, and when he saw the moderate number of expensive vehicles parked in the driveway and around the house, he asked, “What now? We can’t exactly knock and barge in.”
Winona was in the seat directly behind Brad, and after a short moment of pondering what to do, she said, “We’ll sit out here and wait. They have to leave at some point.”
The neighboring houses were two to three times farther apart compared to other neighborhoods, and Brad turned around in the next driveway down.
Trees filled the neighborhood yards, but Brad found a place to park the van with a good view of the house between the driveway that he had used and the house that was harboring the vampires.
They talked as they watched the house, and after a forty-minute wait, a police cruiser—with its lights on—pulled up behind them and parked.
“We have company,” Brad informed as he watched the officer get out of the cruiser.
“That’s stating the obvious,” Riley retorted.
Brad rolled down the window before the officer could step up.
While shining his flashlight with is left hand, the officer looked into the backseats first. When the light had found Winona, the officer held it there for a second longer before shining it on Riley in the front passenger seat. After seeing who all were in the van, the officer turned his attention towards Brad.
The officer had his right hand resting on his gun as he instructed, “Keep your hands where I can see them.”
“Of course,” they said in cadence.
Winona put her hands on the back of Brad’s seat. Brad placed his hands on the steering wheel and Riley placed his hands on the dashboard.
When the officer saw that the three had complied, he said, “Guys, no doubt that you three are big fans of Denise Stanley, but give her a break tonight and don’t stalk her home.”
“Denise Stanley lives there?” Winona quickly questioned in a surprised tone as she gestured towards the house.
Winona was being serious, but the officer shot her a look that said, “I’m tired of the dumbness routine.”
“I don’t go around stalking novelists,” Winona defended just before a thought occurred to her. “Not as a rule anyway. Her books are awesome though. I read them all.”
The officer took a breath before saying patiently, “She’s supposed to be signing books tomorrow at ‘Jinkie’s Bookstore’. So go there tomorrow if you want to see her.”
“Yes,” Winona agreed. “We’ll do that.”
The officer nodded before instructing, “Now move along.”
“Yes, officer,” Brad said before starting the van.
“I’ll be keeping watch to ensure that you won’t be back,” the officer informed.
“We’re leaving,” Riley assured him with
