Saturday morning, at 11:00 A.M., Ellen—while wearing her ruby-heart necklace beneath her shirt—searched the telephone book and found a hobby shop that was relatively close that sold magic kits, and by 12:40 P.M., Ellen, Harris and Devon were walking into the store.
Richard—the forty-something-year-old shop owner—stepped up to them while saying, “Good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon,” they echoed.
“Do you need assistance in finding anything?” Richard questioned.
“We would like to look at your magic kits,” Devon said.
“The cool stuff,” Ellen added.
Richard grinned before asking, “Is this for you?” Ellen nodded with a slight grin. “Okay. Follow me, and I’ll show you to the cool stuff.”
“Cool,” Ellen said before she, Harris and Devon followed behind Richard.
“So is this for a high school talent show?” Richard asked.
“No,” Ellen replied. “I truly would like to learn it… as an art.”
“I’ll show you what I have, but this really isn’t the place for you to buy your magic supplies,” Richard said.
“Why not?” Ellen quickly asked.
“All I sell are the small magic items—kid’s stuff,” Richard began. “However, if you are serious about learning the big stuff, I can certainly point you in the right direction.”
“Okay, where do we need to go?” Ellen quickly asked.
Richard gestured towards the counter while saying, “Follow me, and I’ll get you three the information.”
“Okay,” Ellen, Harris and Devon agreed.
Ellen, Harris and Devon followed Richard to the counter and watched as he searched through a Rolodex.
Once Richard found what he was looking for, he grabbed a memo pad and proceeded to write down the information. He ripped off the sheet once he was done and held it out for Ellen to take.
Ellen took the paper and read, “Ethan Downing…”
“Ethan has performed at Six Flags and in several theaters around the U. S.,” Richard informed. “The address I gave you is his home address, so when you go there, tell him that Richard Hampton had sent you.”
“Okay. Thanks,” Ellen said.
“Since we’re here, we should check out the magic kits that you do have,” Harris suggested.
“Sure,” Richard agreed just as Ellen was noticing a ‘Help Wanted’ sign that was lying face-up on the counter, next to the cash register.
“You’re looking to hire someone?” Ellen inquired while gesturing towards the sign.
Richard glanced towards the sign. As he faced her again, he replied, “I hired someone yesterday actually.”
“Oh,” Ellen let out, slightly disappointed.
“He’s supposed to start Monday,” Richard continued. Ellen just politely grinned. “Anyway, those magic kits are this way.”
When Richard stepped away, Ellen, Harris and Devon followed.
Ellen, Harris and Devon looked at the magic kits that Richard had in stock, and then went with the larger kit.
The kit was pricey and Harris paid with a credit card. As Richard was bagging the purchase item, he asked Ellen, “How old are you?”
“Sixteen,” Ellen replied cautiously, in an uncertain tone. “Why?”
“You acted interested in a job here, and I was wondering if you’re even old enough to work.”
“I know I don’t look sixteen, but I am,” Ellen insisted as Richard reached underneath the counter.
“I believe you,” Richard said before bringing up a job application and holding it out for Ellen to take.
“What’s that?” Ellen asked without taking the application.
“It’s a job application…” Richard was only able to get out.
“You said that the job’s been filled,” Ellen reminded him.
“It has, but I never know if a new hire will work out or not,” Richard said. “And if he doesn’t work out, it doesn't hurt to have other applicants in the system to choose from.”
“Alright,” Ellen agreed while taking the application. “I’ll need a pen to fill this out.”
“If you’d like, take it home, fill it out and bring it back by Tuesday,” Richard suggested.
“Alright,” Ellen agreed.
“So I know what to call you when you return, what’s your name?” Richard asked.
“Ellen. Ellen Anderson, and I know yours as Richard Hampton.”
Richard grinned before saying, “I’ll see you in a few days, Ellen Anderson.”
“Bye,” Ellen said.
“Bye,” Harris, Devon and Richard echoed.
Ellen, Harris and Devon turned and walked towards the exit. Ellen had the application while Harris carried the bag.
Harris—with Ellen and Devon at his side—stepped up to Ethan’s front door and rang the doorbell.
After a short wait, a thirty-something-year-old man opened the door.
He glanced at the three before resting his eyes on Harris—the one directly in front of him—before asking, “Yes? May I help you?”
“Ethan Downing?” Harris questioned.
“Who’s asking?” he asked while shifting into a slightly more defensive posture.
“I’m Harris,” he began before gesturing towards the others. “This is Devon and she’s Ellen. And assuming that you are Ethan, we were told by Richard Hampton that you could help us to obtain the magic supplies that Richard doesn’t sell.”
“I’m Ethan,” he admitted while relaxing his posture and crossing his arms, “and which one of you three wants the supplies?”
Ellen slightly raised her hand without saying a word.
“What do you know about magic, Ellen?” Ethan asked.
Ellen sucked her lips together and shook her head a couple of times before saying, “Not a thing.”
“And you think that buying magic supplies is going to change that?” Ethan quickly questioned.
“I think buying the magic supplies and learning how to use them will change that,” Ellen retorted, “and I know that learning magic will be more difficult to do than my simplified answer.”
Ethan thought for a moment before asking, “You’re what… fifteen?”
“Sixteen,” Ellen corrected.
Ethan acknowledged the correction with a nod before saying, “I don’t sell magic supplies, but I can get you three the information on who does. However, Ellen, magic props are not cheap and until you learn how to use them, you’ll be wasting your money buying them…”
“Yeah, well, I want to learn it, so what other choice do I have?” Ellen interrupted.
“You’re too young to be a stage assistant, so the other option is to find someone who will give you lessons,” Ethan replied.
“Do you give lessons?” Ellen quickly asked.
Ethan slightly laughed without humor before saying, “No.”
“Where can I get lessons then?”
Ethan shrugged before saying, “As far as I know, I’m the only professional illusionist in the city of Savannah, Georgia… and wannabes will only teach you bad habits.”
“Okay, so again my only choice on learning magic is to buy the props and learn how to use them on my own. Now can we get the information on who sells them?”
Ethan stared into Ellen’s eyes with an unreadable expression on his face for a few seconds before sighing and asking, “Can you spare Wednesday and Thursday evenings between four and six?”
Ellen shot him a curious look before saying cautiously, “I’m sure I can.”
“Okay. Come back here on Wednesday at four to start your lessons.”
Ellen slightly grinned before asking, “How much will the lessons be?”
Ethan thought for a moment before saying, “I’ve never given lessons before, so I’ll have to ask around and find out what the going rates are. So I’ll let you know Wednesday.”
“Okay,” Ellen agreed. “I’ll see you Wednesday.”
Ethan nodded before saying, “Bye, for now.”
“Bye,” Ellen, Harris and Devon echoed.
As Ellen, Harris and Devon were walking away, Ethan backed up and closed the door.
As Harris was driving up to the house, he, Ellen and Devon saw two other cars parked in the driveway, one behind the other. The first car was parked alongside the rented car.
“You need a bigger house, Harry,” Ellen commented.
“I haven’t had this many visitors since my and Allyson’s wedding,” Harris replied before parking behind the rented car.
Ellen—while carrying the shopping bag—entered the house first followed by Devon and then Harris.
Once Ellen stepped into the living room, she saw an elderly couple and a man in his early-twenties sitting on a couch. A woman in her mid-forties and a woman in her mid-twenties were sitting on the love seat. The younger woman was cradling Sonya in one hand and holding Sonya’s bottle with the other as Sonya drank. Alison, Sadie, Blaire and Trevor were sitting in dining room chairs. The armchair sat empty. Eight photo albums sat on the coffee table.
Ellen stopped a few feet from the entrance as she looked over the room. Harris and Devon stepped in and stopped next to Ellen.
The elderly woman—with a pleasant smile on her face—stood up and walked towards Ellen.
“You have to be Ellen,” the woman told her while taking her first step.
“Okay, well, I don’t really have to be, but I am,” Ellen replied while watching her curiously and apprehensively. “And you are?”
“I’m your Grandma Deloris.” A big smile came across Ellen’s face as Deloris continued to say, “And I had to come here after finding out about you.”
Ellen allowed the shopping bag to drop to the floor at her side as she rushed towards Deloris. Deloris barely had time to prepare herself before finding herself in Ellen’s hug.
“I was hoping to meet you,” Ellen said before breaking the hug and taking a step back. As Ellen wiped the joyous tears from her eyes, she asked, “How long can you stay?”
“We’re not leaving anytime soon,” Deloris assured Ellen with a grin. She then continued while pointing everyone out. “So you’ll have plenty of time to get to know me, your Grandpa Wendell, your Aunt Amanda—your Uncle Tucker’s wife—your cousin April and your cousin Joshua.”
“Nice to meet you, Ellen,” Wendell, Amanda, April and Joshua pleasantly said in an uneven chorus.
Ellen grinned, and as Wendell was standing up, she echoed, “It’s nice to meet all of you. So, where is Uncle Tucker anyway?”
“He’s here too,” Deloris quickly assured Ellen. “He went to use the bathroom just before you came.”
“I would sure like to get one of those hugs like you had given your grandma,” Wendell told Ellen as he stepped closer.
Ellen smiled before rushing into Wendell’s arms.
“I’m sorry to hear about your mom, Ellen,” Wendell remorsefully said as he broke the hug.
Ellen slightly hesitated before sharing, “I miss her.”
“Me too, kiddo,” Wendell assured her. “And I can definitely see her when I look at you. In fact, with the exception for a few subtle differences, you’re the spitting image of your mom when she was sixteen. And to prove that, your grandma had brought photo albums with her.”
Ellen glanced at the photo albums and took a troubled breath.
“What’s wrong?” came at her from Allyson, Sadie and Deloris. Only Allyson added ‘Ellen’ at the end.
Ellen saw the concern looks that she was getting. As she looked at Deloris, she said, “Mom had only ten photos to show me that predated her nineteenth birthday.” Ellen didn’t notice Deloris’s slightly uneasy reaction as Ellen continued, “Mom had told me that you had a lot of photo albums, but when she went to get them out soon after hearing about the accident that supposedly had killed you, they were gone. I was nine when she shared that with me, and I saw in her eyes that she hated… and was frustrated with herself for losing those albums.”
“Your mom didn’t lose those albums,” Deloris confessed.
“What do you mean?” Ellen quickly asked.
“I couldn’t be anywhere without my photo albums and after being in the witness protection program for only a week, I disobeyed the rules and I contacted a friend. I asked that friend to retrieve my photo albums, plus other items that I wanted. After I got the items, the handler caught me with them. He tried to make me get rid of them. I wasn’t allowed to have anything that would connect me with the past, but I refused.” Deloris gestured towards the albums as she continued with, “My stubbornness won out because those photo albums that your mom thought she had lost are right here.”
Harris amusingly grinned while asking, “Are you where Ellen gets her stubbornness from?”
Ellen shot Harris a smirk.
Deloris amusingly grinned as she answered with, “Most likely she gets it from me, from her Grandmother Holly and from her Grandfather Alexander. We were all stubborn children growing up.” Ellen shot Deloris a confused looked as Deloris asked, “Anyway, are you Harris or…?”
“Yes, I’m Harris,” he said before gesturing. “And this is Devon.”
“Nice to meet everyone,” Devon said.
“Likewise,” Wendell said as he extended his hand to shake Harris’s hand.
Harris accepted the handshake offer.
When Wendell’s handshake offer was offered to Devon, Ellen asked, “Grandma, did you know my Grandma Holly?”
Deloris grinned before saying, “Yes. From when I was two to when I was thirteen your Grandma Holly and her parents were my next door neighbors. I could look out my bedroom window and see right into Holly’s bedroom window. We were also best friends and we would get into trouble by communicating through signs that we would write out and hold up for the other to read when we were supposed to be sleeping.”
Ellen grinned while saying, “Old time text messaging.”
“Pretty much,” Deloris said with a grin. “Anyway, Holly was eleven months older than me and soon after she turned fourteen, she and her parents moved across town. The house had remained empty for several weeks before Alexander and his dad… Felix moved in…”
“Wait,” Ellen demanded. “Grandpa Alex and Great Grandpa Felix had lived next door to you too?”
“They did,” Deloris replied as she was moving back towards her seat on the couch. Wendell went to retake his seat as well. “Your Grandpa Alex was an angry boy back when I had met him too.”
“Angry?” Ellen echoed as she watched her grandparents retaking their seats. “Angry how?”
Tucker was walking in as Deloris was saying, “Alex was thirteen back then…”
“He was younger than my Grandma Holly?” Ellen questioned as she smiled and waved at Tucker.
Tucker gave Ellen a hug and a kiss on her head as Deloris was replying, “He is… or was anyway. In fact, your Grandpa Alex was even a few weeks younger than me.”
“Mom was two months older than Dad,” Ellen shared. An amused expression came across Deloris’s face. “Which I don’t really need to tell you.”
Deloris gave an agreeing grin as she slightly nodded. Tucker went and retook his seat in the armchair.
“Anyway, your Grandpa Alex was angry at his dad. His mom was missing and presumed dead back then and he was angry over that. He was angry for being in Kansas City… he was simply an angry kid, and he wanted his dad to suffer along with him, and so he began hanging out with the wrong crowd—the rough crowd.
“Liam Seawall was in his mid-twenties back then, and was a part of a thieving group. He and his group went around breaking into nice homes and taking anything that wasn’t nailed down. As Liam ventured out into other criminal avenues he began hiring minors as runners. Within a year of me knowing Alex, Alex and his hooligan friends began running errands for Liam. Liam was paying them well too.
“By the time when Alex was sixteen, he bought a nice car. Felix was furious when Alex came home with that car. He didn’t know where Alex was getting his money, but he knew that he wasn’t making it legitimately.
“Holly came to visit me during that fifteen-minute shouting match between Alex and Felix. At the end of those fifteen minutes, Felix kicked Alex out of the house. Holly and I were outside doing… whatever it was that we were doing at the time. Holly was also attracted to the bad boy type, and when Holly saw Alex that day for the first time, I swear I saw cupid’s arrow go straight through her heart.
“Alex moved in with one of Liam’s thugs and within six months after that, Holly and Alex became an inseparable couple…”
“How did she die?” Ellen interrupted. “Grandma Holly?”
“I don’t know,” Deloris admitted. “Your Grandpa Wendell and I were living in Germany at the time of her death…”
“Mom told me how she grew up on army bases until she was seventeen,” Ellen interrupted.
Deloris nodded before continuing with, “After your Grandpa Wendell was given his medical discharge, we moved back to Kansas City. I went looking for Holly to find out why she had stopped calling and sending me letters. Your mom and I had located your Grandpa Alex fairly quickly, and that was when I found out that Holly was dead—she died the year before, and he wouldn’t tell me how it had happened. That was also the day when your mom and dad had met—two weeks later, your mom and dad became a couple.”
“Mom told me how she had met Dad,” Ellen shared.
Deloris gestured towards the photo albums while asking, “Would you like to see the photos?”
“I would,” Ellen quickly said with a nod.
As Deloris reached for one of the photo albums, Ellen kneeled down next to the coffee table. Harris went into the kitchen to bring back kitchen chairs for him and Devon. Devon picked up the bag from the hobby shop and moved it out of the way.
The first page that Deloris came to was filled with old and partially faded photos of a young couple.
“Meet your great-grandparents, Ellen—Leonard and Mary Richards,” Deloris informed.
“Your parents?” Ellen asked Deloris.
“My parents,” Deloris replied with a grin.
“Are your parents’ pictures in here, Grandpa?” Ellen asked.
“Their pictures should be in one of those albums,” Wendell said. “I don’t know which one though.”
“They’re on the next page,” Deloris said while flipping and showing pages two and three of the album. She then indicated to the photos on the second page. “Here they are.” Ellen examined the photos as Deloris continued to say, “Their names are Benjamin and May Wiley.”
On the third page of the album was an old photo of a young woman. The woman was inside a pen with a bull and had looked to be aggravating the bull with a jacket.
“Who’s the torero?” Ellen quickly asked as she pointed to the photo.
“That is your Grandma Holly on her eighteenth birthday,” Deloris began with a grin. “I loved your Grandma Holly like a sister, Ellen, but she was too much of a thrill seeker. There was nothing that she wouldn’t try, nor was there a risk too great. I was the levelheaded one and I think that God had put us together so I could keep her grounded… or at least I attempted to anyway.” Deloris gestured towards the photo. “I failed that day.”
“I’m very glad that Ellen has your levelheadedness, Deloris, and not her other grandmother’s thrill seeking trait,” Allyson told her.
Ellen just amusingly grinned. Deloris shot Ellen a pleasant grin before continuing with, “Luckily for your Grandma Holly, your Grandpa Alex was there. Your Grandpa Alex had an unnatural… and slightly eerie charming effect with animals—” Ellen held her grin along with making a facial expression as if what Deloris was saying was old news. “—and when the bull began to get too close, he would step up to the bull and calm him down.”
“You don’t look surprised,” April pointed out. “That your Grandpa Alex was capable of charming the animals.”
Ellen took a breath before confessing, “The-charming-the-animals trait didn’t stop with my Grandpa Alex. My dad, my Uncle Brandon and I have the trait too. So did my brothers and sister before they died. And my Uncle Brandon’s kids have the trait as well.”
“On the day I learned about your Grandma Holly’s death I thought I had seen that trait with Brandon,” Deloris shared. “What I saw had happened so quickly though that I shrugged it off. Anyway. Let’s move on.”
As the minutes slowly passed, Deloris showed Ellen page after page of photographs; two-thirds of the photos had stories behind them that Deloris told.
Ellen listened intently to those stories as the others listened now and then as they talked among themselves.
When Sonya fell asleep in April’s arms, April gently put Sonya in her playpen, and then retook her seat.
Deloris had been showing Ellen photos and telling the story for each one for ninety minutes before the doorbell sounded.
“I’ll find out who that is,” Allyson said while standing.
Ellen just glanced towards the door and back at Allyson without responding.
“Ellen, you haven’t really told us anything about you,” Joshua pointed out as Allyson walked away.
“What do you want to know?” Ellen questioned.
“Do you have any hobbies?” Joshua asked.
“I like bowling, playing softball, playing board games, shooting pool, throwing darts,” Ellen began. “Um… I just bought a magic kit from the hobby shop. I want to learn that. Oh and I like to swim. I haven’t ridden a horse, but I would like to.”
When Ellen paused to think of other hobbies, April asked, “Do you like reading?”
“Sure,” Ellen said. “I like to read.”
“What do you read?” April asked.
Ellen slightly shrugged before saying, “I have no favorite genre in books or TV shows. So as long as the plot interests me, I’ll read any book or watch any show.”
“Okay, I’m a big reader, Ellen, and I have all kinds of books at home,” April informed. “You’re welcome to come to my house some time and look through my books.”
Ellen grinned before saying, “I might do that.”
“So, what are your plans for the future?” Wendell asked.
“Finish high school, go to college and then go through the police academy,” Ellen replied.
“You want to be a cop?” Joshua quickly questioned.
“Uh-huh,” Ellen quickly agreed while nodding.
Before anything else could be said, everyone’s attention was drawn to the man who Allyson led into the room. The man was carrying an envelope.
Devon stood up while saying, “Everyone, this is Galvin. I had asked him to overnight me something, and I think that he had heard to hand-deliver it.”
“Cricket was insistent that I bring it myself, so you would have it today,” Galvin said in an Irish accent. Devon stepped up to him. “She wouldn’t tell me why though.”
“She rarely gives an explanation,” Devon said as he was being handed the envelope.
“Who’s Cricket?” Ellen questioned.
“She’s my baby sister and Devon’s wife,” Galvin informed. “Although Cricket is her nickname. Her name is actually Constantia.”
Ellen gave Galvin a thumbs-up sign while saying, “Gotcha.”
“Did Cricket sound anxious when she sent you here?” Devon asked Galvin.
Galvin thought for a moment before saying, “Actually, her attitude towards this was the same as when she insisted that I went on my last job interview. I didn’t even want the job and I had planned to blow off the interview, but it turned out to be the best job I ever took.”
“Cricket’s a psychic?” Ellen asked without thinking about her current visitors. Ellen then suddenly cringed before shooting Deloris and Wendell apprehensive glances.
Galvin read Ellen’s reaction before replying, “I wonder that myself at times.”
Ellen looked at Galvin again with an appreciative grin.
“I swear, Mr. O’Brien—one of the patients who had come through the hospital two nights ago—has to be a psychic,” April shared.
Ellen gave April a curious look before asking, “You work at the hospital?”
April grinned before saying, “I’m a surgeon—a first year resident.”
“Cool,” Ellen couldn’t help saying.
“Why does Mr. O’Brien have to be a psychic?” Joshua asked.
“He had openly admired a necklace that I wore and then made a point to tell me where I can get the clasp fix when—not if, but when—it breaks,” April shared. “I didn’t think too much about it until it was yanked from my neck and breaking the clasp thirty minutes later.”
“Why was he in the hospital?” Joshua asked.
“Car accident,” April replied.
“If he was a psychic, it seems that he would’ve seen the accident coming before it had happened,” Amanda pointed out.
“Perhaps he had,” April suggested.
“What do you mean?” Ellen and Amanda said in cadence.
“The witnesses had told the police and the paramedics that Mr. O’Brien had acted as if he had purposely put his car in front of the car that had hit him. And the car that had hit him had failed breaks.”
“If Mr. O’Brien is a psychic and he did purposely put his car in front of the other, then he might’ve prevented a tragedy from occurring,” Joshua concluded.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” April shared.
Wendell looked at his watch before saying, “Okay, well, we should get going.”
Ellen shot Wendell a fearful look before quickly asking, “Will I see you again?”
“You will,” Wendell assured Ellen. “We’ve been in the witness protection program for thirty-two years and we had enough of it.” Galvin gave Wendell a curious look. “While going against the advice of our handler to remain in the program, we’ve opted out of the program this morning.”
“We’re going to keep our aliases though,” Tucker added.
“What are they?” Ellen quickly asked.
“I’m David Robinson. Your grandpa is Treat Robinson and your grandma is Kathy Robinson.” Tucker then gestured towards his wife and kids. “Amanda, April and Joshua don’t have aliases.”
Ellen nodded.
“We do need to get going,” April said while standing. “At least I do, anyway. I need to get home and get ready for my shift.”
As Deloris, Wendell, Amanda, Tucker, Joshua and Ellen were standing, Ellen shared, “My boyfriend’s mom is the third shift supervising nurse in the psychiatric department at… at the hospital near here. I can’t think of the name of the hospital.”
April slightly grinned before asking, “What is your boyfriend’s mom’s name?”
“Kristen Delaney,” she simply replied.
“I know her,” April said. “When I interned, one of my rotations was in psychiatrics and I met her then. Her husband’s a detective.”
Ellen simply nodded in agreement.
“I actually meant to ask you about that yesterday,” Tucker told April. “Anyway. It’s good meeting everyone. But we do need to get going.”
As Tucker bent down to get the photo albums, Ellen said, “I’m glad you came.”
“Us too,” Deloris assured her.
Once Tucker had gathered the albums, he, Amanda, Wendell, Deloris, April and Joshua said their goodbyes with a hug and kiss for Ellen and left.
After the door had shut behind Tucker’s group, Ellen asked, “So are you a psychic too, Galvin?”
“No,” Galvin replied. “We think it was from a spell that was cast over five hundred years ago, but psychics only run on the female’s side of my family. The women in my family are powerful psychics though, and a lot of my female ancestors had even helped shape history on Earth.”
“In what way?” Ellen quickly asked.
Galvin hesitated before saying, “I’m not sure if I should share this.”
“Why not?” Ellen asked.
“I don’t think it would hurt her… Harris or Allyson to know,” Trevor said while standing.
“Know what?” Allyson asked.
“The women in Galvin’s family have the ability to see hundreds of years into the future,” Trevor began. “We British could’ve won the American Revolutionary War, but by doing so, it would’ve started a chain of events that would’ve put Adolf Hitler as the world leader in the 1940s. By you Americans winning the war, it had caused inconvenient situations for us British, but those inconveniences were minimal compared to what would’ve happened. So the Tri-Star Confederation had helped the colonies to win their war—in secret of course.”
“That’s interesting,” Allyson replied.
Ellen glanced at Allyson before asking, “Which events would’ve led to Adolf Hitler at being the world leader?”
“I don’t know,” Trevor began. “I’ve never read them, but there are manuscripts in the Tri-Star Confederation library, written out by Galvin’s female ancestors that contain that information.”
“Can I read those manuscripts?” Ellen asked. “When I visit?”
“All members of the Tri-Star Confederation are allowed to look at certain documents within the library and those manuscripts are among those documents,” Blaire said.
“Cool,” Ellen said.
“Okay, I don’t know what Cricket has seen in her vision, but I believe Cricket wants us to do this spell sooner than later,” Devon said as he held up the envelope. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had Galvin hand-deliver it here.”
“I’m ready,” Ellen assured Devon.