David wasn't interested in doing anything for his birthday. In fact, he wasn't interested in doing anything that weekend at all. For all Friday afternoon, and most of Saturday, he was tucked away in the art room, struggling with the assignment. Mr. Biv had been kind enough to leave it open for him, when he had stayed behind after class. It didn't matter to David that most of the students hadn't managed it either. That only five of the twenty-two students in the class had gotten anything to happen at all. To David, he was immensely behind, and had to work to catch up.

Cary spent much of that time keeping him company. Not just for David's benefit, but for her own. It gave her the perfect excuse to hide out, away from all the other students at that school. Hide away from Greg and his group, and the witches that she got stuck with. Even as she kept David company, she stayed on the other side of the room from him, wanting nothing to do with magic. It gave her some time to finally write up the events of the past few days in her journal, filling half the book with every detail that she could think of. Everything that might help her figure out what went wrong. Everything that she could use as evidence against the people holding her there against her will.

Once she had all of it down that she could remember, she pulled out her bible, starting to read through the new testament, picking up where she had left off on Thursday. As she delved into the familiar words of the good book, she tried to gain comfort in that familiarity. In her faith. Mostly, she tried to put out of her mind just how easily she had managed the magic in the class, and what that might mean for her soul.

But when the sun rose on Sunday, there was only one place that Cary wanted to be. There was only one place that she needed to be. And that was as far away from magic as possible.

"I just can't get it," David said, as the three of them were heading out of the dorm.

The place was largely deserted, with just three boys still in the sitting room. Cary figured that most people were in the mess hall. She found it hard to believe that so many of the students would be going to church, given everything. It was still early for the Christian services, but she had thought that she would head over to the chapel ahead of time, looking in on the other services that were being held that day. Nelgomi was tagging along with them as well, but he hadn't said anything about why. Cary tried to imagine the dwarf sitting in with the Christians, but he didn't seem the type.

"No matter how hard I try, I just can't make the stupid paint work," David said. His frustration was plain in his voice, and Cary wished that she could help him somehow. She had no idea how she had managed the assignment so easily, so it wasn't like she could offer him pointers.

"You can't force it," said one of the boys in the sitting room. He was sitting in one of the chairs near the door. With his nose in a book, he had seemed so oblivious to the group as they headed through. But with David's frustration making his voice louder than usual, it must have been easy for him to eavesdrop. "It'll only make it harder to cast the spell. Just relax. Let it flow naturally. Magic is a part of each of us, and it gets easier the longer that you're in the magical realm."

"Relax?" David asked. "Really? That's your advice?"

"Relax, and take the day off," he said, as he placed the book onto the couch next to him.

"And do what?" David asked. "I'm in a school for magic. I want to learn magic."

"And you will. But there are plenty of other things to do."

"Like what? Go into town? Well, I guess that would be kind of cool, too."

"You could always come to church with me," Cary said, knowing what he would say to that. David just gave her a smile.

"Fifth graders aren't allowed off campus," the boy said. "Sixth graders can, with parental consent and a buddy. As I have neither, I'm stuck in here."

"Well, what about that sport thingy?" Cary asked. "You wanted to look into that, didn't you?"

"Cadavraball?" the boy asked. He seemed to perk up at the mention. "I was thinking of getting a pick up game together later, if you're interested."

"I have no idea what the sport is," David said.

"Excellent. Come into my parlor. I'll have you converted by lunch." The boy waved David over to sit next to him. David just stood there for a moment, looking between Cary and the boy, clearly torn about leaving Cary to her own devices.

"Oh, go on," Cary said, rolling her eyes. "I'm heading over to the chapel anyway. If services aren't too... I was thinking of staying there for most of the day anyway."

"Church? Really?" the boy asked. From his tone, it was clear that he thought that a complete waste of a Sunday.

"Yeah, Cary's weird like that," David said, waving to Cary as he headed over to sit with the boy. "I'm David, by the way. That's Cary and Nelgomi."

"Yeah, I know Nelgomi," he said, glaring over at the dwarf. "The name is Reggie. Nice to meet you all."

"You sure you're going to be alright?" Cary asked, suddenly worried about leaving her friend in the clutches of the students there.

"I'm fine," David said. "No signing our names in blood. That goes doubly for you, Nelgomi." He laughed a little as he pointed at the dwarf.

"Oh, you're one of those," Reggie said, nodding towards Cary. "Afraid I'll steal your friend's soul? Go on, then. Get to church. I've heard most of the witch haters get over it after their first service."

"Get over hating witches?" Cary asked.

"No, get over worrying that we're witches," Reggie said. "I've never danced with the devil in my life, let alone in the pale moonlight."

Cary stood there next to the door for a moment, looking between David and Reggie. Neither paid her much attention as they delved into talking about sports, a subject that Cary cared little about. Once it was clear that David was fine there on his own, she turned towards the door. Automatically, her hand reached into her pocket, pulling out the map that she had been using extensively those past couple of days.

"The chapels are this way, Girlie," Nelgomi said, waving her forward and pointing towards the main building. "They're behind the admin building. Yours is right next to mine, so we're heading in the same direction."

"You go to church?" Cary asked, still taken aback by the idea that the gruff dwarf would attend a religious service.

"Not your church," Nelgomi said. His normally gruff tone made it hard for Cary to tell if he took offense by her surprise. "I worship Eldrich Stonecrusher. There's a dwarven citadel to the ancestors next to your church, as well as a goblin altar of sorrow and the elven meadow, where they worship... trees and stuff." He shrugged, clearly not sure what they worshiped. But Cary remembered her guidance counselor saying something about an elven goddess. "Each of the races found their own way to worship the divine. Just because we have magic doesn't mean we are any closer to the truth of the matter. Although, I do find it a bit funny that you humans sometimes worship dwarven ancestors."

As they came around behind the admin building, Cary spotted the three buildings over there. As Ms. Scott had said, she immediately knew which one was the church. The low wooden building looked exactly like a church should look, complete with the crosses, stars of David, and symbols for several other religions that she had seen over the years, but didn't know off hand. She didn't know how to feel about worshiping God in the same building as Muslims worshiped their Allah. But considering the other two buildings there, a stone structure with several statues of dwarves all around it and a low building that looked like it was made from a pile of sticks, were so clearly not meant for humans, she figured it would have to do.

There was already a line outside of the building as they came up next to the church. Nelgomi barely nodded in Cary's direction before he headed off towards the dwarven citadel, leaving her to fall into line with the others. As she waited, she counted the other Christians standing with her, wondering how they had felt about coming to the school when they first started. Wondering how many of them had come from the human realm, without having known about magic first. But nestled there with her fellow Christians, seeing that there were so many of them, at least forty just waiting in line, she started to feel like she wasn't so alone there. So lost among the heathens. She was about to start up a conversation with one of them, asking about their take on witches and the headmaster's denials that they were them, when people started flowing out of the doors to the church. As many Christians as there were there, waiting for services to start, there seemed to be twice as many Catholics heading out. Then again, they were Catholics.

The traffic heading out of the chapel slowed much sooner than it usually did, whenever Cary was early for services. In just seconds, the students were all out, and the priest was peeking through the doors towards the line. "Come on in," he said, waving people forward. Cary only got the briefest glimpse of the man, before he was already back inside. She had to wait until the line started making its way inside to get a better look at him, and at the church interior.

The place seemed familiar enough as she came into the one room that took up the majority of the church. The place wasn't larger than it should have been, like the mess hall. There were no perversions to it, no crosses inverted or broken windows. Nothing depicting the devil or human sacrifices. The pictures and stained-glass windows all depicted Christ, in various points of his life. But considering that the place was on the campus of a magic school, Cary knew that those pictures could change just as easily.

The one surprise for her as she came into the first row of pews was the size of the bibles that were tucked away in the bookshelves there. She took out one of them, comparing it to her own copy, which she had brought with her. The one from the shelf was easily twice the size of her own. But before she could flip through it, before she could figure out the reason for it, the services started.

"Good morning, everyone," the priest said, instantly claiming Cary's attention. She slipped the borrowed bible back onto the shelf, opting to use her own. "I see we have some new faces in the crowd today," he said, nodding towards Cary, as well as a couple other students there. Cary glanced around the room, trying to see if she recognized anyone there. But all the faces were of strangers, even that of the priest. "Welcome all of you. I hope the service is to your liking."

Cary paid rapt attention to the service, watching and waiting for the priest to slip up. For him to say something misleading, or to twist the words of the lord. But it all seemed like a normal service to her. He spoke of love and forgiveness, which seemed the theme of the day. While the words he used to quote the bible weren't exactly like she remembered them, they were close enough to the original message. She knew that there were several translations of the bible made over the years, and just assumed that he was using a different one. Or perhaps that he was paraphrasing a little, or had a more updated version of the text. Given that many of the students there were her age, with the oldest there maybe sixteen or seventeen, she figured that he might be using a translation that was geared towards children.

But as the service continued, without a single message off topic, no hint of Satanism or witchcraft, Cary started to gain some ease. If this man of God had no trouble dealing with the students there, then he clearly knew that there were no witches among them. That Cary's worries really were for naught. In fact, the man's speech was much better, more relatable than other services that she had attended over the years. Everything seemed perfect with the service, without a single thing out of place. Without anything for her to worry about.

But then, the priest said something that completely confused her. "For as it says in the book of Gabriel, 'Atrocities done in my name does not make them holy.'" She knew for a fact that there was no book of Gabriel, nor any such saying anywhere in the bible.