Cary spent the rest of the service praying, hoping for some divine knowledge. Some hint at what was happening there, and how she could escape the school. She could feel the eyes of the priest on her, but he continued with his sermon, showing no sign that he noticed her. But sitting in the front row made her difficult to miss.

After his little slip-up there, the priest stayed close to the phrases that she had heard before. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her, but she already knew that he was lying to her. It seemed such a small thing, something that people could easily miss if they weren't so familiar with the bible. Moreover, he never seemed to show any guilt at it. At his deception. At his attempt to challenge her faith. But her faith was strong. She wouldn't waver.

“The Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord,” the priest said, ending the service.

"Thanks be to God," Cary said automatically, as she finished her prayer. But she didn't move from her pew, letting the rest of the students head out of the room in front of her. She couldn't trust that they wouldn't jump her afterwards. As normal as they all looked in the light of day, they were all witches when her eyes were closed. Demons. Sinners looking to turn her and consume her immortal soul.

"So, I take it the services weren't to your liking," the priest said, as the sounds of the students' departure started to fade from the room. Cary didn't have to open her eyes to know that he was speaking to her. "I know it's not exactly the service you're used to."

"I'm not used to listening to sermons made by witches," she said. She kept her voice low, not wanting people to hear her. Not wanting God to hear her, though she knew he always did.

"Ah, King James, of course," the priest said, his voice coming from right next to her. He tapped her bible where it was clutched in her hands. "I'm afraid I don't use that translation. I don't think anyone does in all the magical realm." The priest sat down next to her, the pew squeaking a little under his weight.

"I imagine you use a version that makes you look better," Cary said. "One without witches in it or something."

The priest reached past her, his arm brushing her clasped hands. She heard it when he took one of the bibles off of the shelf in front of her, slipping it back to him. The pages blew air at her as he flipped through them, coming to the familiar part in the bible. The part that she had read over and over again.

"Exodus 22:18," he said. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live among you, lest their wicked ways corrupt the land and the people therein."

Cary's eyes opened as she looked towards the book in his hand. Towards the passage that he had read from. It was right there in black and white. Not the same thing that was said in her own copy, but a translation close enough to the original. One that still framed witches as bad people that should be removed from society. And more importantly, one that didn't contradict other rules put forth in the bible.

"I... I've never..." Cary started. She was too surprised to find the words to complete her sentence.

"This is the Arch Angel Michael's version of the bible," he said. "Translated directly from the original Enochian into English. Most of the versions in the human realm were based on the Hebrew translation. And, of course, they're all incomplete without the final testament." He quickly flipped through the rest of the old testament, through the new testament, which seemed thicker than it should have been, to a final section at the back of the book. The marker for the section said, "Part Three: The Final Testament."

"There's... There's no final testament," Cary said.

"Not for the human realm, no," he said, nodding his agreement. "The final testament was delivered only to the sorcerers of the magical realm. If you come to our bible study tonight, we can discuss it at length. How the humans of the human realm, mostly men of power trying to preserve that power, corrupted the word of God. This version was reportedly delivered directly to us from the Arch Angel Michael, translated directly into English. But, even those reports can be a bit misleading."

Cary just sat there, staring at the book in the priest's hands. Staring at the one thing that might help her understand what happened there. That it wasn't the priest trying to mislead her at all, but that Cary was missing some information. He was the adult there. It made sense that she didn't know everything. That he knew more than her. But it could just as easily be another trick.

"Why don't you take this copy," the priest said, placing the bible he was holding into her lap. "Read through it if you'd like. Or not. I can see about arranging for trips back into the human realm for you to attend mass there. But, as I'm sure you've heard already, heading back there can be dangerous for a new sorcerer. And for the human realm. Anyway, I need to let in the Episcopalians. Stay as long as you'd like."

Once the priest left the pew, Cary took the copy of the bible he had given her in her hands. She was careful when touching it, taking it just by her fingers, as if expecting it to bite her if she touched it the wrong way. It was still open to the final testament, and she slowly flipped through it, looking at what was in there. Like the other two testaments, the final testament was broken into several books. They were each named after one of the seven archangels. She skimmed some of the books, which seemed to bring forth lessons that the humans had missed from the other two testaments. Things that humans had been doing wrong, despite having God in their lives.

She flipped through until she found the book of Gabriel. Until she found the passage that the priest had quoted during his sermon. It was right there in black and white, the same words he had spoken, word for word. The proof that he hadn't been trying to trick her, hadn't been trying to corrupt her.

It was the old version of the bible that had been doing that. Or at least, that was what this priest was telling her.

Cary clung to her old, familiar copy of the bible, pressing the worn out, dog-eared copy to her chest, as she looked down at this shiny new version. The pages were clear and crisp, showing no sign of wear. Showing no sign that people were reading it at length. It might have been a newly printed copy for what little use it was showing. But still, she couldn't bring herself to look to this new bible, to this new Word of God, without proof that nothing was amiss. That it was just a new version, one more inclusive of God, not more inclusive of Satan.

But a version delivered directly to the sorcerers? Directly to the people most likely to be hiding their witchcraft? It didn't make sense to her. As the Episcopalians filtered into the room, filling up the pews around her, part of her wanted to stay on for another service. To see if he tried to trick them in the same way that he tried to trick her. See if he was consistent in his silver tongue.

The students coming in around her were all cheerful, smiling at each other as they came and sat down in the pews. She had once been one of those; people eager to attend church services. People that enjoyed debating the Word of God. As Cary looked around her, around at those people and the two versions of the bible in her hands, she was no longer sure of who to believe. Who to trust. She feared that she was already lost, and hearing more from this priest would only cause her more harm. Would only damn her more.

So, reluctantly, she scooped up this new version of the bible, holding it in her left hand as she still clung to her own in her right, and ran from the room. She heard some laughter coming from behind her, from the students that were preparing for the services to begin. But she wasn't sure if they were laughing at her, or just laughing in general. All she wanted to do was to escape to her room. Not her room there on campus, but back home with her grandparents. She wanted to discuss this with them, knowing that they wouldn't steer her wrong. That they would keep her pointed in the right direction, whichever direction that was. She wanted, she needed, to hear their voices. To know that they were still out there in the world. That they still loved her.

Instead of heading back to her dorm room, or the mess hall or classrooms, Cary headed off deeper into the campus. She wanted to escape, to head back home, though she had no idea where that was from there. Or how she could use those strange portals to make her way through that world. But there was no escape. Even before she got far into the campus, she knew that she was trapped there. That the front gates would hold her inside, and the tall stone wall ran all along the perimeter of the campus. There was nowhere to go, no escape to be had. There was nothing that she could do to save herself from the witches that had her trapped there.

"Woah," came a voice from the distance. A familiar voice. One that she knew well. Even without seeing him in the distance, Cary knew that it was David. She followed the sound of his voice deeper into the campus.

Long before she found David, Cary realized that she had gotten herself completely lost. That she had gone deeper into the campus than she had been before in the three days that she had been there. The place was much bigger than she had originally thought, and the spot that she was in wasn't on her map. The cobblestone road had ended near the chapels, giving way to a small open field that was surrounded by trees on three sides. The place had the feel of a forest, but she could already see something in the distance. Some sort of clearing. It was from this clearing that David's voice had come.

"Not bad, Davie," Reggie said.

Cary saw him the moment that she came through the forest into the clearing. Reggie was standing on a mound of dirt, with a strange device in his hands, looking off towards Cary's left. When she turned in that direction, she immediately spotted David standing over there. He was holding onto a bat as he glared towards Reggie. Cary wasn't sure if that was from Reggie calling him "Davie", a nickname that he utterly hated, or if it was from the sports that they were so obviously playing.

"Now, remember," Reggie said, as he moved the device around, pointing it at David in the distance. "The real ball isn't going to be obvious. They might not all come at once, so there might not be a real ball in the first pitch. You need to be able to see through the illusions. To see the truth. Got it?"

"Just pitch the ball," David called from the plate. "I got this."

As Cary stood there watching, Reggie started to fiddle around with the device in his hands. The device started to glow as it whirled around, shaking back and forth like a washing machine. Then suddenly, a ball popped out of it, flying through the air towards David. Cary couldn't see it all that well from her place on the edge of the baseball field, but it looked like a strike from her place. David didn't swing at this ball, nor at the two others that came right after it. When he did swing, he connected solidly with one of the balls. The familiar sound of a wooden bat cracking into a speeding ball echoed around the field, as the ball soared towards her.

Directly towards her.

Cary let out a little shriek as she ducked beneath the oncoming ball. Both bibles fell to the dirt at her feet as the ball soared over her head, flying into the forest behind her.

"Oh, god, Cary," David called out from the plate. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Cary called out from her place on the ground. She raised her hand, waving towards David in the distance. "Just having a crisis of faith over here, while you play your game."

As Cary got back up to her feet, dusting off the dirt that had gotten all over her t-shirt and shorts, David and Reggie made their way towards her across the field. David was still holding the bat, and Reggie was still holding his pitching machine. When David got to the edge of the field, he dropped the bat as he came up next to Cary.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Cary said. "See? No harm done. So, this is the sport you guys play around here? Looks like baseball."

"Pfft," Reggie scoffed. "Baseball is far too boring for the magical realm."

"Yeah, it's baseball," David said at the same time. "Well, baseball plus. It's cool as heck, too. And guess what. I didn't miss tryouts. They're next week. I am so getting on the team."

"Well, maybe the underclassmen team," Reggie said. "The competition is pretty stiff even for that. You'd need to know magic to get onto the JV team, and don't even think of trying out for Varsity. That's juniors and seniors only. But, I guess you have a shot, as long as you're not planning on pitching." Reggie held the pitching machine possessively in his hands, making it clear just who the pitcher of the underclassman team was.