Ginny stares at Hailey. Her mind is blank. She struggles to speak, trying in vain to find words. Oblivious of her friend’s struggles, Hailey says, “Ah, nothing’s wrong with me! I, um, I’m just having a long night is all.”

Mechanically, Ginny asks, “How do you know?”

Confused, Hailey says, “That it was a long night? Mostly I lived it…” trailing off she realizes that Ginny is not speaking to her anymore by her expression.

In her ear, Ginny’s companion suit answers her by saying, “Biometric scanning occurred when you requested a diagnosis earlier tonight.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?!” cries out Ginny.

The suit answers in a calm voice, “Your friend’s suit interfered with scanning, until tonight when it disappeared in proximity to Dr. Doubt”

“You could have told me on the roof!” shouts Ginny.

Hailey puzzles over her words as the suit answers, “Ms. Napp, it was necessary to compare biometric data to an identified sample. Until you requested a diagnosis tonight the sample was unattached to a known identity.”

Suspicious, Hailey asks in a sharp voice, “What roof?”

Ginny meets her eyes, helpless.

“You know.” Hailey’s voice is simple, but it carries a weight of certainty.

“I…” Ginny struggles to find the right thing to say.

“How?”

“I… uh…”

“HOW?”

“I…”

Hailey sighs. Then she slaps Ginny lightly. Rubbing her smarting face, Ginny mumbles, “You didn’t have to hit me.”

“I did,” replies Hailey, “you needed to snap out of it. Now tell me what roof.”

“Um, what roof?” Ginny tries to deflect.

“Ginny S. Napp,” intones Hailey, her eyes flickering with light, “please do NOT lie to me right now. What. Roof.”

Ginny frown and says, “Really, I mean really?”

“What?” Hailey blinks.

“You’re going to intimidate me with magic?”

Taken aback by her friend’s sudden turn around, Hailey finds herself the one at a loss for words as she stammers, “Wha- magic?”

Mirroring Hailey, Ginny intones, “Eldritch Maiden, please do not lie to me right now.”

“Ginger Snap,” says Hailey in a quiet tone.

Ginny nods.

Hailey returns the gesture and breathes in slowly. Then she extends her hand and says, “So that’s how you know Beacon.”

Ginny looks down at the offered hand. Then she raises her eyes to meet Hailey’s. “Yeah,” she says, shaking, “it’s why I couldn’t go fight Becca either. My suit wouldn’t let me.”

Hailey pauses, the hint of a memory playing in her eyes. Forcefully, she drags her attention back to the present and asks, “Suit?”

“I don’t have any powers,” says Ginny, “just the suit.”

“Same,” Hailey answers, “just a dagger and…”

“And…?”

“And some magic,” finishes Hailey. She pauses for a moment and then asks, “So what’s this about a suit? Is that what your metal blob is?”

“Metal blob!” exclaims Ginny in disbelief. “And you think an all-white getup is better?”

Joking, Hailey responds, “At least I look like a person. You just transform into any old thing.”

Huffing, Ginny cuts back by saying, “Well I can fly.”

Wincing, Hailey starts to answer and then begins laughing.

Confused, Ginny looks down at her and asks, “What’s so funny?”

“It’s just,” Hailey says through giggles, “I totally understand why we ended up disliking each other!”

Ginny thinks about it for a minute before starting to laugh as well. When the two calm down, Ginny says, “I feel like an idiot. I can’t believe I was such a bi-”

Cutting her off, Hailey says, “I should have been less snarky. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” replies Ginny, magnanimously.

Expectant, Hailey says, “So…”

“So what?” Ginny answers.

“So are you going to apologize too?”

“Oh!” replies Ginny with contrition in her tone, “yes!”

Hailey pauses and waits. Silence builds between the two until Ginny, red faced, says, “Sorry. I really did overreact.”

Reaching up, Hailey pats her taller friend on the head and says, “Yes, you did.”

Brushing her hand away with a scowl, Ginny replies, “Well you weren’t the nicest.”

“We’re doing it again,” cautions Hailey.

Changing the subject, Ginny says, “Soooooo, that was intense tonight, huh?”

Hailey’s expression falls. “Yeah,” she answers, “I think Anderson killed him.”

Shaking her head, Ginny replies, “Nope. My suit can tap into the police wireless. They were calling for multiple ambulances, one of them with a police escort. So unless they wanted an honor guard for Anderson, Dr. Doubt is still alive.”

Relieved, Hailey says, “That’s good, right?”

Ginny shrugs. “Well it means nobody died tonight. So that’s a plus. But he really is a bona fide crazy. I don’t think he’s ever going to leave the asylum.”

Shifting uncomfortably, Hailey asks in a low voice, “Have you, you know?” Unable to voice her thoughts, Hailey makes a motion with her hand.

“Have I what?”

“You know, done that?”

“Done what?”

“Like,” struggles Hailey, “you know, like killed anyone?”

Ginny looks at her friend with a shocked expression, “No!” she proclaims vociferously. “I don’t want to do that! Not ever.”

With a faraway expression, Hailey echoes her sentiment saying, “Yeah, me neither.”

Sensing her friend’s somber demeanor, Ginny tries to shake her out of with a joke. “For a second, I thought you were going to ask me about sex or something,” she says with a forced hint of mirth.

Looking at each other, the two girls burst out into laughter once more. Interrupting them is Missy, who shouts, “Hey, I’ve been looking for you two for the entire half. What are you doing out here?”

The pair turns to see Missy making her way through the press of the halftime crowd and towards them at the gate. They trade guilty looks, each seeking an answer from the other until Missy arrives and Ginny says, “I, um, I wasn’t sure how to get here?”

Hailey’s expression is relieved as she sees the detective’s daughter. Interrupting Ginny, Hailey adds, “Yeah! So I had to go get her, sorry for not texting. How’s the game going?”

Missy’s expression falls slightly. “Jake is doing well, but Theo has been off all night. We’re down by fourteen.” Punching her friend lightly in the arm, she exclaims, “That’s your fault, you know! He might play better if he spent less time looking for you.”

Guilty, Hailey mumbles an apology and then brightens. Turning to Ginny, she says with electricity running through her eyes, “Well then let’s go get seats. I have a feeling this second half might be a bit magical.”

Missy replies, “Well let’s hope so!” Then she whirls back around and begins to walk back to the crowd.

With a whisper, Ginny covertly says to Hailey, “You wouldn’t cheat, would you? That would be wrong!”

“Of course not,” Hailey protests, “I’m just optimistic is all!”

Uncertain, Ginny murmurs, “Fine, but I’m keeping an eye on you. No interfering with the sanctity of the sport on my watch!”

Giggling, Hailey puts her arm around Ginny and walks into the stadium with her, following Missy back to the stands. As Hailey walks back to the stands, her phone begins to vibrate. Frowning, she pulls it out with her free hand and looks at the caller I.D.

“Erika, huh?” says Ginny, “you’ve got to tell me what’s up with that. Is she a secret police contact or something?”

“Worse,” replies Hailey, “she’s a lawyer.”

Shuddering, Ginny says, “Well you’d probably better take that. Want me to give you some privacy?”

“Naw,” answers Hailey, “she probably just wants an update on tonight.” Then she says, “I can text her.” Declining the call, Hailey starts to text instead. As she does, she multitasks in the way only a teenage girl can saying, “Speaking of tonight, Missy doesn’t know about her dad yet.”

Frowning, Ginny says, “We can’t just tell her. Besides, he’s going to be okay, my suit checked his vitals. He was unconscious and took a bullet but all in all his injuries were blood loss, overexertion, and the bullet missed everything important. Give him a week to recover and he’ll be fine.”

Relieved, Hailey lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Thank God!” she exclaims.

Turning back, Missy says, “Hey you two, hurry up!” before ducking under a few students and worming her way back onto the bleachers.

Ginny and Hailey share a look. Then Hailey says in a quieter tone, “Thank God he’s going to be okay. He’s half the reason I was sitting out in the parking lot. I didn’t know how to act like everything was okay right next to Missy.”

“If they didn’t call her already it’s because he’s going to be alright. They’d bring in the family otherwise.”

“Yeah,” Hailey responds, “I was half afraid I wouldn’t see her here. That would have been worse, with her at the hospital and me not there to support her.”

“You phone is ringing again,” frowns Ginny.

Slightly irritated, Hailey glances down at the screen and mumbles, “Erika, again?”

Then she accepts the call and raises it to her ear, pausing just before entering the crowd. “Hey, what’s up?”

On the other end, Erika says in a frustrated voice, “Please pick up the phone when I call.”

“Sorry. I was busy.”

“Well don’t be,” Erika says. “Vicious just let me a message.”

Immediately snapping to attention, Hailey curses lightly and asks, “What?”

"An offer.” Erika hesitates on the other end of the line, steeling herself before continuing. “He’s offering to teach you. Apparently, whoever took out the contract on you stipulated a few extras.”

“Is it a legit offer?” asks Hailey, intrigued.

“Mhmm,” Erika muses, “Probably?” she says, “I think it’s possible. He’ll do whatever he’s paid to do. But I don’t know what happened earlier tonight so frankly I think this is a judgement call that’s up to you.”

Hailey considers it for a second, and then turns to Ginny. “Would you be willing to cover my back and do some training with a known criminal?”

Blinking a few times, Ginny replies, confused, “Wha- do you mean like Vicious? Is this about the message you got?”

Nodding, Hailey says, “Yeah. There’s someone really dangerous coming, someone worse than Vicious. I need to be ready to face him and unfortunately working with Vicious might be the only way I can accomplish that right now. I’m not suggesting we do anything illegal, but I need to be tougher and it needs to happen fast.”

“You’re going to do this with or without me, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m in. But you owe me.”

Turning back to the phone, Hailey says with a grin, “Tell him yes. But only if he agrees to take on a second student.”

Then she listens to Erika’s reply for a second and closes the phone before turning to Ginny. “She’ll arrange it. Now we need to go be there for Missy, I have a feeling she’ll be getting that phone call before long.”

Distracted, Ginny says in an absentminded voice, “I think that might be sooner than you think.”

Up ahead of them Missy has an expression of horror on her face as she listens to a voice on the other end of her phone. Hailey and Ginny immediately race to her side with expressions of concern. Ashen faced, Missy whispers, “I gotta go, right now.”

At the sideline, Jake looks up with concern as his girlfriend’s expression. Making his way over to the edge of the bleacher he motions towards Hailey. Following close at his heels is Theo, a similarly worried expression on his face. Hailey glances at the two as she places her arm around Missy. Her expression turns worried at the unexpected complication and the prospect of facing Theo. But, dear reader, she knows this isn’t a moment she can escape, and so with a feeling of trepanation walks Missy towards the pair, her eyes looking anywhere but Theo’s.

Deep within the mists of the Starry Realm, Belinda watches the exchange through Hailey’s eyes. Guilt gnaws at her as she stares at Missy’s stricken expression.

Curling around her ear is a stray wisp of mist that whispers, “If you helped, you could have spared her this.”

Bitter, Belinda waves the mist away, shattering the spiral. “Be gone devil,” she murmurs.

Her words lack force or weight, however, and the mist reforms almost instantly. A low chuckles reverberates throughout the realm as the voice says, “Yet another failure, another mistake. How many more sacrifices will the child make on the altar of your negligence?”

“Leave me in peace,” begs Belinda in a low tone.

“But you invited me!” crows the spirit, “When you cast the geas on her and yourself you brought me here.” Pausing, the spirit begins to swirl in the mists until it forms the shape of a misshapen head sporting horns and leathery-scaled skin. Hissing through a forked tongue, the face adds, “Just as your apprentice invited my brother when she cast the Malleus Maleficarum.”

Belinda snaps back in a drained voice, “She did not kill Bella. She did not complete the summons.”

Triumphant, the devil says, “But she spilt her blood! The summons reverberates throughout the abyss even now, gaining strength to create the bridge that will bring Soneillon into the mortal world!”

Defeated, Belinda whispers a retort that lacks any teeth. “Do not speak his name, foul thing.”

“Do you wonder?” hisses the demon as it curls around her shoulders. “Does it keep you awake at night? Do you fear to know what sin he tempts men to commit?”

“No,” says Belinda, “I know that he is betrayal, as you are broken trust.”

“Wrong!” exults the demon, “He is far worse than mere betrayal. He is hate, deep and unreasoning. Soneillon is the pyre reflected in the eyes of the lynch mob, the insults traded by bitter enemies, the mindless killers digging the mass grave. He is coming for her. Even now, he rises like the ash smoke of a crematorium from the blackest corner of Hell.”

Belinda’s face turns horrified as she stumbles away from the mirror that shows her what Hailey’s sees. Racing to the library she exclaims, “No!”

Laughter follows her as the demon cries out, “Yes! And there is nothing you can do to save her Belinda Athow, just as you can do nothing to be rid of me! I will bedevil your every moment for an eternity, or for at least as long as it takes the wizard to kill her and capture you!”

A dire promise indeed, dear reader! But one that does not trouble Hailey yet. She has far greater concerns now, after all her friend has just learned of her father’s injury in the line of duty! How will Hailey cope with this development? Find out next week in… “One Badge!”