Hailey sits, covered in bruises, chained to a post as a crowd chants in front of her. A sliver of light breaks through the dark as a voice barks out, “Burn the Witches!”

Dazed Hailey tries to rise before slumping again. Hardly able to speak, she whispers in a desperate voice, “Mom?! Is that you? Mom?” Her desperate cries fall on deaf ears, however, and only the chanting of the audience sounds in the room as she struggles to move.

Slamming her hands against the post, Hailey beats against the wood in futile anger. Then, exhausting herself, she slumps.

Head lolling to the side as her consciousness fades, Hailey stares up at the celling with sunken eyes and says in a defeated voice, “They’re going to burn me Bel, I heard my mom and the others talking about it before they locked me in here. If you can hear me, I just…” choking up with tears, Hailey stops and cries for a minute before continuing. As she speaks, her mouth hardly moves as her head injury prevents her from acting coherently. “I just wanted…” her voice falling to a low whisper as she adds through sobs, “I’m just afraid, I’m just really terrified of facing this alone. Fire! God I… it’ll be just like Malefic and A.J. and I just can’t…” Her voice fades away as she falls fully unconscious, and succumbs to the chanting rage of the crowd and their torches.

A dark scene indeed, dear reader! But how could this have come to pass? For the truth of these matters, we must turn our eyes backwards to the day Soneillon made his first move in the game between him and Eldritch…

A loud banging interrupts the troubled sleep of Hailey Juniper Penze. Groaning, she untangles herself from the blankets long enough to say in a sleepy voice, “Whhhahaaaaahahat?”

“Young lady,” her mother begins from outside the door, “it’s time to get up.”

In confusion, Hailey glances at her nightstand scanning until she spies the quiet clock resting on it. Then she asks, “Why? It’s not a school day.”

“Of course not!” replies her mother in an exasperated tone. “It’s Sunday!”

“So?”

“So!” replies her mother, “we have church, little lady! The new pastor arrives today and we aren’t going to be the only family missing that.”

Groaning noisily, Hailey rolls back over on her bed and whines, “But moooomm-”

“No buts,” cautions her mother before adding, “You have thirty minutes to get ready. You can wear that nice dress we got you for Christmas.”

Grumbling, Hailey says to herself as she rises from the sea of pillows, “That stupid Father Frank gets spooked by Becca and decides to bolt. But somehow it’s my problem now. I swear, if I have to sit through another, ‘God given powers,’ speech I’ll just snap!”

Materializing on her dresser with a huff, Belinda interjects, “The church is a horribly patriarchal organization. I can’t believe you still support such a group.”

Muttering to herself in irritation for a few seconds, Hailey speaks up and says, “No, the church isn’t sexist. Yes, it might have been in the past. No, I’m not that religious, but given that we’re fighting demons straight out of the Bible I think a healthy amount of respect for God is appropriate. No, I’m not quitting the church, my mother would kill me. Yes, I go to a Catholic high school, which as you’ve said before is just as bad.” Then she claps her hands together and says in an upbeat voice, “There! That’s all the usual criticisms out of the way, so have you got anything new to bring up today or are we just going to retrace the typical protests against my faith?”

Sitting down imperiously on Hailey’s jewelry case, Belinda sniffs and points her nose in the air before saying reluctantly, “No. If you insist on supporting the institution responsible for the witch-hunts then there’s nothing I can do. Unlike some organizations,” Belinda throws a sideways look at the cross necklace Hailey loops over her head, “witches don’t believe in taking away the freedoms of our sisters.”

Choosing to ignore her, Hailey worms her way into her new dress. Then, she pauses to inspect herself in front of the mirror. Her dark hair is done up with a few spells that perfectly curl her black locks. With a swipe of her fingers, she magics on a hint of dark eyeshadow to bring out the blue of her eyes. Then she glances down at the dress.

The dress is white, extending down to just above her knees in a smart looking pencil skirt. Running up the left side of her dress is a set of oversized black buttons that leads to her collar where Hailey ties a gauzy bow and lets out a huff. “I look like an ugly duckling,” she complains as she smooths the fabric down against her legs. Pausing as her hands drift up to her stomach, she adds in a faux whiny voice, “A fat ugly duckling.”

“Nonsense,” chastises Belinda as she reaches up to adjust one of the buttons. “Your appearance is fine. There is nothing wrong with a dress.” Then she glances down and curls her lips in distaste as she adds, “Now these on the other hand…”

Sighing, Hailey snatches her pumps away from Belinda and says, “They don’t really count as heels, you know that Bel.”

“Beside the point,” says Belinda with a wave of her hand. “Participation in symbolic oppression is just as damning as participation in real oppression to the struggle for equality and female rights.”

“Whatever,” Hailey answers flippantly as she applies the last few touches to her appearance. Satisfied, she gives herself an once-over in the mirror and nods before turning to Belinda and twirling. Arching an eyebrow, she silently asks for her mentor’s approval as she places her hands on her hips and leans forward slightly.

“What?” asks Belinda, oblivious.

“How do I look!” exclaims Hailey playfully. “Good enough to get a little true love from a boy or two?”

Sobering up, Belinda replies, “Do not mock love child. The magic of-”

Snickering, Hailey interrupts her. “Love child, haha, you said love child.”

Giving her a flinty look, Belinda asks rhetorically, “Are you finished?”

Bright faced, Hailey covers her mouth and nods, not trusting herself to speak.

“As I was saying, child, true love is a deeper magic than most things. You should not mock it.”

“Deep huh?” asks Hailey.

“Quite.”

“How deep?” she continues leadingly. “Is the cutoff for true love seven inches or eight? I would loooooove to learn from your experiences!”

“Child!” snaps Belinda, scandalized, “you are far too young to discuss such things!”

“Whatever,” says Hailey with a sigh, “I thought you were all into female liberation and taking control of our sexuality and stuff.”

“And stuff,” huffs Belinda before adding carefully, “I am, ‘into,’ female empowerment through retaking control of our sexuality, yes. I am not, however, ‘into,’ you making a mockery of those efforts with your childish antics!”

“Don’t be such a prude,” protests Eldritch before abruptly changing the subject. “Do you think Missy will be there? Her dad got out of the hospital Friday and I heard he’s already up and walking.”

“I would expect so,” replies Belinda, mollified by the change in topic. “And while I am loathe at the thought of attending a sermon, I would like to thank him.”

“How?”

“With a spell, child,” Belinda says with an aggrieved motion. “I do not intent for him to learn our secret, but his actions were brave and deserve a reward. I will invoke a protection spell that will save him from a second injury.”

“Cool,” comments Hailey, “so you’re going to give him a magic shield?”

“A one-time protection is all I can offer, but yes.” Belinda shoots a troubled glance at Hailey and says hesitantly, “It would require a great deal of my power. I would be unable to manifest for a few days afterward. With the demon on the horizon, I could wait if you prefer?”

“Naw,” says Hailey as she adjusts her cross necklace. “Go ahead. He said we had a week. I can survive without you for a few days.”

Nodding, Belinda transforms back into the form of a dagger that promptly vanishes as Hailey swipes it out of midair. Just in time too, for as she does her door opens and Mrs. Penze walks in!

“Hailey, I told you to get ready-”

Stopping abruptly as she takes in the sight of her daughter perfectly presentable, Mrs. Penze loses her train of thought until Hailey asks in an arch tone, “Yeah mom? Are we leaving already?”

“Yes,” replies her mother in a subdued tone. “That was fast,” she comments as they walk toward the car together.

“What can I say?” answers Hailey in an innocent tone, “I’m just really excited for church.”

“Yes, well,” says her mother, “I met this new pastor at the church mixer the other night and I was unimpressed. The man shows up late, absolutely no respect for the institution, and then has the nerve to tell Mrs. Williams that she should let her son get married in his own time, as if that will ever happen if she waits. I swear-”

“Riiight,” says Hailey, cutting her mother off before ducking into the back the car and popping in headphones to tune out her parents.

Soon as they arrive at the church, she hops out of the car and goes looking for the detective. Seeing him stealing a quick smoke in the back of the parking lot she skips over and asks in an innocent tone, “Hi Detective Anderson, your daughter was looking for you, should I tell her you’re out back smoking?”

Cursing, Anderson drops his cigarette to the ground and grinds it beneath his heel before waving away the smoke and glancing around with a guilty expression. Laughing, Hailey says, “Don’t worry! I haven’t seen Missy yet, she’s probably inside waiting.” Leaning forward she says in a conspiratorial tone, “I promise not to tell her or your wife about the cigarette if you promise to let Jake take Missy on a double date with me and Theo sometime.”

“Theo and I,” corrects the detective reflexively. Then he grimaces and says, “Fine, but if that kid so much as touches her I’ll send the entire force after him. They’re pretty inclined to do as I ask lately.”

“Aren’t we all?” asks Hailey whimsically as she pats him on the arm. “You did a really heroic thing stopping that madman.” As she makes contact with him, an imperceptible glow suffuses his arm and settles on the rest of his skin, giving him a knight in shining armor look for a second before dissipating. Blinking, the detective looks around in confusion.

Haltingly, he asks, “Did you see…?”

“See what?” replies Hailey in an innocent tone.

Shaking his head, Detective Anderson smiles and says, “Nothing, it must have been a trick of the light is all. I could’ve sworn I saw something magical just now.”

“Well,” replies Hailey with a cheeky smile, “I’ve been told I look downright magical before. You’re probably just dazzled at the sight of me?”

Grunting noncommittally, Detective Anderson waves the girl away as he reaches down to toss his burnt out cigarette with a mournful look. Walking away, Hailey smiles and whispers, “Subtle Bel, you just had to give him the light show, huh?” Pausing, she waits and then asks, “Bel?” Worried, Hailey starts to walk a little faster, angling herself away from the church until she relaxes with a start and says, “Duh! I forgot that you’ll be gone for a bit. And that I’m now talking to myself like a crazy person.”

Laughing to herself, she walks into the church and slips into the pew next to her family. With a wave to Missy and a few of her other friends from school, Hailey settles in for the arrival of the preacher. Leaning over, her mother whispers in her ear, “Apparently the new pastor’s name is Sonny. It must be short for something but he’s been quite tight lipped about exactly what.”

“Sonny?” asks Hailey with a wrinkle of her nose, “that’s an odd-” Then she stops, her voice suddenly gone as she watches the pastor walk up to the altar with a jaunty smile and step forward to face the crowd.

“Hello,” Soneillon begins, “my name is Father Sonny, and today I’d like to talk about the sin of hatred.”

With the demon encroaching from such an unexpected venue, what will Hailey do? Better yet, what can she do dear reader? After all, she must maintain her secret identity and protect against Soneillon next week in… “The Bully Pulpit!”