Father Sonny claps his hands in front of the group of kids and parents and asks in a happy voice, “Who knows what our topic is today?”

One of the children raises his hand and says, “Witches!”

Pointing to him, Sonny replies, “Exactly! Today we’re going to cover the subject of witches. Witches are dangerous creatures that can hurt you and are quite dangerous. But!” Father Sonny raises his finger, keeping the audience rapt in anticipation, “we can do something about them.”

“What?!” shouts one of the parents from the back.

“Watch and listen!” calls back Father Sonny to a hearty chuckle from the audience.

Then he gestures behind him to a row of teenagers and adds, “We have a great group of volunteers today who are going to help me demonstrate how to identify a witch, and what to do once you find them.” Then he steps out of the way and says, “Let’s get a round of applause for all our volunteers, okay?”

Like clockwork, the Sunday School goers clap politely.

Then, as if casting a spell on his audience, Father Sonny raises his hands and commands silence. In a deep voice that shakes the rafters and reverberates throughout the church he says, “Brothers and Sisters! We are here tonight to fight the devil!”

“Amen!”

Nodding to the crowd, Soneillon continues. “In his wicked ways he corrupts and twists the righteous! But we need not cower before sin and devilry, good people. We can stop him and his agents, and we will stop them.”

“A witch,” Soneillon begins, pacing across the stage, “is a servant of sin and Satan. They gain power through an unholy covenant with these demons bargained for with their soul. This lack of a soul is the undoing of the witch, however! For without a soul they cannot bear to hear the Word of God read aloud nor can they bear to recite the Word of God.”

At this, Father Sonny raises up a Bible and thumps it loudly. “Yes, my dear congregation, it is true. Witches cannot read the Holy Bible aloud!” Then he steps to the side and sweeps his hand back toward the waiting teenagers sporting various costumes. “As you shall soon see, as our volunteers will demonstrate, witches can be caught in this fashion!”

Slowly the lights in the church dim as the Soneillon’s voice rises. “This is a true case of vile witchery, of dark dealings with the devil, and of Satan’s evil dear churchgoers! I was a wide-eyed priest just returning from a pilgrimage to the Vatican when I came across this rural village on the shores of southern Italy and it was there that I discovered the insidious power of the devil. I came to the center of the town and found there a broken cross made of stone, curious I asked the local priest what brought about such a tragedy and this is what he told me…”

Sweeping to the side, Father Sonny rushes offstage and allows the lights to fall upon the costumed teens.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Hailey says in a stilted and awkward voice, “Hear me, for I am… I am the demon Soneillon who comes from the blackest pits of the underworld to corrupt the innocent with my horrendous touch?” She finishes in an uncertain tone, as if slightly surprised at the words she just spoke.

Leaping onto stage opposite her, Missy throws her arms in the air and says with an overdone cackle, “HeeHEEheeHEE! I am Theresa Athow, a woman who spurns the teachings of the church and consorts with creatures in the forest! And it is by my evil power that you are summoned tonight, Soneillon!”

Uneasy at the name, Hailey simply stares at her for a few seconds before Missy whispers her line. Startled, she says mechanically, “So. You dare to bring forth a true demon? I am no mere imp, little girl. I stood shoulder to shoulder with Lucifer during the Fall, I consorted with Beelzebub to devise the first nigromantic rituals, I bled to hoist the infernal thrones of the devil’s Congress, and I do not bow before mortal women.”

Missy grovels obsequiously before replying in a humble but cunning tone, “Oh mighty Soneillon! It is I who bow before you, for the great and terrible majesty of your demonic form renders me speechless. Know that I would not have dared to utter your name nor cast forth these summons through the endless weirding ways of the underworld if it were not for a great purpose!”

“Speechless, you claim to be,” says Hailey, her eyes starting to shine faintly with a red light that matches the gleam in Father Sonny’s look, “but I see you still speak, witchling. Dispense with this dissembling and tell me honestly, what purpose do you have?”

“Forgive me, great and horrible Soneillon,” cries out Missy, her own eyes starting to take on the same faint shine. “I wish to topple the relics of this local parish, for they raise before them a great stone cross that projects forth the power of God and banishes my magics before it. So long as this cross exists, I am powerless.”

“You may be powerless, but I am not.” The awkwardness is gone from Hailey’s voice now as her tone deepens and takes on the growl of Soneillon’s true speech. “I can destroy this cross with a wave of my hand such is the power of we devils.”

“Will you?” asks Missy.

“Not for nothing,” answers Hailey.

“Then I offer you my immortal soul, the gift of God, to do with as you will!”

In the audience, Detective Anderson leans over to his wife and whispers, “Seems like a poor trade, immortal soul for a wrecking crew.”

Her attention raptly fixed on the presentation she shushes him violently. Then she turns to her husband and admonishes him in a whisper, “Be quiet!”

Grumbling to himself, Detective Anderson shifts in his chair and then turns back to the presentation.

Onstage the bartering of Theresa Athow’s soul has finished and with a flourish, Hailey and Missy both sign on the dotted lines of an infernal contract that vanishes in a puff of smoke (and into the waiting hands of a stagehand).

“Now, test your newfound powers,” Hailey says.

With a cackle, Missy hurls a ball of red macramé toward the side of the stage. “HeeHEEHeeHEE! Demonfire!”

“Yes, the fires of Hell are now yours to control!” crows Hailey. “But beware, for this power is not free.”

“Free?” murmurs the detective, “I thought she already sold her soul.”

Beside him, his wife leans over and pinches him hard. Then she hisses, “Stop interrupting!”

“Those who wield the power of demonfire have no soul, and those with no soul cannot speak the Word of God aloud, nor can they bear to hear it spoken! Beware! Beware the consequences should you cross the threshold of the Church to hear the prayers of the faithful inside! God will not tolerate this, and so you must never allow the Lord’s Prayer to fall upon your ears.”

Running back out onstage, Father Sonny throws his hands to the sky and cries out, “So it was, dear churchgoers, that this evil pairing snuck and slunk toward the center of the town and to the symbol of God’s love-the cross!”

Gasping in horror, the audience watches as the girls evade the patrols of the townspeople with more sorcery and sneak toward the cross. Backstage, Soneillon lets loose his own evil chuckle. Retreating to just behind the pulpit, he checks on his modifications to the church’s Bible. Then with a sigh, he snaps his finger lightly and recites a short incantation. A second later, he lifts up a tiny stone cross and breaks it, throwing the pieces down to the floor.

“Now for the show to really get started…” he says with a smirk.

Outside the shadows grow longer, circling round the church like the jaws of some primordial beast. Thunder rumbles in the distance as darkness sinks into the stones and blacktop of the church parking lot. The sudden flash of lightning illuminates the area, but almost as if physically fighting the light, the church remains dark and foreboding.

Back onstage, Hailey and Missy stand in front of a foam cross painted grey. Raising her hands, Missy shouts, “I, Theresa Athow will now destroy this symbol of God!” Then she throws more of the paper fire at the foam cross. “Boom,” she adds lamely.

For a few seconds nothing happens, then a couple of stagehands run out from the side and pull the cross apart.

“HeeHEEEEHeeHEEEEE!” cackles Missy, “I win!”

With that, the organ in the background plays a dark riff and the lights dim. Outside the sound of thunder reverberates. A mist begins to seep out through the corners of the church and toward the audience.

Back onstage, a new child actor emerges from stage left. Brandishing a handheld cross, a kid in priest robes shouts, “Our sacred cross! The foul witch and her demonic companion have destroyed it!”

With gasps, the townspeople begin to rush the stage crying out against the witches. Then they rush forward, only to watch helplessly as Missy throws more of the paper fire at them. Cowering, they run away in fear as the organ plays out over the fast moving fight scene.

With a crack of sound, the priestly character jumps to the front of the fray and says in a commanding voice, “Wait! Let this witch harm no more innocents! It is the Word of God that will protect us in our hour of need. Do not turn from the Lord, for he will deliver us from evil!”

With this, the child priest drops to his knees and bows his head in prayer. Loudly, he proclaims the words of the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father in Heaven…”

Around him, the villagers slowly join in the cant, reciting the words as thunder rumbles outside the church. Cackling, Missy’s eyes begin to flash a burgundy red, as her faux witchy voice takes on a darker, more realistic, tone.

“HeeHEE!” she howls, “It is not enough! The presence of my demonic companion makes me immune to these prayers, foolish townspeople! You cannot stop me!”

Rising to his feet, the child priest shouts, “We need more! We need everyone to join in and help us stop the witches!”

Prompted, the audience bursts into the recitations of the prayer as well. As each person joins in their eyes begin to glow with the same light that shines brightly in Missy’s eyes and the eyes of the student helpers. The light begins to wash over the members of the crowd settling onto their eyes and turning them red as they watch the performance. One by one each member of the crowd’s eyes turn red, except one. When the red light slides over him, it reflects off a hidden barrier instead, and the sound of faint cracking sounds as the shield breaks in the act of protecting him.

Confused, Detective Anderson glances about at everyone else taking up the Lord’s Prayer. Turning to his wife he asks, “Hey, wasn’t this supposed to be an educational program about student safety? This does not seem very practical. I don’t think religious chanting is going to protect our kids from supervillains.”

As his side, his wife turns to face him reciting the prayer. Her eyes glowing, she gives him a look that promises he will be back in a hospital bed if he doesn’t join in. Sighing, Detective Anderson begins halfheartedly murmuring along.

Onstage, Hailey’s eyes widen as she senses the foreign magic washing over her mind and senses. Snapping out of the trace of the show, she shouts, “Wait! Stop!”

Before she can say anything, the priest bellows, “Its working! We’re breaking their evil powers!”

“No! You don’t understand this is Soneillon’s fault!” Hailey shouts frantically.

“Yes!” crows the child priest, “Soneillon! We must stop the demon! We must destroy the witches! We must burn the witches!”

Like wildfire, the chant spreads until the whole church is shouting, “BURN THE WITCHES!” in a swelling crescendo that fills rafters.

Trying to reverse the tide, Hailey raises her hands to cast a spell. But before she can, one of the students turned villagers smashes her alongside the head with a piece of the broken cross—now transformed into real stone! A moment later, another actor does the same to Missy and the two girls fall to the ground. Grabbing their limp bodies, the crowd surges forth to tie them to a pair of wooden posts located in the back near Father Sonny’s side chamber.

Glancing around at the surging crowd Detective Anderson asks in a confused tone, “Wait, is this part of the performance?”

A deadly situation indeed, dear reader, for how can Hailey defend herself while unconscious? The simple truth is that she cannot, and so the plan of Soneillon advances one step closer to it’s terrible conclusion! Can anything save her from the grasp of the demon? Find out next week in… “Burned at the Stake!”