“So here’s what I don’t understand. Why can’t you just blast the demons with magic and get rid of them forever?”

Hailey sighs, pulling her books from her locker before turning back to face a curious Ginny. “I told you, because each demon represents a specific sin. You have to expose them to the opposite of that sin to banish them. The first demon was denial, so we had to expose him to acceptance. The second was hate, so it took love to get rid of him.”

“The power of love huh?”

“Yep,” Hailey says with a sigh. Then she slams her locker door shut. “True love, apparently. Which is why I couldn’t just bring Theo into the church for a make out session.”

“So, like, does that mean he doesn’t love you or something?”

“NO,” Hailey replies, a little too loudly. Embarrassed, she glances around shamefaced before hissing out quietly, “No! We haven’t been dating for that long is all.”

Ginny flips her hair and says flippantly, “Whatever. The important thing is it all turned out alright, right?”

“Yeah,” Hailey says quietly before changing the subject. “So hey, I heard you’re going after the remainder of The Deck. Did you catch the Jacks?”

“Just a couple of them. They have powers, but…” Ginny trails off with a grimace.

“What?”

“Well, their powers are kinda sucky. The last guy could turn his feet into flippers, which was irritating when he jumped in the bay to try and swim away but hardly a real challenge.”

“Trust me,” Hailey replies, comforting her forlorn friend, “it’s better that way.”

“Yeah I guess. I just kinda wish I had cool foes and stuff. I heard you fought Tango again, is he your arch-rival now?”

“Arch-rival?”

“You know, like the one person you’re always trying to catch but never can.” Ginny’s voice hitches with excitement as she continues. “The both of you locked in an eternal fight, a dance across the rooftops of the city as each of you circles around one another, each person endlessly searching for the one advantage that will allow you to gain the upper hand. A vicious struggle, marked only by the knowledge that if either of you succeeds it will mean the end of both of you!”

Bemused, Hailey asks, “A clown like him for an arch-rival? What kind of two-bit hero do you take me for? Nobody serious would have a joker like him for an arch-rival.”

“Yeah I guess it is kinda ridiculous,” Ginny muses. “Still, having an arch-rival is pretty cool. I wish I had an arch-rival.”

“What about Vicious?” Hailey asks, helpfully. “He creates metal, you control it. That’s a match made in… well not quite Heaven but somewhere.”

“Yeah naw,” replies Ginny. “He’s not even in town enough for that. Besides, he was here for you last time, wasn’t he?”

Frowning, Hailey thinks about it and shrugs before answering, “Yeah I guess. But he could always come back.”

“I could live without,” Ginny says, wrinkling her nose. “I’ve done enough crawling through mud to last me a lifetime.”

“Amen,” Hailey exhales.

“Then again,” she begins, “he was pretty ho-”

*Brrriiinnnnngggg*

The sharp sound of the bell cuts her off. Trading looks of concern, both girls turn and race toward class, just barely piling through the door before the bell finishes.

“Right,” Mr. Memely says, glancing down at the two latecomers. “Now that everyone is here, we can start class.”

He walks up to the board and picks up a piece of chalk, writing as he talks.

“Okay. So yesterday, we were talking about environmental changes because of super activity. Can anyone remind the class what example we were going over?”

Raising her hand, Missy Anderson supplies the answer. “The presidential election of 2000.”

“Right,” Mr. Memely says before pointing to another hand. “Bella, summarize please our previous discussion.”

Bella sits up straighter before replying. “We were discussing how former Vice President Al Gore lost the election. His campaign led against President Bush primarily due to his pro-environmental message, exemplified by his famous speech, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ at the Democratic National Convention.”

“Yes!” Mr. Memely interjects, cutting her off before pointing at another student. “Theo, continue for her.”

Theo quails a little under the attention before replying in a stammer, “Uh, well, he lost?”

Frowning, Mr. Memely says in a disappointed voice, “Someone forgot to do the reading, and evidently forgot to pay attention last class as well. Does anyone care to rescue him?”

Raising her hand, Hailey says, “I will.”

Sighing in relief, Theo throws her a grateful look as she begins to answer the question. “Gore’s candidacy rested on a message of restoring the environment and counteracting the effects of what he called global warming.”

“Yes, global warming. Does anyone know what that is?”

Theo, trying to redeem himself, cautiously raises his hand and asks, “Something about the globe getting warmer?”

Sighing, Mr. Memely answers, “Yes, technically correct. Do we have any other heroes in the class who can save poor Theo? Anyone at all?”

Listening to a curious looking earring, Ginny smiles and says, “How about a heroine? I can answer the question.”

Mr. Memely nods, giving her permission to speak.

“Global warming was the theory that the Earth was heating up due to toxic gasses. Eventually the whole world would get really hot and everyone would die, so it was an attention getting topic at the time.”

“It seems laughable now,” Mr. Memely says with a smile, “but at the time there was a great deal of concern that the Earth was going to overheat if people didn’t change their ways.” Mr. Memely’s voice lowers as he begins to paint a picture. “Imagine it, global warming was a topic of great interest. Everyone knew what it meant. Ask your parents about global warming and they’ll be able to tell you all about it, and yet most of your peers have never heard the term. Why is that?”

Hesitantly, Theo raises his hand one more time. Sighing, Mr. Memely points to him and says, “A correct answer this time, Mr. Trelio. I’d prefer you stop trying to guess.”

Cowed, Theo says, “Segulok?”

“Technically correct, if a bit sparse.” Mr. Memely asks, “Care to elaborate?”

“Um, yeah,” Theo gulps. “Segulok arrived shortly before the election, and that sorta sunk the whole idea of global warming.”

“Why?”

“Because, um, she uh had her first migration?”

Smiling, Mr. Memely says to the great relief of Theo, “Precisely. Segulok’s first migration occurred. Suddenly, concerns about the world heating up seemed foolish. In fact, a few politicians even suggested that if Segulok could not be killed, we would need to actually increase global warming to counteract her.”

“Is that what happened?” asks Bella.

“No,” Mr. Memely replies with a faint smile. “Although there was some support for the idea, voters generally found the idea of deliberately damaging the environment to be unpalatable. But the cold front generated by Segulok was enough to ruin Gore’s chances of winning the election. Bush won in a tight race, controversially gaining the edge in Florida.”

“Controversially?” a student questions.

Nodding, Mr. Memely clarifies, “There were several attacks by the Trials and Tribulations gang, the group that became the Thirteen, in predominantly Democratic leaning areas of the state that day. Some people thought Bush pulled off another Watergate, capturing the presidency using superpowers. That said, the Supreme Court ruled otherwise. And of course knowing what we know now about the Thirteen, the idea of them working with a politician of any kind is ludicrous.”

Mr. Memely pauses for a second to erase some of his writing, freeing up additional space on the board before continuing.

“Now, the point of today’s lecture was to illustrate the effect superpowers can have on the environment. Segulok is an easy example because her influence is obvious, but what we often overlook is the secondary effects of environmental changes. The presidential election is a far-fetched example, but what I want you to think about is the cascading series of changes that occur due to superpowers. How about an example a bit closer to home? Can anyone give me an example of how Eldritch Maiden has affected this city?”

Seeing the silence in the class, Mr. Memely smiles and says encouragingly, “Don’t think too hard. My example is a pretty obvious one.”

Hailey and Ginny trade wary glances but remain silent along with the rest of the group.

Sighing, Mr. Memely waves his hand around and says, “This school! The city rebuilt a large portion of the library, with a donation from the Napp family,” he nods toward Ginny, “after her fight with Belladonna.”

Bella shifts uncomfortably, her face reddening slightly as she looks down at her notes.

Oblivious, Mr. Memely continues speaking. “We have to ask ourselves, what side effects does magic have on our environment, on our city?”

The class stares back at him silently.

“Well,” Mr. Memely says, breaking the tension, “we probably can’t find out the answers to those questions easily, if at all. So it might be a moot point. Still, we have to ask these questions or risk another New York where the freakish storms generated by Segulok’s migration ravaged the city throughout the month of September the year following the election.”

Raising her hand, Theo waits for Mr. Memely to call on him. Then, he asks, “So what you’re saying is that magic might destroy the city?”

“Not at all.” Mr. Memely shakes his head. “I’m saying that actions have consequences that can be far reaching and hard to anticipate. For all we know, the magic of Eldritch Maiden will attract something fantastic or mythical to the city.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” Mr. Memely thinks for a minute before saying, “like maybe a dragon or vampires or something else magical.”

In the back, a girl says with a breathy sigh, “Vampires… I sure hope that happens. I would love to get bit.”

Bemused, Mr. Memely cautions her. “They may not be the friendly kind from your stories. For all we know, magic could attract evil things too. I know in religious studies with Mr. Laurisden he sometimes discusses the theory that demons are real.”

Theo, eager to impress, quickly says, “Isn’t that theory generally considered false? Don’t most scholars argue that our idea of demons and so on is just people misinterpreting superpowers?”

Mr. Memely nods. “That’s true. Still, there are some records that either fall entirely outside our understanding of how powers work or,” he pauses for dramatic effect, “demons, spirits, magic, might be real.”

“But we know magic is real, we have Eldritch Maiden.”

“That’s true, but before he went insane Dr. Dwight Oubt theorized that what we call magic is just previously misunderstood powers.”

“But he went insane,” Theo protests.

Mr. Memely smiles and replies, “Fair point, Theo. Still, we can hardly pretend he didn’t have a plausible theory. Missy!” he exclaims, turning to her, “answer me this; is it possible that Eldritch Maiden’s powers are just that, powers, and not magic? Or should we take her claims, and the claims of other superheroes and villains who claim to use magic, at face value?”

Coolly, Missy replies, “Well, she typically relies on a few different attacks, the web of lights and general blasts I think, and her transforming weapon. It hardly seems like she knows all that much magic, despite her claims otherwise.”

Irritated, Hailey breaks her silence and says waspishly, “Well don’t forget about her suit. That’s all magic too.”

“Or is it?” Mr. Memely interjects. “We’ve seen similar super suits before made without using magical powers.”

Indignant, Hailey answers, “That’s ridiculous! Just look at the thing! It practically glows for heaven’s sake!”

“Phosphorescent threads,” Mr. Memely counters.

Sputtering, Hailey replies, “What about the spells that prevent anyone from seeing her face? Fabric wouldn’t be capable of protecting her identity with just a cowl.”

“Possibly, but it’s just as likely she uses a smart fabric or multiple layers cleverly disguised.”

Red faced and fuming, Hailey crosses her arms petulantly and pouts as the class continues to discuss around her.

Unfortunately for the class, dear reader, Hailey cannot set the record straight without revealing her super alter ego. For as we know, demons and worse are all too real! And next week, one of those worse things stirs. Next week the resurrection of Thorm Athow begins in… “Soulless!”