Hailey groans as she repeats herself again, “Like I said Ginny, things escalated quickly.”

“Yeah, like, that’s an understatement,” Ginny replies in a snippy tone. “You’re telling me you just fought multiple supervillains last night all in the middle of getting a warning that not only is Malefic, who is bad enough on her own, coming back to town at some point in the future but Becca, the cannibal psycho Becca, is also coming back. Oh and don’t forget, the warning came from your evil psycho alternate reality or whatever self from the future, who wants to recruit you to help her with some insane plan to kill the only supervillain who literally nobody can kill. And, in the middle of all that we might have some kind of gang war on our hands? Does that about sum it up?”

Hailey swallows. “Yeah. That sums it up. Oh and I’m still hearing that voice.”

Ginny slams her locker so hard the metal warps. Furtively, she slaps her hand on the door and lets her power restore it. As she does, she growls at Hailey, “Oh, well that’s nothing too serious then.”

“It won’t be like last time,” Hailey says before Ginny gets worked up. “I have a plan.”

Ginny rolls her eyes.

“Seriously! We go to Beacon and the rest of the Association. If things are getting bad they can help.”

“And that’s it?” Ginny says in a snarky tone. “We just go to the Association? That’s not a plan it’s the bare minimum.”

“Not just that!” Hailey protests. “We also need to crack down on the local criminals, so we don’t have any distractions when things happen. We find out who or what this voice thingy is before it turns into another disaster.”

Ginny sighs and walks a little faster toward class. Irritation and frustration war across her face in equal measure.

Struggling to keep up with the taller girl, Hailey adds, “And we need to stop this gang war before it escalates, that means you and me working together again. Once we have this under control, we reach out to some other people who might help us too. We can pay that Vicious mercenary to help us out, right? You remember him?”

Ginny ducks around a corner to hide her suddenly bright red face. “Yeah,” she mumbles, “I remember Harold. I might, I guess, I might be able to get into contact with him.”

To anyone it would be obvious there is more to the story than a simple memory, dear reader. Anyone except Hailey, that is! Caught up in her ruminations and oblivious to her friend’s discomfort Hailey barrels on with the conversation instead of remarking on the curious expression gracing Ginny’s face.

“Really?” she says in relief, “good because we’re gonna need allies, even if they are the shady kind.”

“Right, the shady kind.”

Ginny quickly schools her features as she speaks, letting no hint of any of her complex emotional response to the villain come through in her voice. The chance for Hailey to take note of this oddity is gone as soon as it arrived, with the girl none the wiser.

“Exactly,” Hailey nods. “I know working with criminals isn’t ideal, but we don’t have much choice. We need everyone we can get if we’re gonna make it through this.”

Then she grabs Ginny by the arm and pulls her back from the rest of the students. “Hey, seriously, I need your help. Erika is already talking to the Association for us, but we need to be on the same page.”

“Fine,” Ginny says, whipping around to address Hailey directly. “When do we recruit your evil doppelganger?”

“What?” Hailey drops Ginny’s arm.

Ginny takes a step back, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yeah. When do we recruit your doppelganger? You said we should work with everyone, right? Including the shady kind?”

“That’s not fair. She’s not.” Hailey falters and trails off.

“She’s not what?”

“I think she wants to turn me into her.”

“So don’t let her.” Ginny’s face turns impatient and she begins tapping her foot on the ground. “Why is this so difficult? The only thing better than having one Eldritch is two, right?”

Hailey chews her lip and glances away. “Yeah, but you don’t understand.”

“Don’t understand what?”

“She scares me.”

“So does Becca. Give me a better reason.”

Hailey pauses, a terrible fear gnawing at her stomach. She whispers her next words, the admission feeling like bile as it slides up her throat.

“She could change me. I felt like I stood in front of a void after Bella,” Hailey stops. One uncertain breath later, she squares her shoulders and continues, “Sometimes I’m back in that room watching that tear in reality looking at the Things Beyond and I feel hopeless. There was no choice, no time, just Bella telling me she could stop it and that awful tear getting wider and wider. I just, I could be her, you know?” She meets Ginny’s eyes before continuing. “I could be evil, and it would be so easy.”

Ginny looks away, giving no hint at the thoughts racing through her mind. Softly, she says, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Hailey pauses, she knows there is more to Ginny’s words than what her friend lets on but also that this conversation balances precipitously over a ledge. It was not long ago that Ginger Snap wanted to fight Eldritch out of misplaced jealousy, and the two girls cannot afford discord if they are to handle the looming danger. So instead of pressing, Hailey backs off.

“We should get to class,” she offers, attempting to bridge the sudden awkwardness.

“Sure,” Ginny says, taking the proverbial olive branch. “We should get moving then.”

“Did you do the homework?” Hailey asks as the pair start moving through the halls. Around them the press of students rushing from class to class is ebbing as the tide prepares for the bell.

“I thought about it.” Ginny flashes a grin as she answers, shifting her bag’s weight as she does. “But then I heard Tango was tearing through a part of Chinatown and I figured I should stop by.”

“So that’s where he got off to last night,” Hailey says with a laugh. “His plans are so stupidly overblown I’m tempted to let him get away with one of them, just to see if it actually works. I mean, pernicious pianos?”

“Maybe it’s a secret ploy he uses to get brave young superheroines to drop their guard!”

Ginny’s laughter at her suggestion rings through the now empty hallways as the two girls rush into class moments before the bell rings. Ducking a stern look from their teacher, they quickly rush to their desks and begin pulling books and paper out of their backpacks.

Meanwhile, across town, the mayor of Liberty City steps away from her desk and speaks urgently into her phone, “That’s right, no identifiable markings. I just checked with my PA, and they didn’t leave it here either. So can you get a bomb squad in here already chief?”

She pauses for a moment, listening to the voice on the other end before tentatively walking back to her desk and taking a seat in her ornate office chair. Running her fingers along the old wood of the mayoral desk, she takes a deep breath and puts the phone down.

Tapping the speakerphone button, she asks, “You’re sure about this?”

Crackling through the phone, the chief of police replies in a steady voice, “Yes. We already checked the one I got and the one delivered to the courthouse. I have a team with the city comptroller and another over at the port authority, and the preliminary report is that they got them too. They aren’t dangerous, whatever else they are.”

Nodding, the mayor opens her box. Inside the nondescript cardboard is a mass of packing paper. After flipping over the package and shaking out the contents, a small statue tumbles out and onto the mayor’s desk.

“Is it another one?” the police chief asks.

Relieved, the mayor reaches out and picks up the strange object. “Yes. It’s a fox.”

“Mine was a horse, and the courthouse got a monkey.”

“An animal theme?” The mayor asks as she lifts up the delicate figurine. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” the sound of a door opening interrupts the chief. The voices are too distorted to make out, but whoever disturbed the policeman leaves just as quickly as they arrived. With a sigh signaling his return, the chief says, “Just got a report, they went out to more than just city officials. Apparently, Napp and the university both got one too. Actually, all the local schools got one. Seems like whoever is behind this is just sending the statues out to anywhere noteworthy in the community.”

“Should we be worried about the safety of the schools?” the mayor replies.

“I don’t have enough manpower to cover them, and that’s without even considering trying to investigate this situation. I think you’d better consider shutting down the schools for the day, just as a precautionary measure.”

“Already done,” the mayor replies while typing out a message that brings her PA into the room with a document and pen to sign. “What else can we do?”

“Unfortunately, not much. All we can really do is wait and prepare. The Association already knows, but there’s no response from either Eldritch or Ginger Snap yet. Hopefully if they’re not worried it’s a sign we don’t need to be either.”

“I am freaking out right now!” Hailey hisses at Ginny. “Why didn’t you warn me?”

“How was I supposed to know?!”

Gritting her teeth, Hailey whispers, “You could have paid attention instead of ignoring all the warning signs, you idiot!”

“You had the same signs,” Ginny retorts. “Besides,” she taps her mysterious, metal, earring, “unlike someone, I’m actually prepared.”

“I wouldn’t call abusing your earring being prepared.”

Smug, Ginny cuts back, “I’ll let my results speak for themselves, thank you very much.”

An indignant fire in her eyes, Hailey starts to form a response. But before she can, an ominous shadow crosses over her and in a sudden, sharp motion, a hand smacks down on her desk.

“Ladies. While I appreciate class discussion as much as any teacher, I would prefer you avoid doing it during my tests! Am I clear?”

Hailey swallows. “Yes Mr. Laurisden.”

“Yes Mr. Laurisden,” Ginny echoes in a subdued voice.

“In fact,” their teacher continues. “Why don’t the both of you take a trip to the principal’s office? Since you feel the need to talk rather than take your test seriously, the walk will give you the chance to do all the talking you want. And once you get there, you can talk to the principal about appropriate behavior during exams. I’m certain he would be delighted to finish this discussion with you.”

“But!” Hailey protests.

“Now,” Mr. Laurisden interrupts.

Grumbling, the two girls pack their bags and begin the long walk to the principal’s office.

“Great,” Hailey grouses. “Now I’m failing math along with everything else. My mother is going to be pissed.”

Ginny flips her hair with an indignant huff. “Well if you hadn’t started talking, things would be fine.”

“Fine?! They’d only be fine because you have a cheating robot earring feeding you answers. Not everyone gets their own cheating AI to take tests with.”

“I don’t use the suit to cheat,” Ginny replies in a somewhat more mollified tone. “I use it to keep track of my schedule and study. When I’m waiting for criminals to show up there’s not much else to do other than listen to the audio version of the textbook.”

“Oh,” Hailey says, let down. “Sorry, I guess. I don’t really know how to do that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Bella used to keep track of all the tests and force me to start studying a few days in advance. I’m not used to managing my own schedule I guess.”

Then, suddenly, the lights go out! In the now dark hallway, the two girls share an alarmed look. Ginny raises her hand to her ear as Hailey begins murmuring a low cant. Together, the two girls begin racing down the halls toward the nearest exit. As they burst out into the midday sun, they realize that it isn’t just the school swathed in the darkness of a blackout, but the whole city!

Who, or what, would cut the power to the whole city? And what is the connection to the mysterious figurines? And will the girls get caught playing hooky in the middle of the school day? We race toward answers, dear reader, next time in… “The Court of Coven!”