Pastor Morgan Williams placed his hat and umbrella on the bench that lined the wall of the police observation room. “Why call me, of all people? I’ve read the papers. The girl is guilty.”

Police Chief Ezra Smoles tugged on the woolen collar of his uniform as the fabric scratched against his skin. “There might be a minor complication.”

“Please!” His Honor, Judge Chip Hillary, slapped the metal desk. “That’s an understatement. This is unprecedented!”

“Let’s not sensationalize the matter.” Mayor Downes, her face gaunt from lack of sleep, stood and approached Morgan. “Apologies for the lateness of our call. But we needed someone with your expertise.”

Morgan clasped her hand. “I’m happy to help. I can’t imagine the toll this whole ordeal has taken on you. But how can I help? The verdict’s already been declared.”

Chip waved his hand dismissively at the police chief.

Ezra cleared his throat. “I found a journal among Reverend Austin’s possessions in which…” he paused as his fingernails tapped on the corner of a folding chair. “He detailed how, through a manner unbecoming of a man of God, he…well—”

“Will you just say it?” Chip roared.

“He imprisoned the devil in the girl—”

“When Penelope was born!” Chip interrupted. “Now, eighteen years later, she’s accused of the Reverend’s murder? It’s a media storm waiting to happen! The fact the court wasn’t made aware of this connection reflects badly on your department, the prosecution, and the church. I have half a mind to declare a mistrial this instant!”

“Please,” Cecilia stammered. “This isn’t the time for reprimanding. Pastor, what do you make of this?”

Morgan dropped onto the bench. “I don’t know,” he muttered as his mind poured over decades of literature and learning.

“Great!” Chip slapped the desk again. “Your so-called expert is stumped, Cecilia.”

“We all needed a minute at first. Give him a moment.”

The judge leaned back in his chair and looked inquisitively at Morgan.

“I’ve never come across this before.” Morgan scratched his head. “It’s unusual.”

The police chief cleared his throat. “Pastor, unlike his Honor, I believe in God and the devil.”

Chip snorted.

“You would too if you’d seen what I’ve seen.” Ezra’s face grayed as he stared through the one-way mirror into the empty interrogation room. “The cruelty man is capable of—it has to originate from something wholly evil.”

“Do tell us, Mr. Smoles,” Chip jeered. “What have you seen? Did a horrific portal open at the foot of your bed and show you a glimpse of hell?”

“I’ve seen enough in my time at this department for a lifetime. What man can do to his neighbor, to his family —You, of all people, would know!” Ezra bit his lip.

The judge felt small. “Yes,” he reached into his jacket, desperate for a smoke. “My father flipped his lid.” Chip’s shoulders softened as the cigarette touched his lips, while his hands continued to search for his lighter. “He came home one night and murdered my mother and two sisters.”

Cicilia turned away, and the police chief scratched his neck.

“Would’ve gotten me too, but I hid in a chest. The man was too drunk to look for a good-for-nothing boy like me.” Chip’s hands flew from under his jacket. “Does anyone have a damn light?”

Ezra offered his, and for a moment all were quiet as the judge’s cigarette sputtered, sizzled, then glowed dull and soft.

“But that’s not this girl’s fault,” Chip said after a long puff.

“She’s no girl.” Ezra lit his own cigarette. “She’s the devil. We must treat her as such.”

“I will not preside over a second Salem!” Chip took another drag. “The law supersedes superstitions. It’s what keeps us from becoming savages no better than wild animals.”

“The devil is an animal!” Ezra quaked. “And we’ve got him in a pen. We should put the beast down when we’ve got the chance. You must admit that crime has been absent from our town for years! Why is that?”

“Because of our mayor’s impeccable leadership.” Chip turned and extended his hand towards Morgan in a show of unity. “Mr. Williams. Please tell me, are you above all this? We can’t execute her on the grounds of being the devil. Grounds only substantiated by the journals of a mad priest. We should let her go. Or let her receive a punishment befitting the crime.”

“Death is the punishment!” Ezra shouted.

“Not for a girl!” The judge turned red. “Cecilia, stop the madness. Be the fairer sex and see reason. She’s basically your daughter.”

The mayor turned, gray-faced, “The friendship Penny has shared with my family is not a matter of importance tonight, nor will it have any effect on how I feel about the case, or its outcome.”

Chip clapped his hands. “Very diplomatic. But will you shrug off your role in her condemnation so casually when she’s in the chair? I doubt your term as mayor—our first female mayor—will be looked on kindly next election.”

“Let’s stay focused.” Morgan stood. “You may not believe in the devil. But you must believe in evil, and that it can become concentrated in individuals?”

“One evil act does not make her Satan,” the judge mused.

Ezra tossed an evidence file in front of the judge. “She was naked, bathing in the reverend’s blood! It was something out of Revelations! ‘And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints.’ I know she’s the devil.”

Chip cleared his throat. “That’s ridiculous.” He tried to steady his voice, but fear had begun to overtake his rational mind. “Let’s say you are correct. This girl is the devil. How much of her is?”

Morgan nodded his head, while Ezra shook his.

“All of her,” the chief reasoned. “Nothing good could survive that level of mortal corruption.”

Everyone jumped as a young cadet poked his face into the room. “Madam, your son wants to enter.”

Cecilia tensed.

“Let him,” Morgan replied. “He grew up with her. Perhaps he’ll shed light on the matter.”

Morgan greeted Edward with a smile as he shuffled in. He was a thin man and wore a simple sweater that matched his looks. “Eddie! When did you come back home?”

“My train just got in.” Edward’s voice trembled like a flower’s wilted peddle clinging to the stem. “She didn’t do it, she’s not guilty.”

“Eddie.” The judge picked over his words with tactful reservation. “I know it’s hard. But there’s no doubt she’s guilty.” He glanced at the chief. “Sometimes people we know can do things beyond our comprehension. No reason to see it any other way.”

“Edward,” Ezra pulled on his collar, “has Penny acted off before, perhaps showing an interest in the occult?”

“You might as well ask him if she has ever grown horns,” Chip jeered.

Edward shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

Morgan stepped between Eddie and the others. “Reverend Austin had a connection to Penny. He believed he had trapped the devil inside her when she was born.”

“That’s insane,” Eddie said. “Let me see her! I’ll get her to—”

Cecilia cut him off. “That’s not happening.”

“She’s hardly spoken since we arrested her.” Ezra dropped his spent cigarette on the floor. “She represented herself during the trial but didn’t say a word.”

“He should see her,” Morgan agreed. “It would be good for her soul to speak with a friend.”

Ezra nodded and had Penny brought into the adjacent interrogation room. She sat at the table, hands folded, body shriveled as if she were sinking into herself. She wore a thick coat and a blue scarf that ringed her neck like a hangman’s noose.

“Penny,” Edward said as he entered. The others watched through the one-way glass. The judge remained seated as he puffed on his second cigarette. Ezra loosened his collar and studied Penny. The mayor was still, her fingers pressed against the window ledge, while Morgan watched them all.

“Penny,” he repeated. “I’m here.”

“Better today than tomorrow.” Her voice was thin. “I’m going to die tomorrow.”

“No.” Edward sat across from her. “You’re not guilty. Tell them the truth.” His voice thinned, and his posture bent in on itself.

“It doesn’t matter, Eddie. Nothing does.”

Edward reached out and took her hand. “What happened, Penny? I can’t believe I left.”

“But you returned. I knew you would. You don’t have a choice.”

Edward smiled. “I never did when it came to you.”

Cecilia bit her lip. “He shouldn’t be talking to her. My son is not a piece of bait.”

“Of course not. He’s safe.” Morgan put his hand on her shoulder.

“The entire station is ready to intervene if something happens,” Ezra added.

“No one has a choice,” Penny said as she looked towards the mirror. “We’re all dragged to Earth. Generations begetting generations that beget generations, all who toil and die. No choice at all.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Eddie said, “not to them. They’re going to kill you.”

“Do you think I did it?”

Eddie shut his eyes. “The Reverend is dead. That’s true. Whether or not it was you is irrelevant.”

She stretched across the table until her lips brushed against Edward’s ear. “I killed him.”

“I know.”

“I broke his neck and drank his blood. It tasted like yours. Dirty, useless, wicked. But it didn’t work. Perhaps death will.” The scars under his sweater burned as Penny withdrew.

“God save us.” Ezra started for the door. “She’s got power over him! She’ll use him to escape.”

Cecilia was still, drained of color, but Morgan grabbed Ezra’s arm. “We don’t know that. I’m sure Eddie will tell us everything. Let’s wait.”

Edward scratched his arms. “You’re looking at this wrong. Explain to them what happened. How it wasn’t your fault! That you didn’t have a choice!”

“I knew what I was doing. Either choice is real and subject to judgment, or it’s not, and all punishments should be abandoned.”

“I don’t want you to die, Penny,” Edward whispered. “I love you.”

“No.” She looked at her hands. “You think you do, but you don’t. I put a spell on you when we were twelve. You belong to me. I drank your blood, and now you’re like me.”

“Get my son out of there!” Cecilia screamed. Ezra sprang to action as Chip muttered prayers under his breath.

Morgan pulled Cecilia away from the window. “It’s okay!” he reassured her. “Eddie is alright.”

“Time to go!” Ezra shouted as he burst into the interrogation room. “Get her to solitary! Let no one speak to her!” Two officers dragged Penny away as wicked words in foreign tongues spewed from her lips. Ezra held Eddie until Penny was gone.

“You can’t kill her!” Eddie cried. “She’s got no choice!”

“It’s in your head!” Ezra said as he pulled Edward into the observation room.

“We have to execute her.” Cecilia turned to the judge. “For the sake of the town!”

“She’s not dangerous!” Eddie yelled.

“Of course she’s dangerous! Look how she’s corrupted your mind!”

“We have to kill the thing,” Ezra asserted. Both he and Cecilia looked at Chip, who sat in his chair, sweaty and nervous.

“I agree,” he whispered.

“She’s still a human!” Eddie wailed. “And if she were the devil, shouldn’t we show it mercy? Doesn’t killing her prove that there is no difference whether the devil is in her or not?”

“You are under her spell!” Cecilia grabbed his wrist and pulled him out into the hall. The judge and police chief followed behind.

Morgan stood alone and looked through the glass. The table was against the opposite wall, and the chairs lay on their backs. In the silence, he heard Penelope’s voice echo through the station.

“Just how many devils are there?” he wondered.

Editor: Shannon Hensley