seemingly overnight, since Halloween. Many preached complete intolerance toward supernaturals, calling for laws to control them. Jael suggested that witches might have protection under grounds of religious freedom, but another kid, one of the telepaths, pointed out that witches had a gene or three that gave them the ability to practice, which meant their religion wasn’t open to everyone. That prompted a discussion about whether or not a religion had to accept everyone interested. Someone pointed out that regular humans could still practice witchcraft, they just wouldn’t be able to make anything happen. I wasn’t participating and barely listening when Gina called me out on it.
“What do you think, Declan?”
I had listened enough to know that she was questioning my thoughts on witchcraft as a religion.
Reluctantly I answered. “I don’t think that you have to be skilled at a religion to practice it. People all over the world practice New Age or pagan-based religions without a wit of power. And claiming a genetic difference for any reason is a field day for lawyers,” I said.
“How do you figure?” she prompted, an obvious ploy to draw me out. The fact that the other kids were all paying attention to my answer kept me from pulling away.
“You can argue that lycanthropy, vampirism, and the inherited ability to control energy are all diseases or medical conditions. Discriminating against someone based on medical or physical condition is illegal,” I said.
“But government can quarantine individuals whose condition pose a threat to society, like an Ebola-infected traveler,” one of the wolves, Matthew, said.
“They can and have, but there are a ton of cases where they’ve stepped on individual rights and been sued successfully. Much of it has to do with degree of contagiousness, and the articles coming out about the benefits of vampire proteins are pounding the point about how hard it is to actually get infected with vampirism. Lycanthropy requires the virus to penetrate the skin and cannot be transmitted by kissing a were or even having sex with one,” I said.
“Thank Goddess,” Erika muttered.
“And witchiness can only be passed on by sex,” Michelle said, “—at least to the next generation.”
“All of which is true, and none of it is an absolute protection,” Gina said. “Like any other legal right or privilege, it can be taken away by the stroke of a pen.”
“So we need to be vigilant about new bills and try to build a base of public support. I like Declan’s idea about all the New Agers, Wiccans, and other practitioners of pagan-based religons. Plus there’s that whole Satanism church that sprang up, which is arguably a greater threat to national and global safety than anything else,” Paige chimed in.
“That, dear, is a very interesting point. The New Church of Satan is a danger because of the threat of opening new portals to Hell, correct?” Gina asked. Most of the class nodded or made affirmative noises. “Well, by extension, so is witchcraft. Even non-witches have successfully opened gates, at least before the Large Hadron Collider was adjusted and turned down. How the country treats the NCS will set precedent for a lot of things. Ever heard of slippery slope theory?”
The discussion trended toward things like camel’s nose under the tent and other potential snowballs of legislative peril when I turned to Caeco and muttered, “Nuclear weapons and the Internet.”
“What was that, Declan?” Gina asked, snapping her attention to me. Wow, good ears.
“Just a comparison. Having the knowledge and ability to produce something dangerous is not inherently a crime. It’s the act of doing so that is. I can pull up detailed plans and instructions on my phone for explosives, bombs, even nuclear weapons, and none of that is criminal. But if I start actually building bombs, then I’m in trouble,” I said. On my other side, Mack suddenly slid down a bit in his seat.
“Knowledge of rituals and spells is widely available. Hell, my aunt’s website sells a half-dozen books that have viable spells and charms in them. Several touch on demon summoning. It’s the same thing.”
That touched off a fierce debate on whether my example was apples-to-apples or something else. The result was yet another assignment, this time a written essay of fifteen-hundred words on one side of the argument or the other. Then Tami asked an off-topic question.
“Mrs Velasquez, can you explain the ranks you spoke of our first day? Paladin, Knight, and Champion?”
“Sure, Tami. I think I mentioned that we would touch on it. Oracle ranks untrained operatives as either