I'd run afoul of the witchescouncil too often for them not to keep an eye on me. So when theirinvestigator came sniffing around and spoke to me I was ...ready.I pretended not to know her which got her curiosity aroused but I knew thefirst thing she'd notice was the absence of magic. When she asked in aroundabout way about my magic I had the perfect story ready."You know about magic? Finally someone that will believe me!"I looked at her plaintively, almost begging. I think I could have won anoscar. That would be the easiest way to deal with getting there.”Heather exclaimed, “Cool! I guess that one of us ... that is, Beth ... should call Coach. Otherwise, doing the rest of this would be for naught.”I nodded, then went upstairs. Coach was more than a little surprised at our suggestion, but she became excited about it – “excited” for her, anyway. I returned to the living room with a smile on my face.“Bitchin’,” Heather exclaimed.“Yup,” I responded, “we’re doing it.”Dinner was, as expected,. Williamson had returned from the hospital. My mind wasn’t really focused on school or learning about Australian government as Mr. St. Georges snapped me out of my funk when he bent down over my shoulder and asked, “Are you going to stay for practice tonight, Mike?”“Huh? Oh, sorry,” I stumbled out. “Um, I’m not sure if I’m staying, yet. I might see what Jon and Andy are going to do, and go from there.”“You probably should, if you think about it,” Froggie softly said as he gave my shoulder a. As she slowly passed her glowering eyes from one end of our ranks to the other, her thin lips characteristically pursed and reset themselves. The hall suddenly echoed as one of the kids gave a loud sneeze, which was quickly followed by the echo of four nuns giving a sharp and loud "Sh!" In the ensuing silence, Sister Mary Joseph began her announcement in her usual manner, with a rise of her head and a long deep breath."Children," she said, "you are about to become soldiers for our lord Jesus.