Suffer a Witch to Live

High school senior Abby Wilson knows every pew and porch in Lafayette, Louisiana. However, she doesn't know the pale man in the black suit waiting beneath the cathedral oak, or how he already knows her name. He calls himself Old Jack, and he has a simple offer: the thing you need most, granted in full. All he asks in return is a small favor to be named later. Abby signs. So does half of Lafayette.

Then a boy dies horribly on Jefferson Street. The mayor says witch out loud, and Old Jack's favors come due. A court right out of 1692 convenes beneath the stained glass of St. Januarius. Cages go up in the school gym, and a pyre goes up in the cemetery. It's 2026, though. Everybody knows there's no such thing as witches. In fact, the devil is counting on it.

Could a Salem-style witch craze really happen in modern Lafayette, Louisiana? Isn't all that just a throwback to a more superstitious stage of humanity? Or, possibly, does it stem from the darkest part of human nature regardless of the era?