Shaking my head, I looked around me at my fellow seniors in disbelief. “Please tell me I’m not the only one here who heard what she was really saying?”
“Which would be?” Mr. Sherman encouraged.
“Gee, let’s see, where do I start? Censorship of books? Or how about that she’s obviously trying to turn us all into spies against each other in the biggest witch hunt ever!”
Murmuring broke out on all sides of the room.
“All right, settle down,” Mr. Sherman said. “One at a time, please.”
Kyle snorted. “All I heard was that these Clann members are going down exactly as they deserve. It’s bad enough that they went all suicide bomber on our government and hundreds of innocents. Now they’re using our own books against us to try and pull in more recruits. I say we burn every magic book out there and force them to go back into hiding like the cockroaches they are.”
I smacked a palm against my forehead. Oh geez. Where did I start? “Okay, first off, Eli and Caleb Phillips, the so-called ‘suicide bombers’, actually didn’t mean to kill anyone. If you saw their dad on TV, he explained how they just lost control of their abilities. And second, where is that woman coming up with this whole story about there being some secret Clann terrorist organization? Real descendants of the Clann don’t gather to learn how to terrorize people. They gather so they can help each other learn how to control their abilities so things like the explosions in D.C. don't happen. Palmer didn’t even give anyone any proof! She just stood there flinging completely unfounded accusations against an entire group of people, kind of like Hitler did against the Jews, to try and make everyone afraid of the possibility of real magic instead of our being amazed and in awe of it. And isn’t spreading terror the definition of what makes someone a terrorist? If so, then she’s the one who sounds like the real terrorist here.”
I thought it was a pretty darn good argument, and I looked around, expecting at least a few nods of agreement. Instead, all I found were frowns and scowls, a look of pure horror on Hayden’s face, and the usual evil smirk on Kyle’s.
Kyle stared at me. “All the proof you need is in the name Clann. Sounds an awful lot like the KKK to me."
"It's Gaelic Irish for—" I began.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Kyle snorted. "If they were smart, they would have picked a different name, Irish or not. And besides, if they're not really evil, why go with the whole magical abilities story for a cover? Everyone who's ever read the Bible knows God hates witches. These Clann members might as well just go ahead and call themselves demon worshipers while they're at it! And who would go around proudly telling the world that they worship demons? Someone who wants to make others afraid of them. In other words, a terrorist.”
Oh wow. I had to blink fast a few times at that. I felt like I’d just woken up in the middle of a plague of stupidity. “You’ve got it all wrong. Their magic has nothing to do with religion. I'm sure quite a few of them are Christians too. It's like Simon Phillips said. They're born with these abilities, and someday science will be able to explain exactly how they work. It's a genetial gift, not terrorist activity. For all we know, they could end up changing the world for the better.”
“What have you been smoking?” Kyle said. “Lay off the incense and wake up, hippie! You heard the president. The Clann isn't a bunch of peace-loving vegans dancing around a bonfire singing ‘Kumbayah’. They blew up our freaking president! Who knows what they’ll do next? And did you notice how nobody can explain what the bombs were made of or how the terrorists got the bombs past security onto both a plane and right outside the White House gates? How do we know these Clann members really don't have some freaky abilities the government can’t explain, like that Simon Phillips guy claimed on TV, and all those other outcasts on YouTube? Abilities that probably came from…where?”
Several students murmured “from demons” and nodded.
No matter how much I yearned to, I would not jump out of my chair and try to smack some sense into them or Kyle. That would just be giving them what they wanted.
So I gripped the edges of my desk, took a deep breath, and did my best to stay calm. “How do we know our own government’s not actually behind the explosions? Simon Phillips could have been wrong about his boys’ causing them. He wasn’t there. At the very least, the government could be making up the terrorist story to cover up the fact that they haven’t got a clue what really happened.” I sat back in my seat and tried not to notice how the plastic chair bumped against a certain someone's desk behind me. “I think the government’s just using misinformation and scare tactics so they can eventually push through laws that will allow them to censor our books and internet and who knows what else. And obviously the scare tactics are already working if you’re ready to start burning books now.”
“I'm not scared.” The muscles in Kyle's jaw knotted. “I just think everyone has the right to know who could use dangerous and weird new abilities on them at any second, especially when no metal detector or bomb squad dog can say who the threats are. We have a right to be able to protect and defend ourselves.”
Murmurs of agreement hummed throughout the room, making his scowl turn into a smirk of victory.
Spurred on by the sounds of agreement around him, Kyle added, “Think about it. Anyone around us could secretly be one of these freaks, capable of blowing us up or who knows what else at any second. Why would anyone in their right minds want to have to deal with the possibility of being around someone literally going nuclear just because they missed the latest shoe sale, or some chick's PMSing, or they walk in on their husband cheating on them with some other woman? I say we get rid of the problem instead. We should do whatever it takes to make everyone else safe again. Let’s go a step further. Instead of burning the magic books, let’s leave them out there as bait then throw anyone who reads them into prison. Or hey, better still, let’s study these Clann members, figure out a way to stop their abilities and develop a blood test or something that we can give to everyone to find out who has these abilities in the first place. Then we wouldn’t even need to bait them into coming out of hiding because we could just test their blood!”
A groan escaped me, despite my best efforts to hold it in. I twisted in my seat so I could look directly at Kyle without getting a crick in my neck. “This is so ridiculous. You're saying everyone should ignore the possibilities for human evolution, even purposefully stop that evolution, just because humans can't be trusted to learn how to control themselves? That's like saying all guns should be destroyed because some idiots out there use them for bad instead of good.”