Dear readers, tonight we print a video interview transcript with a young witch, who recently lost her best friend in mysterious circumstances. The two friends met while investigating a house that reeked of brimstone and radiated a sense of evil. She knew a demon is involved, but her new friend the exorcist seemed to be hiding something.

Oscar: You ready?

Maggie: I feel sick.

Oscar: Relax. I’ll edit the video before uploading it, so if you mess up, no worries—we can just do that part again.

Maggie: Right. Okay. [inhales deeply] I’m ready.

Oscar: Awesome. So tell us a little about yourself. Where did you grow up? What was it like there?

Maggie: Um, I’m really not here to talk about me…

Oscar: My subscribers like a little background. Just give us the basics.

Maggie: Okay, fine. I grew up in St. Augustine, Florida—in the same old Victorian house I live in now, actually. My grandmothers raised me. Grandma Gail was a flight attendant. Nana was—

Oscar: A witch!

Maggie: Yes, a witch. She sold herbal remedies and cast spells for clients—very secretively, because witchcraft faced even more prejudice back then.

Oscar: And she’s the one who taught you magic?

Maggie: She was my first teacher, yes. I remember her leaving crystals on the windowsill to recharge them by moonlight and lighting candles on her altar every evening. But Oscar, you know I—

Oscar: You’re here to talk about the case files, right. So let’s jump in. You’ve recently started publishing accounts of the paranormal cases you handled with exorcist Beatriz Romo Reyes. What inspired you to put them out there? Are you trying to educate people about the supernatural?

Maggie: No, I— Well, I guess that is a benefit. Since most people don’t believe in the supernatural, they miss the signs when their house is haunted or their friend is possessed. If they knew more about it, they could recognize the danger sooner and save themselves a lot of pain and trauma—and even their own lives sometimes. But no, that’s not really why I’m publishing the cases.

I’m doing it for Bea. She’s… She was never famous—she wouldn’t have wanted to be.

Oscar: Ha! Can you imagine? She would’ve totally punched the paparazzi and gotten sued.

Maggie: Yeah… But she helped so many people, put her life on the line countless times, and that… that deserves to be known. I want people to read about her and—I don’t know—appreciate her sacrifices, I guess.

Oscar: A worthy goal. So you worked with Bea for years on a ton of different cases. What was the scariest thing in your adventures?

Maggie: Are you kidding? You know what kind of stuff we dealt with. The ghosts who tried to murder me, the literal portal to hell, anything involving the Fair Folk— How do you expect me to pick just one thing?

Continue reading “Maggie Greenfield (of Smoke and Hellfire, by Kristen Brand)” →