We could see the spire of the church reaching into the sky as soon as we turn the corner.

It gave me a murky tingle of foreboding in the pit of my stomach.

St. Michael's Church was a large, vaguely menacing structure that covered most of a city block.

It featured a tower with a clock, a steeple, and a belfry.

The steeple was capped with a roof lantern, which in turn had been outfitted with a lightning rod in the shape of crucifix.

It looked like a weapon of war, thrusting with murderous intent into the underbelly of the clouds.

The longer I looked at the old church, the more off-kilter details seemed to jump out at me.

None of it was particularly jarring on its own, but it all added up to create an unsettling atmosphere. Among other things, I spotted a toddler-sized pair of short pants lying in a clump of

weeds, and someone had balanced the skull of a large dog on top of a tombstone. One of the empty

eye sockets had been filled with a chunk of quartz, giving it a bizarre twinkle in a muted sunlight.

This is a bizarre place, falling sky said quietly.

He wrinkled his muzzle back from his teeth and added,

I'm not very fond of the man in the black robes.

Never did my people any favors, that's for sure.

I gave him a sympathetic nod and murmured.

My dad always used to say that having a religion is like having a penis.

Keep it to yourself.

Don't show it down anyone else's throat.

I think that about sums it up.

Falling sky chuckled. Your father's a wise man. I think that about sums it up.

Falling sky chuckled.

Your father's a wise man.

...