By:Sue
Cotton believes that most of those who have lived are in hell. He thinks that Hell has enlarged itself, and she is America. Three witches have already hung, but there seems to be more. He has obeyed every instruction, and possibly even pressed an innocent man, but God still does not answer him.
The dead litter the woods, and Isaac has come out to add to the bodies. He asks for forgiveness as he throws another one a top the pile.
Gloriana again, fearing that some holes cannot be filled. He fears his father’s boot, and she laughs. Grown men should not fear their fathers. John Aldon sends his whore away, still angry over Cotton’s actions for killing Cory. Cotton has been expecting death since the age of 10, and he’s fully prepared to burn in a pit of burning black tar like hell. An image that sounds familiar, John asks him about it. Hell is not the bondfires, but the puddles of tar. He tells Cotton to get dressed, he has something to show him. John has seen them as Cotton described them. John is detained by the Magistrate, for his violent display the previous night, he tells Cotton to have Isaac take him to the spot. He tries to fight off the men, but ultimately John is detained.
Mary isn’t pleased that John was detained by the Magistrates men. She warns him that he should do nothing without her okay. His job would be to find out who broke their circle, to speak with the seer, and not worry himself with John.
Isaac takes him into the woods, tells Cotton how they bled a single dove, and it was the saddest display in the world. They find what looks like a witch’s cauldron, and worse a severed hand that has carvings on it. As they inspect it, bugs escape out of its palm.
Mary goes to see John, the guard opens the door for her before she tells the guard to leave. She tells him that Salem still hangs men for what he did to the selectmen. She claims that she would never let them do that, but he wonders where her indignation was when she let them kill Cory, an innocent man. She tells him that he should leave, that the selectmen suggest that he leave, but he knows it is her that is suggesting it. She’s trying to save him, that he doesn’t belong there, but he thinks that she doesn’t either. Her husband is not standing in their way he knows. She waited for him a long time, but his time has past, there is nothing left in Salem for him, and she doesn’t want him there. He almost believes her. He leaves his cell, and gives his half of the silver coin to a beggar. It breaks Mary’s heart.
A girl tries to give birth, but struggles as the midwife encourages her. Mary does not want her to have the baby until she reveals the name of the baby. Salem will not shoulder the cost of another bastard. Anne is there watching Mary’s and Bridgette’s exchange. Bridgette pleads with Mary, she was a poor person once too. Mary turns to Hannah directly, telling her that she should not suffer for any man, and Hannah gives up the name of the father, Billy Balen, apprentice to the Cooper. Hannah pushes out the baby, as Anne sketches her, and Mary has flashbacks of her own baby’s “birth.” Mary stumbles out as another girl goes in.
Hale traipses through the woods lost when Petrus finds him. The seer brings him back to his home. The home seems to have moved, but the seer tells him that eyes are for seeing not being seen, that they find him when they need to. Hale needs to find out who broke their circle, who saw them. He looks upon his taxidemy animals to find the one that was there. He chooses the lizard. He will find out who saw them in the woods last night but it will take time.
Mercy remains strung up on the cross. Mary wonders if their prayers have been answered. Bridgette knows that Mercy is not possessed, but rather sick. She thinks that they should be giving her medical attention rather than using the girl to whip the people into a hysteria. Mary warns her that her words could be construed as those of the devil himself.
Mary’s tears fall as she allows the toad to suckle her. Titula warns her that her tears could sour the milk. Once Mary had a chance for something more, and now she is on this harsh path. Now she needs to make a sign, one of the doom that has come upon Salem. A woman carries a dead baby in her womb, and she will make a sign of her. She only needs to kill nine more innocents before full hunter’s moon.
Kitty struggles to deliver her baby. She thinks the baby will tear her in two, when the midwife Brigette is summoned, but she’s already there, having heard the girl’s screams. One of the girls tries to turn the baby when, Kitty sees the hag. She struggles against the girls, tearing herself from their grasp, and delivers her baby.
Cotton tells John that he witnessed a real witch’s Sabbath. He looks at his books, and finds an image that look familiar. If it is true, then it is far worse than Cotton thought. There is little to go on, all of the books have little more than confession. Everything that a witch does is fueled by lust and death. Cotton asks Isaac to speak of his duties. He delivers not only packages, but also bodies that aren’t fit to be buried in Salem. Cory’s body is there, and John goes to retrieve the body.
Mary speaks with Kitty, asks her about the fear she felt, that something was trying to hurt her baby. Mary confesses about her child, that she lost. She presses the girl, and Kitty tells her that she felt the presence of evil, that she saw a foul hag and she was touching her belly. Kitty reveals that the midwife and the hag was one and the same.
Isaac and John go to find Cory’s body, and Isaac worries about being out in the middle of the night with John again. Cotton throws up on the bodies, and the men locate the bag holding cory. They bring it back and bury him in the cemetery behind the church.
Cotton goes to see Mary, and she frets about her husband, a horrible happening that could kill him. She tells him of a monstrous birth in Salem, like something straight out of his books, delivered by their very own midwife. The baby has been preserved in a bottle, and Cotton sees it as a declaration of war from the devil. Mary asks if there is anything that they can do. Cotton plans to protect Salem and her, and Mary is satisfied with his answer.
Anne rushes after Magistrate Hale, to stop him. She does not think that Bridgette is guilty of anything. Cotton uses the dead baby to prove that Bridgette is guilty. Bridgette was doing everything that is normal in the realm of widwifery. Even Hale finds these claims ridiculous. Cotton knows that the devil’s minion are everywhere, and Kitty pointed her as the hag during her delivery. Cotton asks for a plea, and she proclaims herself innocent. John comes to her aide, asking if Bridgette made the sign or if God did. Bad things happen in the world, and blame cannot always be assigned. He ponders if they should hang a woman for his pondering. He suggests that they should hang more women, all who was there, because that makes as much sense. The other women, whores, proclaim their innocence. When the people start to find holes in the logic, Mary suggests that they take all those who may be guilty before Mercy who can sense the witches. One by one they are brought to Mercy, and Mercy makes no move until Bridgette is brought forth. Mercy spits blood and nails down one Bridgette as Mary calls for a vote. Bridgette is stung up, still crying about her innocence, but God is not answering her either. They hang her and John congratulates Cotton on another innocent death. Cotton isn’t sure whether she was innocent, but he knows that the witches must die.
Hale sees that they were almost felled by the man who Mary cannot leave alone. He doesn’t want to be burned at the stake, and with every misstep, he and the elders wonder if Mary was the right person for his job. He watched his family burn once, and he does not want that same fate, he tasted their ashes. He fears for his daughter’s safety. It’s too late to go back now though.
The seer sees who stopped the Sabbath, sees Isaac’s face.
Anne confronts John at the tavern. She wants John to rally for justice, she knows that more innocents will die during this hunt. She wants him to do something, and her fire reminds him of someone he once knew.
Mary gets a visit from John. He’s less patient than he use to be. She thinks he’s leaving, but he isn’t. He doesn’t hate Salem, but the people who run it. He plans to fix things. There’s an extra seat on the council, one with the Aldon name, and he thinks it’s time he claimed it. Titula makes her presence known, and John takes leave. Mary puts a lock of hair into doll, and squeezes the babies from a mouse, After crushing the babies, she puts them into the dolls, and sews it up.
Anne sits sketching a portrait of John in her room. She hears a noise, and thinks its her cat, but it’s a creepy doll, Mary’s doll.
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