By: Sue
Gloriana is left in charge of the whorehouse, as her mistress leaves. She walks out past the cemetery and into someone holding a touch. He lights the way for her, and brings her to the elders. They have been summoned there, because of John Alden. He disturbs their greatest creation Mary Sibley. They tell Hale that John killed Hook, over something that he did not want Mary to know. They wish for him to summon he necromancer, but Hale wonders if Mary is worth the trouble.
Tituba use to enjoy Mary’s stubbornness, but no more. Tituba wishes to kill Mercy, but Mary thinks that they should leave her alive, that they can get control of her back.
Mary pays Mercy a visit. Mary forces her father, the reverend from the room. Mary tells her that she came to visit her last night. Mercy plays coy. Mary knows that Mercy knows who and what she is, but she wants to know what Mercy plans to do. Mercy wants the torture, the suffering to stop or she will tell on her. Mary tells her that she has no clue what she’s had to sacrificed to become what she is, that should she submit she will know only pleasure. Mercy doesn’t believe her, she was the hag that bit her that tortured. Mercy is surprised to hear that she would be killed. Mary wants her loyalty, and will have it one way or another. Mary bestows a kiss upon her lips and leaves her.
John stuggles with his cenobite cube. He tries to force it open but it will not open. He puts it down on the table, and suddenly it opens to reveal a wooden apple. John picks up the apple and gets a heck of a mind trip as the apple shows his horrific images of a plague. His hand is branded with the mark of the apple.
Gloriana pays Cotton a visit under a cloak disguise. He asked for her. He’s not looking to embarrass her anymore, instead he wishes for a pretty woman proposition. He wants exclusivity. He doesn’t wish to share his toys. Cotton couldn’t stand seeing her with another, and she slaps him. She kisses him, and they fall into a tangle of arms and tongues. Alden interrupts them before it can get too frisky, with his box problems.
A trio of girls come to visit Mercy. They’ve got mean girl written all over them. They want to know about the witches coming to her. Mercy remains vague as she brings the girls to her room. They want to know everything with a morbid curiosity. The girls want to know how the power feels to make the men quake, but Mercy tries to explain that it is nothing like that. They point out that no other woman has had that much power, not even Mary Sibly. Something changes in Mercy, she has power, and followers.
Mary is told of Hook’s disappearance. Tituba tells her that they will not ever find Mr. Hook. Mary tells her to make sure that they don’t. Hale steals away Tituba claiming that his wife is ill. Mary allows her to go. Mary asks for the items Hook came to collect, and their origins. Tituba knows of Hale subterfuge, that his wife isn’t ill. She is not. He has come looking for her help to rid the world of John Alden.
John points out that whore was the same that Cotton threw a punch over before, that he didn’t realize that they made house calls. Cotton plays coy, but he does look up John’s little puzzle box. The box has been at every The Grand Rite throughout history. The Grand Rite has only been attempted, never completed, but should it be completed the Devil will rise and take dominion over the Earth. It has come to Salem for delivery, but it wasn’t. Cotton wants to alert people, but John wishes to lure out the witches. Cotton fears the witches, but John is ready for a showdown.
Hale finds the body of Hooke, and the ghoul gets to work. He removes Hook’s face from his skull.
Tituba tries to sneak out, but Mary finds her, asking her what the Magister called her away for. Tituba lies, but Mary lets her go for now.
Mercy brings down her entrapments, impressing her new friends. They ask about the handsome Cotton. She cannot say much, only that he took great interest in her affliction. The girls marvel over her power. One of the girls tells her that if she had power she knows who she would point her finger to. The girl grows quiet, and her friends answer for her. She would accuse her father, he makes her sing in the street and steals her money, and when she is old enough she will be sold to the whore house. Mercy vows that they will not run.
The newspaper man sells his stories of Mercy, and John stops him from selling his lies, threatening him.
Anne takes issue with John when he tries to make small talk. He has no clue what he’s done. She’s a little upset that she fell for him, and he loved another the whole time. Mary strolls up interrupting. And Anne goes away in a huff. Mary remarks that she is glad to no longer be so youthful, but he isn’t so sure. They had a youthful romance that he remembers fondly. Mary remarks that she was never that young.
Hale hands over the face to Tituba. She allows him to run as she gets her hands dirty with the dark arts. She sends his ghoul to get a rabbit for her spell.
An elderly woman, Rose, spies Mary admiring John, and she doesn’t blame her, he is a beautiful creature.
Cotton tells john its tonight or never. This is their last chance.
Anne hasn’t been the same since her father pointed out John’s love for Mary. Her mother thinks that she will get over him once she marries Cotton.
Rose tells Mary that had she chosen a different path, and was married to John now with three squalling children, she may not long for him so much. That perhaps fate was kind to her, but Mary isn’t sure that she needs her advice any longer.
The three girls bring Mercy out in her full chains. They chant around her, that she will show us a witch.
Tituba prepares her little rabbit for sacrifice.
Mary worries over the display. Cotton watches with dismay, and Mercy screams on her lead. Mary tells Cotton to stop her, that she mocks him.
Tituba calls to Hook. The face awakens. He thought that their business concluded. She asks for John’s secret, but he laughs at her. She threatens that there are worse places than hell.
Mercy screams and taunts the town people. She comes face to face with Mary, and there is real fear on her face. Mercy knows her power now, and she knows its too. Mercy finally goes before the one girl’s father, screeching that he is a witch.
Tituba returns to find a scene. Hale has no clue what Mary has planned.
Mary pays Cotton a visit, unhappy that he is not confronting the new witch, or speaking with Mercy. He finds that there is no pleasing Mary. Mary breaks down into tears, and Cotton falls to his knees to help her. She thinks that Mercy has gone mad with power, that her friends are egging her on, that even the Selectmen think that she is no longer reliable. He plans to do everything in his power to help her with the witch problem. Feeling assured she takes her leave, when she notices a picture of John’s box. She wishes to know more about it, to know why it concerns him. Everything about witches concern him, and Mary remarks what great luck they had that his father was not available, that their souls are in his hands.
Hale finds that the secret is useless if John will not leave town for a gambling debt. Rose laughs, knowing Tituba is hanging onto her ace until the time is right to use it against Mary. Rose tells him that they have bigger problems. Hook was to deliver the Malleum, and now John has it.
Mary tells Tituba that she waited for her at the market. Tituba lies that the spice shop was out of what she needed and she had to go collect it herself. Mary warns her that if she were to lie again, but Tituba stops her. Tituba is her only ally, everyone else has turned against her, everyone. Tituba tells her that her sweet John Alden isn’t so sweet he’s a murderer. Love has made Mary stupid. Tituba urges her to complete the Grand Rite, or she will turn John over to the Selectmen. Mary is sure that what her informant is lying, but Tituba remind her that dead men can’t lie.
The girl goes to visit her father to taunt him. He wishes to know why he is locked up, and she tells him its because he’s a witch. He thinks that he will get free soon enough, and then he will sell her as he planned. She is sure of the opposite. Anne Hale delivers an offering to ease her suffering. She promises that the girl’s father will get a fair trial, and the girl tries to hurry away. Anne refuses to let another innocent die after watching her friend die horribly.
John Alden returns home to find someone inside. It’s Mary, and she’s ready to confess. She admits that she lied earlier, that she was young once. She believed in goodness, in his goodness, and that’s why she loved him. She was surprised to hear that he was a murderer. John tells her that she doesn’t know him. He killed twenty men because they saw him, nothing more. Mary sheds a tear. Sometimes difficult choices are made in life, ones that no one want to make. She begs him to tell her that it was a difficult choice, a terrible thing so she can stop something worse. He falls to his knees. He murdered twenty men, and he makes no excuses for himself. He asks if she will have him arrested. Mary adnmits that she is the only one that knows. She kisses him, and leaves him on the floor.
Mercy and her new friends play witches. They sing and dance around the fire, stripping down and throwing their clothes on the fire. They wish to call forth the dark master, when something dark comes for them. They stop their chanting and find Mary is there. Mary is not happy. They had a deal. Mercy tells her that their deal no longer pleases her. She asks what she wants. Mercy wishes to be like Mary.
John gets a visitor in his house. She creeps up his stairs, and he listens to the footsteps, on edge. She comes into his room to take the Malleum, but before she can grab it she calls into his trap. John goes to see who tries to steal his apple, and Cotton comes to find out as well. It’s Rose, Rose fell into his snare.
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