England, West Coast
Devonshire, Dartmoor
St George, Skirrid Inn
5 November 1898, 6:22 pm

Elly sized him up out of the narrow slits of her eyes. At first, he thought she was much cleverer than he had assessed her to be after all. Did she see through the fact that he was playing her? But then she expelled the equally held air and slowly lowered the arm at the end of which Dr. Archer was dangling like a fish on a line. Apparently, it was working. The doctor's feet came back onto the wood of the floorboards with the tips of his toes. The tips of his shoes scuffed across the floor, mingling with the sound of the scene in a grotesque way. Two dead already, it could quickly become three or four. The doctor's fingers still closed around the girl's arm. He tried desperately and powerlessly to strike at her, but Elly did not even seem to notice his attempts to fight back. His strength was not enough to release or loosen her grip.

Kyle felt his heart pounding impatiently.

"How did you notice?" said Elly then, her voice uncomprehending and suspicious, "How did you resist my spell?"

Kyle lowered his hands a little and stretched them out slightly in front of him. Very slowly he took a half step forward, then another. Not for a second did he take his eyes from hers. This conversation was a balancing act, an obstacle course on a frozen lake of thin ice. One wrong step in the wrong direction and the situation could tip.

"I know about these things. And I know people who can help you." even as he said it, he could literally hear the thin ice cracking under his feet. He saw the change in her expression. How curiosity turned to anger.

"People can help me?!" she hissed out and the doctor rasped as the grip around his throat tightened again. Kyle felt the tingling in his limbs as they tried to unload in his fingers. He wanted to intervene. Even if it meant attacking them. But he knew his spells could hurt the doctor in the process.

"I'm not sick!" with each word her voice increased in octaves and climbed higher.

"No no no! I didn't mean it like that Miss Elly!" said Kyle quickly, taking another half step back. "I know you're not sick!" he said, but this time it didn't sound as convincing as he would have liked. Thunder rumbled outside and lightning lit up the interior. It was like a stage play that was inevitably approaching its final act.

"This man has done something terrible to you," he restated. And THAT was the truth. He understood and probably there would be no one who didn't. It was disgusting and vile. That didn't undo the whole picture that was emerging here. But for the moment he had to play with words. Normally it was easier for him. Now, however, a witch with the powers of a strangling snake held his partner's neck in her fingers.

"I understand that you killed him. He was a disgusting man. He did this to you, he beat children and who knows what else. I can understand that they're angry. That they wanted revenge." Kyle dared to step forward again, "But why the others? What did they do to you? Didn't the Father believe them? Did you confide in Marie and they laughed at you?" he could do no more than conjecture. As much as pieces of the puzzle were now slipping into each other, they didn't fit elsewhere. It made sense now how she had been able to remove the body from the grave. But the rest?

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!" she shouted so loudly that her voice rolled over. "Stop your accusations and lies! NOBODY did I kill! NOBODY!"

Light broke in the girl's eyes, which had never seemed darker than now. "I had no reason to kill her!" What little light there was made them seem almost black, matching the grimace her puckered lips formed. "I could never hurt Walter! He was always stronger than me..." her voice cracked. A confused struggle for control played out in her eyes. A struggle that spilled over onto her face, pulling her expression into new shapes again and again. She curled her lips, and smiled, then her lips curved back down and her shoulders followed suit.

"He broke me. He tore me apart..." Her features literally broke. Tears gathered in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks but at the same time, the corners of her mouth pulled upwards as if by invisible strings. She smiled in such a distorted way as if she were happy about it. But the smile did not reach her eyes. There were sharp-edged shards, pushing the blood of heavy mental wounds outwards with the tears. The narrow shoulders began to tremble and shake. "He told me that this was the only way I could become a real woman." The frail figure revealed the wreckage behind all the acting and lying she was showing everyone. "He showed me how to do it... how to make him happy..."

Kyle wrestled with himself. A part of him that wanted to embrace her. That saw what this monster had done to a helpless girl and how shattered her spirit was. The sorcerer in him, however, knew better. Casting magic in this mentally unstable state could not have helped her condition in any way. The dark arts required a strong mind. Otherwise, it broke you apart piece by piece and hollowed you out until nothing but madness remained. He knew what he was talking about. With each new spell he learned, the waves of madness rose higher within him, crashing more violently against his mental cliffs. The state Elly was in, standing there laughing and crying, all feelings at the same time as the dangerous flash in her eyes.... it proved how unstable her mind had already become. This girl was as pitiful as she was insane and dangerous at the same time. She was not to be underestimated. He had to change the subject lest things get worse.

His gaze slid uneasily to Benjamin. In the meantime, the doctor had dropped one hand and was only grasping Elly's fingers with the other. It wasn't because he had no more strength or was giving up the fight. While Elly kept her gaze completely on Kyle, Archer carefully and slowly felt under his coat - and Kyle understood. He had to stall for time and keep Elly distracted. It was the only way Benjamin could get his second weapon. Under no circumstances should Elly notice!

"Miss Elly. I believe you." Kyle said to buy time. He kept emphasizing that he understood her. That he believed her. He wanted to make her feel safe, at least superior to him. "I believe you when you say they didn't do it." Kyle took a deep breath. Then, however, he pointed at the widow. "But what about Mrs. Andrews?"

The turn in the woman's features was so sudden that Kyle didn't recognize her. "YOU!" She groaned out that it sounded like the hiss of a snake. Flies buzzed and swarmed as if a new gust of wind had caught them, buzzing excitedly around the room. Tears welled up from the girl's eyes, though her features were contorted into a grimace of disgust.

"I wanted to bring him back! OUR WALTER! And she called me a witch! SHE CALLED ME MAD AND SICK! She wanted me to put in an asylum!" she screeched, clenching her jaws so tightly that Kyle could hear the grinding of her teeth. "She was going to scream! Wanted to get the constable and both of them! I grabbed her and grabbed her! I wanted her to shut up! So I hit her like she always did me! To make her stop saying such horrible things! I wanted..." Her breath rushed so fast and jerky that it sounded like the panting of an animal. Breathless, overwhelmed by all the shards that had cut away everything from the girl that could have once been happy. The girl she showed everyone, but who was no more than a façade of a house that was infested from the inside and could barely hold on. She laughed and smiled. But none of this was real.

"SHE never helped me! Never! And she KNEW EVERYTHING!" screamed Elly and Kyle heard the wood of the house groan under the pressure that filled the room. Elly was losing control, the fabric of reality complaining under her unconscious grip on the fabric, as were the floorboards and beams around her. "She always looked the other way! And I wanted her to see EVERYTHING this time! That this time she would NOT look away!" she shrieked. She wanted to continue speaking, and her mouth opened.

But just at that moment of silence, the click of a gun drum sounded.