The Offer
Outside forces begin to threaten Mary, Isabella and Veronica
Someone or something outside the village has become aware of Mary, Isabella and Veronica’s secret. They are unaware that the forces are massing and the first pawns are about to advance.
The Invitation began eleven episodes ago when something dark and sinister with a ravenous sexual appetite appeared in a 1920s English village.
The Invitation Contents Page is here on substack.
Isabella and Mary sat in the kitchen eating breakfast. The table was covered with plates of eggs, bacon, toast and a pot of tea, which Mary was devouring as if she were a starving woman.
“You still need to eat,” Isabella smiled.
“Magda fed last night,” Mary said through a mouthful of toast. “Now I’m hungry.”
“Magda, is that her name?” Isabella asked.
Mary stopped chewing. “Yes - it must be. I don’t know where that came from. Somewhere deep in our collective memory, I suppose.”
Magda stirred. It was a strange sensation. There was the feeling of a physical motion inside her. Mary felt as if she had slipped into a pool and was floating on the surface like Ophelia. She was both sinking into the dark depths and rising from them simultaneously as one element of her consciousness passed through the other. Part of her surfaced, whilst the other sank into the liquid to hang suspended - something akin to being back in the womb surrounded by amniotic fluid. The other her breathed and spoke. “It is a name I was given many years ago.”
Isabella frowned and leant forward as if to look deeper into Mary’s eyes. “Am I now talking to Magda?” she asked.
“You are speaking to both of us.”
“This is very strange - having a conversation with two people when there’s only one of you here.”
“I’m always here,” Magda snapped.
“Yes, sorry.” Isabella looked down. “I meant two physical bodies.” She paused. “You said it was a name you were given many years ago. “Were you human before…?” Isabella asked.
“I don’t know. I have a distant memory. I was in a dark place, there was a man. Then there was fire all around me. A demon, something from the other world saved me. I served him, he transformed me. Then there was darkness. I was reborn - joined, with several bodies over the centuries, but the darkness always returned.”
“And Goran?” Isabella asked.
“He was born of a union between my master, the one who saved me, and a human woman.”
“So, you’re..?” Isabella’s voice tailed off.
“No, not brother and sister. The other created me, but I was not born of him. Goran and I are kindred spirits.” Mary stirred in her pool. The word lovers swirled around in her mind. The desire to go to him was strong, it sucked at her like a vacuum. She turned her head and looked out of the window. “We need to go to him. Later, when the sun goes down.”
“How do I know you will not take control of Mary again?” Isabella asked. “You are more powerful inside the stones.”
Magda rose up out of the pool. Mary could see the skin of her hands and forearms darkening, she could feel the physical shape of her face changing, as if she was pressing a mask against it. When she looked down, her fingernails had become talons. “I am powerful here as well,” Magda growled. Isabella recoiled in her chair, her face suddenly ashen. Mary felt herself resume her human form, but it was Magda who spoke. “We are one - a single entity that must work in harmony. Neither can overpower the other, in either world.”
Mary rose back to the surface and emerged from the pool. She smiled at Isabella. “Don’t be afraid. Magda and I are becoming like twins. We might argue at times, but we know each other’s desires.”