[1956] The Lure Chapter 4

1711

1113

Yes, I know it's a fourth chapter and at this point it's probably better to find beta readers. But bear with me. You know how tricky the whole beta reader thing is and the crits here are better.

Premise: in an 18th century rural coastal village, girls often have uncanny and preternatural abilities the call the lure. But when three men are murdered and dismembered, fear over witchcraft lands an ensemble group of five girls, known for having lure, and making it stronger in secret rituals called esbats, in the crosshairs of a witch trial.

Story is told through the lens of Marcella, retrospectively explaining events to specific person years after.

Sorry for the lore dump but it's the fourth chapter and I don't expect anyone to go back and read the others:

This chapter follows on events in Chapter 3, where Marcella and her older sister Rose are being taken to a smokehouse to be held with other girls after the murders.

Some things are going to get a bit lost because a lot isn't explicitly stated. Briefly: Rose can affect what people feel, Marcella can hear almost everything (with certain constraints), Alice can make somebody believe something (not necessarily for long) if she says it, Kitty can slip through tiny gaps and become very hard to see (not invisible, your eyes just don't register her properly), and Ruth has a gift for finding missing things. (Might change Ruth's name after this because it's phonetically similar to Rose.

Okay, that's it.