Storytime: The Bewitching FINALE Explained | Midnight Horror Discussion & Final Verdict

The timelines have collided... and the truth is finally out. 🕯️🎬

Welcome to the Midnight Horror Storytime finale of The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. In today’s creepy podcast episode, Lauryn and Morgan are breaking down that climatic ending, revealing the true villains across all three timelines, and answering the lingering questions that kept us up past midnight.

We’re diving deep into the Author’s Note to uncover the real-world spooky tales and folklore that inspired this haunting journey. Plus, stay tuned for our official Cozy Midnight Collective rating—did this book meet our "cozy-spooky" standards?

In this Storytime Finale:

• The Villain Reveal: We finally identify the forces behind the curse.
• Ending Explained: Dissecting the collision of Alba, Minerva, and Beatrice’s stories.
• The Author's Note: Discussing the historical witchcraft and research behind the plot.
• The CMC Rating: Our final verdict and score for The Bewitching.
• APRIL REVEAL: We announce our next Book of the Month (Play Nice by Rachel Harrison) and tease the upcoming Reading Guide!

Chapters:

1. The Final Welcome- 00:00:27:26
2. The Collision: How It Ended- 00:07:52:01

• Betty- 00:08:07:14
• Minerva- 00:18:29:16
• Alba- 00:45:50:04

1. The Author’s Note & Research- 01:17:05:10
2. The Collective’s Rating- 01:19:32:08
3. April Book of the Month- 01:21:47:13
4. Closing Remarks- 01:23:42:10

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Welcome back to Cozy Middle Night Collective. I'm Lauren.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

And I'm Morgan. We finally reached the end of the road with a bewitching. And honestly, we have a lot of feelings.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, the timelines have collided. The villains have stepped out of the shadows, and we are ready to break down this climactic finish. So grab your blanket and one last cup of coffee. It's time for the final chapter.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

I drank all my coffee. I was like, I need another one.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

I'm surprised I'm like handling it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

And I literally was like, are you even drinking that? Because I'll drink it if you're not drinking it. And that would be my third cup, but I'm I'm needing another one.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, well, we had like another sleepover last night. And um we were up, I think, till 4:30-ish this morning.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Yeah, I think we left the computer at four. I don't know when you went to bed, but I read until five just to like make myself tired. I read. That always puts me to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

So not gonna lie, when I went to bed last night, because we saw Undertone last night. Um, I closed the closet door and the bathroom door because I was like, I'm not, I can't have like the open door where it's like so funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

I didn't even I slept in the playroom with my daughter, Kennedy. Um, she was passed out, of course, um sleeping all night long. But I like joined her. Last night was like such an interesting, like Braxton was in her place where she should be. Glenn was in his place, but like when we got home around midnight, Addy woke up, she wasn't feeling good. I guess she cried enough to make herself vomit. Poor child. So Glenn got her, gave bathed her again, showered her, got her dressed, got her ready, took her into bed, into my bed. And then I was like, okay, so I can't, like, the space is taken. I can already see it. Like, there's Glenn, there's Addy, there's animals. And I'm like, it's late or very early, not gonna disturb them. Braxton was sprawled out. The only you were in the guest bedroom. And so I was like, I'll climb on the couch and like open up a window and read. Um, it's on the second story, so I feel like it's okay. There's like no ledge or you know, fresh airs for dead people. I get that. But uh there's like no ledge or anything, so I feel comfortable like sleeping with that window open. It's flat on the second floor, so yeah, yeah. And then I was like reading, reading as much as I could to finish part four, and I did finally before we were recording this one.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

And that's good, it's good, really good. Yeah, um, so you know, before we I guess get into it, um, this is your spoiler warning. Spoilers, please be careful um going forward at this point because we're gonna talk about it all. We're getting into it.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Yeah, you're going. Yeah, if you are somebody that does not want to know the slightest inkling of what coat Jenny was wearing, then leave. Because we're literally gonna talk about it all. Yeah, and so you've been forewarned. I don't want to see any nasty comments.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Okay, so when you guys start leaving comments, like yeah, join us! Yeah, it's so fun over here, it's all cozy. Where's your blanket?

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Uh I'm actually kind of warm.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

Are you really? I just got the whole house open.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

I didn't bring a jacket over either. It's a nice day.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

It's 47 degrees outside right now. Yeah. It's cool enough.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Yeah. I mean, it's nice for Washington weather, I guess, at this stage. Like, I know rain today. Some places are like already getting up to the hundreds, which I Arizona. Yeah, I do not envy you at all.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Stifling. Where I'm from is Arizona. It's born and raised. Well, in Kansas, but yeah, um, needless to say, yeah, they're having like record heat there. So they've been hundred to one oh five this past week, which is like never happened before. It's historic weather.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

So um my family and all my friends are sweltering.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah. I don't I'm I'm not envious of you guys right now. I don't envy you at all.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Yeah, usually I'm like, get me the f out of Washington, get me to Arizona. I love visiting this time of year because Arizona's perfect. It's like not hot, get out of the rain, get some sunshine, it's dry. No, they're like going through it right now.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

So yeah, I don't want to be there either. Yeah. But my girlfriend, hi Nikki. She just booked her trip out here for July. We'll have a guest on the pod.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Oh, I would love that. Yeah. We'll have to get like a little extra chair or something. That'd be fun.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Yeah. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

I'm hoping to bribe her into making an appearance or two, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

We'll see. That'd be fun. Yeah. I'd love that. Mm-hmm. That'd be super cool.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

So let's get into it. Yeah. I think. What do you have a I'm so sorry? Do you have what updates do you have? Show off your brand new tattoos that you just got before you came over here.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

My sister-in-law gave me some tattoos today. Um, I got like a little red string.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

So we woke up still at like 10 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Did work until like 2 p.m. You went home, showered, and got tatted and came back.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Came back, yeah. Came back with one, two, three, four little tattoos. I would have done a few more, but I was like, no, I need to leave.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Um you just come back with literal full fucking sleep.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

I was just, I wanna, I have like a lot of little ideas.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

You're trying to play catch up now that somebody that you know is like willing to do it. Yeah, and she's getting really good.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Yeah, she's getting really, really good. And she's like, she loves to have the practice.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

It looks great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Reese, where he's at right now, he's um speaking a lot more since going to school. Yeah. And he is just some of it is still kind of babble, but the rest of it, he's like really like he's really talking. And it's like the weirdest thing because like his just his voice and it's so cute. And I know eventually like him and Whitney are just gonna be like babble. Yeah, it's just never gonna end.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Yeah, and then there comes a point when like Kennedy she'll be like, right, she just like needs her space, which she should have her space.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

She did not need her space this morning, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:23

But exactly, where I'm like, okay, go play with Addy, and then it's like she she wants to be with the adults. Yeah, I'm like, bro, you literally I gave you a sibling you wanted somebody to play with, and now you don't want to play with them, and you just want to bug me. She asked, she had the gall to ask me to have another baby the other day, and I was like, no, no, ma'am. Like this body, like this factory. It's speaking of factories, this fucking factory is closed.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

Oh my gosh. Yeah. We talked about the factory last episode, right? Because you toured Minerva. The factory with Noah. So wanna start with Beatrice. Yeah. Not that I was reading here, like how essentially their timelines well their timelines can't meet, but how they connect, how it all kind of mixes.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

How it's together. How everybody's portion ends up affecting everybody else. Because like Minerva and Alba kind of go through the same thing, just in different times with like different people.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

This is a brilliant way of writing. Yeah. I just want to say that to be able to piece a story that intertwines the way that it does, like, she's a really good writer. That's really fucking hard to do.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

And she did it seamlessly.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah.

unknown 9:01

God.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Yeah. I mean, hey, Sylvia, like, if you see this, thanks for watching, girlfriend. And like, come on our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

I would love to meet you. This was such a great book. I couldn't have consumed it faster if I tried. It was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Yeah, it's it turned out really, really good.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

I'm very sad that it's it's ending.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

That it's ended. Yeah, this is like another bittersweet one.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Like, I was ready for Letters to the Purple Satin Killer to be done. Yeah. I really had grown accustomed though to reading short chapters. Short chapters. Because it's like just a couple of pages each.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

I will say, I feel like the chap because like there are some books where the chapters just carry on forever. And then this one, I felt like the chapters were, it's not like the letters. Right. But it was paced really well to where it's like, yeah, it wasn't like I was reading, okay, okay, like I'm done with the chapter where I want to move.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

You know those books where you're like counting how many pages are in that chapter because you're like, I have to at least finish the chapter. How fucking long do I have to go?

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah, no, like, and I just felt like there wasn't, I wasn't like turning the page and like, oh great, I have to read from Beatrice's point of view. Like, I was actually genuinely excited to see how the story was gonna progress with each character as it went on. Yeah. And like Beatrice's stuff is just like, because yeah, it's just like, you know, you're trying to think like, okay, how does this connect in the future? How is this gonna work out for Minerva? Or is this gonna like obviously it's not gonna go to Alba?

SPEAKER_03 10:34

Yesterday, I was like filling spots. I was like, okay, so like Minerva is who was I saying Beat no, Minerva is Ginny. Yeah. And Hideo is um Beatrice. Beatrice, yeah. Then like, yeah, I'm like, oh, so I started like it started meshing enough where you could like you know remove characters and it's the same thing that's going on. Remove characters and it's the same thing that's going on. So that was really fucking cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

And I was like, god damn, that would be it was fucking haunting if you were living in the middle of that.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Yeah. And yeah, so I mean, do you want to start with Beatrice? You go. Okay, so um take it away. Where we kind of left off with her was it's kind of the last few days before Ginny goes missing. Ginny is getting more and more erratic. Um she's terrified, she is adamant that something's following her. Um she's got these weird drawings in her journals, and um It's just not making sense to anything. It's not adding up, yeah. And so Beatrice and and Edgar had kind of talked for yeah, about her and like, you know, how should we help her? And Beatrice is very much so like just support her, like we'll just try to be there as much as we can, you know, but she's not understanding any of what Ginny's going through. Edgar doesn't understand, Carolyn could care less. Marianne is just here for gossip and tea. Yeah. And so Ginny is truly just alone. And so um at this point, uh, it's Christmas time.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

But she's hiding out in a room a lot, too. Yeah, yeah. She likes she feels like that's her only safe spot.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

So in the world.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

I want to say it was so it's not Christmas Eve because she she goes missing like on the 19th. So um, but it's like around Christmas time, it's about to be like Christmas break. Yeah. Um, and Beatrice is staying behind again for Christmas because she just she can't really afford to go home. Right. Um Ginny's plans were to go with Edgar, but they weren't leaving for like another couple days. And so Beatrice was um like everybody else is gone though. Yeah, everybody else is getting ready to leave. Like Carolyn is with her parents. Gonna go have like a nice Christmas. And um, you know, Carolyn kind of treats Beatrice like like a friend, but she kind of treats her as like a handmaid almost, where it's like she'll ask her to do her hair, and it's like, okay, you can't.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

She's like demandingly her her time and attention.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Yeah. And it and so, like Beatrice kind of commented saying, like, you know, last year I spent Christmas with Carolyn, but this year she had guests coming over, so I wasn't allowed to come over. Friggin' Carolyn.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Well, no, from the her from the get-go, I just want to point it out from literally the beginning of the book, I said, I don't like Arturo, and I don't like Carolyn. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Beatrice, um, again, she's she has to stay behind, and so she has to do some work to help pay for her room and board and everything like that. So she gets invited to serve like food and drinks at I believe it's like one of the professor's houses. And so before she leaves, yeah. So before she leaves, you know, she tells Ginny, like, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be here. If you need me, call me and I'll I'll come, I'll come home. I'll I'll be back home in just a couple of hours. And I'll be with you. She had invited her to come with her, but Ginny's like, no, I'm I'm gonna just rest. I don't I don't wanna leave. I'm safe here, I'm okay, you go, right? And so Beatrice is like, okay, so she she goes to reluctantly, she does this party, and the whole time she's just like thinking about Ginny. And uh she's not even there 20, 30 minutes, something like that. And she gets a phone call from Ginny, and Ginny is screaming, pretty much he's here. Like, I'm the like I I'm getting gone.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

I'm yeah, I'm not okay. And so and then the phone just like essentially drops, yeah, right? And because she finds it off the hook when she gets home.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

So Beatrice is like gives her, gives an excuse, puts on her coat, she just starts running.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

She's like, I'm going. Like she's like, I didn't even hang around, I didn't even like give her to tell me no, I can't go. She's like, fucking bye. I'm out the door. And she but wasn't it like 40 minutes?

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, so what would have what would have been like a 10-minute drive or whatever turned out to be 40 minutes of her running in the snow. Yeah. And she I think elements. I think she also had kind of said something like when she was running, she felt like it lengthened. Like she felt like the distance just got bigger. Yeah. And she felt like there was something following her as she's trying to get to gym.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

So finally, for the first time ever, she's feeling she's felt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

And so she's like panicking, trying to get home. She's running home, running home, and she she finally gets there. She finds the phone off the hook. And at this time, they only have one phone, and it was like in like the parlor of like their dorm.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Because it's the 1930s. 1930s again, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yeah. And so she finds the phone off the hook, and she runs up to the room. Nowhere. No Jimmy.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

And then she like but she notices like all of her clothes are there, her purse, all of her belongings are exactly where they're supposed to be. It's just as if she vanished.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah. And so she does run outside.

SPEAKER_03 16:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

And she sees some footprints. Footprints know that. And the spot of blood. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

She sees like a spot of that look like a flower is what she described it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

And so that's why she in her mind is like, okay, why would there be blood in the snow if she just left with her lover, right? Like. Everybody says that she ran off of Santiago. And yeah, so. Like, what's this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

You know?

SPEAKER_02 16:59

And it's sad because Beatrice is just like, like. Like she was right.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

And the way that the phone call took place, there's no way she just would have left like that. Yeah. Like that didn't seem like a happy two lovers are going to run away together. That was oh my god. It's happening.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

And with everything that she's been saying to Beatrice up to that point, like I'm being followed, I'm being watched. It's out there. Don't you see it? Yeah. In the tree, like, and Beatrice. Oh, the amount of guilt she must have carried around for her whole life, where it's like, it's not her fault.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Well, I mean, like, uh, they said in like Minerva's timeline, like Carolyn and and Noah have both said that Edgar and Beatrice would get together every year. Every year, and they would talk about it. And I think like that kind of actually morbid. Yeah, it kind of segues perfectly into going into like Minerva's story. Because that's kind of how Beatrice's story kind of ends. Like we don't really get any more of her manuscript from there. And so I think that just goes perfectly into Minerva's thing because we'll kind it kind of ties it back around to that. Um because we're all gonna like meet like what happened. So yeah, was it with Minerva? With Minerva. So at this point, you know, like where we left off with her, yeah. Minerva is like feels like she's being watched, she feels like she's being followed. She knows like their her cat that she had. Um the orange tabby. The orange tabby that she was feeding is dead. Dead.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Um, so she's just like terrified.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

And like there's a point where she like she's literally feels like losing her mind. She feels like she's Jinny. She feels yeah, yeah. She started making um, what are they called again?

SPEAKER_02 19:07

The like the uh protection. Yes. But um I keep wanting to say trinkets. It starts with charms. So Minerva's like carrying around the the bird with the pins in it, and she's she's like used a couple of the birds in uh her dorm boxes. Yeah. And then um there's a point where she's in her in her apartment and she notices a green light. And same like with the Alba, she had seen the green light.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

But she had are didn't she, she's already up to this point that one other time saw the eyes outside the eyes only.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Oh, I think it was I think it was just Alba. Okay. So yeah, so yeah, so she gets like the the green light and it's coming towards towards her. Like it she says that she closes the curtain. Yeah, and it goes under the curtains and is like trying to reach for her, but like she does have like the protective um like marks around, you know. Yeah, and so she kind of thinks that that's like what kind of keeps her from like being hurt by this like green light, yeah. And so she had a run-in with that. Um, she goes, she does go to like a little house party. Um, she feels like somebody's watching her at this house party.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Yeah, she didn't want to leave. It just really boils down to looking the exact same as it was for Ginny. Yeah, she just wants to be back home in her safe space where she knows she's protected on the walls, the floors, the doors. Like, could you imagine how isolating that must be? You're like, okay, the smallest space where I can have it surround, like engulfing me.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

There, like, there's also a point too where like her and Noah, like before we kind of thought it was there's gonna be like a it was like a will there will yeah there be like a thing between them, and nothing. Uh like he's like I think he was trying, like he was very interested. Yeah, like he had wanted to talk to her about like music, and like he had asked her to go to this party.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

They ended up it would have been together, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Um, and she's just kind of like she's kind of getting an uneasy feeling.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

It's gonna be like Beatrice, I feel like, in her life. Like she's gonna unfortunately just be alone. I think she's happy with that though. Like, yeah, like her trauma and her cat. Her familiar cat.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Yeah, so so like you know, she she's kind of been a little snippy with Noah. Like, uh she hasn't like we'll get to she has another conversation with Carolyn.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

He's not at the party.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

She leaves the party, she leaves the party, she does like run out of the party because like there's a point where she's like, There's something here. Yeah, I just trying to hurt me. She's getting the headaches, the migraines, and she's like, I need to leave. And so she's just run attacked.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

Yeah. She's like sprinting full speed, like, I gotta get back. To my safe space, and then boom, Noah appears.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Yeah, because she like falls down in the street, and he like is like screeches to a halt, like he almost hit her, and he like puts her in the car and is like, Let me take you home. Like, I'll take it. And you know, he's trying to figure out like what's going on with her. Right. Because it seems like he wanted to go to this party with her, but she was just kind of like But she's like, Yeah, I'll be there.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

No, Hadeo's.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

But she's so focused on like this, obviously. And so poor Noah sends everything you want. Yeah, poor Noah is just like, What is going on? And so like I can't do anything right, like it's he's like trying to talk to her, and she's like, dude, I like to be alone, like just leave me alone, pretty much. And he's like, dude, what did I do to you? Like, I I'm just trying to help. I'm just trying to hit on Yeah, and so he just she just is like, I don't want to talk right now, just go. And like there's a point where she does kind of like question, like, should I have like let him in and like gave him some coffee or something? Like, we could have talked, but then she's like, No, I just I don't want to deal with it. So earlier we had mentioned she gets back in the house.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Yeah, she goes back to the house, yeah, and she like locks herself, locks the doors her room inside of the house because she feels like she can fucking breathe again.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Yeah, she feels better. And she because she lost her bird like when she had fallen in the street, so she had to get another bird. I almost said trinket again because pick her fingers and do the thing all over again.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

But she felt relieved.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Yeah, she felt better. And so then um be such a good show.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

So a couple days goes by and she has she goes into Boston, and earlier we had mentioned that Beatrice was friends with a name with a man named Benjamin. Um and he and her Benji.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

We're just getting close, they don't call him Benji.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

And not like romantically, because again, uh Beatrice was um He did.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

He's the boy. We did talk about that in part three, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Yeah, so just yeah, so he we did talk about him, so they weren't very close. Well no, they weren't close like romantically, they were just like really good friends. He's a loner, he likes to be alone, but he loves his best friend, Beatrice. And so at this point, he's an old man, just like Carolyn, and um Carolyn had pointed Carolyn and Noah had pointed Minerva in the direct in his direction um because he might have more stuff um that she could look through uh for her thesis. Yeah, and so yeah, so she's Beatrice. Yeah, so she meets up with him, and at this point she's like obviously love the manuscript. Oh, Benjamin had the tea too. He had the tea, he had the tea, especially as far as Carolyn was concerned.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

He told her though, up front, he's like, Maybe I'll tell you at the end how I feel.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Yeah, how I feel about this.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Yeah, let's just like get through all of this stuff first.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

So Noah had also talked about, like, just to kind of go back for just a quick second. So Noah had said that he used to like listening to Edgar and Beatrice talk together, but he would get spooked, he would get spooked. But he liked being spooked, but there was one thing that he genuinely did not like listening to them talk about, and it was this list that he the blacklist Beatrice had yeah, the blacklist. Now the blacklist was a list of people that went missing, right?

SPEAKER_03 25:12

But there's certain criteria. Criteria, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

So it had to be a mis like they they mysteriously disappeared. If it looked like it was murder or this or that, it was like it didn't make the list.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Yeah, it was something to do with like the Bermuda Triangle as well.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah, it was like something to do with like like what was it?

SPEAKER_03 25:33

But I'm pretty sure it's not because the morbid girls have talked about it too. It's not considered the Bermuda. I think she, and I hate to like call it out, I'm not like trying to talk shit or anything, Sylvia, but Bermuda Triangle, in my mind, I thought it's um closer to Florida, and there's um a New England um triangle, and it's called Bridgewater Triangle.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

I think it was just like in the New England area, is like what they were talking about. Like in that spot was like those people in this area had gone missing. Yeah, they said Bernida. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

But I was like, I think she meant to put uh Bridgewater.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

Because it's literally the same kind of vortex um where like really eerie things take place that are like in, you know, they're they can't indescribable, right? Just shit goes missing, much like in the Bermuda, like sh full ash ships go missing. And so for this, it would be here. So it says roughly 200 square mile area in southeastern Massachusetts, known for intense paranormal activity, UFO sightings, cryptid encounters, and alleged occult activity. Coined by cryptozoologist, this New England triangle links um these areas. That's Abington, anyways, it's huge and it's New England.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Basically, they just kind of were only focused on people in this area with this criteria. And so she talked to uh Benjamin about it, and she kind of was she kind of asked a few questions about the end of Beatrice's life and like who knows about the list. Yeah, she just liked

The Final Welcome

SPEAKER_02 27:26

to be alone, you know, like she tried to be in a relationship, but it just didn't work out. I think because she was so focused on what happened with Ginny and the things that went down. She's getting the tea from Benjamin, right? And she kind of asked her opinion, she asked, she asked him his opinion on Carolyn. And so, you know, they kind of talked a little about Beatrice and like, you know, her thoughts with like the Ginny thing, and he had a few things to say. One of them being because she said, she said, Do you think that she just ran off of Santiago? And he said that wouldn't be possible because Santiago went missing five days before. Five doors five days before she did.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

And then she's like, What the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 28:03

And she's like, That's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

That nobody has said that and so Ginny had also literally impossible.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

Yeah, and Ginny had also talked to Carolyn about seeing if Santiago could work at her dad's textile factory, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:16

And she said Carolyn had offered Benjamin said, Yeah, he was working there, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

He was working there, so that's like another thing that like for Minerva, because she's kind of feeling just like weird. She's like, Okay, there's a connection with Thomas and Carolyn, who's also missing. Carolyn's also was best friends with Ginny. Carolyn overall is just very blasy about all of this.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Yeah, she's like she doesn't know anything, she doesn't want to but she's connected and she's involved in everything.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

So then she does also ask about okay, so why if Edgar was so in love with Ginny, how did he end up with Caroline? And he said, Well, actually, because like Minerva and I think the rest of us had it in our minds that maybe they got married like a couple years after, like waited an appropriate amount of time. No, turns out it was like after like less than a year that they had gotten married.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Basically, he just became an alcoholic. He was an alcoholic, and then he was in and out over the years, like he would be an alcoholic for a few years, get his shit together and be sober, and then fall back into it, and then that was his life.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

It sounds like it was for the sake of his kids for the most part.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

That he lived.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Yeah, yeah. And Minerva had also pointed out, she's like, she's like, well, I noticed that, you know, based off from what I've heard, that uh Carolyn's family business was always in and out of like going into bankruptcy and then coming out of it. And like they always ended up like obviously she was still wealthy. It's because they're not gonna be able to get it. And was it because she married the eight? And so he did she did ask that, and she was like, I'm assuming that's probably why she chose him. And he did say he said, No, she's always had her eye on on Edgar, right? And he said, Um, it never sat right with me that she was so quick to jump into this with him, and he just seemed just reluctant, like she was there, and he he did also kind of point out to, and this is also between him and Noah.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

You're expected, yeah. Right, yeah, to get married and have kids and settle down.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

And like between him and Noah, they both kind of filled in some of these blanks too, where it was like Noah's parents died in a car accident. Uh-huh. And his Noah's dad didn't really have any interest in like the family business, and Carolyn was always like very ashamed of her kids because none of them had like the work ethic or the drive to take on the family business. Obviously, she's grooming Noah to take over that as well. And so it's just getting to the point where it's like, Carolyn's looking really suspicious, and there's a point where Minerva goes to Carolyn with some of these questions. She's like, Okay, so she and she's asking her like just question after question after question. She's asking her a ton of questions, yeah. And Carolyn's like, first she starts off as like this like polite hostess type thing, and then now it's turning into she's like getting annoyed the more questions that Minerva's asked.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

And she's like, well, because she Carolyn's now becoming aware of the fact that Minerva knows a little more what the fuck is up. She's like, So why didn't you tell me that you guys employed Santiago? Why didn't you tell me? Why do you keep pushing the narrative that it came from you? Why are you pushing the narrative that Ginny and Santiago took off together when you fucking know he went missing? He went missing five days before she went missing. What the fuck is going on? Yeah. And then Carolyn's just like, You need to leave.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

She's like, you need to go. You exhausted.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

I don't even think she told her to leave. She was getting up to leave and she was leaving Minerva there with all the yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

She did say, like, she's like, I'm exhausted now. Like, I don't want to talk about this pretty much. Like, you know, you can see you can see yourself out.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

And like, isn't this when she told her to get in the car?

SPEAKER_02 32:22

No. So this is before. So this is like a little like a little bit before that. So because like even Noah was kind of like, Oh yeah, no, I don't want to talk to you either. Like, he's like, 'cause like he's watching being a dick to know. And so so yeah, so a couple days goes by, she's getting more information on Thomas's disappearance. She's kind of like connecting dots. She goes to talk to one other person who had like a connection with Thomas, and the she had like a stack of books that he had had right before um he disappeared. And these same books were all checked out by Jenny, and they're all on like which.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

Well, that one teacher she got the final book from.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Yeah, because she was like the party, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:06

The one that where where she was supposed to be helping host that party. Isn't that the no?

SPEAKER_02 33:11

So this is like another professor that Thomas had been connected to who Minerva wanted to put her on her board for her thesis. Um and she basically was just trying to connect, like trying to figure out okay, why was he, if he was studying art, like Carolyn said that he was studying, then why then why is he connected to a witchcraft and lore teacher? You know, like it does it's not really adding up.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

And then like yeah. Cause she was one yeah, she's like, Are you using this book in your teachings? Like, and she's like, No, basically he's the one who came to me with this stuff. Yeah, and I I'm just getting I'm gonna go turn it back into the library. Like I keep forgetting about it, and they're getting out of my ass.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Yeah, and so she sees that the same books were also checked out by Ginny. And so there's a point where she's like, Okay, you know what? I think I need to have like a like a seance type thing. Yeah. And so she decides to go to the dorm, which is which has since been shut down because they needed to renovate it. But it's the dorm that Ginny and Beatrice and Carolyn had all lived in during their time at college. And she goes in, it's derelict, like it's empty. And so she does mention that there was a time when she was back before all of this craziness happened, where she had to go do her rounds and she's she found a Ouija board and a bunch of candles in a room. Uh, and at the time she didn't connect that it was like really like it was Ginny and Beatrice's room. Like she was just like, great, I have to clean up this mess, you know. And so she goes, she goes, she figures out now, like at this point, like, okay, this was their room. And so she goes in and she's looking around, uh-huh, and she pretty much calls out to Ginny.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

She's like, Ginny.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

She feels her presence.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

She can feel, she feels that there's somebody there with her. She knows that somebody's watching her. And she's she calls out, Jenny, what are you trying to tell me? Like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_01 35:18

I who did this to you?

SPEAKER_02 35:20

What you did not just run away. Like, she's like, Yeah, what's going on?

SPEAKER_03 35:23

She's like, the same thing is happening to me, and I I need to connect with you for the sake of both of us.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

And there's a point where there's answers for you to get closure and for fucking protection for me, so I don't end up like you.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

And when when she went in, she did do like the marks again to protect herself. Yeah. And so she's protected in that room.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

She knows what she's doing at this point. She felt it.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Um, she was like, she didn't know what it was at that time. Like, she couldn't recognize it. Wasn't until after the fact where she's like, Oh, I'm protected because I have these gifts. And I felt that because it's almost as if those markings are judging you for like what kind of witch you are and how they're going to affect you.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

And because Ginny, it's like their souls are the same almost. Where so they so those markings didn't affect Minerva in a harsh and negative way and allowed her into the space versus what we're gonna witness with with Carolyn, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Yeah. So she does feel like I she was tugged by yes, it was like an electric, like and she was like kind of pulled, like across the room, kind of, I think, wasn't it? I believe she was like pulled, and she's kind of like, whoa, like what's going on?

SPEAKER_03 36:56

And then she hears footsteps coming up, and then oh, she was pulled because Ginny eventually trying to protect her. Yes, she was pulling her away from the entrance so that way Carolyn couldn't just like scavenge her.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Yeah, so yeah, Carolyn is the witch, right? She's the one who's been following bitch. She's been following uh Minerva this whole time. Like, she's been building up her fear. And Carolyn pretty much explains, like, oh, that's the other thing too, is she figured out there's a piece of paper that was written under the floorboards. And Ginny, when she called Beatrice, had said, I wrote down the name of who's coming after me.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

Yeah. And but she had she couldn't speak it. Yeah. That's why when she called uh Beatrice at the party, yeah, it sounded all like mumbo jumpsy and like there was just it just abruptly ended because she had been essentially there was a spell cast like tied in her tongue and prevented her from speaking. Yeah, speaking about either of them. What happens? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

So she basically finds the paper and it says uh Wingrave. It just says Wingrave. Yeah, which is Carolyn's uh maiden name. And she, as she's like, she reads this note, and here comes fucking Carolyn. And Carolyn is like, so you figured it out, you know, you you figured it out that it was me.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

Oh but she's like, well, technically it was my dad.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

It was my dad, but I helped, you know.

SPEAKER_03 38:31

And so I'm getting into the family business.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Yeah, her and her dad were both witches, warlocks, whatever you want to call it, for the male version or whatever. And they basically had been feeding the fear, Ginny's fear, because they said that it tastes better basically like more from it, more power from it, yeah. So they knew that she was a powerful person.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

Yeah, because she has the gifts. Yeah. That's what makes her special.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

They said that that you can they drink from anyone, but they would prefer it to be from powerful people.

SPEAKER_03 39:04

And if they're going to essentially consume, they'll get the gift from that consumption. Yeah. So it's they want to consume other witches that have other abilities.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Because they can get, yeah, they get their their abilities.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

They get that ability. And the crazy part too is she basically than other vampire stories. Really briefly, like pause from the story because I was gonna talk to you about this, and I'm like, save it for the podcast, it's finally here. You know how other vampires they are eternal.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

So these witches who also very much, as we see, like she describes her as having like these bright white teeth that are like very what you would expect for a vampire, but she's a witch, but she feeds off of the blood, can all that, but they're not, it's not like they become youthful.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Yeah, because she's still very old, yeah. Like she's old and she has like arthritis, I think Noah had said.

SPEAKER_03 40:13

Yeah. And so and obviously, like her father's dead.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

I think she was trying to prolong it for sure. Because Noah had said, like, had said, like, there was a point where she had gone away, and so that was when they went to the factory.

SPEAKER_03 40:25

I just thought it was an interesting concept because in all other, whether it's hocus pocus or van like Dracula or whatever, they're immune. They're immortal.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:36

They they drink to maintain the youthfulness, but they live.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

I think too that they're able to pass it down too. So I think she's trying to gain as much power as she can to pass down to her, to Noah, essentially, because Noah's the only one that's like.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Don't you find it interesting that they don't live forever?

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Yeah. Yeah. It is interesting.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Yeah, the whole point is to. So she killed her own child.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Yeah, because he had no interest in joining the family business. He was almost, I think he was like, he didn't like it. He was like, This is he had nothing to do with it.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

And so she literally killed her son and his wife to take in Noah so she could groom him groom him. Yep, and he's proving to be worthless. So she's trying to set him up to marry as quickly as possible for an offspring so she can kill Noah and his future wife, and then try again with the grandkids. Yeah, and she's running out of time, and she's like basically like her mom only lived to be 103 or something like that. That's what she said.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Yeah, and then she's like, she was like what in her 90s or something like that. So she's Carolyn? Carolyn, yeah. Is she already in her 90s? She's or older. I mean, I think like 80s, 90s, yeah. She she's old for sure. Like, because like even Benjamin was like kind of getting around really slow too. So it was like they're probably 80s. Yeah, because I mean it's the 90s, and like if it's the 30s when they were younger, they were like probably like 19, 20s. Yeah, they're in the 80s. Yeah, so they're old, and um, yeah, she basically is just like, yeah, so I'm gonna need you to come over here with me. I'm going to, she's like, I'm not gonna kill you right away. Right. I'm gonna feed off of you for a little while, and then I'll kill you, you know? And Minerva's like, fuck you, and she's like, Oh, well, what's your friend Hedeo's name? Oh, Hedeo's driving. He's driving right now. How crazy would it be if he just like went off went off the side of a cliff or something?

SPEAKER_03 42:36

Like, oh, he's coming up on it.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Yeah, and so Minerva's like, fine, I'll go with you. Like, I'll go with you.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

Fuck, she has that power? Bro, how does that even work? Carolyn takes her to the factory, yeah. Like, projects herself.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

It's kind of cool how she does that too. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of a cool power, but yeah. Um, but yeah, she basically takes her to the factory, yeah, and she Well, she yeah, get in the car, we're going for a fucking drive. We're going to the yeah, we're going for a drive.

SPEAKER_03 43:04

We go to the factory.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

She gets her out, sets her up, yeah, wants her to um wants to like cut her up pretty much so she can start.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

She has like a special knife that was used for like ritualistic purposes. Yeah. And so, yeah, I'm trying to recall exactly how it went down, but at the end of the day, Minerva's like, this is it. She fights like I'm gonna, but she's like, Well, I might as well like get my answers, right? So she's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask Carolyn as many questions as possible. So then you obviously killed Santiago too. Yeah, so they guessed that. Yeah, her and her dad port portents too. Yeah, and so he had some kind of gifts as well, right?

SPEAKER_02 43:49

Yeah, he had some gifts as well, and then uh Jenny, and they basically her and her dad had lured both or had brought them both to the uh To the factory, I think, or they they basically had killed them. Yeah. Drink from them. But they at the same time.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

Yeah. Um, so like as like Santiago's like still because they fed on him for like a week, he's nearing the end of it. So Ginny, if you think about the timeline, if he was missing five days prior and they kept them both alive for a week each, they had some overlapping time there together. That must have been, well, I think there's a little bit of comfort in the world.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

She had said that Ginny didn't last that long. Like she was kind of like oh yeah, she was kind of mocking the fact that she didn't last that long. And it just it was so sad to think that like Ginny was lit, like she was right.

SPEAKER_03 44:42

She was literally, there was a man watching her, and like Carolyn was just like on the inside, like Did I forget, and it's interesting because I literally just read it, but like, how did they was it that it was the dad that got her out initially, right, of the house?

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Yeah, and then him and Carolyn. And then Carolyn met him at the factory. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

Okay. So yeah, and But they but they so they drink from them their blood, hopefully for like a week is what they want, and then they cut, they ritualistically use this knife to cut out the heart and eat well, they stab in the heart, kill them, and then rip the heart out and eat the heart.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Yeah, and so and there's like a thing that Minerva had done, which I think we kind of need to weave a little bit into Alba's story because she had done something that she learned from her grandmother, which is what ended up saving her life. Yeah. In this part. So I think So now jumping back to the colour. We'll kind of Alba we'll pause for Minerva go into Alba. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

So Alba's time was oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 45:58

So Alba, she is going through it.

SPEAKER_03 46:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Valentine's dead. She killed the creature that ended up being her brother.

SPEAKER_03 46:06

Yeah. Um she's had enough. She wants fucking answers. Right. And so her mom and Arturo, they're leaving to go into town to like talk to the mayor.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Um, see if there's, you know, anything they can Yeah, they they're trying to like they're taking like the practical, yeah, realistic route that doesn't have anything to do with witches and curses.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

But so, but they're gonna be gone for like days. And so her mom are not at least all day. At least for all day, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so her mom's like, make sure the employees like do what they need to do when it comes to like cooking and like what's expected for that, the housework, everything like that. And then this is what I need you to do while we're gone. La la la. Right. And her was like, got it. And she's like, Yeah, got it. And as literally she waits until they're like, She can't see him anymore. And then she's like, I'm going to change, getting on my fucking horse, going up that fucking mountain.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

With my brother's gun.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

With yeah, with my brother's gun, I'm going to see this fucking witch, and I'm gonna fucking kill her.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

And she goes to the one that had an issue with Tadeo, like right before he went from the market. The one who was like pissed off and was like grabbing him. And she's like, This bitch is behind all of this. She knows everything. She's the one who did this. Yeah, I'm gonna go fucking kill her right now. So she goes into her house, walks into her house. Yeah, she's like sleeping in the dark, and she like rips like the blanket down. Yeah, so there's like a blanket covering the window. Yeah. She's like, Bitch, get the fuck up. What's going on? Like pointing the gun at her and she's like, kill you, get up. Why did you curse my family? Why do you what did we do to you? Yeah. And the woman's like, it wasn't me. She's like, Oh boy, do you do you don't know nothing?

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Like I tried to warn him.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

I was trying to protect you.

SPEAKER_03 48:03

Yeah, I would warn him. I told him this was gonna happen. And he didn't want to listen. And she's like, look, I allowed you to come into my house. If I wanted you to be dead, you would be dead, which is why I'm even allowing us to have this conversation to begin with.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

Yeah. So she's like, put the gun down, let's talk. Yeah. And she basically informs her that the person that has cursed your family is none other than Arturo.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Yeah, your uncle, your beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 48:35

Easy on the eyes, Arturo. And she says, it's partially my fault because when he was a boy, he took a liking to my daughter. He took his liking to my daughter. Was it Elena or Eleanor? Something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

And they were very close, and I was teaching my daughter everything there was to know about magic. About magic and being a witch, and he took an interest in it as well. Yeah, and she said he was a smart, smart, very good.

SPEAKER_03 49:03

Yes. He took an interest to it, and then some. Like he so he decided very young he wanted to master magic.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

Yeah. And she does say that like the blood, their bloodline is all very like strong, powerful.

SPEAKER_03 49:22

Not only the Quiroga or Quiroga's lineage, but you have to remember Arturo is her mom's sister, so both sides come from heavy duty, so that makes Alba very special. And so of course Arturo would want him. Well, Arturo has it from his lineage, but Alba's very special. Like, no wonder why he wants her.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

So she basically says that he had gone away for a while, and then when he came back, he was stronger. She said he really came into his own. And she said that he was hungry for more power. Yeah. And so he basically had killed her daughter, ate her heart. And she tried to take him down, but she lost three fingers.

SPEAKER_03 50:12

Lost three fingers. And she was like, Well, I'm surprised I'm not dead.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Yeah. And so she was basically trying to, like, she thought that if he went away, then at least he wasn't bothering anybody here, but then he had come back again. And so she had tried to warn Tadeo before he had gone missing. And so she tells her, You're in some trouble. Yeah. Okay. And she said, if you want to get rid of this person, one, and at first Alba's like, Alba's like, there's no way. She's like, not artery. That's not making sense.

SPEAKER_03 50:46

But she's trying to point she's making different points. And so Alba in the end, she believes her.

SPEAKER_02 50:53

Well, she tells, she does tell her, she said, if you want to know for sure, she said, take a flower, put it over his lips, and it'll wilt. If it will, if it wilt, you'll see. You'll see. Like, I'm not lying. And she does tell her before she goes, she said, I'll kill you, bitch.

SPEAKER_03 51:08

I'll be right back.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

If you want to take care of this issue, she said, if you want to keep him from hurting you or if you want to kill him, she's like, You're not gonna be able to kill him outright. He's too powerful, he's too smart.

SPEAKER_03 51:19

But she said, You can Well, she's like, if I'm dead anyways, then just tell me, even if it doesn't work, give me something.

SPEAKER_02 51:28

So she tells her, What you can do is you can burn the picture of the one that you love the most, drink the ashes.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

Or mix the ashes with wine.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

Yeah, mix the ashes with wine, and there's something else. There was something else, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:42

But you basically drink this concoction, yes, and when they drink from you, it'll your blood poison to them. And so while they're suffering from drinking your blood, you need to cut off their head. So poor Alba. Oh god, Alba told Minerva.

SPEAKER_02 52:04

Yeah. Yeah, Minerva, yeah. Minerva made her own.

SPEAKER_03 52:08

All of this is happening at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Yeah, so we'll like we'll we'll you twist back around.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

Like, holy fuck in every timeline.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

And it's it's because at this point in the middle of the chapters, their stories are flip-flopping. Like it's like a section is Minerva.

SPEAKER_03 52:26

And I love that because this is like your favorite part, it's like the middle of a cinnamon roll. You wait for this part, and it's so good. It's so juicy and moist and yummy, and like, oh, just can I buy a whole fucking basket of cinnamon roll centers?

SPEAKER_01 52:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

This is the cinnamon roll center. Yeah. And you get it, like you're done with the chapter, and you're like, oh man, that was so good. Well, guess what, bitch? There's two. There's two more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

It was so good. And so, yeah, Alba rides home. Yeah. She goes into her uncle's room. And by this, that was you riding a horse. Okay, you did nothing. No, I'm sorry. It's just because I'm so excited. She because this part is like where I was like, you saddle up, Lauren.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

Get on your fucking horse. We're going.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

I just don't like it.

SPEAKER_03 53:18

That was a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

It split both for me.

SPEAKER_03 53:21

No, because it's not a big thing. I'm like windows, the reins. There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

The reins. Like we're going home. So Alba, it's been a day.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

We've gotten a lot done, but we're still like we have so much to do.

SPEAKER_02 53:37

Yeah. So Alba goes home, changes into her nightgown. She takes off her protective locket that Valentine gave her, and she puts on the pearl necklace that her uncle had given her, like at the beginning of the book. She goes into his room, he's asleep. First thing she notices is this room is freezing. She's like, the rest of the house is warm because it's like summertime. But she's like, his house is his room is cold.

SPEAKER_03 54:03

And she's like, he still looks like my uncle.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

He looks like my uncle.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

So still like this. Like, how'd she describe him? Like a statue.

SPEAKER_02 54:14

Yeah, he's just like a hand.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

He's literally fucking chiseled.

SPEAKER_02 54:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:18

So he's gotta be gorgeous.

SPEAKER_02 54:20

Yeah. So she puts the flower on his lips. Or over it. Over his lips. Right?

SPEAKER_03 54:25

And it immediately starts to wilt. And she was like, man.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

And he immediately like eyes flash open.

SPEAKER_03 54:30

No, I thought she went to like leave and then boom.

SPEAKER_02 54:33

Well, his eyes flash open and she goes to run.

SPEAKER_03 54:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:36

And then he like vampire spampire, like she's like, How the f Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:42

And she's like, You know how hard that must be to control that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03 54:48

So he's not just like whipping around all the time. Everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 54:51

And he basically is like, well, yeah, I knew it. I knew that you knew pretty much. He's like, I I could sense you as soon as you walked in the room.

SPEAKER_03 55:00

As soon as you walked in the room. I knew you were here. I knew. And it wasn't even that. It was like, I knew your purpose of being here.

SPEAKER_02 55:09

And she's like.

SPEAKER_03 55:11

Like your your intentions. Like they can. Fucking. That's a cool power, too. Because you can really protect yourself if you fucking know.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

No people's intentions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:22

You can't hide behind your like facade. There's no facade. There's no act. I it's not it's kind of like a way of mind reading.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:30

Right? Like a mind flare. Anyway, sorry. It's good. No, it's good. You guys.

SPEAKER_02 55:36

He basically, like, she's like, so you're responsible for my brother. And he's like, yeah. And she said, and Valentine. And he's like, well, you fucking killed Valentine. You, you, well, no, he says, you killed your brother. Or I'm sorry. Uh Valentine. Valentine. Yeah, that was me because I could smell him on you. Yeah, and I and I was jealous. Like I couldn't help myself. And she's like, Are you fucking kidding me? What do you mean? And he basically is like telling her, he's like, I want you, Alba.

SPEAKER_03 56:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:04

I want you.

SPEAKER_03 56:05

You want to be my girl?

SPEAKER_02 56:06

Like, I want you. And she's like, I want you. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

And she's kind of like he's like, don't fucking lie. You fucking summoned me here. You fucking sent the call out. You knocked, and I fucking answered, baby.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

So he like because like Alba does like kind of like in like throughout the book, she's kind of like talked about, like, yeah, he's handsome. Like, she does kind of like wonder what it would be like to kiss him. Like, she does wonder. Yeah, she has well the lust is there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

And he basically like bites her lip and like kisses her.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

And it's like this a little bit passionate.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

Yeah. Yeah. It's like this weirdly passionate, like, gross. Like, she's like conflicted with like feeling gross, but also feeling like, oh, this is a great kiss.

SPEAKER_03 56:49

Imagine what's going on in her head. She's got a lip.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

She's so conflicted.

SPEAKER_03 56:53

Like she's also like, she's also making it part of her plan at the same time. She's like developing this. And how can she? She ends up deceiving him well. That's how good of a witch she is. Because if he knows intention and he didn't sift out what's coming, because she probably the entire time, maybe she didn't even know herself. Like, cause she won, she wanted him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

Yeah. Yeah. And like in this particular night, she kind of tells him, like, fuck you, it's not gonna happen. Right. And then she gets like really sick for like a few days. And he's kind of like, she knows it's him that's making her sick. Yeah. And then there's a point where she's like, she does, she really solidifies the plan, and she's like, I'm gonna seduce him to kill him, pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 57:44

Yeah. And the mom's just thinking, again, she's still grieving over Valentine.

SPEAKER_02 57:50

Yeah. That's what she thinks. She she's like, wow, Valentine really must have been your like sweetheart, you know? And and so Alba one night again puts on her little nightgown, goes into his room. It's on the seduction. Pretty much gives him her body. Oh, just get it. And he sucks her blood while they're entering banging.

SPEAKER_03 58:16

Yeah, it was good, you guys. I was like, it was a good scene.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

But then I'm like, Ugh, it's her uncle. Yeah. And so he's basically telling her, like, I love you. You're mine. We're gonna do this together. He's like, he's like, I'm gonna travel the world. You know, we're gonna sell the ranch, we're gonna take the money, we're gonna travel the world. We're gonna go to um, we're gonna go to all these places, and she's like, How are you gonna explain this away? And he's like, Well, he's like, I'll tell your mother, like, you know, there's plenty of families who hire other family members to be their maids. But he was like, that'll be our cover. He's like, we'll travel the world together. I'll teach you everything. He's like, I'll, you know, I'll drink from you. And like he's like very passionate. He's like, he's whispering sweet nothings, yeah. Like rose colored, like every like it's beautiful, and it seems like a good life.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:03

And there's a point where Alba's like, maybe, but then she's like, no, like fuck you. Yeah. And so he he puts in the work, yeah, and then like they fall asleep, like he falls asleep, and she's kind of laying there, and then she like carefully gets out of bed, and she goes to like get like his razor, and he immediately like.

SPEAKER_03 59:20

Well, she's like looking around, she's like, What the fuck is there?

SPEAKER_02 59:22

And she sees like it's his like silver straight razor, straight razor, yeah. And then she goes to grab it, he's already awake, like bending her arm so she can drop it, and then like he's like, What the fuck? He's like, he's like, Well, I was gonna make it easy and nice and slow and gentle for you, but he was like, I don't need you to be willing, you know. Yeah, I'm gonna have you regardless. I'll have you regardless. And so she basically kind of ends up getting away from him and she starts.

SPEAKER_03 59:47

Well, she goes, he's following her. Yes, okay, because this is the time. This is the time, this is the climb. She's like going to the river, she's going to the tree.

SPEAKER_02 59:55

She runs to the tree where her brother was murdered, where she had to kill her brother. And she gets him out there, right? He tackles her beforehand. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:05

He's like driving her into the fucking ground. With his dick.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:10

Like he's like he's like pretty much at this point kind of raping. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like graving her. And he's like just like she says he's like pounding her into the earth. Yes. And like there's a point where he's and he's drinking from her, and he's like, he's like, she's like, he's gonna suck me dry. Like there's gonna be nothing left. And he's like, You're mine, I want you, you're mine. Like you're never getting away from me. And then there's like a point where he starts to like and then he's like like choke.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

Wait a minute. Like he starts to feel off.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:45

And then he's like, What what the fuck have you done? And so earlier she had hidden, what was it, an axe, right? The axe was by the tree. Yeah, she hid the axe, she grabs the axe.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:57

Well, she's so he's starting to feel like woozy, and he's like, Alba, like, don't you do that? What the fuck is going on? So then he falls, he's on the ground, he's like, he's he's poisoned. It worked. And she's just like staring at him like, oh my god, it worked. It fucking worked. And so she's like going to get the axe. She's like, I gotta cut off your head. And he's like just pleading with her, no, don't do this. You want me, you want this. We're great together, you know that. Like nobody knows you like I do. Yeah, and she said, It's true. I do love you, I do want this, but I cannot be this. Yeah, I won't allow you to turn me into what you want, basically. And then she cuts off his fucking head. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

And so he does kind of the same thing that her brother did where he just kind of like melts into the earth. Oh, yeah, becomes like a waxy substance. And just like kind of and there's no evidence, which is great.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:04

Right. And then she said, Well, it's like waxy melt, and then it becomes like dust, and yeah, it just gone away. And and then with the story that's going on, everybody thinks the Quirogas are all like hex, cursed, cursed, people keep going missing, so it just it works. Yeah, they want nothing to do with it. For the story, yeah, because they're like, oh, he was just taken. Yeah. There's no question of like authority, somebody was murdered. There, like nobody even there's never any police involved in fucking this entire book.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:41

There's which is I mean, there there is some in Minerva, but she's able to, she's got a good thing to get it. So, so to kind of finish up with Alba's thing, yeah. Alba like throws the axe into the river, throws like the portal. Well, she goes back then into the river. Yeah. Yeah. And she um basically finds out like down the line, you know, that oh no, she has a portent, I think, for she knows she's gonna have a child.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:09

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:10

And she's like, And she knows it's gonna be a girl. And so her brother, who she loves so much, Tadeo, she decides to name the baby girl Tadea. Tadea after her brother. And she's just like, I know my mom is gonna be like, what the fuck? She's gonna think it's gonna love this baby.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:29

Yeah, she says she knows that like the gossip is probably gonna be either it was Valentine's bastard child, basically, or it's like some sort of or she was raped, demonic thing, yeah. Or like I think they'd say like some sort of curse type thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:44

So um, and she's like, I don't fucking care what anybody thinks. I'm I am having this baby, I love her and I want her, I will name her Tadea, and it will just be me and her. And so which we don't really hear much of about Minerva's mom, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

Nothing really, other than that she just is like she kind of writes to her, you know. Now we have her name working too hard. Yeah, she knows her name is today before I think because no, because Alba's her great-grandmother.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:18

Okay, yeah, because Minerva writes to her mom, she's still alive. It's just I know Alba was so involved in Minerva's life, she up until the very end, but I guess we just never really heard much of today. So yeah. And and so I know, like, did you see me? I was like going through the whole book in my mind. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

No, I don't remember. And it and it it I do kind of wish we got like a little bit more on like. Yeah, that'd be cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

And you know, uh culturally speaking, like Mexicans, Hispanics, they their family, like they're so close, like they live together until very they have such a good um family structure, yeah. You know, very community and like especially like with taking care of each other and the grandmothers like helping very much raise the children and living in the same house, and so which is really cool, yeah, by the way. But anyway, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:25

No, I mean that's kind of the end of Elba's story, and then we kind of going back into Minerva to finish her because we're almost done done. Yeah, basically, she kills Carolyn with the same way Carolyn drank some of Minerva's.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

Well, she has help from Santiago, yeah. Santiago's Carolyn has her. Yeah. And um, which so kind of backing up, she did the same spell with the poisoning. Of her blood, like to drink the wine with the burnt picture of the one that you love, and da da da and she used to be so Minerva could have done that. Yeah, yeah. And she used her great-grandmother Aba's picture. So Carolyn, obviously, unbeknownst to her, she's been poisoned, but she's still like maintaining her grip on her. She is not, it's not like it was with Arturo, right? And so she just sees this like shadow off in the back, and she's like, she can't talk. And finally, she like somehow like musters it out. Help me, and then you could tell he was probably trying to help long before, but his sh the spirit, the shadow is trying to almost become physical so it can like interact in the world, and he finally does. He hits that box of it was what is it, nails? Yeah, yeah. I think so, yeah. And he and it like gets her in the head, right? Yeah. Knocks her down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:05

And then Alba pretty much finishes finishes the job really quick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:10

She fucking chops her head off.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:12

And then and then she fucking melts. Carolyn melts and then kind of just goes away. Yeah. And she's gone and she's like, fuck yeah. There's no body, no crime, motherfucker.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:23

So Minerva does like kind of toss like her like the stuff. But she even said everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:30

The jewelry, it all like everything went away. No, the jewel didn't it all like become like it was old and worn and yeah. And so it it also decayed.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:43

Yeah. I think too, we forgot to mention that I don't know if it was implied though, but like Carolyn killed Thomas too, the college student. Yeah. She because he was also, he had some magical abilities, and so she killed him. And Carolyn did admit to, you know, it was she and so oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:59

So and then Minerva was like, so you're just fucking doing this to all these kids all this time, and she's like, Oh, but a few of them.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:07

Yeah. Yeah. Cause she said, is this like is this like the front for your foundation? Is like you're using your foundation thing to bring kids in.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:16

Or is it just this big empty murder building that you just like fucking Was there ever any business done?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:24

And and going back to Santiago's ghost too, Noah had said that when he was a kid he had seen a ghost in the factory. And it just sounds like it's it just looked like a man standing behind the window in like what overalls or something like that. And it was it was Santiago, yeah, poor guy. Yeah, and so she does say that she tried to go back and talk. Yeah, but she but Carolyn did explain.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:48

Um she was more comfortable basically being in the house. Yeah, she she was tied more to the house, so her spirit went back there, and she was like, oh, spirits, they're they're complex, yeah, like individuals.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:02

Like Yeah, and Minerva did try to go back and see if she could talk to Ginny, but Ginny at that point just like wasn't she said she thinks because she killed Carolyn, she was finally able to like cross over.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:16

And so yeah, there is like some like there's obviously like an investigation because Carolyn was a really big figure, and you know, she was very rich, and like her car was left at the factory, and like so they're like, Whoa, she she was really sick, supposedly. And so maybe she just went somewhere to to like commit suicide, to leave, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:34

And they're like, but why would the that's the only time the police were like they did question it because they were really focusing on Noah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:41

Yeah, Noah was like their main suspect for a while, but Noah was like, the money doesn't even go to me. Like I already have my trust.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:48

Like, I'm always gonna have the trust, like, and then her other kids can fucking figure out what they want to do with the mess.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:55

It's yeah. And he uh the police did like talk to Minerva a little bit just because like she did have like she was connected to them towards the end. Uh her fingerprints were on the car, but she she's like, I got rides, you know. Like I went over there to do research on my thesis. Like she did admit, like, yeah, I did go to the factory with Noah one time.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:14

So everything like checked out, like yeah, she's it's it's okay that this evidence is here. It was you were always gonna find it.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:24

Yeah, like I watched through here, like all you know, I was doing research. And so at this point, you know, the I took a tour of the factory. The juices are going in her head. Yeah, she's got her thesis paper. So like it does kind of do like a little bit of a time jump to like the fall time as Halloween. She's getting ready to go to like a they're gonna do like trick-or-treating and stuff like that. Oh, the house is done. The ledge house is done. Yeah, the ledge house is done. Isn't she moved in there? No, she's still in the same place. She?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:48

Yeah, okay. She uh But she put a ton of effort into like the decoration.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:52

Yeah, she's just like really embracing the she's talking to her cat, which she kind of they kind of say is like the shadow. He's like her familiar person.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:05

Yeah, but so he is dead, but she somehow he figured out a way to like work it where he can almost be present in the physical world again, and then he's always with her, and she's like, Oh, that's how great grandma Alba had her parrot. Yeah, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

Fucking love that and she just like little like off-handed like things that they say in passing here, like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:29

It's like when you're playing a video game, you know, and you like setting up your avatar, and like you give your avatar like a little animal that's always with them. It's like that's a familiar. Yeah, she has her familiar, she's so cute. Her avatar is all set and ready to go for life.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:43

Yeah, no, I love it. And I'm obsessed. Noah does come by one more time, yeah. And he kind of is like asking her questions, kind of like, yeah, it's interesting how Carolyn just went to the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:56

Yeah, she's like so and he's like, he's like, and it's interesting that like I was sent away on business that same weekend, and I think Noah kind of knows that yeah, but I wonder how though we never knew like what the conversation looked like between Carolyn and Noah to figure out like how do you hey so we're witches, and I'm so I think she never explicitly told, like, that's where Minerva also said, like, I don't know if he knew.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:23

No, I know, and yeah, I'm just wondering, like, does Carolyn did Carolyn like how does she assess it as he's growing up?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:32

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

I wonder that too sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:34

And I do I do think too because her and her father must have outright been like, yeah, we're fuck, I'm a warlock, you're a badass witch.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:41

Well, it's kind of like what they tried to do with her kids, I think. And I think a couple of them just like she I think she had said like they're just too idiotic to like bring into this, and then the ones who she thought were gonna actually like make it to they didn't care or they didn't want to do it, and so she was like, We'll have to murder you now. And yeah, Noah was getting to that point too where yeah, she had this whole plan made where she's gonna marry him off, they're gonna have a baby, she's gonna well, that's just oh man, I lost my grandson too. And well, at least I have my great, great yeah, grandchild or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:10

And so But I wonder if she, yeah, if was there a com like, did Noah know what she was?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:16

And that's what Minerva says too. Yeah, Minerva's like, she's like, maybe he'll be a problem someday, but she's like, it's a problem for future me.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:23

Yeah, because he's like, Oh, aren't you gonna invite me in to have coffee?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:26

And she's like, No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:28

And he's I'm never gonna and then in her mind, she's like, I'm not fucking inviting a warlock into my yeah, sacred.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:35

And she does wonder too, because he has been in her house like once before. She's like, Does that like tell me that? It does seem like Noah doesn't really want to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:44

The intention is all of it. And so if she's if she her intention is like, this is my safe space to protect me, and he is a threat, potentially, not allowed in this space. I think that secures, like, you know, in the future, but she's like, I hope he's not, yeah, I hope he's not a problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:05

And Noah he's driving. Yeah, he does say trying to figure out like where is he going?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:09

Yeah, he did well, he does say he dropped out of school and he's gonna go to Boston, he's gonna live in Boston and just figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:15

Or he said, but I might be back around.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:17

Yeah, I might come visit or something. I do think that he is genuinely interested in her like romantically, and maybe he is curious about her, like maybe he kind of has like that sense.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:26

But is it gonna be is it a book that could be like a scorn? Like, well, if I if you're not gonna have like is he gonna go off and be alone and like fester in his feelings and then I don't think he cares enough to do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:41

Like, I think he was just so fed up with like push a certain direction with Carolyn. I do think that like if we were able to explore like that relationship between her and Noah, I think her and Noah I think they would have been like a power couple. I just think that they would have just lived peacefully and happily together. Yeah, I genuinely don't think Noah would have been a problem at all.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:04

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:06

I just he just didn't care. He just wanted to have his own.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:09

She's super sus, and I'm like, if you would just like let your guard down a little bit, because you you're obviously you've been told like he's not, he doesn't even have any kind of ability. Yeah. But you how you're presenting it, hopefully that doesn't drive him to want to test that and then go in the opposite direction because he's scorned by you. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, no, I agree. I just and I'm like, and you know he's he's got money, he's attractive, and he treats her well. Yeah. What the fuck? Yeah, give give him a chance.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:46

Yeah. Like there's a I do wish Minerva was just more open with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:50

I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:51

But at the end of the day, I respect the fact that she knows herself enough to know that like just relationships are just not it for me right now. Like at this point.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:59

Yeah. Um because you literally, she has she's like asexual.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:03

Yeah, I she has no interest.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:07

Yeah, or not anything, but anyone.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:08

Yeah, she just I love Minerva. And yeah, her story kind of ends, like he drives off, she kind of watches as he drives away, and she just kind of is like, Come on, kitty. And like they both go into the house to go finish carving pumpkins and yeah, fade to black. Like, that was so good. Great, it was so good. I loved it. Like, I didn't like I'm not gonna lie, starting off, I'm like, I don't know. It was rough, I don't know, but then I got hooked and I couldn't stop.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:38

Yeah, and so it almost makes me want to go back through now and read the first two chapters again.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:43

Yeah, now that we have like a different understanding and appreciation.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:46

It was exactly it was just trying to it was just trying to piece it, like how is I don't know why my brain was like just not getting it. And then once I got it, now I want to revisit to be like, okay, what did I miss?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:03

Yeah, in the beginning. So anyway, so moving on, just real quick, I I did kind of want to touch on the author's note real quick because she does kind of mention the like the historical context. Yeah, so um, I'm just gonna kind of read just like a little bit from it. So she says, My great-grandmother used to tell me stories about growing up in the Mexican countryside and about witches. The witches of my great-grandmother's youth were very different from the witches of our modern pop culture. They were malicious entities who blighted the crops or called for storms, they sucked the blood of their victims and turned into giant balls of fire. There was even a town inhabited by witches in the mountains where she lived. Such folklore was typical of many central Mexican towns and seemed to mix both European and pre-Hispanic elements. For example, in pre-Hispanic lore, witches were born and the day of their birth determined their fate. However, so like what?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:03

If they would be good or if they would be bad, yeah. Right? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:07

So, however, some of the methods for catching or repelling witches included saying the Lord's prayer or hanging crosses around a room. My great grandmother, poor and illiterate, wouldn't have understood words such as syncretic, but that was the nature of the world she inhabited. Snatches of this syncretism survive to this day. So she basically lived and she also kind of goes on to say obviously it's fiction, but it's her very close to it. Well, and she even goes on to say that she went to college abroad on a scholarship. Um was a director or a resident director. Worked on campus, resident director. She went to Endicott, which was once a women's college. Yeah. And then um, yeah, she kind of the setting of this place was written based off of where she had stayed and lived and stuff like that. So yeah, she she pretty much kind of wrote this as like her story, you know, and I just I loved it. I thought it was really cool the author's note. So I love author's notes. I think they're really important to read because you know, you kind of get like a piece of like what their thought process was and their inspirations and yeah, I love reading the author's note, and it was really cool to see how close the story was, like how relatable it was.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:29

Yeah. So yeah, we're gonna just really quick do a rating uh using our CMC rating scale, and how you rate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:42

I'm like oh Gibbs. Yeah, yeah. I'd say so too, yeah. And it's basically like we loved this book. My only thing was just like that beginning was like kind of hard to get through.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:56

Yeah, but the rest of it was like tier. Like I'm I got through it, and it was it again, it stuck with me, and I loved it so much that I'm like, I'm the one that fucked up, and I need to go back and re-digest the first two chapters. It wasn't her, it was me. Yeah, because the book fucking perfection. It was beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:19

Yeah, I genuinely love it. I yeah I loved this new take on like witchcraft. Not new, but it's like it's a different, yeah. It's different.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:28

It's different than the lore that you're just like so much. So we're used to fed.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:31

Yeah. The New England version. Yeah, we're we're so used to the Salem type stuff, you know. And I mean, not that that isn't also interesting and also important to learn and and know about.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:42

Yeah, because like we talked about before, wasn't even really a thing. Yeah, it was a fucking child, and that's like a whole other case. Yeah, we can't even, it's literally such a sad story. It was great. I loved this book. I'm wondering if there's gonna be a follow-up if they're if we're gonna like hear from Minerva again.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:03

I would love that. That'd be cool. I would love to see Minerva. But I don't know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:06

When was the book written again? Um, I don't really know November exactly 2025. Penguin Random House LLC. So wow, so maybe this is like a newer book. I did not realize maybe, maybe she's working on something.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:24

That'd be cool. Yeah, yeah. I love this author.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:26

I don't know why I was thinking it came from like 22. Like not old, but like a couple of years. But that's really yeah, you guys go out, buy yourself a copy of The Bewitching.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:38

It's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:40

A good read.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:41

Great book.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:42

Would read again. Yeah, don't have time at this moment.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:45

No April book of the month. Yes, we know what it is. Yes, we have a copy. It's right there. Oh yes, here it is. Yeah. So April, we will be reading Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. And I'm really I'm excited about this one. Like it's not the book we were like wanted to look. But I'm really excited about this one. It it looks really good. I think the concept is really good, and I'm just excited to see where this is going to take us.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:25

So is there anything we can maybe on the inside?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:29

Like if you yeah, like uh see what she looks like.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:32

She looks like a total badass. You're gorgeous, Rachel. If you see it.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:35

Is she wearing a leather jacket?

SPEAKER_03 1:22:37

She is, and it's all black. That is literally my fucking style. Love it. Right there. So Rachel Harrison is the New York Times best-selling author of Plain Nice, So Thirsty, Black Sheep, Such Sharp Teeth, Cackle, and The Return, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. Okay, cool, cool. Her da da da. Okay, so we'll have to look into this. It's also I'm like, we're loving the books that are coming out of Penguin Random House. So that'd be really cool if you guys want to sponsor us because I've been going, not gonna lie, I've been going to their website and looking under the genres for the books that I want to read because I really love the stories and authors that come out of Penguin House. So it would be really cool if you guys wanna, you know, pick us up. What else?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:33

Yeah, the April reading guide um will drop after this episode airs, um, hopefully by the end of the week. So yeah, don't forget to check out the new movie segment updates on like YouTube and Patreon. You know, we'll kind of get something pushed out hopefully within like the next week. Yeah. You know, um, where we just we'll just do kind of like a little dive on like the movies we've seen, like the spooky ones we watched this uh this month, because we saw a pretty good amount of them, I think, in the theater. Uh the Dolly. Dolly Undertone.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:11

That in and of itself is like a fucking miracle because we are so goddamn busy. Thank you to my wonderful husband. You're the best.

unknown 1:24:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:22

Thank you to your wonderful husband. He's the best to our kids. Yeah. Really hanging in there when you're hungry and you want dinner, but mommy's recording, so it does not go unnoticed. We love our family. And okay, so yeah, it's been a wild ride through these woods, but it's time to close the chapter.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:45

So until next time, stay cozy, stay spooky, and remember to tell the stories that we're gonna haunt you.