WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.120 Caloroga Shark Media. 2 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:20.600 Hello and welcome to Romance Weekly and Halloween Possession. This 3 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:30.559 is episode four Interference Patterns. 4 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:39.320 Here's what they don't tell you about supernatural connections. They're 5 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:44.560 not romantic, They're invasive. By week four, I could feel 6 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.320 him from across town. I knew when he was thinking 7 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:51.640 about me because my skin would flush, starting at my 8 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:55.920 collar bones and spreading down. We'd been inseparable for three days, 9 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:01.679 literally since the witch House incident. We couldn't be more 10 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:06.519 than a few feet apart without excruciating pain. The entity 11 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:11.000 had done something to us, tangled our electromagnetic signatures so 12 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:16.439 thoroughly that separation felt like being turned inside out, which 13 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:19.040 is how I ended up living in Ethan's apartment above 14 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:23.640 the Old Salem Bookstore, sharing his bed, his shower, his 15 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:27.519 every waking moment, while trying desperately not to give in 16 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:32.439 to what our bodies were screaming for. You're staring, he 17 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:36.359 said from the kitchen, making coffee. He didn't need to 18 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.599 turn around to know he could feel my eyes on him, 19 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:44.359 like a physical touch. You're wearing my favorite shirt, I replied, 20 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:48.680 the gray henley that clung to every muscle that made 21 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:54.079 his eyes look darker. I know, of course he did. 22 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.760 He could feel my reaction to it, the way my 23 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.120 breath caught, the heat that pulled low in my belly, 24 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:05.239 just like I could feel his satisfaction at affecting me. 25 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:13.159 This is torture, I muttered. Which part He turned coffee 26 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.360 in hand, and the morning light through the window made 27 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.960 him look like something out of a dream. The entity 28 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:24.879 hunting us, your sister dating my best friend, or the 29 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:27.080 fact that we're sharing a bed but can't touch without 30 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:31.400 feeding the thing that wants to eat us. All of it, 31 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:39.360 but especially that last part. Three nights of lying next 32 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:43.680 to him, feeling every shift of his body, every dream, 33 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.960 every moment he woke up, hard and wanting. Three nights 34 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.759 of careful distance of pillows between us like the world's 35 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:57.479 most ineffective protection. Three nights of feeling his desire mixed 36 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:01.080 with mine until I couldn't tell where I ended, and 37 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:06.960 he began. My phone rang, Lily, you need to come 38 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:11.680 to the festival grounds, she said. Marcus found something, something 39 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:16.199 about what the festival really is. Twenty minutes later, we 40 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:19.520 stood in the middle of Salem Common, watching vendors set 41 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:24.960 up booths for the Halloween Festival. It looked innocent enough, pumpkins, 42 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:30.120 corn mazes, carnival games. But Marcus had different maps spread 43 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:35.520 on a picnic table covered in electromagnetic readings. The festival 44 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:40.159 isn't random, he said. Look at the booth placements, the stages, 45 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:46.560 the paths between attractions. It's a circuit, a massive electromagnetic trap. 46 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:50.719 Ethan leaned over the map and I had to focus 47 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:55.240 on breathing normally as his scent washed over me. My 48 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:59.599 grandmother designed this sixty years ago, but I never knew 49 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:06.360 why to catch it. Marcus said, the entity Every Halloween, 50 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:11.280 the trap activates, but it's never worked because he looked 51 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:16.040 at us, because it needs bait. Two people with electromagnetic 52 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:21.720 signatures so intertwined that the entity can't resist like us, 53 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:26.519 I said, exactly like you. Your connection is the strongest 54 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:31.800 I've ever measured. You're not just compatible, you're perfectly matched 55 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:38.680 mirror frequencies. Lily grabbed my hand. So my sister is bait. 56 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:44.040 We both are, Ethan said quietly. The trap needs us 57 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.240 at the center, fully connected to draw the entity in. 58 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:51.680 Once it's feeding on us, the circuit activates and theoretically 59 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:58.079 destroys it. Theoretically, I laughed, but it came out shaky. 60 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:04.199 What happens to us? Marcus exchanged a look with Ethan unknown. 61 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:09.959 The trap's never been successfully activated because no one's been 62 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.800 stupid enough to try, because no one's had a connection 63 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:19.439 strong enough to survive it. I felt Ethan's fear through 64 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:24.959 our bond, but underneath it was determination. He'd already decided 65 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:31.319 he would do this with or without me. When I asked, 66 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:36.680 Halloween night, midnight, when the veil is thinnest and the 67 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:42.399 entity is strongest, four days, Lily said, we have four 68 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.680 days to figure out how to keep you alive while 69 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:50.199 using you as supernatural bait. That's when I noticed someone 70 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.240 watching us, a woman at the candy Apple booth. Her 71 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:59.839 movements too smooth, too synchronized. When she turned, I gasped. 72 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:04.759 It was Rebecca Torres, but not her features were right, 73 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:10.519 but her electromagnetic signature was wrong, empty, like a photocopy 74 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:16.759 of a person. Ethan, I whispered, he saw her too 75 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:21.519 through our connection. I felt his horror and rage. It's 76 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:26.199 wearing them, he said, the entity. It's wearing the women. 77 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:32.680 It took Rebecca, not Rebecca smiled and waved, then disappeared 78 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:36.319 into the crowd. But there were others. I could see 79 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:40.439 them now, Emma Martinez at the fortune Teller's tent, Sarah 80 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:46.240 Kim helping with decorations, all the missing women walking around 81 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:50.000 Salem like nothing had happened. We need to get out 82 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.079 of here, Marcus said, already packing up his maps. But 83 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:57.920 when we turned to leave, Lily was gone. Lily. I 84 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:04.120 spun around, panic, rising Lily through the crowd, I saw 85 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:08.959 her walking toward the Haunted House attraction, her movements puppet smooth. 86 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:12.759 Marcus ran after her, but she disappeared inside before he 87 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:18.000 could reach her. It's taking her, I said, right now, 88 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.800 in broad daylight, it's taking her. Ethan grabbed my hand 89 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:26.879 and the full connection blazed to life between us. Through it, 90 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:32.279 I could feel Lily faint, fading, being pulled apart, one 91 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:36.480 frequency at a time. We can't wait for Halloween, I said, 92 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.399 we have to do something now. If we activate the 93 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:47.800 trap early, I don't care. That's my sister. He looked 94 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:50.959 at me, and I felt his decision through our bond. 95 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.600 Then we go get her. The Haunted House was closed, 96 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:01.000 still being assembled for Halloween. We broke in through a 97 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:07.079 service door, following the electromagnetic trail. Lily left behind inside 98 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:10.120 was a maze of half built scares and exposed wiring. 99 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:17.279 She's here, I said, feeling for her frequency, but she's scattered. 100 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:21.959 That's when the lights went out. In the darkness, I 101 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.759 could see them, all, the missing women, glowing with stolen 102 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:33.919 electromagnetic energy. They moved in perfect synchronization, surrounding us. Mara Chen, 103 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.679 they said in unison, their voices creating harmonics that made 104 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:43.600 my bones ache. We've been waiting for you. Let my 105 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:51.440 sister go. She's already gone, dispersed, absorbed like you will be. No. 106 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.720 The word came from Ethan, and with it a surge 107 00:08:56.759 --> 00:09:00.840 of power through our connection the empty women, and stepped back. 108 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:06.279 You're going to fight, they laughed, with Rebecca's mouth, Emma's throat, 109 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:12.080 Sarah's lungs. You can't fight what you are, electromagnetic energy, 110 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:18.639 seeking unity, fighting entropy, fighting isolation. We are what you'll become, 111 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:24.039 perfect connection without the burden of self. That's not connection, 112 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:26.519 I said, that's a rature. 113 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:28.039 Is it? 114 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:33.519 Feel what you're becoming? And I did feel it. The 115 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:36.799 boundaries between Ethan and me were dissolving more each day. 116 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:41.840 I knew his thoughts before he spoke them, his desires, 117 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:45.679 were becoming mine. We were losing ourselves in each other, 118 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:49.799 and the entity was feeding on that loss. It's okay, 119 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:55.159 Ethan said quietly to me, not them, I know what 120 00:09:55.279 --> 00:10:00.240 to do through our connection. I felt his plan. It 121 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:06.600 was insane and our only chance. Trust me, He whispered, 122 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:10.480 then pulled me against him and kissed me. The moment 123 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:14.039 our lips met, the entity surged toward us, drawn by 124 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:18.480 the electromagnetic explosion of our connection. But instead of resisting, 125 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:23.320 we opened ourselves to it, Let it in, let it feed. 126 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:30.360 It was agony ecstasy. I felt myself fragmenting, my electromagnetic 127 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:34.559 signature scattering, but I also felt Ethan holding me together, 128 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:39.080 using his energy to maintain my pattern. We were merging, 129 00:10:39.240 --> 00:11:03.559 truly merging, our frequencies, aligning into something new. The entity 130 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:07.519 realized too late what we were doing. By feeding on us, 131 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.960 it had created a conduit, and through that conduit we 132 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.600 could reach the scattered pieces of the women it had taken. Lily, 133 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:23.440 I called through the electromagnetic field, come back. I felt 134 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:29.360 her distant and fading, but still there, still my sister. 135 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.679 I pulled, using the connection the entity had created, and 136 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:38.399 suddenly she was gasping on the floor. Beside us, the 137 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:44.600 empty women screamed, their stolen forms flickering the trap. Marcus's 138 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:48.159 voice came from the doorway. He was bleeding from a 139 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:50.720 head wound, but holding something that looked like a jerry 140 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:55.440 rigged electromagnetic pulse device. If you can hold it for 141 00:11:55.480 --> 00:12:01.279 thirty seconds, I can activate a localized version. Thirty seconds, 142 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:05.559 it might as well have been thirty years. Ethan's arms 143 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:13.600 tightened around me. Together together, we opened ourselves completely, no barriers, 144 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:18.240 no resistance, every thought, every feeling, every cell of our 145 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:22.200 beings aligned. I couldn't tell where I ended and he began. 146 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:28.039 We were one electromagnetic signature, blazing like a sun. The 147 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:32.799 entity couldn't resist. It poured into us, trying to scatter us, 148 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:37.519 to add us to its collection. But we held. We 149 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:41.440 held each other, held ourselves, held a pattern of who 150 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:44.519 we were, even as everything tried to tear us apart. 151 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:51.080 I felt the missing women, Rebecca, Emma, Sarah, dozens of 152 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:55.200 others stretching back decades, all trapped in the entity's hunger. 153 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:01.879 Through our connection, we gave them something to anchor to. Now, Marcus, 154 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.480 the pulse hit and the world went white. When I 155 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.159 came to I was on the floor of the haunted house. 156 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:15.360 Ethan's body curved around mine. We were still connected, but 157 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:19.799 the invasive presence was gone. The entity had been dispersed, 158 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.159 its hold on the missing women broken, but they were 159 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:30.399 still gone, Rebecca, Emma, Sarah. Their electromagnetic signatures had been 160 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:34.639 scattered too completely to recover. Only Lily had been saved, 161 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:40.679 pulled back before the point of no return, Mara. Lily's 162 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:46.120 voice weak but real. I reached for her, and Ethan 163 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:50.919 moved with me. Our bodies still synchronized. We couldn't seem 164 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.559 to separate, couldn't find where one ended and the other began. 165 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:02.879 The merge Marcus said quietly, permanent, isn't it? I felt 166 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:06.279 the truth of it through every cell. Ethan and I 167 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:10.200 were one electromagnetic field. Now we could probably learn to 168 00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:14.919 function separately to create the illusion of independence, but we 169 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:21.120 would always be connected. Every thought, every feeling, every sensation 170 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:26.960 shared forever. Are you okay with this? Ethan asked, though 171 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:29.799 he already knew the answer. He could feel my mind 172 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.799 as clearly as his own. Ask me again in fifty years, 173 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:38.240 I said, He laughed, and I felt it resonate through 174 00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:45.320 both our bodies. The entity Lily asked. Dispersed, Marcus said, 175 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:50.879 the pulse scattered it, but he looked at the electromagnetic reader. 176 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:56.960 It's not gone, just spread thin. It'll reform eventually, maybe 177 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:01.200 not for decades, but but it'll come back, I finished, 178 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:06.600 and we'll be ready. Ethan helped me stand. Our movements 179 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:12.399 perfectly coordinated. Now I could feel everything, his exhaustion, his relief, 180 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:17.279 his love. That last one stopped me cold. You love me, 181 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:21.879 I said, since the moment you walked into that Victorian house, 182 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:26.559 glowing with power, you didn't understand. He touched my face 183 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:31.200 and it felt like touching myself. The connection just made 184 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:35.559 it impossible to hide. I love you too, I said, 185 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:40.440 though the words were unnecessary. He could feel it, had 186 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.600 probably felt it for days. This is beautiful and disturbing 187 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:49.080 in equal measure. Lily said, can you not share everything 188 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:53.159 like when you use the bathroom. We'll figure it out, 189 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:57.600 I said, though I had no idea how. Marcus helped 190 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:02.240 Lily stand. The festival still needs to happen. The entity 191 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.080 is weak now, but the full trap on Halloween will 192 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:09.480 make sure it can't reform for generations. So we still 193 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:15.120 have to be bait. I asked. No, Ethan said, Now 194 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:21.000 you are the trap. Your merged signature is like electromagnetic flypaper. 195 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 Any piece of the entity that comes near you will 196 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:30.000 stick and burn out. Four days until Halloween. Four days 197 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:34.120 to learn how to exist as one electromagnetic being in 198 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:38.240 two bodies. Four days to figure out if love could 199 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.879 survive the complete absence of privacy. At least the sex 200 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:47.960 will be interesting, Lily, said Lily, But she wasn't wrong. 201 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.799 I could already feel it through our connection. When we 202 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.600 finally gave in to the physical side of our merge, 203 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.879 it would be unlike anything either of us had experienced, 204 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:05.079 feeling everything from both sides. Pleasure doubled and reflected back infinitely. 205 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:11.519 If we survived Halloween, the entity was wounded, but not dead, 206 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:14.440 and we were no longer two people who could barely 207 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:20.920 touch without consequences. We were something new, something powerful, something 208 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.279 that had four days to figure out how to exist 209 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:27.960 before the final test. Ready to go home, Ethan asked 210 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:35.920 home his apartment, our apartment. Now I supposed our life together, 211 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:41.160 I asked, though it was a joke. Now we couldn't 212 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:45.880 be anything but together always, he said, and kissed me. 213 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.920 The world exploded with sensation. His mouth on mine, my 214 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:56.279 mouth on his, The taste of ourselves, the perfect circuit 215 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:01.079 of desire and connection. Maybe losing my self in October 216 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.039 wasn't the worst thing after all. Maybe it was the 217 00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:06.559 only way to truly be found.