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As the night stretches toward its peak, there are no familiar clock chimes to mark the hour. The darkness drags on painfully, the air remaining heavy and oppressive throughout the night. Slowly, however, there are unmistakable changes to mark the passage of time.
For the Sensitives the worst may perhaps be over now. The heightened senses caused by the Flame at the beginning of the night seem to be ebbing. Their powers cease to burst at their very seams, and it becomes gradually easier to keep them under control. It is not quite a calm, but things seem to be returning mostly to what passes for normalcy, to what they were used to. It becomes possible to keep proper control of their abilities again; they can contain themselves once more.
For those who have changes brought on by the event, however, there is no shift back. While their powers may settle into something manageable, the alterations that have occurred are not undone.
Without warning the Phantasms return, seemingly from nowhere. Appearing in groups of two or three each time, they converge on those who have been marked by the bracelets. There is no chance to escape them, all resistance utterly ignored by the masked creatures. The houseguests chosen will be taken because the experiments have begun.
One more change occurs: within the walls of the Ivory Bathroom the Drowned Woman reacts to something quite suddenly. No matter what she was doing at the time it struck, her eyes widen and her struggles for breath quicken, as if some difficulty has overtaken her. Hands shooting up to her hair to clutch at her own head she shakes her head wildly. She fights confusion and sudden pain-- further turmoil that had not been there previously.
When she settles, it is with a daze, a frightened glaze in her eyes. She still attacks but it seems now to be distracted-- absent. Her previous desperation has been replaced with something much more troubled, a confusion that borders on traumatic.
The night continues in silence. Dawn seems no closer now than it did at the start of night.
For the Sensitives the worst may perhaps be over now. The heightened senses caused by the Flame at the beginning of the night seem to be ebbing. Their powers cease to burst at their very seams, and it becomes gradually easier to keep them under control. It is not quite a calm, but things seem to be returning mostly to what passes for normalcy, to what they were used to. It becomes possible to keep proper control of their abilities again; they can contain themselves once more.
For those who have changes brought on by the event, however, there is no shift back. While their powers may settle into something manageable, the alterations that have occurred are not undone.
Without warning the Phantasms return, seemingly from nowhere. Appearing in groups of two or three each time, they converge on those who have been marked by the bracelets. There is no chance to escape them, all resistance utterly ignored by the masked creatures. The houseguests chosen will be taken because the experiments have begun.
One more change occurs: within the walls of the Ivory Bathroom the Drowned Woman reacts to something quite suddenly. No matter what she was doing at the time it struck, her eyes widen and her struggles for breath quicken, as if some difficulty has overtaken her. Hands shooting up to her hair to clutch at her own head she shakes her head wildly. She fights confusion and sudden pain-- further turmoil that had not been there previously.
When she settles, it is with a daze, a frightened glaze in her eyes. She still attacks but it seems now to be distracted-- absent. Her previous desperation has been replaced with something much more troubled, a confusion that borders on traumatic.
The night continues in silence. Dawn seems no closer now than it did at the start of night.
