Lies

The episode begins with Mab at The Divining Rod as she tells Gloriana Embry she is going out and to take one of the prostitutes who is having sex with a customer in the foyer into a bedroom. She meets up with the elders and the rest of the hive in the woods. The elders tell them they must drive John Alden out of Salem as he distracts their greatest creation— Mary Sibley and informs them that John has killed a man named Hooke last night to protect a secret of his and they must find out what it is. The Magistrate is unsure how they can do this as the only one that knows it is dead but the elders tell him that there is one among them that is gifted with necromancy but he is not convinced she can be trusted as she is loyal to Mary only but is told they must trust her to do this.

The following morning Mary decides to call upon Mercy after her apparition the previous night despite Tituba's pleas. Mercy tries to be coy when Mary confronts her on her visit but she tells her the time for coyness is over and asks her what she wants. Mercy tells her she wants all the torment and torture to stop or she will tell everyone what she is. Mary warns her what will happen if she speaks the truth and gives her the choice to decide if she wants to live or join those in the crag before she kisses her and leaves.

At the Alden house— John is trying to open the mysterious box but to no avail. When it suddenly opens ominously revealing a wooden apple carved with strange symbols. When John holds the object he has strange visions of a plague coming to Salem and drops it revealing that the mysterious object has burned his hand. While Gloriana Embry visits Cotton at the tavern after his attack on her and is shocked by his proposition that he be her only customer. A remorseful Cotton apologises to her before the couple embrace passionately but is interrupted when John arrives and she leaves hastily. John shows Cotton Mather what he has discovered and tells him of the visions it gave him.

Meanwhile, Dollie Trask coerces Emily Hopkins and their friend Elizabeth to visit Mercy despite the other girls obvious fear of her. Mercy is shocked when she receives visitors but invites them inside regardless and the girls seem to be in awe of her and comment how she has more power than Mary Sibley herself.

Later that morning Mary is with Tituba when the Magistrate approaches them and request the aid of her servant as his wife is unwell which is really a ruse to speak alone with her. Tituba warns him that her mistress can plainly see this but never the less goes with him when he tells her he needs her help to get rid of John Alden once and for all. While John himself is with Cotton and questions him about his relationship with Gloriana but he remains tight-lipped on his affair with the prostitute. He continues to question him in what he saw when he touched the object and then discovers from one of his books that it is the Malum an object used by the witches for the grand rite.

Elsewhere in the crags, the Magistrate is with the witch that previously spelled Isaac Walton where they discover the body of Hooke and begin to carve the skin from his skull. While Tituba lies to Mary about the reason the Magistrate really wanted her that morning reassuring her that Mrs. Hale truly was unwell and was off to the market but instead goes to the woods where the Magistrate is waiting for her.

Back at the home of Reverend Lewis, Mercy entertains her guests and they ask what it is like to wear the contraption she is forced to wear when she is exposing the witches of Salem. She shows them object in question and is shocked to learn from Dollie that Emily's father not only beats his daughter but also plans to sell her to Mab the mistress of The Divining Rod when she comes of age and devices a plan to free her friend from such a fate by accusing her father of being a Witch.

That afternoon John is at the market and has a confrontation with a man who is passing flyers among the residents raging about the witches of Salem and stumbles into Anne Hale who does not seem herself. The captain enquires if he has done something to upset her causing Anne to ask the captain if he deems it unfair raising the hopes in someone's heart when his beats in the breast of another but they are interrupted by Mary, Anne does not seem pleased with her presence and storms off. Mary asks the captain if he is glad he is no longer young but the captain tells her that Anne's youthfulness reminds him of another causing her to tell him she was never that young. Afterward, Mary is reprimanded by Rose for staring at John in public who is talking with Cotton but she rebuffs her comment. While Mrs. Hale speaks to her husband of her worries for her daughter following her father's insistence she is to stay away from the captain but convinces herself that all will be well once she marries Cotton.

Later the girls put their plan into action as they head to the market with Mercy who has adorned on the contraption and pretends to be under a witches influence. The townsfolk panic at her presence and at first she approaches Mary but instead of accusing her true tormentor she runs to Henry Hopkins screaming witch who is then arrested. Elsewhere Tituba is deep in the woods and with the help of Isaac's former tormentor summons the spirit of Hooke and demands to know his secret. She later decides to keep this knowledge to herself and lies to Magistrate Hale.

Following that day's events, Mary pays Cotton a visit and is shocked to learn he has been researching the Malum. She returns home and confronts Tituba who informs her that the witches have been meeting in secret and plot. They fear the presence of John Alden may jeopardise their plans and tells her that the man she loves is not only a murderer but has killed again and if she wants to save him she must complete the grand rite. She goes to the Alden house and confronts him who tells her he has killed twenty men. She is shocked to have him admit this as she was hoping it was lies, he asks if she is going to have him arrested but she kisses him passionately telling she is the only one that knows before she leaves.

That night Mary spies on Mercy who is dancing in the woods with her friends. She tells her their deal no longer pleases her and what to be just like her. While Anne is at the jailhouse and pleads with Emily Hopkins who is visiting her father to have faith that her father will be cleared of all charges. Elsewhere Magistrate Hale is at church speaking to Rose and tells her that John's secret is a gambling debt but Rose believes he has been deceived and informs him that the Malum has fallen into the wrong hands— John Alden's, needing the relic she goes to his home while he sleeps but is captured by John and cotton when she is injured by a booby trap he has laid out.