Episode Forty-Two: The Past is a Dream of Itself

In which temporal fabric is folded and refolded. Featuring: something split, like kindling.

**Episode description:** One story. Many beginnings.

## The Past is a Dream of Itself

#### **Trigger Warnings**

* Unreality, death, distortion, loud noises, dissasociation, references to abuse (physical and emotional), references to starvation/captivity.

## Episode Summary

This episode begins with  Lolo explaining part of her backstory. When she was eight, she began experiencing dehabilitating nightmares. Her mother and abuelita took her to see a man named Doctor Camino, who told her that she'd never lose the pain she's experiencing, that death has a weakness for her, and that she'd spend her entire life chasing ghosts. Lolo remarks that he wasn't wrong about any of it.

We cut to Mabel and Anna, looking at what the King has become (an "uninhibited sharp tangle of... darkness"). They discuss how they don't know what's going on, but Mabel knows that "something is ill" in the Hill. Back with the ghostbusters, Lolo and Janet discuss how Lolo's GPS is broken. They arrive at Lolo's gas station, and Anna asks which world they're in. Janet talks about Sally, and Anna says she's asking about before that time-- Janet asks if she's talking about what happened in the twenties, and Anna asks what she means, at which point Lolo cuts Janet off, telling her it doesn't matter what occurred back then. Janet ends up asking if Anna is really herself, and Anna explains that she hasn't truly been gone for three years-- she's been stuck in the weave of that time, explaining that it felt longer than three years. Janet tells Anna she's sorry that that happened to her.

We cut to Jonathan Mills. He says that the tape we're listening to is a contingency plan, and if anyone is listening, he may be dead. He renounces loyalty to Aurora Silver and says that, while he is not a true believer, he has scientific proof of supernatural occurrences that remind him of "pathogens". He says he has watched these pathogens (presumably something from the Hill) carve subjects "up from the inside out." He calls Aurora Silver similar to a political extremist and explains that one of his coworkers, Brandon, was killed because of a mistake that Jonathan himself made, despite Brandon's loyalty to the cause. Jonathan says he used to believe Aurora Silver thought he was special, but he knows he was wrong; and she is now becoming more erratic, making mistakes. He says he's going to wait for something-- either his own death or a chance to make all the deaths of the other cultists mean something.

We then hear from Mabel?, who says she is going to unstitch whoever she's speaking to from someone else. The end of this piece of the episode comes when Mabel? says "Put on your dancing shoes. The music is about to become very, very loud."

Back with Anna and Mabel, Anna says she's found Sally's old journal. After discussing boundaries with Mabel, Mabel asks Anna to tell her what the journal says. The journal explains that Sally and her brother, Phillip, knew Luna Thorne when they were children. Phillip died in the Battle of Midway. Mabel explains that she knew that because she'd found his death telegram when she was a teenager, and Sally had locked her up for it. Anna says she wishes she'd gotten to kill Sally, and Mabel and Anna have a brief, enjoyable side about being in love before we return to the journal. Anna reads that Sally had found out Luna's true name. Mabel interrupts that Luna does not have a true name, but Anna continues that Sally found a ritual called "On the Basis of Exchange". Anna then asks why Mabel knows that Luna doesn't have a true name, and Mabel rpelies that "there are too many of us in here" ("here" presumably being in Luna). Anna keeps going, explaining that Sally used the ritual to swap claims with Luna. While Luna claimed her freedom, Sally stole her freedom back and then claimed the power of life and death. Anna says that Sally wanted to use the power to rebirth Phillip, and Mabel, shocked, replies "...Lily?"

## Continuity

**Please note that this section contains spoilers for later episodes of Mabel. Continue at your own risk.**

* Lily being a clone matches with Becca De La Rosa posting that "Lily still has some secrets of her own to share."
* This is Jonathan's second monologue. The first takes place in The Consort.
* Sally's brother has been mentioned briefly before in Fairy Hill.

## Trivia

**Please note that this section contains spoilers for later episodes of Mabel. Continue at your own risk.**

* The battle that Phillip died in was a World War II naval battle between the United States and Japan.