Hope eventually finds her cat, but as she reaches out to touch Bastet, he claws her. The next day, Hope's cat Bastet disappears and she goes looking for it in the garden. But Jackie does not want that, and instead recreates universe by himself, with all-new reality. When the universe is reset, it is revealed that Hope still lives, apparently the eight-year-old daughter of both Jackie and his ex-flame, then-wife Jenny.Īfter the Doppelganger is created, he impersonates Jackie and meets with Hope, calling her, his child. Realizing that Hope has to die for the sake of the world, Sara reluctantly chooses to kill her. Jackie, Sara and Hope soon appear to be the only survivors as the universe fades to nothing. However, Jackie attacks the Survivor just as it happens. Celestine manages to grab hold of Hope, but the baby creates an explosion that destroys all the Angelus warriors and Celestine leaves in defeat.Ī person known as the Survivor, revealed to have been the Curator, employs Aphrodite IV and gives her the Coin of Solomon in order to kidnap Hope as part of his plan to bring the Artifacts together. It is revealed that Hope is the "codex" for the entire universe, meaning that she has to die once all thirteen Artifacts are brought together so the Survivor's universe can be reborn. Hope's birth nearly kills Sara, but Dani heals her using the Witchblade and it is split between them. Patience also arrives, after Sara leaves her a message asking for help. Sara goes into labour and Dani acts as midwife while Jackie and Patience fend off a new assault by the Angelus. When the current Angelus host, Celestine, and her warriors attempt to take the unborn child by force, Jackie takes them to a mob safe house to hide. The Darkness wished to create a new weapon with which to destroy its adversary, the Angelus. ‘Do not doubt, Harriet,’ the older lady chides her companion.Jackie Estacado discovers he is the father, having been used by the Darkness to conceive a baby while Sara was in a coma. And if they do, you can’t compel them to tell the truth. Why, you might be in the same room as a person, but you can’t force them to talk to you. The language of the spirits is no more under our control than another mortal’s voice. He would have told us, would he not? That is the reason we came here.’ ‘But if that was Papa,’ the younger woman reasons, furrowing her brow, ‘if it truly was him. She folds her arms on the table, rests her head upon them. Pearl feels bruised, hollow, as if the spirits have taken her up and dropped her from a great height. ‘Yes! Today is the anniversary of our marriage.’ A fresh burst of grief. The spirits have since whispered to Myrtle that her real power lies in manipulating auras and controlling the universal force: Myrtle is a mesmerist. But that ain’t enough for ladies and gents.
Myrtle used to screw up her face and roll her eyes – but that was all for show. She worries about how it will feel when the ghosts take possession of her. She isn’t playing a spirit guide now: she’s the Main Event. Tonight she hasn’t got the floor-length veil over her face and there aren’t any ashes smeared on her skin. She sits in the cabinet as usual, behind its black damask curtain, but already she feels like someone else. She travels to Bath to meet with a famous child named Pearl, known to be a spirit medium, hoping to contact her dead associates, hoping they will be able to name their killer. Agnes is a silhouette artist in Victorian London, shocked when one of her clients is murdered. The following is an exclusive excerpt from The Shape of Darkness, by Laura Purcell.