Back at the car, Jack settled Ianto into the back seat and fastened the seatbelt. He gently stroked the young man's hairline and kissed him on the temple.
"I'm really sorry about what happened at the bar. It's just...," Owen tried to apologise. He couldn't believe his nerves had gotten the best of him like this.
"Forget about it," Jack shrugged.
Owen nodded. "Really, thanks for the rescue. Just... don't ever kiss me again," he complained sheepishly.
"Only if you promise never to get into trouble again," Jack quipped, patting the medic on the back.
Owen crunched his nose. He knew he couldn't make such promises, and Jack knew it as well. Maybe it was better to change the subject. "Where are we going?" he asked instead as they got into the car.
"We're going to see a witch," Jack explained, and when he noticed the doctor's sceptical expression, he added. "Don't ask, I have no idea. But given our current lack of options, I suggest we check her out."
He gave Owen the address. "Let's go."
Owen stood at the front door of a terraced house in Penarth. He rang the bell again after no one answered the first time.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," he heard a female voice from inside. The door finally opened to reveal a woman in a bathrobe, drying her long hair with a towel.
"You're early!" she laughed. Then she gave Owen a suspicious look. "You're not what I expected."
"What?" Not the kind of welcome he had been anticipating.
"I don't know, I was expecting someone intimidating, larger than life, when I heard the name, Captain Jack Harkness," she said with a grin.
"I'm not..." Owen started but stepped back to let Jack pass as he approached.
His boss shook her hand and said: "Captain Jack Harkness, nice to meet you. Can we come in?" Without waiting for an answer, he pushed past her, Ianto in tow, and headed straight for the living room.
She laughed. "See? That's what I was expecting."
"Owen Harper," Owen introduced himself, reaching out to shake her hand.
"Emma Morgan, please come in."
Despite Jack's bold entry, Emma made them wait while she got dressed and dried her hair. When she finally returned to the living room, she wore a wide skirt and a loose blouse, her light brown hair cascading over her shoulders. She was carrying a carafe of homemade herbal tea.
"Never thought I'd have Torchwood over for tea. How exciting," she said, smiling warmly as she poured everyone a cup of tea. Then she sat down and looked at Jack expectantly. "If you want me to help, tell me what happened and what you need."
"First of all, I need proof that you really are a witch. I know there's more to this world than hard science, but I'm not convinced you can help us," Jack stated. He usually trusted the mysterious tarot girl, who'd shown him her wisdom multiple times, but they needed more than a few magic words and herbs to solve their current problems.
Emma smirked knowingly and got up again. She lit the incense candles placed on cupboards and shelves around the room with a long match. The light and sweet smell of sandalwood created a pleasant atmosphere as Jack watched the light refract in the crystals on the shelf above the fireplace.
Then she knelt in front of Ianto, who was sitting next to Jack on her old couch, still as unresponsive as he had been since they left the hub. She placed her hands on his knees and waited. After what seemed like an eternity, he lifted his eyes and looked at her blankly. She smiled at him, then closed her eyes and began chanting. Jack strained his ears but couldn't make out the words.
Suddenly, she snapped her fingers.
Ianto flinched and stared at her, confused but alert.
"What did you do?" he croaked.
"Ianto?" Jack exclaimed, turning the young man around. He touched his face and ruffled his hair in disbelief.
"Don't..." Ianto tried to fight him off but was silenced when Jack pressed their lips together in a desperate kiss.
"Oi, time and place, guys...," Owen sighed and rolled his eyes.
Emma laughed. "I've cast a protective spell around the house. I suppose we don't want anyone listening in while we're talking."
Her visitors nodded.
"Good. I hope that's the proof you were looking for. Now please tell me why you need my help."
Jack sighed. He wasn't looking forward to telling the story again. With Ianto's hand in his, he began to fill her in.
When he was finished, she looked at them thoughtfully, considering everything she'd just heard. After a long sip from her mug, she shared her thoughts.
"Okay, I'm not sure who did this or why, but it sounds like classic mind control. The dolls are being used as conduits, as an entry point," she explained.
"Entry point?" Owen asked, confused.
"Dolls radiate peace and comfort. They make people feel protected. Normal defence mechanisms like mistrust and scepticism fade into the background."
Jack turned to Ianto and frowned, "Why haven't you said anything?"
"I don't know, I never thought about it," Ianto admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Like I said, mind control. It starts slowly with heartfelt conversations. They encourage you and listen to you. They build trust, which is accompanied by manipulation that goes unnoticed by the victim. For a lot of people, that's already enough," Emma continued.
"Murder and suicide don't happen through conversation," Jack interjected.
"No, of course not," Emma said solemnly, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, suggestion is a powerful tool. There are several levels of intrusion, all the way up to forced entry. But I don't think that's what happened here. It usually causes severe brain damage to the victim."
Ianto looked at her, wide-eyed.
"I can't speak for the other victims, but from the way you described what happened to Ianto, I think your little acid trip opened your mind to the point where you had no choice but to let her in. She could take control of your thoughts and lock you in a mind cage. That's where you were when you came here," Emma explained.
"He wasn't completely gone, there were sparks of recognition and clarity!" Jack disagreed.
"Strong minds are hard to contain," Emma said wryly.
"Maybe that's why some of the victims decided to commit suicide instead of running away," Owen said.
"Quite possible," Emma agreed. "Anyway, you're safe for now. The protection spell I put around the house will keep her out."
"Going to the Galaxy Rave was my worst idea ever," Jack groaned, cursing himself for dragging Ianto there in the first place.
"So, you're a real witch?" Owen said in astonishment. "As if aliens weren't enough trouble."
"Not sure how one is comparable to the other," she replied amusedly.
Jack was not interested in small talk; he needed answers.
"Who's behind all this? Another witch? Do you know what we're dealing with?" he asked.
"No idea, mind-controlling dolls aren't much to go on. Could be anything," Emma guessed. "Let me check the archives."
Ianto smiled. "I like the way you think."
Emma returned the smile with a twinkle in her eye and pulled out her laptop.
"A laptop?" Owen looked stunned. "I thought witches had old and dusty books."
"Books?" she chuckled. "That's so yesterday! Well, I do have quite a few books in my library, but many of the ancient texts and spells have been digitised. It makes searching so much easier," she explained as she typed.
The room fell silent for a few minutes as the three men watched the witch search the digital database of the British Witchcraft Society.
"What was the name of that toy factory again?" Emma asked absentmindedly as she read a lengthy text.
"Baughan Toy Factory," Ianto said helpfully. "The owner is Lady Viola Baughan."
"Okay, let's see...," Emma began, but quickly turned pale. "Not good... not good at all."
"What is it?" Jack asked, worried by her abrupt change in tone. He tried to get a better look at the laptop screen.
"Mrs Baughan owns the St. Johanna's Monastery. The rumoured final resting place of Carfaren and Lorasys," she said quietly.
"Who?" asked Owen and Jack at the same time.
"The shadow demons?" Ianto blurted out in surprise. When Jack looked at him, puzzled, he shrugged. "One of those fairy tales my nan used to tell me when I was a kid."
"That's what people do: turn the horrors of the past into bedtime stories for little children," Emma sighed. "Much of it is fiction, but they all contain a kernel of truth."
"I don't think I've ever had the pleasure," Jack pondered. "And I have had my share of run-ins with what the world calls demons."
Emma turned the laptop around to show them a black-and-white illustration. Two demons intertwined with each other, standing on a pile of corpses, a burning city in the background.
"Two powerful demons - a pair of siblings - lived between the 8th and 12th century, causing suffering and destruction throughout Europe," Emma began to read from the report she'd found.
"Carfaren and Lorasys," Ianto murmured, his eyes glued to the screen. With their lean torsos and long flowing hair, they looked almost human.
Emma nodded and carried on. "They served various rulers with their dark arts. The sovereigns believed they could use the abilities of the creatures as they saw fit, but in truth, it was the other way around. The real power lay with the demons, who used the rulers to shape the continent to their liking.
The local druids and witches were alarmed when the two demons settled in Britain towards the end of the 12th century. They'd heard of the creatures and wanted to keep their beloved islands from falling into darkness.
Only a very powerful curse could stop the demons. Six witches and six druids joined together to form the Order of Cysgod to bind the siblings and render them harmless for all time."
"Since this has become an old legend, they succeeded, I guess?" Jack's interest was piqued.
"They did, but it wasn't easy and involved a fair amount of luck. While it's fairly easy to create a binding spell, they needed an important ingredient that seemed impossible to obtain: the blood of an immortal," Emma continued, her voice growing ominous.
"Seriously?" asked Jack incredulously.
The witch just shrugged and continued reading. "Amice, one of the younger witches, had connections to a sorcerer who was rumoured to be immortal."
Emma clicked the forward button to get to the next page. Then she smirked in amusement.
"Oh, that's nice. According to the legend, the immortal was Merlin of all people! The coven contacted him to inform him of their plans. As it turned out, Merlin had already seen the fall of Britain in a vision and was more than eager to help.
The demons were lured into a trap under the pretext of serving the King of England. Using Merlin's blood and the coven's magic, they were bound by the curse and turned into a statue.
The stone sculpture still stands in the courtyard of St. Johanna's Monastery. Well, that's what the legends say; I have no idea if the statue is the real deal or not."
Jack lingered over the illustration, pondering what he'd just heard.
"What if Lady Baughan wants to reverse this ancient curse?" Ianto wondered.
"That sounds... ambiguous," Jack said.
"Since its inception, the Order of Cysgod has kept the reverse spell under lock and key. Its whereabouts aren't even mentioned in the database."
"It's an interesting fairytale, but I don't see what it has to do with the dolls," Jack remained sceptical.
Owen cleared his throat.
"I may not be the expert here, but I listened to what you just said, Emma," Owen said with trepidation. "Perhaps I should sum it up for everyone. There's this monastery that houses spell-bound demons, which, according to our research, belongs to the owner of the toy factory that sells mind-controlling dolls. They have been linked to a number of unexplained murders and suicides. On top of that, a significant number of people have disappeared."
He took a deep breath.
"Whom of you morons is daft enough to think that this is all just a coincidence?"
His tone was harsher than intended, but it got his point across.
"How many people have we counted as missing so far?" Jack said abruptly, looking at Ianto. He never paid much attention to such details during Gwen's presentations, but he knew that Ianto did.
"Twelve people are mis...," Ianto said before pausing. "No, thirteen people are missing, if we include Gwen."
"And the order consisted of twelve members," Jack added.
"If she needs the help of twelve people to break the spell, why are thirteen people missing?" Owen wondered.
"Maybe Gwen was just in the way," Jack reasoned.
Emma continued to scroll through the library entry.
"Why are there fourteen dots in this picture, representing the order, if they consist of only twelve people?" Ianto asked, pointing to a graphic on the laptop screen.
"I guess they represent the demons," Emma speculated.
Ianto had the nagging suspicion that the two dots in the centre meant more than that. Penny wouldn't have pushed him so hard to run away with her if all the necessary positions had already been filled.
The witch lifted her head, a frustrated expression on her face.
"There's not much useful in here, but if there is the slightest possibility that someone is trying to bring the shadow demons back, we have to do everything in our power to prevent it from happening."
The tone in her voice conveyed how serious she was.
"Can't we contact the order and warn them?" Ianto proposed.
"No one has heard from them for centuries. They had sworn to keep watch over the demons to prevent them from ever coming back. They withdrew completely from society to attract as little attention as possible. I'm not sure they even exist anymore," Emma said apologetically.
"Finding them or creating a new order isn't an option, I guess," Owen mused.
"No, both take far too long, but... maybe it's time for some of my old books after all. Excuse me for a moment," Emma said as she stood up and vanished into the next room.
When she returned, she held a thick, obviously ancient book.
"This is my grandmother's Book of Shadows," Emma said reverently. "She believed in a strong connection between witches and druids. Sadly, both groups have become increasingly rare in the last few decades. From what we learned so far, I would suggest that someone is trying to find a way around this obstacle."
She set the heavy book down on the table.
"Will you let me see what's so special about you, Ianto?" she asked the young man.
"I'm not special," Ianto said irritably.
"If the doll got inside your head, there should be traces of her influence. If you let me take a look, I might be able to find out why she chose you in the first place," Emma explained.
"Chose me?" Ianto asked, confused.
"Many of these dolls were sold, but not every doll owner became conspicuous," she pointed out.
"At the toy factory, they ran tests to see if my DNA was compatible with the Everdream Doll, but they never explained what that meant. It sounded more like a marketing gimmick or something," Ianto remembered from their visit to the factory.
Emma sat beside Ianto on the couch and placed her hands on either side of his temple. Then she closed her eyes and opened her mind. After a while, she started to smile.
"Wow, you're a pretty strong empath. If the other missing people are like that, it will form a powerful circle."
"You think Lady Baughan was trying to find empaths to use them to break the curse?" Jack tried to understand what she was getting at.
Emma nodded as she considered their options.
"If someone really thinks they can resurrect the demons with this kind of help, maybe we can tap into it, use it to our advantage. There's a lot of guesswork involved, but it's worth a shot. Give me a bit of time to craft a suitable spell."
She looked at Jack expectantly until he nodded.
"What about Tosh?" Owen asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Jack looked at him.
"The doll said the spell couldn't be broken without the right words. If this witchcraft stuff is true, we need the right words to wake her up," the doctor reminded him.
Jack looked at Emma.
"Sounds like Penny used a variation of the Sleeping Beauty spell... that one is tricky to undo," the witch sighed. "But let me work on the bigger problem first; we'll come back to this later, okay?"
Owen and Jack nodded reluctantly.
"Great! Food's in the fridge; make yourself at home," she exclaimed as she retreated to her study.
Ianto nibbled at his lower lip as fear squeezed his stomach. He had to find a way to help Tosh. It was his fault that this had happened to her, so he had to do something about it.