Act Three - The Angel’s Game — Chapter 16

David Martín meets a serene woman by a fire in Somorrostro. She explains the feared Witch of Somorrostro was her mother, a poor but perceptive woman who read people’s desires and sold harmless charms to help them believe. Despite wealthier clients and chances to leave, her mother stayed and was murdered on the beach in 1905.

The woman states Diego Marlasca killed her mother to silence her after paying for help. She argues her mother offered comfort, not magic, to a despairing Marlasca who believed he had surrendered himself to a shadow—his guilt given form. To soothe him, her mother invoked a local legend: a damned soul might be saved if a pure soul willingly died in its place.

The woman says Irene loved Marlasca absolutely and first sought to sacrifice herself, but the Witch dissuaded her, saying Irene’s soul was not “pure.” The mother then sent her children away to protect them and soon died, seemingly accepting her fate as part of the legend’s terms.

Pressed about evidence, the woman dismisses talk of souls, insisting only ashes and memories remain, yet she hints that if anything endures it lies where Marlasca committed his crime—linked to David’s own tower house. She suggests that perhaps the trapped soul David seeks is his own.

In a chilling reveal, the woman unties her scarf to show a large scar across her throat, her manner turning cruel. The boy in the black suit appears to end the visit. As David leaves, a mirror shows an old hag by the fire, and her dark laughter follows him.