Today in Salem: 12yo Ann Putnam’s mother has just learned that she is pregnant, for the ninth time, and all she wants in the entire world right now is a nap.

“Mercy,” she says to the family servant. “Please mind the children while I rest.” But Mercy Lewis is feeling fragile from her memories of fire and war, and has hardly slept for the nightmares. So she doesn’t argue when Ann’s mother waves her out of the kitchen and tells her to go rest.

“Ann,” she says to her daughter, and makes the same request. Ann is the oldest, and it’s only right that she should help her mother. But Ann’s eyes are shining with tears. She’s bone-tired from the specters’ torments, and won’t even get out of her bed.

Her mother is ragged with exhaustion, utterly without a drop of energy. She’s been tending to Ann for weeks, and now Mercy. She’s pregnant, and with no help is still running the home, cooking, and caring for her other five living children and her husband. Now all she can do is hope for the best and take a nap anyway. But she’s too wound up to sleep. All she can think about is Ann’s recent accusations against the beloved Rebecca Nurse, until she’s sure that it’s Rebecca’s invisible specter that’s keeping her awake.

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Tomorrow in Salem: NEWLY AFFLICTED: Mary Walcott, the captain’s daughter