Wellington, September, 1974. All anyone can talk about is the arrest of Bill Sutch, former public servant, for passing information to a Soviet agent. And the chattering classes are starting to remember that some among their number, some who have also risen to similarly prominent positions, were out and proud Communists around the time Sutch was supposedly recruited.

But never mind that now; it's time for a cocktail party. To catch up with old comrades, the invitation says. An invitation from "your affectionate friend." For some, a way to reconnect with old flames. Others to demonstrate the upwards trajectory of their lives. And for some, a way to dig out secrets better left in the past.

Because radical politics were not the only thing you had in common. Twenty years ago to the day you of the cocktail party you participated in an unsanctioned experiment, run by the Abnormal Psychology and Religious Studies departments of Victoria University. It left you all changed, it left one of your number dead, and it left professor's career in tatters.

The past is never as far away as you want it to be.

Content includes: demonic possession, loss of agency, murder, body horror, period-typical prejudices mentioned in PC backstory.