<P> The book begins with the line "It was a dark and stormy night," an allusion to the opening words in Edward Bulwer - Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford . Unable to sleep during a thunderstorm, Meg descends from her attic room to find Charles Wallace sitting at the table drinking milk and eating bread and jam . They are then joined by their mother, and are visited by their new eccentric neighbor, Mrs Whatsit . In the course of conversation, Mrs Whatsit casually mentions there is such a thing as a tesseract, which causes Katherine to almost faint . </P> <P> The next morning, Meg discovers that the term refers to a scientific concept her father was working on before his mysterious disappearance . The following afternoon, Meg and Charles Wallace encounter Meg's schoolmate, Calvin O'Keefe, a high - school junior who, although he is a "big man on campus", considers himself a misfit as well . They then go to visit an old haunted house near town which Charles Wallace already knows is the home of Mrs Whatsit . There they encounter two companions of Mrs Whatsit's, the equally strange Mrs Who and the unseen voice of Mrs Which . She promises that she and her friends will help Meg find and rescue her father . A budding love interest develops between Meg and Calvin . In the evening, Charles Wallace declares it is time for them to go on their mission to save their father . This is accompanied by the appearance of the third member of the "Mrs Ws", Mrs Which, who appears to materialize out of nothing . </P> <P> Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which turn out to be supernatural beings who transport Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe through the universe by means of tesseract, a fifth - dimensional phenomenon explained as being similar to folding the fabric of space and time . Their first stop is the planet Uriel, a Utopian world filled with Centaur - like beings who live in a state of light and love . Mrs Whatsit herself shows that she, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which are all these centaur - like creatures in disguise as humans . There the "Mrs Ws" reveal to the children that the universe is under attack from an evil being who appears as a large dark cloud called The Black Thing, which is essentially the personification of evil . The children are then taken elsewhere to visit a woman who is a medium (the "Happy Medium") with a crystal ball . In it, they see that Earth is partially covered by the darkness, although great religious figures, philosophers, and artists have been fighting against it . Mrs Whatsit is revealed to be a former star who exploded in an act of self - sacrifice to fight the darkness . </P> <P> The children then travel to the dark planet of Camazotz, which has "given in" to the Black Thing . Meg's father is trapped there . They find that all the inhabitants behave in a mechanistic way and seem to be under the control of a single mind . At the planet's central headquarters (described as CENTRAL Central Intelligence), they discover a red - eyed man with telepathic abilities who can cast a hypnotic spell over their minds . He claims to know the whereabouts of their father . Charles Wallace deliberately looks into the red eyes of the man, allowing himself to be taken over by the mind controlling planet in order to find their father . Under its influence, he takes Meg and Calvin to the place where Alexander is being held prisoner because he would not succumb to the group mind . </P>

What kind of beings are mrs. whatsit mrs. who and mrs. which