LORD OF ILLUSION

CHAPTER 15

EXT. ST. LUKE'S SANITORIUM - GROUNDS - CITY STREET - DAY :

HARRY'S P.O.V. OF STREET Jennifer is dead in the middle of the street, beneath the wheels of a car. The DRIVER is out, and yelling incoherently. HARRY Jesus. He slips back down the wall, and leans against it. He looks towards the hole. The Workman has stopped digging. His mud-encrusted hands emerge, and for a moment, before his head appears, the image is eerily like somebody climbing from a grave. Harry closes his eyes. HARRY (very quietly) Jesus.

EXT. LOS ANGELES - DUSK The sun is setting, the city giving way to night.

INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - DUSK:

Harry's on the phone. HARRY I want to speak to Dorothea. VALENTIN (V.O.) I'm afraid she's not in. HARRY When will she be in?

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - STUDY - NIGHT :

Valentin on the phone in the study. DOROTHEA Who is it? Valentin puts the phone down. VALENTIN Crank call. I'll get the number changed. DOROTHEA No word from D'Amour? Valentin shakes his head. VALENTIN It's better he's gone. He would have done more harm than good. DOROTHEA Harm to whom? Me? I don't think, so. Try him again at the hotel. VALENTIN I left three messages already. Dorothea nods, plainly sad at Harry's desertion. She turns and leaves the room.

A INT. HARRY'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT:

1 ON BILLY WHO'S CARD, in Harry's hand. HARRY (on phone) Billy? It's Harry. Suppose I wanted to get into the repository at the Magic Castle? CUT TO:

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - SKYLIGHT ROOM - NIGHT :

THE PLACE IS EERIE BY NIGHT: ALL MASKS AND SHADOWS. PAN UP TO THE SKYLIGHT. HARRY IS CUTTING AWAY A PANE OF GLASS. BILLY'S BEHIND HIM. THE PANE STARTS TO FALL. WITH LIGHTNING REFLEXES, BILLY REACHES THROUGH AND CATCHES IT.

HARRY You've done this before. BILLY I've had my moments.

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - HALLWAY OUTSIDE REPOSITORY - NIGHT :

Harry's manipulating the lock. BILLY I'm sure they'll have this place rigged. HARRY How? BILLY It'll be something hokey. CLICK! The door opens. BILLY Houdini'd been proud of you.

INT. MAGIC CASTLE - REPOSITORY - NIGHT :

Undusted shelves piled high with manuscripts, old books, and posters in every direction. BILLY (impressed) Whoa... On the wall, plaster LIFE-MASKS. In glass cases, the tools of the great magicians: KNIVES, KEYS, GUNS, WANDS, even an IRON MAIDEN. Billy is in awe. He wanders around wide-eyed while Harry scans the shelves. The dialogue runs as they investigate.

BILLY I hear Mrs. Swann's quite a babe. HARRY You heard right. BILLY You ever been married? HARRY Yeah. She was killed in a car crash. Her lawyer was driving. She was filing for divorce. BILLY Why? HARRY My life was too weird for her.

BILLY (grinning) I love weird. Harry has seen a small SIGIL carved onto one of the shelves. HARRY Billy? This was on Miller's forehead. Any idea what it is? BILLY Nope.

Harry presses it. The entire bookcase opens up, CREAKING. BILLY What did I tell you? So fucking hokey. Inside, there is a small shelf. On it, FILES and PAPERS.

HARRY What have we got here? Ever-eager, Billy steps into the recess. And -- two spiked, latticed gates close on his arm! Harry grabs the gates before they snap closed, inches from skewering Billy's flesh and bone! He keeps them open, his sinews straining.

HARRY Grab the files! Billy reaches in and pulls out a handful of the files. As he steps out of range. Harry lets go and the gates close with a CLANG! BILLY Jesus! He slams the files down. He's trembling.

BILLY I could have lost my fucking hands. HARRY That would have kept you out of the Magic Circle. (he studies the files) Which was presumably the idea. (a beat) These are about Nix. Harry takes a sheaf of papers, and hands them to Billy. HARRY You go through these. Go on! Reluctantly, Billy does so. Harry picks up a faded PHOTOGRAPH of the doorway to Nix's HOUSE (with the sigil painted on it) and BUTTERFIELD the child standing in the sun.

There are other CULTISTS standing around. And in the DOORWAY -- a barely visible figure (and all the more intimidating for that) - is NIX. HARRY Wait a minute... He stares at the boy's face. The eyes are clearly different colours. HARRY That's Butterfield...

BILLY (points to nan in) doorway) And who's that? ON HARRY, staring at the ambiguous presence.