Dramatis Personae
(in order of appearance)
CLAIRE Cooper, harbinger of the new world. Female, late teens, Northern English accent.
Dr. MARJANI Kaur, caretaker of the women’s home. Female, early 30s, could have a British or Indian Accented English accent.
JASMINE Indrani, no longer an academic. Female, late 20s, could have a British or Indian Accented English accent.
Dr. ERNEST Wilde, torn between horror and scientific curiosity. Male, early 30s, Northern English accent.
Eloise “ELLIE” Westmont, heir to ancient secrets. Female, mid-20s, posh English accent.
KURT Cross, who has accepted the occult but doesn’t like it. Male, early 30s, New York accent.
Inspector ISKANDAR Meshkia, believer in a better world despite all evidence to the contrary. Male, late 30s, strong Turkish accent.
The voice of Professor Emundr RAGNARSSON, speaking once more from beyond the grave. Male, late 50s, Icelandic accent.
JONATHAN Martel, long-serving butler of the Westmont estate. Male, mid-50s, Northern English accent.
AURELIA Westmont, sole resident of the Westmont estate and Ellie’s favorite cousin. Female, late teens, posh English accent.
Sheriff Norbert OAKS, Whitmoor gatekeeper. Male, mid-40s, Northern English accent.
JAMES MacDonald, friendly neighborhood bookbinder. Male, early 30s, Northern English accent.
The voice of ESTRILDA de Westemond, witch in captivity. Female, early 20s, Northern English accent.
Scene 1: Int. Whitmoor Area Women’s Home, upstairs bedroom – Day
MUSIC: OPENING THEME.
The music fades into a drone.
CLAIRE:
(Repeated from the end of the previous episode)
I’ve been chosen, you see.
The rustle of fabric as she lifts up her dress.
MARJANI:
Claire!
A couple of rapid footsteps as MARJANI goes back to CLAIRE’s side. ISKANDAR, ERNEST, and KURT exclaim in surprise. More rustling fabric as MARJANI wrestles the dress back into place.
JASMINE:
Terribly sorry.
ERNEST:
What…
What happened to you?
A brief pause as Claire is put back together.
CLAIRE:
You’re worried about me?
Everyone is. But it’s all right. I’m fine.
Tell them, Doctor.
MARJANI:
She’s…healthier than one would expect.
JASMINE:
Miss Cooper, will you tell these nice people about how you came here?
CLAIRE:
You told me not to.
MARJANI:
That was for the doctor in York, dear.
(With a pointed tone)
Your visitors will be more understanding. I hope.
CLAIRE:
All right.
(To the investigators)
I don’t expect you to understand, not really.
It’s a secret, you see. From a long, long time ago. That’s what Julian told me.
Most everyone has forgotten about it.
ELLIE:
(Gently)
Who’s Julian?
CLAIRE:
(Proudly)
My gentleman caller.
A brief pause, with the sense that the investigators are sharing a look.
KURT:
Suppose he’s the one responsible for your condition, then.
CLAIRE:
Not like you think.
I am a pure vessel. I wouldn’t have been chosen otherwise.
ELLIE:
Oh.
CLAIRE:
But he was the one who told me I’d been chosen.
He gave me the dark water to drink.
ERNEST:
What’s the dark water?
CLAIRE:
From the holy well. It carries the Mother’s blessing.
ISKANDAR:
Did Julian tell you that, as well?
CLAIRE:
Of course. He trusts me.
ISKANDAR:
Where is he now?
CLAIRE:
Not here.
He went ahead, to the holy place. He’ll come back for me when it’s time.
ERNEST:
Where’s the holy place?
CLAIRE:
I don’t know. Not yet. But he’ll take me there soon.
ELLIE:
Did you know…this was going to happen to you? When you drank the water he gave you?
CLAIRE:
Oh, yes.
Everyone thinks I’m just a silly little girl, and he tricked me, but that’s not true at all.
I wouldn’t have been chosen if I wasn’t worthy.
Soon, I’ll give birth to the new world.
KURT:
What does that mean, exactly?
CLAIRE:
(Beginning to sound exhausted)
You’ll see.
It won’t be a secret much longer.
KURT:
Maybe you could give us a hint. Let us know what to expect.
CLAIRE:
I can’t.
But it won’t be long now.
MARJANI:
She should rest.
JASMINE:
Thank you, Claire. You’ve been very helpful.
(To the investigators)
I’ll take you back down to the parlor.
There is a rustling of fabric as CLAIRE is tucked back into bed, and JASMINE, MARJANI, and the investigators leave the room. The door clicks shut behind them.
Scene 2: Int. Whitmoor Area Women’s Home, parlor – Day
As the investigators, JASMINE, and MARJANI arrive in the parlor, the fire in the hearth crackles.
JASMINE:
So. Now you’ve met Claire.
KURT:
Yeah. We sure have.
ELLIE:
I understand why you wanted to show us.
I don’t think a description would have done her condition justice.
ISKANDAR:
I’m glad she’s receiving medical care.
Have you met this Julian? Has he been back to look in on her?
MARJANI:
No.
We don’t get many visitors in Whitmoor. Someone would have noticed him.
JASMINE:
We’re not entirely certain he exists.
MARJANI:
I think he does.
Whether anything else Claire believes about him is accurate, though, I couldn’t say.
KURT:
So what’s wrong with her?
I’ve never seen anything like that.
MARJANI:
I’m not certain.
I can only guess that it’s an infection of some kind, but even the doctors in York couldn’t identify it.
JASMINE:
We’re also not sure how far along she is.
MARJANI:
She’s not the first.
There was another girl a month ago. Her condition wasn’t as advanced, but she was very unwell. She couldn’t even speak.
She passed in the hospital. I wasn’t informed as to what happened.
JASMINE:
It wasn’t your fault.
The doctors wouldn’t even let you see her.
MARJANI:
I know.
But maybe if I kept her here, or—
JASMINE:
Don’t.
That doesn’t lead anywhere good, and you don’t deserve it.
ERNEST:
I know what it is.
At least, I think I do.
It’s a botanical blight. I’ve been studying it for the past couple of months.
She looks exactly like my specimens do in the advanced stages. Or what they would look like, if they were people, and not plants.
A shocked pause.
ERNEST:
Yes, I understand that I sound insane.
ELLIE:
(Gently)
I don’t think it’s possible to sound sane in these circumstances.
ERNEST:
Professor Ragnarsson contacted me about my work before he died.
I believe he saw signs of the same blight on the island.
Come to think of it, I haven’t been able to isolate a vector of transmission. Maybe the water Claire drank—
(Interrupting himself)
It can’t be groundwater contamination. I’ve seen it travel between pots in the lab…
JASMINE:
Assuming you’re correct, which is quite the assumption, Ragnarsson is dead, and no one is going back to that island.
We don’t have much to work with.
ELLIE:
You mentioned that the professor sent you a parcel.
JASMINE:
He did.
I was considering getting rid of it after he died.
ISKANDAR:
If you wouldn’t mind, we’d like to take a look at it.
JASMINE:
You can keep it.
I can’t say I won’t miss the old man. For all his faults, he was fair to me.
But he should have put that horrible place out of his mind—out of respect for the ones we lost there, if nothing else.
I plan to do what he couldn’t. To live my life here, where I have responsibilities, rather than there.
He couldn’t give it up, and it killed him.
KURT:
After everything that’s happened, I understand.
JASMINE:
I’ll get you everything he sent.
Then I’m going to ask you to leave. Claire has had enough excitement for one day, and the other residents would like their parlor back.
MARJANI:
Do you have a place to stay?
There’s a boarding house down the road, close to the telegraph office.
ELLIE:
We have it sorted out, thank you.
We appreciate your help.
MARJANI:
If you need anything, let us know.
We’d like to help Claire, if we can. And we’d like to put the professor to rest.
Scene 3: Ext. Whitmoor Main Street – Day
MUSIC: BRIDGE.
The door to the house closes, and the investigators step off the porch and into the street. KURT opens a car door.
ISKANDAR:
You believe she’s infected with the same blight.
ERNEST:
I mean, I’d need to look at it under a microscope—a skin sample, maybe?
But in all my specimens, the discoloration spread from the seed pods or the reproductive parts of the flower, and then from the roots.
If Claire were a plant, I’d expect it to look like, well, like that.
ISKANDAR:
How could this have happened?
ERNEST:
I told you, I don’t know.
ISKANDAR:
I’m afraid for her.
And there have been others. There might be more.
ELLIE:
I’m glad she made it here.
That other girl they mentioned—I wonder what happened to her.
KURT:
I’m going to say it, because I’ve had the thought and I hate it: what happens when she gives birth?
ERNEST:
I’m assuming she won’t.
The plants tend to die before they can seed.
ISKANDAR:
She seems to think she will.
She called herself a vessel.
KURT:
A vessel for what, though?
ERNEST:
The blight, maybe?
Maybe it has some kind of religious significance to her.
ELLIE:
It’s also possible she isn’t pregnant.
ISKANDAR:
I suppose. Malnourishment can cause the belly to swell.
(An awkward pause.)
I’d like to speak with this Julian.
KURT:
I agree.
What he has to say about all this might be very interesting.
ERNEST:
Supposing he’s real.
I could be wrong, but the fields over there might be blighted. Maybe that’s where Claire caught it.
KURT:
Does that mean we can catch it?
ERNEST:
Well, until about half an hour ago, I’d have said no.
ELLIE:
Let’s take a look at the professor’s parcel.
I’d like to get to the estate before nightfall.
KURT:
It’s heavy.
KURT places a wooden box on one of the car seats and opens it, the wood creaking. He removes the straw and crumpled paper surrounding its contents.
ELLIE:
Here. The letter.
RAGNARSSON:
(Narrating)
Jasmine:
I hope you will forgive the prying I had to do in order to find your new address. I am sending you the artifact from the island, as well as some of my translations, for safekeeping. Hopefully, I will be able to recover them from you soon, but at the moment I need to protect my research. I have been followed around the university since August, some time after you left Oxford, and now it appears my office has been broken into.
It sounds preposterous, I know, but the only explanation I have been able to come up with is that the cult that built the temple on the island somehow still exists. I am hesitant to present this theory to the police, especially with what happened the first time I tried to make a report, but I am telling you so you can take whatever steps are necessary to keep yourself safe. I could still be wrong—I hope I am—but whoever it is, they are persistent.
I hope it will not come to it, but I may have to get rid of all my research to keep whomever is following me off my trail. I do not relish the thought of starting again. I fear, however, that this strange organization may decide to attack me and even end my life in order to prevent me from using the knowledge I have gained against them. If that is the case, I will gladly try to replicate my findings later, from a safe location.
I will try to contact you again soon with more information. In the meantime, keep your eyes open. You were wise to get out of London.
Please let me know when you receive this package, and if you’ve spoken to anyone else from the team recently. I will try to contact Mr. O’Mara in Dublin and see if the artifact he appropriated is still in his possession.
E.R.
ERNEST:
He wasn’t going to ever give this up, was he?
I guess Milton was right about that.
KURT lifts a heavy object out of the box with a grunt of effort. Straw and paper fall to the pavement.
KURT:
Great. We’ve got a…thing.
ELLIE:
(Narrating)
It’s a stone, I think, twelve inches or so across and rounded like a dome on one side. In the thin, gray daylight, it shimmers like spilled oil.
The edges bear the marks of the chisel that removed it from its resting place.
ERNEST:
This must be one of the artifacts Nigel was looking for.
KURT:
But what is it, exactly?
Just decorative, I guess.
ELLIE:
(Narrating)
On the stone’s domed face, lines of symbols I can’t read spiral toward the center. They’re crude, slapdash—you’d almost think they were random scratches, but something tells me they have meaning.
My eyes follow them around the spiral.
I want to touch the place where they converge.
KURT:
You all right there, dear?
ELLIE:
What?
Oh. Yes, I’m fine.
Let’s get to the estate. It must be noon already, and I want—
I want to make sure nothing’s happened to Aurelia.
KURT:
I’m sure she’s fine.
Besides, she’s all the way up there on the hill, surrounded by a fence. I’m more worried about us peasants down here.
ELLIE:
Very funny.
ISKANDAR:
Do you see the man there? Under the awning, back down the road.
He’s watching us.
ERNEST:
I think we’re all just a little tense.
You know, after, well, everything.
ISKANDAR:
He hasn’t moved in several minutes.
KURT:
It’s probably nothing, but just in case, let’s move on, shall we?
The car doors open, and the suspension creaks as our investigators climb in. One by one, the doors slam shut.
Scene 4: Int. Westmont Estate – Day
MUSIC: BRIDGE.
The music fades out, and a rich, sonorous doorbell rings, echoing through wide, empty halls. There’s a pause as the bell goes quiet, and then the door opens, heavy and slow with the creaking of hinges.
JONATHAN:
Good afternoon.
I’m afraid the estate isn’t taking visitors today.
ELLIE:
Jonathan, it’s me.
A brief pause as JONATHAN examines and finally recognizes her.
JONATHAN:
Miss Eloise?
ELLIE:
Hi. Hello. I’m here.
JONATHAN:
I had no idea you were coming.
ELLIE:
I’d have sent a message, but…
There’s been a lot going on. Can we come in?
JONATHAN:
Of course, of course.
And these are…?
ELLIE:
Oh, sorry.
Kurt Cross, private detective. Iskandar Meshkia of the Metropolitan Police, and Dr. Ernest Wilde. He’s a botanist.
JONATHAN:
You’ve always kept interesting company.
ELLIE:
Is Aurelia here?
JONATHAN:
She is. I’ll have someone fetch her.
The investigators enter the estate, and JONATHAN leaves them in the foyer. Their footsteps echo, as do the steps of various staff members rushing back and forth in the background.
ELLIE:
What’s all this?
KURT:
(Low whistle)
I knew your family had money, but…
Is that a suit of armor?
ELLIE:
Yes, that’s Percival. Fifteenth century.
Aurelia named them all.
KURT:
There are more sets of armor?
AURELIA:
(Off mike)
Eloise?
AURELIA rushes in with a flurry of footsteps and rustling fabric; contrary to the fashion of the time, her skirts are long.
ELLIE:
Hi, sweetheart.
AURELIA:
No one told me you were coming!
ELLIE:
I know. It was a bit of a last-minute thing.
(With a little trepidation)
How are you?
AURELIA:
Oh, busy!
Aunt Eleanor is arranging my debut for the spring.
ELLIE:
Aunt Eleanor?
I’m so sorry.
AURELIA:
She hasn’t changed much.
But she’s in York most of the time. Sends me scolding letters.
I have dresses to try on, and dancing lessons, and the whole house has to be cleaned from top to bottom.
She wanted Grandfather’s books packed away, but I haggled her down to just cleaning up the library and sending a few of the older volumes out to be rebound.
ELLIE:
You did well.
AURELIA:
I learned from you.
(A beat)
Who are your friends?
ELLIE:
How rude of me. Aunt Eleanor would never let me hear the end of it.
This is Kurt, and Ernest, and Iskandar.
Gentlemen, this is my cousin, Aurelia.
AURELIA:
(Stiffly polite)
Pleased to meet you.
ELLIE:
They’re—
I’m helping them with an investigation. We’re here to interview some people in town, and I insisted that we stop by to check on you.
(A brief, worried pause)
You’re sure you’re all right? Besides having to hear from Aunt Eleanor, of course.
AURELIA:
Oh, yes.
You know how terribly boring it gets here. It’s nice to have something to do.
And the dresses really are lovely. Do you want to see them?
ELLIE:
I will, I promise.
Would it be all right if we spent the night? Or a couple of nights, I suppose?
Or would that get in the way of the preparations?
AURELIA:
Not at all!
I’ll go tell Jonathan.
She rushes off.
ELLIE:
She’s gotten so tall.
KURT:
How old is she?
ELLIE:
She’ll be…no, she just turned eighteen last month.
I still think of her as just a kid. I’m getting old.
KURT:
No, you’re not. Trust me.
She’s eighteen? She seems…well, like a kid.
ELLIE:
I guess she does.
I was her age when I had my debut. I was engaged pretty soon afterward.
Aurelia didn’t even mention marriage. I’m not sure she understands what a debut is for.
She’s too young for all this.
KURT:
You probably were, too.
ELLIE:
Maybe.
ISKANDAR:
It was a poor match?
ELLIE:
You could say that.
ISKANDAR:
I’m sorry.
ELLIE:
It won’t be the same for Aurelia. I’ll make sure of it.
KURT:
Well, other than all that, she seems fine.
No crop diseases or cult activity here.
ERNEST:
Not yet, anyway.
AURELIA returns at a more measured pace.
ELLIE:
Everything all right?
AURELIA:
We’ll have four bedrooms ready by this evening. They just need airing out.
(Hopefully)
Unless you’d like to stay with me?
ELLIE:
Of course I do.
We’ll raid the pantry and stay up much too late.
AURELIA:
Oh, wonderful.
I’ve missed you.
KURT:
Say, Miss Aurelia, we happen to be looking for a book. One of your grandfather’s.
Do you think you could help us out?
AURELIA:
Which one?
ERNEST:
We’re not sure yet. We’ve only seen it referred to as the “Westmont book.”
It might have something to do with a disease that affects plants.
Or maybe an island in the North Atlantic, with a temple built underground?
AURELIA:
I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like that.
I think Grandfather had an old atlas. Oh, and a catalogue of flowers, I think from the Galapagos?
KURT:
And you don’t have anything, I don’t know, written in blood or bound in human skin or anything? Any spell books?
AURELIA:
(Laughing)
No, of course not.
There are some books about magic, though. One about Isis, and one about witches in Europe. They’re just paper and ink, though.
ELLIE:
What about anything in code? Or with strange symbols?
I feel like I remember seeing something like that once.
AURELIA:
There’s that really strange old book that someone in the family wrote. It had some symbols in the back.
It was falling apart. I sent it to the shop in town, along with a couple of others.
They’re probably ready by now, but no one’s had a chance to go fetch them.
ISKANDAR:
I’d be happy to check, if that’s all right with you.
KURT:
I’ll go with you.
AURELIA:
Oh, that would be so helpful. You don’t mind?
ISKANDAR:
Not at all.
(To KURT)
We’ll walk.
KURT:
You’re the boss.
You coming, Doc?
AURELIA:
You should stay here, Eloise. I have so much to show you.
ELLIE:
You boys will be fine on your own?
ERNEST:
I think we’ll manage.
Scene 5: Ext. Whitmoor side street – Day
MUSIC: BRIDGE.
A slow, somber interlude, indicating by mood the loneliness of the empty town.
ERNEST, KURT, and ISKANDAR make their way from the estate into the heart of Whitmoor, such as it is, their footsteps crunching on gravel.
ERNEST:
It’s definitely gray out there.
I knew it could spread like this, but…
It’s different seeing it in person.
I should go over and get some samples.
KURT:
Better not.
The Westmont estate has a garden. I don’t think we’ll be welcome back if we take it out with a horrible wasting disease.
ERNEST:
Good point.
ISKANDAR:
Where is everyone?
Did they leave when the blight came?
KURT:
There are people around. Look.
The shops are open.
ERNEST:
There are people out on the fields, too.
You can see them there, by the road.
KURT:
Looks like they’re watching us.
ISKANDAR:
Something’s not right here. Aside from the obvious.
ERNEST:
This was probably a nice little town at some point.
The blight will probably completely destroy it.
KURT:
It’s a shame. Ellie has some fond memories of this place.
Though she did say that she and Aurelia didn’t leave the estate much.
ISKANDAR:
There are no children.
There should be a school. There isn’t another town for miles.
KURT:
That’s—
Huh. You’re right.
ERNEST:
There’s a church up there.
And this must be the bookshop. MacDonald and Son.
KURT:
It looks nice.
Which probably means something horrible will happen in there.
ERNEST:
I hope not.
There are enough horrible things happening elsewhere in town.
KURT:
You’re thinking about the kid, aren’t you?
Claire.
ERNEST:
I’m trying not to.
ISKANDAR:
You should.
Ignoring her won’t solve anything.
ERNEST:
Well, if I start to consider the implications of a disease transmitted between plants and people, especially one this virulent and devastating to the host—
KURT:
(Interrupting him)
Someone’s coming.
The investigators stop, and another set of footsteps approaches on the gravel as OAKS moves to intercept them.
KURT:
Afternoon, uh, Officer.
OAKS:
I don’t believe I’ve seen any of you round before.
ERNEST:
Well, we’re just passing through.
OAKS:
Are you, now?
KURT:
Just going to pick up a few books, and then we’ll be out of sight and out of mind, Officer…?
OAKS:
(Ignoring the implied request for his name)
Good.
I don’t think you’ll find anything else for you here.
KURT:
Duly noted.
ERNEST:
Right, then.
We’ll just be going.
The investigators move on down the street, OAKS remaining exactly where he is. The door to the bookshop opens with a slight creak of its hinges.
Scene 6: Int. MacDonald and Son Books – Day
The door closes behind the investigators, and floorboards creak under their weight.
KURT:
You know, you could have shown him your badge.
Warrant card. Whatever.
ISKANDAR:
He already recognized us as outsiders. I don’t think my accent would have endeared us to him.
KURT:
Yeah.
(Shudder)
I don’t think I’ve met anyone so cold and unfriendly since—
Well, a long time.
ERNEST:
I don’t like this place.
ISKANDAR:
We’ll get the books and go back to the estate.
KURT:
Addressing the room in general)
Hello? Anyone here?
JAMES:
(Off mike)
Hello, hello! I’ll be right with you.
ERNEST:
(Quietly)
Sounds friendly enough.
There’s a distant clatter of tools, and JAMES approaches the front of the shop.
JAMES:
Good morning!
Or, good afternoon, I suppose. The time does fly by.
I don’t think we’ve met.
KURT:
Yeah, we’re just in town visiting a friend.
JAMES:
Well, I’m so glad you had time to stop in.
James MacDonald. I’m the Son.
Is there something in particular you’re looking for? I mostly deal in repairs and bindings, but I have a few new titles. Crome Yellow just came in this morning.
KURT:
Our friend is up at the Westmont estate. She asked us to pick up the books she sent in for repairs, if they’re ready.
JAMES:
Just finished last night. You know the Westmonts?
Well, I suppose everyone hereabouts does. They’ve been here forever. They were old money when my father was a boy.
KURT:
My secretary and very good friend is a Westmont.
She’s visiting with her cousin, and we decided we’d leave them to catch up and go fetch the books.
JAMES:
Let me get them for you.
(He walks away, still talking)
It’s been ages since I’ve had to do any work for the estate. Lord Gordon sent books over all the time, but he’s been gone, oh, three or four years now.
I was so delighted to get the order—and some books I haven’t seen before!
ERNEST:
(Quietly)
He seems nice.
ISKANDAR:
Perhaps too nice.
JAMES:
(Approaching again)
Here we are.
Six volumes from Lord Gordon’s collection, all good as new.
This one didn’t have a binding, but I thought brown leather couldn’t be a bad choice.
KURT:
(Reading)
Gnostikos and the Mysteries, by Lord William Westmont.
JAMES:
It’s a fascinating text.
It was all but loose paper when it arrived here last week.
Now, the main text, Lord William’s treatise, is all present. Not a page missing—I checked it twice.
As for the strange addendum, I can’t be certain. It’s only one page, but it seems like there should be more.
ISKANDAR:
“Strange?”
JAMES:
Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the text.
Lord William is…rambling, at best, but his work is more or less coherent. It’s a detailed description of various forms of Gnostic thought.
Salvation gained through knowledge, and ignorance as the ultimate sin, that sort of thing.
This last page has nothing to do with any of it. Here, take a look.
A brief thump as he sets the stack of books down, and then rustling paper as he rifles through the pages.
KURT:
It’s a…flower?
ISKANDAR:
It’s a map.
JAMES:
Exactly.
Fascinating, isn’t it? It’s an honor to be the latest in a long line of craftsmen to work on it.
I know you’re probably going to be back on the road soon, but if you talk to Miss Aurelia, and she has any insights, I’d be so grateful if you’d stop by and share them with me.
KURT:
No promises, but I guess we can try.
JAMES:
Brilliant. Thank you.
ERNEST:
So, uh, how long have you been in business here?
JAMES:
My father was here thirty years, mostly mending family Bibles and whatever Lord Gordon needed.
I came back after the war.
ERNEST:
I was just curious.
I’ve gotten the distinct impression that the town doesn’t like outsiders.
JAMES:
Oh, they’re a little standoffish, but really it’s not so bad.
They just need a little time to get used to you.
The shelter up the street is a good example.
Not one of the ladies there was born in Whitmoor, and they’re getting along fine.
ISKANDAR:
I see.
KURT:
We should probably get these back where they belong before that English rain hits.
JAMES:
Of course, of course.
Do stop by again if you get the chance.
Scene 7: Int. Westmont Estate – Night
MUSIC: BRIDGE.
We return to the Westmont estate, and the investigators are finishing dinner with AURELIA. Glasses and silverware clink.
AURELIA:
It is really lovely to have guests again.
ELLIE:
I’m so happy we could come.
You’re sure you’re all right? I know Aunt Eleanor can be a lot to deal with.
AURELIA:
Oh, she’s only here once a month or so.
I should probably turn in. Lots to do tomorrow.
Are you coming, Eloise?
ELLIE:
You go ahead. I’ll show the gentlemen to their rooms.
KURT:
We’ll leave the books in the library.
AURELIA:
Good night, all.
She pushes her chair back from the table and, politely, back in, before leaving the room.
ELLIE:
Did you find it?
ERNEST:
It has to be this one.
ELLIE:
(Reading)
Gnostikos and the Mysteries.
I remember this one. I think I gave up ten pages in.
KURT:
Then you missed the good stuff. Look in the back.
Pages turning.
ELLIE:
What is this?
ISKANDAR:
We were hoping you would tell us.
ELLIE:
It looks like a flower. A lily.
And some kind of diagram?
(Reading)
“A curse is upon my house, upon my father and my brothers, and upon me, for we have turned away from God the Creator…
ESTRILDA:
(Fading in)
…and followed a path of death. By the will of my father I traveled to the hollow island, and by his will six times I drank from the well beneath the temple. Six times I have committed a mortal sin in the eyes of God and my father, but I could not allow the creatures to live. As penance I have rung the temple bell every sunset for all the years that I lived there. I have sealed the well by means of my craft, but I fear that in enough time and the efforts of evil men it may be opened again.
The marks must be placed in the temple. The key of the hierophant is needed to unlock the inner chambers. When the marks are placed, all that is needed is to ring the temple bell, once for each year of my imprisonment.
This is now my penance: to tell my tale to all who have ears to hear, so that if the day comes that the well is opened no others may suffer as I have suffered. May the flower planted in this terrible place bloom again when it is needed.
ELLIE:
(Reading, fading in)
May God have mercy on us all.
ERNEST:
“Green grows the lily.”
KURT:
What?
ERNEST:
It was in Ragnarsson’s writings. He wrote it over and over. “Green grows the lily.”
ELLIE:
This must be a map of the underground structure.
I guess it’s a…a ritual of some kind. To seal up the well, whatever that means. The flower is a visual aid, maybe.
ISKANDAR:
Claire said she drank something. Something that caused her condition.
KURT:
What does it mean, “I couldn’t allow the creatures to live”?
ISKANDAR:
Nothing good.
KURT:
Great.
ERNEST:
So, theoretically speaking, if someone is drinking from it, the well has become unsealed.
ELLIE:
Well, that’s a solvable problem. Theoretically.
All you have to do is go to the island, get into the temple, and draw these marks at the places indicated on the map.
Then you ring the bell. Once for every year this person spent there.
KURT:
And how many is that?
ELLIE:
It doesn’t say.
ISKANDAR:
Miss Indrani has been to the temple. Perhaps she would have more answers.
ELLIE:
It’s late. We’ll go see her again tomorrow.
I’ll keep this with me for now.
ERNEST:
Milton’s associates wanted it. Better keep it safe.
ELLIE:
Don’t worry.
Just—don’t mention any of this to Aurelia, all right?
She’ll want to help, but I don’t want anything to happen to her.
KURT:
Not a word. Promise.
Scene 8: Int. The dream of an underground temple – Night
A brief moment of silence, and then a drone.
ELLIE:
(Narrating)
I dream I’m in a tunnel.
It’s dark, and the walls are slick with moisture. A damp smell presses in like someone’s cold, clammy hands on my skin.
At first, I think I’m alone, but then they emerge from the blackness: figures in dark robes, with hoods drawn over their faces. They walk with me.
They push me onward.
ELLIE:
Let go of me!
Her voice echoes, indicating a large, empty chamber. A steady drip of water also echoes. In the distance, the deep tone of a large bell sounds once, reverberating through the room.
ELLIE:
Stop! Let me go!
A splash. The bell tolls again. The drone reaches a crescendo and stops.
ELLIE:
(Screaming, distantly)
AURELIA:
Eloise?
Eloise, what’s wrong?
Wake up!
MUSIC: OUTRO.
Back to Episode 8: And In the Lowest Deep, a Lower Deep Opens Wide
Forward to Episode 10: All Who Have Ears to Hear
I’m thinking this arc will take two, maybe three more episodes. It’ll be much shorter than the first arc, though I do want to expand it with more character development in the next draft. In the meantime, thanks for reading!
Space Whales Press 
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