Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War

Below we present the complete text of Wrack and Ruin; episode 5 of Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War.

Parental Guidance Recommended: May contain content some parents may feel is inappropriate for younger children

EPISODE #5 – Wrack and Ruin

by Philip Craig Robotham

Cover illustration by Philip Craig Robotham

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Edition.

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Episode 5: Wrack and Ruin

Mort Flintwich considers himself a charlatan… but he can see ghosts – real ghosts. Claudette Moreland is a kid with a supernatural gift. And a gangster named Caesar Cordova wants to use her to win a gang war. Star City is getting stranger.

Wrack and Ruin

CAST LIST

MORT FLINTWICH

JAKE SPENCER

CAESAR CORDOVA

MADAM SOFIA MALEFICENT

LILLY MORELAND

CLAUDETTE MORELAND

WU CHENG

OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING

BRUNO

JULIO

SANCHO

LITTLE GIRL IN TRAFFIC

JIMMY

STAN

CHARITY COLLECTOR

DOCTOR

RECEPTIONIST

WAITRESS

CUSTOMER #1

CUSTOMER #2

WOMAN (KNOCKED OVER BY LILLY AND SANCHO)

MRS HARGREAVES

POLICEMAN #1 (WHO DIES)

POLICEMAN #2 (AT WAREHOUSE)

POLICEMAN #3 (AT WAREHOUSE)

SCRUG

SCRAT

OUTWORLDER #3

OUTWORLDER CAESAR

OUTWORLDER (RIVAL TO THE SPOKESBEING)

OUTWORLDER MINION (KILLED WITH SWORD ON STREET CORNER)

OUTWORLDER MINION (ATTACKING LILLY)

OUTWORLDERS

GANGSTER SPOKESMAN

GANGSTERS

OUTWORLDER LEADER

SFX ARTISTS

SCENE 31: INT – CAESAR CORDOVA’S HEADQUARTERS – EVENING
(OUTWORLDER CAESAR, MORT, JAKE, SOFIA, CLAUDETTE, LILLY, THUGS)

MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH.
NARRATOR: Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War, Episode 5: Wrack and Ruin.
It’s 1934 and Star City is a depression-era town gripped by unemployment and crime, but in its shadows a hidden and desperate war for the future of the human race is coming to a close.
Previously:
Crime-boss, Caesar Cordova, has won the gang war, but has also been possessed by outworlders, creatures from another dimension, that wish to open a gate to allow their species to invade the earth.
Mort Flintwich, a medium-for-hire who pretends to be a charlatan, has discovered a spell that might help defeat the outworlders and sets out to rescue Jesse (his kidnapped and currently comatose childhood friend) with the help of mother and daughter; Lilly and Claudette Morland.
SOUND: ECHOING FOOTSTEPS OF TUNNEL – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
MORT: (WHISPERING) Ok, mind your heads. These tunnels are rough. We’re nearly there.
LILLY: Mort, how’d you even know about this way in? I’d never heard of it.
MORT: These are bootlegging tunnels. They were once used for a smuggling operation.
LILLY: And now?
MORT: Now, Lil? Now they’re used for moving people without being seen.
LILLY: At least they don’t smell like the sewers. More loamy, you know? But I don’t understand why I never knew about them.
MORT: You always came publicly, as a guest or employee. The time I was brought in, it was because Cordova wanted to kill me and wanted it to be anything but public.
CLAUDETTE: How’d you get out of that?
MORT: (SMUGLY) I was very smart, Claudette. Let’s just say I’d made arrangements to release material that would have sent Cordova to the electric chair if I were to disappear.
LILLY: That’s a dangerous game to play with the likes of Cordova.
MORT: I was playing for my life. (BEAT) Look there’s the basement. Up the stairs is a kind of back-hallway beside some more stairs leading to a balcony over the foyer.
LILLY: Got it.
MORT: Lilly, you and Claudette head up there. I’m gonna take a more direct route in. Do you remember what you have to do?
CLAUDETTE: I’ve got it under control.
MORT: I’m sure you have. Stay safe and stay out of sight.
SOUND: FEET ON STAIRS (LILLY AND CLAUDETTE) – FADING.
MORT: Okay, here goes.
JAKE: You know, this is pretty brave, Mort.
MORT: Are you still here, Jake?
JAKE: Where else would I be? It’s not like ghosts have better things to do than watch you get into trouble.
MORT: Yeah, well. I don’t do brave. You know that.
JAKE: Correction. You don’t do smart. Smart would involve being anywhere but here right now. Brave and stupid. That’s you, my friend.
MORT: Thanks for the pep-talk. It’s been a big help.
JAKE: No problem.
MORT: You’re not worried about going in here with me? The outworlders eat ghosts, you know?
JAKE: Finally, you’re willing to acknowledge–
MORT: Seriously Jake? This is more proof that you’re not a ghost. I doubt they are any threat to you at all.
JAKE: I’ll be fine, but not because I’m not a ghost. I know how to stay out of sight of those things.
MORT: Yeah, yeah. But something’s not right.
JAKE: Huh?
MORT: I fell like I’m missing something. Like I almost realized something and let it slip away.
JAKE: You mean like trying to figure out who is behind Cordova?
MORT: Damn it. That’s it!
JAKE: You’re welcome.
MORT: Cordova’s not smart enough for this. And there’s no way he could have learned magic so fast on his own. He was mundane a month or two ago.
JAKE: It hardly matters now. Even if you did know who was behind it all, you’d still be going ahead with this, wouldn’t you?
MORT: I guess so, but I’ve got no idea what kind of backup he may have in place.
JAKE: Too late now.
MORT: Yeah. The girls will already be in position.
JAKE: Okay I’m hiding now. Don’t forget the sword. If it holds any magic against these things, you’re gonna need it.
SOUND: SWORD BEING DRAWN – LET IT FINISH
MORT: (DEEP BREATH) Okay. Let’s go kill some monsters.
SOUND: DOOR PUSHES OPEN – LET IT FINISH.
SOUND: DOZENS OF GUNS COCKING – LET IT FINISH.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Welcome, Mr Flintwich. Come inside. We’ve been expecting you.
MORT: (GROANS) That tears it. (BEAT) (BRAZENING IT OUT) Mr. Cordova. I love what you’ve done with the place. The corpses are a ghoulish touch.
OUTWORLDER THUG: Smart guy, huh?
MORT: They don’t quite match the marble floor and columns, though. Too much red. (BEAT) No-one have the time to take ’em outside?
SOFIA: Hello, Mort. It’s nice to finally meet you. I see you’ve been taking care of Claudette for us.
MORT: Who the hell are you? No, don’t tell me. You’re the one who’s been pulling the Mob-Boss’ strings.
SOFIA: (SARCASM) Why, Mr. Flintwich, what could you mean? Mr. Cordova is the one in charge.
CLAUDETTE: I’m sorry Mort, they grabbed us as soon as we got to the top of the stairs. Granny betrayed us.
MORT: Granny?
OUTWORLDER GANGSTER: Shut up you little cow.
SOUND: HARD SLAP AND BODY DROP – LET IT FINISH.
CLAUDETTE: WHIMPERS IN PAIN.
MORT: You’ll pay for that you son of a…
SOUND: STRUGGLE, SOME BLOWS – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: Ugh! (GASPING FOR BREATH) Damn… you–
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: There is nothing you can do, mortal. We have you, and while you don’t have the kind of power this girl has, you have enough to make you useful in our ritual.
MORT: What are you going to do to me?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: We will drain you like a battery. (TO THE OUTWORLDER MINIONS) Tie him up and put him on the outside edge of the circle opposite her.
OUTWORLDER GANGSTER: And what of the woman? What shall we do with her?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Put her where the girl can see her, beside the man. If the girl refuses to cooperate, slit the woman’s throat.
CLAUDETTE: Mom!
LILLY: (COUGHING) Don’t worry about me, Claudette. It’ll be alright.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (LAUGHING) Oh no it won’t. But I’m feeling merciful. I won’t destroy you until after you’ve seen the ruin you have brought upon the face of the earth. (TO HIS MINIONS) Search them!
OUTWORLDER GANGSTER: Not much here. The girl has a pocket full of paper flowers. The man is carrying a pair of swords. What do you want us to do with them?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Burn the flowers. Pathetic shrivelled things. Mockeries of life and just as fragile. As for the swords… Pah. They are no threat to us. Toss them in the corner.
OUTWORLDER GANGSTER: Yes, Master.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (TO MORT) Before I forget, Mr. Flintwich. It appears that we are holding a friend of yours, Jesse I believe.
(TO SCRUG) You!
OUTWORLDER GANGSTER #2: Master?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Go upstairs and kill the vegetable.
LILLY AND MORT: No!
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Ah, delicious. Your concern for each other is so easily transmuted into fear. Tasty.
LILLY: (COUGHING) Claudette, don’t cooperate!
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: What? You’d risk your life, the life of your child, for this… thing? Who is this person that you would die to protect her? She is barely more than a corpse. She’s so deep inside her own mind, she has almost no brain activity!
LILLY: Don’t cooperate Claudette. Don’t do it!
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Start cutting the mother’s throat.
CLAUDETTE: If you touch her, I’ll never help you. Never!
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (ANGRY) You defy me! You think you can bargain with me? (LAUGHING) But what’s a few minutes when balanced against control of this world’s future?
SCRUG: Master?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (TO SCRUG) Leave the thing, Jesse, in the bed upstairs for now. (TO SOFIA) Witch! Where is the book?
SOFIA: Mort has brought it with him. Allow me to get it for you, master.
(TO MORT) You poor little man, Flintwich. Playing the hero, putting together the clues, setting out to thwart our plans, and failing to achieve any of your goals.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Stop gloating. There will be time for that later.
SOFIA: (GRUNTS PULLING BOOK FROM MORT’S HANDS) Ungh. Here, I’ve got it. Let’s bring about the end of the world!
MUSIC: TIME PASSING SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

ACT 3

SCENE 32: INT- CAESAR’S HEADQUARTERS – ALMOST MIDNIGHT
(OUTWORLDER CAESAR, MORT, JAKE, SOFIA, CLAUDETTE, LILLY, OUTWORLDER GANGSTERS)

LILLY: I’m freezing.
MORT: Yeah. This many outworlders in one spot will do that.
LILLY: What? Lower the temperature?
MORT: Yeah.
LILLY: (BEAT) So…?
MORT: So, what?
LILLY: (SARCASTIC)So, do you come here often? (BEAT)What do you think? (BEAT THEN EMPHASISING) How are we going to get out of this mess?
MORT: The hell if I know.
LILLY: Don’t you have a plan?
MORT: My plan involved breaking in here with magical swords, backed up by some powerful magical artillery on the balcony, and slicing and dicing my way through a bunch of alien monsters before anyone was the wiser.
LILLY: Great plan.
MORT: What can I say? I’ve got no gift for strategy.
LILLY: You idiot. We waltzed in here at the exact time Cordova was expecting us. They must have read his memories.
MORT: Though I’m not sure I could be expected to know they could do that.
LILLY: (COUGHING) We’ve handed them Claudette. They’ll be able to invade without anyone to stop them. We’ve doomed the damn world.
MORT: Are you wishing you’d agreed to stay behind with Claudette now?
LILLY: I can’t believe I started to think you were smart. (BEAT) We’re going to die if you don’t come up with something. (STARTS COUGHING BADLY).
MORT: Easy Lilly, I’m working on it.
LILLY: (RECOVERING) Mort, something’s happening.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (TO SOFIA) The midnight hour approaches, witch. Is all in readiness?
SOFIA: Almost. Is there a reason you want to recreate the spirit trap that Cordova created with his original gate rather than allowing your brethren through unfettered?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Do you presume to question me?
SOFIA: No, only it takes more power to contain them than it would to let them in.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Of course. You are smarter than you look… (BEAT) and correct, I do not merely want to bring my fellows through into this realm.
SOFIA: Why not? There would be great reward for the one who achieves it.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: True, but I would be enslaved by the masters once more, and having been cut off from their compulsions, I am enjoying my freedom.
SOFIA: And you wish to be a master yourself?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Yes, exactly. I will release them when the existing masters pledge their allegiance to me.
SOFIA: And then…?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Then I will rule as their emperor.
SOFIA: (BEAT) I see. A dangerous gamble. They will turn you inside out if your plan fails.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: It won’t. And if it even looks like it might, you will be the first to die.
SOFIA: (BEAT) Then Master, you should know that Cordova didn’t align the mirrors properly. They will need to be aligned across the circle he inscribed on the floor.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (SUSPICIOUS) What? I find no trace of this in his mind.
SOFIA: Of course not. The fool did not wait for me before he attempted the ritual. He guessed at my instructions. The gate could not be held open and stabilised, as you know. Set your minions to the task.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Do you presume to give me orders, witch?
SOFIA: Never, master. But you would do well to follow my… advice. See the way it directs the magical energy away from the center of the circle. It cannot work in its current form.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Hmmm. Minions, do as she… “advises”.
OUTWORLDER GANGSTERS: Yes, master.
SOUND: BUSTLE AND ACTIVITY – ESTABLISH UNDER AND STOP
SOFIA: (STAGE WHISPER) Alright, Mort, while their attention is elsewhere… I’m loosening your bonds. Here, take this paper.
SOUND: CRUMPLED PAPER BEING PRESSED INTO SOMEONE’S HAND – LET IT FINISH.
SOFIA: When the time comes, read it aloud. The swords are behind you and to the left.
MORT: (ANGRY REPLY STAGE WHISPER) And why should I do anything you ask?
SOFIA: Because, if you do, there’s a chance we may all live to see the dawn. And if you don’t we’ll all die.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: What are you doing over there, witch?
SOFIA: (TO MORT) Take this, pig!
SOUND: FACE SLAP – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: Ugh!
SOFIA: Petty little charlatans like you, trading on your thimble full of power, always irritate me.
(TO OUTWORLDER CAESAR) Are you sure you won’t let me have this one for a little while after the ceremony, master? I would so enjoy wiping that defiant expression off his weasel face.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Be silent. You are lucky I’m willing to honour our agreement and leave you with your life.
SOFIA: You need me.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Only if the circle holds.
SOFIA: And if it doesn’t?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: The new arrivals will kill you. I can only protect you if the circle holds and they are bound to my will.
SOFIA: The circle will hold. (BEAT) Ugh! Hey!
OUTWORLDER GANGSTER: Look out, witch.
SOUND: RATTLE OF CANDLESTICK – UNDER AND FINISH.
SOFIA: Get out of my way, oaf! I need to get into position.
LILLY: (STAGE WHISPER) What is she doing? I can’t see.
MORT: (STAGE WHISPER) (AMAZED) She’s… she’s misaligning the candles and mirrors. I think she’s betraying Cordova, or whatever that thing inside him is. (STRUGGLES A MOMENT, GRUNTING WITH EFFORT ETC.) I’m loose!
LILLY: Don’t trust her. Everything she’s doing is aimed at saving her own skin. Now get me loose too. (BEAT) Mort?
MORT: Lilly… I…
LILLY: Mort, no!
MORT: I’m going to go with her plan.
LILLY: But…
MORT: Think about it. What will we do if we run for it? Claudette is under heavy guard, there are at least 12 of his possessed lieutenants in here and they’ve all got guns – genuine solid guns from our solid human reality.
LILLY: It’s too risky.
MORT: And in a little while, there will be even more of those monsters flooding into our world. This is our best chance.
LILLY: But you don’t know who she is, or even if she’s telling the truth.
MORT: True, but I think I can make a guess. There are rumours about a crazy old Romany woman in Star City. Goes by the name of Madame Sofia. She’s supposed to be able to see the future.
LILLY: Even if she is this woman, what does that prove? She handed us over to Cordova. She’s on that monster’s side.
MORT: Perhaps. But she’s messing with the ritual, sabotaging it. I think it’s our best shot.
LILLY: Well, if you get us killed, I’m going to rip you apart.
MORT: (AMUSED) Oh, really?
LILLY: Oh, shut up. (STARTS COUGHING)
MORT: Jake? You there?
JAKE: I’m here.
MORT: Jake? Where…? Oh. What are you doing in the floor?
JAKE: If I pushed my face through a wall, I’d be far more noticeable.
MORT: Uh… fine. Listen, I want you to get out of here.
JAKE: What? You just called me.
MORT: I mean it. Go. Now. There’s going to be so much wild energy flying around in here soon that if you are a real ghost, there’s a good chance it’ll destroy you.
JAKE: Nothing doing, boss.
MORT: What?
JAKE: I’m sticking with you. It’s time you got your proof, one way or the other.
MORT: Jake…
JAKE: If I’m not real and you get offed tonight, then that’s curtains for me anyway, right?
MORT: But…
JAKE: No, I’m not going anywhere.
MORT: Damnit. Years of sneaking about, and tonight you decide to grow a spine.
JAKE: Yeah, I love you too, Mort. See ya.
LILLY: (PANTING SLIGHTLY) Talking to one of your ghosts again?
MORT: Maybe.
SOUND: CLOCK STARTS STRIKING MIDNIGHT – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: It’s time. Witch! Let the ritual begin.
SOFIA: Little girl, begin reading your part now, if you want your mother to live. Master? You must join in too.
CLAUDETTE, SOFIA, AND OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (CHANTING) Zinnia, Alstroemeria, Trachelium, Cyclamen, Ranunculus, Hypericum, Phalaenopsis, Dee.
SOUND: BAMF! – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: Something’s happening.
LILLY: A circle of blue light is opening up in one of the mirrors.
MORT: It’s a portal. They’re coming through.
SOUND: WHOOSHING – LET IT CONTINUE UNDER.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Witness my victory, mortals. I bring my kind back to your world as conquerors. (EVIL LAUGH) Muahahahaha! See how they pour through into the circle.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: You have done well, minion.
SOUND: ELECTRICAL ZAP! – LET IT FINISH.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: But what is this barrier? Remove it so we can renew our ties of loyalty. Great reward I bring you for completing this service.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I think not, “former” master. I am free and you are fenced behind that wall of power. If you ever wish to know freedom yourself, you will promise fealty to me and to my brood.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: (OUTRAGED) You dare to seek MY enslavement?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Yours and that of those other masters who follow you. I control this gate and the barrier that surrounds it. I can keep you enclosed here for eternity.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: Think you so? When enough of us are here we will be able to break through.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I don’t doubt it, but it will take millennia. And you will be forced to feed off each other in the mean-time, reducing our already depleted numbers to a level our race may never recover from.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: You threaten starvation?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I do. And meanwhile there is an entire world out here full of tasty souls for the taking. I am happy to wait. I doubt if these creatures will even exist in another ten thousand years – without us to farm them properly.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: And you think I will be swayed by the short term gain?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Yes, I do. Why play the long game, when a simple promise of fealty will grant you freedom? You won’t even lose your supremacy over your broods.
TRAPPED OUTWORLDER LEADER: So, you are determined to enslave your betters.
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I will hold ultimate sway, but I will leave you your bases of power. And all in exchange for a simple little… (BEAT) Wait, what is that? A second portal is opening in the remaining mirror. It’s…
SOUND: BAMF! – LET IT FINISH.
SOUND: RUSHING WIND SOUND INCREASES
SOFIA: (TRIUMPHANT) It’s dragging those who are coming through the first portal out and into another plane. A stronger one. Where the walls between our worlds are not so thin. Mort, Claudette, now!
MORT, CLAUDETTE AND SOFIA: Narcissum, Ranunculous, Protea, Trachelium!
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You… cannot do this! The girl! The girl is powering this spell, but her flesh is… weak and tired! I am going to destroy her!
CLAUDETTE: Mort!!!?
OUTWORLDER CAESAR: No. (STRUGGLING) No. I will not be…
SOUND: TEARING AS CAESAR AND THE OUTWORLDER SEPARATE. – LET IT FINISH.

*The two voices outworlder spokesbeing and Caesar are separate once more from this point.

OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: Why can’t I raise my gun?
CAESAR: You’re growing weaker and I won’t let you, that’s why. We’re separating, monster. No more will you rule over the body of Caesar Cordova!
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: You may be strong, insect, but the same cannot be said for your minions and they are still under my control. (TO OUTWORLDER MINIONS) Destroy the girl.
OUTWORLDER MINION: I am close enough to finish the male off, master. I will kill him for you.
LILLY: Not if I can trip you up, you won’t.
OUTWORLDER MINION: Ugh!
SOUND: POSSESSED GANGSTER TRIPS AND FALLS WITH A THUD – LET IT FINISH
CLAUDETTE: Mom! The rest of them are almost on top of me!
SOFIA: (HURRIEDLY) Be dispossessed of these mortal bodies, fiends. Begone. Mort… Claudette… help me finish the ritual.
MORT, CLAUDETTE, AND SOFIA: Trachelium, Cyclamen, Hypericum, Dee.
SOUND: BAMF AND WOOSH OF DISPOSSESSION – LET IT FINISH.
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: No! I am betrayed! Aaaa-aaargh!

*The voices of outworlders and Cordova’s henchmen separate from this point on.

OUTWORLDERS: (AD LIB) Master! We have been cast out! We are loose! Etc.
GANGSTERS: (AD LIB) Boss! What’s happened? Are we okay? Etc.
CORDOVA: You men, get out of here, now!
GANGSTERS: (AD LIB) Sure. You got it. Yeah. I ain’t gonna argue with that. Etc.
SOUND: DEPARTING FEET – LET IT FINISH.
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: You have cast me out, but if I am free of this body, I am also free once more to kill the girl.
CLAUDETTE: Mort, help!
MORT: Run for it, Claudette!
CLAUDETTE: I can’t. I’m powering the portal spells. I can’t leave the circle’s edge.
MORT: I’ll grab the swords.
SOUND: SWORD BEING DRAWN – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: You’re not getting past me, monster.
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: You may be able to halt me for a moment, but what about the rest of us? Can you prevent my minions from overwhelming you?
SOFIA: Barrethion Formis!
SOUND: BAMF – LET IT FINISH.
OUTWORLDERS: Master, the witch has trapped us. She has placed a wall of force in our path. We cannot get through.
SOFIA: They cannot approach and aid you now, monster. You are alone.
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: You think I am trapped in here with you? No, mortal. You are trapped in here with me. I’m not a physical part of this reality. But I can still affect it… like this…
SOUND: RIPPING OF FABRIC – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: SCREAMS IN PAIN. Aaargh!
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: Is it worth it? Protecting the weak little girl? Suffering like this?
MORT: Ugh! Toying with me, monster? She’s worth 20 of you and you’ll regret giving me the chance to get this close to you. Take that…
SOUND: FLESHY SQUELCH OF SWORD DRIVEN INTO MONSTER – LET IT FINISH.
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: (GASPS)What? It… penetrates. It… hurts.
MORT: More importantly… Ugh…
SOUND: SWORD BEING RIPPED FREE – LET IT FINISH
MORT: It’s a polished iron weapon and it kills your kind… but right now it can… (GRUNTS) force… (GRUNTS) you back… (GRUNT) into the circle.
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: The portal has me in its grip!
MORT: Why isn’t it sucking you through?
LILLY: (COUGHING) It’s still anchored to its brood. The barrier that kept them from attacking you is holding them in place and their connection to the one you’re fighting is keeping it from being sucked into the portal.
SOFIA: That’s easily fixed. Barethium Terminus!
SOUND: BAMF – LET IT FINISH
OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING: No! Nooooo! (FADING WAIL)
LILLY: That’s it! They are all being pulled through.
OUTWORLDER MINION: No. I’m being dragged. But I can still take one of you with me, mortal.
LILLY: No!
SOUND: TEARING – LET IT FINISH
LILLY: It’s got me! Ugh! Its claws are cutting into me.
CORDOVA: Hang on. I have you! I won’t let go.
OUTWORLDER MINION: Can you anchor her against the combined pull of my brood, mortal?
MORT: Cordova, the sword. Catch! (GRUNTS) Ungh!
CORDOVA: (GRUNTS AS HE CATCHES IT) Ugh. Here, monster… take this!
SOUND: THRUST OF SWORD INTO SOMETHING SOFT AND WET – LET IT FINISH.
LILLY: (RELIEF AS IT LETS GO) Ahh.
OUTWORLDER MINION: (SCREAMS – FADING WAIL) Aaaaaaaargh.
SOUND: TEARING SOUND WITH SPLASHING DRIPS – UNDER.
SOUND: MAGICAL BAMF – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: (IN PAIN BRIEFLY) Ugh! What now?
SOFIA: Everyone get back. Some of Lilly’s blood has fallen inside the circle.
MORT: And–
SOFIA: Blood changes magic. The circle is starting to expand and suck things from our world through.
LILLY: But Claudette’s on the circle’s edge.
CLAUDETTE: Granny, the portal’s got me! MORT: Hang on Claudette. Here I come.
CLAUDETTE: (SCREAMS WITH FRIGHT) Argh!
MORT: (BEAT) Ugh! Got you!
SOUND: BODIES THUMP TO FLOOR! – LET IT FINISH
CLAUDETTE: Mort, you’re bleeding. Are you okay?
MORT: I’m fine, but your mom needs help and the portal is widening. Get back!
SOUND: ROARING WIND INCREASES – UNDER
SOFIA: (SHOUTING ABOVE WIND) Wait. We have to close the portal. Turn over the paper. You and Claudette need to read the ritual on the back with me.
SOUND: FLUTTER OF PAPER – FADES
MORT: (CALLING BACK) No! Damn it. It’s gone. It got ripped from my hand and went through.
CLAUDETTE: What does that mean?
MORT: It means we have to run for it.
SOFIA: You can’t run. That portal will continue to expand. It will swallow the entire planet.
MORT: Then what? Stay here and die?
SOFIA: I… I don’t know. I…
MORT: Call out the words. We’ll repeat them after you.
SOFIA: But…?
MORT: We have to say the words, right? It’s the best chance we’ve got!
SOFIA: Alright, here goes… The first three words are Felis, Gerridae, Acynonix!
JAKE: Mort! I’m caught in the pull of the portal. I can’t… Aaaargh! (FADING WAIL)
MORT: Wait. No! Jake got pulled through.
SOFIA: Mort, we don’t have time. Felis, Gerridae, Acynonix.
MORT: We need to keep the gate open. I have to get Jake.
SOFIA: We can’t, Mort.
SOUND: RIPPING, TEARING, SQUEALCH OF PREDATOR COMING THROUGH.
LILLY: What the hell is that?
SOFIA: It’s the thing from the mirror dimension. The one that has been destroying the outworlders.
LILLY: It’s huge and it’s trying to get in.
CLAUDETTE: Stop it! It’s tearing at my brain. (IN PAIN) Aargh!
SOFIA: Mort, there’s no time. Say the words; Felis, Gerridae, Acynonix. (BEAT) Mort, say them!
MORT: Alright, damnit!
MORT, CLAUDETTE, SOFIA: Felis, Gerridae, Acynonix.
SOUND: EVERYTHING STARTS RUMBLING AND CRASHING – UNDER
SOFIA: Quickly! The last words are Gliridae, Chilopoda, Esox.
MORT, CLAUDETTE, AND SOFIA: Gliridae, Chilopoda, Esox!
SOUND: SHOOP NOISE ENDING THE STORM OF NOISE – LET IT FINISH – ESTABLISH THE SILENCE FOR A MOMENT
LILLY: (LONG BEAT) Is that it? Is it over?
MORT: Yes. The compulsion is broken. I’m free of Jenny’s blood debt. But Jake… Jake’s gone. (BEAT) He was real.
SOUND: CLAUDETTE’S RUSHING STEPS – LET IT FINISH
CLAUDETTE: (HAPPY TEARS) Granny! I knew you were good. I knew it!
SOFIA: Easy, little one. These old bones aren’t used to being crushed in a bear hug.
CLAUDETTE: Sorry, Granny!
LILLY: You two know each other?
SOFIA: Um… Yes… well…
CAESAR: I hate to interrupt your revels, but Lilly is hurt.
LILLY: The wound’s bloody, but it’s not deep. I’ll be fine once I get a bandage on it. (TO CORDOVA) Why’d you have to be the one to (STARTS COUGHING) save me. I still want to kill you for threatening Claudette.
MORT: (TO CORDOVA) You! This was all your fault, Cordova.
SOUND: GUN COCKS – LET IT FINISH
CAESAR: Easy, Mr. Flintwich. This gun is a precaution. I’d hate for you to do something stupid now that you’ve helped save the world.
MORT: Damn you. What do you intend to do with us?
CAESAR: I do not intend to do anything with you. Stay still. No, don’t be afraid. All I really want is to ask you to leave my house and never come back.
LILLY: Huh?
CAESAR: I owe you a debt. Rescuing me from the control of that thing… I am grateful.
SOFIA: You have what you wanted, Caesar. As I promised. Your rivals are gone.
CAESAR: Are you going to take credit for this… catastrophe, Sofia?
SOFIA: In a way, yes. The world behind the mirrors was leaking into our own. It was a matter of time before they found their way here in force.
LILLY: But if you…
SOFIA: The barrier between our worlds was too weak. They had to be sent… somewhere else, somewhere stronger.
LILLY: The second portal.
SOFIA: Exactly. But the rituals required were strong and needed powerful active individuals to enact them.
LILLY: You set Cordova after my daughter?!
SOFIA: To save the world? Yes. Yes, I did.
LILLY: Why you–?
CLAUDETTE: Mom, don’t. Granny wouldn’t have hurt me.
SOFIA: Er… no… I guess I wouldn’t have. But that’s not a good thing, Claudette. I can’t let myself… feel… for anyone. Not if I’m going to do what I need to.
CLAUDETTE: But you do feel something for me, don’t you, Granny? I can tell.
SOFIA: Yes, I guess I do, sweetie.
CLAUDETTE: Me too.
MORT: How could you stage-manage all this? It’s not possible.
SOFIA: I can’t stage-manage anything. I see the pathways of the future. That’s my gift.
MORT: But that’s not enough. I’m nobody’s puppet.
SOFIA: All the possible futures and roads spread out before me. I try to arrange things so that particular paths are followed and others are excluded.
MORT: But even so?
SOFIA: Most paths were converging on the destruction and enslavement of the human species to those Outworlders. I tried to tip the scales.
MORT: And you could see our futures?
SOFIA: No. I see the futures of mundane people, those who don’t have magical gifts. I could see the futures available to the mob bosses (Tommy Boscone and Dillon Tremere)… my apologies, you prefer to refer to each other as businessmen, yes?
CAESAR: Yes.
SOFIA: I could see their futures. But the futures of the rest of you were a blur and where theirs intersected with yours, that blurred things further. Much of what I have done was based on guess work and hope.
CLAUDETTE: In the end, you saved us.
CAESAR: You have taken many risks, and the price has been… high.SOFIA: I’m sorry, Caesar. But your choices were behind your biggest losses (your men… your eyes…) but you would be dead now without them. They were… necessary.
CAESAR: I cannot deny that I owe you a debt. But I also cannot stand the sight of you. Others who have tried to use me in the past have paid a high price for their presumption.
SOFIA: Do not think there isn’t a price I will have to pay for my meddling… but yes, you are right. I have manipulated all of you. It is my burden.
CAESAR: (DISMISSIVE) The burden of a meddlesome old woman!
SOFIA: And Caesar, for you it is not yet over. The sight you now have, along with your position as the leader of the city’s crime syndicates now that Boscone and Tremere are dead, puts you in a unique position.
CAESAR: I am not going to be your plaything, Sofia.
SOFIA: Your debt to me will be paid with interest, since I am making you this city’s guardian.
CAESAR: Debt? What rubbish is this? By what authority do you presume to direct my actions?
SOFIA: I don’t presume. The things which have happened in recent weeks have weakened the barriers between worlds, we have prevented one threat from coming through, but there are others and it will be your job to meet and neutralize them. The price, you might say, of being a survivor.
CAESAR: Bah! I will repair the ruins of my mansion. I will dispose of all these bodies. I will even threaten your lives so that this is never spoken of again. And, though I am better for this city than the bosses that are gone, I remain a criminal. I operate outside the law for my own enrichment and… now that I have sole control of the city… I am beholden to no-one, least of all you, witch.
SOFIA: As you wish. But when the time comes, you will be ready to stand. (BEAT) As for the rest of us, we should go. You are going to have a lot to do.
LILLY: Madame Sofia?
SOFIA: Yes?
LILLY: There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask. It’s about… my magic. Everyone says I’ve got some.
SOFIA: Mmmm. You do. But…
LILLY: But?
SOFIA: Not all magic is beneficial. Sometimes, if it is not controlled, it can have terrible results.
LILLY: I don’t understand.
SOFIA: When was the last time you were ill (before this recent business, I mean)?
LILLY: I don’t know.
CLAUDETTE: I don’t remember mom ever being sick.
SOFIA: (TO CLAUDETTE) Perhaps you should go have a talk with Mort while I discuss this with your mother.
MORT: (TO CLAUDETTE) Come on sweetie. It’ll be alright.
CLAUDETTE: Okay.
LILLY: This seems a little ominous.
SOFIA: I thought you would prefer not to talk about the fact you are dying in front of your daughter.
LILLY: How is it that everyone seems to know that…
SOFIA: I’m guessing you haven’t been ill since your daughter was born.
LILLY: I haven’t had time to be sick. There was just me to look after her. Wait, are you saying this has something to do with magic?
SOFIA: You’ve been suppressing illness magically for at least twelve years.
LILLY: I’ve been what?
SOFIA: It’s your gift. But you haven’t known how to use it. All you’ve done is suppress the symptoms, while the illnesses themselves have remained trapped in your body – unable to be processed.
LILLY: I don’t understand.
SOFIA: The doctor told you he’d never seen so many pathogens in a living person, didn’t he.
LILLY: Yes, but… How did you know that?
SOFIA: You’ve been collecting them, suppressing them with your magic. They’ve become so numerous that your body, and your magic, can’t contain them anymore.
LILLY: (HOPEFUL) But if it’s magical, can’t I…?
SOFIA: I’m sorry, no. There is too much damage and the realisation of what’s happening has come too late. No-one can prevent you from dying at this point.
LILLY: But…
SOFIA: I’m sorry, Lilly.
LILLY: (BITTER) Yeah, well. Everybody’s sorry about something.
CLAUDETTE: (APPROACHING) Mom?
LILLY: (PULLING HERSELF TOGETHER) Yes, sweetie.
CLAUDETTE: This must all have seemed pretty strange to you; the magic and monsters and everything, I mean.
LILLY: You’ve no idea.
CLAUDETTE: And I know you try your best. That you want to keep me safe.
LILLY: Honey?
CLAUDETTE: I want you to know that I love you… and that I’m grateful… and that I understand and don’t care that you’re not perfect. You’re my mom and you always will be.
LILLY: Oh, sweetie, what brought this on?
CLAUDETTE: We all could have died , and I wanted to make sure…
LILLY: I love you too, kid. Come on, let’s get out of here. (TO MORT) Mort, can we stay at your place for a little while?
MORT: Huh? Sure. And you’re right. It’s time we went. Cordova, are we good?
CAESAR: Is our agreement still in place?
MORT: So long as you don’t go off half-cocked and assume I’ve broken it.
CAESAR: Then, yes. We are… “good”.
MORT: Then I’ll arrange for Jesse to be returned to her hospital.
CAESAR: No.
MORT: What?
CAESAR: Jesse stays here. I will see to her care. Don’t worry, it will be the best that money can buy. But you are too unpredictable and I think it would be best for everyone if she remains under my protection.
MORT: After everything we’ve… You bastard!
CAESAR: We are not friends, Mort. Brief allies at best. Whatever the case right now, I know you ache to see me put in a cage. I am protecting my interests.
LILLY: (COUGHING) Leave it, Mort. He will look after her. Whatever else he does, he keeps his word.
CAESAR: I will let you know what hospital I place her in… so you can visit.
MORT: You win for now. But this isn’t over, Cordova.
CAESAR: I wouldn’t imagine so. But we’ll see. The care that I can provide your Jesse will exceed your own and, though you won’t believe it, I owe you something for your part in ending the invasion.
MORT: (UNIMPRESSED) Hmpf. (BEAT) What about you, Sofia? There’s some food at my place.
SOFIA: Er… no!
CLAUDETTE: Pleeeease. Mom’s a great cook.
SOFIA: Hmpf! (GRUFFLY) I guess I could use a hot meal.
MORT: Okay, let’s go.
SOFIA: Oh, and Mr. Cordova?
CORDOVA: Mmmm?
SOFIA: I’m leaving you your cat.
SOUND: CAT’S MIAOW – LET IT FINISH.
SOFIA: Feed her. She’s hungry.
MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 33: INT – KITCHEN OF THE SAFE HOUSE – PRE-DAWN
(MORT, SOFIA, LILLY, AND CLAUDETTE)

SOUND: CUTLERY, PLATES ETC. – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
CLAUDETTE: Did you like it, Granny?
SOFIA: It’s food. You learn not to be too picky.
CLAUDETTE: I helped Mort make it.
MORT: And a good job you did too.
SOFIA: (PETULANT) You said your mother would cook.
CLAUDETTE: We can do lots of useful things like that, can’t we mom?
LILLY: Claudette…
SOFIA: And I bet you’d be pretty comfortable here too, wouldn’t you Granny? There’s lots of room.
MORT: Claudette…
CLAUDETTE: I’m sure Mort wouldn’t mind, would you Mort?
MORT: Now, Claudette, Madame Sofia might have other things she needs to do.
LILLY: You can’t invite a bunch of strangers into Mort’s life, Claudette.
CLAUDETTE: Why not? We all get along. And we make a good team. Why can’t I invite us all to be together?
LILLY: Well… it’s…
SOFIA: It’s alright, Lilly. I can’t stay, Claudette. I can’t.
CLAUDETTE: Don’t you want to, Granny?
SOFIA: Oh, child. You don’t know how much I want to.
CLAUDETTE: But…
SOFIA: You’re too young to understand, but I’ll try to explain. I can’t stay because I want to. Because I’m old and tired of being alone and not having somewhere to call home. Because I want to stay with you and enjoy your smiles and heart-aches and watch you grow.
CLAUDETTE: But that’s great…
SOFIA: But if I stay, I’ll be tempted to neglect my other job… an important job. And maybe I won’t neglect it right off, but over time I’ll start to be scared of the risks, of what I might have to lose if I did what I have to do.
CLAUDETTE: No.
SOFIA: I’d tell myself I was doing it out of love for you, Claudette. But actually, I’d be acting selfishly.
CLAUDETTE: No, Granny. That’s not true.
SOFIA: You’re saying that because you want it to be a lie. But the truth isn’t like that. It isn’t what we want it to be. It just is.
LILLY: If Sofia’s going to do her job, she has to go.
SOFIA: And I have to do my job, Claudette. A lot of people – more than you could count – need me to.
CLAUDETTE: But…
SOFIA: Give me one of your flowers, Claudette.
CLAUDETTE: Um… okay. Here.
SOFIA: I’m going to keep it with me, alright. To remember you.
CLAUDETTE: I’m going to miss you, Granny.
SOFIA: It will be all right, Claudette. You’re going to be fine. (TO MORT) Won’t she, Mort?
MORT: Huh? I’m sorry… I was thinking about…
CLAUDETTE: Were you thinking about Jake, Mort?
MORT: Yeah, I guess I was. I saw him get sucked through that portal.
SOFIA: No, you didn’t.
MORT: What?
SOFIA: You were right all along. Jake was something your brain came up with to help you deal with shutting down and repressing your gifts.
MORT: But I thought…
SOFIA: Even though some ghosts are invisible to some folks, we should all have been able to see and hear him during the casting of that spell. The magic was too strong for him to remain invisible, but you were the only one who could see him.
MORT: How do you even know about my gifts and how I use them?
SOFIA: I picked you, Mort. There’s not much I don’t know about you. Jake was in your head and now that you’re using your gifts again, he’s gone… like I need to be. Can I put Claudette to bed on my way out Lilly?
LILLY: Uh, sure.
SOFIA: Come on Claudette. Say goodnight. You need some sleep.
CLAUDETTE: Goodnight mom. Goodnight Mort.
SOUND: DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES – LET IT FINISH
MORT: You’ve been pretty quiet since we got back Lil. I hate to say it, but it’s 4:15 in the morning and you look done in. Maybe we should hit the hay too.
LILLY: In a minute, Mort. There are things to talk about.
MORT: It’s okay, Lil. You and Claudette can stay here as long as you like.
LILLY: No, I need to know something, Mort. I need to know if you think you could love Claudette?
MORT: (ANNOYED) Look, Lil, I know you’re afraid of her getting hurt. And I can see how quickly she attached herself to Madame Sofia, but you need somewhere to stay and you can’t…
LILLY: It’s not that. It’s… I’m dying, Mort. You know that. And I’ve got nowhere else to turn. Claudette needs someone who understands her, understands her and her gifts.
MORT: Hang on, Lil.
LILLY: She needs someone who will be willing to take care of her in good times and bad. And, Mort, my time’s coming soon. Sofia told me she can’t see my path but it’s clear I haven’t got long. I know I’ve got no right to ask… not after what I kept from you about… what I did to you over Lilly, the real Lilly.
MORT: Lil, it’s okay. I…
LILLY: But that’s part of the reason I’m asking. You’ve always been looking out for me. Even during those years that I was gone. In all the years since you thought you found me. Please, Mort. There’s no one else to…
MORT: Lilly, stop.
LILLY: I’m sorry. It’s not a grift, I swear. I… I had to ask, that’s all.
MORT: No, you don’t understand, Lil. Jesse’s gone. She’s been gone a long time. She died in that house they took you to. She died there and transformed into Lilly. She had to become Lilly to survive. And you have. You survived it all.
LILLY: (STARTS TO SOB) Don’t look at me!
MORT: But Jesse…, Jesse would know deep down. She’d know that you never have to ask. Not me. Don’t be so sure I don’t have my own Lilly. My own mask hiding the eight year old Mort who lost you all those years ago. Jesse would never have to ask the boy under that mask.
LILLY: What? But?
MORT: We’ve changed Lil. A lot of water has passed under the bridge, but you don’t have to ask about this. I’ll take care of her. I’ll love her. And I’ll protect her and help her.
LILLY: Oh, Mort. Thanks.
MORT: But we don’t have to face this yet, do we? I mean, can’t the doctors do something for you. Treatment or…
LILLY: Sure. But I don’t want it. It would mean a long time in hospital and in the end it wouldn’t work. I don’t want to put Claudette through that. I don’t want her to see that.
MORT: She loves you, Lil. It’s not brave to hide it and try to face it alone. It’s…
LILLY: I know that, damnit! (BEAT) And I’m not brave. I haven’t got the courage to share this with her. I haven’t got the courage to fight a losing battle. I can’t. I won’t. (STARTS COUGHING)
MORT: Easy, Lil. Easy. We can talk about this in the morning.
LILLY: (COMPOSING HERSELF) No wait. Here, I’ve got some paper work. I’ve been carrying it around with me… not knowing how I was going to…
MORT: Paperwork? What kind of paperwork?
LILLY: Guardianship papers.
SOUND: PAPER UNFOLDING – LET IT FINISH
LILLY: I have to put your name here.
SOUND: PEN SCRATCHING – LET IT FINISH
LILLY: And get you to sign it… here.
MORT: (BEAT)
LILLY: Don’t get cold feet now, Mort. Not after you made that pretty speech.
MORT: I won’t. I… Promise me you won’t give up Lil. We can go through this together.
LILLY: Mort, it’s always been easy for you to see the right thing to do. You play at being above right and wrong. But underneath you’re such a boy-scout. Let’s not talk about this until tomorrow, huh? For tonight, sign the papers so I can rest easy.
MORT: Alright, Lil.
SOUND: SCRATCHING OF PEN – LET IT FINISH
SOUND: DOOR OPENS – LET IT FINISH
SOFIA: She’s in bed and asking for you, Lil.
LILLY: Did you say goodbye?
SOFIA: She’ll cry herself to sleep for a bit, but yes, I did. I think she’ll understand.
LILLY: Okay. Look after yourself. I’ve never met a real Romany before.
SOFIA: Not many have. The true Romany are rare and getting rarer.
MORT: You know you would be welcome to stay.
SOFIA: That’s nice of you to say Mort, but you’ve got enough on your plate if that document on the table is what I think it is. Goodnight to you both.
MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 34: INT – KITCHEN – MORNING
(MORT, CLAUDETTE)

SOUND: FRYPAN, COOKING NOISES – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
CLAUDETTE: (YAWNING) Good morning.
MORT: Morning. I hope you like flapjacks. We’re pretty much out of everything else.
CLAUDETTE: Yum. Is mom up yet?
MORT: I haven’t seen her. But we should let her sleep.
CLAUDETTE: Okay. What’s this?
MORT: Hmmm?
CLAUDETTE: There’s a letter on the table. It’s addressed to me.
MORT: I don’t know. It must have been put there during the night. Did Sofia leave it behind?
CLAUDETTE: No. It’s mom’s handwriting.
SOUND: ENVELOPE BEING TORN OPEN – LET IT FINISH
SOUND: LETTER BEING UNFOLDED – LET IT FINISH.
CLAUDETTE: Oh, no!
SOUND: RUNNING CLAUDETTE FOOTSTEPS – FADE.
CLAUDETTE: (AT A DISTANCE) Mom! Mom! Oh, no! Please! Mom!
MORT: What? Claudette?
CLAUDETTE: (RETURNING) She’s gone. Really gone. She’s left her flower behind. She’s left us.
MORT: Let me see that letter…
LILLY: (FILTERED ECHOING) Dear Claudette,
I’m sorry I didn’t have the courage to tell you to your face. I’m sick. So sick that I can’t take care of you anymore. So sick that I have to leave. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything to deserve this. Sometimes life is cruel.
I have to go, but I’ve left you with Mort and he’ll take care of you. He won’t understand why I’ve gone either. But he’s a good man and he cares about you and won’t let you down.
Please believe me when I say this isn’t your fault. I love you so much. Too much.
I hope you can forgive me, one day.
– Mom.
P.S Tell Mort this isn’t his fault either.
MORT: Damn it, Lil! (BEAT) Claudette!
CLAUDETTE: Mort?
MORT: (GENTLY) Come here. Oh, Claudette. I’m so sorry.
CLAUDETTE: We’ve got to find her.
MORT: We’ll try.
CLAUDETTE: Don’t leave me alone.
MORT: I won’t. Your mom asked me to take care of you, and I will. She signed papers making me your guardian.
CLAUDETTE: Did you know she was going to do this?
MORT: No. I knew she was sick, and that it was going to get worse. I knew she was dying…
CLAUDETTE: Dying!!?
MORT: She should have told you, Claudette. And she was scared. (BEAT) But I promise you, I didn’t know she was going to leave.
CLAUDETTE: She kept saying she was fine. But I didn’t believe her. She always says things are fine when they aren’t. (BEAT) Are you going to leave?
MORT: No.
CLAUDETTE: Promise.
MORT: Yes. If you want to stay with me. Do you?
CLAUDETTE: Do I have to call you Dad?
MORT: No. Mort’s fine.
CLAUDETTE: Good. That would feel weird. (BEAT) Okay, yes. I want to stay with you. When do we start looking for mom?
MORT: As soon as you’ve had some breakfast. She’s only got a couple of hours head start.
CLAUDETTE: Where will we look?
MORT: Can you feel where she is? Get a vision?
CLAUDETTE: No. Granny told me all those things I said I saw with visions. She made me promise not to say where I learned them so I pretended I had visions to convince mom she needed to trust you.
MORT: Oh. (BEAT) Claudette, this is important. If this is going to work, you can’t lie to me. Not ever. Do you understand?
CLAUDETTE: Alright.
MORT: As for finding your mom. I think there’s someone I can see, but it’s going to cost me a favour or two. And there are some things I have to sort out.
CLAUDETTE: To stop from being placed under a spell?
MORT: Yeah.
CLAUDETTE: It worked out last time. Can’t we go right away?
MORT: No. It nearly didn’t work out last time. So, we’re going to do this right.
CLAUDETTE: Okay. Do it right. But I want to go, now.
MORT: After breakfast. (BEAT) Eat!
MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 35: EXT – STREET – MORNING
(MORT, CLAUDETTE)

SOUND: TRAFFIC, ETC. WALKING – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
SOUND: DOOR CLOSING – LET IT FINISH.
MORT: Well that didn’t go well.
CLAUDETTE: Huh?
MORT: The bank thinks I’m dead – that I died in the explosion at my office. All my accounts have been frozen. They wouldn’t give me any money.
CLAUDETTE: What’s that mean?
MORT: It means I’ve got nothing except the seventy-five cents in my pocket until I can prove I’m alive.
CLAUDETTE: How do you do that?
MORT: It’s not something I’ve ever had to do before, so I’ve got no idea. We’ll have to wing it, I guess.
CLAUDETTE: We’ll be fine.
MORT: I’m glad you think so.
CLAUDETTE: It’s always like this… after a war.
MORT: Huh?
CLAUDETTE: I’ve read books.
MORT: Uh-huh.
CLAUDETTE: Yeah, there’s always a price paid by the people who fight it. (BEAT) The people who stay behind… they don’t realise. But the ones who fight… and live… they pay a price. They always pay a price.
MORT: You’re a wise kid, Claudette. Do you think it’s ever worth it? The price?
CLAUDETTE: Yeah, when it’s about survival. Maybe some people don’t deserve the chances they get, but lots of people are just people, trying to live and get by as best they can.
MORT: And it doesn’t bother you that they don’t know?
CLAUDETTE: They mightn’t ever know what we did or be grateful… but it was still worth it. And on some days, when the sun’s out, you can’t help feeling a bit hopeful; like, maybe, people are worth saving.
CHARITY WORKER: (APPROACHING) Donations! Donations! Anything for charity, Mister. The soup kitchens could use anything you can spare.
MORT: Here.
SOUND: MONEY BEING DROPPED IN TIN – LET IT FINISH.
CHARITY: Bless you, Mister. (FADES)
CLAUDETTE: How much did you give them.
MORT: My last seventy-five cents.
CLAUDETTE: But…
MORT: Like you said, we’ll be fine.
CLAUDETTE: Hey I know how we could make some money… once we get mom.
MORT: Yeah, how’s that?
CLAUDETTE: Mom taught me the ring hustle… and the friendship bracelet. We could lift a few wallets that way?
MORT: Sheesh, kid. You should be in school, not running hustles on the street.
CLAUDETTE: Mom gave up sending me to school two years ago. I kept getting kicked out.
MORT: Why’s that?
CLAUDETTE: I kept reading my teachers’ minds. It scared them too much.
MORT: I get that. I think it’d scare me too if you could read mine. But I’m going to talk to your mom about putting you back in school when we find her.
CLAUDETTE: Why? I can read, and I’m good at numbers.
MORT: There’s more to an education than reading and arithmetic. I want you to get a proper chance in life.
CLAUDETTE: Ugh. School. (BEAT) I don’t know why I can’t read your mind. It’s weird not knowing what you think.
MORT: Maybe it’s like Madame Sofia said. Maybe our gifts only work on ordinary people.
CLAUDETTE: What’s your gift, Mort?
MORT: I can talk to dead people.
JAKE: You most definitely can.
MORT: Jake! (TO CLAUDETTE) Jake’s back.
JAKE: Still think I’m a figment of your imagination?
MORT: I saw you get sucked through that portal, and here you are. Not a scratch on you. So, yeah. I think you’re in my head.
JAKE: And I saw you put your last couple of quarters in that charity tin. Nothing’s ever what it looks like. If I’m not real, why am I back?
MORT: I don’t think I need you anymore, Jake. I think… I think this is goodbye. I’m pretty sure I won’t be seeing you again after this.
JAKE: You think so, huh? We’ll see. For now I’m gonna stick around and watch over the little one with you. I think your gonna need my help. At least until we find her mother.
MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH

SCENE 36: EXT – A DIMENSION FAR FAR AWAY – SOME TIME
(SCRAT, SCRUG)

SOUND: SORTING THROUGH RUBBLE. FLAMES AND PAIN FILLED WAILING IN BACKGROUND – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
SCRAT: I hate this place. It’s colder and darker than even the last world. There aren’t even stars.
SCRUG: The walls are thicker, too. There are no windows here. No way to see into other worlds.
SCRAT: And we are still slaves, doing the bidding of our masters.
SCRUG: Be careful what you say. See the way the rebels have been dealt with?
SOUND: BRIEFLY FADE UP THE WAILING AND BACK DOWN – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
SCRUG: They are being carved up to create music for our masters, a symphony of pain designed to last a thousand years.
SCRAT: Bah! Why should I care? They were stupid and have received the compensation they were due. There is no food here. No souls to feed on. It won’t be long before we are eating each other again, like in the worst of times past.
SCRUG: It is our way. To the strongest of us go the spoils.
SCRAT: And today our task is gathering up the elements of “contamination” that came through the portal with us on behalf of our “betters”.
SCRUG: A task you would do well to concentrate on more fully.
SCRAT: Bah! Gathering trinkets to burn for our “fearful” leaders, so embarrassed by their failures that they wish to gather and destroy the evidence against the possibility that future generations might know of their humiliation.
SCRUG: (FEARFUL) Lower your voice!
SCRAT: We should be sifting this material. Trying to learn what we can so that we can one day return and be revenged on the mortals who put us here.
SCRUG: Pretty words. But nonsense. Do your job.
SCRAT: Hmmm. What’s this?
SCRUG: Some paper. Throw it on the fire.
SCRAT: Paper. Yes. A paper with words on it. Words of power. Ritual words.
SCRUG: We have our orders.
SCRAT: You are a fool. This paper is too valuable to burn. It might be the very thing we are looking for.
SCRUG: It’s going on the fire.
SOUND: PAPER IGNITES AND BURNS – LET IT FINISH
SCRAT: You imbecile. Do you have any idea what you have done?
SCRUG: I’ve done my job.
SCRAT: Your job? You’ve doomed us all. I am going to kill you.
SCRUG: No. No! You are not… Aaaargh!
SOUND: WET SLICING NOISE FOLLOWED BY CHOMPING NOISES – LET IT FINISH.
SCRAT: Delicious.
MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.
NARRATOR: And so, gentle listener. Our story comes to an end… for now. We do hope you’ve enjoyed it.
MUSIC: CLOSING THEME – LET IT FINISH.

THE END.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Craig Robotham grew up in a house full of books and has held numerous jobs as a teacher, computer programmer, graphic and web designer, an e-learning consultant and, most recently, writer. He currently lives in Victoria, Australia with his wife and two sons. When he was younger and fitter he enjoyed martial arts, but in recent years his hobbies have tended towards more sedate fare (board games, movies, books, and role-playing games).

He is extremely grateful for the encouragement he receives from his biggest fans — his wife and two boys — all of whom read and enjoy his scripts and, in general, make his life worth living.

You can contact the author regarding performance rights (or simply to say hello) through his website: https://www.weirdworldstudios.com.

THE END

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This post and all its content is copyright © 2013 Philip Craig Robotham and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This play cannot be reproduced, shared, or performed commercially without the written permission of the author. The production of derivative content, merchandise, or creative works and materials is expressly forbidden under this agreement. However you may share, reproduce, and perform this play freely so long as authorship is acknowledged, no money changes hands, and the play is not modified in any way.

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