Lord of Illusions Page #11

BILLY:

I don't know any of these tricks...

Harry studies the etchings.

HARRY:

(a slow burn)

Maybe they're not tricks.

BILLY:

(mystified)

I mean, there's no instructions--

(realizes what Harry said)

What do you mean, they're not

tricks?

HARRY:

What did Vinovich say? Something

about walking a path between --

BILLY:

Trickery and divinity. Yeah, he

says that all the time.

HARRY:

That's because he knew. He'd seen

these files and knew.

BILLY:

Knew what?

Out of the corner of his eye. Harry sees a motion between the

book-stacks. Billy frowns. Harry puts his fingers to his

lips. Gestures for Billy to take cover. Billy backs away.

Harry slowly turns in the direction of the motion.

Something eerily sepulchral is gliding between the stacks. A

figure in a straight-jacket with his head bowed.

Harry takes out his gun.

Billy disappears around the back of one of the stacks. Harry

goes after the apparition.

The TRACK is completely silent.

Suddenly, the creature appears behind Billy! It looks up,

its face that of a psychotic: burning eyes, manic smile.

It tears open its straight-jacket and reaches for Billy, who

backs away.

BILLY:

Harry!

Books tumble on top of Billy as he stumbles against the

shelves.

BILLY:

Where the f*** are you?

Harry appears, and puts his gun to the PSYCHO'S head.

HARRY:

Okay. Hold it right there.

The gun goes through the Psycho's skull, as though it's made

of smoke.

Harry waves his hands through it. It's completely ethereal.

But it's still terrorizing Billy.

BILLY:

(in mortal terror)

Get it off me!

Harry glances around. Sees a LIGHT flickering between some

books. FIRES at it. The light goes out. The "Psycho"

vanishes. Billy is left hyper-ventilating on the ground.

HARRY:

Hokey enough for you?

BILLY:

I'm out of here, man! Are you

coming?

Harry picks up a handful of papers from the Nix file.

HARRY:

I'm coming.

Billy is already out of the room. For a moment. Harry pauses

to look back at the other files, sealed behind the spiked

gates.

As he does so --

-- the proiector sparks into life one last time, and the

"Psycho" appears --ROARING - at Harry's shoulder.

HARRY:

Ah, shaddup!

He FIRES at the projector a second time.

On the GUN SHOT --

CUT TO:

EXT. MAGIC CASTLE - NIGHT

Billy and Harry are parting.

HARRY:

Thanks, Billy.

BILLY:

Hey, anytime.

(a beat)

Actually, no. This was enough.

They shake, and part.

EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

Harry waits on the doorstep. Valentin opens the door.

VALENTIN:

(quietly)

I can't let you in.

HARRY:

(stepping in)

Yeah, I know.

VALENTIN:

You want more money, is that it?

Harry pushes him aside.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - VARIOUS - NIGHT

Harry starts to go through the house, opening doors.

HARRY:

Dorothea?

He sees candle-light through a partially open door. Starts

towards it.

VALENTIN:

Leave her alone --

HARRY:

Shut up!

He pushes open the door.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - CASKET ROOM - NIGHT

The room is a museum of Swarm's career. Posters, and

memorabilia everywhere. And in the middle of the room,

Swann's sealed CASKET, surrounded by flowers and candles.

Dorothea is standing beside it, head bowed.

DOROTHEA:

This is the way he wanted it... no

autopsy, no embalming. Nobody

meddling with his body...

Harry approaches, slowly.

DOROTHEA:

Flesh is a trap. That's what he

used to say. Flesh is a trap and

magic sets us free.

(a beat)

Why did you come back?

HARRY:

I didn't leave. I was just digging

around.

Dorothea looks up at him.

DOROTHEA:

(uneasy)

What did you find?

HARRY:

Jennifer Desiderio, for one.

(he watches her for a

response)

She threw herself in front of a car

this afternoon.

Dorothea can't disguise her distress.

DOROTHEA:

Oh Christ.

HARRY:

(a beat)

Why don't you tell me the truth?

INT. SWANN'S MANSION- STUDY-- NIGHT-

Dorothea pours herself a drink, while Harry spreads the

PHOTOS and the PAPERS from the repository on the table.

HARRY:

Nix ran some kind of cult, right?

Some kind of Charlie Manson deal?

DOROTHEA:

It was more than that, I think.

HARRY:

He was the real thing, right?

DOROTHEA:

Swann said he could do stuff, yes.

HARRY:

Stuff?

DOROTHEA:

He could get into people's heads.

Make them see things. Terrible

things. And he could levitate.

Juggle fire.

HARRY:

He taught all this to Swann?

DOROTHEA:

Some or it.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - HALLWAY OUTSIDE STUDY - NIGHT

Valentin is listening at the door.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION- STUDY-- NIGHT-

HARRY:

So Swann was performing magic. not

illusions?

(Dorothea nods)

And what? You thought he should be

using it to cure cancer, not making

millions.

DOROTHEA:

I told you --

HARRY:

Too much fame. Yeah, I guess

that'd turn anybody's head.

Including yours.

DOROTHEA:

No.

HARRY:

You said you weren't with him for

love.

DOROTHEA:

I wasn't.

HARRY:

What then?

DOROTHEA:

I was grateful to him. I owed him

my life. And he loved me. He

couldn't always show it, but he

felt it.

HARRY:

He thought Nix was coming back,

didn't he?

Dorothea is pouring herself another drink. The glass slips

from her hand. It SHATTERS. Harry goes to help her. They

stoop together, very close. The sexual attraction is almost

palpable. Dorothea cuts herself on a shard of glass.

DOROTHEA:

Sh*t!

They are very close to each other.

HARRY:

(reassuring)

It's okay.

DOROTHEA:

No it isn't. You can't help me.

HARRY:

(tenderly)

I'm here, aren't I?

He kisses her. She kisses him back, hard.

HARRY:

Nothing's going to happen to you.

DOROTHEA:

(seductive)

Nothing?

HARRY:

(smiles)

Nothing you don't want.

They kiss again, passionately.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - LOBBY - NIGHT

Valentin breaks into the shadows, as Harry and Dorothea cross

the darkened lobby and head upstairs. Then Valentin crosses

to the phone and dials.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

A room of illusions. Walls lined with mirrors, and warm,

flattering lighting, bathing the naked forms of Dorothea and

Harry as they make love, sitting on the floor.

It is a deeply passionate, but slow, sensual coupling.

INT./EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - LOBBY - NIGHT

Valentin opens the front door. There's a wind blowing. The

palms churn against the night sky...

INTERCUT:

Roiling, wind-filled pains with the glistening, urgent bodies

of Harry and Dorothea.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - DOROTHEA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Harry cradles Dorothea in post-coital languor.

DOROTHEA:

(whispers)

I was so afraid.

HARRY:

Don't be. Nix can't hurt you now.

DOROTHEA:

Are you sure?

HARRY:

I'm sure.

(kisses her)

He's dead.

DOROTHEA:

I know. I'm the one who shot

him.

ON HARRY. He's startled, to say the least.

DOROTHEA:

I was twelve. Nix took me hostage,

to get Swann to come to him.

HARRY:

(realizing)

And they all came...

DOROTHEA:

Yes.

HARRY:

Quaid and Jennifer--

DOROTHEA:

And Pimm and Swann. Only Nix was

ready for them.

There's a NOISE downstairs.

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