INT. OLD BARN - NIGHT
Ilka and Dominik lie huddled together in a pile of HAY. Dominik sleeps - Ilka watches him.
A SCRATCHING sound nearby. Ilka is terrified - she’s entered a state where everything is a threat. The sound gets closer. Ilka pulls the dagger out. It shakes.
But it’s just a CAT, stalking through the hay. A pounce, and it comes up with a big RAT in its mouth. Two good shakes, and the rat hangs limp. The cat and Ilka stare at each other for a beat, and then the cat turns and trots away, the rat’s limp tail dragging through the hay.
DOMINIK (O.S.)
He’s coming down to the village.
Ilka turns. Dominik sits up, awake. Not possessed - nothing malevolent in his face. But his eyes are dull, his voice listless.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
I don’t think he’s man-shaped anymore.
ILKA
You can see him?
DOMINIK
I see what he sees.
Ilka looks around.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
(points to his eye)
Not here.
(points to his forehead)
Here.
ILKA
What do you see?
DOMINIK
A house. A lamp in the window. There’s smoke coming
out of the chimbley. He’s at the back of
the house. He’s watching.
ILKA
Watching what?
DOMINIK
He’s making a sound. It’s not a man sound. A dog
is coming over. It’s sniffing around. It’s a friendly
dog. It comes over to me, and I grab it and
break it with my hands. The dog is making a
smell, a good smell, but I don’t want the dog, so I throw it away.
Ilka stares, doesn’t seem to breathe.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
Now I’m making a dog sound. A hurt dog sound. I make
it louder. The lamp in the window is moving. The door is
opening. There is a girl there. She is holding the
lamp out and looking. She is calling out a name. She is
looking for the dog. She is walking toward me.
ILKA
(whispers)
No. Please, no.
DOMINIK
I am letting her get very close. I am letting her see me. She
is afraid. The good smell is all around her. I am
jumping now. I am very strong. I knock her to
the ground. I am biting her neck.
ILKA
Stop it! Enough!
DOMINIK
I am drinking. It is thick and good. It is
making me even stronger.
Ilka SLAPS him. Not hard, but his head snaps to the side. He looks all around, rubbing his cheek. The chanting tone is gone from his voice.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
She looked like Mama. The girl.
(crying)
She looked like Mama.
Ilka gathers him up, rocks him. The fear is gone, and there are no tears.
Ilka is ANGRY.
CUT TO:
INT. CASTLE - MIRA’S ROOM - DAY
Mira prepares, in her petticoats.
BEGIN MONTAGE
1. She belts ROPE around her waist.
2. She hides a DAGGER in her shoe.
3. She empties PERFUME from a bottle, fills it with LAMP OIL.
4. She pulls the NECKLACE out of her dress, puts it on. [AN: this will be a different necklace, to replace the ruby necklace; when she decides to return to the castle for Samuel, Dominik will give it back to her, to “keep her safe.”]
END MONTAGE
Mira studies herself in the mirror. Dress on, hiding everything, even the necklace. Her expression is unreadable.
Ilka and Dominik lie huddled together in a pile of HAY. Dominik sleeps - Ilka watches him.
A SCRATCHING sound nearby. Ilka is terrified - she’s entered a state where everything is a threat. The sound gets closer. Ilka pulls the dagger out. It shakes.
But it’s just a CAT, stalking through the hay. A pounce, and it comes up with a big RAT in its mouth. Two good shakes, and the rat hangs limp. The cat and Ilka stare at each other for a beat, and then the cat turns and trots away, the rat’s limp tail dragging through the hay.
DOMINIK (O.S.)
He’s coming down to the village.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
I don’t think he’s man-shaped anymore.
ILKA
You can see him?
DOMINIK
I see what he sees.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
(points to his eye)
Not here.
(points to his forehead)
Here.
ILKA
What do you see?
DOMINIK
A house. A lamp in the window. There’s smoke coming
out of the chimbley. He’s at the back of
the house. He’s watching.
ILKA
Watching what?
DOMINIK
He’s making a sound. It’s not a man sound. A dog
is coming over. It’s sniffing around. It’s a friendly
dog. It comes over to me, and I grab it and
break it with my hands. The dog is making a
smell, a good smell, but I don’t want the dog, so I throw it away.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
Now I’m making a dog sound. A hurt dog sound. I make
it louder. The lamp in the window is moving. The door is
opening. There is a girl there. She is holding the
lamp out and looking. She is calling out a name. She is
looking for the dog. She is walking toward me.
ILKA
(whispers)
No. Please, no.
DOMINIK
I am letting her get very close. I am letting her see me. She
is afraid. The good smell is all around her. I am
jumping now. I am very strong. I knock her to
the ground. I am biting her neck.
ILKA
Stop it! Enough!
DOMINIK
I am drinking. It is thick and good. It is
making me even stronger.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
She looked like Mama. The girl.
(crying)
She looked like Mama.
Ilka is ANGRY.
CUT TO:
INT. CASTLE - MIRA’S ROOM - DAY
Mira prepares, in her petticoats.
BEGIN MONTAGE
1. She belts ROPE around her waist.
2. She hides a DAGGER in her shoe.
3. She empties PERFUME from a bottle, fills it with LAMP OIL.
4. She pulls the NECKLACE out of her dress, puts it on. [AN: this will be a different necklace, to replace the ruby necklace; when she decides to return to the castle for Samuel, Dominik will give it back to her, to “keep her safe.”]
END MONTAGE
Mira studies herself in the mirror. Dress on, hiding everything, even the necklace. Her expression is unreadable.
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