[Victor LaValle] The water renews but does not shed its layers. No.
It drags buried memories to the present.
Once, below these waters,
giant predators swam. Mythical.
Those predators grew legs and made it to land.
If they could do that, would it be so surprising if once,
upon one of these times, witches had been here too?
Each tale told upon this water informs the next story...
and the next.
[seagulls squawking]
Don't know why I had to come out here.
[groans] Man agrees to pay you $70,000 for a book,
you best believe you deliver that shit to him personally.
[chuckles]
You know what we look like? Two drug dealers out to make a sale.
- [laughs] Drug dealers don't gift wrap. - [chuckles]
[passerby] Yeah. I think we should make that... [indistinct]
- [server] Here you go. - [Patrice] Thanks.
[server] Yeah. No problem.
Here you go. [sighs]
- Hey. [groans] - Hey.
You got another meeting tonight?
What?
The Survivors Club at the Chinese Community Center in Flushing.
You been stalking me?
It popped up on the, uh, tribute page when you checked in online.
The tribute what? What are you talking about?
Tribute page.
For Brian.
"Tribute to Brian."
I'm a fan.
Not a-- Not a fan, but... [stammers] ...you know what I mean.
[person 1] May angels watch over that poor child...
[person 2] Rest in piss.
[person 3] Two working parents cannot raise a child.
- [person 4] Genetically unfit. - [person 5] Postpartem.
[person 6] Apollo killed them both...
[person 7] Dinner plans tonight. A meal inspired by baby Brian.
Boiled vegetables.
"Boiled vegetables." Who the hell are these people, man?
Like, what--
[stammers]
W-Why would this guy make this?
I thought you knew.
- My man, I never-- I never w-- - [groans]
When I went there, I saw that you checked in
with The Survivors. I figured that meant you knew.
No. I checked in... [stammers] ...so if my parole officer logged on,
that I'd be able to cover my ass,
but I didn't know it was gonna end up on this.
Wow. Here I am tripping on witches,
meanwhile social media's conjuring up something way worse.
What you say?
Nothing, man. I'm not talking to you.
Is that our guy?
[Patrice] Wow. Beige on beige. Tan man. Very fashionable.
Who the fuck still drinks Tab?
Okay, this is a man who has not been with a woman in a very long time.
[stammers] In years. Decades.
One of these incel fat fucks always posting heinous shit online
about how no one appreciates how special he is
- and how women only want jerks. - All right, all right. Calm down.
This is the guy that's gonna give us a five-figure check, all right?
But keep it up.
I was wrong. This guy's never been with a woman.
[smacks lips] You wanna know what else he's probably never done?
He's probably never joined a Baby Brian fan page.
- Hey. - [William] Apollo.
Hey, William.
[Patrice] Don't trip. He seems safe.
Hey. Good to see you. Lemme take you to my office.
- [grunts] Sorry. It's a bit of a mess. - [groans]
It's all right.
- Here. Let me-- - [sighs, mutters]
Oh, that's cute.
Oh, yeah. Those are from my daughters.
Aw, see, he's got daughters.
[scoffs] And one wife.
[sighs] I used to call them my little strawberries.
When they'd get mad, their faces would get so red.
Got that from me. [chuckles]
Nobody said anything about boats.
[chuckles]
"Have you ever been in a cockpit before, Joey?"
[chuckles] Yeah, I'm old. [laughs]
Come on. Ah, just ignore me.
Here she is.
Guys, come on.
Yeah.
You know, I can't swim.
- Guys, come down. - I'll just grab here. Okay.
[Apollo grunts]
I got beer.
I'm gonna die. Yep.
It's a nice boat.
Okay, guys. I'm no good at secrets.
- [smacks lips] You stole the boat? - [chuckles]
I didn't steal it, but it's not mine.
Oh.
I built this app myself. It's called Rock-A-Bye.
- It's like Airbnb, but for boats. - [app chimes]
We got this thing for two whole hours.
Okay. I-- But I need to be in Flushing by five, so I think--
We're not going anywhere. I don't know how to drive a boat.
- You're a coder? - Yeah.
And I built my older daughter's first laptop.
- Put a Core i5 processor in her. - That's pretty impressive.
- Back at my place, I got me a-- - [clears throat]
Oh, wow. You guys wrapped it too? That's really nice.
It was always meant to be a gift anyway.
[scoffs, sniffs]
[William exhales deeply]
You know, I guess I hoped to see it before I bought it.
- Oh, you wanna-- - That's okay.
You know, I trust you guys.
Here. Um, give it to me. Here.
It's, uh-- I'll do it for you.
It's a gift?
Yeah, for my wife.
Birthday?
Uh, we're estranged.
She moved back with her parents in Bay Shore.
I've been on my own 11 whole months now.
[gasps] Oh, wow.
It's beautiful.
It's got the-- Yeah.
[sighs]
[chuckles]
[William] "...Daddy of our dreams."
First edition.
It's perfect.
You know, Gretta's dad used to read this to her when she was little.
- Hmm. - Gretta Strickland. That's my wife.
[sighs]
From Alabama... [chuckles] ...just like in this.
[clicks tongue] It's just a story about a good father, right?
I think her dad used to read this to her to show her a model of that, you know?
[chuckles] Then she married me. [chuckles]
I wasn't Atticus Finch.
Yeah, well... [clicks tongue] ...neither was he.
[groans, sniffles] 'Cause of the other book.
I was that man that thought you just worked and worked,
provided, and that made you a great dad.
But you know what happens when you do that?
You look up after 25 years, your wife and your kids,
they don't know you.
All those new dads.
Those guys at the park with their kids, 6:00 in the morning...
[chuckles] Oh. That's the good stuff.
And I know what matters now.
I know I could do better if she came back.
And I love my daughters so much... [inhales deeply] ...and I never said it.
No, I never said it.
And people need to hear the words, you know? [breathes shakily]
Yes.
And now it's costing me everything I saved just to try and win her back with this.
I mean, what's your feeling, guys? Could it work?
- I-- - Yeah, tell her whatever you told us, man.
- I'm gonna wrap it back up for you. - Tell her that. Okay?
There you go.
I sent the funds electronically.
Yes. Yeah, that'll work.
That's it, then.
[sighs]
You know, if this doesn't get Gretta back, I'm all tapped out.
And this paper, it really is a nice touch.
[breathes shakily, crying]
Patrice!
[breathes shakily]
It's all right.
[gasps]
[kettle whistling]
[groans]
[grunts, groans]
[grunts] God! [groans]
[strains, grunts] Emma!
[gasps]
[breathes heavily]
[sighs]
[breathes shakily]
[whimpers]
["Before Dawn" playing]
[clears throat]
[Apollo] Hey.
[inhales deeply, clears throat] Thanks for, um, coming to meet me here.
[inhales sharply] This place has good memories.
And Emma, she was addicted to those dumplings...
- [chuckles] - ...her whole pregnancy.
I wanna thank you too for, um--
[clicks tongue] Helping my mom with the funeral arrangements.
Brian was my nephew.
[grunts]
Have they been putting fresh flowers on his grave every week?
We paid extra for that. [chuckles]
I haven't been going. So...
- [sighs] Oh, but you have to-- - Um, I wanted to, uh...
[clears throat, clicks tongue] ...pay you back for what you've done.
Um, what's it? About $10,000 for a birth?
What are you...
You didn't even need me.
Emma did it herself. You did it together.
Yeah, well, you trained us.
[inhales deeply, sighs] Apollo...
I never even got to hear her, um... [swallows, clicks tongue] ...third wish.
It could've been anything, you know? She could've--
[cries] She could've just told--
I think you should know...
[sighs]
...it wasn't supposed to be like this. [sniffles]
[sniffs]
This is what it is.
[inhales sharply]
[paper rustles]
[sighs]
Goodbye, Valentines.
[inhales sharply]
[Apollo] Thank you.
[phone buzzes]
[sniffles]
What the fuck? What?
[phone chimes]
What?
[phone chimes]
[breathing heavily]
[panting]
- [car horn honks] - Fuck you!
[grunts]
[phone buzzes]
[Apollo] What?
[inhales sharply, exhales sharply]
Where the fuck are you? [breathes heavily]
[sighs] William. [breathes heavily]
Hey! William!
[breathes heavily] Goddamn it.
- William! Where the fuck are you? Hey! - Hey. Hey, Mr. Kagwa--
- You little fucking shit! - Apollo!
Sorry to see you again like this-- No.
- Hey! Oh, come on man. - The fuck do you think this is?
- This a fucking sick joke to you? Huh? - No. No, no, no.
[pants] I didn't mean to get all cloak and dagger about it. Come on.
What the fuck are you talking about? Do you know Emma's alive?
- Yes, I do. I swear-- Look-- - What? How?
- I only just found out. - What the fuck do you mean?
The NYPD and the fucking Feds couldn't find her,
and you mean to tell me you did? Is that what you're telling me?
Look, there was a time when government agencies like that
were the only resource a person had, Apollo.
- Shut the fuck up with that shit! - That's not true anymore.
[breathes heavily]
You know, a hundred people with a hundred computers across the country,
they can cover as much ground as them.
They can cover more.
And if those people really care, they'll work day and night.
They won't quit.
And that's just what they did when I told them I wanted to help you.
Okay, okay. So-So where is she?
If what you say is true, where is Emma Valentine?
She's on an island in the East River.
- [laughs] This fucking guy. - I'm serious. I swear it.
- I'm serious. - [breathes heavily]
The Wise Ones, Apollo. I found 'em.
Who are you?
- Apollo, I'm your friend. - Don't! You're not my fucking friend.
Stop saying that. Stop touching me.
How do I get to her?
[stammers] You're gonna need a boat.
Oh. Oh. A fucking boat. Well, great, I don't have a fucking boat.
Come on, man, relax. [chuckles] There's an app for that.
[app chimes]
Oh, fuck.
- You know this crazy. - Fuck.
[inhales sharply, sighs]
You know what the Library of Alexandria was in Egypt?
Yeah, I know it. I know it. My wife was a librarian.
It held the world's knowledge.
"The place of the cure of the soul." That's what the Internet is, my man.
[inhales sharply] Hey, did boat guy give you any actual evidence
- that Emma was still alive? - Uh, yeah.
He sent me some kind of file or something, but I can't open it.
It's probably in Flash, I bet. Yeah, forward it to me.
Okay.
- [sighs] - Good news is I did my due diligence
- on Wheeler before you got here. - And?
William Webster Wheeler. Gotta love alliteration.
Born in Levittown.
Owns a house in Forest Hills, on 86th street.
Served in the Air Force as a programming specialist in the early '80s.
After that, uh, worked for the Medical University of South Carolina.
Started making his way back northeast. Been working as an app developer.
Damn.
- Uh, this guy is who he says he is. - Yeah.
- That means something these days. - Yeah, he's gonna get a, um,
boat tomorrow night, um...
Yeah, so why is this guy helping you?
- I mean, what's-- what's in it for him? - I don't know.
Maybe he's fucking crazy.
Maybe he wants to throw me off the boat. I really don't care.
Yeah.
[breathes deeply, sighs]
Uh...
this looks like CCTV camera footage.
This guy's friends did some serious digging.
[LaValle] What is a ghost? The spirit of a dead person,
or a vision seen askew?
Three months since he'd last seen her alive,
and now here she was.
South Street Seaport.
[William humming]
Thought you didn't know how to drive a boat.
I can't tell a lie.
Welcome to the wonderful world of boating.
I'm gonna show you how to cast off a dock.
But before I do, be sure to like and subscribe.
You can learn anything from the Internet. I'm teaching myself.
Thank you.
Hey, you know, we can go back whenever you want.
Say the word.
Let me ask you something.
Did you tell anybody else we were doing this?
[clicks tongue] I told Patrice. [sighs]
[stammers] There's something you need to see then.
- Oh, no. No, not you too. - Look. Right there.
"Green Hair Harry". There's your Patrice.
- Patrice? - Yeah. And there's this.
[Apollo] Oh, my God.
Look, I'm sure he meant to show us support,
but I'm actually out here with you.
Look, we need to be careful.
Vampires can't come into your house unless you invite them, Apollo.
Posting online is like leaving your front door wide open
and telling any creature of the night they can just come right in.
- [switch flips] - [William] Wow. Rikers.
Lights out.
[Apollo] How would you do it?
Jump off George Washington Bridge.
[vomits]
[coughing, gagging]
Shit. [groans]
[breathing heavily]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[LaValle] Would you even know if you crossed into a fairy tale?
Slipped between the pages of a book?
There are portals in this world that we may never know we've trespassed through.
There. Look, right there. There it is.
[William] Oh, my gosh. You found it.
Yeah, I'm gonna beach us.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Ready?
Yes.
[grunting]
Oh! It's freezing.
[breathing heavily]
- William. - [breathes heavily] Yeah?
Why are you here?
Gretta said no.
She wasn't even mean about it, you know?
She just said to leave the book for the girls in my will.
If I wasn't out here with you,
I'd just be at home in my basement, going nuts.
I know this is insane. At least I'm not alone.
Can I come with you?
[Apollo sighs]
- Let's roll. - [chuckles]
Let's roll.
- Look. - [Apollo] What?
[William mumbles, breathes heavily]
[Apollo] Hospital beds.
[William] I know where we are.
This must be North Brother Island. I read about this today.
Yeah, it was a hospital for the infectious.
[gasps, sighs]
Phone died.
Come on, William.
Hey, you know who Mary Mallon was?
Typhoid Mary.
Bingo. Oh, you're smart.
The original super-spreader.
You know they quarantined her here for a third of her life?
Now it's a nesting colony for the black-crowned night heron.
[Apollo] William!
[grunts] Hey! Look! Look at that light.
- What is that? - Holy cannoli. The Wise Ones.
We gotta find out if these women have weapons and destroy them.
Sabotage their boats. We could easily take these witches out.
Hey, shut up. [stammers] You are a middle-aged IT guy,
and I'm a depressed bookseller.
But I'm the god Apollo.
I am the god Apollo!
[grunts] Emma! [grunts] Bitch, where are you? Where are you?
Where are you? Emma! [grunts] Emma! I am the god Apollo!
I come for my revenge!
Emma, where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
- [grunts] - [guards grunting]
[Apollo] Stop! [grunting]
[grunting]
[grunting, struggling continues]
[screams]
[Apollo groans] Let me go. Let me go.
[Apollo] No, no. Let me go. [shouts]
[groans] I'm here for my wife!
[all grunting, struggling]
[screaming, groaning] Fuck!
[Emma] When it falls off my wrist, those three wishes will come true.
[Apollo] I am the god Apollo.
Não corta. Do not cut it.
It's not a baby.
Hey. No matter what happens, you're coming with me.
- [screams] - Coming with me. Coming with me.
[screams, grunting]
[Apollo] Stop! Stop!
Get off me!
Why do you protect Emma? Why do you protect her? She killed my baby!
She killed my baby! [grunts]
[guard 1] You're Emma's?
[laughs] Of course he is. Emma was a pain in the ass.
Why wouldn't the husband be too?
- [guard 2] Cal will wanna see you. - [grunting]
- [guard 2] Come on. - Cal?
Cal told me how to get my daughter back.
Cal told me what to do. I just don't know if I can do it.
[groaning] Cal?
[guards grunting] Come on.
[Apollo] Get off of me!
Get-- [grunts] Get-- [grunts] Let me go!
Let me go!
[grunting]
[coughs]
It's not a baby.
Hey, hey, wait!
[grunts] I know her.
[grunting]
[grunting, panting]
It fell in the courtyard.
One of the children found it and brought it to me.
[sighs] I thought I trained you to be more careful.
I'm sorry.
Sloppy.
[grunts]
Which is more frightening?
[laughs] Hello?
Oh, they didn't cut out your tongue, did they?
You're Cal.
Yeah, it's short for Calisto. Come closer.
[grunts]
They're-- They're protective of me.
You're not gonna do anything dumb, are you?
[chuckles] I'm putting on a show tomorrow for the kids.
Come, help me make a frightening puppet.
Hey, hey! Where is my wife?
Once upon a time, an old man and a woman had long wished for a child.
[gasps] And once pregnant,
the wife gazed longingly at a field of rapunzel greens next door.
So her husband decided to steal some for her.
But a terrifying enchantress appeared and said,
"How dare you, you thief! I will curse you."
But she agreed that she would spare his life
if they gave her their baby.
Enough. Stop.
Listen, I need to know where my wife is.
Hey, where is my wife?
I need to find her, all right? Your whatever tried to kill me.
You know, years ago, a husband found us.
He brought with him two guns and, oh, a ton of rage.
I made the mistake of trying to talk to him.
But he killed, uh, three women and seven children.
That's when we left the world and we came here.
And we armed ourselves as best as we could.
And when men show up, we're just a little more, uh...
[clicks tongue] ...proactive.
[breathes deeply] How many men did you kill?
[laughs] Ugh, who knows? We're like the police.
We don't keep track of those numbers.
[sighs] So, how do we protect our children?
That's what Rapunzel is all about. That's the question that it's asking.
Well, clearly, I'm the wrong person to ask.
[Cal sighs]
You know, the-the husband, he protects himself over the baby.
The baby gets snatched.
And then the enchantress,
I mean, she won't let that kid go anywhere in the world.
She's like a-a helicopter parent.
And still, that prince, he manages to find a way inside.
I mean, no matter what we do, the world finds a way in.
So, how do we protect our children?
That's a question that has been asked for hundreds of years,
ever since fairy tales were first told around an evening fire.
The new fears are the old fears, and the old fears are ancient.
But when it's our turn to face them, they are made new.
The children will talk to this puppet as if it were as real as me.
[laughs, as Enchantress] It's an old kind of magic.
The Scottish called it "glamour."
It's an illusion where something pretends to be something other than it is.
A monster looks to be a beautiful maiden,
and a ruined castle appears as a golden palace.
Do you understand what I'm talking about?
It's not a baby.
[chuckles] That's a smart boy.
[sobs] But, uh-- But if it's, um, an illusion,
that means there's someone that created it.
- [William] Hello! Are you in there? - Shit.
You didn't come alone!
[breathing heavily]
[Apollo] Hey, easy.
[William panting]
What was he doing when you found him?
He was on the shore, waving his phone light over his head, side to side.
It was dead. The phone was dead.
Why the fuck haven't you destroyed this thing yet?
I thought you'd like to see what he has on it.
[sighs]
William.
Oh, my God. This is Gretta's husband.
[William groans, breathes heavily]
[grunting]
[Cal breathing heavily]
Yeah, we should call her. She'll wanna be here when we kill him.
Gretta? Oh, please, I'd love to see her.
[Cal] That's not gonna happen.
[William groaning]
[Cal grunting, exhales sharply]
Shit. Okay, okay, okay. [breathes shakily]
[sighs]
And you, you better decide if you're ready to eat a large slice of humble pie.
[William breathing shakily, groaning]
Wait, wait. I-I don't know what's--
[Apollo] Fuck.
Well, at least I got my glasses back.
[Apollo] How-- How are you not dead, man?
You haven't told me everything.
Well, obviously.
They fucking tried to kill me, man. They tried to kill me.
Yeah. Yeah, and I'm sorry about that.
But if I'm honest, I didn't think we'd make it this far.
You know, I've been up and down this river for months and couldn't find the place.
You went and spotted it on your first try. Lucky.
Wait, wait, wait. If you've been up and down looking for this place,
you didn't learn how to drive a boat today.
[chuckles] Well, my family's Norwegian.
Heck, I've been on boats since I was a baby.
Sailing's just kind of in our blood.
Why would you keep that from me, man?
Doesn't make any sense.
What the fuck is going on, man?
Who are you?
Okay. Okay. I have a confession to make.
[inhales deeply] I knew who you were before we met.
- What? - Yeah.
Yeah, I read about your wife giving birth on the A train.
[chuckles] I just knew.
Just knew what?
That we were gonna be friends.
Oh, my God. This motherfucker is crazy.
[chuckling] This motherfucker is crazy. Batshit fucking crazy, aren't you?
No, I just loved the story about how Brian came into the world so much.
You know how you hear about someone on the news,
so you look them up on the Internet to see what their life is like now?
Well, I just wanted to see the baby.
And I wanted to find a happy ending where there was none in my own home.
Let me ask you something. Are you happy?
Are you happy with my fucking happy ending?
You know, I found you through all your social media accounts.
Early mornings in the park.
All those pictures you posted.
You were so happy. And I thought to myself, "I love this guy.
You know, he really gets it. He's doing it exactly the way I should have done it."
Gretta ran off with my daughter and destroyed my family, but you--
[chuckles] You were a beacon of what it could be.
Daughter? [stammers] You have two daughters.
No, I had two.
And then Gretta listened to Cal, just like Emma did, and she-- [sobbing]
I called in the cavalry.
What is that? What is that, man, the police?
[sniffs] Look, Emma is alive, maybe.
The women on this island aren't gonna help you find her.
But I can help you.
If you help me.
No, no, no. No. Why the fuck would I do that?
After all we've just been through, man, why the fuck would I do that?
Just help me get Gretta and Grace back.
Well, you heard Cal. They're gonna bring her here. Help me and I can help you.
Well, you've learned how resourceful I am.
I don't know what the fuck I've learned about you.
I don't even know who you are or what the fuck is going on.
I don't know-- I don't know anything, man. I don't know what the fuck this is.
Please, just talk to Gretta before they do whatever they're gonna do.
William, I don't know if you've noticed this,
but I'm in a fucking cage too with your fucking weird ass!
Well, Cal said she'd kill me and she will,
but she offered you a chance to eat your pie.
You know, if you could just talk to Gretta,
explain to her. I understand it's not her fault.
You know, we both lost our minds after Agnes died.
[breathes heavily] That was our baby.
You know, I haven't said her name out loud in a year.
Agnes.
My sweet girl.
Tell her I know it wasn't her fault.
Tell her I wanna beg for her forgiveness and offer her mine if she wants it.
- Shut the fuck up. All right. - I want her and Grace to come home.
All right, all right.
I want what's left of my family to be whole again.
- I'm just asking you to tell her that. - All right. Shut up, man.
What makes you think I'm gonna see Gretta before you do?
Just eat the fucking pie, man!
Just get to my wife.
You're the only chance I have left.
I don't wanna die here without trying.
What if I say no?
If I say, "Fuck you. Fuck all of this"?
Then what?
You don't get it. [chuckling]
Apollo, if you don't help me,
everyone on this island is going to die.