"I have to get out of here!" "Aah!" "Oh, come on." "Answer!" "Answer!" "What do you mean she's not here?" "As in, she's somewhere else." "You mean, she just up and left to go visit a friend?" "Yes, something you should all take advantage of more often." "Jenkins, it's working." "It's happenin'!" " What's working?" "What's happening?" " Chupacabra." "You mean that thing we brought back from Elk Grove Village?" "Yeah, Jenkins was kind enough to run a pipe from the room of perpetual fire..." "He begged me to do it." "...straight into a smoker behind his lab." "Get ready for chupacabra jerky." "Ew, you're cooking it?" "No, he's making it!" "The chupacabra!" "He's awesome!" "Is that safe?" "As long as we keep it away from the goats on level four." " We have goats?" " We have got goats?" "Ah." "Hawthorne, New Hampshire." "A young campaign staffer goes missing." "Who wants to go fetch Colonel Baird back from her "friend"?" "I remember you took a jaunt to Oklahoma without her." "Certainly you can handle a small New England town." "I'm sorry for interrupting my opponent's press conference, but we need to talk about the issues, like finishing up this nasty gas line construction and getting our city's parking situation back to normal." "Of course, but we have to ask, Mr. Denning, about the disappearance of your very young campaign staffer Brandy Vargas." "Well, as I said to the other reporters before, um, it's an unfortunate situation." "And until we have more information and real answers, I really can't comment." "I agree with my opponent." "The disappearance of a young woman who worked directly with Mr. Denning, in no way impacts this campaign, nor should the voters consider anything heinous in regards to my opponent, despite the police investigation." "It's a cheap shot, Keating." "I'm sorry an innocuous statement of support affects you emotionally." "Voters should remember," "Mr. Denning is under a tremendous amount of stress at this moment." "Don't think this is a reflection of how he handles pressure." "Okay." "Sorry, I'm out of here." "No more questions." "Thank you very much." "Mr. Keating, could you elaborate on your plan..." "Ha ha." "Impressive debate technique." " Yeah." "I showed him." " Yep, showed him." "He reminds me of that idiot captain in Ashgabat." "No, no, you're thinking about the one in Jalalabad." "Oh, that guy." "He was a tool." "Yes, he was." "Thanks for coming." "You call, I come." "What's going on?" "We need to find this Brandy Vargas girl." "'Cause if you can't, my political career is over before it even starts." "Tell me how you met this Brandy." "She volunteered like the others." "She's a poli-sci major, wanted to learn the ropes." "You know, it's the oldest story in the book." "Actually, the oldest story includes..." "Oh, come on, Eve, she's just a kid." "Besides, she's not my type." "You know my type." "Yeah, that ended for a real good reason." "Yeah, why was that?" " It'll come to me." " Uh-huh." "Come on." "You did the same job as me." "Better than you, actually." "That's adorable." "You know I have to ask." "Look, I barely spoke to her." "I have no connection to her or her family." "I left this town right after we won State in basketball." "Then I came back six months ago after my last tour of duty." "Local boy, high school jock, war hero." "Elections have been won on a lot less." "Please." "Keating's a fourth-generation politician." "He's killing me." "Hawthorne's a good town, you know, it's got good people." "It's just been corrupt for years." "I know I can make a difference." "Help me." "I'm a soft touch for you, but I need anything you can give me on Brandy, on what might've happened." "I don't know what happened." "But I had nothing to do with this, despite what the press and the police think..." " What is it?" " Nothing, I just..." "Okay." "I'm sorry." "I gotta take this." "Excuse me." "This is Sam, yeah?" "You gotta be kidding me." " Hey." "What's... what..." " Hi." " What are you doing here?" " What are you doing here?" "The Clipping Book called us." "There was..." " we're here about a girl that's..." " Missing." "Brandy Vargas." "That's why I'm here." "Wait, the Clipping Book sent you?" "Thought you were here visiting a "friend."" "Yeah, friend or a... friend friend?" "Sam Denning." "We served together." "He's..." "The bloke that everyone thought killed the girl." "He did not kill the girl." "First, she's missing, not dead." "Second, I know Sam a lot better than you do." " What?" " Well, Jones found..." "I hacked into your "friend's" phone." "Brandy Vargas texted him the day she disappeared." "Hey, those folks looking for buttons or posters?" " We need to talk." " Okay." "What's our rule?" "The one rule all this time?" " No lies." " And you just lied to me." "Not in the way you think." "Oh, now you can tell lies that aren't lies?" "Wow, you really are a politician." "Okay, look, I knew her more than casually, yes, but not in that way." "She was working for me on Keating." "She was digging stuff up." "Using an intern for your scut work?" "I couldn't do that." "You know that." "But she wanted to do it." "She believed in the cause." "She was trying to impress you." " Probably." " What else did you lie about?" "Nothing." "Did she try and contact you the day she disappeared?" "Oh, Sam." "Take me to the "usual place."" "You sure this is it?" "Report said the road worker saw her run in here." "Well, Denning definitely had Brandy's GPS on his phone." "Her last text message came from here, guaranteed." "What is that?" "Was something roasting marshmallows?" "It's definitely a burn mark." "It's more than a burn." "It's a glyph." " Sorry, what?" " 17th century." "It's a Puritan symbol." " What does it mean?" " Devil." "Whoa!" "Whoa, ah." "So glad you're not the devil." "Sorry, who are you?" "These are my... co-workers with the... private security firm" "I...run." ""Run."" "Uh, we're here looking for Brandy Vargas." "Well, I can tell you, she sure as hell isn't here." " Whoa!" " Aah!" "Figured you're still a double shot cap." "I'll bet you're still a non-fat triple shot latte, right?" "So this is nice, huh?" "After all these years, we can still talk over coffee..." "Okay, I'm sorry, seriously?" "Were you gonna just blow by this thing?" "Why did Brandy's body just suddenly appear and fall through the ceiling?" "Who's lying now, Eve?" " I'm not lying." " Oh, come on!" "A-a private security firm, really?" "You got a kid, some cute chick, and a guy who looks like he's a bar fighter." "And a scorched body just falls out of thin air?" "You know, you got all high and mighty with me before, but you are lying through your teeth right now." "You think Cassandra's cute?" "Magic... is... real." "Wow." "Wow." "You know what?" "You don't wanna tell me?" " That's fine." "I don't care." " Magic is real." " Yeah?" " And we're... my team... our... our job is to keep it in check, to keep it out of the hands of those who would use it..." "For evil instead of good?" "You sound like a freaking theme park ride." "You saw it, Sam!" "My team shows up wherever magic is happening." "You saw it." "Oh, come on." "If that were true, people would know." "People do know." "We know." "It's like when we used to hunt WMDs, Sam." "You have to secure the threat." "If Brandy was killed because she uncovered some magical threat, then the town of Hawthorne is facing something akin to a loose nuke." "The glyph doesn't mean "the devil."" "It means "a devil" or "demon." Catch." "Many evil creatures throughout time have taken the name "devil."" "You know, kind of a shorthand, right?" "But make no mistake... very powerful foe." " Well, what do they want?" " Souls, hence the whole... devil... thing." "They feed on souls." "Well, is it like..." "does it take human form?" "Or is it like a weird-ass monster or what?" "Mr. Stone, the thing to remember about devils is that they will never appear in a red cape and horns." "They will come dressed as everything you ever wished for." " So we should look for..." " Katy Perry wearing the Crown Jewels holding a wad of cash with an unnatural attraction to young Aussie boys." "So it could be one of the candidates." "Could be anything, anyone." "That's why you need to read these books." "You got any abridged versions on tape?" "Because we're kind of busy." "Very well, and so what you need to find is the Contract." "What does a Contract look like?" "You know, almost every demon works via a Contract." "Something you desire in exchange for your soul." "Kind of like Robert Johnson down at the crossroads." "Very good, sir." "Yes, one of the better known examples." "Also including lottery winners, folks who hate the Cubs," " the moon landing farce." " Wait, the moon landing wasn't real?" "Oh, no, not that one." "So someone made a deal with the devil to kill Brandy Vargas in exchange for... what?" "Maybe something she found out." "To win the election?" "President, maybe." "But a small-town mayor?" "Don't underestimate having all the power in a small town or a state." "What would be very helpful if we had the late Miss Vargas's..." "You took it, didn't you?" "Of course, mate." "You stole a dead girl's phone?" "Well, Jenkins just said we needed it." "I didn't... well, I didn't mean..." "Mr. Stone, call Colonel Baird, fill her in on the devil of it all." "You two start working on the phone that he stole." "I'm thinking it's Keating." "He'll do anything to stop Baird's friend from winning." "My money is on Baird's "friend."" "Would you stop doing that air quote thingy?" "Hey." "And besides, if Baird trusts him, so should we." "Colonel Baird sees the best in everybody." "That's a character flaw." "Aah." "She sees the best in you." "Is that a flaw?" "Everybody sees the best in me." "I'm Ezekiel Jones." "Easy, almost." "Ah!" "Stupid bloody brick." "Lightning must've fried all the codes." "No, that's not a code problem." "That's magic." "Some sort of blocking spell." "It's not Hittite." "It's not Ashanti twi." "Oh, it's Druid." "We got this." "We do?" "Yeah, we just need to find that greenish bluish stuff that Jenkins uses to stop a blocking spell and get the grout out of the tile." "Got it." "Oscail an doras." "Ah!" "Hmm." " You're a legend, Cassandra!" " No, we are "legend."" "Hey, let's just see what she's got in there." "The Keating family goes back to the 17th century, same time as the glyph in the motel." "So Obediah Keating helps found the township of Hawthorne in 1655 by brokering peace with the Pennacook Indians." "Garrison Keating has a line on the Underground Railroad." "Anyplace somebody's doing something good, there's a Keating." "Yeah, and the glyph is as well." "Joshua Keating wears it as a lapel pin." "Branford Keating has monogrammed handkerchiefs." "This creature signs his work." "And this is where he collects." "Look, scarlet fever outbreak in 1840." "12 land owners killed in a carriage accident, 1752." "Tavern fire." "This town of Hawthorne has a history replete with tragedy, but every time, there is a Keating offering aid." "Who's this guy?" "Huh?" "This..." "Look at this guy right here." "Look, this picture's from 1884." "I swear, that's the same guy." "1928 right after the train crash." "That's our guy." " What guy?" " That guy." "Brandy had a lot of research on her phone all related to the Keatings." "Yeah, but that guy appeared in the research, too," " in every story about every disaster." " It's not a Keating?" "No, a Sesselman, but a different first name every time." "Uh, Cole, Durham, Rory, all with the Sesselman surname." "Yeah, and the dates of the disaster match up to the dates that Sesselman appears in the photos." "Every 44 years." "An impossibly successful family, a mysterious immortal associate, periodic tragedy, classic Faust tale." ""The Devil and Daniel Webster."" "What, is that some bloke running for mayor?" "No, a story." "It means the Keating family has signed a deal with the devil, and the next Contract comes due..." "Now." "Mr. Denning, can we get a photograph?" "Hi." "Yeah, let's get a picture." "Great idea." "Good." "Perfect." "Mr. Sesselman is a soul contractor or executor," " as they prefer..." " Oh, like I care what they prefer." "Colonel, they are very dangerous creatures." "Hard to stop, nearly impossible to kill." "So he's old and he's powerful." "The usual drill." " What's his weapon?" " The Contract." "Bad fortunes, death, all side effects of the bargain to protect the agreement." "Anyone threaten the good fortune of the signer, the Contract will arrange circumstances for that person's destruction." "So how does he kill 'em?" "The executor actually gets all of his power from the Contract." "The power, focus, effect, the power being the soul bound to the focus... the Contract." "The effect... all of the death and chaos in the Contract's wake as it fulfills its signatory's deepest desires." "Are we talking soul soul here?" "Well, if you're asking me what happens after you die," "I remind you, I'm one of the least qualified people to answer that." "But, for now, let's think of the soul as life energy." "We've encountered creatures who feed off that kind of energy before." "So it's a parasite?" "It feeds off the misery caused by the Contract and then consumes the signatory once the Contract comes due." "Then that's how we get him." "It's a deal with the devil." "If we can't feed the devil, we beat the deal." " How do we find it?" " Something that valuable, the family will keep it very close." "Here." "Keating owns half the town." "I don't know how you're gonna narrow it down." "Stealing is my job, mate." "Just lean back and listen to Dr. Jones." " Uh-huh." " So the Contract is 200 years old, which means they don't wanna move it around at all." "So it can't be in any of the newer buildings." "That cuts these out, doesn't it?" "Exactly." "Anyway, according to this, there's three older buildings in town." "Gives us about a hundred rooms to search." "Now, ordinarily, I would hack into the security database, look for some clues, but we have magic." "Munchausen's Top." "Keating family, secret treasure, Contract." "Not exact, but it does give us the building." "If you look at the blueprints, there's space between these walls... secret passages." " Smells like they might..." " Wait, you... you can find any valuable object with that thing?" "Yeah." "Anyway, once we're inside, we should look for some kind of magical security system..." "All this magic around." "You could steal anything you want with that." "Sure." "Easy." "Anyway, once we recover the Contract, we should have a primary exit plan, a-a way to walk out with it in hand." "And a secondary exit plan, a way to drop it of for a pickup." "Now if you'll notice, there's a mail slot system" " that runs through this entire building..." " Why don't you?" "Why don't you?" ""I'm Ezekiel Jones," " the best thief in the world, mate."" " I do not sound like that." "And you don't use this stuff to steal?" "Like I said, it's easy." " Ezekiel Jones doesn't do easy." " Mm-hmm." "He does impossible." "Yeah, you're becoming a good guy." "You are." "Anyway, the mail slots all empty out here." "We'll put Colonel Baird in this corridor as a backup." "Jones, Jones, Jones." "There was money in here!" "Cancel that stupid orphans photo op." "And make sure I'm playing the south course on Thursday." "They just aerated the greens on the north." " Nice to see you." " Ah, Ms. Boskoski." "Cannot wait to see the smiling faces of those little orphans next week." "I don't understand why I have to be the chauffeur." "Library's on a budget." "We can only afford to get two of us in the front door." "Mr. Jones will find you access." "I don't understand why I have to be the chauffeur." "These are the true blue bloods." " The upper crust, if you will." " Know what the upper crust is?" "A brunch of crumbs held together by dough." "Very good, sir." "Oh!" "Now we must play our parts to perfection." "If we give ourselves away to the executor, he'll certainly come after the others." "Whatever you say, big daddy." " Is that too much?" " Mm, fabulous." "Magic is real." "Yeah." "Spells, witches, ghosts." "I fought a tentacle monster." "It's a weird gig." "How do you use it?" "This magic?" "We don't." "Like I said, magic artifacts are like weapons of mass destruction, except every one's different, and the timer's always set at 45 seconds." "You can't just sit on that power, Eve." "Look at all the terrible things that we saw, the terrible things that we wanted to stop or change, and we couldn't." "You don't need magic." "It's a trap." "You're better than you think you are." "You can do more than you think you can." "You always could." "I remember the first time you said that." "Same here." "I'm not letting go." "Of the magic thing." "This is where we wait." "Right." "Ah, well, the Hamptons will do in a pinch, of course." "It's sort of the equivalent of a roadside motel when one can't gas up the jet and skedaddle off to Corfe Castle in Dorset." "Or when Sugar Rose here just wants to float around the Mediterranean on the yacht." " I like boats." " Mm." "Mm-hmm." "Would you excuse me, Papa Bear?" "Mm." "Sure." "Whoa." "Used to be a wrestler." "Guy you lifted this from is freaking out upstairs." "You notice these paintings?" "I noticed they were..." "I noticed they were here." "Different years in different styles." "But it's the same technique." "Look at the backstroke in the reflection." "The feathering in the collar." " These are all done by the same hand." " The Sesselman bloke?" "Why would he have them all here?" "Unl..." "Unless..." "There's elements of a Sumerian protective spell," "Egyptian chromatographic magic and Brazilian witchcraft." "When the three combine together to form a symbol, it's a sigil." "Protection." "For the Contract." "Three pictures, three paths." "Yep." "And there's three of us." "Jones." "Are you enjoying the champagne?" "'84 was a good year." "Well, I find that everything after the 1756 Dom Perignon disappoints." "Ah, precocious little grape." "You're something of a legend in my profession." "The incorruptible knight." "Allegedly." "What I wouldn't give in exchange for your autograph." "I would like to say it's a pleasure, Mr. Sesselman, but I think we both know that is not the case." "You prefer the adversarial approach." "Well, so do I." "Keeps negotiations fresh." "How are your friends doing?" "You think they found that Contract yet?" "Pardon me." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Plausible deniability." "Still, in the interest of full disclosure, you should know that the Contract will protect itself from being discovered." "The closer your friends get, the more their luck will turn against them." " Oh!" " I'm sorry about that." "I..." "I know you." "You're that chauffeur that nearly walked into me earlier." "What?" "No, no, no," "I-I don't..." "I don't drive myself, sweetheart." "Unless I'm riding a horse." "What are you doing in here?" "Where's security?" "Security!" "Is that what happened to Miss Vargas, the intern?" "Oh, well, I can neither confirm nor deny my culpability in that rather unfortunate series of coincidences, but let's just say that it would be a shame if it were to happen again." "Well, these aren't interns." "These are Librarians." "Librarians?" "Ooh!" "Ooh!" "Okay, that shouldn't have happened." "Oh." "Well, it seems Librarians are about to be caught in flagrante delicto." "That's legalese for "red-handed."" "Literally, it means "in blazing offense."" "I love the term." "In flagrante delicto." "Oh." "Hey." "I just got made by the only person who saw me playing a chauffeur." "How's that for luck?" "Yeah, well, I feel like every time I touch one of these, it breaks." "I wonder if Cassandra's having bad luck." "Hi!" "So I sorta tried a locating spell, and the only thing I kinda sorta managed to locate was security." "Please tell me you got something before it all went wrong." "Nope." "Okay, well, check this out." "I cased this joint to a tee." "There must be a secret door somewhere." "These sconces are not actually sconces." "Where's Stone?" "Where'd everybody go?" "Let's just get it and go." "Hurry up." "Come on." "Where is it?" " Gentlemen?" " Got it!" "I need you to..." "Ow!" " Plan "B"!" " Plan "B"!" "Eek!" "Plan "B"!" "I thought they were only supposed to do that" " if it all goes pear-shaped." " Apparently, it did." " What are we supposed to do?" " Run!" " Get this to Jenkins." " Wait, who's Jenkins?" " Jenkins is..." " Sorry." "I need this." "One quick signature, and all your dreams come true." "So... so how does this work?" "Well, it's very straightforward." "Now that you hold the Contract, you simply tell me what you want, and then you sign." "This is Keating's Contract." "All null and void once you sign it." "I mean, the Keatings were good clients, but possession is nine-tenths of the law." "So what is it that you want?" "Sam." "You know, I enlisted right out of high school." "I just wanted to do good, in the world and I did." "You know, I was a hero." "And now the press is saying that I'm sleeping with this girl." "The cops wanna arrest me for her murder." "I just want my reputation back." "So you want to be a hero again." " You leave him alone, Sess." " Don't call me that." "I wanna make a difference, you know?" "I think I could make a difference." "And so you shall." "You're a good man, Sam Denning." "Always the best kind." "Now what I want you to do is initial here, here, and here." "And then sign there." "Excellent." " So now what?" " Oh, nothing." "Terms of the Contract will handle the rest." "Your good fortune is assured, and anyone who opposes you will wish they hadn't." "You see a chance to make a difference," " you have to take it." " There's a price!" "You told me yourself." "I can do more than I think I can." "Sam, no!" "No!" "No!" "No!" " Oh, Colonel, we have a problem." " I know we do." "Dennings signed the Contract." "He's using it himself." "Then I stand corrected." "We have two problems." "Any idea what he's doing with it?" "He said something about wanting to be a hero." "How bad can that be?" "Well, there's always a catch with a Soul Contract." "The executor's power makes sure of that." "But..." "In order to have a hero, one must have a calamity." "Where are the Librarians?" "That's the other problem." "Professional thief here advising that we do not stop." "Well, you escaped." "I thought we'd lost you for good that time." "Ezekiel was right." "This place is a maze of secret doors." "You got the Contract?" "I did until Denning re-signed it." "The 44-year disaster?" "It's happening now, today." "We have to stop it." "And it will be designed to have the maximum pathos." "The bigger the disaster, the bigger the hero." "I know where." "I know where he is." "Sam says the whole town is coming out for this." "Jenkins and I will try and find him." "You three figure out what the disaster is and stop it." "How typical." "Why does she always get the easy jobs?" "Like, how the hell are we supposed to..." "You've already figured it out, haven't you?" "The pink lines are temporary survey marks." "That's where they're planning to dig." "The orange is for telephone cables, and the white... is for digging over gas." "They're repairing the gas mains." "Contract magic works by coincidence... taking what's already present and using it against you." "Gas mains are gonna blow." "The gas line construction's part of Keating's campaign." "Yeah, and it runs right under Town Square." "Bypass junction should be down here." "We'll divert the gas to another line, away from Town Square." "Well, hang on." "Uh, Cassandra, you said that the bad magic works by taking what's around and using it against you." "So if the Contract knows we're trying to stop it..." "It's gonna use the gas." "Well..." "Occupational hazard, I guess." "I was so hoping you weren't gonna say that." "There!" "We shut that off and we close the gas line." " It's stuck." " It's no coincidence." "The Contract's trying to stop us." " All at once?" "As a team." " Yeah." "One... two... three!" "That's good." "Let's go!" "What now?" "Hey." "Master thief, pick the freaking lock." "Sure!" "Just find me a blowtorch." "Listen, this is an old school bolt mechanism." "The bolt sets." "The end." "Just everything's gonna be all right." "We're... just gonna have some really psychedelic dreams before we stop breathing forever." "That's the spirit." "Ooh." "Look at that." " Is that the gas?" " Hmm?" "Hey, am I the only guy that sees that guy?" "Yep." "No." "Yeah." "No, that guy's real." "So very real." "And that was a good try." "It was more than just a try." "We made the gas stop getting out." "Well, sadly, even if you have stopped this explosion, the... the power of the Contract will simply cause a train to derail or a-a dam to burst." "What?" "Sam needs to be a hero." "The Contract will make that happen one way or another." "Oh, these fumes will kill you all very soon." "Perhaps we could make a deal." "I could probably save most of them if I react..." "Most?" "Are you listening to yourself?" "Since when do we settle for "most"?" "Just talking here, Sam." "Not doing anything but just talking to you." "No, you're trying to talk me out of it." "There's no reason to do this, Captain Denning." "None of this has to happen." "There are ways of breaking these contracts." "Who's he?" "What are you, a magician?" "Librarian." "No, actually, I'm neither." "I'm..." "You two go ahead." "Let us help, Sam." "And what?" "Just keep things status quo?" "Keating continues the old boy network?" "Good people in this town never get a fair shake?" "I could change that." "I could fix that." "Not like this." "Ah!" "Now we're even." "Absolutely sure this is a good idea?" "This is a good plan if you are who I think you are." "Watch where you're going!" "Hey, get out of the road, old man!" "Old man?" "You have no idea." "You could all walk out of here right now." "I summon a Contract, you sign it." "All is well." "If you..." "If you think we're actually gonna... make a deal with the devil, then just to save our own lives you must not have met any Librarians." "But I've met a lot of human beings." "I'm offering you a fair deal." "Well, sorry, man." "I think we like our souls right where they're at." "You understand that you will die here?" "Or you could sign the Contract." "Any one of you could sign the Contract." "You, Ezekiel, you could travel the world, every inch of it." "Go places no one has ever seen before." "You're a swashbuckler, Ezekiel, in a world of accountants." "You really could save the world." "Every week, twice before Friday." "And you, Cassandra, you could be healthy again." "You could live a long life of science and magic without that death clock ticking away in your brain." "You could usher in a golden age of mathemagics, end so much suffering." "You, sir, you could defeat Prospero, save your friends." "Yes, yes, yes." "Yes." "Now do you see what I'm offering?" "Maybe one of us should take the hit." "Maybe... we can find something in the Library after." "Exactly." "Let me summon the Contract, and I will have my first Librarian." " Seriously?" "One punch?" " You were always a lightweight." "Well played, Eve." "You figured out that you could put your name over Sam's" " to void his Contract." " Wait, what?" " Not my first rodeo, Sess." " Don't call me that." "But you actually haven't made a wish." "And running out the clock is not a plan." "I'm eternal." "Sooner or later, you're going to have to make that wish." "Because until you do, the original terms of the Contract go on to completion." "The town still goes boom, and your little friends," "I daresay, are not long for this world." "So whatever it is you think you have in your bag of tricks, you can't beat me." "I don't do tricks." "I make plans." "I exploit the enemy's weaknesses." "You think I have weaknesses?" "I know if you engage an entrenched enemy with overwhelming resources, it's a good idea to bring a tank..." "Sess." "Oh, God." "How's that superiority thing going?" "The Contract always finds a way." "Ah, and there it is." "In five minutes, a commuter jet is going to crash into Hawthorne Square." "There will be three survivors rescued by our heroic Captain Denning here." "Everyone else in the plane and on the Square is going to die." "So you can try to cheat me again, or you can make your wish." "I won't do it." "Then everyone's going to die." "You can't force me to do it." "Sam, my friend, you're gonna be a hero, the type they write songs about." "45 seconds." "I'm billing you for the suit." "The Contract cannot kill what cannot be killed." "Now you're starting to get it." " Are you okay?" " I'm okay." "I wish you were a human being." "Oh!" "There it is." "You've made a mis..." "What did you say?" " What's... what's happening to him?" " He's becoming normal." "What have you done to me?" "Unh-unh!" "No more destroying things for you." "And if you can't do that, then guess what?" "You're in breach of contract." "I'm human." "I've been made a mortal." "What am I to do now?" "!" "I don't know!" "Exercise." "Eat right." "Look both ways crossing the street." "It's all any of us have." " Ow!" "Get out of here!" " I can't wait to take this call." "Jenkins!" "Day officially saved." "Devil officially vanquished." "Huh?" "Oh, yeah." "Sam's good." "Yeah." "Oh, it hurts!" "In places I didn't know hurt." "I'm sorry I was nearly party to something..." "I don't know, something." "I'm still processing." "I told you, magic's like a..." "monkey with a loaded AK-47." " But you got out alive." " Yeah." "We both know that's all that counts." "Besides, I always had faith you'd do the right thing." "Yeah, well, faith's hard to come by in our work." "It's just about seeing the unseen." "So do you have any openings at this Library?" "They're more of a recruiting type unit." "Plus, you've got a campaign to run." "Please, after this, I'll be lucky to get elected janitor." "You're better than you think you are." "I can do more than I think I can." "Don't ever forget it." "Wait, Eve, listen." "Do you..." "Eve?" "There's no way I'm drinking this." "It smells like a camel's behind." "Natural gas poisoning can cause permanent nervous system damage, Mr. Stone." " Oh, no." " Oh, good." "I've got a nice bottomless hole for you." "Now please rest, all of you." "Sleep if you can." "The elixir should heal you in about three hours." "Eight if you don't keep still." "Thank you, Mr. Jenkins." "I once knew a medic with your bedside manner." "Never wanted to run a mission without her." "Yeah, well, I've always considered myself more of a caretaker than anything else, even in the old days." "Even in the old, old days." "It suits you." "One doesn't live this long without learning how to repair broken bodies." "Well, they wouldn't need repairing if I'd been on point." "Ah, so you think your job is to keep them safe?" "Guardian?" "Kind of in the job title." "Colonel Baird, I think you may be laboring under a slight misapprehension." "A Guardian's job is not to protect the Librarian's body." "We used to go through Librarians like penny candy." "What are you saying?" "I'm here to carry the Librarians' luggage?" "Librarians die." "But there is a much greater risk." "To be surrounded by all of this magic, to know that you could change things, that you could fix things and not succumb to that temptation, well... not very many good people can bear that burden alone." "The Librarian before Mr. Carsen didn't die." "He gave in to the siren song of all of this power." "He gave in." "Then he was lost." "They will not survive in this world without someone there holding them steady." "I told you once, the Library did not choose you for your ability to kill." "The Guardian's job is not to save the Librarians' bodies." "It is to save their souls." "And you did that admirably today, Colonel."