"What if, once upon a time, there were no stars in the sky at all?" "What if the stars are not what we think?" "What if the light from afar doesn't come from the rays of distant suns... but from our wings as we turn into angels?" "Destiny calls to each of us." "And there is a world behind the world where we are all connected." "All part of a great and moving plan." "Magic is everywhere around us." "You just have to look." "Look." "Look closely." "For even time and distance are not what they appear to be." "Next." "Sir, you're next." "I'm sorry." "You'll have to go back." "What?" "No." "No." "Why?" "We..." "It's pulmonary." "Ah..." "What about the baby?" "Is there place for him?" "If we have to go back, we leave him." "I'm sorry." "No." "You do not understand." "We are all connected." "Each baby born carries a miracle inside." "A unique purpose." "And that miracle is promised to one person and one person alone." "We are voyagers, set on a course towards destiny... lo find the one person our miracle is meant for." "But be warned:" "As we seek out the light... darkness gathers." "And the eternal contest between Good and Evil is not fought with great armies... but one fife at a time." "Stop right there!" "Get back here, Pete!" " Get back here!" " Unh!" "Pete, them was just orders!" "No." "Not like that." "We have him now." "Let's do it slowly... with the knives." "Get him!" "Horse." "Horse." "Horse." "Go, go, go!" "Go on!" "Whoa." "Whoa, whoa!" "Whoa." "Horse!" "Come on!" "Other away!" "Other way!" "Horse!" "What are you?" "He's got the goddamn horse." "Good afternoon." "The butler told me I should leave my coat on." "Mm." "We have fever in the house." "Is it your wife that needs spectacles, Mr. Penn?" "Dead." "I'm sorry." "It's eight years ago." "Still, you never stop missing them." "It's for my daughter." "She'll be finished soon." "It is nice, isn't it?" "Brahms." "Beverly... this man has come to make you some new glasses." "Don't worry, it's not contagious." "No, no." "My sister... she had it." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Better this way... or this way?" "How old was she?" "Your sister?" "Twenty... when she died." "You never think you're as old as you're ever going to get." "No." "I suppose not." "This way... or this?" "First." "The fever, it can make things wonderful." "Even now..." "I can see winter as it turns around the room on the light... darting from white lances... to rays... to silver crosses... to the optical glass... to the flames, to the reflective windows." "And illuminating each of us." "The sicker I become... the more clearly I can see that everything is connected by light." "Do you have glasses for that?" "Hey, Cecil." "Jesus, Mary and Joseph." "Yeah, he's something, isn't he?" "And, boy, can he jump." "I want a saddle, oats... and I want a nice blanket for him." "Cashmere." "He's the best duff you ever stole, Pete." "Oh, he ain't duff, Cecil." "He's me new partner." "Aren't you, horse?" " You can't keep hiding out up in the attic." " Why?" "Word went out, Pearly's tripled the reward." "He's got his guys looking everywhere." "Ugly son of a bitch." "He found me this morning." "Horse saved my life." "I think I'll get out of town till summer, you know?" "Me and horse." "Steal enough to get us by." "Just let this whole thing blow over, you know?" "I don't see Pearly much as the blowing-over kind." "Yeah." " That's because you worry too much, Cecil." " Heh." "Just board him for me, will you?" "Thanks." "Pete!" "You forgot your.." "Change." "I was wondering when you'd get here." "May I have your attention please." "Train number 43... is now boarding on Track Number 4." "Enter!" "The fire at St. Paddy's is set for Sunday Mass." "That's not what matters to me." "We got the word out to everyone:" "500 for his head." " And the horse?" " The same." "Seems like a lot for a horse." "Well, that's because it's not a horse." " It's a dog." " You just said it was a..." "As far as we can tell, he hasn't left the city." "Woola boys are watching all the bridges." "New York's not that big." "We'll find him." " You better." " I know, boss." "People are scared and unhappy all over the city." "Miracles are down by half." "More if you count Brooklyn." "What's so special about Peter?" "You used to like him." "Never met me a better thief." " Why all of a sudden, we gotta kill him?" " Romeo, Romeo." "Do you spend time... wondering about the world?" "The workings of things." " No, sir." " Right." "Well... better not to start now." "Do you think I, uh, steal gold and gems for wealth?" "No." "What makes these most precious... it's the way they accept the light." "Peter Lake is human." "But that horse..." "That horse might leave a trail." "And Yahtzee!" "Grand Central Station." "Let's go and kill him." "And while we're at it, let's try and grab that horse." "You just said it was a dog." "Go and get the boys." "Hi." "Hey." "Everybody's all packed to go up to the lake tomorrow." "I'll come up the next day, sweetheart." "Daddy just has to get my tent ready." "So you can stay cold?" "So I can stay cold." "You can't die, Bev." "Sweet girl... it's not up to me." "Tell me again." "There's this great dance... and we all have our part." "And when we're done here... if it's after one life, or a thousand... we rise up into the sky and we become stars." "Tell me their names again." "Castor..." "Pollux..." "Capella..." "It's a great night's work, my friend." "We head south to Florida." "Or Maryland, maybe." "That sounds like the kind of place you might like." "All right, let's go." "Horse." "Horse." "Come on." "Horse, it's gonna be light soon." "We need to get out of town." "Pearly's got a hundred eyes looking after us." "Come on." "Come on." "Hor..." "You're just getting greedy now." "Fine." "But this is our last score." "Don't know who's a bigger fool:" "A horse who won't listen to his master, or a master who listens to his horse." "God, make me cold." "Hello, you beauty." "James..." "James the Lesser, Bartholomew..." "Squeaks." "What?" "It squeaks." "Age." "You have a gun." "Right." "What are you doing here?" "I was just robbing the place, you know." "Or that was the idea, anyway." "Is that still your intention?" "Uh..." "No." "No, it isn't." "Well, then..." "I suppose the polite thing to do would be to offer you a cup of tea." "Wow." "You did understand the part about me... coming here to steal from you, yeah?" "It's my father, technically." "I broke in." "Where?" "He takes epic measures to bar entry." "Well, actually, you left the door to the roof wedged open." "So I just..." " Did I?" " Yeah." "I must stop doing that." "Yeah." "I mean, you should be scared." "Well, I'm not." "No, I can see that." "The tea is lovely." "It's called Lapsang Souchong." "It's black and from China." "It's too hot for me to drink... but the smell always reminds me of London." "I've never been to London." "I didn't think so." "No." "Heh." "I was born there." "What's wrong with you, if you don't mind me asking?" "Consumption." "I'm 21 and I've never been kissed on the mouth." "Sorry, that came out wrong." "I don't know anyone, you see." "I can't go out." "I can't dance." "I sleep in a tent on the roof to keep my body temperature within reason." "I have maybe... according to one doctor who came up from Baltimore, a year and a half." "In Boston, they said six months." "But that was eight months ago... so really, I'm already two months dead." "I'm Peter Lake." "And where are you from, Peter Lake?" "A boat." " A boat?" " Yeah." "I never knew my parents." "Boat washed up ashore in Brooklyn." "So I was told." "And you steal things." "I do steal things." "Yeah, from time to time." "It wasn't always that way, though." "I always wanted to be a mechanic." "You know, I always had a knack... for fixing things, getting to the insides of things." "Like safes." "Well, that's how it ended up, anyways." "Lately, I've been having a bit of a disagreement with an old boss." "I should imagine disputes in your line of work are hard to settle." "Challenging, yeah." "What's the best thing you've ever stolen?" "I'm beginning to think I haven't stolen it yet." "Aren't you the charmer." "It's been lovely." "Lovely to meet you, Peter Lake." "Listen, I have to leave New York." "A few months at most." "Let that disagreement blow over." "But maybe when I get back, I was wondering if..." "I'm going to the country myself." "And by the time you get back..." "I'll already be dead." "Please don't steal anything on your way out." "Horse." "What have you gotten me into, horse?" "Table!" "That one." "Mr. Soames, sir." "How many are you going to have?" "Just keep them coming." "I'll tell you what they're trying to do." "What they're trying to do is to fill the whole sky with stars." "They got little spots all picked out up there for each and every virtuous soul." "Ain't no room in the heavens for the likes of us, though, boys." "Heh." "No room for Pearly Soames." "No room at all." "I wonder how they choose the color of their wings." "I've always wanted wings." "I'd like a pair of wings myself, you know?" "Anything more, sir?" "Oh, yes, please." "I would like to have a South African spotted eagle owl... uh, if you could butterfly it, thank you... and pan-fry it, uh, with some potatoes would be lovely." "A little bit of parsley on top." "Take off the beak and the feet, please." "I'm sorry, sir." "Don't got no owl." "Find her." "You find her, and you're gonna find him." " Find who?" " The girl." " What girl?" " The red-haired girl." "Which red-haired girl?" "That one." "You see, Romeo?" "That red-haired girl." "The one who is his destiny." "That all of it, miss?" "All of it?" "Heh." "No, not even close." "What?" "I just remembered the day we pulled you out of the drink in that silly little boat." "I need some friendly advice." "I meta girl." " Oh, I see." " We've nothing in common." "Hmm." " She's dying." " Well, aren't we all?" "Well, not just dying." "She's consumptive." " Ah." " Near death." "We've only just met." " I feel like I've known her a thousand years." " Hmm." "Pearly's on top of me." "If I don't get out of town, I'm as good as killing myself." "Peter, is there a question here?" "What should I do?" "When I think of her..." "I've never felt this way before." "Why now?" "Peter, our people have 10 songs." "The songs tell us that inside of each of us is a miracle." "And that miracle is meant for one person, and one person alone." "And when we're close, the universe reaches down... and helps us fulfill our destiny." "And the universe helps us?" "How, exactly?" "Well, the universe sends us spirit guides." "Sometimes they speak to us through small children." "They often appear as animals." "One is Athansor." "He's the Dog of the East." "He sometimes appears as a white horse." "Perhaps this girl is the person that your miracle is for." "But if so, know this:" " Chaos has agents too." " What are you talking about?" "God and the devil?" "Angels and demons?" "Those are some of the newer names, yes." "All I know... is that I'm pulled to her... like air when I'm under the water." "So, what are you standing here talking to me for?" "Driver?" "I'm afraid he's become indisposed." "Suddenly come into a small fortune by his standards, I imagine." "Pearly Soames." "And you might be?" "Beverly Penn." "Beverly Penn." "Well..." "Peter does like to reach above his station, doesn't he?" "And you've got a touch of the fever, haven't you, button?" "Already only half here." "Interesting." "You know Peter?" "Peter Lake?" "Know him?" "Oh, yes." "We're associates, you might say." "Well... past tense, anyway." "The boy had such potential." "Could he steal." "Like art, like physics." "I raised him as my own." "I had him pegged to inherit the keys to the kingdom." "But little Peter... he started to having ideas." "There's how to steal a diamond brooch without spilling blood." "Here's how to take a ring and leave the finger." "But, you see, Beverly Penn... in my line... it's the ripples that give the work meaning." "Ideas... they can do more good than harm." "And that would be the opposite of the plan, you see." "It's doing harm that is the very point." "I might not go upstate until tomorrow." " Hmm." " No bother at all." " I'd be very happy to pay you." " Beautiful." "Sick." " Too young to die." " I'm not afraid of you." "I'll bet that you're who his miracle is for." "My father has a strict policy when it comes to kidnappers." "He has to save you." "If you can't be saved by him... job's done." "Mission accomplished." "I love blood on the snow, Beverly Penn." "Especially virginal blood." "Unspoiled." "Unmolested." "Beverly!" "No!" " Hold on." " Peter Lake." " Go fast!" " Yes, clearly." "We can't outrun them forever." "I know!" "We have to get above the city." "Go north along the river." " Peter!" "That's way too far down!" " Hold on!" " Hold on?" " Hold on!" "Peter." "Peter, wait!" "How is that even possible?" "I don't know." "This horse." "We can't follow them up there." " Why not?" " The rules." "A little dispute a couple hundred years ago." "Shortsighted." "Well, we almost had him." "Almost is not good enough, Romeo." "Do you want the job or not, Dingy?" "I need to see the Judge." "Are you all right?" "All the excitement... and your condition." "I'm perfect." "Good." "Head upriver." "Beverly!" "Thank you." " Okay?" " Yeah." "Hello, little one." "Mm." "I've only known the city." "It's called the Lake of the Coheeries." "I've been coming here since I was a little girl." "My father says nothing happens here that isn't supposed to." "Hello." "Hi." "I'm Willa." "Willa." "How are you, Willa?" "Are you Beverly's boyfriend?" "Let's go inside." "I'm sure Father will have something to say about the matter." "Do you take wine with your meals?" "Sometimes." "That's good." "We'll have wine tonight." "Okay." " Would claret be all right with you?" " Anything." "But, uh, don't you pronounce it..." ""claret"?" "No." "Claret." "You pronounce the T. Just as in fillet." "Fillet?" "I always thought it was "fillet. "" "No, it's fillet." "Just as in wallet." "You don't say "wallet," do you?" "You say wallet." "I see." " You know what?" " Sir?" "You look like a crook." "Who are you?" "What do you do?" "What is your relationship to Beverly?" "Are you aware of her special condition?" "What are your motivations, intentions and desires?" "Tell the absolute truth." "Don't elaborate." "Stop if a neighbor, child or servant comes in." "And be brief." "Be brief?" "These are complicated questions." "If you were one of my journalists, you'd be finished by now." "God created the world in six days." "Ape him." " Heh." "I'll try." " It's unnecessary." " All right." " Unnecessary." "My name is Peter Lake." "You're right, I'm a thief, and I'm a damn good one." "I love Beverly." "Our relationship goes by no name." "I have no intentions." "I desire her, and I am moved by love." "Do you understand?" "How do I know that you're not moved by vanity or curiosity?" "How do I know you're not here for the money in this family?" "I was an orphan." "Orphans don't have vanity." "I'm not sure why, but one needs parents to be vain." "And the money?" "I wouldn't take a penny from you, for a start." "I would accept no favors, not even a kind word said on my behalf." "And of her condition?" "I've never loved much before." "So death... hasn't been something to be avoided." "But now when I think of losing her..." "Is it possible to love someone so completely they simply can't die?" "No." "But I'm a thief... as you so keenly observed." "Can't I steal just one life?" "Well, we'll see about you." "Does that mean I might try some of that claret now?" "Let's both, shall we?" "One more thing:" "She sleeps in her tent on the roof." "And you do not." "Some locals found me while they were digging up clams." "I spent a few years on the bounce from orphanage to orphanage." "Just got on better on the streets, I suppose." "What did you do?" "To live, I mean." "I danced and sang in the streets for coins." "Picked pockets." "I lived with two girls for a while." " Two?" " Two." "Aren't you the playboy." "Ah, it wasn't like that." "Mostly." "I was young." "And then Pearly scooped me up." "He said I had talent." "I take it it wasn't for your singing." "It's not working, is it?" "You're not getting any cooler." "No." "Here, let me try something." "Come here." "Actually, this isn't helping." "Can you hear your heart?" "When the fever comes, it's about the only thing I can hear." "When you crack your first safe, your heart beats so loud you can't hear the tumblers." "You have to learn to quieten it, slow it down, so you can work between the beats." "The trick to it is lists." "Meaningless words... you say, as you exhale to slow down the breath." "Inhale quietly... exhale and say the words until the breath is gone." " Got it?" " I think so." "Do you need a list?" "Animals are good." "Colors." "Saints." "Castor." "Pollux." "Capella." "Ursa Major." "Ursa Minor." "Polaris." "Peter.." " Heh." " ..." "It's working." "Go on." "Pleiades." "Perseus." "Cassiopeia." "Hello." "Those are mine." "The paper too." "Yeah, I figured as much." "I couldn't sleep." "I like to draw by the moon." "See, I'm not very good and the light helps hide it." "Is it Beverly?" "I don't know anyone else with red hair." "Do you love her?" "With all my heart." "Do you swear?" "I swear." "Okay." "Come with me." "It's a princess bed." "I made the neighbor boys make it for her." "They listen to me." "Daddy told me a story about a princess who died... and a kiss that made her not dead anymore." "If you kiss her here... she won't die." "I know it." "O Kay?" "Say okay." "Okay." "Okay." "You can put me to bed now." "Pearly Soames." "I have an appointment." "Hello, Pearly." "Ah." "Hello, Your Honor." "Sir." "Oh, of course." "Eh..." "I'm here to request special dispensation regarding the boundaries of jurisdiction." "Proceed." "I'd like permission to travel north of the city, Your Honor." "Wow, that is quite a request, Pearly, considering what happened last time." "Well, you know, it was a misunderstanding." "Yeah." "Well, demon, let's get this over with." "Pearly Soames, Warden of Manhattan and the Five Boroughs... on what grounds do you make this request?" "I've come to believe that a human is on the verge of using his miracle... which would be a formidable advancement for the other side." " Evidence?" " Presence of guardian angels, Your Honor." "Both the White Dog of the East and Cecil Mature." " What else?" " Well, I've had a vision." "A red-haired girl I've drawn in a fugue with the blood of a virgin." "Pearly, that could be anyone." "Okay, Lu, I mean, he's already been seen with a girl matching that exact description." "Uh..." "She's dying." "And he loves her?" "Purely, entirely, and with all his heart." "So you believe it is his miracle to save her." "I do, sir." "Yes, Your Honor." "I do." "A man's destiny is often not what it seems." "I understand that, sir, I do." "I do." "I understand that." "But I..." "Heh." "I, uh..." "I have a feeling about this one, you know?" "You trained him." "Picked him up off the street." "The son you never had." "Embarrassing, no?" "Shit happens." "Your Honor..." "I just need the permission to go north." "Denied." "This one is too personal." "Your prohibition from the northern territories is upheld." "Lucifer!" "I need to stop this one, now!" "N aw?" "You have no idea what "now" is." "Now, I was flying." "Now, I breathed fire and I ate them as they fled." "Now, I whipped my tail and the winds trembled." "Now, I am hidden in this pale shade of flesh and bone." "Now, I am witness to man's eternal salvation." "Now, I am witness to his demise." "Do not speak to me of time, demon." "Its simplest ebbs and turns elude your meager understanding." "Find another way!" "Now!" "Let me take you dancing." "How about New Year's Eve?" "Can you?" "Dance, I mean." "I have done." "A bit." "Some." "Well, I know them all." "From books, anyway." "It seems wonderful." "So it's sorted, then." "I can't, Peter." "Is it me?" "Because I'm not a gentleman with a driver and the right clothes?" "You know it's not that." "What, then?" "Well, my father says that dancing will kill me." "Ah." "Fathers are overprotective." "Coat stays on." "We're all to go next door for an afternoon peppermint." "What is it?" "What's wrong?" "It's been happening all afternoon." "Has something to do with the furnace." "Your father's been down there for an hour with the mechanic." "He sent the rest of the staff to the Gamelys' and asked that you join them." "Now, Willa, please." "Go on next door, Bev." "I'll, uh, see if I can help them out downstairs." "Miss." "The little one." "Miss." "She's jammed up." "Let me take a look." "We're in the red already." "You should go next door." "What about you?" "This sounds like it's about to blow sky-high." "Go down with the ship, as it were." "Yeah, it's a house, not a ship." "My wife made this place." "She picked every stitch of furniture." "Every pillow, every sconce and window frame." "Wouldn't do to leave it." "Listen, you should go now." "Winston, go, go." "Now, you." "The steam can't come." " Are you mad?" " Wait." "I have a sympathy for complex systems." "How things go together and come apart." "Like locks." "Aah!" "Just need to feel for the connection." "That pipe's too hot, avoid it, avoid it." "This one's blocked." "Means the problem's before it." "It's stuck." " Uh-oh." " Uh-oh?" " Oops." " Oops?" "Am I light or heavy?" "Heh." "Light as a feather." "Good night, Peter Lake." "Good night, little Willa." "My father says you saved all our lives." "He's overstating things." "It was just him and the furnace man's." "And yours." "Yeah, mine too, I suppose." "Thursday is New Year's Eve." "I'd like to go dancing." "You take great risk coming to me for this." "You owe me, angel." "And this is me calling in my marker." "You know I cannot directly intervene." "Relax, flyboy." "It just makes the heart beat a little faster." "Someone would have to be real excited to experience any deleterious effects." "You know the rules." "Debts must be paid." "And then ours is settled." "Then we're square." "Yes, indeed." "You're a good man yourself." "Well done." "I've been wondering." "With all these trying to go up... and you come down." "Was it worth it, becoming human?" "Or was it an impulse buy?" "You must miss the wings, right?" "Oh, come on." "You must." "You look good in that suit." "You... are impossibly beautiful." "So are you." "Stop it." "Or I'll melt all the snow I'm standing on." "Give me a chance and you'll melt all the snow in the world." "Come on." "My mother always said that it was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside." " Shall we?" " Yes." "You're late." "I'm sorry." "If you don't make love to me now, no one ever will." "Well, that's exactly what I'll do, then." "Places." "What, love?" "Places we've been." "What do you mean?" "Beverly?" "Beverly?" "Beverly?" "Beverly." "Bev." "No, no, no." "No." "Beverly." "Baby." "This isn't right." "This isn't right." "Beverly." "Beverly." "Beverly!" "Don't leave me." "Please don't go." "I'm sorry." "They spotted him." "Otter did." "Peter Lake, I mean." "He's back." "Where?" "He was at a graveyard in Queens burying some girl... then went back to Grand Central for his horse." "Do they still have him?" "Well, that's just the thing." "They can't lose him." " They're just walking." " Just walking?" "Let's go for a little walk ourselves." "With little Peter Lake." "Shh." "It's all right, horse." "I know they're coming for us." "A fight will do us good." "You failed." "You couldn't save her." "Your beloved red-haired girl." "Ha, ha." "Was she gonna be somebody important?" "The president?" "The pope?" "The great-grandmother of the first man on Mars?" "Or was it something simpler?" "That she was capable of great love?" "The kind of love that makes the world all warm and light." "And gives the others hope." "The kind of love that tilts the scales." "Well, it doesn't matter." "She's dead." "Cold." "Dead." "And already in the ground." "Quit me?" "You don't quit me, boy." "I've been blackening souls... and crushing miracles for longer than I can remember." "Do you ever ask yourself why the universe goes to all this trouble... to help you fulfill your destiny and then throws me in your path?" "Maybe it's because God is just as bloodthirsty as the rest of us." "Maybe he doesn't like eternal benevolence and light." "Maybe he just likes a good fight." "I have no idea what you're talking about." "But I'll tell you one thing:" "It's a shame your daddy didn't do a better job on your neck with that soda bottle." "Is that right, little Peter Lake?" "Well, let's see what we're gonna do with you." "Come on." "Move!" "Move it!" "Stop right there!" " Come on, Pete!" " How are you, lads?" " Skin that white dog alive." " No!" "Bring in the net!" " Get him!" " I want you to go." "Horse, go!" "Hold, boys." "Horse!" "Horse." "Go." "Go." "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." "Well, well, well." "Hey, pal." "You looking for someone in particular?" "I..." "I don't know." "I can't remember." "I can't remember anything." "When true love is lost... life can bleed of all meaning." "We are left blank." "But the possibility of destiny remains." "What we are meant for may yet be discovered." "And once in a very long while... that journey to find our destiny may defeat even time itself." "Who are you?" "Pete, here's your change." "I smashed into you." "You did." "Are you all right?" "Am I light or heavy?" "Light as a feather." "I'm Abby." "What's your name?" "I don't know." "Everybody knows their name." "Not me." "You're silly." "Look." "There's a star." "Even the stars have names." " What?" " The stars." "I just can't remember them." "Castor." "Abby." "Nice to meet you." "Sorry." "That son of a bitch." "He can't still be alive." " Romeo, find this man." " Cesar." "Romeo was my grandfather." "Cesar... drop everything else." "Find this man." "Boss, this is like a hundred years old." "Do I, uh, strike you as a man who wouldn't know that?" "No, sir." "I didn't..." "I'm sorry, sir." "I didn't..." "Remember I told you how I killed your grandfather?" "Sorry, sir." "Find that man." "Find him." "We may have killed the wrong redhead." "Isaac Penn, please." "The woman out front said he was back here." "This is the Isaac Penn Reading Room." "Yeah, I mean, I'd like to speak with him if I could." "Be a neat trick." "Peon's been dead 90 years." "Heh." "There's a theater on Hudson Street called the Theater of the Coheeries." "Could you, uh, tell me if you have any information on it, please?" "Isaac Penn donated it." "Nope." "I see it here... but the information on it hasn't been cataloged from the microfiche." "Okay, might I see them, please?" "These micro fish." "Sure." "Two forms of ID, fill this out, two-week approval period... and you can search to your heart's delight." "Can I just...?" "I mean..." "I'm sorry, I can't help you." "There's so many regulations these days." " Hi, I'm Virginia Gamely." " Hi, Peter Lake." " Hi." " Hi." "Do I know you from somewhere?" "I don't think so, no." "No." "Although I can't be sure." "I've had no memory..." " ... for as long as I can remember." " Oh." "Maybe there was once a blow on the head, although I can't find a scar." "And the whole world has seemed like a deep fog that's just now beginning to lift." "Although not fast enough for my liking." "I've become convinced... that if I could just learn what this Coheeries is... it may help jog my memory." "But now they're telling me I have to wait two weeks... and I have to have two forms of ID that I don't have just to even get back there." "But I have a growing suspicion that I may be able to get what I need faster... as soon as everybody goes home for the night." "If only I knew what a micro fish looked like." "You know, places like this have all sorts of security systems." "Well, somehow I find myself undaunted." "Well, you're in luck." "I work here, so I don't need any approvals." "Isn't that right, Jack?" "Reporters come and go as they please, Ms. Gamely." " There you go." " I appreciate the help." "I wasn't having any luck anyway." "What were you looking for?" "A cure for cancer, I suppose." "So... this should go... here." "And..." "Aw." "Wait a sec." "Let me see." "Thought you didn't even know what microfiche were." "I just got a knack with machines." "Try it now." "Well, that's not a theater." "Damn." "Guess it's mislabeled." "Coheeries isn't a theater." "It's a town." "Oh." "That's old man Penn." "She played Brahms." "Beverly." "Her name was..." "Her name was Beverly." "That's..." "It can't be." "Your father?" "What's happening here?" "She's dead." "She's long gone." "They're all dead a hundred years." "Not all of them." " Yes?" " Hi." "Um..." "My name is Virginia Gamely." "Uh, I work here." " Yes?" " I write the food column." " Yes?" " Is she in?" "Do you have an appointment I'm not aware of?" "Thank you, Mr. Ambassador." "I'm glad we could come to an understanding." "I think I'll have a milkshake for lunch, Marge." "Do you think Dr. Levi would kill me?" "Chocolate with whipped cream." "Ms. Penn?" "Willa." "Little Willa." "Peter Lake." "It's right up there." "Where did you find him?" "I think he found me." "How is this really possible?" "Well, in a life this long, you do see things." "Things that don't always add up to the world we think we know." "Hmm." "I've always held on to that table." "Nothing special, can't say why." "He loved my sister terribly." "She was like a bright light." "How did she die?" "Consumption." "The night she died..." "The night she died..." "I searched the sky for her." "And I found her there in Orion's Belt, I think." "She used to say that when we finished our work on Earth... we would fly up and become stars." "What work?" "She was 21." "How could she have possibly been finished?" "Why am I still alive?" "Well, I look at you, Peter, unchanged after all these years." "Maybe there's something you are still meant to do." "What?" "I have no idea." "May I make you some tea?" "Please." "Thank you for bringing me back here." "I have a feeling we won't see each other again, will we?" "It's poor manners to talk back to your elders." "Technically, I think I'm older than you." "No, I have a feeling we won't." "Goodbye, Peter Lake." "Goodbye, little Willa." "I'm looking forward to your next recipe, young lady." "I rather like pecans." "I have to pick up my daughter at 3:30." "So, um..." "I live down on 12th Street." "I've got a chicken... if you like chicken." "I would like that, but, um..." " Well, I have a few things I need to..." " Okay." " Okay." " Hey." " Take care." " Thank you." "Tell the boss that we found him." "How is he still alive?" "What are we talking about here, Lu?" "We're talking about what we are always talking about:" "Stars in the sky." "Miracles." " I stopped him from saving her." " Pearly." "Not his miracle." "Hers." "What?" "You were so fixated on stopping him... you missed her entirely." "She made him love her so much that he could not die." "He was her miracle." "I want to kill him, and I want him to stay dead." "I want him turned into snow and scattered to the four winds." "Mm." "Older rules would apply." "You would be fighting as a mortal." "That's rather extreme, don't you think?" "I'll tell you something that should chill your blood." "No matter how far we tip the scales our way... no matter how many of them we turn dark... nothing seems to break their capacity for hope." "They pass it back and forth like the flu at a preschool fair." "We're losing, Lucifer." "One bright star at a time, we're losing." "You will have to say the words, Pearly." "Right." "I, Pearly Soames..." "Demon Enforcer of the Five Boroughs..." "Black Knight of the Armies of the Fallen... and faithful and willing servant to Lucifer, your good self... hereby request that the loser of the fight... between the human, Peter Lake, and myself... die the one true death." "Reconsider." "No." "Last chance, Pearly." "Granted." "Pearly." "Watch out for the starlight." "What are you talking about, Lu?" "Be careful." "I would hate to lose you." "Why?" "You get used to people." "Did you try the Brussels sprouts yet?" "I'm not really that hungry, Mom." "Just try to eat something, baby, okay?" "Okay." "Here you go." " Mama?" " Yes, baby?" "Where do you think we go when we die?" "Come here." "Hello?" "You said 12th Street, and you're the only Gamelys on 12th Street." "And I do like chicken." " You floated here?" "In a boat?" " That's what I was told." "We have chocolate, strawberry... and pistachio." "Pistachio." "Pistachio?" " She hates vanilla." " I hate vanilla." "Mama." "Lay her down." "Hey, baby." "All right." "Relax." "Relax, relax." "Mama's here." "It's all right." "It's all right, darling." "Mama's here." "She gets seizures." "She'll sleep now." "Abby has red hair." "We have to go." "Now." "No." "There's nowhere to go." "The girl in the pictures... the girl I've been drawing... it was her all along." "She has cancer, Peter." "Her doctors say she's dying." "I think I know how to save her." "They said only a miracle." "Me." "That's why I stayed alive." "For her." "I'm her miracle." "This is crazy." "I can save her." "I know I can." "We have to go." "There are men coming who mean to harm me." "I think they mean to harm Abby too." "Trust me, please." "There's a horse on the roof." "There is." "Hello, my old friend." "It's been a very long time." "Here." "Give her to me." "Come on." " You know where to go, horse." " What?" "Shh." "Let him do the math." "Okay." " How is she?" " Still sleeping." "Hey." "Coheeries." "It looks forgotten." "Come on, this way." "What about those, uh...?" "Whoever they were." "Christ." "I don't think they can follow us up here." "You don't think." "That's reassuring." "No, I'm fairly sure." "Rules change." "Little Peter wants to save someone." "But I want to fight." "Good to see you, Peter." "In fairness, I can't say the same thing about you, Pearly." "Well, it seems I got my redheads mixed up." "Honest mistake." "I'll fix it." "There's 20 of us." "And there's just the one of you." "There'll be no miracles tonight." "And her destiny is getting skewered." "Horse." "I suppose you know what to do, horse." "Always a coward, that White Dog!" "Boys." "Why do you do it, Pearly?" "Do you even know?" "I know my destiny." "And it's high time you met yours." "Off the ice!" "Right, then." "Abby?" "Abby." "Oh, Jesus." "No." "A bed of wishes made 100 years ago by a little girl who's now an old woman." "A bed made to save a girl with flaming red hair from dying too young." "A place made for a miracle." "Now, I'm just a mechanic, but what are we if not machines?" "Machines that need a little help from the universe to run." "Abby." "Is this why we love at all?" "To save?" "You were always the one, weren't you?" "Please, you were always the one I was meant to save." "Come back." "Please come back." "No." "Mama?" "Why is everybody crying?" "Did I get sick and pass out again?" "Yes, Abby." "But you're better now." "Why would so many things conspire to save one little girl's life?" "But what if it wasn't just Abby?" "What if she is no more or less special than any of us?" "What if we are all unique... and the universe loves us all equally?" "So much so that it bends over backwards across the centuries... for each and every one of us." "And sometimes, we are just lucky enough to see it." "No life is more important than another." "And nothing has been without purpose." "Nothing." "What if we are all part of a great pattern that we may someday understand?" "And one day, when we have done what we alone are capable of doing... we get to rise up and reunite with those we have loved the most... forever embraced." "What if we gel to become stars?"