New Orleans
1961
[A young black boy bicycles through a neighborhood and notices a truck on his tail. He accelerates. He pulls into an alley and three white men get out and corner him.]
Meanwhile, in Marie Laveau’s hair salon
(Women talking indistinctly)
Woman: Oh, don't you worry about a thing, mon chéri. I got you covered.
Customer: Oh.. Cora, what's gotten into you today?
Cora (hairdresser) : I'm sorry. I-It's just Henry's first day of high school. De La Salle.
Customer: The white school?
Cora: It's integrated. Earl and I decided to take a chance. Give our son the best opportunity.
Marie Laveau: Mm… You're taking a big chance, I fear.
Cora: Oh, times are changing, Marie. President Kennedy's in the White House.
Marie: Yeah?
Cora: Mm-hmm.
Marie: Uh-huh. And the White Citizens' Council of New Orleans warned the city about the Congolese raping their daughters. Oh And the Burr Heads being forced into their schools.
Cora: I have faith in the future.
(Cut to the woman retrieving her son's body from where it hangs dead from a tree.)
Cora: Oh, God! Oh (o police) Get away from Henry! Get away from my boy! Oh, my beautiful baby boy! Look what they done to you.
Marie Laveau’s hair salon
(Parlour, Marie conducts a ceremony using snake blood, fire, drumming and general voo doo magic.)
A barn
(The white men drink.)
Man: We done our duty tonight, boys. Nobody else was gonna help us. Governor did all he could. Them niggers, they just keep coming.
(Marie's spell begins to take effect and the dead including black Union Civil War soldiers begin rising from their graves and approaching the racists. Their bullets won't stop the zombies. The zombies kill the racists.)
-[OPENING CREDITS]-
Miss Robichaux's Academy
Spalding’s room
(Spalding hosts a tea party for dead eyed dolls. He pours them tea, enjoying his alone time.)
(woman speaks indistinctly in distance)
(woman laughing in distance)
Woman (outside): Ah Ah Oh. Ooh.
(Spalding goes downstairs.)
Fiona: Now I give it to you. Don't be afraid. Use it. Kill me for the sake of your coven.
Madison: No.
Fiona: Yes. Come on. Don't be afraid. Do it! Come on, now, do it!
Madison: I can't!
Fiona: Yes, you can, you stupid girl!
Madison: No!
Fiona: Do it! And feel my power flow into you! I know, because I was standing where you're standing!
Madison: Stop yelling at me!
Fiona: Do it! Do it!
Madison: No!
Fiona: Do it! Do it! (Then suddenly Fiona drags it across Madison's throat, slitting it.)
Fiona : She would've made a lousy Supreme. And that is something this coven just can't afford at this moment in history. It's my duty to stay vital.
(Spalding wraps Madison up in the carpet.)
(He pours alcohol for Fiona.)
Fiona: Huh. Oh, Spalding… I must confess… I've always enjoyed our little talks together. Particularly since you lost your tongue. It makes you seem… wiser, somehow. More thoughtful.
(glass shattering in distance)
Fiona: (leaving) Deal with that. (Madison’s body)
Greenhouse
Fiona: Cordelia?
Queenie: (on the ground bleeding) I couldn't stop it.
Fiona: Jesus, what happened?
Queenie: It hurt me really badly.
Fiona: What? What hurt you? (The minotaur is still there.)
Queenie: Oh, God
Cordelia’s bedroom
(Fiona wakes Cordelia.)
Fiona: Get up. Cordelia, get up. I need your help.
Bedroom
(Queenie is lyingon the bed.)
Cordelia: My God, what happened?
Fiona: This girl was attacked near to death while you slept.
Cordelia: By who?
(Cordelia look after Queenie.)
Fiona: Not who. By what. Some minion of hell or other.
Cordelia: Summoned by who? Not one of our girls?
Fiona: Oh, Christ, our girls couldn't pull a rabbit out of a hat. This was dark art voodoo, flat out.
Cordelia: Marie Laveau.
Fiona: No doubt.
Cordelia: This is your fault. You went to see her. You deliberately provoked her.
Fiona: How would you know that?
Cordelia: Because she told me.
Fiona: Yeah? And what were you doing over that side of town?
Cordelia: It was a personal matter.
Fiona: Christ, Delia! Is that where you were sneaking off to this afternoon? To the voodoos for some half-assed fertility spell? Her Pochaut Medecine? Huh? How much did she take you for?
Cordelia: Nothing, thanks to you. I left there with nothing.
Fiona: Yeah, not even your dignity. Christ. You as much as announced that her magic was stronger than yours. Or mine!
Cordelia: Don't you try to put this on me. You went there first.
Fiona: I went there to show strength. And you undermined me by showing belly.
Cordelia: Mother? She's not breathing.
Fiona: Move. (Fiona leans over Queenie and exhales.)
(Queenie groans.)
Cordelia: I got a heartbeat. But maybe we should get her to a hospital.
Fiona: No, that is out of the question. From now on, we handle everything internally. The last thing you want is to have the Council show up on your doorstep and question your competence. (Fiona laves)
Other bedroom
Fiona: Get out of there.
Mme LaLaurie: She saved me that black girl. That monster, it was Bastien. And the voodoo queen sent him here for me.
Fiona: (chuckles) What do you think, I don't know that? Just keep that information to yourself, you understand? And get out of here.
Mme LaLaurie: What if he comes back?
Fiona: (chuckles) (softly) He won't.
Marie Laveau’s hair salon
(Marie combs an old woman.)
Marie Laveau: Mm-hmm! All right, Miss Cora. Are you ready to be dazzled?
Cora: You know I am! (both laugh) Oh-ho!
Chantal: Cora, you look beautiful.
Marie: She better. Miss Cora got a invite to the Mayor's mansion tonight for the annual Halloween Ball.
Cora: Marie dragged my nappy head in here.
Chantal: Hey, if your hair's nappy, white people ain't happy.
(all laugh)
Customer: True that.
Cora: Now I want to pay you this time.
Marie: Uh-uh, you keep your money in your purse.
Cora: Oh. (voice breaks) You too good to me.
Marie: Hey, what's that? We're not expecting hair from India till next month.
Chantal: It's not from India. Some freak dropped it off, didn't say a word.
Marie: All right. Well, open it up.
Chantal: Oh, my God!
Marie: No! No! (It’s the minotaur's head.)
Kyle's house
(He’s repeatedly banging his head against the bathtub.)
Zoe: Kyle, no!
Kyle: Kyle No, Kyle.
Zoe: (sobs) I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen, any of it. Are you hungry? God-God, you must be so hungry. I'm going to… I'm going to go make you something.
(She goes to make him food. As she mixing tuna, she sees rat poison on the top shelf. When she brings the food back to him, he's gone.)
Zoe: Oh, shit.
(She leaves the house. The streets are filled with trick or treaters for Halloween.) (Children chattering happily.) (Kyle is nowhere.)
Miss Robichaux's Academy
Fiona: Delphine? Come do me. Do you know why today is my favorite day of the year? It's Halloween.
Mme LaLaurie: Is it the end of harvest already? Land sakes. I suppose you'll want me lighting the bonfires and putting out food to keep the demons at bay. Evil spirits will walk the earth this night. The dead shall rise and fearful pranks ensue should we fail to protect ourselves.
Fiona: Oh, Christ, just zip it.
Mme LaLaurie: Miss Fiona, you look…
Fiona: Younger?
Mme LaLaurie: I was gonna say beautiful.
Fiona: Oh. Well, both are correct. And as far as silly superstitions, you're behind the times. Bonfires have become jack-o'-lanterns and harvest offerings, just candy.
Mme LaLaurie: Do they work?
Fiona: You'll see. Tonight I'm gonna let the whole world in. Get a good look at me. Who's the baddest witch in town?
Marie Laveau's hair salon
(Marie begins a ritual.)
Marie: This doesn't concern you.
Chantal: It does so concern me. If you start a war with those white bitches…
Marie: Me start it? You saw what she did to Bastien.
Chantal: We had ten years of trouble, Marie.
Marie: You weren't even born yet.
Chantal: Yes, but I grew up on those stories. Stories about heartbreak and blood running through the streets!
Marie: Yeah, their blood. I used it to paint my dayroom brick red.
Chantal: You were the hero of that story. You sat across from them and you made peace.
(We see, decades ago, Marie signed a truce with the previous Supreme Anna Leigh.) They had their territory, we had ours. Neither side crossed into the other. No more bloodshed at one another's hands. The rest of the world was cruel enough.
Marie: Chantal, I know you mean well, but the truce is over. If we don't fight back, we may as well lay down in our beds and wait for death, because that's what's at stake. And I don't have time to argue with you. Either you're with me or against me. And if it's the latter, you best stay out of my way.
Miss Robichaux's Academy / Hank’s room in Baton Rouge
(Cordelia talks to Hank, who is in Baton Rouge.)
Cordelia: How's Baton Rouge? I hate it when you take foreman jobs out of town.
Hank: You know we need the money.
Cordelia: What time's your meeting with Phil Underwood?
Hank: Oh, actually, he's here right now. (Somebody knocks.) Call you later.
Cordelia: Okay.
(Hank hangs up his phone and opens the door.)
Hank: Kaylee. (both laugh, then they have sex)
(Hank yells.)
(both laugh)
Hank: Happy Halloween.
Kaylee: Man… I always dress up for Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. When I was a little girl, I used to love the candy. I think Halloween gives people the permission to be who they really want to be. Do you dress up? Who were you last year?
Hank: Me? I was a monster.
Miss Robichaux's Academy
(Cordelia sits by Queenie's bedside.)
Cordelia: Come on, Queenie. Come on.
(Queenie gasps.)
Cordelia: Shh-shh-shh, it's okay. Hey, hey now.
Queenie: Am I dead?
Cordelia: No, honey, you're not dead. Let me get you a fresh towel.
Mme LaLaurie: I don't know how to thank you for saving my life.
Queenie: I guess you'll just have to work on that then, huh?
Nana: (comes) They're here.
Cordelia: The girls are back?
Nan: Not the girls.
Living room
Cordelia: Wow. I had no idea the Council would be joining us today. (Cordelia hugs Myrtle Snow) (Whispering) How screwed am I?
Myrtle: Mm, just breathe.
Woman: Council on Witchcraft assembles only under the gravest circumstances.
Man: And who doesn't love a surprise? I can guess why you're here.
Cordelia: Last night's assault on Queenie was a horrific tragedy, but I can assure you she is resting comfortably.
Myrtle: Assault? Elaborate, elucidate.
Cordelia: I didn't see it myself, but
Woman: By who?
Cordelia: Well, what, actually. Something not altogether human.
Myrtle: You should have alerted us at once.
Cordelia: Yes, I was going to. I just.. Yes.
Woman: That's not why we're here. Something potentially far more grave has come to our attention.
Cordelia: Oh, God. I should never have gone over there. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. Shit. You might as well know. I went to Marie Laveau. But it was never my intention to violate the truce.
Myrtle: I see, well, perhaps we should all sit down.
Fiona: Actually, don't get too comfortable. And you? (to Cordelia) Stop talking.
Myrtle: Fiona, it's been a long time.
Fiona: Oh, Myrtle Snow. Look at you. Developing a sense of style when no one was paying attention. Quentin, you vicious old queen, hmm. (giggles) What's it take for a girl to get her phone call returned?
Quentin: Oh, my life is pure torment. One book signing after another. Travel, travel, travel. It's like get me off of the best seller list already.
Fiona: Just remember whose magic it was that put you there.
Quentin: Fiona you're a caution.
Fiona: Pembroke. So you old hens what have you come to cluck about?
Myrtle: We were summoned by one of your students.
Fiona: Which one?
Nan: Me. I can't hear her anymore. Madison? I think she's dead.
Myrtle: That's why we're here.
(Members of the council are conducting an official inquiry.)
(They interrogate Cordelia, Zoe, Queenie, and Nan.)
Myrtle: Let the record show the official inquiry into the disappearance of our sister witch Madison Montgomery has commenced.
Quentin: Noted.
Myrtle: And the penalty for inflicting grievous bodily harm against a Salem descendent can be but one-- death by fire. Miss Foxx? When was the last time you saw or spoke with Madison?
Cordelia: Yesterday. Madison is a spirited girl. The fact that she stayed out all night is hardly a shocker.
Pembroke: So it's not unusual for you to lose track of your charges for extended periods of time?
Cordelia: No, that's not… Do you read TMZ? Madison's already spent more time with us than any rehab facility she's been sentenced to. She's a special case.
Myrtle: Did she give the impression of being a particularly powerful witch?
Zoe: I mean, she's a movie star. So she's got that thing, you know?
Pembroke: No, we don't. What thing?
Quentin: That thing you lack, darling. Charisma.
Queenie: (in her bed)Madison Montgomery is a stone-cold bitch who loves hard drinking, big dicks and trouble. If she's dead, it's probably 'cause she got wasted and offered the Grim Reaper a hand job or something.
Myrtle: Before her disappearance, was Madison manifesting any powers, new ones, rapidly accumulating?
Cordelia: New powers? No. Mostly we were concentrating on helping her control her telekinesis, not developing new skills. (notices something) Where's my rug?
Nan: Yeah, she had powers all right. Lots of them. She set the neighbor's curtains on fire.
Myrtle: How did she do that?
Nan: By looking at them. It was awesome.
Quentin: Who else knew about this?
Baton Rouge
(music playing on radio)
(Kaylee are cooking in the kitchenette.)
Hank: You brought soup?
Kaylee: There's a vending machine in the lobby. It sells all kinds of stuff. Soup Burritos. Can you imagine? I mean… in my town all you could get from a vending machine was pop and Reese's.
Hank: I was in a place in San Diego once where they had sushi in the vending machines.
Kaylee: The raw fish stuff? That sounds disgusting even when it's fresh. (laughs) I always wanted to go to San Diego. See the zoo. You're quite the world traveler.
Hank: Work takes me to some pretty cool places. And some crappy ones, too.
Kaylee: Mr.Big Shot USDA Agent.
Hank: They call us inspectors, not agents. I'm not a spy.
Kaylee: You got an online girlfriend in every port, 007?
Hank: You getting possessive already?
Kaylee: No. No, I know you. I know you're not like that. To think I found you in an online community dedicated to collecting Thomas Kinkade paintings.
Hank: Hey, to be fair, I found you.
Kaylee: Yeah. You played it smart though. It was like you knew you had me before I even responded. Other guys online come on so strong, so fast. It's like ten minutes in and they want to see a picture of my boobs or something. You were cool as a cucumber.
Hank: James Bond, right?
Kaylee: Yeah. Well, shit.
Hank: What?
Kaylee: I really like you.
Kaylee: Is that a problem?
Kaylee: It is if you're gonna break my heart.
Hank: Mm.
(He shoots her with a silenced pistol through the neck.)
Miss Robichaux's Academy
Myrtle: You must think you're very clever.
Fiona: I do. I do think I'm very clever. I am, after all, the Supreme.
Myrtle: Sadly, you are. Though given the state of this coven and this school, one could be forgiven for thinking we've been without a Supreme for the past 40 years.
Fiona: If you don't like the way I run things, take it up with the Council.
Myrtle: But that's just it: you don't run things, you run off. You were absent from last year's Summit Gathering, three Winter Petitions remain unsigned and you've failed to appoint a new Chancellor in over a decade.
Fiona: Has it been that long?
Myrtle: The role of Supreme is more than a figurehead. You must be present for the betterment of our people, not just off jet-setting around the globe to sate your vulgar, licentious appetites.
Quentin: You go!
Fiona: What's your point, Myrt?
Myrtle: Why now, Fiona? Why come back now?
Fiona: I'm sorry. I'm either confused or really bored, but am I a rotten Supreme because I stayed away or because I came back?
Myrtle: This is the second time while you were under this roof that a witch has gone missing from this place. And in both instances, you were the last one to see either one of them alive.
1971
(The council conducts an inquest into Anna Leigh's disappearance.)
Teenage Fiona: Please. She… She's still alive. She has to be.
Woman: We all grieve Anna Leigh, Fiona. But, together, none of the witches or warlocks of the Council can detect her life force. We must assume the worst.
Man: You say she was heading somewhere when she spoke to you. Did she give you any indication as to where?
Teenage Fiona: (nods) But she took a fine bottle of wine with her. She said it was a final peace offering.
Woman: Anna Leigh recently negotiated a truce with Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen.
Woman2: You don't suspect the colored witches are involved in this?
Teenage Fiona: I couldn't say.
Woman: Gather yourself, girl. You need to reach deep and exercise your strength now. We have something to tell you.
(The Council hold a party.)
Woman: In loving memory of our lost Supreme, Anna Leigh Leighton, we announce her posthumous selection of the witch she believed to be her trueborn successor, Supreme Elect, Fiona Goode. This Thursday night, at the start of the full moon, Fiona Goode will begin the tests of the Seven Wonders. From time immemorial, our great people has chosen to uphold and uplift one among us who was born destined to lead.
Young witch: Can you believe Fiona Goode. She'll end up being the youngest Supreme in history.
Teenage Myrtle: I can't believe she's getting away with it.
Teenage Fiona: Getting away with what, dogface?
Teenage Myrtle: Murder.
Woman: …adversity. A witch supreme in power who can heal us and make us whole…
Teenage Myrtle: I'm a Guardian of Veracity in the Vernacular. I know when a lie's being told, and I protect the truth.
(Myrtle’s glass blows up.)
Teenage Fiona: Spalding.
(Later that night, Myrtle casts a spell.)
Teenage Myrtle: Veritas, Honorum, Justitia, Sapientia, Scientia. I conjure and command thee, dark lords to the vernacular, summon truth from lying tongues. Fie upon the wicked who dare to throw sand in our eyes. With force I command thee, let truth be spoken!
At dinner
Young witch: Fiona aced transmutation and pyrokinesis. By this time tomorrow, we'll have a new Supreme.
Teenage Myrtle: You notice how Spalding spends his life cleaning up Fiona's messes? If Fiona did do something terrible to Anna Leigh, Spalding knows about it.
Young witch: If Spalding does know something, he's not talking.
Teenage Myrtle: He's not going to have a choice. I enchanted his tongue so it's incapable of speaking a lie. And I happen to know the Council is calling him for a closed session tomorrow morning.
Teenage Myrtle: Thank you, Spalding.
Later that night
(The house is roused by screams from the bathroom.)
Girl: Oh, my God! What's happening? Someone's been attacked.
Woman: Everyone, back to your rooms this instant!
(Fiona shoots Myrtle a dirty look.)
Back in the present,
Myrtle: The time has come for you to pay for every crime you've committed.
Fiona: I'm innocent until proven guilty. And so far, you have not proven one goddamn thing.
Myrtle: The Council reminds you, no witch has been tried, convicted, and burned at the stake since 1926. And on a personal note, I'd like to add I've got a book of matches in my pocket Fiona, and I'm just dying to light this fire. Leave it in! I'd like to call our final witness, Spalding. Stand before us. 40 years ago: our Supreme disappeared. Shortly thereafter, you were mutilated. Some call it coincidence, others call it mystery. As to me, I can't imagine living under the same roof as the monster who dismembered me, making her breakfast, pouring her tea. But you have nothing to be afraid of now. Justice is so near. All you have to do is write the name of the witch who was responsible for severing your tongue.
(He glances at Fiona then writes.
He hands the note to Myrtle, it bears her name.)
Back in 1971
(At dinner Spaulding hears Myrtle.)
Myrtle: He's not going to have a choice. I enchanted his tongue so it's incapable of speaking a lie, and I happen to know the Council's calling him for a closed session tomorrow morning.
(Later that night in the bathroom.)
Fiona: I got your note.
Spalding: Thank you for coming. These are my last words, Miss Fiona. I have always loved you. (chuckles) (He picks up the razor and slices his own tongue off.)
Fiona: Spalding!
Back in the present
Myrtle: This will not stand! You killed Anna Leigh because she was the last Supreme! And you killed an innocent girl because she was the next Supreme! You got away with it! She keeps getting away with it!
Cordelia: You're wrong. You think my mother killed Madison Montgomery so she could remain the Supreme?
Myrtle: Yes! You're blind to the ways of your mother, chicky! You always have been!
Cordelia: Madison wasn't the next Supreme. The hallmark of any rising Supreme is glowing, radiant health. Madison had a heart murmur. She kept it monitored, she kept is secret. So I'm sorry, Myrtle. For 40 years, you've been barking up the wrong tree. My mother is the Supreme for a reason.
Quentin: Hear, hear.
Marie Laveau’s salon
(Chantal says goodbye to a customer.)
Chantal: All right, child. And look, don't eat too much candy, you hear? Good night.
(Marie performs another spell, using an even bigger snake and more dead rise from their graves.)
Miss Robichaux's Academy
(doorbell chimes)
Children: Trick or treat!
Mme LaLaurie: Oh, little beggar children all fancied up. Don't be greedy. Just take one. You little hooligans! You're being morbid.
Bedroom
Zoe: Madison's not dead.
Nan: Then why can't I hear her?
Queenie: Maybe she found a way to keep you out of her head. I know I've been trying.
Nan: No. She passed.
Zoe: We should be out looking for her.
Nan: Fiona told us to stay inside.
Spalding’s bedroom
(Orchestra plays old-fashioned gentle melody)
(Spalding puts on a pretty nightie and bonnet then gets a frilly old lace nightgown which he brings to put on Madison's dead body, which he has propped up in the corner.
Bar
Fiona: Enough rosé. Let's get you a proper drink. Bartender, bring this lady a Makers neat.
Cordelia: You'll make a bad girl of me yet.
Fiona: Well, Christ knows, somebody's got to, darling. (laughs) Here, cheers.
Cordelia: Hmm. Ooh.
Fiona: What?
Cordelia: Okay let's play a game. We each ask each other three questions, and we swear to answer them honestly.
Fiona: Is your seat belt fastened?
Cordelia: Nice and tight. Why do you hate Hank? Are you attracted to him?
Fiona: Ugh! Because, Delia, he reeks of bullshit. And I don't understand how you cannot see that.
Cordelia: Number two. And no lying. Did you kill Madison?
Fiona: No. I did not kill Madison. My turn. Who do you believe is the next Supreme?
Cordelia: No, no, no, no, no, it's still my turn.
Fiona: Yeah? Well, your questions are boring. So, answer my question. Who do you think is my replacement?
Cordelia: You're obsessed, aren't you? Why? You feel your powers weakening? Hmm? Keep these coming, mister man.
(Cut to Cordelia throwing up in the bathroom. A hooded figure comes out and tosses a liquid in her face -- burning her.)
Miss Robichaux's Academy
(doorbell chimes)
Mme LaLaurie: Hands off. I decide what y'all deserve. There you go. (to Luke) You don't get anything.
Luke: No. I-I'm the neighbor next door. I came to drop off these?
Mme LaLaurie: Oh.
Nan: Are those for Madison?
Luke: Actually, these cookies are for you.
Nan: For me?
Luke: I wanted to pay you back for that delicious cake you brought over.
(Loud banging on door)
(Madame LaLaurie opens the door and sees the dead bodies of her three daughters. She closes the door.)
(Banging continues)
(Outside the house, more dead approach.)
–[End]–
