Original subtitles

I understand y'all belong to the Order of Ancient Dawn.

And my nephew might just be

the last blood heir of Titus Braithwaite.

What the hell y'all doing here?

We... We're here to save you.

I can save my damn self!

Leti! Stay awake, stay awake!

Since you are a son among son, I will give you a choice

who else survives your error in judgment.

Wait!

I don't want to see him until the ceremony at dawn.

So, what's gonna happen in the ceremony?

My father intends to open a door to the Garden of Eden.

He will heal your uncle as well.

I'm sorry, Uncle George, I'm sorry, Uncle George!

- Hey, Lei, what did you do

to make a mark on this world?

What mountains did you climb?

Which angels gave you their wings?

Which skies have you flown?

When you reached the heavens,

who was there to catch you when you fell?

And did they tell you that you saved them too,

like you saved me?

That they are mending your wings

and holding them up to the sun,

just to step back

and watch

you fly?

So go ahead, Lei.

Fly.

- What the hell are we doing in this neighborhood?

- I told you, I've got a surprise.

- And I told you I promised Hippolyta

I'd be over to watch Dee at 2:00.

- Bail is usually $40,

which means I owe you around $500 for that,

and then there's that time you wired me money

in Kentucky last Christmas when I broke my camera.

- You said that was for your light bill.

- Yeah, that's right.

You've paid more than a few of my bills

over the years too.

You've been there for me when I needed money.

And I wanna return the favor. - Hmm.

- How would you like to never pay rent again?

- What does that mean?

I bought a house!

- What game are you playing at?

- It's not a game, Ruby.

- There is no way in hell

you could afford to buy this house.

- Come on!

- Oh.

Never mind. Now I can see why.

- All right, it don't look like much now,

but when we're done fixing it up...

- Where'd you get the money to buy yourself a house?

- Our house, Ruby.

- Where'd you get the money, Leti?

- That has three floors, not including the basement,

and 13 rooms.

I'm gonna turn it into a boarding house.

Make it a safe haven for colored folks in need.

- Safe?

Just last year, there was almost a riot across town

because a Negro couple moved in to an all-white building.

- There's strength in numbers. - No.

No, I don't have any time for distractions right now.

I'm about to apply at a Marshall Field's again

and I need to concentrate on perfecting my résumé.

- I'll help you.

I'll even mend one of your dresses for you

so you don't have to buy a new one.

- I don't know, Leti.

- I know you think I've used our relationship

to get over on you through the years,

but this could be our chance to really bond as sisters.

I'm taking the biggest room.

- I knew it! Come on.

I haven't even shown you the best part.

It's an elevator.

- What?

- That's strange.

It was working before.

- Leti!

- Whoo!

- Oh, my God.

- That's not funny.

That's not funny.

That's not funny. - I'll get it fixed.

- Oh, my God.

- Mama, Tic's done burning breakfast.

- Hey, I heard that.

- You okay, Dee?

- Yeah. Yeah.

Everything's jake.

- Morning.

Morning.

- Hey, baby.

- I made you some eggs.

Go ahead. - Go ahead.

No, baby, you go ahead.

- The printer called again,

about, uh, about the new additions to the guide.

They're about a month overdue.

- I keep forgetting the deadline.

- He understands, considering.

- I'll go do it now.

- I took care of it last night.

Hope that's okay.

I know you didn't wanna miss putting the guide out.

- I hadn't proofed 'em yet, Tic.

- They looked good to me.

- Okay.

Thanks.

- We should try the scrapyard for some robot parts tonight.

Gotta be something good there.

- I'm not staying over tonight, Dee.

- Why?

You've been here for weeks.

- I got some things I gotta take care of.

Pop?

Can't pay a dollar I don't have.

Can't lock the door.

Hey.

Pan to mop.

Eh.

Say?

- I got you, kid.

- Ah, damn... damn... damn it!

Boy!

- That was Uncle George's favorite story to tell.

I heard it so much, I'm even dreaming about it,

like I was there with y'all when the riot broke out.

Those white boys had you surrounded,

and out of nowhere came a mysterious stranger

swinging a bat like Jackie Robinson.

Hit home runs on all their heads,

saving you both.

And all he said before disappearing was...

- "I got you, kid."

- We could've used that stranger up in Ardham.

How Dee and Hippolyta doing?

- As good as can be expected.

I've been helping Dee with her swing.

She could use you, a'ight.

- Hmm.

- I've worn out my welcome there, Pop.

I was hoping I could stay here just for a few nights.

- Yeah.

- Feels strange, staying over there

without them knowing what happened to Uncle George.

- They know what happened.

That hotheaded sheriff shot him.

Hippolyta saw the body. We had a funeral.

End of story.

- I know that's what we agreed on.

Just don't feel right. - So what?

You want us to tell 'em that wizards exist?

Huh?

That white folks got magic on their side too?

- Maybe we just tell Aunt Hippolyta.

- Hippolyta can't do shit.

We can't do shit. A'ight?

Best to just let it all die

with the bodies buried under that lodge.

- Just feel like if Uncle George was here...

- He's not here. - If he was here...

- Well, he ain't here.

- If he was, he'd be saying we need to find out all we can...

- Goddamn it!

- Looking good, boys.

- We need that elevator fixed.

- I'm working on it,

but colored elevator repair men are hard to find.

- Leti, you know there's a locked door up here?

- So pick it!

Hello!

What's your name?

- Baldwin.

Hey, you're a novelist too? I'm James.

- I'm Ruby.

- I'd apologize for my sister's rude behavior,

but she gets it from her father.

- You planning to move all that junk out of the basement?

It'd be a great space for a dance studio.

- Sorry.

No significant alterations to the house

until that installment contract's paid up.

- Where does this go?

- Put it in the kitchen.

- There's no room.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- I went over to Ruby's old place looking for you.

Her neighbor said you hit the numbers

and moved to the North Side.

It's nice.

- No, it's not.

Not really.

But it will be.

- Smart.

Moving in on a Sunday

when the whole neighborhood's at church

and can't try to stop you.

- Why did you go by Ruby's looking for me?

- Wanted to check in on you.

- You haven't checked in since George's funeral

three weeks ago.

- I wanted to check in before hitting the road.

- You going back to Florida?

- Yeah. It's time.

Hippolyta's doing better. So is Dee.

- You're gonna miss one hell of a housewarming party.

Everybody on the South Side's gonna be here.

- Yeah? - Mm-hmm.

- That'll be fun for your neighbors.

I have a room I haven't rented out yet.

You should stay, at least, for the party.

- I told my boss I'd only be gone for a few days.

About a month ago.

All right.

- Hey, what's that?

- Here we go.

I told you it was gonna be Trumbull Park all over again.

- Maybe I will stick around a little longer.

Oh, motherfuckers.

Son of a bitch.

Oh. Ooh.

- I don't see anything.

- No, no, no.

There was something banging on that door to get out.

- Could've been a draft.

- Wasn't just the wind.

I heard voices.

- I believe you.

What we went through...

the stress of it...

Plus keeping it a secret.

And your neighbors know what they doing.

I wouldn't be surprised

if the assholes with the cars are vets.

- Well, I know they're the ones tampering with that boiler.

- Excessive heat and noise,

same tactics we used in Korea.

- For what?

- I'll nail the windows down in the basement,

keep watch for a couple nights.

- No, you don't have to do that.

- But I will.

- Thank you.

- You know, the...

This is the perfect place for a darkroom.

- Hi!

Whew!

- Leti, Leti.

I think that elevator's broken again.

- That'll quench your thirst after taking the stairs.

- You heard about that newcomer preacher

that's supposed to jumpstart the movement, right?

- Michael, right?

- He's going by Martin now.

- I heard he was engaged to a white woman.

- Nah.

They made him marry a colored one last year.

- Loving a white woman doesn't mean

he can't stand up for colored folks.

I guess.

Ella!

- Leti!

- All right, now this is your last pour.

No more, I say. No more.

Just one.

Ron is here?

- More? - Yes.

- So greedy.

- Hey.

- Hey.

Thank you for bringing all this food.

- Oh, I should be thanking you.

My icebox is overflowing with food folks bring

when they come check in on us.

- Ah.

- Couldn't eat it all if we try.

Even with Tic eating more than his share.

- He said he was helping out. - He was.

Cooking.

Playing with Dee.

Helping out with the travel guide.

Leaving cups upright to dry after he'd wash them.

George always set the cups down when he did the dishes.

- That it?

Tic remind you of George?

- No.

Just being foolish.

You seen Dee and her friends?

- Who's the coolest in our group?

It's spelling my name.

- No, it's mine! - Okay, okay.

Bobo, it's your turn.

Will I have a good time on my trip?

- Gil, it's your turn.

- Who are we talking to?

That ain't funny, jerk!

- I didn't do it! - Me either.

- It moved by itself.

- Y'all are assholes!

- Dee.

Diana.

Hello?

- Man, I've been looking for you.

Where you been?

- The porch.

Keeping watch.

- You thought it'd be a good idea,

let the neighbors see a soldier live here, huh?

You was always real smart.

Hey, I wanted to ask you about Letitia.

- What about her?

- Me and her, we used to tussle back in high school,

if you know what I'm saying.

And I'm feeling nostalgic tonight.

But I heard you been staying here rent-free.

- And?

All right, man. All right.

But if that's yours,

you might wanna tell her.

- Sorry.

I didn't realize I started my monthly...

- It's okay.

Hey, no big deal.

- See you downstairs?

- Yeah.

- You think Marshall Field's hasn't hired you

because you're colored?

- Of course I know that.

And I'm willing to work harder than anybody else,

if that's what it's gonna take.

You know, if more colored folk thought like me,

the race would be a lot further along.

Oh, no.

- Oh, no. - Damn.

- Excuse me.

- Where are the kids?

Dee!

- James, grab the shotguns from the closet.

Ruby, get Floyd's car keys.

- Come on, put your hands together.

Yeah.

Come on, y'all.

We gon' take everything back that the devil stole.

- We're taking everything!

- Yeah!

Hey.

Yeah, that's it.

Come on, make the devil mad.

Stomp on his head!

Let him know you're going to get your stomp, yeah!

- Letitia Lewis.

You have quite a record here.

What group you with?

The Monkey Urban League?

No, wait, I know.

The National Association

for the Advancement of Cockroaches.

I've gotten a lot of complaints from your neighbors about you.

- Have you gotten the 21 reports I've filed

about harassment from those same neighbors?

- Burke, Crane,

have we received any complaints?

- Not that we can recall, Captain.

- Anything strange happen in your new house?

Hmm?

A'ight, how about this?

Did someone tell you to buy the Winthrop house?

- Gal like you can't afford that mortgage.

Not even renting out rooms.

You tell me who helped you buy the Winthrop house

and this ends.

- You really don't know anything

about that house you moved into, do you?

We found the body parts

of eight niggers

buried in the room below the basement.

So if history is any indication,

you won't last in that house very long.

At all.

- Get out

of my house!

- Come on, guys.

There's nothing we can do?

Leti?

Leti, we got a big problem.

None of the boarders like

that you put a bigger target on our backs

by busting up those white boys' cars.

They're all moving out.

- It'll be safer for them.

- Who cares about them?

We got an installment contract to pay that we can't afford.

- Ruby, it'll be fine.

I-I still have some of the money Mama left.

- What?

- All that money came from Mama?

- I, um...

I was just as surprised as you are

when I got the call.

The bank said that, um...

she'd left me an inheritance.

- But Mama didn't have any money.

- I guess she did.

- And she just left it all to you?

You didn't even come to her funeral.

Hell, you don't even go by her last name.

- I know.

Hell, it don't make any sense.

But to be honest, I'm tired.

I'm tired of trying to figure out

her crazy motivations.

Mama never did anything for anyone

or for any damn reason but herself.

And I didn't tell you be...

Because I knew it was gonna hurt you.

- Thank you for looking out for me.

- Ruby, don't... - Don't.

Now, you look down on Mama, but you're worse.

- What the hell's that supposed to mean?

- At least Mama didn't pretend to be anything but selfish.

Now, you say you bought this house

'cause you wanted to help our people,

but looks to me all you've done is move in your artist friends.

And if you were half the sister

that you claim you wanna be,

you'd have split that money with me and Marvin,

regardless of Mama's wishes...

- But... - But you didn't!

No, you lied to me.

You begged me to move in here

'cause you really wanted us to be sisters for once,

but that was just more of your bullshit.

Just you burying your guilt

for doing what you always do:

look out for Leti first.

And I'm the fool 'cause here I was thinking,

all these years that I've been helping you,

sending you money,

that you were just a fuck-up,

but really, you're just fucked up.

- Montrose. - Hey.

- What you doing here?

- Figure I'd hit a few balls with Dee,

help her with that swing.

Oh, I got this.

- Just set 'em over there.

- I'm sorry. - Oh, I got it.

I got it, I got it. - I got this.

George's favorite.

- I spilled coffee on his copy.

I saw his body.

The bullet hole where that sheriff shot him.

And I know you and Tic took care of that vile man.

I don't wanna know the details of that, but...

What you told me happened...

Something doesn't feel right.

Tic's been staying here a month,

and every day of it, I have this nagging feeling

that he's not telling me something

about my husband's death.

- Hell...

Hippolyta, I...

I'm not sure what you want me to say.

What else you think happened?

- I don't know!

Something.

- What's all this?

- My house is haunted.

Hell.

- Walk me through it.

- All right, um...

the realtist, JJ,

he was cagey about the previous owners,

but he called it the Winthrop house.

Now, I haven't been able to dig up anything

on the name Winthrop, but I did find out

the last owner of the house was a man named Hiram Epstein.

Epstein was a scientist at the University of Chicago.

Until he was fired

for unethical experimental practices.

- Unethical how?

- Article doesn't say,

but I think he was experimenting on humans.

Eight bodies were found in my basement.

- When?

- I'm not sure.

But remember the night of the housewarming party?

Police captain's the one who told me about the bodies,

and he was asking all these questions about the house,

like he had some sort of connection to it.

That's him.

Look who's standing beside him.

- That's Hiram Epstein. - Mm-hmm.

- They knew each other.

- And Lancaster's name keeps popping up

in a string of articles as the lead detective

in a number of missing person's reports

from the South Side.

- You think he was supplying this Epstein guy

with test subjects?

- Mm. Oh, and then this.

I took these the day we moved in.

The body parts that were found in what is now my basement?

It took all night, but I was able to find

all eight faces.

Lucy, Anarcha, Grover...

- Colored folks who disappeared on the South Side.

- Now restless souls trapped in my house

with their killer.

They want out.

I know it.

- Uncle George would reference a haunted house story right now

that proves that these ghosts aren't gonna stop

till you join 'em on the other side.

I think it's time to move out.

- The night of the housewarming...

that was my first time.

- Your first time what?

Leti.

Leti, I'm sorry if I... - No.

No, no, no.

No, I don't regret it.

I needed it.

I needed to feel something.

We haven't even talked about all the crazy shit

that happened in Ardham.

- Monsters...

the spells, Uncle George's death.

- And I died too.

And honestly, since I've been back,

I've felt like a ghost.

Like something's missing.

And I keep grasping at everything,

trying to avoid it.

Pioneering,

the church, my sister...

you.

Hell, I thought the world was one way,

and I found out it isn't.

And it terrifies me.

But I can't live in fear.

I won't.

I gotta face this new world head on

and stake my claim in it.

- Where'd you say you found her again?

- Mama couldn't really commune with the dead,

but she was a hustler

who believed in doing her research.

- If the spirits are as malevolent

as you claim, child,

you'll need a seal of protection

to keep us safe while we purge the house.

I'll reach out for the spirits' energy

until I find it.

Here, I feel a presence.

Take my hands.

Form a circle.

And don't let go.

No matter what.

Mama Oya,

I, your dutiful servant, call upon you

to use me as a vessel,

so together, we may cleanse this space

of these tormented spirits.

- Found 'em. Terry.

- Let's get 'em.

It's working!

Chant with me now.

- Shit.

- Our marks!

- Let's go!

- Leti!

Betsey!

Phillip!

Lucy! Jasper!

Anarcha! Rufus!

Grover! -

- Olivia! Please!

- Out of my house, bitch.

Get the fuck out of my house.

- Help me!

Help me cast him out!

- Get out of my house, bitch.

Get the fuck out of my house, bitch!

- Please! - Get the fuck out of my house.

You are not dead yet!

You can still fight!

- Get the fuck out of my house, bitch!

- Get the fuck out of my house!

- It's amazing you're even standing here today,

considering the opposition you were up against.

And you didn't just do it for yourself.

To really be providing a sanctuary

for those in the community most in need of cheap housing?

That's what makes this story newsworthy.

It's helping our community.

- It was my sister who really inspired it all.

- Well, it is truly...

It is truly remarkable.

I have one last question. - Hmm.

- Off the record,

do you know anything about the disappearance

of three of your white neighbors?

- I hadn't heard anyone was missing.

- Can I grab a photo?

- Sure.

- The bank has wired your money.

I appreciate your help.

JJ, I think you better grab that box and go.

- Leti's inheritance didn't come from her mother.

It came from you.

- How'd you figure it out?

- Winthrop.

I saw his name carved on the frame

of your father's favorite painting.

- Horatio Winthrop was a founding member

of the Sons of Adam.

But he was banished after stealing pages

from the Book of Names.

He was sick of Titus having the only cipher

to read the Language of Adam

and tried to develop his own

from the stolen pages.

Hiram Epstein was a follower of his.

- I didn't come here for a history lesson.

- Then what did you come here for?

- To make sure you stay the fuck away from my family.

- Shall I continue the lesson?

Most of the Order never create their own spells.

They don't have the discipline

or the talent.

Those that do usually get one spell in their lifetime.

My father's claim to fame was invulnerability.

He thought if you couldn't be harmed,

you'd live forever.

He had to remove it

when he attempted to open the door to the Garden of Eden.

It's extraordinary really, when you think about it.

Every spell the Sons have created

has come from just one deciphered chapter

of the Book of Names,

orally passed down by Titus.

The Book is gone

and Titus locked his pages

in a booby-trapped vault

only he could access.

But imagine the possibilities

if Horatio Winthrop's pages were to be found.

The Language of Adam could finally be decoded

in its entirety.

Call me when you're ready to learn more

about our family legacy.

And Tic, really, you...

Have to be smarter than this.

You know you can't just go around

killing white women.

What if I told you that I could change your life...

forever.

We need to be able to defend ourselves.

You have his blood.

Must be the key to finding his pages.

You can't win this game they setting up for you to play.

You gon' help us or not?

For us, it's a rat race to the finish line.

And it's winner takes all.

Hello?