The Secret Beneath Her Name

Chapter 7 : Aurelia means price

INT. HALLWAY - DUSK

NYX runs from the master bedroom, LEDGER in her arms. MATEO follows. Behind them, DON SEVERINO’S WHEELCHAIR CREAKS.

The hallway has no lights. Only SIX DARK SQUARES on the walls where mirrors were. The wallpaper inside each square is clean. New.

NYX stops. Counts the squares.

NYX

Six. One for each Aurelia in the book.

MATEO

(quiet)

One for each time he bought more years.

Nyx opens the ledger. Flips to the back. A pouch is sewn into the cover. She tears it open.

COINS spill out. Heavy. Old. Each one stamped AURELIA on one side.

NYX picks up the 2008 coin. Flips it. The other side: A CHILD’S FACE. Crude, but recognizable. Her face. The scar.

NYX

They’re not coins. They’re receipts.

MATEO

Every Aurelia buys him 18 years. Sometimes more. He’s 103. Do the math.

NYX

And you? What do you get?

MATEO

(beat)

I got you. Eighteen years I didn’t deserve.

WHEELCHAIR CREAKS. Closer.

DON SEVERINO (O.S.)

Hello, apo.

INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

DON SEVERINO appears at the end of the hall. 103, IV POLE attached to the chair. LEDGER on his lap. BONE PEN in his fingers. No teeth. Only gums, red as the ink.

DON SEVERINO

You’re just in time for dinner.

NYX

I’m not hungry.

DON SEVERINO

You will be. After you sign. The name feeds you, too. Money. Power. Time.

He rolls closer. One rotation. Stop. One rotation. Stop.

DON SEVERINO (CONT’D)

Tell me, child. Do you know what Revenar means?

NYX

It means revenant. One who returns.

DON SEVERINO

(shakes head)

No. It means one who returns owing. We don’t come back from death. We come back in debt.

He holds out the BONE PEN.

DON SEVERINO (CONT’D)

Nyx Aurelia Revenar. Write it. And your father lives to see the sun.

MATEO steps between them.

MATEO

She’s not my daughter. Not really. Let her go. Take me instead.

DON SEVERINO

(laughs)

I can’t. You’re not an Aurelia. You’re just the angel. Angels don’t pay. They collect.

NYX

Then I’m not paying either.

She drops the COINS. They hit the floor and ROLL. Every one lands AURELIA side up.

The HOUSE GROANS.

INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

The CLOCKS on the walls all STUTTER. The second hands SPIN, then SNAP back to 3:03.

DON SEVERINO

The house doesn’t like that answer.

NYX

Good. Neither do I.

She holds up the 2026 coin. It’s BLANK on both sides. But the metal is WARM.

NYX (CONT’D)

This one’s mine. And it’s not stamped yet.

DON SEVERINO

No. But the ink is.

He dips the BONE PEN in the inkwell. The ink is RED. Wet. Fresh.

DON SEVERINO (CONT’D)

11:47 PM. We have until 3:03 AM. After that, no contract. No grace period. No Mateo.

MATEO

Nyx. Don’t.

NYX looks at him. Then at the coin. Then at the SIX DARK SQUARES on the wall.

NYX

You said Aurelia means gold. Means price.

DON SEVERINO

Yes.

NYX

Then what’s the price of a name nobody says out loud?

DON SEVERINO

(stops smiling)

What?

NYX backs away, toward the stairs.

NYX

You’ll find out at 3:03.

She RUNS.