Good evening, Father.
Is she ready?
Yes.
Baptism is the rite of initiation.
This holy water takes away original sin.
The sacrament confers the grace of God...
...bringing the soul into God's family.
Dara, I baptize you
in the name of the Father...
and of the Son...
...and of the Holy Spirit.
Bless you, my child.
Dara?
Oh, my God.
Dara!
Dara?
Oh.
Oh, my God.
No...!
Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
It has been several months since my last confession.
You have a sin to confess?
Father, I'm an FBI agent.
I've taken it as my code and purpose
to uphold the law...
to save lives.
And now your work has come in conflict with your faith.
In a way.
I was here for Easter services last week,
and Father McCue approached me for my help.
Why did he come to you?
Because there was a family that he felt needed my help.
But it was more than that.
Father, I had a daughter who died.
A strange and sudden death several months ago.
Father McCue thought that by helping these people,
you might in some way help yourself
to come to terms with your grief.
Yes.
But you haven't.
Father, I told you that I had a sin to confess...
...but the sin of which I'm guilty
I'm not sure if you can offer forgiveness.
What is the sin?
An innocent girl is dead because of me.
I could've saved her life, but I let her die.
Nice to see you.
Happy Easter, Father.
Yes, Father, happy Easter to you.
Good seeing you.
Nice seeing you.
Dana?
Do you have a moment?
I'd like to speak with you in private.
I must say, Dana, it's been nice seeing you at mass again.
I've almost started getting used to it.
I've been trying
to make an effort to come more often.
I don't mean to take advantage of your attendance,
but I've become involved in a difficult situation
with a couple that are also members here.
Do you know the Kernofs?
No, I'm afraid I don't.
Recently, they lost their daughter Dara.
You may have heard about the situation.
No, I didn't.
The circumstances of the girl's death were sudden,
and I'm afraid the police haven't been able
to tell them much.
Are you asking for my help?
The Kernofs are devout,
but their faith is giving them little comfort.
I thought, with your background,
your words might carry a certain weight.
Can I tell them you'll be visiting?
That's Dara on her 16th birthday.
We couldn't have children of our own.
I persuaded Lance six years ago to adopt.
At first, he was reluctant to accept a special-needs child,
but he became so attached to her.
Then this happens.
You make the choice
never imagining something like this.
Or how vulnerable you are.
Dara had just been baptized.
I know in my heart she's gone to a better place,
but Lance is angry.
Angry at God.
They say time heals.
Oh, Father McCue said that, uh, that you've been having trouble
getting much information about what might have happened to her.
They say now she may have been struck by lightning,
but no one seems to know for sure.
How she even got out of the house
onto the street is a mystery.
What do you mean?
Dara suffered from
congenital spinal deformities.
She's been wheelchair bound her whole life.
Could somebody have taken her out of her room?
Lance said he saw her walking
and that when he found her
she was on her knees, praying.
I think that's the hardest part
for my husband.
He'll never understand how God could...
forsake the life of an innocent girl.
How God, in his mercy,
could let this happen to our Dara.
Mrs. Kernof was talking about her husband,
but she might as well have been talking about me.
You, too, were angry at God?
I felt drawn to these people, Father...
in a very personal way.
I was determined to help them understand
why their daughter had been taken.
And did you?
As much as I have my faith, Father, I am a scientist,
trained to weigh evidence.
But science only teaches us how...
...not why.
If you want me to stand by my report, I will,
but I have to say it's not exactly open and shut
on the cause of death.
You think it was lightning?
I'm guessing it was lightning.
The way her eyes were burned suggests the bolt
may have gone to ground right through the top of her head.
Funny thing is, there was no other sign
of arcing except for the face.
Her mother said that she was found
in a kneeling position.
Genuflecting.
Are you a religious person?
Why do you ask?
I haven't been to church since I was a kid,
but I went last Sunday.
I'm going to show you something.
Her body was rigored such that I had to do my examination
in the position she was found.
I've never seen anything like it.
Looks like there was surgery done on her hands.
She was polydactyl.
Same with her feet.
I haven't asked her parents yet.
Haven't had the heart to.
But I assume they had the extra fingers removed.
What's the connection?
I found no other evidence of any other tissue damage
or electrical burns or any other serious trauma.
It's as if God himself struck her down.
Dara Kernof was adopted.
I don't suppose that you've requested any information
about the birth mother.
I can do that if you like.
No. That's okay. I, uh...
I have someone I can ask.
Somebody I'd like to confer with, actually.
Koklos... Paula Koklos, room 213.
We'll get her things packed up
and get you on your way.
Hold it!
Just hold it.
Are you Father Gregory?
Yes.
I'm Aaron Starkey with the Department of Social Services.
I am very sorry, but we've had a mix-up.
What are you talking about?
Your adoption petition for Paula Koklos.
It's missing an approval.
I've got the court order right here.
Well, that's the mix-up.
See, it never should have gone to family court
without getting an approval from the social worker
assigned to the case, and that's me.
Give it to me here then, and we'll be on our way.
No. I can't, at least not yet.
I've just been assigned to Paula,
so I'll need time to familiarize myself with her case...
Look, I've already been through all this.
I'm here to take the girl home.
I'm sorry, Father, but you'll have to wait...
until I can get the paperwork in order.
Hello.
Hey, Scully, I'm returning your call.
Hi. Uh, something's come up.
I was, uh, hoping that you could do me a favor.
Why? What's going on?
This isn't official FBI business,
so I was hoping that we could keep it outside of work.
Hey, look, I'm, uh...
kind of tailing a, uh, possible suspect right now,
so I'm kind of rushed, so, uh...
I need some birth and adoptive records
on a Dara Kernof.
Who?
Dara Kernof.
I can't tell you much more than that, Mulder.
I'm sorry.
You want to give me a hint? Anything?
Not until you get me those records.
All right, I'll talk to you later.
Scully?
Aren't you the secret squirrel.
What do you mean?
Just got a look at that body they wheeled out of here.
You've been holding out on me.
Mulder, it's not what you think.
I-I didn't want to involve you.
I got asked to look into this as a favor for a family.
Dara Kernof's family?
You found Dara's records?
No. Those are her, uh, birth records.
The adoption records have been sealed.
I think one of my questions has already been answered.
Dara was a twin.
No.
Actually, she was a quadruplet...
one of four girls.
Was this, uh... cross found like this?
Uh, yes, as far as I know. Why?
It's inverted. Upside-down.
That's a protest, a sacrilege against the church.
Put there by whom?
It's your case, remember, Scully?
Do you have any suspects?
Not as of this time.
Could the, uh... the victim have placed it?
Uh, it's doubtful.
Paula Koklos was severely impaired...
physically and mentally...
as was Dara Kernof.
And they both died the same way?
It appears that their eyes were burnt out.
Their bodies frozen in a position of prayer.
Their physical deformities
could account for that.
They might.
Look, Scully, I know you don't really want my help on this,
but can I offer you my professional opinion?
You got a bona fide
super-crazy religious wacko on your hands.
What makes you so sure?
Well, the mote in the eye,
the eyes as the windows to the soul,
an eye for an eye...
he's working from ancient scripture,
ancient text, maybe even the Bible.
He may even think he's doing God's work.
Did you find anything?
My name is Aaron Starkey.
I'm the social worker assigned to Paula Koklos.
This is so tragic.
I just hope you catch whoever did this.
Mr. Starkey,
do you happen to know if that cross over there
belonged to Paula?
I don't remember seeing it before.
I'm sure it didn't.
Did she have any visitors or anybody
who might have left it behind?
Well, she had no family.
No friends, really.
I don't know if you knew this,
but Paula was about to be adopted.
By who?
Scully, look at this.
The Gnostic Gospels, Book of Enoch,
Book of J,
apocrypha.
I'm surprised there's nothing here
from Jesus Christ Superstar.
What kind of church is this?
Well, there's no telling.
Can I help you?
Father Gregory?
- Yes? - I'm Dana Scully.
We're here about the death of Paula Koklos.
Oh, God, no.
Are you all right, Father?
I was trying to adopt Paula.
I'm-I'm sure you knew that.
We hear you were very anxious to do so.
I... I hope to God you're not suggesting
I had something to do with it.
Why adopt her?
What, you think I was
interested in harming her?
Why adopt her?
I-I was trying to protect her.
I knew her mother.
Do you know where she is?
Yes.
We were looking for her name.
It's not listed on the girls' birth records.
Why would you want it?
The other two girls may be in danger.
We're hoping that she might be able to help us find them.
Their mother died in childbirth.
Can you give us a name?
When I was a priest in the Roman Church,
before I founded my own, I was her confessor.
Divulging her name would violate the code of my faith.
And yours, I see.
You said you wanted to protect Paula.
From what?
Whatever your intentions,
your secular prejudices blind you
from seeing what's really happening here.
Two girls
are dead... not by the hand of man.
Unless you accept
the truth of God's teachings that there is a struggle
between good and evil for all souls
and that we are losing that struggle,
you're but fools rushing in.
You put your own lives in danger,
as well as the lives of the messengers.
I have nothing more to say.
I brought Agent Mulder on the case
to help temper my feelings...
to keep them from clouding my judgment.
I wouldn't admit it to him, but...
as we stood there,
I felt as if Father Gregory were speaking directly to me.
In a language only I could understand.
The messengers.
Yes.
I know people in glass houses
shouldn't throw stones, blah, blah, blah,
but that guy is paranoid.
I think you're a little extreme in your judgment,
don't you, Mulder?
All that crap about the fight for all souls,
the literature we saw in there,
the performance we just witnessed... it all fits.
He thinks he's doing God's laundry.
He said this wasn't done by the hand of man.
Do you think he believes that, too?
If he does, he's even more dangerous than he appears.
Even if he's not your killer, he is hiding something.
- What? - Well, he says
he knew the mother,
but he won't give up her name.
Maybe she's alive.
I think you have enough
to bring him in for questioning,
if not make an arrest.
But, basically, you're ruling out any element
of the supernatural?
What do you mean?
Well, Dara Kernof was baptized on the day of her death.
She was sanctified by the ritual sacrament...
submerged in the spirit.
And why would God allow this to happen,
and why do bad things happen to good people?
Religion has masqueraded as the paranormal
since the dawn of time
to justify some of the most horrible acts in history.
I was raised to believe
that God has his reasons, however mysterious.
He may well have his reasons, but he seems to use
a lot of psychotics to carry out his job orders.
You want to find out who did this?
I suggest you autopsy the body of Paula Koklos
before it's interred, before the man who killed her
has a chance to find her sisters.
The victim is Paula Koklos,
age 16, cause of death unknown.
I'll begin with the external examination.
Victim has signs of congenital physical defects,
including four supernumerary digits.
The only indications of external trauma
are the burning...
by means unknown, of both globes of the eyes.
I'm noting something on the shoulder.
A bony process of some kind, possibly a tumorous mass.
No-no indication of surgical procedure.
The mass appears on both the right and left clavicle.
Oh, God.
Mommy?
Mommy, please.
I told myself that it was all in my head...
a hallucination brought on
by my emotional connection to the case.
That would seem to be a reasonable explanation.
But that's not what it was, Father.
I was meant to see Emily...
...for a purpose.
Which was?
To save these girls.
Hey, Scully, it's me.
I did a little more digging on those adoption records.
What do you mean?
I think I got a lead on that third sister.
Where?
She was under county care ten years ago.
Apparently, she wandered into
a teen crisis center
here in D.C. last week homeless.
That guy over at, uh, Social Services, Starkey...
he's helping me canvass the area.
Mulder, if she shares anything with her sisters,
she wouldn't be walking anywhere far.
What did you find?
There's evidence of a progressive
degenerative bone disease.
And, uh, I know you're going to think that I'm crazy...
but I swear I found evidence of something winglike.
Well, then, maybe she flew here, Scully.
Mulder, there's something else.
Why don't you hold that thought
and tell it to me and Father Gregory when you see us.
Stop right there!
Move into the light!
Hands where I can see them!
We're too late.
Where's the girl?
She's dead.
Where is she?!
In there.
What are you asking for,
Father, mercy or forgiveness?
You know,
they say when you talk to God it's prayer,
but when God talks to you, it's, uh, schizophrenia.
What is your God telling you, Father?
I pray for the girls' souls.
Oh, you pray for their souls now.
That's convenient.
I'm immune to your mockery.
You're not interested in the truth.
I am only interested in the truth.
I would like to know why you did what you did
to three defenseless, helpless young girls.
What in your sick mind would possess you
to burn their eyes out?!
Did they see you for who you are,
like I do?
What does this mean, Father?
Tell him what it is.
St. Peter.
You know the story.
St. Peter on the cross.
St. Peter would only be crucified upside-down
out of humility towards Christ.
I've risked my life to protect their precious souls,
which the Devil
has sought to claim for his own.
He took two before I could reach them,
and I was too late to save the third.
Agents Mulder and Scully?
You know.
You've already guessed... what they are.
The last one is still out there.
The Devil is here,
and if he finds her, his victory will be complete.
Scully, they think they've found the fourth girl.
As long as I'm in here,
there's no one to protect her.
Let me go...
or she will die.
You believed him.
Yes.
But you didn't tell your colleague.
He believed that he could find the last girl.
But I already knew that I was meant to save her.
From what?
I wasn't sure.
Father Gregory said that the Devil claimed the lives
of the first three girls.
You don't believe that.
I know now that Father Gregory was mistaken.
The Devil didn't take their souls,
but the threat to those girls was real,
and Father Gregory gave his life to protect them.
The fourth girl is Roberta Dyer.
Transferred to Maryland Adoption Services in 1995
when her foster father got a job in Gaithersburg.
Adoption services were called out
to investigate allegations of child abuse
in September of that year.
Three more times in '96, then two more times in '97.
Wh-What's wrong?
Father Gregory called them messengers.
Scully?
Scully, don't let this guy get in your head.
That's the last thing you want.
Sometimes the most twisted ones are the most persuasive.
- Mulder, he knows where she is. - Well, that's okay.
As long as he's locked up here, it doesn't matter.
You're not going to find her.
I think you're being misled.
By who?
Scully, I think you're the one
who's being misled.
And not just willingly, but willfully.
I've never seen you more vulnerable or susceptible
or more easily manipulated.
And it scares me
because I don't know why.
I saw Emily.
She came to me in a vision.
I think you should step away.
Personal issues are making you lose your objectivity,
clouding your judgment.
You go.
Go find the girl.
I'm going to finish up with Father Gregory.
Okay.
Father Gregory.
Where is she, Father?
How did you get in here?
I will not be denied this time, Father.
But you took the others.
The others were taken from me.
I will not allow that to happen again.
Where is the fourth girl?
Tell me, Father.
Save yourself.
I'd like to get back in here.
It should be open.
Father Gregory?
Father Gregory?!
Stay back then.
Let's go, let's go.
Yeah?
Mr. Dyer, we have a warrant
to search the premises for your daughter.
She's not here, I tell you.
She's out. She's at school.
We checked at school; she hasn't been there in over a week.
We have reason to believe that her life may be in danger.
If you know something...
What's behind this door?
It's the basement.
Well, can you unlock it?
I don't have the key.
Is this her room?
Where is she, Mr. Dyer?
Where is she?!
They're going to cut off the checks, aren't they?
Where is she?!
He said he'd take her
off my hands, but I could keep the disability.
Who?
- The priest. - Who?!
Father Gregory.
Hello.
Yeah, hi, Scully. It's me.
He's dead, Mulder.
Who?
Father Gregory.
They found him alone
in the interrogation room.
No one can figure it out.
There was a guard sitting right outside the room.
We didn't find her.
The fourth girl... she was here.
Hey, Scully.
Scully, you there?
Answer me.
Scully?
Scully!
Scully?!
Father?
Come in, Dana.
I understand you found
the man responsible for the deaths of those girls.
I'm sure the Kernofs will be relieved.
I'm not sure if they should be, Father.
Why not?
I've seen things.
Things that have made me question if there aren't...
larger forces at work here.
What have you seen?
Visions.
Of my daughter Emily, for one.
I think that's understandable.
I'm sure you identified with the loss.
I considered that, um...
but then I saw something last night
which I... which I can't explain.
I saw a man...
in dark clothes.
But he had four faces.
They weren't human.
Is this what you saw?
It's a seraphim.
An angel... with four faces.
Those of a man, a lion, an eagle and a bull.
In the story, the angel descends from Heaven
and fathers four children
with a mortal woman.
Their offspring are the nephilim...
the "fallen ones."
They have the souls of angels,
but they weren't meant to be.
They're deformed, tormented,
so the Lord sends the seraphim to Earth
to bring back the souls of the nephilim,
to keep the Devil from claiming them as his own.
How did he bring back their souls?
They were smote with the brightness of his countenance.
To look upon the seraphim in all his glory
is to give up one's soul to Heaven.
You think that's what I saw?
No. I think what you saw
is a figment of your imagination,
a half-remembered story from your childhood
that surfaced because of this case.
But I saw it, Father.
Dana, the nephilim is a story.
The text in which it appears
isn't even recognized by the Church.
Father, do you believe that...
God has his reasons?
Yes, I'm certain of it.
It's how he rewards our faith.
Agent Scully?
Can't believe I found you.
What is it?
Agent Mulder's been trying to reach you.
He's been down at the station house.
Trying to reach me for what?
The fourth girl...
she's at Father Gregory's church.
Come on, I'll drive you.
There's no one here.
They must be on their way.
You don't see her in there?
She's here.
I know it.
Agent Scully?
Did you find her?
Agent Scully?
My name is Dana.
I'm going to get you out of there, okay?
I'm not going to hurt you.
I'm going to take you someplace safe.
Where are you going?
Where are you taking her?
Everything's going to be fine.
Bring her here!
Bring me the girl!
No, it's okay.
It's all right. Stay here.
It's okay.
Stay...
Just stay here!
It's going to be okay.
Bring her out to me.
Mommy?
Mommy, let me go.
Mommy, please, let me go.
Emily.
Agent Scully,
get her out of there!
Mommy, please.
Emily?
Emily?!
Oh, God.
You believed you were releasing her soul to Heaven.
I felt sure of it.
But you still can't reconcile this belief
with the physical fact of her death?
No.
I thought I could, Father, but I can't.
Do you believe there is a life after this one?
Yes.
Are you sure?
Has it occurred to you that maybe this, too,
is part of what you were meant to understand?
You mean, accepting my loss?
Can you accept it?
Maybe that's what faith is.
I made this!