Episode 1360

Aired: Friday September 10, 1971

John Karlen's voiceover: "This will be a night of fear for those who live in the great house at Collinwood. An enemy of the Collins family plots to destroy both Barnabas Collins and his wife Angelique to settle an old score. But as he attempts to manipulate the mysteries of time for his own ends, Nicholas Blair will have to overcome his own fears...."

Nicholas arrives back at his house with the I Ching wands. He drops them on a table and then takes a book out of his desk and begins looking something up. We hear him thinking "I must be sure of the correct hexagram Barnabas used if I am to reach back into the past.....yes....this one...the hexagram of change....." Nicholas says "I have no time for random chance!" as he carefully arranges the wands to form the hexagram he wants. He sits at the table and begins to concentrate, as we hear him think "I must concentrate on the symbol until I see the door....and then I will walk through...." Nicholas closes his eyes and concentrates for a moment, until we see the hexagram superimposed over his face. The picture dissolves to a black door with the hexagram on it. Nicholas walks towards the door in his trance and it begins to open with a creak. But when Nicholas looks inside, he is terrified....

After the titles, Nicholas is terrified as flames begin to engulf him within the room! The inside of the room starts to turn bright red as laughter is heard over Nicholas' screams. Nicholas grabs at his face, but discovers that it is now only a burning skull with bright shining eyes (I couldn't resist casting my favorite Dark Shadows actor, the skull with eyeballs! - CDT) Nicholas grabs at his skull-face desperately as the flames cover him. Back in his house, Nicholas, screaming, manages to open his eyes, and tip the table over, knocking the wands to the floor. He is gasping for breath, but he has escaped his I Ching trance. He looks at the wands on the floor for a moment before kicking them away in frustration. "These are far too dangerous," he says to himself. "How can Barnabas always be so lucky?" he adds as we dissolve to Barnabas entering the old house with Angelique. "Do you think Julia will try to get Maggie out of Windcliff?" Angelique asks him. Barnabas answers that he's sure she will, once she's "thought it over more." They enter the living room and see the fire dying out. "That's strange," Barnabas says. "I wonder why Willie hasn't tended the fire for our return?" Barnabas begins to add some wood to the fire as Willie comes downstairs, yawning. Angelique says "Willie! Where have you been?" Barnabas asks him the same thing, noting the fire had nearly gone out. Willie says "I don't know...I guess I must have fallen asleep. I don't know why." Barnabas scowls "You don't know why?" Willie gets nervous and answers "I remember I was down here, cleanin'.... next thing I knew, I was upstairs sleepin'....I swear, Barnabas, I don't remember nothin' else!" Angelique thinks a moment and says "Willie...you don't remember anything? You don't remember if anyone was here?" Willie says no. Angelique adds "Are you sure no one was here?" Barnabas says "Do you think Blair was here?" Angelique says she does, but Willie says he remembers nothing. "What would he want with Willie?" Barnabas asks. Angelique answers "Who knows, except that he is close to us, Barnabas." Barnabas looks at Willie and says "Willie, if Blair ever approaches you for any reason, you must tell us immediately. Do you understand?" Willie says he does, and apologizes for almost letting the fire go out. Barnabas moves to Angelique and says "We must convince Julia to get Maggie out of Windcliff. We must find a way to weaken Nicholas Blair!"

Barnabas is reading in the living room of the old house when there is a knock at the door. Barnabas answers, and it's Quentin. "I need to talk to you," Quentin says. Barnabas invites him in and asks what is the matter. Quentin tells Barnabas he just returned from spending the evening with Harrison. "We went into town and had some drinks." Barnabas answers "Really? And did you find out anything more about him?" Quentin answers "That's just it, Barnabas. I don't know that much about him but...." "But what?" Barnabas asks. Quentin continues "Harrison suggested we practice fencing at a gymnasium near the Blue Whale. It's funny....we almost practiced in the drawing room of Collinwood one day when I cornered him with one of the foils hanging there. I wanted some answers from him." Barnabas smiles and says "Yes, I remember your tendency to question one under pressure." Quentin continues "I hadn't fenced for sport in quite a while...it was actually very refreshing. He's very good. But it was strange. In a way, it was almost like he could anticipate my moves from time to time, as if he knew what I was always going to do next." Barnabas asks "Why do you think so?" Quentin says "I don't know. He's also said some strange things to me. I don't know why, but it strikes me that he knows me better than he ought to for some reason." Barnabas answers "Perhaps he is simply making accurate judgments by what he's seen. He strikes me as a very inquisitive but perceptive man, though I must admit he annoys me somewhat." Quentin smiles a bit and says "Other than how he looks at Angelique, how else does he annoy you?" Barnabas thinks a moment and says "He's hiding too much. I know he's not telling us the whole truth about himself. And for that reason, I simply don't trust him. Especially now, with the sudden return of Vicky and Nicholas Blair." Quentin laughs a bit and says "Well, I can understand how you suspect him with Vicky's return, but I can assure you he is no friend of Blair's." Interested, Barnabas says "Oh?" Quentin continues "When I threatened Blair to stay away from Daphne, Harrison stood at my side. He tried to help Daphne and even threatened Blair himself." Barnabas is confused by this, and can only say "That's very interesting. Though perhaps it was because he somehow suspected that Angelique was helping you to fight Blair." Quentin shrugs and says "Perhaps we have Harrison all wrong. Maybe we can trust him." "Perhaps," says Barnabas, "but simply because he has made an enemy of Blair does not necessarily mean that he has made himself an ally of mine." Quentin says "You're forgetting, Barnabas. If Harrison is hiding some secret and has made Blair his enemy, you can be sure that Nicholas Blair will not rest until he discovers what that secret is." Barnabas thinks about this.

Willie is tossing and turning in his sleep in his room in the old house. Suddenly, he wakes, and then looks at the clock, which reads only 7:45. He sighs deeply, and starts to sit up, but suddenly he's facing Nicholas again. He starts to yelp, but Nicholas waves his hand and Willie goes mute. Willie gasps and struggles to talk, but cannot as Nicholas chuckles. "Perhaps now you'll listen, Willie," Nicholas says. "I'm always quite bored by all of your excessive babbling anyway." Nicholas walks around Willie and says "You still need to help me, Loomis. The wands have failed for me. They are too dangerous, even for a man of my considerable power. I must find another way of learning the secrets of time, and luckily there is another besides Barnabas who may know them." Willie gasps again, and Nicholas continues "You will help me, Willie. You used to be quite adept at stealing jewelry, am I right? There's a certain ring I am interested in. A ring that I want that rests on the finger of Harrison Collins. You will get me that ring, Willie." Willie shakes his head no, and Nicholas says "No? Are you refusing me?" Willie continues to shake his head and then point at his throat, begging to speak. Nicholas waves his hand, saying "I will permit you to speak and tell me why." Willie coughs a bit, and then tells Nicholas how Harrison already suspects him because he caught him snooping before. "The secret has to do with that ring, and that dusty old laboratory in Collinwood. I must discover what that secret is!" Willie asks "Why?" and Nicholas sneers at him "If only you could understand....then I might bother to tell you." Willie says he can't steal the ring, and Nicholas tells him he must, or "face the consequences." Willie gets scared, and Nicholas says "Look at your hands, Willie." Willie is scared as Nicholas repeats "Look at your hands!" Willie looks at his hands, which are suddenly twisted and covered in dripping blood. Willie screams as Nicholas says "Perhaps you will reconsider!" Outside, Angelique hears Willie screaming and comes to his door. She calls inside, asking if he's all right. When there is no answer, she opens the door. She finds Willie laying in bed asleep, though stirring in his sleep. Nicholas is gone. "Willie!" she says, waking him up. "Are you all right?" Willie wakes up with a start and asks what's wrong. Angelique tells him she heard him screaming, and Willie says he must have had a nightmare. Angelique looks at him skeptically.

Vicky and Julia are in the drawing room of Collinwood, walking out into the foyer. Vicky asks Julia if getting Maggie out of Windcliff would be a good thing to do. Julia says she doesn't know, only that "Barnabas seemed to think he could protect her. And Nicholas would certainly stray from his plans if he were distracted somehow." Vicky wonders if it's worth the risk, "especially since we can't tell Maggie the truth. Not after what she's been through." Julia agrees, though adds that she's tired and will be going to bed. Vicky says goodnight as Julia goes upstairs, and then looks at the portrait of Barnabas for a moment. Vicky starts to smile at the portrait. Suddenly from behind her, she hears "Hello!" When she turns around, she sees Sarah standing in the foyer, smiling at her. "Sarah!" she says. "Sarah! You've come back!" Sarah looks at Vicky, smiling, and says "Now you know!" Vicky says "What? I don't understand!" Sarah says "Now you know the story! Just like I wanted to show you!" Vicky thinks a moment and nods, answering "Yes. Now I know the story," as she glances over her shoulder at Barnabas' portrait as Sarah continues smiling at her.