A great treachery is about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting member of the Collins family, as a centuries old vow for revenge is being brought to fruition. In a sealed of wing of the great house, two men are about to engage in a ritual that appears at first glance to bring deliverance to one who has been enslaved against his will, but for another, could mean the end of life as he has come to know it...
Adam paces about the abandoned room he once inhabited. He hears footsteps outside the door and turns to look. The door opens and Trevor enters. "Well Adam, I see you made it in without being seen. Good." Adam then looks at him and says, "You're sure you can take away this aging?" Trevor chuckles and says, "Well now, would I be here if I couldn't? Oh yes, you will see the years melt away in mere moments. Did you bring the things I asked for?" Adam looked at him and replied, "Yes. It's on the table." Trevor walked over to the table and opened a small paper bag. He pulled out a handkerchief and looked at it and grinned. He then reached in again and removed a small apothecary bottle. He smiled and nodded, then said, "We have everything we need. Help me pull this table over against that wall." Adam lifted one side of the table while Trevor grabbed the other. They carried it over to the empty wall and slid it the edge of it up against the wall. Trevor then walked to an adjacent wall and removed a dusty old mirror from the wall. He carries it over to the table and leans it against the wall on top of the table. He then drags a chair over to the table and motions for Adam to sit down. Adam looks at the chair, then at Trevor. "Well, go ahead. Sit down!" Trevor chided him. Adam cautiously sat down at the table. His aged reflection now shows in the mirror. "We're ready to begin!" Trevor says removing the top from the apothecary bottle. A hideous grin crosses his face as three dramatic notes sound.
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Trevor Halliburton, possessed by the spirit of the warlock, Judah Zachary, stands smirking by the table where a greatly aged Adam sits looking at his deeply wrinkled face. "Do I have to look at that face? I was ugly before, but I would rather look at my old face than to look at that hideous sight!" Adam said cringing. Trevor grinning then replied, "It is absolutely essential that you look deeply into the face in that mirror, Adam. Now you're certain that this handkerchief belongs to Barnabas Collins?" Adam looks at Trevor and says, "Yes, I got it from one of the first floor rooms at the Old House. I know it's his." Trevor then nodded with an impish look on his face and says, "Very good!" He removes the lid from the apothecary bottle and says, "Now I want you to gaze deeply into your reflection in the mirror, Adam. Don't take your eyes off of it for a second!" Adam looks into the mirror at the deeply etched wrinkles and brown age spots. He winces at first, but continues to gaze at his reflection as he had been instructed.
Scene cuts to the East wing drawing room. Barnabas and Julia enter and see Willie sitting at the table half asleep. Their entrance rouses him and he stands. "Hey Barnabas, hey Julia, I stayed up like I said I would." Barnabas looks kindly at him and says, "Julia said you saw the mysterious woman again tonight." Willie nods and replies, "Yeah, I was straightenin' up in heah. I stahted to put this book back on the shelf, then I though you might not be done with it, so I put it back heah on the table. Then I stahted to go to my room fah somethin' an theah she was, standin' right theah in the doorway. I asked huh whut she wanted." Julia tilted her head to one side in a curious manner and said, "Did she answer you, Willie?" Willie nodded negatively and said, "No she diden say nuthin'. She jus kept motionin' me to follah huh." Barnabas then asked, "And did you follow her, Willie?" He nodded that he did and walked to the doors and said, "Yeah, she walked right down this hall heah." Julia then asked, "What did she do then, Willie?" He pointed down the hall and said, "She stopped right theah at that door. Then she jus motioned huh hand at the door an' it opened. All by itself! I'm tellin' ya the truth! The door opened all by itself!" Barnabas looked at Willie and said, "There was a time, long ago, in my own time, I might not have believed possible what you're saying, Willie. I'm sure it happened just as you say. What happened then?" Willie ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up, then replied, "I was plenty scahed, and I wazzen gonna follah huh, but she kept on motionin' me to come with huh, and she went in that door." Barnabas then walked down the hall to the door Willie indicated and opened it. He looked at the dusty corridor, then back at Willie and nodded in a motioning manner, as he himself stepped inside the secondary corridor. Willie, being mildly coaxed by Julia, followed Barnabas into the dark musty corridor. Julia looks all about the corridor at the dangling cobwebs and frowns. "What happened then, Willie?" Barnabas asked. Willie walked to the door the figure had led him to and opened the door saying, "She came in this room and stood right ovah theah." He pointed to the very spot the hooded woman had stood. By now, he needed no coaxing to finish his story. He then said. "She pointed at that cornah ova theah, an' I asked huh what she wanted me to see. She still didn't say nuthin' Then she just disappeahed right wheah she had been standin". Julia again looking puzzled walked over to the corner Willie had indicated, looking around as if trying to find some clue. She then said, "It's odd that she should bring you to this room to show you something, and then just vanish without letting you know what it was." Willie then excitedly looked at both of them and said, "I diden finish tellin ya what else happened!" Barnabas looked at him and asked, "Something else happened?" Willie now half grinning and looking back and forth between the two said, "Yeah. Right as she was disappearin' she dropped this!" He walked over behind the door and withdrew the scrolled up drawing and held it out for them to see. Barnabas took the scroll and unrolled it. Julia looked curiously at it as if trying to make sense of it. Willie then said, I figuahed out what she wanted! She wants me to build this right ovah theah wheah she was pointin'!" Julia looked thoroughly confused as if trying to figure out why the ghostly figure should want such a thing. Barnabas' eyes widened as a realization suddenly overcame him. "Julia, look at the drawing again! Don't you recognize it? I have seen this drawing before!" Julia looks at the drawing once again, at first still looking as if it had no meaning at all to her. She looked it over carefully once more and a look of shock came over her face as well. She looked at Barnabas and asked frantically, "Barnabas! Is that...?" Barnabas looked at them both and said, "Yes! It's Quentin's Stairway through Time!" (Dramatic music rolls out)
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Adam continues to look into the mirror in front of him. Trevor Halliburton
takes the handkerchief and pours some of the elixir from the apothecary
bottle onto it. (Crawling dramatic music begins) Trevor then takes the
handkerchief and dabs it on Adam's face. He dabs it first on his fore head.
"Mirror, you who show the truth and cannot lie! We await the truth which you
hold inside." He dabs the right cheek, "But you, Oh mirror have been
deceived! For the image we behold is not the truth!" He dabs the left cheek.
"Bring to us, oh mirror, the truth, as we know it to be! Reveal to us the
image of truth...truth... TRUTH"
The image of Adam in the mirror begins to fade until nothing but a faint
outline remains. A moment later the image begins to fade back in. A look of
surprise crosses Adam's face and he turns to look at Trevor. Trevor grins
hideously and looks at the mirror. It reflects the image of Barnabas
Collins. "Truth is revealed! Let the lies of the passing years be brought to
light, and release this innocent soul from the plight which holds him
captive. Release the prisoner! Let the truth come full circle and this man
be free to live the life he has been deprived of! I call upon every dark
power to aid me in my task! Release the prisoner! RELEASE THE PRISONER
NOW!" The image of Barnabas then fades away, leaving only the faint
outline once more. Then the image begins fading in again. As the image
becomes clearer, we see the scar free, youthful face of Adam. Trevor's eyes
are wide as he looks victoriously at his achievement. (Dramatic music
crescendos)
Barnabas, Julia, and Willie have now returned to the drawing room in the East wing. Barnabas paces the room with a troubled expression on his face. "Why would she want us to rebuild the staircase? Why?" Barnabas asked. Julia looked uncertain and then ventured a guess, "The only plausible reason would be she wants us to go back to 1841. Did we leave something undone there?" Barnabas strokes his chin and replies, "The only reason that seems likely is to retrieve the Journal of Judah Zachary! We were unable to locate it in the present. Perhaps we can only obtain it by going back to that time. We know it was in the Collinsport courthouse as evidence in the trial. It's the only thing that makes sense!" A knock came at the large double doors. Willie looks up from his confused pondering as if to ask, "Who could that be?" He walked over to the doors and opened them. A man in a plaid shirt and dungarees stood there with a clipboard. "Mr. Loomis?" He asked waiting for a reply. Willie looking puzzled responded, "I'm Loomis, Whadda ya want?" The man then replied, "Collinsport lumber yard. I got your delivery in the truck downstairs. Where do you want me to offload it?" Willie's mouth dropped as he looked at Julia, then Barnabas and said, "I didden order no lumbah! " The man looked at his clipboard and said, "It says here the call came in from a woman ordering for Mr. Will Loomis." Barnabas then interjected, "Mr. Loomis has not been feeling well lately. It was my personal secretary that placed the call. Will has wanted to build a special project for some time, so I ordered the supplies he needed as a surprise. You can place them behind the garage." The man then presented the clipboard to Willie and said, "I'll need your signature right here." Willie looked at Barnabas as if he had taken leave of his senses. Barnabas nodded his approval for Willie to sign the manifest. Willie then turned and did so. Then the delivery man turned and departed. Willie turned to Barnabas and said, "I don't undahstand!" Barnabas then replied, "It would seem our friend is able to speak when it suits her to do so. I want you to build the staircase, Willie. I'll take care of the bill when it comes." At that moment, he then winced in pain. He dropped his face into his hands and groaned. Julia, looking concerned came to his side and asked, "Are you alright, Barnabas?" He seemed in too much pain to reply. Willie looked at Julia with great concern and joined her by his side. "Let me try to help you, Barnabas." He lets out one loud cry and looks up. Julia's eyes grow wide and she bites her knuckle. Willie's mouth drops open. (Drum rolls begin to rumble followed by dramatically ascending music.) Camera focuses now on Barnabas' face. It looks as if he just aged twenty years. As Julia and Willie gasp and stare in disbelief, three dramatic notes sound.)
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