MT, this episode was written by Violet Welles.
Between episodes, Julia has gone into the Tower Room. When she comes out, she sees what scared Jeb--a very badly chromakeyed, distorted shadow of a figure wearing a cloak and hood. She calls to it, but it fades away. So yeah, a ghost.
The next morning, Quentin (wearing a spiffy dark blue suit) is having coffee with Julia while they discuss their mysterious new ally. Elizabeth comes in and gives them a sticky, sweet smile as she tells them that Maggie has gone away for a few days. Elizabeth wanted to kill Maggie only yesterday, Quentin observes, and now smiles as she says she misses her. We have to fight back with deception, Julia replies. I’ve had a few years’ practice at it, Quentin says dryly, so I ought to be pretty good.
Julia leaves to get more coffee--Collinwood still has a problem keeping servants--meets Roger in the foyer. They chat briefly, then Roger enters the drawing room--where he is completely taken aback when Quentin, who must have been expecting this encounter, steps into Roger’s line of sight. Roger saw Quentin’s ghost once, just before the family abandoned Collinwood to him; now he backs away in fear. Quentin hastily assures him, I’m alive and no ghost, rather a descendant of the “original” Quentin Collins. They shake hands. Roger says, The ghostly Quentin was cruel, terrifying, even murderous when he couldn’t get his own way. Even so, I want to know more about the original. As they talk, Amy Jennings stands just around the corner outside the doors. I don’t know much, Quentin replies to Roger. The “original” Quentin Collins disappeared when he was very young and only lived with his great-grandmother for a very short time. Roger comments on the remarkable resemblance. I’m starting to feel a bit guilty about how my ancestor behaved, Quentin replies. Amy has slipped away by the time Julia returns with coffee. Roger wants to know where Quentin fitted in the family tree, but Julia tries to change the subject.
Suddenly Quentin’s Theme begins to play. Quentin is momentarily electrified when he hears it but tries to pretend he isn’t. You seem frightened, Roger comments, watching him carefully. Once again Julia tries to get Roger off the topic, giving Quentin time to recover. I forgot we were alone in the house, he comments. Amy steps into the drawing room. Do you like the music? she asks Quentin knowingly. Roger asks Amy what she’s up to. Amy says she found the record (as she calls it). It sounds old-timey, she says, and adds with obvious relish, All of the people who first listened to it are dead now. Quentin looks at his great-granddaughter with a mixture of sadness and revulsion. She asks him again if he likes it. Finally he answers with a smile, I like it very much. She wants to play it again, but Roger marches her out in search of a good book.
Quentin thinks that he's been made. Julia tries to reassure him that Amy didn't really recognize him, but Quentin is wary of the little girl who could destroy all of them.
Amy smugly recounts her exploits to David--still in a wheelchair. She's sure Jeb will take care of Quentin. But David is more worried that Jeb is scared of something, so they consult the Book.
Elizabeth is on the phone with Jeb--she wants to bring Roger into their little club, but when Roger comes into the room, she hangs up. Roger doesn't like the fact that Jeb is staying at the carriage house--or that Carolyn likes him. Carolyn deserves better than an itinerant nobody who can snap a shutter once in a while, Roger comments. Even more offensive to Roger’s sense of propriety is the fact that Megan Todd is staying at Collinwood. Elizabeth says, She is alone what with Philip in jail, and unhappy and ashamed. I know it looks strange to the world-- Never mind the world, Roger says, it looks strange to me. I think they should all be sent away. They have some sort of danger about them and will ruin this house. You’re being melodramatic, Elizabeth accuses him. Like Paul when he first came back? Roger asks. And who stole his body? It’s too horrible to think about, Elizabeth says dismissively. I suggest you start thinking, Roger says. You’re different, and so are David and even Amy. You’re imagining things, Elizabeth says. Something is going on around the house, and I don’t like it, Roger says. I will find out what it is. For the first time Elizabeth looks worried.
Yet another storm breaks over Collinwood as David reads from the Book: “If the spirit of a dead enemy should manifest itself from beyond the grave, there is a way to dispel its presence.” The storm kicks up and all the lights go out. They light a candle, but a gust of wind suddenly blows it out. There is a presence here from beyond the grave, David says. They both feel the unearthly chill, but David says, We must fight it by reading the book. Amy get a flashlight, but suddenly the book flies out of David’s hands with a loud clap of thunder. David tells Amy to get the book, but just as she finally steels herself to do it, the book becomes a casualty of seemingly spontaneous combustion. Amy wants to get out, but David is calm. The spirit has left, he tells her, now that it has done what it had to do. They wonder what they will do without the book, which is now a charred, illegible mess.
Quentin has taken up guard duty at the Old House when Roger comes looking for Barnabas. Quentin notices that Roger is greatly troubled and invites him to confide. Roger agrees. It might be easier to talk to a member of the family who is still a stranger, he says. Everything seems... strange to me--events, people. My own sister seems to be a stranger, my own son lies and disobeys me. [What’s different about that?] Everything is small yet it all adds up to something enormous. It is like some enormous horror that I can't understand. I must understand it. I must! Quentin invites Roger to sit down and tells him solemnly, I am going to take a chance--a big chance. I am going to tell you an incredible story. If you believe it, you will be taking a chance too--because what I am going to tell you could cost your life.
Sometime later the storm is in full swing. Elizabeth can’t reach Jeb on the phone to tell him about the loss of the book. David says she has to go and leave a note, even though the storm is getting worse. She leaves David looking very worried and scared.
Quentin has told Roger about the Leviathans. Roger is horrified that David is mixed up in something so dreadful. I’ll take him away as fast as possible, he decides. They will kill you before they let you take David, Quentin warns him--and they’ll kill David too. But what will happen to David if he stays? Roger frets, full of anguish for his son. Barnabas and Julia and I are fighting the Leviathans, Quentin says, and we could use your help. If you lose your fight, Roger says with pain, I lose my son--horribly. I don’t know what to do. But it seems he will join the fight.
Alone in his room, David waits for his aunt to return. I wish she would hurry back, he says to himself, or even better, bring Jeb with her. The lights go out again and once more David feels the chill. He calls out but gets no answer. Suddenly the bedroom door blows open, and David stares out in horror and revulsion. The lower half of a dangling body slowly swings back and forth above the door--a man’s body. The legs are clad in knee-high boots.....
