453 - (Alexandra Moltke) A seance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a seance which has suspended time and space and sent Victoria Winters on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There, having been tried as a witch and condemned to hang, she has now escaped and become a hunted woman.
Peter and Vicki stumble through the woods. She needs rest, but he says they can't stop. She chastises him for putting himself in trouble, but he refuses to leave her. He hoists her up--they'll go hide at the Old House.
Nathan pours himself a drink, sits, and puts up his feet. Daniel comes in. What happened to my sister? he asks Nathan. Nothing, says Nathan, he can see her in due time, not now. She isn't feeling well. She's locked up like a prisoner, accuses Daniel. Nathan denies this. Riggs is guarding the door! In case Millicent needs anything, says Nathan. Daniel says Riggs told him his sister was to be kept under lock and key, and no visitors. Soberly, Nathan says it wasn't his decision alone, Joshua and the family doctor said to keep her isolated for a few days. Daniel loves his sister, and he's worried about her. She'll have to stay in her room for a while, and might not recognize Daniel. She isn't herself, her mind has become irrational. Daniel is puzzled. Nathan promises she'll get good care and treatment, but the doctor isn't optimistic. Is Millicent crazy? asks Daniel--I don't believe it. Nathan understands. She was all right the day before yesterday, says Daniel, and promised him they'd return to NY. All that's changed, says Nathan, they're staying at Collinwood--and Daniel has no choice. Daniel is going to talk to his cousins about that, but Nathan tells him HE is making Millicent's decisions, and now that she's incapacitated, HE is Daniel's legal guardian.
Daniel doesn't want him to do that, but Nathan says it's a question of law--he's married to Millicent and responsible for her brother's well being. (uh oh) Daniel accuses him of being different--unfriendly. He doesn't want to stay at Collinwood, and won't do anything until he talks to his sister. He threatens to get Cousin Naomi, and Forbes grabs and shakes the boy, warning him that he is in HIS care now, and he'll make all the decision affecting him and his future--cooperate and life will be pleasant, if not, very difficult. Is that quite clear? Yes, mutters Daniel, and stumbles from the room.
Peter and Vicki enter the Old House and lock the door behind them. Peter settles Vicki into a chair and Ben hears them. Peter explains that he helped Vicki escape and Ben notices she's been hurt. He promises Vicki he'll help her. She thinks the bullet went right through. Ben sends Peter to get bandages, and Vicki winces as takes off the sleeve of her dress. She won't be able to travel until it's healed, but they want to get as far away as possible. She asks if he can hide them and he says she didn't even need to ask.
Ben bandages her wound and says he'll get her something to eat--they'll hide at the Old House. Peter says they can't--it's the first place they'll look. Vicki agrees, and it will get Ben in trouble. There won't be a safe place, warns Ben--she lost a lot of blood, might be 3-4 days before she can travel. Ben assures them he knows a place no one will find them. Daniel knocks at the door. Ben opens the secret room, which Vicki recognizes, and Peter and Vicki slip in there. Daniel continues to knock and call to Ben. Ben opens the door and Daniel says he was wandering around outside--who was Ben talking to? No one, says Ben--you should go home. Daniel doesn't want to. Daniel spots the sleeve of Vicki's dress on the chair and drops of blood on the carpet. He follows them to the shelf hiding the secret room, and gazes accusingly at Ben--you're hiding someone, the boy says. Ben tells him to go home. Daniel opens the secret door. Miss Winters! he cries. Peter explains they forced their way out, and Vicki asks Daniel to keep quiet about seeing them.
They can count on him, promises Daniel. Vicki says Ben is taking them to a safe place, but Ben won't tell Daniel where. He'd rather go with them, says Daniel. It's scary at Collinwood. His sister isn't the same anymore--she doesn't know anyone, and Nathan won't let him see her. They were married, he tells a shocked Vicki. It can't be true, but it is--he used to always like Forbes, but now, he's changed, and he doesn't understand why. Ben says they must be going, and Vicki tells Daniel she wishes she could return to Collinwood--she assures him that Naomi loves him and will take care of him. She doesn't know if they'll see each other again, but she hopes so. They hug, and Peter helps Vicki up and out of the Old House door. They walk into the darkness and Daniel follows. Ben leads Vicki and Peter to the cemetery, then into the mausoleum. Peter was there, and Ben says he almost found out the secret a while back. Ben opens the secret panel and shows Peter how to close it from the inside. Ben explains the room was put there to hide guns and ammo during the war. Ben will get them horses when Vicki is ready to travel. It's the one place they'll be safe, says Ben. Daniel approaches the tomb.
Daniel returns home and tries to sneak in. Nathan demands he come to him. Daniel says he was out for a walk and Nathan says it's too late for him to be out--don't let it happen again! Who did he meet on this walk? No one, says Daniel. Did he meet Miss Winters? She's in gaol, says Daniel innocently, and Nathan curtly tells him she escaped and half the town is out looking for her and Peter. Where did he see her? Daniel denies seeing her. Nathan grabs Daniel's arm--how did that blood get on his arm--it's Vicki's, he accuses--she was wounded when she tried to escape. Daniel swears he never saw her--he wants to go to bed. Nathan coldly advises that if he does know anything about the witch not to withhold it, for his own good. Daniel runs upstairs, glad to be away from his brother-in-law.
Peter and Vicki sit in the mausoleum, leaning against each other, sleeping. She dreams of a wooden casket being opened by an unseen, caped figure. It's empty.
The person puts on a pair of white gloves, steals up behind Daniel, and begins to strangle him. It's Nathan! Terrified, Vicki awakens screaming, "Daniel! Daniel!"
NOTES: Bad nightmare for Vicki--was this a premonition? Does this mean Nathan is really going to kill Daniel? Why would he? Will Vicki manage to escape Collinsport, or possibly die of an infection from her wound? Ben is so sweet, so good, and I'm glad he's willing to help them.
454 - (Alexandra Moltke) A seance has been held in the great house at Collinwood, a seance which has suspended time and space and sent Victoria Winters on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. As she nears the end of that journey, she finds herself a hunted woman. In a place of refuge in the Collins mausoleum, she will have a strange dream in which she will discover she must change the course of history.
Upset, Vicki tells Peter someone is trying to murder Daniel--she has to get to Collinwood right away. She explains that she saw Nathan strangling Daniel. It was a dream, says Peter, but Vicki says it was a premonition--they must stop it! He says she isn't making sense. The Collins family book didn't predict Daniel's death--he's going to marry a Collinsport girl and grow up. Vicki says the book was wrong about Millicent and Barnabas, but Peter says she can't prove the book was wrong about Daniel. She knows Daniel is in danger! He won't let her go--she hasn't the strength and it's too dangerous.
She begs him to go without her or a vital part of the Collins history will be screwed up. If Daniel dies, the family of her time will die, too.
Collinwood - Nathan comes downstairs, smiling, full of himself. He closes the doors, touches things as if he owns them, sits down and begins to look through the mail. Daniel opens the doors, sees Nathan and starts to leave; he's looking for Naomi, not Forbes. Nathan asks if he's still withholding info about Vicki, but Daniel continues to maintain he isn't. Nathan tells him the constable is coming to question him and he'd better speak up. Daniel only wants to talk to Naomi--he wants her and Joshua to adopt him so Nathan will no longer be his legal guardian (wise boy). Daniel immediately turns on his heel and defiantly leaves.
Nathan and Noah meet at the hut by the sea. Nathan again promises Noah money in the future--soon. Obstacles, says Nathan, but the last will be out of the way by nightfall--he's planning to have Noah dispense with Daniel. Noah refuses to help, not if he has to kill anyone. Nathan gets nasty--Millicent came to him, he convinced Joshua to agree to the marriage, and they will soon have plenty of money. Noah refuses again. Nathan says he didn't know Millicent would turn over all her money to her little brother. Noah's pissed that it turned out this way, but he picks up easily on Nathan's plan. Nathan says Daniel told him he wants to be adopted by Joshua and Naomi, and Noah comments Daniel sounds smart.
He won't be adopted by anyone, says Nathan, and Noah will help him--or he'll speak to the constable about how Noah strangled Maude and attacked Millicent. Nathan has a clean record in Collinsport, while Noah has a record for petty theft and has stuck around without any visible source of income. No evidence, says Noah, but Nathan reminds him about the silver wolf's head cane he found in Noah's room and that Millicent will testify to that effect. Nathan also says he's not crazy, as Noah accuses, just greedy. Finally, Noah agrees. Nathan says Noah willl abduct Daniel, take him out for a ride from Hatter's Cove, then return without him. He can find him near the Old House and Noah can wait and grab him.
Later, Noah waits in the woods and grabs Daniel from behind, covering his mouth and dragging him away.
Peter leaves the gun with Vicki--he'll only warn Naomi about Daniel if she promises to protect herself. She wants him to take the gun, but she agrees to take it and use it if she has to. Peter leaves the mausoleum. She tells him to be careful and they kiss. She closes the secret door behind him and gazes fearfully at the gun.
Noah drags Daniel to the sea hut. The boy demands to know who he is, but Noah only reveals he knows Daniel's name. He'll stay here until the storm blows over, Noah says, and demands he not ask any questions. People will look for him, warns Daniel, but Noah says they'll be going before that--they're going on a little trip to sea, take a little boat from Hatters Cove.
Daniel asks how long they're going to be, and Noah becomes impatient. The window shutters blow open and when Noah stands to close them, Daniel runs from the hut, Noah in pursuit. I've got to find the mausoleum, thinks Daniel, trying to remember the way. Daniel opens the gate to the tomb. Noah, in the cemetery, hears Daniel calling to Miss Winters. Daniel can't figure out how to get into the secret room, but Vicki hears him and quickly opens the door. He tells her that a man is after him, trying to kill him--he's out in the graveyard now! Noah enters the tomb and looks around, puzzled. Where did the kid go?
NOTES: Daniel is in serious trouble now, and he might have brought the same on Vicki by leading Noah to her hiding place. This is one unscrupulous guy, doing anything for money?--and delayed money, at that. Nathan hasn't played straight with him yet, how does he know he will in the future?
Will Peter be able to convince Naomi to help Daniel--and them?
Will Nathan's plan to kill Daniel--and the succeeding generations of the Collins family come to fruition? Good stuff, huh?
Love, Robin
