Alex and Claudia stood in the bedroom together staring at the mirror both their mother's were trapped in under the spell Alex cast, the spell meant for Claudia. But by mistake, Alex's own mother Carolyn was pulled in by Angelique's book of spells that trapped her behind the glass. Alex's use of black magic and her inability to fully grasp it's treachery was to blame and Claudia would not let her forget it.
"You can change this can't you?" Alex pleaded with Claudia knowing full well the extent of her powers since she possessed Alexandra's body and posed as her for weeks.
"I don't think you get it Alexandra. Half of my abilities have been depleted after I left your body. I can't undo anything any more, especially not in this capacity. Angelique's book is much too powerful." Claudia explained as she inspected the mirror Carolyn was trapped in.
The mirror, a large ornate 18th century piece, was hanging on Alexandra's wall. It had angels on each of its four corners, all four angels trumpeting long skinny trumpets that added to its golden frame's elegance. The frame was crowned by a sun made with crystals and etched with the initials JC for Josette Collins, Barnabas' first wife that leaped to her death off Widow's Hill. The glass inside the frame looked normal, just like any other, but behind it was a portal to the underworld, where all the souls damned there for eternity could only look out on the world of the living in vain.
"We have to do something. We have to get my mother out of there." Alex said, now looking at the mirror with Claudia.
Alexandra went over to the book that had fallen to the floor and knelt down to open it hoping and find another spell to reverse what she had done and pull Carolyn out of the mirror and save her from the land of the dead. The book, that had earlier felt as if it were welded shut, now was opened without struggle, but just as Alex pulled back the cover it was forced shut by someone standing over her.
Barnabas had walked in and with the bottom of his cane pushed the cover closed, and held it down tight.
"I believe you've done enough damage with this, haven't you Alexandra." Barnabas said reaching down and picking up the book.
"Barnabas, you have have to help me. I made a terrible mistake. I listened to Claudia's mother and I tried ---" Alex said jumping up to her feat.
"Claudia's mother? How do you know Claudia's mother?" Barnabas said interrupting Alex.
"She was here Barnabas. She convinced Alexandra to use her book and this is the result. Carolyn is gone." Claudia coldly explained.
"Gone? Where? Did Angelique take her?" Barnabas asked.
"Into the mirror." Alexandra confirmed as she pointed to Josette's mirror on the wall.
Barnabas looked over at Claudia who stood next to the mirror and waited for her to further explain but Claudia only had a plan of action in mind.
"Time is of the essence. If we don't figure out how to get Carolyn back from the other side she'll be there forever Barnabas. We have to use Angelique's book. Something in there will help us. What's left of my powers alone won't do." Claudia explained.
"No. That book will only work counter to our motives. Angelique has always been that way. Twisted and devious. We'll have to do find Carolyn a different way." Barnabas said turning to the mirror and running his fingertips over it's gilded frame, allowing small memory flashes of his sweet Josette to cloud his mind for split second.
"How?" Alex said with tears in her eyes.
"Before the witching hour strikes, we'll have to summon Carolyn. A séance perhaps. Her life is at stake, and if we can reach her through an open portal she can come through and hopefully find her way back to us." Barnabas explained.
"Hopefully?" Alex said in a worried voice.
"What you've done here Alexandra has no grantee of repair. You've opened a door to the other side and it's not been shut closed. The only way we can get your mother back is if we try to re-open that portal again, but this time without the help of Angelique's book. Using her book will only cause a larger tear in the veil between the living and the dead, allowing who knows what to escape. A séance is the safest way to find Carolyn.....and only Carolyn." Barnabas explained.
"We'll need a fourth person." Claudia instructed.
"I'll find Kimberly." Barnabas said.
As Barnabas left to find Kimberly who was in her laboratory, Claudia and Alex collected the mirror and headed down to the drawing room to prepare for the séance. Carolyn's life was a steak and there was no time to spare.
****
In a completely different part of the house, a much quieter scene. Caleb was helping Kat into a large canopy bead filled with pillows and comforters. The room was decorated to the highest of elegance, a room fit for a queen. And Kat certainly felt like a one.
"I really don't need this kind of treatment Caleb, but thank you." Kat said jokingly.
"I just want to make sure your comfortable and taken care of. That's all." Caleb answered tucking her in.
"I'd like to thank you too, my room is very accommodating." Sebastian said as he hung up some of Kat's things in the adjecent closet.
"Of course." Caleb answered. "So, Kat, why don't you get some rest, and I'll show Sebastian around."
Kat smiled as Sebastian and Caleb made their way out of the room and closed the door behind them. As they walked Caleb took Sebastian to a large dining room that had a 24 person table in the center.
The walls were covered in a soft maroon wallpaper depicting scenes of Collinsport's ship yard and the ship that brought the Collins family from England to America 4 centuries ago. The 20th century chandelier given to the family by Elizabeth Collin's mother's father's family (the Stoddard's) sparkled and twinkled above them as a cook brought over specially made Maine clam chowder for the two to have for dinner.
"I hope you don't mind chowder." Caleb joked.
"No, its fine. Thanks. Listen, I really do want to thank you for having us here. It's very kind." Sebastian said.
"Listen, I love your sister. I would do anything for her. This is really no trouble at all." Caleb answered.
"How long have you lived here?" Sebastian asked as he took a sip of his soup.
"Most of my life really. After my parents divorced my mother took off and my dad and I lived here on our own for a bit. But then he took off too, I was here all by myself with a Nanny for a while then went off to boarding school. I would spend Christmases and birthday's in England with Carolyn and her family. When we figured my father wasn't come back, Carolyn and I decided to sell the house, but that's changed now. The family business is still doing well, so we're keeping it." Caleb explained.
"No word from your dad--ever?" Sebastian asked dipping bread into the chowder.
"I got a letter from him a few years ago and----oh excuse me!" Caleb said as his cell phone starting ringing. "Jesus, Sebastian, I'm so sorry. This is the office, I really have to take it. Ever since I've been back on the board at Collins INC, it's been really crazy. Would you mind if I excused myself and took this call?"
"No! Please by all means." Sebastian said as Caleb rushed off to answer his phone call in a different room.
As soon as Caleb left the room Sebastian wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin with the light blue embroidered C and dropped it on the table. He was alone in the dinning room, this was his moment to look around Collinwood without being detected and find what he needed within the walls of the mansion for his boss.
Sebastian sneaked through the hall way, a long winding corridor dotted with large portraits of former family members, each portrait painted more severe then the next. He came to one of Roger Collins dated 1976, and across from him, an unfinished painting of a teenage boy dated the same year. The boy stood in a court yard within the confines of Collinwood, his face cold and sad.
Sebastian's face took concern over the image, he believed he knew who was in the painting, David Collins.
He made his way down the hall and down the back stairwell that lead into The Blue room. No one was inside. He looked around, the shelves were freshly dusted, the books were neatly organized, the furniture clean and perfect. Nothing out of the ordinary it seemed.
As Sebastian continued to look around the room he noticed there were two large gargoyles on either side of the fire place sitting. The right one had it's right paw raised, the left one had its left paw raised. But one gargoyle's paw looked different, it had some sort of break in it, at the base where it attached to the rest of the body. Sebastian walked over and placed his hand on the paw that instantly lowered and released a lock the pushed the large fire place inward revealing a secret passage within the walls.
Sebastian looked around, still no one in the room, and he carefully walked in the secret passage and followed down the dark hallway.
****
Back in the main drawing room, Alexandra and Claudia had set up a round table with a large 3 pronged candelabra in the center for the séance. They dimmed the lights and waited for Barnabas and Kimberly.
"Do you think this will work?" Alex asked a quiet Claudia.
"It has to, if we ever want to get your mother back, it has to." Claudia replied as she lit the candles.
"Have you ever done this before?" Alex asked shyly.
"No." Claudia said matter of factly and in truth a bit nervously. Every since Leopold had trapped her in the cemetery and she used her powers to possess Alex, nothing felt the same. Her powers were weaker. She felt different. Even the confidence in her abilities waned, a mortal symptom.
"You don't think it'll work do you? I can see it in your eyes." Alex said in a panicked tone.
"Alexandra, listen to me. Barnabas isn't going to just allow Carolyn to wonder around the world of the dead without a fight. Regardless of what he is, and what he's done, he actually cares about this family. More than anyone wants to give him credit for. We just have to trust him." Claudia said aggressively.
"I don't know what I believe anymore. I don't even know what I am anymore. Ever since Christopher and I broke up I've been this whole other person. I don't know what's happening to me. I just want things to be back to normal." Alex confessed. as she broke down on the sofa.
Claudia couldn't help feel responsible for Alex's pain. After all Claudia was the main factor for Alex and Carolyn coming back to Collinwood after she changed Jack into Leopold and then set fire to the mansion, and possessed Alex and left her to deal with the residual powers inside of her. It was all Claudia's fault, but she couldn't change anything anymore. All she could do was offer her help.
"Are we ready?" Barnabas said as he walked in with Kimberly who herself looked white as a ghost.
"We are." Claudia said picking Alex up by the hand and walking her over to the séance table.
"Barnabas I don't know what I'm doing here, this is lunacy. A séance?" Kimberly said as she nervously poured herself a glass of water.
"It's the only way we'll be able to reach Carolyn on the other side, if we don't she may never return to the life of the living." he explained.
"This is insane!" Kimberly said in a loud whisper as Barnabas took her by the hand and sat her down at the table.
Claudia dimmed the lights further and propped the mirror that Carolyn disappeared into up against the sofa facing the seance table.
"Hold hands, never break the circle our hands create." Claudia instructed. "Close your eyes." She continued. "In the wilds of the beyond, we call out to those that have gone. Send us our's who was wronged. Send us Carolyn Collins Stoddard-Thorne!" Claudia called.
Nothing happened.
"Carolyn....we ask that you listen for Claudia's voice and try to make your way home. Carolyn...can you hear us? Can you hear Claudia call out to you?" Barnabas said, as Kimberly opened one eye to look around.
And just as Barnabas' sentence ended the mirror began to shake. It moved twice then stopped.
"It's her. Try again Claudia." Barnabas asked.
"It's her. Try again Claudia." Barnabas asked.
"From out in another space. Another time. Another world. Come home Carolyn to this time. This place. This realm. Find my voice and listen well, come back to home --away from hell."
The lights in the room flickered on and off. The table began to shake, then lifted then dropped to the ground, the mirror began to shake again and the glass began to morph into liquid and inside they could see, deep down below was Carolyn screaming, her call echoing through out the room.
"Its her!! Mother!! Come back! Follow my voice!" Alexandra said as the portal from the mirror began a wind all around the room.
"Alexandra don't get close. She has to do this herself, or you'll risk falling in too!" Claudia said holding on to Alex's hand and Alex tried to reach for the mirror.
On the other side of the wall, through a hollowed out portion of the room, Sebastian stood peeking through the eyes of a painting the looked directly into the room where the seance was taking place. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was witnessing first hand the living contacting the dead on the other side through a mirror, just a regular mirror. To Sebastian it was extraordinary, and would be further good news to report back to his boss.
"Carolyn, you must try! You must try and come back! Reach through!" Claudia yelled, trying to make her voice reach Carolyn as best she could over the loud sounds coming from the mirror.
The wind from the portal grew stronger and stronger and things from inside the room began to swirl in the air and fly into the mirror, and Carolyn still stood there screaming trying to escape but to no avail.
"Barnabas do something!" Kimberly said now terrified and in disbelief at what she was seeing.
Barnabas let go of Alex and Kim's had and placed them together as to not break the circle, he carefully walked over to the mirror that was now spewing energy matter all around in colors of green and blue. He stood up, strong and stern against the mighty winds coming from the portal and put his cane into the mirror pushing it further and further in hoping Carolyn would use the end of it to find her way out.
Barnabas' hand was now almost entering the mirror itself, Carolyn was just inches from the edge of the other side and almost grabbed on, but suddenly a hand reached out from inside the mirror and grasped Barnabas' wrist and began to pull him in. He struggled and struggled. His arm was now half way into the mirror.
"Barnabas!!!!" Kimberly screamed.
"Don't..............break .................the circle!!" Barnabas screamed as he continued to struggle against the hand.
The energy matter from inside the mirror soon turned from only just colors to Angelique's face, it was she who was pulling Barnabas into the mirror laughing in his face as she was finally going to get her revenge on her former lover.
"This is the end Barnabas Collins. For all your evil deeds ....for taking my daughter away. For taking her away from her life with me.....for destroying our love and killing me.....you finally pay!!!' Angelique hissed, then put another hand on his wrist gathering more strength to pull him in.
As she continued to pull Barnabas in, Claudia knew there was only a matter of time before he fell in, and once Barnabas was in, he would never return, for he was the un-dead... she made a choice. She closed her eyes and whispered a soft chant to herself, one she knew would work, and mustered all the powers she had left in this one last spell.
"...from this place I lead you out, from this time I have no doubt. away with you, and we'll be free, this is the way it has to be."
It was a spell that no witch ever wants to use, it is a spell against another witch to banish them forever. By using it, Claudia would be able to use her powers one last time before for-fitting them forever...for she used her powers against a sister witch, her own mother.... all her powers would be gone forever.
Soon Angelique began to fade and her strength over Barnabas's wrist weakened, she knew what had been done, Claudia had betrayed her and used the power over a witch. As she began to dissipate within the glass she looked out onto Claudia's tear stained face, this was the last time they'd see each other.
"Evangeline Why?" Angelique said her voice echoing away in silence.
With Angelique slowly going away, Carolyn was able to grasp on to Barnabas. He saw her terrified face and pulled her and pulled her. His arm now coming back out of the mirror, then his wrist, then Carolyn's head and shoulders. Then finally a large bright explosion that locked the portal and knocked everyone to the ground.
Alexandra crawled over to her exhausted mother and curled up next to her crying profusely.
"Alex! Come on! Come on! Lets take her up to her room! Come!" Kimberly said grabbing on to mother and daughter.
As Barnabas and Claudia both got up and dusted themselves off he walked over to his daughter and hugged her.
"You saved me once again." He said softly.
Claudia couldn't believe she did it too, knowing that she no longer had powers and that she would never see her mother again. But it had to be done.
Claudia smiled and hugged Barnabas back.
Sebastian ran back through the corridor after watching what was the most amazing, exhilarating event he had ever seen. He closed the hidden passage in the blue room where he first found the secret door and dialed his boss on the phone.
"Hey! Hey!! It's me again. You're not going to believe what I just saw. Everything you've told about this place is true. Everything. We're in! We're in!!!!" Sebastian said excitedly.
****
In the library Christopher sat alone still looking through books completely unaware of what had just happened downstairs in the main drawing room when Caleb walked in.
"Oh! Hey! Did Sebastian come in here?" Caleb asked looking for his dinner guest who had disappeared.
"Who?" Chris asked.
" Kat's brother Sebastian, they're staying with us for a bit. He didn't come in? I had to leave during dinner and when I came back he was gone. Weird. Anyway, what are you doing in here with all these books?" Caleb asked.
"Research I guess. Listen, when's the next full moon?" Chris asked awkwardly.
"Ummm I have no idea. There's gotta be an almanac in here somewhere right?.... Oh here." Caleb said cracking open the almanac.
"Does it say?" Chris asked apprehensively, knowing the next full moon was the date of Leopold's demise.
Caleb looked up from the passage he was reading. Knowing what he knew about his brother Christopher and what happens on full moons he took a gulp of air and said "Tomorrow night."
