An unbearable time of waiting for the family at Collinwood. The lottery has taken place, and Gabriel must spend the night in the locked room that has brought death or madness to those of the family who have entered it. If he survives this evening and retains his sanity, the curse which has afflicted the Collins family for many generations will be lifted. Now, Julia and Morgan, who locked Gabriel inside the room, are waiting by the doors for sounds from within: sounds of life, or death.
Morgan locks the door after Gabriel enters. He and Julia try to listen to anything going on inside, but they hear nothing.
Act I
After waiting outside the doors for a few moments, Morgan and Julia decide to leave the West Wing.
Morgan goes to the drawing room, where Catherine is. He admits he was surprised by Gabriel’s attitude, and showed a lot of courage. The two agonize over what might be happening in the room. Morgan wonders if he made a mistake by marrying Catherine and involving her in the lottery, but she is fully accepting of the consequences.
Upstairs, Julia tries to nurse Melanie back to health. Melanie is possessed again, and rambles incoherently. When Julia mentions the name “Brutus Collins”, she becomes very agitated and upset.
Act II
As Melanie continues to be possessed, she asks Julia where “he” is. When pressed for an answer, Melanie mentions someone named James Forsythe, but Melanie wonders if he was killed.
Meanwhile, Catherine enters the West Wing and approaches the locked room. She tries to listen for anything from the other side, and then starts to open the doors. However, someone catches her from behind.
Act III
Julia stops Catherine from entering the locked room, and again yells at her for interfering. Catherine tries to pass things off by saying she is only concerned for Gabriel, but Julia does not care to listen to her and kicks her out of the West Wing.
Outside the house, Bramwell is lurking around the terrace when Catherine arrives. She admits she is glad to see him, but that it’s not a good idea for him to be near Collinwood. He asks her if she is finally happy to be a Collins and participating in the lottery, but her answers are unconvincing. She tells him she doesn’t want Daphne to spend so much time at the Old House, and Bramwell wonders if she is jealous. An angry Morgan then shows up, and orders Catherine to go back inside. Morgan asks Bramwell why he never fired his pistol during the duel, but Bramwell ignores him and leaves.
As Julia treats Melanie, Josette comes to visit her. Melanie wakes up and asks why everyone is in her bedroom.
Act IV
Melanie appears to be perfectly fine and is no longer showing any effects of the plague. Julia leaves to go check on Quentin. Melanie tells Josette she is thankful she has her in her life.
Julia goes to the drawing room and tells Morgan that Melanie and Quentin are both free of the plague. She hopes that it is a good sign that the curse will soon be over.
As dawn approaches, Morgan enters the locked room and finds the dead body of a stranger who only looks like Gabriel.
Quentin recovers as miraculously as Melanie, yet he remains unseen until 1216.
First mention of the character James Forsythe. His spirit will possess Morgan from 1222 and appear in a flashback to the year 1680 in 1231.
Josette alludes to being Melanie's mother. (In 1238, it will be revealed that Josette is in fact Melanie's biological mother, conceived during an affair with Justin Collins.)
