Clayton Wallace is in some kind of shop. He hands the shopkeeper a pouch of money and asks him if he has the proof that he promised. The shopkeeper produces a boy, Ali. Wallace is amazed that the boy looks so healthy. Ali is wearing a scarab pendant, and the shopkeeper tells Wallace that he must remove the pendant since he is the one that placed the pendant around the boy's neck. Wallace removes the pendent and gashes suddenly appear on the Ali's chest. Wallace then asks about the other part of their bargain -- the ring. The shopkeeper says he is having second thoughts, and that he is afraid for their souls. Wallace tells him that he needs to save his daughter's life. The boy, Ali, is in the back room opening a box containing a decayed corpse. Ali struggles with the corpse, but finally removes the ring by breaking off the finger (ugh!).
Derek has summoned Rachel to the castle. He is very distressed because he has just heard about his friend and colleague, Clayton Wallace, whose daughter Samantha is dying (Aplastic Anemia). He tells Rachel that Clayton's wife died five years ago of Pneumonia, and that earlier in Samantha's life he was like an Uncle to her. Rachel offers to accompany him to the hospital.
Wallace is talking to the doctor outside Samantha's room, and the doctor is telling him that his daughter could die at any time. At Samantha's bedside, Wallace gives her the scarab necklace. He tells her that the scarab is a symbol of immortality. She tells him it's too late, but he puts it around her neck and tells her that she must not take the necklace off. He examines the scarab ring and tells her that he would do anything to take her place, but he is interrupted by Rachel and Derek's arrival at the hospital room (timing is everything!).
Wallace, Derek and Rachel discuss the situation, and Rachel offers her services as a psychiatrist, but Wallace refuses. Alone with Rachel, Derek laments the fact that there's nothing he can do to help his friend. Sadly, Rachel agrees that there is nothing worse than losing a child. Derek tells Rachel that one of the unsettling comforts of their "work" is knowing that death is just a doorway to somewhere else.
Alone in the washroom, Wallace puts the ring on his finger. The scarab ring latches onto his finger, causing Wallace great pain. His face and hands begin to decompose. At that moment, with Derek and Rachel standing outside her room, Samantha begins to experience a remarkable recovery. Derek sees a vision of the ring on a corpse's hand.
The doctors are confused that the anemia has disappeared from Samantha. The doctors announce Samantha "cured", and Derek insists that she stay with him, since Wallace is nowhere to be found. Three days later, at the Castle, Nick tells Derek that there is still no sign of Wallace. Derek introduces Samantha to Nick, who takes an immediate shine to her (lucky girl!).
At the castle, Derek, Nick, Alex, and Rachel are in the library discussing the vision Derek saw while in the hospital. He tells them that he feels it is a dark force. He tells them to research what Wallace has been up to recently. Just then, Samantha stumbles into the room - obviously sick again. Her father is looking in through the window saying to himself, "No! I have no more life to give!" At the hospital, the doctors say that she has had a relapse. Nick offers to stay with her. She and Nick share a special moment as he helps her to deal with the pain of her death. She tells him that she is prepared to die (This scene is a must-see for Nick fans!).
Wallace returns to the shop, demanding to know why he wasn't allowed to die in Samantha's place. The shopkeeper tells him that his life force wasn't strong enough, and that the ring needs to feed on someone stronger. He also tells Wallace that each time Samantha is revived, it will need more and more life force. The shopkeeper uses a knife to remove Wallace's finger so that he can use the ring on someone else.
Wallace
is walking to his houseboat when he is accosted by a gang member. The
thug steals the scarab ring and puts it on his finger. The ring latches
on to the thug's finger, and he dies -- turning into a decomposed corpse
(crime just doesn't pay!) At that moment, Samantha is revived
at the hospital -- once again "cured".
Derek and Rachel go to the houseboat to try and find Wallace. Derek busts down the door (I was impressed!), and they find evidence that Wallace has been there. Rachel receives a call saying that Wallace is at the hospital and that Samantha is once again well.
At the hospital, Derek confronts Wallace about his disappearance and about the bandage on his hand. Wallace says that he has been wandering the streets and that he cut his hand. He tells Derek that he didn't do enough to prevent his wife's death, and that this time he is determined that Samantha will have another chance at life. Derek tells him that he's suspicious of the circumstances of Samantha's recovery, and insists that he and Samantha stay with him at the Luna Foundation after she's released.
Alex tells the others that Wallace has recently spent some time in Turkey. Derek tells them that he has sold everything he owns, except for the houseboat. Nick reports that a corpse was found the night before near Wallace's houseboat. Nick's friend at the coroner's office tells him that the dried-out corpse has had one of its fingers cut off. He reports that all cellular life was drawn out of the corpse, and that the time of death is the same as Samantha's recovery.
Walking the grounds of the castle, Samantha tells her father that she wants to "live a little." She also tells him that she wants to spend time with Nick (I bet she does!). Samantha tells him that she knows that her father is the only reason that she's still alive. Suddenly, she begins to once again feel ill. She shows him the pulsating scarab pendant and tells him that he knows what to do to make her better.
Wallace and Rachel discuss how a parent will do anything to save their child. Wallace contemplates giving Rachel the scarab ring, but he loses the courage. Rachel suspects that Wallace is trying to confess what's been going on with Samantha's miraculous healings. She tells the others that Wallace is involved in something "dark."
Samantha tells Wallace that he must help her again, and she begs him not to let her die. Wallace wanders down to a seedy part of town and gives the ring to a delusional street woman. Of course, she puts it on and dies, and once again Samantha recovers. Wallace asks God for forgiveness.
Nick goes to check on Samantha to find that she is better and wants to go out. She makes a pass at him, but he declines politely (another must-see scene for Nick fans!). She makes him feel guilty about not having much time left and against his better judgment, he agrees to go out with her to get something to eat. She decides that they will go shopping for food and go to the houseboat. At the houseboat, Nick and Samantha find Wallace, who looks terribly ill.
Alex tells Derek that she has found out that the scarab necklace and ring were stolen from a museum in Turkey a couple of days before Wallace made his last trip there. She tells him that the legend says that "He who wears the ring is the spring of life, and whoever wears the necklace drinks from the spring." She also tells him that a strange-looking corpse (like the one found near the houseboat) was found in Turkey right after the break-in. Rachel discovers that Nick and Samantha have gone to the houseboat, and Derek races down to the boat.
At the houseboat, Samantha tries to convince Nick that her father is delirious. Weeping, Wallace tells her that he can't kill anymore, and that he won't help her kill Nick. She takes the ring and puts it on Nick's finger just as Derek arrives. The ring begins to work, and Samantha begins to recover as Nick struggles to remove the ring. Derek convinces Wallace to let his daughter go, and that he must remove the pendant from her neck.
Wallace removes the pendant, which scurries across the floor -- Derek steps on the pendant smashing it (ugh, again.) The ring falls from Nick's bloody finger.
Wallace apologizes to the dying Samantha, who tells him that she doesn't feel any more pain. With Derek and Nick looking on, Samantha dies in her father's arms.
Description last revised: 24 January 1997