Nikolas: She's asleep.
Steven: Rest can't hurt.
Nikolas: Is she all right?
Steven: Yeah. The toxins from the spider bite have completely cleared Emily’s system. I'm giving her a clean bill of health.
Nikolas: Thank God.
Emily: And if that's true, then shouldn't I be feeling better?
Emily: I don't know how to explain it. I -- um -- feel weak in my bones, like someone is trying to drive the life out of me from the inside.
Nikolas: Is there a possibility you missed something?
Steven: I've run every applicable test. I mean, there's no medical explanation for the feeling you're describing right now.
Nikolas: Oh. Oh, well, then it must be the --
Steven: Pardon me, if there's something you know that can help, you need to tell me right now.
Emily: Oh, Nikolas was going to say that it -- it must be the curse, but we -- we both know how ridiculous that sounds.
Steven: Curse?
Nikolas: Yes. You'd have to understand my family, okay? We're centuries-old Czarist Russian nobility, yeah, and it doesn't get any more arcane or superstitious than that. And believe me when I tell you that the Cassadines wear their gothic sensibilities with great pride, and none more than my dear old grandmother.
Emily: And Helena is violently opposed to our marriage and she has condemned us and anyone we love to lives of misery. See, I told you it would sound ridiculous.
Nikolas: Yeah, especially to a doctor, I’m sure.
Steven: I think I'm about to surprise you. I think this curse is exactly the reason why Emily’s feeling sick. I don't believe in curses, per se, but what the cursed -- for lack of a better term -- person believes and how it fits into the context of their lives can have a very powerful effect.
Nikolas: Physically or emotionally?
Steven: Both.
Emily: But the spider bite was real. I could've died.
Steven: True. But if this woman hadn't cursed you, the spider still would've been there, and in all likelihood would've bitten you. What I’m getting at is this -- incidents that can be explained logically take on a sinister edge when someone that you may already fear throws hateful words at you.
Emily: So you think the curse is making me weak?
Steven: Well, medically speaking, you're just fine. And so when you exhibit these physical symptoms, it's called psychosomatic. You don't need to be alarmed by this. It's not an unusual phenomenon.
Nikolas: Okay, so, wait a minute. So you've had experience with people trying to get out from underneath the threat of an ancient curse?
Steven: No, it's -- it's like this -- the good news is that the patient can heal herself. You just have to stop giving this so-called curse so much power. Okay, I'll check in with you later.
Nikolas: What do you think?
Emily: I want you to get me out of here. I think there's something at Wyndemere that might help.
Alexis: Hey. Looks like you're getting back to normal. You are, aren't you?
Emily: Oh, not exactly.
Ric: Look, I think there's something you should both know. At Alexis' request, I've agreed to delay your trial, so you don't have to pretend that there's something wrong so you can get out of court.
Nikolas: She doesn't fake things, all right? If she says she's not okay, that means she's not okay.
Ric: I'm sure, but she's being released, Nikolas, okay? The natural assumption would be that the doctor gave her a clean bill of health.
Nikolas: Yeah, well, it's not that simple.
Ric: You're not talking about Helena’s curse, are you?
Emily: You were right the first time.
Ric: Okay -- um -- look, take this in the spirit -- pardon the pun -- that it's offered. Don't use this curse as any kind of defense. You will be laughed out of court, then you're going to get slapped with a fine for contempt.
Alexis: The curse may be absurd to most normal people, but not to a Cassadine. It's very real to us.
Alexis: My mother and father met when Mikkos was still married to Helena, and they fell in love. Mikkos was as in love as any Cassadine man is capable of being -- present company excluded, of course. He wanted to marry my mother. He asked Helena for a divorce. She, of course, denied it and placed a curse on them instead.
Emily: Then what happened?
Alexis: My mother started having mysterious accidents. She started having illnesses that no one could explain. She was a very strong and independent woman who just suddenly lost her spirit. She was even afraid to leave the house. So Mikkos took her away. He took her to Europe, and she came back and it was as if nothing had ever happened, she was fine.
Nikolas: So you think Mikkos did something to lift the curse?
Alexis: He did something. He went somewhere, talked to somebody -- whatever it was, it went away.
Ric: But the curse was eradicated and your mother was fine.
Alexis: She was fine until Helena --
Ric: Until Helena what?
Alexis: The curse didn't produce the results that Helena wanted, so she took matters into her own hands -- literally -- and she slit my mother's throat.
Nikolas: You want to do something? Go to dinner, see a movie or something?
Emily: No. I'm wiped.
Nikolas: What are you looking for?
Emily: I saw a book here once and I remembered thinking what an odd title.
Nikolas: What was it?
Emily: "Maledictums."
Nikolas: What -- the “Book of Curses?”
Emily: Yeah. If it's a how-to book, then maybe there are instructions on how to remove the curse or something that explains where Mikkos took Alexis' mom to get cured. Oh, damn it! It's not here.
Nikolas: You know you're making yourself crazy, don't you? Dr. Webber was right -- the only way to get out from underneath this curse is to stop giving it power.
Emily: Well, I can't help it.
Nikolas: All right. Then I will.
Music plays.
Nikolas: Come on, dance with me. Listen, if you're too weak, you can take your strength from me, okay?
Emily: Okay.
Nikolas: Come on, we can get through anything if we're together, right? Remember? All right, just hold on to me.
Singer: 'Cause I've always known some things don't last no matter and no matter how I hope well, I'm still drowning completely in the memories we've made and I know I would give anything .
Tracy: What on earth are you doing?
Helena: This book contains information that could reverse the curse that I put on Nikolas and Emily.
Tracy: Oh. Any minute now, I'm going to wake up and I’m going to realize that this has all been one ridiculous nightmare. I am not really standing here next to a woman who puts poxes on people.
Helena: Knowledge is power, and a lack of it, weakness. What is done can be undone. I am not going to take that chance again.
Tracy: "Again"?
Helena: Oh, my husband found this book, and in it he found the information he needed to reverse the curse that I put on that creature that he impregnated with our pathetic little mouse Alexis. Neither Nikolas nor Emily can be allowed to see this. Not ever.
Tracy: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Tracy: What about your grandson? You know, the one you profess to love so much?
Helena: Oh, I do love Nikolas with all of my heart. What about him?
Tracy: Hello. Have you forgotten you put a pox on him, too?
Helena: Nikolas made a choice. Unfortunately, it was the wrong choice. He needs to realize that he can never have a life with Emily. And anyone who ever gets in my way is going to be very, very sorry indeed.
Nikolas: I love you.
Emily: I love you, too.
Nikolas: What's wrong? You okay?
Emily: All of a sudden --
Nikolas: What? What's wrong? I got you, it's okay. Oh, God, it's okay.