Chapter 8: Sar'ha

I awoke in the glade; I wasn't sure why I was there as I had fallen asleep in Chris' library. I got up and tried to find him, but I couldn't access his library, a sign appeared to say he was sleeping and that he'd wake up later.

I didn't want to use his body and so I floated into the real world, Keith was sleeping, but I could see he was smiling, I wondered how he would cope with the world outside of the life he's known.

I could feel a tug, as if I was needed, but it was far away, I moved towards it finding myself back at the hotel. In the lobby there was a ball of light - Casper Chris had called it, it saw me and flew over to where I was floating.

"What's wrong Casper?" I asked but it couldn't answer me so I uttered a phrase that I didn't know before, but somehow it was there waiting for me to think about it, and then I found myself knowing everything that the light had seen.

Chris had set it up to follow the girl who had seen me, Natalie was her name, and to guide her into the Art slowly. But it seems that her mother was scared of what her daughter was saying and so had the girl locked in her bedroom. This wasn't right. "Take me there." I said and followed the light as it rose through the air and passed into the ceiling.

We arrived in a room where Natalie was now sleeping on her bed; I could see where she'd been crying as tracks of tears were visible on her cheeks. "Natalie? Wake up I'm here to help you." I said gently but she didn't answer, concentrating I entered her dreams.

This was a dark landscape, I heard crying in the distance, and so I ran towards the sound, "Natalie, don't worry I'm here." I called out as I ran.

"Wh ... who's there?" A cautious voice called back.

"My name's Sar'ha, I'm the lady you saw in the small room, do you remember me?" I said to the girl

Natalie nodded but she didn't answer me with words.

"Won't you talk to me?" I asked her gently.

"Mum says you don't exist, you're just something I made up!" Natalie whispered.

"Mothers don't know everything, my name is Sar'ha." I said still trying not to frighten the girl

"Sarah? I like that name." Natalie said with a smile I didn't correct her.

"Now shall we see why your mother is so upset?" I asked the girl extending my hand and taking her with me.

We entered her mother's bedroom where I showed Natalie the tracks of tears on the woman's face, "You see Natalie, she feels bad about this as well." I told the girl who tried to hug her mother but in her spirit form her hands couldn't touch the woman.

"But how can I ask her what's wrong?" Natalie asked

I smiled, "The same way as I found you, we enter her dream." I held onto Natalie's hand and we appeared in a room, in that room was Natalie's mother and another woman who looked similar to Natalie, only older.

"Mummy? Who's that?" Natalie asked.

Her mother, whose name was Martha, turned to look at us. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" She asked me.

I smiled, "My name is Sar'ha, and Natalie saw me in the lift. Why have you been punishing her?" I said.

Martha shook her head, "I'm dreaming, I know I'm dreaming. You're here because I don't want to believe Mary's going to be like my sister. Charlotte." She looked at the other person who wasn't moving.

"That's Aunt Charly? But I've never seen her before." Natalie said.

"I've never seen her since I left home 5 years ago, she was going mad then, I'm sure Mom and Dad have given up with her." Martha sat down onto the ground.

I sat with her and made a gesture, the scene changed to the plain that Chris had created, I reached out with my mind and found the true Charlotte, pulling her into the dream - she looked around worried.

"Where is this place; I've never been here befor ... MARTHA? Why am I dreaming of you?" Charlotte said.

"You're not, this is my dream. I don't know what to do." Martha said sadly.

I gave a laugh, "Actually you're both wrong. It's true that you are both sleeping, just as Natalie here is also asleep. I've brought you all here to find out why you have been punishing Natalie because she was able to see my astral form." I said to Martha.

"What? She was able to do that, all I can do is hear the voices, but Mum said that Nan was able to do that as well." Charlotte said looking at her niece and smiling at her, "Can you hear other things like I can?" Natalie didn't really answer; she just looked down and nodded her head. "Don't worry I used to hear them but nobody else could, I can teach you how to channel them so that they don't disturb you."

"Could you? Mummy thinks I'm just playing but I'm not." Natalie said quickly and then looked at her mother.

"Of course I can, it's just a matter of thinking about the volume. Come with me and I'll show you." Charlotte said taking Natalie's hand and walking to a clump of trees — I had to provide them to give the pair some shade.

I looked at Martha who was still seated on the ground crying, "So you thought your daughter was going mad? Just because she could see and hear something that you couldn't?" I asked her gently.

Martha nodded her head, "Yes, I heard that it ran in the family, madness that is, my great-grandmother was locked up because she would say she heard voices, but she wasn't the only one, I checked my family history, some of the women were tried as witches back in the 1600's one was hung." She looked at me, "Can't you stop her from doing this?" She asked me.

I held her, "She's doing nothing wrong. All that is happening is that her power is showing up." I said.

"But I don't want her to have this power! Can't you remove it?" Martha was crying now.

"Do you want your arm removed? Because that is what you are asking me to do. I won't harm your daughter just because you're scared of what she can do. You have to face up to this. Your daughter has a talent that she will have all her life. But she's worried because of your attitude. You are scaring her." I told her.

"I don't mean to scare her, but I can't cope with this, not my daughter." Martha looked at me pleading with her eyes.

"Martha, listen to me. On my world I use the Art to cast spells; your daughter has the capacity to be able to do the same, but she needs the support that you and your family can give her. The man I was with, Chris Beaker, he's the one to help teach her and to show her how to use her library." I told her and she backed away.

"I know that name, everyone's looking for him. He's dangerous." Martha protested.

I laughed at her reaction, "Chris isn't dangerous, that's a lie made by his doctor and told to the police, he's a good man otherwise I wouldn't have met him. Trust him Martha, let him and your family teach Natalie how to safely use her power, it is part of her birthright."

"Birthright! How can you sit here and tell me that? You've never had to put up with the taunts of the others when they learn of your sister. How was I supposed to put up with that?" Martha was now angry, but I couldn't understand the reason for that such things were normal for me.

"Did they know what you knew? Have they really any idea of your family? They are just judging you by what they think they know. Prove them wrong! You say your family has always been powerful with the Art so take pride in that." I told her forcefully.

"Oh that's what Nan keeps saying to me, 'don't try to hide yourself away, show your sister that she's not the... '" Martha's voice faded as she realised just what she was going to say but I understood the unspoken words.

"She's not the only one, is she?" I said gently.

"I didn't want to be like them and so I hid it from them, all those voices telling me I was wrong to do so, but I stopped listening to them. I ran away from home and got married, but then after my husband left me I went back home, and then I found I was pregnant with Natalie, I stayed with my parents for four years but then when Natalie started showing signs of being like Charlotte I had to leave them again, I thought that being away from home she would be cured of the curse. But then she started talking to nothing again. I didn't know what to do." Martha started to cry again and then she vanished from the scene - she had woken up.

I followed her back to her bedroom, she stirred and looked around, she didn't see me and so she began to breathe easier, until I spoke some words to show myself to her. "You were dreaming but not now." I said making her jump.

"How ... what ... how did you get here?" Martha asked me reaching for a light, which she turned on, expecting me to vanish.

"I followed you back here from the glade, shall we start again. You have a touch of the talent within you don't you." I said gently.

"I don't know what you mean." Martha said but a bit too quickly.

"Show me your library." I said forcefully and she flinched.

"How did you know about that? I haven't told anyone.

I smiled and decided to push things along. "I am a master of the Art, and I order you to show me your library." I said taking her hand.

She closed her eyes and I was inside a large room with a few books lying around, some were Black scripts and other White, I noticed a few yellow books were there as well. "This came to me one night while I was sleeping, I didn't know what it was and it scared me so I've vowed never to come back into here." I could tell that by the way the books were just randomly lying on the ground.

"You need to practise the spells here, and you are very untidy." I found the first book and handed it to her, "This will give you instructions on what you can learn, I suggest the second thing you do is to come back here and start studying."

Martha frowned, "The second thing? But what's the first?" She asked.

I shook my head, "The first thing is to go to your daughter and show her that you're sorry for what you've said and done. She's going to need some help. CASPER!" I called out the last and the glowing ball appeared. "This is Casper, he's here to help Natalie, but he can also help you." I gestured in the library, "somewhere in here is a script to help you talk to Casper, it's up to you to find it, but for now — thank you Casper." I concentrated and we were back in the glade where Natalie and Charlotte were playing a chasing game, when she saw her mother Natalie ran up to her.

"Oh mummy we've been having such fun. Can we go back to Nanny and Granddads' soon?" Natalie asked breathlessly.

Martha hugged her daughter, "Yes darling, and I'll call them in the morning." She walked to where her sister was waiting. "Charlotte, I'm sorry. I didn't want to think that I was the same as you; I've denied it so much that I didn't want to face up to it. Can you forgive me?" She said.

"Martha, of course I can, you don't know how much Mum and Dad have cried because you left them again, can I tell them you'll be back soon?" Charlotte asked taking her sister in her arms and hugging her.

"Yes, and I'll be calling them in the morning, can you prepare them for me?" Martha asked tears back in her eyes.

"They'll be waiting by the phone, don't leave it too long." Then she noticed Casper hovering beside Natalie, "What's that?" She asked.

"Oh that's just Casper, he's nice," said Natalie, "he's been showing me the picture books in my mind." She added.

Martha looked at me, "She means her library. At her age it's better to have picture books rather than the written words, when she's older they will change to simple words, until she's ready for harder things." I told her thinking back to my early years.

"You think of everything don't you?" Martha said with a smile on her face.

"You create your own libraries; they are structured to you level of knowledge. Talk to Chris and he'll be able to help you. He's a master and will instruct you on the yellow scripts." I said and then left them to sort things out for themselves

When I arrived back at the hospital I found that Chris was in a meeting with Rachael and Doctor White, he was talking about Keith and his possible problem, I felt him move his hand and a slip of paper appeared in it, from his memory I saw it was a lottery ticket, one that if it won would give the holder millions of pounds, I tried to protest that it would be too much for Keith to deal with, but Chris sent back a message that it wouldn't be like that.

I listened into the conversation that they were holding and then Rachael asked if Chris was an honourable man I just had to make myself known. "Doctor Rachael, I do think he is - you see I can only be drawn to a person like myself, although I did expect the gender to be the same, but fate is strange."