There was a knock at the door.

   “What?” James snapped.

   David slowly entered. “She is okay?”

   “Ol,” she moaned.

   James glared at him. “What have you done?”

   “What I thought was best.” David was in a state of shock. The color had not returned to his face.

   “I will have a word with you.” James stood to leave. 

   Sarah started mumbling, “many in fact.” 

     They left. David followed James out of sight. 

   Sarah began to shake.

   Orion rubbed her arm in an effort to comfort her. “Sarah.”

   “Help me.” She whispered. “Jack.”

   Orion was devastated that she hadn’t asked for him.

   “I’m here.” Jack answered from the foot of the bed. Orion hadn’t heard him come in. He walked back to his original position at her right hand.

   “Help me Jack.” She pledged. “What’s happening to me?”

   “I don’t know sugar.” He held her hand.

   “Help me. They are every where.” She whispered.

   “What?”

   “Things I don’t understand.”

   “Such as?”

   “People and places.” She groaned.

   Jack looked up at Orion. “I can give her a sedative.”

   “She wouldn’t like that.”

   “I know.”

   Jack tormented in his heart with secrets he had to tell her. For her, now didn’t seem like such a good time. But time was of the essence for him. 

 

Orion and Jack looked at each other in confusion.

   “I thought she was talking out of her head.” Jack turned his attention back to her, dabbing the sweat from her brow. 

   She kept repeating two phrases over and over.

   After what seemed like an hour, David walked in with James hot on his heels. He glared at David, “talk to her.”

   David acted like a whipped puppy. He closed his eyes, “Sarah.”

   “Ol,” she hissed.

   “Am I hearing what I think I’m hearing?” James growled.

   David couldn’t stand on his own. He had to grab a hold of the bed for support. “Oh God.” He put his hand on his chest where his heart was.

   “What is she saying?” Orion asked again.

   David stammered, “This isn’t possible.”

   James was getting more and more upset, “why?”

   Orion and Jack were shocked. Giving each other quick confused glances. 

   “Mfz?” James asked.

   “What is she saying?” Orion roared with a voice that no one had ever heard him use before.

   It took James by surprise. “Do you really want to know my son?”

   “Yes.”

   James started repeating everything that was said.

   She repeated, “Ol.”

   “No.” James translated.

   “G ceo qztnn bft qenb.”

   “I can smell the salt.”

   “G sttn Xgqb lo xu sect.”

   “I feel mist on my face.”

   David screamed, “Bfgq gq olb wlbbgant.” He continued clinging to the bed post for dear life. “This is not possible.”

   “G jtxtxatj.” Sarah mumbled.

   “I remember.” James spoke. 

   “No, please God no.” David began to cry, sliding down the bed gathering like a puddle in the floor.

   “Why?” James asked. 

   Orion was shocked. He knew his father could speak many languages. He himself had never heard of this one.

   “Olb wibbgant.” David protested from the floor.

   “Not possible.” James translated. 

   “Edego gequ rlk mfz?” James stepped closer to the bed.

   “Dlp ol.” David rose to his knees looking up the bed. His face was streaming with tears. 

   Sarah’s faced was red. Anyone could tell she was running a fever. Jack and Orion were staring at David with anger in their eyes. 

   

     She moaned. “Gb gq peju. G ceo ftej wtlwnt qflkbgod.”

   “It is dark. I can hear people shouting.” James remained calm. “David?”

   “Her pulse is rising.” Dr. Carter reported holding her wrist.

   “Sarah.” Orion called to her.

   “Bftjt gq qlxtlot flnpgod xt go bft pejv.”

   “There is someone holding me in the dark.”

   She drew a deep breath. Her hand started shaking as Dr. Carter continued to calculate her pulse. He had to let go of her. 

   “Mfeb feyt zlk plot?” James shouted. “Everyone out.”

   David couldn’t move.

   “Out!” He roared.

   Orion stayed after everyone had left. “I will not leave her.”

   James took a deep breath sitting in the chair where Dr. Carter sat. “God help her.” He wiped the perspiration from her forehead.

   “What language was that?”

   “Selirian.” James Sighed.

   “I knew there was the music and the dance. There is a language too.”

     “She talks in her sleep.” James looked wild eyed at Orion. “The first couple night on the train, I thought it was just gibberish. Then she started repeating sounds, words. I started writing down what she said.”

     “I bet you haven’t learned a thing.” James smiled. 

     “No.”

     “Selirian is the hardest language you will ever learn to speak.”