As he promised, Byron sent one of his assistants to Serena's house with a copy of the screenplay for her to read. Before she's even halfway through it, she sees why the spirits of the darker realms would be interested in it. Byron's raw, unschooled psychic talent gives him the ability to attract the spiritual powers & make them manifest in his storytelling, but because he is untrained, he has no control over the forces he attracts. And this story, with its host of demonic characters, its immortals, fairies and Lucifer himself, is just the kind if vehicle the nefarious forces would naturally gravitate to, unleashed by Byron's unconcious power. After reading the screenplay, Serena immediately starts searching for everything she can about this 'Sandman' character, this Lord of Dreams whose story Byron seeks to portray: she finds there is a whole series of graphic novels based on this character, but none of what she learns is of any help to her. When she finally quits & and climbs into bed, well past midnight, she goes to sleep disturbed & fretful, worried for Byron, worried for what he might unintentionally manifest with his powerful gift.

When Serena finds herself standing in the dark & ruinous grounds of an ivy covered castle, similar to some of the pictures she saw while researching 'the Sandman', she knows she is asleep & this is a dream. She knows, too, that this not going to be her usual kind of dream, where she is lucid & in control of her dreamscape, able to change it to please herself. This place is not of her own mind's making: she was summoned here. Though she is alone here & nothing has happened, Serena is frightened to her very core, the irrational nightmare fear of 'normal' people: there are not many creatures in the many worlds with the ability to summon someone as powerful & wel-trained as Serena out of her own dream & into another realm.....

Byron appears them, seemingly out of nowhere, or perhaps from behind a tree. "Serena," he says, "You look so lovely.." Serena hadn't noticed her dress until he spoke, but her appearance is the least of her concerns. "What is this place, Byron? Who brought us here?" she asks, her voice shaking with fear. He hasn't even begun his film yet, how could the dark forces she's glimpsed in her crystal be at play until he manifests them?

"It's the Castle of Dream, Serena..it's a movie set. This is my dream & I brought you here," Byron explains. "How...how did you summon me, Byron? You've never studied the arts as I have...."

"Serena, I'm sorry I frightened you: I didn't think you could be frightened," he says, hugging her. "I spent some time with some sadhus in Nepal, and I learned some things. I thought you'd be pleased..." Relieved that no other outside force was involved in this, Serena's fear gives way to a new concern. She is not particularly pleased that Byron has learned to summon her at will, though she has more than once summoned him in this very manner. "Byron," she sighs, pulling herself out of his arms, which feel so real despite this being a dream, "I'm not one of your actresses to be called on to suit your whims. I'm happy you've chosen at last to learn to apply your gifts, but you must treat them seriously..." Serena feels a small stabbing in her heart as she mentions his actresses: not one to follow the Hollywood gossip, there was still no way to avoid knowledge of his many affairs with the actresses of his movies. Of course it was his right to do as he pleased, once they parted company, but it hurt, nonetheless, to hear of them.

Byron laughs, "'My' actresses don't come to suit my whims, either, Serena. They are, taken as a whole, more obstinate than even you. I think you are just upset with me that I've learned how to summon you. All these years you've told me to nuture my 'gifts', but once I do, you are afraid to be challenged."

NEXT