"Malcolm Grant," he said softly, "if you are here of your own free will, in good conscience and of beneficial intent, this man, Noel Gordon McLeod, gives you leave to enter the temple of his body, to speak with his voice. He asks only that you come and go in peace, doing no one any harm. And I stand ready to defend him, should you seek to go beyond what is offered."
Lifting his hand from McLeod's forehead, he sketched in the air a symbol of power that would give binding force to his words. A flash of blue light from the sapphire in his ring marked the completion of the gesture. McLeod gasped, and his grizzled head snapped back. When he straightened up again, the intelligence cautiously looking out from behind the gold-rimmed aviator spectacles was other than his own.
"You were there when I passed over," the newcomer said to Adam. "You tried to help me."
Adam inclined his head. "I regret I could not do more."
"You can do more now," said the entity who had been Malcolm Grant. "You must let me speak with Claire Crawford. I have something to say to her, which I believe might help her."
Adam inclined his head again. "I will relay your message," he told the spirit inhabiting McLeod's body, "but she will have to decide whether or not to hear you out. Please wait."
His hand sketched a different symbol above Claire's head, of protection rather than binding, then lightly touched her wrist.
"Claire, the spirit of one of the crash victims is here: a man by the name of Malcolm Grant. He wishes to communicate with you. Are you willing to listen?"
"Has he come to accuse me?"
"He has said he wishes to help."
"I will speak to him."
She turned her face toward McLeod's body, obviously seeing beyond the physical.
"Malcolm Grant," she said. "I recognize your name. I know you have come because I am responsible for your death. I caused you to run your car off the road. I can offer no excuse for my action. Though I had no intention of injuring you, the consequences to you were the same. That being so, I accept any blame you wish to lay upon me, together with any penance you may ask of me."
McLeod's blue eyes searched her face with lively interest.
"You misunderstand," said the voice of Malcolm Grant.
"I haven't come here to condemn you - but rather to urge you not to condemn yourself."
"Why should you not condemn me? I cut your life short."
"Our paths crossed entirely by accident. If the consequences were tragic, that is neither your fault nor mine. By definition, an accident is an unforeseen event, something none of the parties involved might have intended or anticipated. Since you had no more foreknowledge of what was going to happen than I had, you can hardly hold yourself morally responsible for what happened to me."
"But I was responsible, if only indirectly," Claire insisted. "Surely it is only just that I should render you compensation?"
"What are you prepared to offer me?" Grant asked. "Can you give me back the rest of my life? Or take away the grief of my family and friends?"
The questions seemed to take Claire slightly aback. "I would, if only I could. But what you are suggesting is impossible."
"Then I will offer you another proposition - some other thing that you could give me," Grant said.
Claire's head lifted. "What is that?"
McLeod's craggy face assumed the trace of a whimsical smile. "Your promise," Grant said. "Your promise that you will put aside this burden of guilt you seem so determined to lay upon yourself. No amount of further suffering on your part will serve any useful purpose. By the same token, don't be afraid of your memories. If you wish to redeem your present life, the key to that redemption is to be found in your past."
"I - I'm not sure I understand," Claire said, her voice faltering.
"Then ask your mentor. He will guide you in life, as he guided me in death."
Claire turned her entranced gaze toward Adam, like a blind woman turning her face toward the heat of a sun she could not see.
"Dr. Sinclair?" she whispered.
"I cannot give you peace, but you can find it," Adam said softly, recalling the words of the Master, and grateful to Malcolm Grant for this opportunity to apply those words. "You have the knowledge within you to release yourself from the guilt that binds you. There is a part of you which understands completely everything that has happened to you. Welcome your past back into your present life - all of your past - and it will bring you all the strength and comfort that you need."
"But, how do I do that?" Claire asked, her eyes a-brim with tears. "Can you help me?"
"I can - but only if you truly wish and will it."
"Oh, I do!" Claire cried. "With all my heart, I do!"
Her consent, thus given, gave Adam all the mandate he required. In that instant he knew the images that would set her free, and his heart lifted as he realized that healing was now within her grasp.
"Very well," he said. "Close your eyes and go even deeper within your heart of hearts… deeper… and now deeper still. And now you find yourself standing at the bottom of a vast well. It represents the very depths to which your soul may sink in despair, but it also contains all the richness of your past, in all its times and facets and wisdom.
"High above, see the bright circle of light, which is your present life, and which holds revelation, if you will only rise to meet it. As you ascend, embracing your past, you will see your reflection mirrored above. When you get close enough to touch it, the past and the present will meet in you and become one, and reveal to you a truth that will give you strength to go on… but it is you who must choose to venture closer to the Light…."
"Yes… I choose!"
Claire's head fell back, her arms outfiung and trailing to her sides. With her face turned upward toward the ceiling, she looked like a swimmer coming to the surface to breathe, her expression ever more joyous.
"Yes!" she murmured again, breathing out with a long sigh. "I see it. I see it all now…."
A small quiver rippled down the length of her relaxed body, and when it passed, she lowered her head slightly, her eyes opening dreamily to stare unfocused past Adam.
"How could I have forgotten?'' she whispered. "Oh, I do understand. There is no evil committed in this world that cannot be redeemed by a greater love. For a will to love will always find a worthy object…."
The voice was Claire's, but the words belonged to Annet Maxwell. Hearing this echo from Claire's historic past, Adam knew that the gap between these two aspects of her being had been bridged, and that healing now would come. It was only a matter of time. A smile stole unconsciously across his own lips as he briefly touched her hand again.
"You've been through a very great trial, Claire," he said gently. "In a moment I'll ask you to sleep - true sleep, deep and undisturbed, so that you may wake up later this afternoon, refreshed and clear-headed. You will remember nothing alarming in what was said and done today, but the essence of what has been accomplished will filter through to you in your dreams, replacing visions of destruction with visions of peace. Those visions will guide you, if you let them, helping you to find fulfillment in the future.
"Sleep now, deep and restful. A little later, I'll have the nurses put you to bed, but you will not rouse."
As he touched her hand again, Claire's blue eyes closed. She breathed out with a sigh, and her respiration shifted. Her expression in sleep was like that of a weary child. With his own sigh, Adam turned at last toward the witness still present in McLeod's body.
"Malcolm Grant, are you satisfied with what has been accomplished here today?" he asked.