After deciding that they would send Sara away for her mental well-being and hope that she would escape supernatural peculiarities; Edith and Alan still worried given their experiences with the late Sharpes. They kept things from their children because they did not really need to nor seemingly want to know. For Nathaniel this held true; his young, impressionable, and fairly one-dimensional mind gave way to childish stereotypes. He would tease his friends, indulge in sports, catch fireflies in the summer dusk, and scrape his knees playing on the estate grounds. Sara did not wish to know things, but because of her strange gifts, she knew of things that would drastically alter her calm demeanor into a scared scrambling survivor. With each encounter of apparitions, each spirit seemed more malevolent and would leave Sara praying, sweating, and sometimes marked. Edith noticed that the marks were small at first; when she was in the fireplace, it was sweaty scrapes. Later on it would become things like gashes and bruises on her arms. Fortunately, the more violent encounters came in her dreams after the drawing room incident, where Sara was most definitely awake. Unbeknownst to them, Sara would not be conscious for the next paranormal encounter until she left home.
Alan worried for Sara even though she seemed headstrong. As of late he would tell her about where she would go and what she could do while she was there. This was a means to not only implant ideas of where to go for her pursuits of a young woman in the world, but also trying to focus her away from curiosity towards the unholy place both Alan and Edith escaped. Somewhere in his heart, he knew it was futile because he had that shiver in his spine that gave him the notion Sara would be drawn to Allerdale Hall. Edith did not try to be as obvious as Alan was. Instead, she would carry on as if nothing happened. If ignoring the beast deprives him the pleasure of frightful attention, then it is not completely a loss is it?
Sara prepared for her trip by telling herself what she might need and other necessities in case of an emergency. Nathaniel passed by her open door and peered in, playing with his ball-and-cup toy. Mindlessly playing with it, he inquired, "Sara, why are you taking that?" Sara looked down at her neatly packed clothes and shoes in her large leather suitcase. On top of one of the dresses was a Bible and next to it were a compendium of curiosities: a small vial of holy water, a rosary, a revolver with intricate symbols from the Irish Celts, and finally a book on Demonology. She saw that he motioned specifically to the book on Demonology. Since she was religious the other items made sense in their place with her, and the revolver was fairly logical since she would be on a ship of primarily men. Gingerly picking up the old leather-bound volume she replied, "It is light reading for my trip. Assuming the superstitious men on the ship do not wish for me to assist them in whatever they may need. You would think they are modern men but alas they are not. Then again I am one to speak…"
Sara glanced at the Catholic sacramental items wondering if the modern American age would find her crazy and truly worthy of Bedlam as Nathaniel previously said. Nathaniel stopped playing with his toy; looking up from his pastime, he seriously, genuinely, and quietly muttered, "Sara, I know we don't always get along but I do love you and I'll miss you a lot. Just remember to write us. Oh, and before I forget," He paused with a laugh, "Castrate any man who gets too friendly on that boat." She smiled and hugged her brother who reciprocated. After a good minute or two, he struggled and cursed that she was annoying and returned to his boyish pastime, leaving her in peace.
The silence boomed over the room. Strangely enough, the large room packed cozy with material things now seemed bare. The wardrobe was more than empty, the jewelry gone, some books missing from shelves, toiletries packed, and her crucifix off her wall. The rest of her things would remain behind like the furniture and memento figurines. The servants would cover her room in cloth and the linens would be stored in the hallway closet upon her departure. The bathing room would be seldom used, so both her bathroom door that lead into her room and her room door into hall would be locked. That way, no one could be tempted to take anything-not that the servants would. One thing the McMichaels could count on was the loyalty and integrity of their staff. Simply because not that they were decent people, but all of them feared Sara. Naturally her room gave them an unnerving aura and they said that her things were possessed.
One of the former butlers was a young man in a little debt, and stole a bejeweled hair comb from Sara. None of them knew nor really noticed, both staff and family didn't really care that much. However, he turned in his notice to leave with the hairpin stating that when he paid off his debt to the man he owed in an alleyway, both the debtor and collector heard eerie banshee shrieks in the dark. He swore to God that Sara was the Banshee that guilted him into honest labor. Fortunately, the collector erased his five pound debt, stating that no debt was worth a haunting from an heiress. Alan laughed at the notice thinking that Nathaniel tried to prank the poor man with schoolboy tricks. Edith was intrigued by the note and knew better. Nathaniel thought that the police ought to have been notified from stealing from them, but Sara nonchalantly said, "No, prison is less scary to that man than the hell I could bring by simply whispering his dark fears into his ear." She giggled in jest, but Edith-as she frequently was-crossly frowned at Sara. Her disapproval was evident, "Sara, you will not frighten our staff or I will send a Banshee after you!" She chastised the innocent girl, but the staff overheard and gossiped nonetheless.
Coming out of her reminiscing, Sara closed her remaining luggage that was to be carried out to the carriages or cars that they owned. At this point, it was early twilight on the eastern horizon. Everyone was awake and bustling about, but Sara was ready to embark on her trip. Breakfast was awkward; Edith had dried tears on her cheeks, Alan had red blood shot eyes from lack of sleep. Although Nathaniel had already given his good-bye, Sara noticed his youthful porcelain skin had dark circles under the eyes. His face gaunt from grim depression, he did not want to see his only true friend leave. Sara in contrast was not grim and grey as they were. It was an oddity that the roles were reversed, but on this particular morning, Sara radiated her beauty with violet glows. She wore a purple dress with scarlets and navy floral wavy prints. The natural blush seemed deeper on her pale skin, and her dark red-brown eyes glinted with excitement. The rusty joy didn't flicker and her matching blush did not falter either. Her russet lips smiled warmly in the most sanguine way. She looked like the prettiest wild violet in a field of snowy dandelion fluff. Alan's bronze hair seemed faded just as Edith's golden hair and dress seemed like a faded sun. Nathaniel's emerald vest did not shine its brilliant jewel tone, but a matte color of muddy green. The staff seemed bleak in their monotone expressions and garments, just as the hall had a lifeless color to it. Everything already seemed dusty, dead, and cold.
In the Mansion doorway the family exchanged their farewells of best wishes, love, Godspeeds, and warnings of the men on the ship.
"Sara, remember if they hurt you, take a trophy so they never forget who they hurt-even if it's their sanity." Nathaniel half-joked. Sara squeezed her sprouting brother, "Only for you will I crush them utterly." They chuckled at their sadistic humor. Alan smiled warmly to her, "You are my darling daughter, and now be safe from the strange folks abroad. I do not want you to wander anywhere dangerous. You can always call on me if you need, no matter what for." He sternly looked into her eyes, they were full of worry and hers were clear of doubt, "Papa, I will be fine."
Turning towards her mother, Edith came forward, "Sara…I regret sending you away already." She started sobbing, "Just promise me, and while you're there…don't find your father. The past needs to stay dead." Sara nodded, promising that she wouldn't and gave her mother a hug. When Edith was near her ears, she whispered to Sara so the others would not hear, "If you listen to some of what the phantoms say, it may save your life or kill you. Remember the good go to heaven so any ghost remaining is not your friend; they play with you for their gain. Do not give them pleasure with your fears and pains. Don't give in, be strong." Sara looked at her mother pulling away, nodding subtly.
The ride from the estate the docks weren't too far, so the loading and reloading were the long parts. The ship was the U.S.S. Janus, it was a humble ship that got the job done, whatever that may be. Sara looked at the navy ocean in its fresh crisp smells. The spray of waves gently splashed her cheeks, and the bloody orange sun hid behind fluffy light grey clouds. The mist seeped like tendrils over the overcast water and sky. It was a truly beautiful sight; the seabirds gleamed with their oily and waxy feathers, the jellyfish glowed with their bioluminescence and the barnacles on the ship hull had the iridescent pearlization. Sara was taken by the harbor alone, even though the bay would be insignificant in comparison to the large expanse yet to come. Wishing to see whales and thunder in the distant horizon, Sara longed for the journey to start, even though the ship had not launched yet.
When the horn blew, the ship carried away Sara to a new world outside of the one she knew very well. For the first time in her life she felt safe from dark spirits, for she felt that if a storm were to come to the ship she would find the silver lining. Like Noah's rainbow, or the Saviour walking to the fisherman, Sara felt that her perilous adventures had ended and she found peace in this seclusion to her new home.
Though in the end all is well, if it is not then it is not the end; Sara's dangerous journey had yet begun. Her peace would come far later and in a way she might not have expected.