“Oh, yes, the dream. Now, how would one tell our young man here about such an event? That was my problem, of course. Now you’ll understand with no trouble.”

“Oh, God,” Jeffery yelled. “Will you get on with it?”

Oversoul Seven said to Cyprus, “How jittery Jeffery is! You know, for a moment I almost thought that I remembered something terribly important. But now I have no idea what it was.”

“Oh?” Cyprus said, seeming to be quite unconcerned.

Ram-Ram sat down. “I’m not sure of much of this,” he said. “But I dreamed of an automatic manuscript that you’d be writing in some way that I’ve forgotten, and I knew that I’d have a hand in triggering it.”

“Go on,” Jeffery said. His face was so intent and still that time might have stopped.

Ram-Ram continued. “Years ago, I was very interested in phenomena like out-of-body experiences, hypnosis, and alterations of consciousness in general. I fooled around with them, so to speak. But I was cautious: There was my reputation to consider. Life went on, and I followed the academic line. Then, when I had my dream, I perked up. Just suppose, suppose, there was something to it, I thought. It was several days before your experience, but somehow I awakened from the dream knowing that you had to come to me. So I didn’t contact you. But just in case, I took several books out of the library to refresh my own mind on the psychic field in general, and to loan to you if by any chance my dream did mean anything and you called. As, of course, you did.”

“I noticed the library date on the card,” Jeffery exclaimed. “I did wonder briefly that the books were taken out before—”

“As you were meant to. So that you’d have some reason to believe me now. Not that anything is proven, but, ah, suggested, at least.” Ram-Ram paused and said, “And then, of course, it’s not quite over.”

“Now what do you mean by that?” Jeffery asked uneasily. At the same time, he wondered if Ram-Ram’s remark had anything to do with his own growing anxiety; for Will kept flashing in and out of his consciousness.

Oversoul Seven said to Cyprus, “What I’m supposed to remember has to do with Jeffery’s dream … and this book … right?”

“Shush,” Cyprus said.

“Now, Jeffy-boy, don’t you like surprises?” Ram-Ram said, reverting to his humorous, coy air. “But be that as it may, I know this much: Whatever you’re involved in isn’t quite finished. There’s something important you still have to do. Something else: I always sensed an unresolved and unhappy, maybe unloved but turbulent part of you, quite hidden behind your self-conscious professorial psychological attire. Again, that’s why I called you Jeffy-boy; teasing you, of course.”