Wraith World (audio story)

Wraith World was the eighth Sarah Jane Adventures audiobook release. It was written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, produced for AudioGO and read by Elisabeth Sladen. It appeared in British shops midway between the CBBC broadcasts of series 3 and series 4. It was notable as Sladen's final appearance in audio fiction for any company.

Publisher's summary
A bizarre journal leads to terror for Sarah Jane and friends, in this exclusive audio story read by Elisabeth Sladen.

Rani is delighted to hear that her favourite author, Gregory P. Wilkinson, is doing a signing at a local bookshop. When he agrees to be interviewed for the school newspaper, she is even more thrilled. And when the old man presents her with his journal, full of notes and sketches from his 'Wraith World' books, her happiness is complete.

But all too soon her elation turns to horror, as the worlds of fiction and reality collide. Can Sarah Jane save Rani, Clyde and Luke from a creature beyond their wildest nightmares?

Plot
Rani goes to a signing from her favourite author, Gregory P. Wilkinson, at the local bookshop. He has just released the last book of the series "The Fall of Hankarda". Rani asks him if she could interview him for the school newspaper. Gregory invites her to his home and Rani goes there along with Sarah Jane. During the interview Sarah Jane goes to the kitchen to make tea. Suddenly she hears a voice which seems to be coming from behind the walls. A blood red creature seems to be standing right behind her, but at a blink of an eye it's gone.

After the interview Gregory gives Rani a journal, full of notes and sketches from his "Wraith World" books. He admits that he was going to write another novel but hasn't finished and that the notes are in the book. So he wants Rani to help him to write it. He also wants her to take over the Wraith World's series.

Back at 13 Bannerman Road Rani tells Luke and Clyde about her experience. Luke loves the books, but Clyde doesn't like them. In the books, the villain Hankarda wants to break through the real world to enslave the human race and plug the meat from their bones.

Then Rani shows Gregory's journal to Clyde and Luke. Now even Clyde is impressed by the sketches of Hankarda and the other figures from the book. Rani tells them that she now wants continue writing the book and leaves the attic.

Clyde and Luke go to a park. They hear a scream from a girl and then they see a huge blood red worm at her shoulder. She crashes the worm on the floor. They want to take the worm home, but then they see hundreds of blood red worms at an oak tree near them. Luke and Clyde ran away. Luke calls Sarah Jane and tells her about the worms. The blood red worms begin to appear everywhere. Clyde and Luke climb up the top of the playgrounds climbing frame. Now there is a sea of the blood red worms beneath them. Luke realises that these are similar to Hankarda's wormhood in the books. Suddenly, the worms began to form into a new warrior, Hankarda.

Just at this moment Sarah Jane gets into the park. Sarah Jane tells Hankarda to leave Clyde and Luke alone pointing her sonic lipstick at the creature. Clyde and Luke jump down and tell Hankarda to leave Sarah Jane alone. Clyde throws a football at Hankarda. Without a warning Hankarda collapses into himself. Thousands of worms burst into fine red powder when they hit the ground. Now Sarah Jane, Clyde and Luke want to find out how a creature from Rani's journal is able to become alive.

They visit Rani to check out if she is alright and tell her that they have seen Hankarda in the real world. Sarah Jane asks for the journal, but Rani refuses to let Sarah Jane take it. Sarah Jane takes it anyway. She reads the words "Luke, Clyde, Hankarda attacked" on the last page, before Rani is able to get it back. Sarah Jane says that Rani let the worms appear in front of Luke and Clyde, because she wrote the words down in the journal and then it started happening.

Rani tells Sarah Jane that she was angry with Clyde because he made fun of her and the books. She wanted to teach him a lesson so she wrote that Hankarda appeared at the playground to scare Clyde and Hankarda did appear. Rani didn't want this to happen.

When Sarah Jane wants to take the book, to bring it to Mr Smith, Rani doesn't let her take it. She is controlled by the book and isn't able to move her hands. Then she starts writing and isn't able to stop. The words "and Hankarda's wormhood search through the house" appear. Rani cries and says she is sorry. Blood red worms appear all over the room, they are forcing Sarah Jane, Clyde and Luke away from Rani and out of the house.

Sarah Jane decides to visit Gregory P. Wilkinson to ask him about his ideas for the books. When she and Clyde arrive at his house, Gregory is crying. Next to him is a piece of the journal with the name Rani written on it. Sarah Jane takes it.

Gregory tells Sarah Jane and Clyde that years ago the journal had chosen him. It planted ideas about stories in his head and he started writing them down. The journal got stronger and took more and more control over him. Hankarda appeared in his dream, telling him to write more to give Hankarda substance. Later Gregory even saw Hankarda and his servants at the real world, telling him what to write. All Hankarda wanted was form but Gregory wasn't able to give it to him. Then Hankarda heard about Rani and forced Gregory to give the book to Rani. After this Hankarda appeared one last time to Gregory. He said he didn't need him any more and crashed his furniture. Gregory tells Sarah Jane that he is sorry.

Sarah Jane wants to take Gregory with them because she thinks he might be able to help them. When Sarah Jane, Clyde and Gregory arrive at Bannerman Road, Luke runs towards them. The road is covered with blood red worms. A young police officer arrives and tells them that there is no way of getting through the worms. Suddenly the worms form into warriors and the police officer leaves. Clyde and Luke want to cause a distraction so that Sarah Jane can go to Rani. Gregory wants to help. He tells Sarah Jane that the Wraith Warriors in the books were defeated by triggering an earthquake. The vibration caused the warriors to break down into individual worms which were picked up by the crows.

Sarah Jane causes a vibration with her sonic lipstick and the Wraith Warriors fall onto the ground. Inside the house Rani is still continuing the journal, behind her back is Hankarda and tells her what to write. Rani says she can't stop writing what Hankarda tells her to. Gregory attacks Hankarda, Hankarda vanishes but only a second later he is standing behind Sarah and tells Rani to write Sarah out of this story. Then there is a flash and Sarah is standing at the attic of 13 Bannerman Road. This shows that Hankarda's control over Rani isn't absolute and she can still influence the story somehow.

Sarah Jane now wants to find out exactly what Hankarda is. Mr Smith tells Sarah Jane that Hankarda became real because his story was written on Psionic Paper, a paper that could create an artificial reality based on the information written on the page. Mr Smith also mentions that Sarah Jane has one of these papers inside her pocket. Sarah Jane looks inside her pocket and finds the piece of paper that she had taken from Gregory. Sarah Jane realises that she can use the paper to rewrite the story.

Meanwhile, Luke and Clyde are attacked by the Wraith Warriors. They think that their last moments have come. Suddenly a swarm of crows appears and is attacking the Wraith Warriors. Sarah Jane has saved them by writing about the crows onto the Psionic paper.

Then Sarah Jane wants to write Hankarda out of the story but isn't able to do so. Something, that she can't explain, is holding her back. A moment later Hankarda appears inside the attic.

In the meantime Clyde and Luke want to leave, but the Wraith Warriors begin to form again and start to scream. One by one the crows explode into fragments of feathers and dust. The Wraith Warriors begin to attack again.

In the attic, Hankarda tells Sarah Jane that he doubts that Luke and Clyde will survive. When Sarah Jane want's to leave the attic, Hankarda starts attacking her. Then he stops and says that something is wrong.

A moment later Gregory comes into the attic carrying Rani in his arms. Hankarda's control over Rani weakens. Gregory and Rani are not alone any more they are together fighting Hankarda. They start to write. At first they send the Wraith Warriors away from Luke and Clyde, saving them. Then they write that the Wraith Warriors go to the attic, are attacking Hankarda and throwing him back to the dimension where he came from. Furthermore they add that Hankarda is crashed between the terrible force that exists between realities and that all that remains of the Wraith Warriors is one single worm on the floor of the attic. Gregory crashed the worm with the journal. Inside the journal there now is a new picture of Hankarda screaming painfully. Sarah Jane and Rani then burn the journal, to make sure that Hankarda can never appear again.

A month later Rani and Sarah Jane receive an e-mail from Gregory. Gregory has moved to a place with loads of sea air. He is writing a new book on a laptop. He doesn't trust old journals any more.

Characters

 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Luke Smith
 * Rani Chandra
 * Clyde Langer
 * Gregory P. Wilkinson
 * Professor Bailey
 * Hankarda
 * Wraith Warriors
 * Julien Valey

Worldbuilding

 * Sarah Jane mentions C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling.
 * Sometime in the 1980s, Sarah Jane did an interview with the author Gregory P. Wilkinson for the Metropolitan magazine.
 * Gregory P. Wilkinson is living in a Victorian house in Highgate.
 * The Paparians are an alien species from the planet Paparia.
 * Haresh and Gita Chandra stay several days in Danemouth to visit relatives.

Continuity

 * Sarah Jane tells Clyde that "a wise man" had once told her that "there is no point in growing up if you can't be childish [once in a while]." (TV: Robot)
 * Clyde says that Sarah Jane's team have laughed in the face of the Uvodni, (TV: Warriors of Kudlak) Slitheen, (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen) and Sontarans. (TV: The Last Sontaran)