Dreamphage

Chapter 19: Microwaves

Alex woke up on the hardwood floor and looked around her groggily. San Francisco was beside her, just beginning to come to. Alex shook her head and took a moment to remember what had happened. They had fallen through the anchor. What that meant Alex wasn't exactly sure. Alex sat up against the wall and stretched. Her bones ached. The anchor had not spit them out gently.

Almost immediately her phone rang.

"Catasophie, I'm done with your games. You'll never-"Alex shouted angrily into the phone.

"Alex? Is that you?" a familiar and welcome voice sounded through the speaker.

"Saharia?" Alex asked in shock.

"I'm so glad I reached you. I'm surprised calling your phone worked but I didn't know what else to try." Saharia said.

"Where are you? We've been looking everywhere for you, Saharia! Are you okay? What's going on?" Alex asked quickly.

"I'm fine and I'm honestly not sure where I am currently" Saharia sighed "It's kind of been a mess over here on my end. We managed to get one of the anchors back and we were protecting it but the nightmares chased us off and stole it from us. There's a lot of them and dream realm is so broken at the moment. We ended up on some random dream level and our watches are fried. We've been trying to get back. We finally got one of the watches locaters working now. My phone randomly came on so I thought it was worth a try. What's happening with you guys? Did you find the device and the Dreamphage?"

Alex quickly filled Saharia in on everything that had happened since she left. She tried to keep in brief but there was a lot to cover.

"Wait...what? Squirrels and French horns and haunted houses?" Saharia sounded confused as she tried to take in all the details.

"I'll explain better later. Right now you have to try and get back to headquarters. Forget the anchors for now. I have to try and get me and San Francisco out of here." Alex said looking down at San Francisco, who still looked a little groggy.

"....who?" Saharia asked, sounding even more confused.

"Again, I'll explain later" Alex said with a laugh.

"Okay. Geez, guys I'm only gone for a little while and everything gets crazy and falls to pieces" Saharia laughed.

"It's mostly under control" Alex replied "But you better get back soon. Lucifer can't be trusted to handle everything on his own"

"Trust me, I'm trying" Saharia lowered her voice "Well that's weird....I'll call you later, Alex."

"Wait, Saharia, what's weird?" Alex asked, nervously.

"I'll see you soon!" Saharia shouted and then the line went dead.

Alex looked down at her phone and tried not to worry. Saharia could handle herself and it might not have been anything. She and San Francisco had their own problem to deal with.

"Are you okay, San Francisco?" Alex asked, watching her struggle to her feet.

San Francisco nodded and looked around.

"This place looks familiar" She said, thinking "I feel like I've been here before, like in a dream"

Alex got to her feet and looked around as well.

"You have been here." Alex said in surprise "It's my apartment."

Alex quickly walked around and sure enough there was her bedroom, her bathroom, her kitchen and her living room. Everything was right where she'd left it, right down to the dishes in the sink and the paperwork on the desk. Sarah's stuff was still piled in the guest room.