I don't know how long I slept but the sound of myself coughing up dust woke me up. Confused I opened my eyes to find the library I was in to be a complete mess, the books had been dusted or torn apart beyond repair.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked jumping off the chair and looking for any sign of what had happened. "Clyde!" I called out in fear but there was no answer, so I had to go find him. The entire house appeared to be abandoned as all the furniture had been covered with white sheets. And all around me, the empty rooms were filled with an eerie scent and dust bunnies.

My heart began to beat faster as I realized that this wasn't Alex's house, which meant that I was in a different place. "Hello, can anyone hear me!?" I yelled. There was still no answer and I began to pick up the pace as I explored the house. The only thing that looked familiar was the red book from earlier and when I picked it up something had changed. All of the pages were now blank and all the characters had vanished like they were never there. It was then that my dream came back, it was one of those dreams that you thought was actually happening. I was arriving at a beautiful hotel and an invitation from a mysterious host was in my hand. My clothes were not modern at all as I was dressed like a woman from Victorian England. I didn't mind though, as many people I passed commented on how good I looked.

"How can I help you?" A voice from behind me asked and I turned my head to see a man at the reception desk. He was quite young, in his mid-twenties at the latest, and he greeted me warmly when I showed him the invitation. "Ah we've been expecting you," he said getting out from behind the desk and fixing up the jacket of his black suit. It really brought out the dark color of his brown eyes and hair, and I gladly took his hand when he offered it to me. "Right this way Ms. Holmes," Wait hold on why would he call me that? That wasn't my last name and it was then my stomach dropped. A bunch of images of familiar and unfamiliar people popped into my head and I saw them all become monsters. I covered my ears trying to block out the screaming I could hear but that only increased them. "Is everything alright?"

"No this is..." I began but when I pulled on the man to get his attention, something had changed. The man in front of me began to age rapidly and he didn't notice until I pointed it out. He continued to age until he skin withered away to the bone and I screamed at the sight. The dream ended after that and I thought I was just having a nightmare. But maybe I was still dreaming now, so I pinched myself hoping everything would go back to normal. But no matter how hard I rubbed my eyes, banged my head against a wall, and pinched myself nothing changed. Everything around me was still unfamiliar to me, my ears began to ring and I ran from the front door not wanting to spend another minute in this place. The door was open thank goodness but when I got outside I saw that the house wasn't the only weird thing I would see.

Because not only was I somehow in a different time period as everything around me, even the people screamed 1800s. But I was in a different country as I saw the flag for Britain everywhere.
"What is happening?" I asked myself and was on the verge on collapsing from shock. There was no logical explanation for how this had happened and while I looked around for someone to help me. People gave me strange looks and I realized it was probably because of my clothes. But when I finally found a mirror, I saw that my clothes had changed as well. I was dressed in a black Victorian outfit, but it wasn't a large puffy dress with a tight corset like most pictures I had seen. Instead I was dressed in a sleeveless short red and black gown with a black shawl. My hair that had been kept untidy for the past two years was now all sleek and shiny.

It was like someone had used a magic wand on me so I looked like a woman from the Victorian age, trying to stand out but blend it. I also had a hat but it was incredibly itchy so I ditched it and began running at a top speed in my new heels. People gave me strange looks when I accidentally bumped into them, or asked them for help. But no one stopped for me and I was left wondering why I suddenly had the urge to shoot a wall. What was I thinking? Had I been drugged and hallucinating this whole thing? That had to be the only explanation, there was no way I had traveled through time. No one had managed to successfully do that apart from pretending to do it in movies with magic or science. But magic didn't exist, its only purpose was to entrain young children or explain things we didn't understand yet.

While I continued to panic someone finally spoke to me when I ran into another woman. She fall on her back and I felt my heart drop when I noticed how much she looked like Alex. Apart from her clothing which was even more unusual than what I was wearing. The Alex dollperganger looked at me with her brown eyes and covered up the necklace which seemed to be hiding something.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry." I said to her.
"Its alright I should have been more careful," she answered. "Where are you off to in a hurry Ms. Holmes?" She asked.
"I don't know...wait what did you call me?" I asked.
"You're the famous Sherlock Holmes are you not?" She asked giving me a hard glare. "I got a telegram saying that we were supposed to meet here. "I must admit I was expecting you to be a man."

"Here where is here?" I asked before checking my pockets to find a envelope along with a letter addressed to Ms. Sherlock Holmes from an unknown sender. I also saw the large hotel behind me and was left standing there for the world to make sense again.
"I'm Alexandria Van Helsing," She said. "Its a pleasure to meet you Ms. Holmes." She curtsied at me when I tried to shake her hand. Even so my body wouldn't move and when she asked if I was coming with her all I could do was nod. Inside was a luxurious hotel and I sat down on the lobby coach to read the invitation.

Dear Mr. Holmes
I understand that you're actually not a man at all but let's keep that just between us. A strange murder has occurred and I know that more deaths will happen unless you figure it out. So I'm inviting you to a dinner party with all of the possible suspects around the world, it will be a lovely time and more information will be given at the location. Hope to see you there- your host a friend.
I looked at the strange invitation and wondered how I had gotten a hold of it, when I was of course not Sherlock Holmes. He wasn't even a real person just a character from a book. But each passing moment I knew I couldn't keep telling myself that. Because as much as I wanted to just deny all this and solve my own mystery.
How could I leave when I had a possible second chance with my best friend? Something told me that all this had to do with her.