Chapter 1
A hot wind blew over the ruins of a castle as the sound of the TARDIS materializing echoed off the dead walls. The blue police box materialized on one of the tallest towers of the castle, overlooking the barren, desolate landscape down below. After a couple of minutes, the doors opened and the Doctor stepped out. The Doctor looked around, sniffing the air. Everything he saw was dead; there was death in the air he smelled. Whatever happened here was brutal.
The Doctor looked behind him to see he was the only one outside the TARDIS. He stuck his head back in his ship, "Are you two coming?"
Before he got his answer, the Doctor walked back to the edge of the tower. He looked down a sheer face of at least two hundred feet. He muttered to himself, "That's one hell of a fall."
"Well this is beautiful place isn't it?" asked Alex as she stepped out of the TARDIS, sarcasm pouring out in the question.
"For a desert, this place is actually interesting," the Doctor said, "For one, why is there a giant castle in the middle of desert."
The heat already was having an impact on Alex, "I'll be right back. I've got to change."
The Doctor kept staring at the landscape as he said, "Okay."
Alex ran back into the cool of the TARDIS as the Doctor was unmoving. He kept staring hard. There was something wrong. He could tell. This place wasn't supposed to be a desert. Before his mind could wander even more, he was snapped back as Harper walked up next to him. She asked, "What is this place?"
"I don't know," the Doctor answered. He looked at Harper, "Where's Alex?"
"Changing," Harper said, "She hates the heat. It doesn't bother me."
"She better hurry up," the Doctor said, "I have to go. There's something wrong with this place."
"What's wrong?" asked Alex as she stepped out of the TARDIS, now in a black tank top and jean shorts.
The Doctor walked towards a staircase to the inside of the tower. He told the two girls, "I don't know, but I know the answer's down those stairs."
The Doctor walked down without signaling for the other two, but they followed anyway. The Time Lord didn't acknowledge his friends following behind him. He was too concentrated on what was all around him. His body felt there was something wrong with this whole situation. The wasteland shouldn't be a wasteland. He stopped when he reached a massive foyer.
Alex didn't notice him stop and walked right into him. She bounced off, falling down. The Doctor turned around telling her, "You have a habit of that."
He held out his hand. She took it and the Doctor pulled her back on her feet. Alex replied, "You have a habit of stopping and not telling anyone."
"Considering how big I am, I shouldn't have to tell anyone."
"You got that right. You like a mountain," Alex smiled.
The Doctor feigned hurt, "That's not very nice."
"Very true," Alex continued.
Harper rolled her eyes at Alex and the Doctor. The two of them were like that most of the time now in the two months since the three of them left Waverly Place. Harper had just gotten used to it. Harper walked around the foyer and kicked a piece of dried wood across the floor. She could see the streak left in the layer of dirt on the floor. She muttered to herself, "That's disgusting."
As Harper was walking around, Alex asked the Doctor, "What do you think happened here?"
"Not a clue," the Doctor answered, "But I intend to figure it out."
"Why? Maybe the civilization just died out," Alex said.
"Maybe, but I don't believe so. I think there is something else going on here."
"Like what?" asked Alex.
"I don't know," the Doctor said.
"Do you know anything?" asked Alex.
"I know a lot," the Doctor said, "Relevant to this place, not so much. I know as much as you do."
Harper decided to chime in, "Doctor, do you know what year it is?"
"No," the Doctor said, "I didn't think to look at the year clock."
Harper smiled, "Then I know one thing more than you. I looked at the year. It's 2012."
Doctor said, "That's a year in your future. Did it say what planet?"
"I don't know," Harper said, "I didn't see what planet just the year."
The Doctor replied, "We should find out where we are."
Alex walked away from the Doctor and Harper as they discussed the setting and time they had landed in. She walked through an arched doorway into another room. She couldn't see in the darkened room and used a little magic to light the room up. She jumped back when she saw several skeletons on the floor. From what they looked like, they were human remains. She called out, "Doctor!"
"Hold on," was the reply that she got from the Time Lord.
A few seconds passed when Alex heard a loud rustling sound come from below her feet. She knelt down to try and feel anything, but there was nothing. Alex looked around the room again. This time she noticed something on the wall that she thought looked familiar. She stood up and made her way towards that wall.
Outside in the foyer, the Doctor and Harper were discussing the possibilities of what happened and where they were. Suddenly, there was a big crash followed by Alex's scream. The Doctor and Harper both stopped conversing. The two of them bolted to the room where Alex had walked into. The two of them saw Alex kneeling next to what looked like a metal shield. She wiped the dust of top of the shield. He noticed the skeletons too. They were dead for at least several months. The thing that concerned him the most was Alex, however.
The Doctor slowly walked up to Alex and asked, "What happened?"
Alex didn't turn around, but she answered him solemnly, "This shield fell off the wall before I walked up to it. Scared me so I screamed."
They both could tell what something was wrong with Alex. The Doctor asked, "Alex, what's wrong?"
After a long, tense few seconds, Alex answered, "I know where we are."
"Where?" asked the Doctor.
"This is Earth," Alex answered.
"I don't remember a castle in the desert on Earth," the Doctor.
"Because we're not in the normal earth," Alex answered. There were tears in her eyes as Alex told them where they were, "I know where we are because I've been here before. This castle is Wiz Tech. We're in the Wizard World."