Worlds Collide

Chapter Seven

Sweet Dreams

Three days later, Sam finds something that he thinks could help. "So get this." he says to Dean, who is reading through the Men of Letters' books while he is searching the web. "It says here that there is a god who can induce nightmares."

Dean looks up from his book on ancient curses. "Does this god have a name?"

"Phobetor." Sam reads. "He's Greek and one of the Oneiroi, which are siblings of Morpheus, the god of dreams. He was called the bringer of nightmares and is said to be able to induce nightmares and he feeds off the fear."

"Does it say how to gank him?" Dean questions, hoping it won't require some obscure weapon.

"If the dreamer becomes lucid, they can kill him by destroying his real form in their dream before they wake up. His physical manifestation is only a tiny portion of him and killing it won't slow him down." Sam reads off from a website he found, hoping it's accurate. It's the best lead they've had in days and they're becoming desperate.

"Well Cat is far from lucid and won't know to kill him. We're going to need dream root, aren't we?" Dean replies resignedly. He isn't a big fan of that process.

"Looks like our only option." Sam agrees, and then something catches his eye. "Wait a minute. It also says that Phobetor can transform between man and animal."

"So he could be anything." Dean groans.

"Remember that dog with the name Tor..."

"Son of a Bitch!" Dean exclaims. "That's how he got in!"

"I'll get the dream root ready. You keep Phobetor away from Caitlin." Sam says as he rushes off to get the ingredients.

Dean hurries to Caitlin's room and is relieved to see that she is alone. She's still giving out pained whimpers and it's breaking his heart. They figure she has been like this for about six days now.

Sam returns with the dream root and locks the door behind him, making a salt line for good measure. "Hopefully that will keep him out while we are in Caitlin's head." he says as he moves to the bed.

Dean takes the chair and Sam lays on the bed beside Caitlin as they drink the dream root and join Cat in her head. They swiftly find themselves back in the witch's basement with Caitlin shackled to the table and being tortured by the witch. Her body is completely covered in bruises and cuts.

They stand, shocked, as the witch grabs Caitlin's arm and breaks it with an audible crack. The bloodcurdling scream that she produces snaps the boys out of their daze and they leap into action. Dean tackles the witch, seeing red. He begins pummeling her as Sam rushes to Caitlin's side.

----------------------------------------------------

After the witch breaks my arm for what seems like the hundredth time, someone tackles her suddenly and begins beating her up. I look through tear-filled eyes as Sam's face swims into view.

"Caitlin? Can you hear me?" he asks.

I just nod. The witch had decided to remove my tongue every time, keeping me from talking. She didn't appreciate all my degrading hisses and profanities directed at her.

"You're going to be fine." Sam says. "This is all just a nightmare."

I merely stare at him forlornly. How many times had I dreamed up this type of scenario during my brief breaks from the torture? I wish it was real this time, but I've gotten my hopes up so many times that I've begun to believe I'll be stuck here forever. Sam begins to unlock my bonds. This is a new one for me, but I'm still unsure if it's real.