"No, it's fine. Let's do it!" Sam smiled back.
"Marvelous! Let me take my books and we can start!" The smile came back to her face as she lunged at the old leather-bound books the brothers had noticed. She seemed to be counting them and a minute after she had sat and calculated the options, she took out one of them. Then she looked up at a shelf that was too high for her. Sam stood up to help just as Aidan stomped her bare foot on the ground and rose on a cylindrical platform that was made from the same white marble as the floor, carrying the sound of stone dragging against stone.
"Oooh, that's why there are no laders. "
"Aha!" she replied halfheartedly still concentrating on the task at hand. Her pale slender fingers caressed gently the spines of the books until she finally found one particularly big and heavylooking one with red covers. She struggled to pull it out with the other book in her left hand and this is when Sam jumped in to help.
He offered his hand to her with the almost whispered 'Let me help.' And as he looked up to her he noticed a small sparkle of hope there, and at last understood what this meant to her. The boy took the book in his hands and carried it to the wooden black table and took his place in the armchair next to his brother.
"Before we go on with this, tell me something." Dean requested from her. "What were you doing in the victims' houses?"
"Uhm...well, they were all known as wizards or magicians of some sort. Whatever they said will happen, ended up happening anyway. And I thought... I wasn't really thinking... I guessed they might help me figure out this...curse...and leave the town to find my brothers somehow. If not maybe they could at least tell me if they are alright. But nothing, I just got a round of 'Got no idea, lass. Come another day.' They didn't even try." Her hands started shaking again, her thin eyebrows furrowed, and her left eye and the left side of her upper lip twitching in a progressive scowl. "I think it's obvious how furious I was. I might have set the houses on fire and if I had indeed, I would let you do your job without struggling." her anger subsided and a sigh left her plump lips. "But for now, let us consider the option that I am not the murderer."
This happened around 12:20 and when they next took a break, the sun had fallen behind the horizon and they had ran over any other possible option. Angry ghosts, demons hunting their potential threats, any possible scenario. At the end of the night, meaning around midnight, after a few glasses of whiskey and vodka, and neither of the Winchesters was in good enough condition to drive.
"You could always stay here if you want to. I mean, I could drive you to your motel but if it's the one I'm thinking about you should really stay here. And I...I kinda...don't want to be alone right now. Please? I'll make hot chocolate and I've got some pie..." Typically, at the mention of pie the older Winchester beamed and agreed on staying for the night. Sam though was reluctant of staying in the lair of a potential murderer, but then he wondered what would it have been if people thought about him that way.
And an hour later, the three of them were well fed and ready to go to sleep, Dean rose from his seat on the kitchen table and he patted Sam's shoulder but not only in a brotherly manner, more like the gesture ment 'Have a good night, Sammy!' and Sam felt that.
"Don't stay up, kids. We've got work to do tomorrow." He chuckled as he ruffled Aidan's bangs like she was a child.
Both looked at the older Winchester with confusion, though not for the same reason. Aidan was wondering why had he got so cheery all of a sudden, while Sam was trying to figure out how the Hell could his brother be so...simple.
So it took Sam and Aidan a minute or two to finish the rest of their treats and realize they were alone. Sam tapped his fork on the plate awkwardly while the girl sitting on the opposite side of the table seemed to be lost in thought, staring blankly at the wall behind him, rarely blinking and every once in a while sipped her hot chocolate.
Sam felt comfortable around her even though he found the situation quite unnerving. He felt like he needed to say something, now that he knew that he wasn't just imagining the connection between them. But he didn't know what exactly could he say, how could he use their bound to strike up at least a chat? 'So you lost your mom in a fire? Me too!' Nope, that doesn't sound decent. And suddenly an idea invaded his brain.
"Hey, uhm...can I ask you something?"
"Sure, shoot." The girl replied casually.
"You said you got your powers since...uhm?"
"Since age four. When I almost flooded the house while playing with one of my moms dolls." She waved her hands around pseudo-dramatically with a laugh that made a smile spread on his face. "What about you?" That suddenly brought back his anxiety and got him uncomfortable with the subject. What if she thought he was a freak? "What's your 'gift'?" Aidan chuckled childishly as her fingers curled in the manner of 'air-quoting'.
"Well, I...uhm."
"Come on, you ivaded it once, you sure had been expecting me to ask twice."
His hands started sweating and he was struggling for air. "I...sometimes I have these...uhm...visions? Yeah, that's it."
"That's so cool. So you see things that are about to happen! That's amazing!"
"You think so? I don't know, I thought it was a little freaky."
"Yeah, it sure is, but in that fresh, badass way." She smiled widely at him and somehow the whole subject seemed completely normal. Just like every other subject that came on to their never-ending conversation. The hours passed by so quickly that soon the sun has started rising, without them even knowing.
∆×3×∆
~2nd May~
Dean walked down the stairs to the stairs with a sleepy smile and slow steps, ruffling Sam's hair when he walked past him to sit in one of the chairs around the oval table.
"Good morning, kids. Did you sleep as well as I did?" Aidan and Sam exchanged glances as they both shared a gigle, telling Dean exactly what he needed to know. "Did you sleep at all?"
"Dean, Sam told me about your love for good food, so I thought I'd give you a small 'thank you for not charging me for scratching your car' gift. It's on the counter." She nodded her head to the two white dishes on the black granite counter.
Dean's eyes widened and a child-like smile tugged the corners if his mouth. He shot up from his seat on the table and went to lift the dishes. He was met by the delicious smell of becon, three types of cheese, and fresh lettuce and tomatoes and then...apple pie with something like molten caramel on top adding to the mouthwatering aroma. His back was turned to the kitchen table but both Sam and Aidan could hear him breathe heavily. He finally turned enough for them to see the grin on his face.
"You're precious, sweetheart. And I think we'll get along." That made her laugh and her head fell back after which she just shot him that look of both amusement and puzzlement. After shaking her head she stared back into Sam's eyes.
"So, Sam, have you tried controlling it?" The question came out of the blue and was in relation to a topic they had left hours back, but she still didn't need to specify as he well aware of what she meant.
"Well, no not really. Have you?"
"Of course. How do you think I became this good?" She stated matter-of-factly.
"Why though? I mean what good will it do you?"
"There's only two options." Aidan stood from her seat and walked to the other side of the kitchen making the brothers follow with their eyes. She selected a green apple out of the fruitier and took a seat again, this time on the counter. "One: you'll be an even deadlier weapon in the hands of...whoever is holding our leashes, and two: you'll get strong enough to turn the tables on the son of a bitch."
Sam couldn't argue with either of her statements, but couldn't bare to admit it. To him the whole deal with the demon and all, was scary, terrifying even, and he was ready to do anything to avoid the reality. Now that Aidan served it so seriously he realized that he couldn't run from himself forever.
"I can teach you... I mean, I've carried this burden since childhood... I know how to control it, channel it to do what I want. But it's your choice, after all." She offers looking at her long empty mug.
"I don't know." confessed Sam trying to catch her eyes. "But for now let's leave it be that way. I still don't think I'll be able to use powers like this." He sighed heavily. The silence that circled the room was tense and unnerving so Aidan took it as her mission to break it.
"Today I'm gonna help you figure out what's responsible for the arson and if it turns ou that it's not me then you'll have to help me back. So, I've dug up some junk on these last events aaaand" the girl stood from her chair and took a white folder from the other side of the counter, that the boys hadn't noticed. "updated my info."
"Which means?" asked Dean with his mouth half full.
"Which means I had a rather wide knowledge on the town's small dramas and with that and the new intelligence gained I formed two main options." Aidan sat back in front of the brothers and opened the file filled with photos, newspaper article and a few handwritten notes and letters.
"The victims, all of them, had been a part of the same "Ancient Literature Club" in 1979. An year after the 'club' was founded it fell apart, for one reason or another."
"You said every one of them has been a part of the club" Sam recalled. "but I looked up each victim and I know one of them couldn't have been in it. Connan Brooks. He was born 1981 so an year after the club fell apart." His confusion was obvious on his face and Aidan appreciated the fact that he too, like her, didn't like not knowing.
"You're right he wasn't. His mother was. She died a month after his birth. Heart attack. Interesting because the woman was completely healthy and had never given any reason for concern whatsoever. "
"Witches!" Dean snorted finally understanding the concerns of his new friend." I hate witches!"
"There was a man, Steven Coulson, who was once a part of them too, but disappeared two months after the founding. He was a banker, once gone his place in the office and next to his wife took his former best friend, Tim Anderson, also a member and a victim."
"And what's the other option?" Sam asked.
"Demons."
The discussion continued in the same tone for another hour, then our heroes decided to freshen up a bit, change and leave the house and finish the gig.
Aidan had calculated everything down to the finest detail, everything. But once more fate decided to surprise her.
