Chapter 4

I See Dead People

"Hey, hey kid! Can you hear me? See me? Anything at all?"

Charlie Snow's little blonde head peeked up from the couch, looking past the scary guy in the arm chair to see someone he didn't know. At first he thought the voice was Ben, his friend that would show up at odd times and that other people couldn't see, but turns out he was wrong.

The boy looked around his sibling's age, with brown-blonde curls. He looked slightly panicked, looking around frantically at other figures that Charlie just couldn't make out, even when he tried squinting his eyes really tightly.

"Hah! You can see me!" the boy exclaimed when he noticed that Charlie was looking directly at him with a confused face.

"Who are you?" he asked, titling his head like a questioning puppy.

With those words the scary demon man turned to look at Charlie. "I'm Jackson, I told you that."

"Hey, be nice to my little brother," Courtney scowled at the demon.

"Not you, meanie. Him," he explained, pointing a small finger at the boy who was standing by Jackson. Jackson turned his head and looked back at Charlie, raising an eyebrow.

"No one's there," he told him.

"He has a lot of imaginary friends, it's probably just another one he's come up with," Simon shrugged, stretching his arms and squirming in his seat. Three people couldn't really fit on the couch comfortably.

The boy laughed. "Typical Jackson. Anyway, I'm Colby," Colby walked closer to him so that he was in front of Jackson now, the demon still looking confused.

"Hi Colby, I'm Charlie," Charlie smiled, giving a little wave to him.

Jackson nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard that. "What did you just say?" he asked.

"Huh?" Charlie said, frowning at Jackson.

"Dude, calm down, what's your problem?" Simon said, standing up from his seat to glare at their demon babysitter.

"My problem is that your half angel brother, who no doubt has a set of special powers, is talking to an invisible person named Colby," Jackson started, standing up from his seat to match Simon's eyes. "A Colby who could possibly be a dead Angel turned Demon who hated me."

"God, if I was alive I would slap the shi-," Colby glanced over at the six year old before correcting himself, "poop out of him."

Charlie giggled at the comment.

"Wait, are you saying my brother can see ghosts? What is this, The Sixth Sense?" Courtney sighed, standing up from the couch as well. Charlie took this opportunity of free space to stretch his legs so that he was lying down on his stomach, his chin resting on the arm of the couch.

"Listen, some Niphilim are known to have a special skill that comes with their angel powers. It could be possible that all of his so called imaginary friends have been ghosts the whole time," Jackson explained before turning back to Charlie. "What does Colby look like?"

Charlie thought for a moment before pointing at a picture frame that was perched on a shelf above the television. "Like him!"

Everyone turned to look at the picture. It was a picture of Lynn, her arm slung around a boy that was no doubt Colby.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Jackson said, running his hand through his hair.

"Language!" Colby scolded, although he knew that the Demon couldn't hear him. Charlie just giggled again.

"So, who is this Colby guy anyway?" Simon asked when he noticed how Jackson's face seemed to contort into frustration.

"He was a friend of Lynn's. He was an Angel but some shit went down and he was banished to Hell for loving a human prophet. Then a few years ago he got out and hung around for a bit. He fell in love with Lynn. Then he died."

"Wow, what a fun story," Courtney said sarcastically. "But why is he talking to my brother?"

"Because I have to warn Emma about the Hierarchy!" Colby shouted annoyingly.

"Because he has to tell Emma about the hair archy," Charlie tried to repeat.

"The what?" the three asked.

"The-the here archy!" he tried saying again but to no avail.

"Screw this, I'm calling Emma. Whatever that dirt bag wants it seems to be directed towards her," Jackson sighed, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Dirt bag? That the best you got?" Colby crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at the Demon. "I've heard worse insults from popsicle sticks."

This threw Charlie into a full out giggle fit which made Colby smile wider than he had in a long time.

A minute after Jackson hung up on Emma after the stupid question she asked, like really, she's hung out with Lynn for this long and had not heard the story of Colby? Anyway, after that Emma appeared back at the house, looking worried.

"What's wrong? Why the hell did you hang up on me? Emma asked, shooting a glare at Jackson.

"The kid's talking to a dead person who wants to talk to you," Jackson said with a roll of his eyes and a click of his tongue.

"Is this dead person that Colby guy you were talking about?" Emma asked.

Colby just sighed and said, "This is getting nowhere."

"Yes, it is," Jackson said, his mouth in a thin line that showed he was obviously annoyed by the situation they were in. Charlie smiled when he saw Emma, flipping onto his back so he could look at her.

"He wants to talk to you about the hair arch!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up towards the red head.

"You mean the Hierarchy?" Emma corrected, sitting down on the couch so Charlie could climb into her lap. Seems like the little boy was feeling much better than he was before.

"Yes! Finally!" Colby said, throwing his arms up, exasperated. Charlie shook his head widely to answer Emma's question.

"What about them? I just talked to them, they're a-holes for sure, if that's what you're trying to tell me," Emma said, looking around the room because she wasn't exactly sure where to look.

"Well, yeah, that's true but there's something else," Colby started. "You can't trust them, Emma."

"You can't trust them," Charlie repeated.

"Why?" Emma asked, following Charlie's line of sight so she could at least try to look in Colby's general direction.

"I don't have time to tell you why exactly," Colby said and Charlie watched him as he started to flicker back into the veil to go back amongst the muffled voices Charlie could hear. "Just don't trust them, don't work with them, and please for the love of God don't piss them off."

"He said he doesn't have time, just don't trust them," Charlie repeated, cutting it down considerably since he couldn't remember everything Colby had just said. Ghosts were kind of echo-y sometimes and it made Charlie zone out.

"Oh, and tell Lynn that I-," Colby started before he vanished. Charlie shrugged at that last bit, trying to figure out which one Lynn was again. Was she the girl who looked kind of like Courtney?

Emma stared at him for a few moments before asked, "Anything else?"

"Nope, he's gone," Charlie said, stretching his arms before hopping off Emma's lap and onto the floor. "Can we do something, I'm bored," he wined with a pout.

"Sure, kiddo, in a second," Simon told him, looking at Emma with worried blue eyes.

"Typical Colby, ditching us for someone better," Jackson scoffed. Man, did that dude have issues.

"Well, this is just great. I made a deal with The Hierarchy that I would get Cas back to normal in 24 hours. What do I do now?" Emma sighed, leaning back against the couch and closing her eyes for a second, just to forget for a little bit that she was in this annoying situation.

"Keep the deal for now. For all we know Colby is just being paranoid, which he used to be sometimes," Jackson started, crossing his arms over his chest. "Then once that's done ditch them. Angels are usually a threat anyway."

"Thanks for the advice, Jackson. I think I'll do that," Emma nodded at him as she opened her eyes again to bring her mind back to the real world. She flinched when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and held it to her ear, answering with an annoyed "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Dean," the voice on the other side of the line said. He sounded tired, his gruff voice gruffer than usual. "We might have a way to stop Cas, or at least learn more about what the hell the souls are doing to him. Gonna need your help on this. Think you can come back to the Safe House now?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem," Emma told him, although she really wished she could stay and fall asleep on the comfy couch. "See you soon," she said and hung up the phone, standing up from her seat.

"Sorry guys, duty calls," she said, waving her phone at them like they actually knew what was going on.

"Wait," Courtney stopped her, arms crossed, almost mimicking Jackson. "We're coming with you."

"No, you're staying here, where it's safe," Emma told her sternly, narrowing her green eyes at her.

"Charlie is the only one of us that needs to be safe, we can come with you as long as he stays here with Jackson," Courtney stated.

"Please let us help, it sucks just waiting around with this party pooper," Simons said, gesturing to an even more pissed of Jackson.

"Guys, this is really dangerous," Emma told them sincerely. "And you two know next to nothing about this sort of thing, I just don't think it's in your best interest to come with me."

"I'm a hands on learner," Courtney told her with a smirk that complimented her icy blue eyes. "The more I learn about this stuff the more I can help. Besides, it looks like we're in it for the long run anyway. Better know the tricks of the trade," Courtney glanced over at Charlie who was currently playing with Lucky, a dog that Emma didn't see until now. Lynn had a dog?

Emma sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to convince them to stay. "Keep an eye on Charlie," she instructed Jackson yet again. It seemed as if he was already used to being designated babysitter.

"Yes!" Courtney cheered in victory.

"Sam and Dean are going to kill me," Emma muttered under her breath as she snapped her fingers and the three disappeared from the quiet Delaware house.