AN: Here's the next chapter! Don't forget, the italics are flashbacks. Hope everyone enjoys!
"So, do you really think this spell will work?" Gracilynn asks John as she walks over to the table and sits down. John is sitting at the table as well and is studying a piece of paper he had received from Missouri with the spell on it.
"Missouri seems to think so," John answers without looking up.
"So…what do we need to get?" Gracilynn asks, watching John carefully, wanting, needing to do something.
"I already have most of the stuff. The last thing we need I can get on our way to the field," John says off-handedly causing Gracilynn to scowl and sigh, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms. John glances over at her and raises an eyebrow. Gracilynn scowls again but gets up and begins packing her bag. John goes back to looking over the spell. "We leave in twenty."
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Gracilynn walks over to the table in the motel room and sets a newspaper down in front of her dad and points to one of the articles. Dean looks up at her and raises an eyebrow before looking down at the article. It reads, 'Another hiker missing: Is it the curse?'. Sam and Kevin look over at the newspaper and glance at the article Gracilynn is pointing at.
"I found us a job," Gracilynn says to her dad and Dean glances at her again before grabbing the newspaper and beginning to read the article out loud. Half way through, Dean stops and looks up at his daughter.
"I don't know if this is our kind of thing Gracie. And besides, we're kind of already on a case," Dean says, nodding his head towards Kevin. Gracilynn scowls and pulls the computer over, typing into the search engine. She clicks on a link and turns the screen towards Dean.
"This town has had triple the amount of missing persons than anywhere else in the state. Not to mention 80% of them were hikers," Gracilynn points out and raises her eyebrows at her dad, daring him to tell her otherwise. Dean sighs and reads the information off the screen, Sam and Kevin watching them. Seeing that Gracilynn is right, Dean looks over at Sam and shrugs his shoulders.
"I guess we're going to Montana," Dean says with another sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. Gracilynn looks over at Dean, her eyes widening slightly.
"Really?" she asks with surprise and Dean looks over at her.
"Can't ignore the facts can we?" Dean replies with a small smile, knowing John Winchester probably didn't allow her to pick any hunts while she was with him.
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Gracilynn sits sulking in the corner of the room in the armchair, a glare being aimed at her dad and uncle. Dean straightens his tie and looks over, not being able to ignore the death glare sent his way. He meets Gracilynn's look and purses his lips, rolling his eyes.
"Stop throwing a tantrum," Dean scolds her and Gracilynn scowls.
"I'm not throwing a tantrum. I just don't understand why I can't go check out the trails up in the mountains while you two go talk to the coroner and families," Gracilynn grumbles, glaring at her father once again. Dean sighs, shoving his annoyance back down.
"We've gone over this already. It's not safe for you to go up their by yourself," he says, his patience and calmness clearly forces. Gracilynn scowls once again.
"Dude, I've been on my own for the past six months. And I've been taking care of Kevin on top of it," she argues back, sending a steely gaze at Dean.
"Hey! I didn't need to be taken care of," Kevin whines with a scowl on his face.
"Yes you did," Gracilynn says matter-of-factly, keeping her gaze on Dean. She aims her next statement at her dad. "I could just go and send you texts and stuff every half hour. And if things get hairy I'll cut out."
"No," Dean says, grabbing his coat and putting it on, Sam following his lead. Gracilynn's jaw tenses and she glares at him. Dean ignores her and he and Sam exit the motel room without another word. Gracilynn glares at the closed door for a moment before getting up and walking over to it, slamming the deadbolt into place. Kevin watches with curiosity and wariness.
Gracilynn had been in charge for the past six months, doing her own thing and making all the calls. She'd been going out and fighting the good fight as her dad liked to say with no qualms about it. Kevin knew this. He knew that she did the job successfully, albeit not perfectly because let's face it, Gracilynn was a Winchester, but he had watches her time and time again succeed and keep him safe. And now, here she was, being told once again that she had to stay where it was safe and that she couldn't do what her dad and uncle would've done; even though she'd been doing it for months now. Kevin sighs and decides to speak up, hoping he could calm Gracilynn down some.
"They're just trying to keep you safe. They hadn't seen you in a year," Kevin begins, watching Gracilynn closely. Gracilynn turns around and glares at Kevin.
"Yeah, and I've changed in that year. I can do what they can; I'm not some stupid little girl that needs to be protected," Gracilynn replies heatedly before stalking over to the table. She grabs her jacket and yanks it on.
"Uh…Where are you going?" Kevin asks with raised eyebrows and sitting up in his bed, knowing this is probably not a good idea.
"Out," Gracilynn spits out, grabbing her keys and stalking towards the door.
"Out where?" Kevin asks, already thinking he knows the answer.
"Being useful," Gracilynn grinds out before unlocking the door and whipping it open, slamming it behind her. Kevin sighs and slumps back down on his bed. He didn't want to be the one to tell Dean Winchester that his daughter disobeyed him or that he kept this information from him; yet again, he didn't want Gracilynn to find out he told Dean. Kevin sighs in frustration; either way he'd have a pissed off Winchester to deal with, the question which one would be worse this time around.
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Gracilynn watches as John Winchester mixes up the ingredients into a bowl on the ground. In front of them was a circle of lit candles and a symbol spray painted on the grass. The object of this spell was that Gracilynn would stand in the middle of the circle and John would recite the incantation while walking around her and pouring the contents of the bowl around the circle. John slices his hand and lets his blood drip into the bowl for a few moments and then wraps a cloth around the cut.
"It's ready," John says to Gracilynn as he glances behind him. Gracilynn nods her head and looks behind her at the black Camaro nearby. She sighs and walks over to it, running a hand along the hood and squatting down in front of it.
"I'll catch ya on the flip side baby," Gracilynn whispers and then stands up, walking back over towards John who shakes his head, thinking Gracilynn was so much like Dean. Gracilynn stops in front of John and gives him a small smile. "I guess this is good-bye. Wish I could say, I'll see ya, but…you know…"
Gracilynn shrugs and John nods his head, forcing a swallow. He had tried not getting attached to Gracilynn, but found it difficult not to. John forces a smile and aims it at Gracilynn.
"Take care of my sons for me," he says and Gracilynn smiles a little wider and nods her head.
"That's a full-time job in itself," she replies with a chuckle, which John joins in on. Gracilynn's laugh dies down and she smiles at John once again. "Bye Gramps."
John pulls Gracilynn in for a hug, which Gracilynn greedily accepts, returning it whole-heartedly, not used to this sign of affection from the great John Winchester. The two of them pull away and John nods over to the circle.
"In you go," he says and Gracilynn looks over at the circle. She walks in the middle of it and turns to face John, who gives her an encouraging smile. Gracilynn catches sight of the Camaro and her eyes widen.
"Wait!" she shouts and John stops, the bowl frozen in his hand, his eyebrows furrowing. "Do me a favor. Make sure Dad gets the Camaro."
John looks behind him at the black car, a small smile playing on his lips. He turns back around and meets Gracilynn's gaze and nods his head.
"Of course," John says and Gracilynn relaxes slightly, nodding her head.
"Okay…let's do this," she replies, taking a deep breath.
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Gracilynn parks the Camaro and shuts the engine off, climbing out of the car and locking the doors, shutting hers behind her. She glances around the park and doesn't see anyone around even though there are numerous cars parked in the lot. Gracilynn moves to the trunk of her car and opens it up, lifting up the boot she and her dad had installed when they rebuilt her. She glances around once more and, satisfied she is still alone, pulls out her gun and places at the small of her back. She pulls out two knives, sticking one in each of her boots. She grabs a bottle of Holy Water and places it inside her jacket and then closes the boot before shutting the trunk.
Gracilynn begins walking down one of the trails that leads towards the mountain when her phone begins to ring. She pulls it out of her pocket with an eye roll and looks at the caller ID. She groans in annoyance but answers it nonetheless.
"What Kevin?" she asks with aggravation lacing her tone.
"You went to the mountain trails didn't you?" Kevin asks through the phone.
"Kevin, I can handle myself. You of all people know that," Gracilynn growls back as she continues down the trail, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.
"I'm going to have to tell your…"
"Kevin, if you so much as think about telling my father, grated meat will look better than you," Gracilynn threatens, her voice low and dangerous. Kevin cringes, glad Gracilynn can't see his reaction.
"Fine. I won't tell him, but if he asks… He's going to know I'm hiding something. Dean always does," Kevin replies with a sigh. Gracilynn scowls but realizes this is the best answer she can get from the man. Kevin was right; her dad would instantly know Kevin was keeping something from him.
"Fine," she snaps out and then hangs up the phone, moving all of her attention to the task at hand.
An hour later finds Gracilynn hiking up the side of the mountain on a trail. Ahead of her, a guy with blond hair is walking in the opposite direction. He sends her a flirtatious smile as he approaches her and Gracilynn returns it but continues on her way up the trail. The guy turns around to check out her backside and ends up tripping on a log, sending himself to the ground. Gracilynn hears the shout and turns around, seeing the guy on the ground and stifling a laugh. Gracilynn walks over to him and holds out a hand which her accepts and she helps the man up.
"Guess this isn't the best first impression huh?" he says with a chuckle, giving Gracilynn a smirk. Gracilynn chuckles in turn and raises her eyebrows.
"I've had worse," she replies with a grin. "Gracilynn."
"Anders," the guy replies, their eyes meeting, Anders' blue ones with Gracilynn's green ones. Gracilynn raises her eyebrows with a smirk on her face. "Yeah, I know. My mom had a thing about her kids not having the same name as anyone. So…what has you out here all by yourself? It's not like it's been all that safe around here lately for hikers."
"Trust me, I can take care of myself," Gracilynn says with a cocky grin causing Anders to raise his eyebrows.
"Someone seems sure of herself," Anders replies and Gracilynn shrugs her shoulders.
"Nope. Just confident," Gracilynn says in turn. Anders' eyes dart behind Gracilynn and his eyebrows furrow.
"What the…?" he says, stepping to the side to get a better look. Gracilynn furrows her eyebrows and turns around, seeing a young girl covered in dirt and messy hair. Gracilynn cocks her head and glances around them but doesn't see anything else out of the ordinary.
"Hey…uh…you all right?" Anders asks as he takes a few steps towards the younger girl. The girl stays put and just stares at Gracilynn and Anders with a cold look in her eyes.
"Uh…Anders…I think we should go…Call for help…" Gracilynn says hesitantly. Anders stops his forward movement, a shudder coursing through him at the look the girl is giving him. Suddenly, the girl screeches and charges at them, her hands grabbing at them.
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Dean and Sam walk through the motel door, shutting it behind them. Kevin is sitting at the table, elbows resting on it and his thumb in his mouth where he's chewing his fingernail. His eyes dart up at them when they walk in the room and they widen slightly. Dean looks around and doesn't see Gracilynn anywhere. His jaw tenses and his eyes move over to Kevin.
"Kevin. Where is Gracilynn?" he asks firmly causing Kevin to force a swallow.
"Well, uh…" Kevin stutters out and Dean's eyes harden.
"Kevin," Dean barks causing Kevin to jump. Sam rests a hand on Dean's shoulder and steps in front of him.
"Kevin, where's Gracilynn?" Sam asks calmly. Kevin's eyes move over to Sam and he visibly relaxes somewhat seeing the younger Winchester brother doesn't look like he's going to murder him.
"She went to the mountain…" Kevin says, cringing when Dean growls.
"Dammit!" Dean shouts and runs a hand through his hair. He glares over at the young prophet. "Why the hell didn't you call me Kevin?"
"She said if I did she'd make it so grated meat looked better than me…" Kevin squeaks out, still not sure which Winchester was scarier, Dean or Gracilynn. Dean sends another glare towards Kevin before turning around and pulling out his phone. He sighs to himself thinking Gracilynn was going to be as bad as Mama Tran when she older.
AN: Please review!