As Sam had expected, searching the house came up with nothing, even after Dean had pulled just about everything out of every drawer in search of the spell book. Ashley was clearly out of her mind, but she wasn't stupid enough to leave it behind. That much was evident from the fact that she had effortlessly pulled off three-well now four kidnappings.
"You may want to y'know, duck down a bit." Dean suggested as he headed out the front door of the house. Sam quickly leaned down closer to Dean's collar, they didn't need unnecessary extra attention drawn to them from any neighbors.
Sam gripped the collar with white knuckles as Dean pulled open the driver's side door of the Impala and slid in. The vertigo that came with riding atop a giant's shoulder was absolutely insane, it was like riding a particularly violent roller coaster.
The loud bang of the car door slamming sounded more like a building demolition to Sam at his size. He let out a sharp involuntary hiss at the noise. "Hey, you alright?" Dean's concern-filled voice boomed next to him.
Sam gave a nod of response before he realized Dean likely wouldn't be able to see it given his current position. "Yeah I'm fine, everything just seems a lot louder right now." Sam mumbled.
"I guess they're bigger sounds to you now." Dean replied softly, seeming to have consciously lowered his volume, something Sam was immensely appreciative of. "Uh, you might want to cover your ears for this." Sam glanced down to see Dean's hand gripping the key in the ignition.
Sam let out a low sigh. "Yeah, go ahead." He said after pressing his palms firmly over his ears. Dean turned the key and the engine of the Impala roared to life. Even with his ears covered it sounded more like a dragon than a car.
When the car first lurched into motion Sam wobbled slightly, but once Dean got out onto the road it felt fairly smooth, so long as they avoided any huge potholes he would be fine.
Sam stared out the window at the passing scenery, feeling smaller and smaller as more of the world went by. He still hadn't fully processed his current situation, hadn't taken in just how tiny he now was in comparison to everything around him. The amount of ways he could accidentally end up getting killed at this size was truly terrifying.
"So what exactly happened?" Dean asked suddenly, pulling Sam out of his daze.
"Oh-well I was just at the library looking around when Ashley came up behind me, chanting some kind of Latin curse out of her book." Sam told him. "Before I could stop her I started shrinking and she took back to her house."
"And the other missing people, you said they were there too?" Dean questioned.
Sam felt a guilty lurch in stomach at the mention of Ashley's other victims. "Yeah, she had them locked up in the dollhouse." He stated with disgust.
Dean made a sound in his throat that shared Sam's sentiment. "God, what a freak." He muttered. "So we're dealing with a witch here right?"
Sam shook his head. "No Dean, that's the thing, she's just human." He told him. "She said she got the book from some antique store or something."
"Seriously? This chick really is crazy then." Dean concluded.
A moment later the Impala pulled into the parking lot of the motel they had rented a room from the other day, something that felt like ages ago to Sam now.
Sam ducked down behind his brother's collar once again as Dean walked through the motel's lobby. Thankfully the motel's manager was nowhere to be found.
Dean began ascending the stairs up to the second floor, and although Sam could tell Dean was trying to go slow and keep his body steady, it was still horribly bumpy and altogether an unenjoyable experience. Sam was grateful they only had to go up one flight of stairs.
Once they were secure inside the motel room with the door shut and locked tight, Sam let out a long sigh of relief. "First bit of luck I've had in the past 24 hours." Sam mumbled.
This time Sam didn't even notice the hand coming at him until it was right in front of him. "Shit!" Sam exclaimed as Dean's index and thumb took a hold of him, plucking him up off the shoulder and into the air. While he wasn't completely trapped in a fist like last time, the fact that the only things keeping him from plummeting to his death were two of his brother's fingers made the experience potentially even worse. Fortunately Sam only remained in the air a moment before he found himself deposited on a tabletop.
It took Sam a moment to gather himself, but as soon as he did he shot a dark glare up at the giant standing in front of him. "Dammit Dean, I told you not to do that." Sam fumed.
"I don't get what the big deal is, it's not like I'm gonna drop you." Dean said as he took off his jacket and tossed it onto the end of one of the beds.
"The big deal is it freaks me out." Sam shot back. "And if we're going to get through me being like this, you have to respect that." Sam saw Dean's expression soften instantly.
"You're right," Dean conceded, "I can't imagine what it's like for you right now." He sat down in one of the two chairs at the table. "I know I'd be freaking if I suddenly turned into Thumbelina."
Sam cracked a small smile. "I think Tom Thumb would've been a more accurate comparison." He countered.
Dean grinned, "Nah I think Thumbelina suits you better."
Sam chuckled lightly, but the smile soon faded when he looked up at his towering brother. It was beginning to dawn on him that he was actually going to be stuck like this until they found Ashley and that spell book of hers.
Dean seemed to know exactly what Sam was thinking. "We'll fix this fast, Sam." He assured him. "After all we're not dealing with something with supernatural abilities, it's just one human girl, how hard can she be to find?"