Chapter Nine

~California~

Celine stayed by Mark's side as she watched Sam, Dean, and Castiel. The angel was a newcomer, but she tried not to act as if she had never seen him before. She didn't know if Amy had ever met him or not. Thankfully, he didn't know her enough to talk to her.

Sam, on the other hand, had seemed suspicious of her at first. As if he knew she wasn't really Amy. She would have to be careful around him.

She had to glance at her reflection every once in a while to remind herself that she had nothing to worry about. She looked and sounded like Amy. But Sam and Dean had proven they were a lot more than they seemed. And the angel was surely capable of seeing even more than them!

"Hey." Mark nudged her arm, taking her hand. She looked at him. "You okay?"

Before she could respond, Dean walked over. "As we've explained, Sam and Cas are going into your dream," he said. "You can pretty much just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"I feel a but coming on," Mark said, holding Celine's hand tightly. His grip didn't hurt, but the fact that he thought she was Amy did.

Even though it was what she wanted.

"What we need you to do isn't much," Dean said and his next words caught Celine's interest. "If you can, focus on the mirror so we can try and steer the dream toward it."

Celine tuned out the conversation as panic settled in. The mirror... She didn't have to worry about them finding Dark, but when they found the mirror, they would find Amy!

But wait... Mark was dreaming about the mirror? For how long? Was Dark behind this or someone else through the mirror with Amy right now?

"Amy?"

"What?" Celine asked, breaking out of her thoughts. Dean had walked back over to Sam and Castiel. She looked at Mark, hoping the panic she felt wasn't obvious on her face.

"Dean said he'll be talking to get me focused on the mirror while I'm asleep," Mark said. "Could you help him? I might listen to you more." He smiled, but she could see he was trying to hide how nervous he was over this.

She couldn't help them find the mirror. That would undo everything. And she had only just got here! She had to find a way to lead them away from the mirror.

Unless she got rid of Amy.

"I can do that," Celine said, perfectly at ease with lying to him. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I keep having trouble believing that," Mark said then moved over to the bed the others were standing around.

Celine moved forward as Mark laid down. Sam was sitting on one of two chairs by the bed. Castiel was standing at Mark's side. She had spent a year with Mark, had been in and out of his thoughts. She knew how he felt about the angel. The memory of Castiel stabbing him was forever burned into Mark's mind. Maybe she could use that to her advantage.

She walked over to stand on the other side of Mark, watching as Castiel recited a spell then touched Mark's forehead. Mark was asleep. Castiel was still reciting the spell as he sat down next to Sam. The next moment, they both relaxed, asleep.

"Here we go," Dean murmured.

~In the Mind~

Sam woke up a bit disoriented since he had just fallen asleep. He looked around, but nothing came into focus. It had worked. They were inside the dream. Hopefully the right dream.

Castiel was suddenly beside him. He looked around. "Where do we begin?" he asked, looking at Sam.

"All we can do for now is wait," Sam said. "Even though he's asleep, he probably won't dream right away." He started forward, Castiel beside him, their footsteps echoing around them.

Slowly, fuzzy images started to appear. Sam was a bit surprised that everything was appearing in a shade of gray, like an old movie. There was no color in sight other than himself and Castiel.

Mark was nowhere to be seen.

"The mirror..." The voice said more, but only those two words were understandable. Sam recognized his brother's voice.

"We can't hear anything else he's saying because he told Mark to focus on the mirror," Castiel explained. "We'll go unnoticed."

The scene around them shifted and Sam could now see Mark walking along, eyes straight ahead. Sam touched Castiel's arm then nodded toward Mark. Together, they followed Mark.

"...mirror..." Dean's voice sounded a bit more insistent as if he was arguing.

Arguing?

"There's nothing special about the mirror." This voice was also recognizable, but unexpected.

It was Celine's voice.

"Something's happened," Sam said, watching as Mark turned to follow the original path of the dream. "We have to wake up."

"It's too early," Castiel said. "Leaving now would cause damage to Mark. Whatever happened, I'm sure Dean can handle it."

"But that was Celine..."

"Dean can handle it," Castiel repeated. He didn't have to. Sam wouldn't risk hurting Mark if Dean wasn't in danger. "We'll need to try and influence Mark on our own."

Sam nodded and they both quickened their pace to catch up with Mark.

~California~

Celine stood to the side as Dean was saying something to Mark about the mirror. She wasn't sure of how this was working, but if it actually was, she was in trouble. She needed to think fast.

She moved closer to the bed. "What if this doesn't work?" she asked. She had learned that Amy had once had doubts that Sam and Dean could help, so her questioning their methods now shouldn't be too suspicious. "They're in his head. That can't be good for Mark."

"This is safer than when he had Dark influencing his mind," Dean said, but he didn't sound so sure of that.

"Really?" Celine asked, calling him out on it.

Dean looked annoyed. He probably didn't want her bothering him right now, but didn't want to be rude and tell her outright. "All they have to do is find the mirror and get out," he said. "It shouldn't even take that long."

"What if..." Celine said then leaned forward, closer to Mark so she could be sure he heard her. "There's nothing special about the mirror?" She glanced down to see Mark shift in his sleep, react to her words, but that was it.

"We'll find out when they do," Dean said then gestured for her to move away.

Celine stepped away. There wasn't much else she could do right now but wait.