Sacramento, California

Sam and Dean were dressed in their finest FBI livery. They were parked outside of a small ranch style home in a quaint neighborhood on the outskirts of Sacramento. This was allegedly where Michael Rosemont had been staying since he had been found. His aunt had a light blue Prius in the driveway. It was warm, even for California, despite the fact that it was November. Dean fished a couple of fake IDs out of the glove box.

"Lexi, stay here, for now. Here," Dean passed his cell phone back to her. "If you need us, just call Sam."

"Ok," Lexi said.

"Ah shit…" Dean rumbled and got out of the car, going around to the trunk. He came back around the car to Lexi's window. "Do you know how to work one of these?" He asked, holding a pistol out to her.

"Um… no," Lexi whimpered.

"Damnit," Dean said, he put the gun back in the trunk and returned with a knife that had damn near a twelve inch blade. "This?"

"Sure," Lexi said nervously and nodded. Dean handed her the knife and knocked on the roof of the Impala. Sam slid out but left the keys in the car.

"If you have to… take off, the keys are in the ignition. And feel free to change the music," He added, giving Dean a sly glance.

Lexi watched the two boys, men she corrected herself, walk up to the front door and knock. They were greeted by a slender, somewhat Janis Joplin-esque woman and were inside quickly. Lexi sighed and reached into the front seat. She clicked through the radio stations and stopped when she came to one playing "I Wanna" by the All-American Rejects. She bopped her head to the beat and sang along in a pleasing second soprano. She sprawled out in the backseat and closed her eyes. Her fingers absentmindedly traced the scars along her stomach. She jumped when she heard a banging on the roof.

"You're up sport," Dean said, he was leaning in the open window.

"Couldn't get him to talk?" Lexi asked as she slid out of the car. She adjusted the white belt that was holding her pants up and brushed her blue halter-top down. She loved warm weather, and she wouldn't be bothered if she never had to go back to Illinois, where it was almost always too cold.

"Not a peep. He's just staring out the window like a freak," Dean said as he followed Lexi to the front door. He pulled the door open for her and followed her inside.

Sam was sitting on an overstuffed blue couch in the living room, across from a young boy in an armchair, and the woman that answered the door was in a hammock by the window. Lexi loved California: it was official.

"Michael, this is our friend Lexi," Sam introduced her as she walked in the room. She took the seat next to him and Dean next to her to complete the Winchester sandwich. Michael's attention immediately snapped to Lexi.

"She uh, she knows what you've been through Mike," Dean added.

Lexi nodded and tried to fight the blush rising to her cheeks. "Yeah, I do… How… how did you get away? These two saved me…"

Michael didn't respond. His eyes averted to his aunt then back out the window.

"If you don't mind Ms. Rosemont, could you give us a minute?" Lexi asked politely.

"Yes of course," Clarice, his aunt, responded. "Would you perhaps like me to make y'all some tea?"

Lexi was surprised when the woman spoke with a Southern accent, but she nodded and Clarice sauntered out of the living room. Lexi immediately hopped up and scurried over to Michael. She crouched down in front of him.

"It was demons, right? It wasn't humans that took you," Lexi said. Michael's eyes widened but he wouldn't look at her.

"They did horrible things to you, didn't they? They wanted you to kill someone didn't they?" Lexi continued.

Still Michael did not answer.

"They wanted me to kill my sister, but I wouldn't, I couldn't. I-I didn't know…" Lexi started to choke up and cry.

Michael finally looked down at her.

"They killed her themselves and then they locked me back up and beat me and and…" Lexi stuttered but couldn't speak through her sobs.

Michael moved down to the floor to sit next to her and finally, he spoke, quietly "I'm sorry. Didn't you get your revenge?"

Lexi opened her eyes and looked up at him, "What?"

"If they kidnapped you… it must have been for a reason. Why didn't you just burn them all to the ground?" Michael asked in a hoarse whisper.

"You mean like you did?" Sam asked. Michael pretended not to hear him.

"I-I don't know what you… They had me tied up the whole time, how could I…" Lexi rambled.

"The same way I did," Michael responded. "After they killed my family…I just lost it."

"So you… you're the one that burnt the old farm down?" Lexi questioned.

"Yes. So…why did they kidnap you then?" Michael asked her.

"I don't know, I was going to ask you that," Lexi responded.

"They wanted to recruit me, they wanted me at their disposal. I'm different, not like other kids," Michael said as if it were obvious.

"So… you're… an elemental, aren't you? You manipulate fire? I mean I've heard of them, but we've never come across any…" Sam said astounded.

"So, what Sam, you think all these kids were? Then why did they take the whole family?" Dean asked.

"As a test…" Lexi responded, her voice sounded hollow.

"Do you know anything else about the demons Michael? Did you hear any names or maybe who hired them?" Sam pressed his line of questioning.

"No, no not really, nothing I can remember. It's all kind of… blurry. I think I was drugged at some point," The young fire starter said.

"And you haven't caught any wind of them since? Nothing weird has been going on or anything?" Sam continued.

"No, I'm guessing burning them all to dust probably got my message across," Michael answered.

"Or they found another fire elemental. Has anyone gone missing since this kid turned back up?" Dean asked his "partner."

"Yeah, I mean even Lexi got nabbed since then, it could be any of them. Could be none of them…" Sam trailed off.

"I think we've got all we need Michael. Thank you and here," Dean handed the boy a card, "If you get into any… trouble, call us."

Dean shooed his pensive brother and the slightly hysterical Lexi out of the house and back into the Impala.

"So why have they taken twelve kids? How many kinds of elementals are there?" Dean asked.

Sam's brow was furrowed in concentration, "Well there's fire, water, air, and earth; those are the obvious ones."

"So what they need three of each?" Dean asked perplexed.

"No… two. Light and Dark," Sam answered.

"So they need two kids of each? Why?" Dean asked.

"I… I don't know," Sam was still confused. "Let's get back to the motel, call Bobby, and check Dad's journal."

"Do research?" Dean summarized for him. "You know that's your department Sam."

"Fine, I'll do the research, you call around." Sam said as Dean started his car and headed for their motel room.

They had opted for two beds instead of a suite this time, mostly to save money. Dean and Sam intended to alternate who slept on the couch if they were in town too long. Sam had his laptop and their father's journal out and was researching the elementals; Dean was on the horn with Ellen, Bobby, Tamara, and any other hunter he could think of. Lexi was taking a miraculously long shower.

"Alright," Sam started as Dean hung up the phone, "So most of these are pretty basic. They manipulate whatever element they are tied to. But the light and dark elementals… There's a few different kinds of those. I guess 'night' elementals as they are called manipulate darkness, the absence of light, but these 'shadow' elementals manipulate the darkness in people. They can bring the darkest side of a person to the surface, even if it's something they had never acted on before."

"Well… that's kind of fucked up," Dean responded, a little dumbstruck.

"Yeah and there are the light elementals too. I guess one branch is typically called 'novas,' they can pretty much create and disperse starlight. And then there's the 'daylight' elementals which, yeah, manipulate the goodness in people I guess." Sam elaborated.

"That's kind of fucked up too," Dean reiterated.

"And," Sam opened their father's journal and flipped to a page with demonic rituals on it, "There's this ritual in Dad's journal. Something about a pentagram and gathering all six…"

"What do you mean something about a pentagram and gathering all six? What the hell kind of ritual is it Sam?" Dean snatched the journal from Sam and looked it over. "Oh… Dad didn't even know."

"Yeah that's the thing about demonic rituals Dean, if a demon doesn't tell you and you don't do it, you won't know what it is," Sam said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah yeah. So what they want six for the ritual and six for…" Dean's brain was ready to call it a day.

"I don't know, maybe the want a set for each type of light and dark?" Sam said as the bathroom door creaked open.

Lexi came out in navy blue cargos and a grayish shirt with some kind of silver decal on the back. She had a towel in her hand and was attempting to dry her hair. Not that it mattered to either of the Winchesters, but she was completely lost without her straightening iron. Her hair was already curling up into tendrils and she couldn't stand it.

"Ummm, please stop looking at me like that," Lexi whimpered.

"Not until you tell us the truth, Lex," Sam said, pushing the chair next to him out for her to sit in.

"I-I do-don't know wh-what you want me…to…" Lexi sighed and tried very hard not to cry.

"We want the truth Alexandria," Dean said, trying to come off authoritative but it just didn't work considering he had a giant Blow Pop in his mouth.

"I… I don't," Lexi started again, but her breath caught in her throat when Sam grabbed her shoulders.

"Lexi, stop it! It's so freaking OBVIOUS that you're an elemental," Sam said, frustrated.

"No, I mean, how do you know that Michael kid wasn't an accident? Maybe they weren't looking for…elementals, maybe that's why he got away, maybe," Lexi wasn't even listening to herself anymore. In fact, she was hyperventilating a little bit.

"Please Lexi just…breathe," Dean said calmly. "Look, it's okay if… you're a freak. I mean… you're kind of a freak anyway, even without being an elemental. And besides...dude... I KNEW you were glowing!"

Sam wanted to ask Dean why he had never mentioned that before but decided to save it for another time. Lexi was in full-blown sob mode now. Sam noticed the small crystals clinking to the floor that used to be her tears. He leaned forward and picked one up. They were small and some were even teardrop shaped. This girl was just full of surprises.

"Sam's a freak too, he has like uh… premonitions," Dean kept talking.

Sam give him a rather bitchy glare before turning his attention back to Lexi, "Look," He said, opening his palm and showing her the crystals in his hand, "These mean you're not normal. And that's okay, so just tell us the truth Lexi." Sam set the small crystals on the table before leaning forward and brushing the tears from her face.

"No… you'll hate me, just like everyone else. You'll lock me away just like my parents did. Or worse! You're hunters, you'll probably just kill me!" Lexi continued crying.

Dean and Sam exchanged on of those all knowing looks that brothers so often have. Dean moved behind Lexi and put his hands on her shoulders. "I promise I won't let Sammy kill you."

Lexi stuttered but didn't really manage to say anything.

"Lexi, please," Sam said, giving her those beautiful hazel puppy dog eyes.

"Oh god oh god oh god, please don't look at me like that Sam," She looked away but her eyes seemed drawn back to his. "Oh fine."