Author's Note:

Thanks to Le'letha, WordSmith67, LordOfTheSuperwhomerlockians, SPN Mum, TARDISbluu, ncsupnatfan, and What You See in the Shadows for their reviews on chapter 12!

Chapter 13 - No Matter What We Breed

It turned out that, although Castiel had no idea how the portal had opened in the first place, he did have a sense of where the source of the portal was located. Not a very strong sense, considering he'd had to wander through the entire tiny farming town tracing after the faint trace of power he had detected when they'd come into town initially. Still, it was better than nothing, so the Winchesters decided to follow the angel back into town to try and hunt down the power source.

"So what happens if the monkey wakes up while we're gone?" Sam asked, tucking himself into the passenger's seat of the Impala as Dean jumped in and started the engine.

"The manager of this place gets his most interesting complaint ever," Dean replied with a grin, winking when Sam gave him a look. What, was it his fault that their animal captive had a tendency to scream bloody murder when it was awake?

"What I cannot understand," Castiel interrupted from the backseat, "is how the portal came to be open." His face was pensive, and he appeared very perplexed by the problem.

"Last time there was a magic key thingy," Dean answered, backing out of the parking lot and getting back on the road into the very small center of town.

"There are various keys that can open portals, but no portal to Avalon can be opened by accident," Castiel insisted.

Sam perked up, turning to face the angel. "So you're saying someone did this on purpose," he summarized.

"Essentially," Castiel agreed. "We are missing something important." The fact that Castiel did not know all the details of such a bizarre situation did not sit well with him, especially considering how much power would have been necessary to activate a portal, especially without it causing more problems than it already had. Portals didn't tend to be especially stable unless they were operated either very briefly or with a certain amount of skill the average human definitely wouldn't possess. He had gleaned from the brief explanation he'd had of the Winchesters' last encounter with Oz that the portal had not been open very long, which explained why so little had gone wrong. How the town they were in now had survived so long with an active portal was beyond him, and he disliked not understanding what was happening.

Sam made a thoughtful noise and leaned back in the seat. "Well, can you close the portal if we find what opened it in the first place?"

"It's possible, but I will not know for sure until I actually see whatever it was that was used to open it." Castiel looked frustrated by that, but didn't otherwise comment.

"All right, Cas, so where is the signal or whatever the strongest?" Dean asked, glancing in the rear view mirror to catch Castiel's eye.

"The library was where I felt it the most," Castiel replied firmly, confident in his answer.

In all fairness, it wasn't really a library. Sam had made note of it when they first came into town, but hadn't made any plans to visit, since it wasn't very big. Basically it was just a little building with about two shelves worth of books that were rotated every two weeks by a mobile librarian who served three different little towns in the area. The smaller libraries would be supported by the closest major library, which was still about an hour away, and the books rotated enough for the people who lived in the area to visit if they wanted new reading material. Sam liked the idea, but in the same way he liked he idea of anything charming and small town normal. He had grown away from his former desires for a normal life too much to really dream about having something like a small town library, but he still appreciated the appeal.

Dean's reaction was more of a derisive snort. "What, they call this a library?" He asked as they pulled into one of the three parking spaces in front of the building. "It's the size of a Port-A-Potty."

"Don't be crass," Sam hushed him. To Castiel he asked, "Where now, Cas? Are we in the right spot?"

"Maybe," was all the angel said, climbing out the car and moving forwards towards the door of the building.

Dean's estimation wasn't quite right. If the building was being measured in portable toilets, then it was at least the size of three, but even still, it was far too cramped for three grown men. There were two shelves, a small desk, and clip board for people to sign their names and the book they'd taken.

"What are we looking for?" Sam asked quietly, glancing at Castiel for instruction.

The angel frowned, then suddenly knelt down where he stood, picking at the carpet. "It is here," he declared, managing to get a grip on a corner of carpeting and pull it up, revealing a floor compartment.

"Huh, cool. Do you think this is where they hide the bones of people who bring their books back late?" Dean asked with a grin, catching Sam's eye and wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt it. You realize that if librarians did stuff like that then you would no longer be here to tell the tale, right?"

Dean snorted, but didn't reply. He hadn't been much of a reader in a while, but as a teenager he'd enjoyed checking out the odd science fiction title from time to time. When he was old enough to help out their father on hunts he had needed to set aside the reading for the most part. Sam was right though; Dean had always been terrible at remembering to actually take books back to the library, whether they were his own or ones he'd gotten for Sam when Sam was too young to go by himself.

Castiel was ignoring them both completely, staring in surprise at the small compartment he had so far been unable to open. He couldn't imagine that he had stumbled upon something so important by mere accident. Surely the world was not so cooperative. Taking a breath, he decided it was worth a shot. Worst case scenario he was wrong, although he strongly suspected he wasn't. With a tone of complete bewilderment, he hesitantly said, "Pireda."

"What's that?" Dean demanded immediately, starting slightly when the compartment popped open without any further struggle from Castiel.

"Enochian," Sam replied, eyes wide. "Cas, what's going on?"

"This is one of the things Metatron hid away in his vaults," Castiel explained absently, reaching into the compartment and pulling out a solid block of what looked like wood, though it had at some point been painted bright gold. "The Enochian is the key to unlock the vaults."

"Is that how you found it?" Sam asked curiously. "Do his vaults have some kind of power that draws you to them?"

"No," Castiel replied, sounding puzzled. "I was testing a theory, I suppose you could say. The power I felt is because this has been activated. It is a sort of master key, for lack of a more appropriate term. It could open any number of portals, should Heaven need them. I do not know why it chose Oz, but at the moment I am more concerned about the fact that it is active at all. The last vault of Metatron that I opened was completely ordinary. The object within, though powerful, was completely concealed. Nobody should have known this was here. Without the draw of the portal, I would not have known it was here either. It was activated remotely, by something far more powerful than I."

Sam and Dean were both quiet, absorbing that. After a beat, it was Dean who spoke up. "Okay, so we have another mystery to solve. Wonderful. Can you shut the damn thing off?"

Castiel sighed loudly and stood, still cradling the golden block of wood in his hands as if it was far more delicate than it appeared. "I can try, but it would require a lot of power I do not have in great supply."

"Then we need another way to shut it down," Sam replied immediately, Dean nodding along with him in complete agreement. "We're not risking you just to solve a hunt."

"This is not an ordinary hunt!" Castiel retorted, glaring at Sam. "What if something goes wrong? Have the two of you ever shut down a portal to another dimension before?"

Dean and Sam had a complete silent conversation for a moment before Dean managed to reply. "I don't think so." Before Castiel could interrupt, he added, "Still doesn't mean we're going to risk you draining your power out in order to close the portal. Don't worry about it. We can do this. We've done worse."

"Definitely worse, but not weirder," Sam pointed out. He was hard pressed to think of anything more odd than discovering that The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz had been based on reality.

Dean shrugged. "Debatable." He raised an eyebrow at Sam and just said, "Plucky's comes to mind."

"Oh God," Sam replied, eyes going wide. "Point taken."

Castiel stared at them for a moment. "I do not believe you are taking this seriously."

Dean sighed heavily and stepped forward, putting his hands on Castiel's shoulders. "Dude, we'll be fine. Go hide the pretty portal block in Heaven, and we'll shut down the portal here."

Castiel made a face in response. "Fine. Where is the portal?"

"We'll have to find it," Dean replied, not missing a beat.

Continuing on, Castiel asked, "What do you think the potential danger could be of taking an active portal key into Heaven while the portal in question is still open?"

Pausing briefly, Dean was forced to admit, "No idea."

"So, perhaps it would be wise to not dismiss the only agent of Heaven you have until you have a better grasp on the situation," Castiel said wryly, raising an eyebrow at Dean.

Sighing, Dean rolled his eyes and let his arms fall to his sides. "Fine, Cas, you win. Is it safe to just carry that thing around?"

"It should be no more dangerous then it was while sitting in this compartment," Castiel confirmed. "Besides, it may be useful in locating wherever the portal has manifested."

"Okay, question about that," Sam interjected. "When the key we had before for Oz itself was used, the portal was pretty freaking big, like impossible to miss. How have this many people, especially with so many of them having vanished, completely missed something that big?"

Castiel made a curious noise. "You raise a good point, Sam. Perhaps this portal is somehow being triggered to open off an on. Always active, but not always open. I am certain it was opened from our dimension, but maybe it is now being controlled from within Oz. Given what we know about the situation, it is not too far fetched to assume our enemy is very intelligent."

"So this portal may not even be visible half the time?" Dean asked, groaning. "How the hell do we find it then?"

"Now that we actually have the key, I will be able to find it far more easily," Castiel reassured him. "Once we find it, however, then we have to find a way to close it permanently, which I fear will not be straightforward."

"I don't suppose Oz has cell service," Dean griped, running a hand through his hair and making a disgruntled noise when he realized it was still too long. As they walked out of the library, he turned to Sam and added quietly, "Dude, please remind me to cut my hair when we get back to the bunker. This is ridiculous."

Chuckling, Sam nodded his agreement, following his brother out of the cramped space and back out to the car. "You're right though, this would be so much easier if we could just call Charlie."

"Somehow I don't think they have cell towers in Oz," Dean sighed. "Although, if anybody was going to get WiFi and cell service going in Oz, it would probably be Charlie."

Sam laughed. "You're right, she would." As they reached the car, he glanced back at Castiel and asked, "Any idea where we need to go?"

There was a long pause, then Castiel nodded slowly. "West," he said firmly.