True North
I can't see the rationality
The world's not my responsibility
And happiness isn't there for me
But maybe I'll inch closer to the source
- Bad Religion
Devishi never knew how she made it back to her car. She never knew how she convinced two grown tigers to stuff themselves inside once more, or how she managed the drive back to the zoo. She reached the front gate well after dusk. All visitors were gone, but she expected a number of staff would still be on the grounds. There was no way she could think of to return the cats without making a scene. In the end, she just opened the car door and let them slip out. Both tigers strolled to gates and sat down, looking for all the world like house cats "asking" to be let back inside. A keeper walking by saw them, did a frenzied double-take, and hurriedly spoke into a walkie-talkie before running off. Devi took that as her cue to leave.
She felt like death warmed over. Drawing out and using Hellfire had drained her in ways she hadn't thought possible. Granted, she hadn't expected that it would be good for her: playing with that much energy of any stripe would be harrowing, and considering the source, she was lucky to be feeling anything at all.
She managed to get a few miles outside of town before giving up, pulling off into a gas station, cracking the windows, and dropping her seat back. She curled up under her jacket, finally letting her eyes close.
*Wind racing through the grass, running over the field in waves. More sky than she had ever seen in her life. Towering hills clad in dark trees. Enormous outcroppings of granite jutting scattered over the landscape like breadcrumbs. The whole vista seemed turbulent: one could almost believe the ground itself was shifting with the weather. There was another gust of wind at her back, and she turned to face it. The plains ran out before her forever, but that wasn't what caught her attention.
There was a great-granddaddy of storm rolling towards her. Smooth gray ridges near the top of the front's leading edge broke to a ragged, steel-blue fringe boiling below. A broad column of rain extended beneath that, propping up the storm like an off-kilter pedestal. Lightning flared inside, throwing the landscape into shape relief and making the stone spires seem to jump out of the background. The size of the cloud bank was such that it looked like it was moving in slow-motion, but speed of its approach belied that illusion.
Devi glanced around her, hoping to find some kind of shelter, but there wasn't a single structure in sight. The wind shifted again, and through the gale, she heard a low, keening sound coming from the nearest hill, a short bluff of reddish stone rising from the turf. She followed the noise. Its source was a hole in the cliff, roughly two feet across; air was gusting out of it in a steady stream. Devi looked back over her shoulder at the tempest bearing down on her. Any port in a storm, she thought ruefully.*
The obnoxious chiming of her cellphone jerked back to consciousness. She scrambled through her purse in the dark, pulling the phone out just in time to register Sam Winchester's number before it went to voicemail.
"Khotey ki aulad," she muttered to herself as she hit redial.
Sam picked up on the third ring, but Devi spoke over his bemused greeting. "Sam, I was right: Crowley had Kevin, but he doesn't anymore. I don't know where or how-"
"Devi, we know," Sam reassured her. "Kevin's here with us. He's okay, well, as okay as you can expect given the circumstances."
"Can I talk to him?" Devi ask anxiously.
"He's resting now," Sam said, "He's been through a lot."
"Where are you now?" Devi pressed as she raised her seat back up, turning the engine on.
"Colorado, um, kind of the middle of nowhere..."
"There's a lot of that in Colorado, Sam. You're going to have to be way more specific," Devi said shortly.
"We're on Interstate 34 – I think the post-office said 'Drake,'" Sam answered distantly.
Devi frowned at his tone. He sounded dazed, and she wondered what she had missed. Shaking her head, she brought herself back to the point. "I'm coming to you."
"Dean and I are leaving in the next couple hours," Sam objected, "heading back to Kansas."
"And Kevin?"
"Not sure," Sam said apologetically. "I think he's going to Michigan to check on his mom."
Devi's stomach twisted, recalling what she'd heard in her vision of Kevin's kidnapping. "Sam, I..." she trailed off, uncertain of how much Kevin had told him, how much he would want them to know. "...Is that safe?" she finished lamely.
"Dean's not entirely happy with it," Sam sighed, "but no-one knows more about evading the King of Hell than Kevin."
"Yeah, well, that didn't work out too well last week," Devi contradicted sharply.
"I agree with you, but... Devi, things are happening now. It's coming down to the wire."
Devi sat up, "You mean, with Hell?"
"We have the third trial," he replied. "We're on it now. Things might get hairy the next few days. Do you have anywhere you can... go to ground, I guess?"
"Not within a couple days' drive," Devi groaned. "I haven't been on this side of the Mississippi much."
"Okay, write this down." Sam gave her a series of numbers.
Devi dutifully transcribed them, then frowned. "Sam, what am I supposed to do with these?"
"They're coordinates – there's a..." he paused, and Devi heard a tired chuckle, "A secret base, believe it or not. If anywhere is going to safe over the next few days, it'll be there."
Devi was on the verge of accepting, when something stopped her: the image of the storm, the cave. There was a pressing sense of urgency, stronger than anything she'd ever felt. She had to get there, and she had no idea why. "Sam, I appreciate you offering me sanctuary, I really do, but..." she sighed, and took a deep breath, "there's someplace I have to go first."
"Devi, this is a bad time to go off alone" Sam persisted.
"I know, it's just..." she gave a little growl of frustration, running an agitated hand through her hair. How could she explain to Sam what she was feeling? She couldn't even explain it to herself. "I'll met you guys there as soon as I can," she finished decisively, hanging up. She shifted the car into drive, pulling back onto the interstate.
As she pulled away from the city, the stars became clearer, standing out against the iron-gray sky of predawn. Devi found herself glancing up at them, picking out the Big Dipper out of habit. She didn't know where she was going, but north felt sort of right.
A strong and very vocal part of her mind was quick to point out that her current course of action made no sense. You couldn't pick a better time to try migration? Chasing after a dream while Sam, Dean, and Kevin were in the midst of locking down Hell wasn't just stupid, it was selfish. They could use her help, or at least have the comfort of knowing she was safe.
Nothing's going to happen, she determined. No-one knows where I'm going, not even me. Devi doubted Crowley would waste resources on chasing her at this point – he was about to have a much bigger problem. She smiled grimly at the thought.
Which means he's going to be reaching for any kind of leverage he can get his hands on, the sensible part of her fired back. You know how he likes hostages.
Devi grimaced. Then again, if the King of Hell did have her in his sights, going to the Winchester's base of operations was the last thing she should be doing. She glanced at the scrap of paper she'd written the coordinates on, lips pursed pensively.
It's the last mile – just go there and be safe. You can go spelunking once Hell's shut down, her more rational side put forth.
But I'll miss the storm...
By daybreak, she'd made it to Nebraska City, and it wasn't until then that she really stopped to think about what she was doing. Pulling out a map she'd picked up at the state line, she unfolded it, running a fingertip over the paper until she found the highway she'd been instinctively following. I-29 continued on to Omaha, but that didn't feel right.
Devi sighed, feeling lost. All her life, she'd tried to follow reason, to plan ahead, to plot her course based on concrete, knowable vectors. Going with her gut was a foreign experience, and one that had her almost paralyzed with doubts.
She rubbed irritably at her eyes, which were heavy and gritty. She was still exhausted from her fight at the demons' den. Maybe rest would solve more than one of her problems: if she had the dream again, it could clarify matters. Or confuse them, Devi thought glumly. She hated dependent on something so vague, so capricious, so completely out of her control.
Enough, she decided, pulling into a motel. Going back and forth over the issue in her mind was only wearing her out and frustrating her further. Right now, she needed to address a number of pressing physical needs; then she could worry about dreams and destiny.
Breakfast, a shower, and a change of clothes later, she felt much better, but was still confused about her course of action. Durga had clammed up since leaving Crowley's den, and Devi felt more adrift than ever. She unfolded the map again, spreading it out on the bed in front of her. If you want me to go someplace, you have to tell me where, she thought. Unfortunately, no glowing trail magically appeared showing her where to go. Devi gave a little groan of irritation, "I'd just like some freaking direction!" Except for the tinny hum of the AC unit, there was no reply.
Don't know what I expected, she sighed, folding the map up. She was about to stuff it back in her bag, but after a moment's thought, she tucked it under her pillow, viciously suppressing the feeling that the whole thing was futile. Curling up under the motel's scratchy comforter and pulling the covers over her head to block out the early morning light, she tried to put aside her churning thoughts. After all, she considered, allowing herself a small smile, how better to deal with a dream than to sleep on it?