Chapter 14

The Impala rolled slowly to a stop in front of a two story, wooden sided house. In its day, it would have been a looker but now it sat abandoned and dilapidated with paint peeling from the sides of the house, shingles missing here and there on the roof and rotten wood leaving gaps in the siding. The yard was overgrown and more like a jungle around the house now. Dean and Sam got out and looked at the house for a few minutes before either of them speaking.

"You ready to do this?" Dean asked his brother going to the trunk to pull two saw off shot guns loaded with rock salt out for them. He passed one to his brother and checked the load on his before heading for the house.

Sam gripped his gun in both hands and followed his brother toward the house wondering what they were going to find. Most of the time, spirits were more active at night than during the day but it was better to be prepared than sorry. The weeds swished around his legs as he walked up the cracked sidewalk toward the broken steps leading to the front porch. Dean waited for Sam to get on the porch before heading for the door giving it a quick once over while pulling out his lock pick kit and getting the door open. Most of the windows had been boarded up to keep vandals from breaking out the glass. Dean let the door slowly swing open listening to the grating squeak before it came to a stop. He glanced around inside the dim interior before stepping into the foyer. He saw a room on either side and stairs going up to the second level. A hallway ran beside the stairs to the back of the house to what he figured was the kitchen and dining area. He motioned for Sam to go right as he moved to go left to check the place out.

spn

Sam moved into the room and took out his flashlight to shine it around the room seeing several pieces of furniture draped in plastic, sitting around the room. He moved carefully into the middle of the room and surveyed the area looking for any signs of the current missing kids. He looked for signs of disturbance in the dust and dirt but didn't see any. He moved to a closet in the back and held the gun ready as he pulled the door open to check inside. Nothing of interest was in there so he headed back out and was going down the hall when he heard Dean call him.

"Sammy!" his brother called to him from the family room.

"You find something?" Sam answered making his way to his brother's side.

"Candy wrapper." he nodded down at the empty bag of M&M's.

"How do you know it's from any of the kids? It could of been here for a while."

"There's ants coming out of the bag so it's gotta be fresh."

"Good catch." he said shining his light around the family room stopping at a floor to ceiling bookcase. He moved closer and began to inspect the books that were scattered around on the shelves. He shone his light on the spine of the books trying to read the titles. It didn't look like any of them had been touched in a long time by the dust accumulated on them. Something caught Sam's attention on a shelf near the top. It looked like the corner of a book just barely visible. He stretched up on his tiptoes to reach the shelf and snag the book. He pulled a dust covered book off the shelf and shook it to dislodge the dirt noticing it wasn't as dirty as the others. "Hey, look at this." Sam told Dean holding up the book for his inspection.

Dean walked over and stared at the dark covered book Sam was shining his light on. There were strange symbols on the front of the book and the cover was made out of some strange material. Sam opened it to look inside. A picture fell out and Dean bent down to retrieve it turning it over to look at it. It showed four teenagers laughing with their arms around each other smiling into the camera. He read the names someone had written below each one, Austin, Emily, Trevor and Sarah.

"Looks like we found the book." Dean told him pointing to the names.

Sam was more intent on what was in the book than the picture. He let the book open on it's on and began to scan a spell to summon a spirit. This most definitely was the book but he wasn't sure how it got on the shelf.

"Yep, I found the spell." Sam said looking up at his brother.

"What's that cover made of? It looks...Creepy and slightly smelly." Dean said trying to look at it as Sam moved it around trying to get more light to see.

"Not sure." Sam said closing the book to inspect the outside again. He turned it over and a sickly look crossed his face as he turned back to his brother.

"What?" Dean asked seeing the strange look on his face.

"I think it's made of...Human skin." Sam gulped holding the book away from him by two fingers. "That's just gross and explains the smell."

"Yeah. Leave it here and let's check the rest of the house out so we can get out of here. This place is making my skin crawl."

"Alright." he said putting the book back on a shelf a little lower figuring it would be less likely to be messed with. He wiped his hands on his jeans and looked at them wishing he could disinfect them.

They quickly searched the rest of the house but didn't find any other clues. Dean led them back to the front door and out onto the porch turning to lock it back.

"Dude, should I get the book?" Sam asked before he shut the door.

"No, why don't we talk to Bobby first."

"Give me a sec; I wanna snap some pictures of it so we can send them to him." Sam replied slipping back into the house and into the family room. He pulled down the book and began to take pictures with his cell. He flipped to the summoning spell and other pages quickly snapping as he went. Once he was satisfied he had enough, he put it back and hurried out to join Dean. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he glanced back behind him looking for anything out of place when he heard scurrying behind him.

"You coming or not?" Dean fussed at him urging Sam to hurry.

"Yes, let's go." he said giving the inside one more nervous look before Dean closed the door. "I'm sending Bobby the pictures now and let him know we'll call him once we're back at the motel."

"Fine, maybe he'll be able to find something by the time we get there. Wanna grab dinner 'fore heading there?"

"Ok fine with me." Sam said as he concentrated on his cell and began to text a message to Bobby and attaching the pictures. He hoped Bobby might be able to give them some answers to what they were looking for.

spn

John sat at the table watching Missouri set up candles and incense on a silk cloth covered with sigils. This woman was a lot more than she seemed to be and John wondered just who she really was. He was not remembering much of their relationship all those years ago, but that she had helped him.

"Now take my hands and I want you to open your mind to me." she instructed him.

John clenched his hands into fists and looked at her, pausing for a moment before accepting her warm hands and surprised at her strong grip. He tried to relax and do as she asked finding it hard to let go.

"John, close your eyes honey." Missouri told him, her eyes still closed. "Now breathe slowly, I won't do anything to hurt you."

He frowned, but did as she asked and closed his eyes and tempered his breathing as he inhaled the mingling smell of the incense and hot wax. He swayed slightly as his body seemed to grow lighter and he could just barely hear soft mumbling coming from Missouri. Calmness spread through his body as he felt a presence carefully touching him mind. John didn't flinch or try to pull away as he felt it begin to probe his mind. He gave in completely as frames of his life began to move around and sort themselves out with the gentle guidance of the other one. John didn't know how long they had been setting there when he opened his eyes to see Missouri watching him closely. John felt a small spark starting to form in his soul that had not been there in a long time. It was hard to remember how that felt but he embraced it as a step in the right direction.

"How you feel honey?" Missouri asked him when he didn't speak.

John thought for a moment before looking back up at her and speaking.

"I'm not sure how you did that, but it helped. It did. A few things are coming together now."

"We'll be doing this several more times. I will do what I can and then Charles will help you physically starting tomorrow morning early. He lives a couple streets over and will be expecting you at seven am."

"Thank you for all you're doing for me."

"Don't thank me yet John. There's much to be done. I have communicated with the elders and learned you may be able to get the memories back from the being with no name."

"How?" John asked sitting up straighter to listen.

"You will have to capture it on this side and cast a spell to retrieve them. I'm not going to lie to you; this will not be easy honey. That is why you have to work three times as hard and push yourself like you never have before. Once you have cast the spell you need to send the being back to his realm and destroy the portal so it will not be able to return. This is going to be your decision to make, I can do what I can for you to help you remember what is scrambled in your head and you can stop..."

"No! No, I want what was taken from me and I will get them back." John said with a determination of one who would die before giving up.

"Good, now go rest for a bit before dinner, we've got to take it slow so your mind doesn't overload itself. We'll do another session tomorrow afternoon."

"Alright." he said without argument. He got up and headed for his bedroom ready to lie down. What she did was not physical but it still drained him and he needed to gather his strength for what lay ahead. He felt stronger, lighter, like his burden was slowly being lifted and knew he was one step closer to finding his sons.

spn

Sam was coming out of the bathroom towel drying his hair when he heard Dean's cell ringing. Dean drug himself from the bed and searched his jacket pocket for his cell and answering it.

"Hey Bobby."

"Dean, I got Sam's text and pictures."

"So whaddo ya think? Any idea what we're dealing with here?"

"Lord son, that book's got some nasty crap in it. From the summoning spell Sam sent me those fool kids could of unleashed anything."

"Great! What do we do now?"

"Did Sam send copies of all the pages?"

"Hey Bobby wants to know if you took pictures of all the spells." Dean asked Sam who had plopped down on his bed.

"No, only the summoning one and a few toward the end. They seemed the most powerful ones."

"Ya get that?" Dean asked Bobby.

"Yeah, you boys need to look in that spell book and see if there's a reversal spell. It may be the only way." he sighed not liking their options. "I'll head out tonight and should be there some time tomorrow. I'll stop and grab a few hours sleep along the way."

"You sure? If we find a spell, why can't we do it?"

"'Cause you jackasses don't know enough about casting spells." Bobby said impatiently. "Wanna get yerself or yer brother killed?"

"Ok! I hear you" Dean complained. "We'll go back tomorrow and check the book out again."

"Just be careful, if it knows what you're trying to do, it will try to stop you. Dean, ya can't take the book from the house. It needs to stay there. Tha's what's trappin' it there, understand?" he cautioned him.

"Yes. We'll text you if we find it."

"You boys be careful and do you still have the anti-possession charms I gave ya?"

"Yeah, we have them."

"Keep them on ya. I'll see ya soon." Bobby said hanging up and heading for his bedroom for his to go bag. He was going to take ingredients that they might need for the spell with him and hoped it was enough.

"We need to go back to the house tomorrow. Bobby wants us to look and see if there's a reversal spell in the book, but we can't take it from the house. I'll go in and look and you can stand guard outside."

Sam looked at him suspiciously as a frown creased his forehead before he spoke.

"There you go again trying to ditch me!" Sam cried out. "We're doin' this together whether you like it or not. So get over it. Besides, I can probably spot the spell better than you anyway."

Dean pursed his lips and drew them into a thin line upset that his plan to keep Sam out of harms way failed. He thought he was being clever in his plan, but Sam saw right through it. Sometimes his brother could be a pain in the ass, especially when he wouldn't do what Dean wanted. He just wanted to keep him protected and safe whether Sam wanted it or not.

Sam gave Dean his best bitch face showing his disapproval of what Dean was trying to do again. He couldn't seem to convince him that he could keep himself safe now; Dean had made sure of that. He was a slave driver when it came to training. He made sure Sam was efficient in hand to hand and with the weapons they used. He pushed him to do more and to train harder, never letting him give up on anything. When Sam would get frustrated with something, Dean was the calming voice of reason for him. Dean could get him to relax and look at the problem with a different aspect helping him to solve it. Dean's biggest problem was he wanted to keep Sam out of harm's way, but paid no mind to his own safety. Sam decided if Dean wouldn't look out for himself, then it was his job to keep him safe and that's exactly what he was going to do whether Dean liked it or not.

"I'm goin' to check and see if I can find any other reversal spells online." Sam stated turning from him deciding the conservation was over. He had said his peace and wasn't going to argue with him any more.

"I'm goin' to get a shower then." Dean said to Sam's back. He hated when Sam got in one of his stubborn 'moods' and wouldn't talk to him. He grabbed his light sweats and headed for the bathroom leaving Sam to do what he did best, research. Tomorrow would come soon enough and he was going to do whatever it took to keep his brother safe.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews and support for this story. I hope you are enjoying the little world I have created. Reviews are welcome as always. NC