Chapter Twenty

"Don't you ever sleep?"

Castiel glanced over at Clefe, who was watching him with her arms folded in front of her, head tilted to one side. "I do not need to sleep."

"You're an angel, aren't you?" Clefe asked. "The first one I've met... you're not as arrogant as I would have expected, though."

"I have spent a lot of time with humans," Castiel admitted. "Some would say far too much." He hesitated, but couldn't deny that he was curious – a feeling that had been alien to him before meeting the Winchesters. "Were you the one who cursed the swan maidens?"

"No," Clefe answered. "I wasn't lying to you. But I do know who did."

"Who was it?"

"My father," the mermaid answered. "A human, mostly... but he had magical powers. Not many, but enough to give him some foresight; to create the curse." She hesitated briefly. "He argued forcefully against burning the swan maiden – at least not without a fair trial first. But humans always turn against what they can't understand."

"You were alive at the time?"

Clefe picked idly at a blade of grass. "Just a baby then. My father sent me and my mother away while he tried to stop the bloodshed. But he failed." She yawned widely and then leaned her head against her arms. "I'm bored now. I want to talk about something else."

Castiel nodded slowly, though he was a little uncertain. "What would you like to talk about?"

"How about telling me why you're so concerned with saving the world," Clefe suggested. "Averting the apocalypse and all that... it's a pretty tall order, even for an angel."

"It was not that long ago I would have followed orders without question," Castiel admitted. "But Sam and his brother showed me a different way. I believe the desires of my brothers and sisters for the end of the world are wrong." He broke off, noticing that Clefe was glancing back over her shoulder. "What is it?"

"You may want to make yourself invisible," Clefe suggested. "Or come into the water with me. Some of Mab's fairies are on their way – but there's something strange about them." She frowned. "It's almost like... there's something else inside them."

"I must go and investigate," Castiel decided. He started off, wrapping his trench coat around him.

"Hey!" Clefe called after him. When he turned round, she spoke. "Be careful."

Castiel nodded. "You be careful too." He then turned and left.

Sam wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up agreeing to share a separate room with Marina. What he should have done was insisted they all stick together – with the exception of Castiel, who was currently on guard duty. But Sam had quite clearly seen where things were going with the other four; and to be honest, he had no desire to see his brother's... well, anything... again.

So Sam had drawn the short straw and had to buy a third room, which he was now sharing with Marina. The swan maiden was sitting with her back against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees. She was staring into space, a distant look in her eyes.

Sam walked over to Marina and sat down on the bed. "Want to talk about it?"

Marina shook her head. "No. I just want my sisters back..." She dashed the back of her hand across her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." Sam reached out, hesitated, and then put his hand on Marina's shoulder. "I know what it must be like. If you need to talk about it at all..." He hesitated. "Well, I'll listen." It was all he could really do for her. He knew nothing could ever really fill the hole left from losing someone close.

Marina nodded slowly, staring at her hands. "Yeah..." She sighed, tilting her head back slightly to stare at the ceiling. "I just want it to be over."

"Did Titania really not tell you anything helpful?" Kaede asked, her head resting on Dean's chest.

Dean let his fingers drift through Kaede's hair. "Nah. She didn't tell us anything. Just wanted us to rescue the season fairies."

"But surely there was a reason?"

"Could we not talk about that right now? Isn't there something else we could focus on?"

Kaede was silent for a few moments. "You know, I never really knew much about you – even when you were Philip and our past selves were married. Maybe that was the problem."

Dean looked at her. "Was there something you wanted to know?"

"I think there's so much... but I don't mind learning as we go." Kaede closed her eyes. "Anyway, so long as things can be relatively normal..." Her voice trailed off and she got a strange expression on her face – as though she wanted to smile, but couldn't find the strength. "But things won't ever be really normal again... Will they?"

Dean was silent for several moments, knowing there wasn't much he could say to make things sound better. Finally, he spoke. "You should try to sleep. Things will be better in the morning."

There was no reply from Kaede and Dean heard her breathing even out into sleep. For his part, though, he lay awake – wishing he had the answers; that he could tell the others everything would be all right.

"We can't keep them asleep forever," Mist commented, standing at the adjoining door once more, looking through to where her sisters were lying on the bed. "But each of them is wounded... Waking them will bring its own problems."

Gabriel slipped his arms around Mist from behind. He gently kissed her neck and pulled her away from the door. "You shouldn't worry about them right now. While they're in the world, you're not going to lose yourself." He pushed the door closed.

Mist turned round to face him, leaning into his arms and closing her eyes as he fingered the ice on her eyelashes. "Where did you put Michael's sword?" she whispered.

"It's in Dean's room." Gabriel leaned in to gently kissed her, feeling how cold her lips were – but it wasn't uncomfortable. "I don't want to think about my brother." He gently pulled her over to the bed and down onto the mattress with him.