AN - Computer keyboard broke right after I got the hard drive fixed. I have a temporary USB replacement (that sucks), but the laptop is going to have to go into the shop to get the actual keyboard replaced, so eventually I'm going to disappear again for a bit.

Thanks for sticking with me in the meantime, reading and reviewing. Sorry for all the delays.

"Wake up, wake up," Vinnie hissed, shaking me. I opened my eyes to darkness, my head throbbing to the beat of my heart from the reaming that Gabby had given my fire pathways the day before.

"I'm awake," I whispered. "What is it?"

Vinnie's hand left my shoulder as she flopped back down on her side. "You were screaming in your sleep."

I groaned. "Oh," I whispered. The last images of my dreams were coming back to me, a mish-mash of horrific situations like Sam and Dean withering to skeletal ash from Gabby's fire while I watched on in helplessness, the thrashing Vinnie took from Gabby's hands that gave her those scars and me being unable to stop it, monsters, burning, and a thousand other images with everyone I love and everyone I felt responsible for, all too confusing and muddled together for me to figure out. "Sorry," I whispered, rubbing my eyes. "It happens. That's why I have those pills you dumped in your drawer."

"Me too," she whispered. "But I don't have any pills."`

"What time is it?" I asked.

She snorted. "Even if I had a watch, I couldn't see it, dummy." She shifted around again for a bit, pushing her back into me, and went quiet. After a little bit, I heard her breathing even out and deepen. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. I wished that the guys were here so I could cuddle up next to one of them and sleep without nightmares, but they weren't, and I knew who to blame for that.

I was totally to blame for this mess I was in and when Dean and Sam got their hands on me, they'd probably lock me in Bobby's panic room until high school. After the spanking I was going to get, I wouldn't be able to sit until well after I turned eighteen. I wondered if this would become the new "shit you pulled in Wellington."

I slid away from Vinnie and wedged myself into the corner, hugging my legs and burying my head in my skirt-swathed knees. It didn't matter. I was in over my head and I'd do anything to have them here. Dean was going to yell and Sam was going to scold, and I was already so sorry for being so impulsive, but they hadn't been answering their phones and that fucking television show had been just so spot on. I was such an idiot and here I was, stuck. They were probably worried sick and had no way to find me. I'd just disappeared, literally, off the side of the road, and it was all my own fault. I was going to have to get myself out of this mess. Tears dripped into my skirt until I was sobbing silently, not wanting to wake Vinnie. I cried until I fell back to sleep.

"Well, my priestesses, did you learn anything?" Gabby asked. I opened my eyes in a hurry to find Gabby standing in the doorway, light streaming around her into the room. Her long shadow stretched out in front of her and across Vinnie,w ho was already getting to her feet.

"Yes, my goddess," Vinnie answered for the both of us. My head throbbing from the tears and the reaming that Gabby had given me, I struggled to stand up. Vinnie had her fake confident look on, the one the aggravated me so badly, and I wondered briefly if she was going to spill my secrets to Gabby, if last night's confessions had been a ruse. I stood wobbly on my feet, moving closer to Vinnie, and rubbed my head. If she was, it was too late for me to do anything about it.

Gabby looked up at the light socket in the middle of the ceiling and then down at the floor where the hot glass had landed. She looked at me, her eyes narrowing. I widened my eyes innocently at her, but she didn't say anything about it. I wished I knew what she was thinking. I bowed my head.

"Sacred Gabija," I said and then sank slowly to my knees. "I beg your forgiveness. I should have tried harder to learn." I pressed my bruised cheek against the floor. "I should never have interrupted you. Please, my goddess, please forgive me."

Vinnie was suddenly right there next to me, her head pressed to the floor, too. "My goddess, I should have succeeded at teaching her. Your priestess pleads for your mercy." We stayed that way until after a few seconds, Gabby finally spoke, her voice indifferent.

"Since you've learned so much, you have duties to attend, priestesses," she said, and then she was gone.

"Doesn't she ever take the stairs," I mumbled.

"She's a goddess," Vinnie said, lifting her head. "What do you think?"

I snorted and stiffly got to my feet, trying to ignore my head.

"Good call with the kneeling," Vinnie murmured as she got up, too.

"I did manage to beg her forgiveness on the side of the road for a much greater sin," I said.

"I think that had more to do with what she wants than with your dazzling begging skill." Vinnie gave me a half smile and brushed off her skirt.

I tried to brush mine off, too. From the light in the basement, I could see that we were smeared with cement dust from the floor, and Vinnie's attempts to straighten herself weren't having much effect.

"Come on," Vinnie said, giving up with her clothes and walking out the door. "We've got to get cleaned up before breakfast rites." She had a remarkable ability to recover from the crap Gabby threw at us, I'd give her that. I followed her out the door and up to her room to shower.

Two hours later, after rites and breakfast, Gabby had us report to her den, where we stood in front of her reclined figure on the fainting couch. Twirling a lock of her golden hair around one long, manicured finger, she raised her eyebrows and spoke.

"Since my high priestess cannot teach my priestess how to control her fire, it must be up to me." She gave Vinnie a displeased look. "However, perhaps it is not my high priestess' fault, since my priestess has so much more fire in her furnace." I swallowed hard, remembering the last time Gabby had tried to teach me anything and what a nightmare and failure it had been. I did not want to be under her tutelage again. Not ever.

"Holy Gabija," I said. "Please, my goddess, you tried to teach me the summer before last and I struggled so much to understand your wisdom and guidance. Maybe I could just keep practicing every day until I develop the talents naturally?"

Gabby laughed and it was not a pleasant sound. "You have already wasted too much of my time running from me. You are years behind where you should be in your lessons and you will submit to them now."

Shit. I hadn't been trying to piss her off. I bowed my head. "Yes, Sacred Gabija," I murmured.

"Besides, this one couldn't learn either and does not have your strength," Gabby mocked. I glanced at Vinnie, expecting to see hurt or anger on her face, but she had her serene mask on and I couldn't read what was behind it. "I had to learn a new way to teach," Gabby finished and grabbed our hands. I jerked in surprise and suddenly we were in front of the fire pit behind the barn. Gabby let go of our hands, then turned me to face her and put both her hands on my shoulders.

"Let me in, priestess," she warned. "Or it will hurt even worse when I take it."

I bit my lip and opened my furnace. Gabby flowed inside, my already torn up pathways screaming, but she wasn't searching or punishing, she was just there, and the pain soon faded to a feeling of fullness and the dull throbbing that was left over from the reaming the day before.

Pay attention, priestess, I heard Gabby say in my head. I will show you how to push out a stream and light fireballs. Stretch your hands out in front of you. I obeyed and felt Gabby collect my fire around her and push it, already flaming, through my screaming pathways and out the palms of my hands. It streamed out, hitting the wood in the fire pit, which burst into flames. Now you, she said.

Eyes water from the pain, I did exactly what she had done, but my stream was not as strong. She followed that up by showing me fireballs, which were the same as the stream, except I had to put my pressure behind the stream and stop the stream of fire after a second. Then start it, then stop it, like puffing smoke. She showed me how to make shapes out of my fire, next, like swords and knives, but it was harder, and required more finesse, molding the stream to the shape I saw in my head. I was going to have to practice that one a lot.

And then she pulled out of me and I was empty again, alone in my own skin, my pathways throbbing and my body and mind exhausted. The sun was high overhead, so we'd been out here all morning. Vinnie'd given up and was sitting on the ground next to the fire pit watching us, her back straight and her hands clasped properly in her lap. I recognized the look in her face, though. She was miles away in her head.

I bowed low to Gabby then. "Thank you, my goddess. I have learned much from your instruction."

"Practice it, priestess. That is all you will do for the rest of the day. Practice. You will return to the house for dinner,"

"Yes, my goddess," I said, bowing low again. "Thank you, Sacred Gabija. Holy is your name."

Gabby turned to Vinnie, who had climbed to her feet now that we were back. "You will continue to watch her, high priestess."

Vinnie bowed her head. "Yes, my goddess," she said. And then Gabby was gone. Vinnie turned to me, her serene mask gone and derision across her face. "Holy is your name? That's spreading it on a little thick, don't you think?"

I shook my head and faced the fire pit. "Goddesses like to be told how wonderful they are. She ate that shit up, didn't she?"

Vinnie sank back into the grass and stared up at the sky. "Yeah, she ate it up. But you have to keep that shit up, you know, if you start doing it all the time."

"We're not going to be here that long," I said. I looked at the fire pit and then just sank to the grass next to Vinnie. My head was throbbing, my pathways were burning, and I didn't want to practice any more. I lay down with her and stared into the cold blue sky and clasped her hand in mine. She didn't take it away.

We didn't spend all afternoon lying in the grass. After a while, Vinnie pointed out that Gabby was going to expect my skills to be improved and I was going to want to be ready for that if she asked, so eventually, I went back to practicing the streams, fireballs, and shapes. Instead of making a sword, though, I tried to make a little cat. I could mostly get the shape to form, but I couldn't make it dance across the wood on the fireplace like I wanted to. I could only make the shape of the cat hop a little. I wanted it to be like a cartoon, but I was going to have to practice that more. Plus, the shapes I was making were huge. It was more like a panther than a house cat.

When the bell for dinner started ringing, we both headed back to the house. I practiced making my face into a serene mask as we headed into the house. Mine wasn't as good as Vinnie's, but no one seemed to notice.

Gabby didn't show up for dinner, but no one acted like that was out of the ordinary. When dinner was over, Vinnie stood and said that she would hear complaints and concerns. Several of the members brought up problems there were having with one thing or another and if they had them, gave suggestions for how to fix the problems or told her what they needed. One woman said that they needed to run to the store to get food. Someone else handed a list to Vinnie of the things that she needed from the hardware store to do some repairs to the barns and fences. In the end, Vinnie said that they would need to make a run to the store and that she would add that to the list of things that needed to be done the next day. When everything had been said and addressed, Vinnie dismissed everyone for evening chores and directed them to come back to the main room for evening reflection when chores were finished. Vinnie left the room and I hurried to follow her, surprised when she went up to her room.

"Why wasn't Gabby at dinner?" I asked, watching Vinnie sit down at her desk and pull out a ledger and a pad of paper.

"Sometimes she shows, sometimes she doesn't," she said.

"If she's not here, then we can go down to the den and use the phone," I said.

Vinnie turned around in a hurry. "Lower your voice," she hissed. "And just because she didn't come to dinner doesn't mean she's not here. She's a goddess, Jessie. She does other things, but she could show up at any second. If you want to use the phone, you're going to have to wait until I'm sure it's safe." She turned back to the desk and picked up her pencil. "And you need to work on your timing. You can't keep stumbling after me. You're supposed to look like you know what you're doing."

Annoyed now, I stomped over to her and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her around so I could see her face. "It's never going to be safe," I hissed at her, my voice as low as I could make it and still be heard. "We have to take some chances or we're never going to get out of here." I met her eyes. "Unless you were lying about wanting to get out of here."

She went pale. "Chances get you killed."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "You said you'd rather be dead," I pointed out harshly but then relented at the look on her face. "We can keep the risk as low as possible, but we have to take some chances."

Vinnie shifted and covered her face with her hands. "Fine," she said, her voice muffled. "What's the plan?"

Vinnie knew the patterns of the house better than I did, so after I picked her brain some, we came up with a plan to get me to the telephone. And that's why, at one in the morning after everyone had gone to bed and Gabby was usually ensconced in her upstairs room, we crept down the stairs and into Gabby's den.

Lugging her ledger, Vinnie led me over to the desk and opened the bottom right drawer. I sat down on the floor behind the desk and picked up the receiver while Vinnie sat her ledger on the desk and opened it up to her most recent entry. If Gabby came in, I would be able to hang up the phone and close the desk drawer while Vinnie explained that she was down here to get the money for tomorrow's shopping expedition. Vinnie sat down in the desk chair and opened the top drawer to the left of her while I dialed Dean's number. It was where she and Gabby kept the household funds.

"Hurry up," Vinnie said nervously. Her face was blotchy with stress and I wondered as I hit the last number if she'd be able to lie convincingly enough if Gabby did come in.

The phone went immediately to voice mail. "Dean, I'm in Centralia, Pennsylvania. I've found Gabby. Don't call this number back. Please come get me," I said and hung up. I dialed Sam's number next and got voice mail again. I left basically the same message, but now I was worried. Why the hell weren't they answering their phones?

"Are you done?" Vinnie hissed from above me.

"They aren't answering," I whispered back. "They were on a hunt when I left. Something might have happened to them. Let me try another number." I silently thanked Dean for making me memorize all their numbers and dialed Cas's phone. No answer. I didn't bother leaving a message there. "Mother fuck. Where are they?" I grumbled. I started to dial Bobby's number before I realized that in this situation, Bobby couldn't rescue me. I needed that ring, and it was in a room up the stairs that he'd never be able to get to.

"Jessie..." Vinnie panted above me.

"Vinnie, calm down and let me think. It's not like she's here," I said. I wracked my brain until I realized that there was only one other person I could call, and now that I thought about it, she was actually the best choice. I dialed the number.

She answered on the third ring, her soft, melodious voice practically singing through the phone. "Bree Sargent, how may I help you?"

"Bree, it's me," I whispered into the phone. Vinnie glanced down at me, her face relieved. "I'm in a little bit of trouble. I can't reach Dean or Sam, and I'm in Centralia, Pennsylvania with Gabby. She's got my ring. I can't get it and I can't leave without it."

"How did the child lose her ring?" Bree asked, her voice harder than I'd ever heard it. I swallowed, knowing that Bree had already put two and two together from all the times I'd complained to her about Dean and Sam not letting me find Gabby.

"I... took it off," I admitted. "And now I'm in over my head. Please, Bree, please help me get out of this."

"Is the child safe?" Bree asked, her tone still disapproving.

"Mostly," I said. "Gabby wants me so she's not going to kill me. She's just hurting us a lot."

"I will try to find the child's father and if I cannot, I will come," Bree said.

"There's no way to contact me," I whispered. "Whoever comes to get me will have to sneak onto the property and hide." I looked up at Vinnie. "Where's a good place to hide?"

"Woodshed, out behind the barn by the fire pit. No one goes in there unless it needs to be restocked and it doesn't," Vinnie said. I relayed the information to Bree.

"This is the most foolish, foolhardy thing the child has ever done. I am extremely disappointed," Bree scolded me. "I have not said all I have to say to the child about this."

"I know, Bree," I whimpered. "I'm sorry, but please don't leave me here."

"I would never leave you," Bree said softly. "I will find Sam and Dean or get you myself. Look in the woodshed tomorrow afternoon. Someone will be there." She hung up and so did I. I shut the drawer while a relieved-looking Vinnie picked up her ledger and straightened everything we touched to make sure it didn't look like we'd been there. The two of us fled to her bedroom to wait until tomorrow.