When the Cradle Falls
Chapter Forty-Four: Mirage
"Wait wait wait wait wait. Stop. Stop stop STOP the car!" Cara's cries from the backseat went unheeded.
Pressing down on the steering wheel, Dean accelerated towards South Dakota-the same place he had fled with his children.
"WHAT is going on?" The girl demanded, arms and head firmly linked over the front seat.
Still, Dean's eyes didn't move from the windshield.
Not knowing what else to do, Cara securely buckled herself into the seat behind the passenger seat. She made sure the belt was tightened and safe, before she undid the child safety lock and flipped the door open wide, on the middle of the highway, flapping against the wind.
The Impala didn't beep like newer cars, but Dean checked the rearview mirror and saw the backdoor wide open, his daughter nearly hanging out of it.
The wheels squealed as to the shoulder of the road, both daughter and father exiting angrily.
"What the fu-"
"Where are they?" Cara yelled back, breathing heavily, one hand pressed against the side of the car. "We just left them!"
"What were you thinking?!" Dean had dropped down in front of Cara. He wanted to grab her and shake her until she understood. His hands were encased around her shoulders.
"Where's my brother!?" Cara screeched, reeling backwards onto the farmlands that lined the highway.
Turning away, Dean clenched his fists and pounded them against the Impala.
Pulling herself up from the cornstalks, Cara stood and returned to the Impala watching her father, horrified. Before she could even ask what was wrong at the diner, her father had gone in and out like a bat out of hell careening away from that place without any explanation.
The most horrifying part has been that he came out without her uncle and brother. Her brother has been possessed, drugged, and handcuffed and now he was missing. And Cara didn't know what had happened now but she knew that it couldn't be good. The only thing was that she could not get a single word of explanation out of her father.
"Why'd we leave them?" Cara demanded, with slightly more control in her voice—still it would be classified as a yell.
Dean's hands flew from the car, arms opening wide as he flung his arms out. "They're gone."
"Then why didn't you say that?" Cara demanded. She had emerged from the crops, crushing dirt and leaves off herself. "Where?"
He shrugged in exasperation. "I don't know. That's why we left."
"Bull."
"Cara—"
"You're gonna tell me after everything—every single thing we're fine."
Dean removed his fists and turned towards Cara, the same time she finally disentangled herself from whatever plant was growing there.
"What do you want me to tell you, Cara? Do you want me to tell you that I found dead workers and sulphur when I was there? That I don't know what the hell to do that Sammy and Noah are gone! And God knows what is going on with your mother—"
Dean stopped his tirade upon seeing any hopefulness drop off of Cara's face, despair settling over her features.
Taking a deep sigh, Dean chastised himself for losing it in front of Cara.
Before he could speak, Cara piped up. "Not demons. Not again," she muttered. Couldn't they deal with anything but demons? "Why can't they just leave our family alone?" Her voice raised in pitch at the end, lamenting in the fact her brother and uncle were gone.
Spent, Dean shook his head. "It's that yellow eyed bastard." It has been the same demon that had been terrorizing the winters for decades. The one that had killed his mom, killed Jess, and now had taken his brother and son.
He would drag that bastard to hell himself if he needed to.
Anger at the fuckers that had taken his family boiled his marrow. Determined, Dean turned towards his daughter.
"We're getting them back, Cara, I promise you that. We're getting Sammy and Noah back and then once we get them, I am killing that demon once and for all."
Jolting up, Noah gasped and looked around. He was on the floor of what appeared to be an abandoned house. The floor and walls were covered in dust, windows too grimy to see through.
"What the hell?" Noah muttered to himself, as he stood, confused as to how he had ended up there. Wracking his brain, the boy tried to think of the last thing he remembered. They were in the car. In a motel room. And then they were at a diner.
The diner!
That was where he had been. He had to go to the bathroom. He remembered now. Noah had gone in before Uncle Sam, and had followed the signs to the bathroom. He had shut the door, and turned and-
He had seen something in the mirror.
A flood of indignant anger surged through Noah. It was not fair! First, he had been possessed by a demon, and then taken by his apparently crazy mother, and third woke up in an old house with little to no memory of how he had gotten there.
It wasn't fair!
"Why can't you all just leave me alone?! Go bother someone else!" Noah yelled to the ceiling in frustration. "Of all the freaking people in the world, why did it have to be me! Huh? Why my family?! Don't you have anything else to do other than—"
A whoosh of cold air cut off his tirade and slammed him into a nearby wall. Wind knocked out of his, Noah gasped for breath and grabbed the wall behind him, attempting to stand.
In front of him, a translucent girl—probably around his age—appeared. She was wearing a ratty prairie dress and a dirty bonnet. There was a morbid, weird little smile on her face that didn't belong on a child.
Ugh, great, now I have to deal with a freaking ghost.
Gritting his teeth, Noah quickly scanned the room for anything he could use. There was a hearth on the other side, with tools that might be iron. That would be optimal, but of course the creepy ghost girl wasn't just going to move to the side and let him stroll by. Glancing to his left, there was a small china cabinet with a variety of knick knacks in it. He couldn't tell if the contents would be anything promising, but perhaps he could at least give himself a distraction.
Noah heaved himself the rest of the way up, using the force to send the piece of furniture flying. It was enough to catch the attention of the ghost girl, who took several steps forward, studying the shattered glass and trinkets rolling across the floor.
Deciding the fireplace was still too far away, Noah bolted for the door, thankful that it wasn't locked and flung himself through it. He didn't bother to shut it, just running without looking back, like a bat out of hell.
In another section of the abandoned town, Sam was wandering down the streets, feeling like the only man in the world. He had woken up on the edge of the woods, and had been making his way through the town, trying to get a sense of where he could've been. From the appearance and state of the buildings, he guessed he was in a ghost town, most likely somewhere out west. But out west could've meant anywhere from Texas to Oregon, and anywhere in between.
So that didn't really help.
There was a crunching noise nearby, like someone stepping on a leaf. Grabbing a plank of wood laid against the side of a building, Sam held his breath, keeping the plank up near his face. Hunter training kicked in as Sam turned the corner.
Ready to attack whatever monster was around the corner, Sam stopped and dropped the plank. "Andy?"
"Sam?! What are you doing here?"
Sam took in the appearance of the man around his age. Andy had been one of the few people he had met that had been like him. And it had given Sam hope that Andy was ultimately good and had not been bad-unlike Andy's twin brother.
"I don't know," Sam said.
Andy waved his arms around. "Well then what am I doing here?!"
Sam shrugged. "I don't know," he said again.
"Where are we?!"
"Andy, look, calm down." Sam didn't have the time to coddle and babysit a grown man. He needed to figure out where they were and how the hell to get out of there.
"I can't calm down! I just woke up in freaking Frontierland!"
Sighing, Sam closed his eyes for a minute. "Alright, what as the last thing you remember?"
Andy was sheepish as he scratched the side of his head. "Honestly? It was fourth bong load. It was weird. All of a sudden there was this really intense smell. Like-"
"Like sulfur?"
Andy was surprised. "How did you know that?"
That smell was the last thing he remembered in the diner.
"Noah," Sam whispered softly, recalling he hadn't been the only one in the diner. Oh God. "Dean…" He began to wonder who else could've been there.
"Your brother? Is he here?" Andy asked.
"I don't know where he is. I don't know if he's-"
A high pitched scream cut off his train of thought. Blood running cold, Sam bolted towards the sound. Andy followed, not wanting to be left alone, but behind Sam, was shouting that maybe they shouldn't run towards the sound but away from it.
Ignoring Andy, Sam found himself in front of a house, a face pressed up against the window.
"Hello?" Sam called.
"Ayúdame! Por favor, ayúdame!"" The voice called.
Sam jiggled the door, but found a padlock on the outside.
"I'm here, okay? We're gonna get you out, alright? Just hold on a second!"
"Por favor, apúrate!"
"Here Sam!" Andy said urgently, finding a large rock.
Taking it, Sam smashed the rock as hard as he could against the padlock, causing the contraption to break, and the person that was pounding on the door to come tumbling out of the building.
The person bowled into Sam and Andy's knees, stopping the momentum.
Both reaching down, they each grabbed an arm of the person, helping them straighten.
Breathing heavily and frantically, a girl with black hair and dark skin stood in front of them. Her dark eyes had tears streaming down from them and she was sobbing hysterically, shaking.
She couldn't have been much older than Cara or Noah.
Bending down, Sam placed hands on her shoulders. "Hey," he said in a soft voice. "Hey you're okay. It's okay. I've got you."
Not caring at all he was a stranger, the little girl reached forward and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, continuing to weep in fear. "Ayúdame!"
"I will. Okay? We're gonna get you of here, I promise." The two pulled away as the girl continued to wipe her eyes, sniffling, but a bit pacified by Sam's words.
"Do you speak English?" Sam asked the girl, softly. He had taken two years of Spanish at Stanford and was pretty rusty with it.
"Si. I mean yes."
"Good. Can you tell me your name?"
"It's Silvia," she said after a sniffle.
"Nice to meet you, Silvia. My name is Sam. This is Andy."
Silvia observed both of them. "Hola," she responded softly. "What happened? Where am I?" She asked.
"Silvia, what's the last thing you remember?" Sam asked.
She frowned and started to cry. "I don't know."
"Hey, it's okay. Think."
"I went to bed. Then I had a weird dream, and then woke up here to some man dressed weird was hurting me."
"How was he dressed?" Sam asked.
"He looked like he was from the olden days. And then he just disappeared."
It sounded like a ghost.
Sam nodded. "Listen, Silvia, this isn't going to be easy to hear, but that man you saw? He as a ghost."
"What?"
Silvia hadn't been the one to ask the question, but instead Andy. In fact, he looked more surprised than the little girl. She didn't actually look all that phased.
With a deadpan look, Sam turned to Andy. "Dude." Sam and Dean had both sat Andy down had given him the "supernatural talk".
Andy shrugged. "What? It's still trippy to hear you say that."
Sam rolled his eyes, ignoring the other man. "Silvia?"
"He was a ghost?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah. Ghosts are real."
Sam was surprised when she let out a small chuckle. "Well I guess my nana was always right."
Upon seeing her crack a small smile, he knew the kid was going to be okay. He would make sure of that.
"I'm sending it to you now," Bobby said.
"Alright." Dean clicked his phone of speaker and placed it on the hood of the car, next to a map he had spread out.
Beside him, Cara peeked at the picture on the phone. It was a map of the United States, the western half vaguely circled in black marker.
"This is it. All demon signs and omens over the past month," Bobby supplied, explaining the picture.
Dean stared incredulously at the picture and then his own unmarked map. "Are you joking? There's nothing here."
"Exactly."
He wanted to throw his hands up. "Well, come on, there's gotta be something. What about the normal low level crap? You know like possessions and exorcisms?"
"That's what I'm telling you. There's nothing. It's completely quiet."
Dean felt himself starting to get worked up again. "Well how the hell am I supposed to find Noah and Sam! What just close our eyes and point?! And speaking of that, why are you still sitting at home when they're missing-"
Dean's phone beeped several times, indicating he had another call. "Ash is calling me. I'm putting you on hold and I'll call you back." Angrily pressing a few buttons, Dean answered from the Ivy-League-dropout-rock-groupie-computer-hacker he had met a few times. "Ash, what do you got?"
"Okay listen, it's a big negatory on Sam and your son-"
"Oh come on man! You've gotta us something! I'm looking at a three thousand mile haystack here!" Could at least one thing go right for him today?
"Listen, Dean, I did find something."
"Well?"
"I can't talk over the line, Dean."
"Come on, Ash, I really don't have time for this."
"Make time okay? Because this—not only does this help you find your brother and son, but this is huge. So get here. Now." With that, Ash hung up.
In aggravation, Dean growled and took Bobby off of hold. "That was Ash. He has something. Meet me at the Roadhouse."
"Wait Dean before you go I-"
Not bothering to listen to what Bobby had to say, Dean turned and looked at his daughter, who was standing there chewing her nails. "I guess we're going to the Roadhouse. Come on."
"That stubborn-" Bobby didn't finish his thought because Alice had entered the room.
Her hair was freshly washed and combed. She wore one of Dean's old band t-shirts that had been left there, and a pair of plaid pajama pants.
Stopping in surprise, Bobby put down the phone and turned to her, honestly surprised to see her awake and clean.
"Hey, Allie," he said nonchalantly.
If she noticed something was weird, she didn't let on, but Bobby suspected she was too tired and spacey to notice it.
"Hey Bobby," she said. She didn't say it like she needed anything, just remembered that greeting someone as something you did when you entered a room.
"You want something to eat?" He asked, trying to keep his voice light. She had no idea that her son was missing, and Bobby was concerned for her wellbeing while she was in such a delicate state.
"Uh...I'm not really that hungry…"
"Come on. I'll make you some eggs," Bobby said, not accepting her answer.
"O-kay," she said robotically, following him into the kitchen.
"Sit," he said and she did.
Turning back to the stove, Bobby couldn't believe that he was cracking and scrambling eggs when Sam and Noah were missing and Dean was going out of his mind.
But still, he could not leave Alice as she was.
When the breakfast was done, Bobby decided he couldn't sit in his house any longer. He grabbed his phone and told Alice he was going to make a phone call. She nodded but didn't look up from her plate. Through the backdoor, Bobby made sure he could see her through the glass. She was moving around the eggs with the spoon he had given her-didn't even trust her to use a fork-but she seemed occupied for a while.
The first person Bobby tried to call as Seth Sutton. From what he had heard and seen, Seth was the most likely to help out of his siblings. Unfortunately, after several beeps, an automated voice confirmed that the number had been disconnected.
Taking a deep breath, Bobby typed in another number and gave it a shot. It rang twice before someone picked up. "Ghostbusters Incorporated. You call 'em, we salt 'em."
Before Bobby could even register his confusion, a voice appeared in the background. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Merrill give me my phone and go pack the car. Hello? Who is this?" Piper asked gruffly.
"This is Bobby Singer-"
"Singer...you were at my Mom's funeral, weren't you?"
"Yes. That's right."
"What do you want?" She asked shortly.
"Listen I need your-"
"Don't you dare say you need my help."
"Piper-"
"You know, you people have a lot of nerve to call me."
"Please just-"
"No, you listen to me. Nothing good has ever happened when I've gotten a call from any of you Mercers and Winchesters. You just use me and my brother as extra hands whenever you get yourselves in a sticky situation and have never helped us in return."
"I tried Seth's number and he didn't answer-"
"That's what you took from what I just said? Jesus the world really does revolve around Dean fucking Winchester and Alice fucking Mercer. Seth is backpacking through Western Europe or whatever the hell. All I know is that he is just fed up with their bullshit as much as I am."
"Piper, please, Alice is your family-"
"That's bull. My family is my daughter and Seth-sometimes, depending on how pissed off at him I am. So you-especially you of all people-don't get to ask me anything. I mean who even are you?"
"I'm a man whose family is in danger."
There was a cynical scoff. "You're a stranger to me. Just a senile old man who I met once at Janet's fucking funeral-"
"Don't talk about her like that-"
"Who the hell are you to tell me which way I should talk and feel about that woman? You barely knew her."
A combination of the stress of taking care of Alice, taking heat from Dean, and worry about Sam and Noah finally imploded with Jan.
It always Jan.
"Now hold on a minute here, Piper. You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. You didn't talk to your mother for years and showed up when she died. I was the one that was there for her, all those years. So don't pretend like you have some claim on her." The words tumbled out of him, reaching an intensity the man hardly ever reached-one that had been reserved for John Winchester.
There was silence for several seconds. "Well, whatever you are, you were never as good as my father. Don't ever call this number again. Fuck you."
Neither was sure who was the first to hang up, but Bobby didn't move the phone from his ear, just stared off into his scrapyard. The spring weather was still a bit chilly, but mixed with the sun beating down, he suddenly felt very hot.
He let himself stew in anger, wanting to chuck his phone until he couldn't see it anymore. He wanted to shake Alice and snap her out of her funk. He wanted to scream to the heavens.
He wanted Jan to be there.
But she wasn't.
Gritting his teeth, Bobby thought about the night he drank Four Roses with Jan.
"I'm talking about me, Bobby. My kids won't even talk to me. The last time I saw Piper and Olivia was at their Dad's funeral."
Olivia.
He didn't know much about her, other than that she had some questionable morals and was a bit of a hypocrite, but who wasn't?
Returning to the house, Bobby found Alice in the same place, evidence that she had at least taken a few bites. As he breezed past her into his study, she didn't even notice.
It only took a few clicks of his laptop before Bobby had a name, address, and most importantly—a phone number.
Returning to his place outside, making sure he could see Alice and she couldn't hear him, he called the number, sending up a Hail Mary as this was his last resort.
A soft voice on the other end answered.
"Are you Olivia Skozen?"
There was hesitation. "Who wants to know?"
"My name is Bobby Singer. And I need your help. Your cousin, Alice, is not well and I need someone to take care of her while I help because I need to go take care of her children-Cara and Noah-from demons."
There was a large swallow. "Demons?" Olivia asked, softly, balking.
"Yes. I know you haven't hunted for awhile. I'm not asking you to. I am asking-no. Begging you to just look after Alice. That's all. If you do this for me, I'll be indebted to you for life."
There was a quiet sigh.
"I know, Olivia, I know. You don't know me from Adam, but my family is in danger and I can't sit here knowing something bad can happen to them. And if something does happen to them, I'll never be able to forgive myself."
Half expecting a swear filled tirade like from her sister, Bobby was about to give up and hang up the phone when he heard Olivia say "Okay."
"What?"
"Okay. I'll help."
"You will?"
"Yeah. I'll be there."
After arrangements were made, Bobby profusely thanked Olivia and proceeded to go into the house, to find Alice had eaten most of her eggs.
Noah had armed himself with an iron rod, which was probably part of a fence or trellis at some point. He had used it to save a blonde woman named Lily who was being chased by a ghost, who didn't know whether to be disturbed by the colonial looking ghost with a broom or the very real kid with a metal stick.
Lily was a lone wolf and not much of a kid person, but decided she couldn't leave this boy alone by himself, especially with the nonsense he was spouting about ghosts and demons.
"Kid, where are your parents?" Lily eventually asked, when Noah began to tell her about this time a ghost had almost drowned his sister.
"Dunno. Where are yours?" He shot back, to let her know how ridiculous her question was, considering neither of them had any idea where they were.
"Got it, smart ass," she muttered under breath.
They continued to walk in silence until they heard a man shouting. "Anybody else out here?"
Lily and Noah looked at each other, appearing in what appeared to be the center of the town, just as another crew did.
The duo slowly approached the strangers. A dark skinned man in army fatigues approached them, holding a shovel as a weapon. "Hey," he said, letting the tool drag on the ground. With him were a woman with a round face and a curly haired boy around Noah's age. "I'm Jake," he said. "That's Ava." He pointed to the woman. "And Bryce," he said, referring to the boy.
"I'm Lily."
"Noah," Noah introduced himself. He looked at Bryce. The boy was looking around in fear, a hand clutched tightly to Ava.
"Okay," Jake said. "We're all clueless, but do either of you guys have any idea what the hell is going on here?"
Lily gave a pointed look to Noah, seeing everyone look at him expectantly. It was weird to see so many adults wait for him to explain something they didn't know.
"Well uh...like I was telling Lily here...ghosts are real. And so are demons."
Jake's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "Well I wasn't expecting that."
Noah nodded. "My family hunts monsters." He held up the iron rod. "That's why I knew this would keep the ghosts away. They hate iron. And salt. But I didn't have any of that."
"Kid, how old are you?" Jake asked.
"I'm ten," Noah responded, suddenly feeling small again. He could tell how wildly different he was acting from Bryce, who was likely the same age as him. "But look where we are. Does that really matter right now?"
Jake conceded that. "Fine, kid. Since apparently you're the expert, what do we do?"
It was nearly night by the time Olivia arrived.
In the dusk of the setting sun, Bobby was sitting out front, a beer in hand-he needed to take the edge off but didn't want to take anything stronger-and Alice was sleeping on the couch inside. He checked on her every five minutes. While he was sitting out there, a red compact car rolled it's way up the drive.
The car parked close to the house and the lights cut off. A second later, the driver door opened and a woman swung out of it. She came around to the front and Bobby could see her properly for the first time.
She didn't look at all how Bobby would've imagined Janet Sutton's daughter.
Olivia was skinny and petite. She wore a light pink sundress with a modest neckline and a soft white sweater over it. She wore ballet flats on her feet. Shiny blonde hair was curled and pulled halfway back.
She looked like look an idealized version of what a little girl who loved Barbie's thought women were like.
Bobby couldn't believe this woman had ever been a hunter.
It also made it difficult to believe that she had stolen her sister's husband.
But he supposed looks could be deceiving.
Hitching her little white purse further up her arm, Olivia locked her car and carefully treaded over the gravel, towards the house. She reached the bottom of the stairs and stood there, unsure of what to do.
Standing, Bobby met her on the stairs, and pulled her into a hug. He wasn't touchy-feely and she didn't seem like much of a hugger, but he was so grateful that she was there he couldn't stop himself.
Olivia politely returned the hug. "Nice to meet you," she said.
"Thank you so much for coming."
She nodded. "It's the least I could do."
He stood up and ushered her inside. "Please, please come in."
Olivia followed him into the house and looked around, but didn't say anything. They moved into the living room/study and she stopped, seeing her cousin sleeping on the couch.
She turned to Bobby, not sure what to say. "What's wrong with her? Is she sick?" He hadn't been specific over the phone, but it had sounded urgent.
Bobby sighed. "She's just not herself. Been acting strange."
Olivia glanced at her cousin sideways. "And she's not…"
"No she's not possessed. Nothing like that. I think something in her mind just snapped. She's been under a lot of pressure lately."
She nodded, looking down at the dark wood, not exactly sure how to say what she wanted to. "Listen...I uh...saw on the news what happened. Is it true?"
"It's...complicated. She was shot, yes, but not by Dean. And he didn't kidnap the kids. She was the one that took them without telling anyone." Bobby glanced at Alice. "Honestly, she shouldn't be around the kids right now. I don't trust her to keep them safe. And I don't trust her to keep herself safe, either."
"What do you mean by that?" Olivia asked.
Bobby shrugged helplessly. "Well, she took the kids and didn't tell anyone. We only found them because Cara called us. When we found them, they were scared of her. She shot both Sam and Dean and then I had to shoot her in case she was going to do something else crazy. Then I find her in a hospital in the psych ward with doctors telling me she needs to be evaluated. I get her here and she's all depressed, will barely eat, spends most of her time sleeping. And now Noah and Sammy are missing and I need to find them, but I couldn't leave her alone or take her with me!"
He took a deep breath and turned a bit red. "Sorry. That was a bit too much."
Brow furrowed, Olivia stepped forward and took Bobby's hand in one of hers. "Are you okay?"
"What?"
"You've been taking care of everyone else. Has anyone been taking care of you?" Bobby couldn't think of the last time someone asked if he was okay-his brain couldn't even compute the information.
"That's not what I'm worried about right now."
Olivia nodded and pulled her hand away, changing the subject. "You know...how Alice is acting...it sounds a lot like our Grandma Julia."
"Who?"
"Alice's and my grandmother. Umm...Jan and Sherry's mother? She had bipolar disorder and early onset dementia. She'd have these big plans and start all these projects. It would be like that for weeks and months. And then suddenly, she wouldn't get out of bed, would barely eat. After a while, she began to forget how to get to the store, forget that she left the stove on, and even forget our names after a while." Olivia gave a small smile, like she was remembering something from a long time ago. "Wow. I forgot how fun she used to be."
The young woman sobered for a minute. "Anyways...I just know stuff like that can be genetic sometimes." She saw Bobby's horrified face and backpedaled a little bit. "She's fine. Alice isn't gonna be like that. Listen, you go do what you need to do, and I'll stay and wait with her. Okay?"
Knowing that Olivia was here for exactly that reason, Bobby still felt hesitant to leave, now that the time had actually come.
Olivia saw the hesitation. "I'll take care of her. Okay?"
Bobby didn't know what others like Piper or Alice saw in this woman's eyes when they spoke to her, but Bobby saw compassion and genuineness.
Even this woman wasn't trustworthy to others, Bobby had no choice but to trust her.
As Bobby gathered his things, Alice was still sound asleep on the couch. Nearby, Olivia had made a space for herself at his desk. She had found interest in an old Bible that was written in Latin.
"You know, I have some in English if you want."
Olivia shook her head, turning the page. "This one is fine."
"Can you read that?"
She nodded.
"You can read Latin?"
"Yeah. I'm fluent in it," she said, like it was no big deal.
This girl was just full of surprises apparently.
Coming to stand over Alice, Bobby bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. For the amount of grief she had put all of them through, she should've been disowned and thrown out of the family. But that's what family was. You didn't turn your back on them, even when they did crazy, stupid shit.
"They're lucky to have you, Bobby," Olivia said, looking up from the page she was reading. She nodded. "Go ahead. I'll hold it down here."
And with that, Bobby found himself on the road.
Sam was keeping a steady pace, with Silvia a little bit behind him. She didn't seem to want to get too far from one of them, and had decided to glom onto Sam.
Even further behind them, Andy was complaining about how much they had been walking, consistently suggesting they find a place to spend the night, also complaining that his slide on shoes were not "equipped for the terrain".
"Tonto," Silvia muttered to herself.
Sam didn't learn that in any of his Spanish classes, but could tell from the tone it was not a compliment. Still, it made him crack a smile. He liked that little girl.
They reached what looked like the town square, and Sam felt himself tensing when he saw a collection of silhouettes sitting underneath the bell tower that was a decent amount of yards away.
They weren't ghosts. Ghosts didn't hang out in gangs and certainly didn't spend most of their time visible.
So either it was demons or others like him.
Alerting Silvia and Andy to the others, Sam slowly approached them. "Who's there?" He asked, raising the plank of wood he had procured.
One of the silhouettes stood, wielding some sort of weapon. "Who are you?"
Bristling at the size of the shadow, Sam raised his own weapon slightly. "I'm Sam. I have a child with me so don't do anything stupid."
The silhouette dropped down their weapon. "Well we have you beat. Got two kids. Name's Jake by the way."
Two kids?
One couldn't possibly be—
"Uncle Sam?"
One of the smaller shadows approached him. And as it got closer, in the moonlight, Sam could see the shock of dark hair and bright eyes.
"Noah?"
The young boy barreled towards his uncle, as Sam bent down, catching Noah as the two collided into a hug, hanging onto each other.
A moment passed and Sam placed his hands on either side of his nephew's face. "Are you okay?"
Noah nodded, breathless. "Yeah. I had a run in with some ghost, but I took care of it."
"But you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good." He held up the iron rod. "Even found a weapon."
"Good. Smart. So, who's everyone else?"
Noah motioned towards the group. "I ran into Lily first. Then we found Jake, Ava, and Bryce—"
"Ava?" Sam said, moving past his nephew. He recognized the woman with a cherubic face. It as another person who had powers like him. But she was someone who had disappeared months back, without a trace. "Where have you been this whole time?"
"What time? I woke up here a few hours ago?"
"Ava," Sam began slowly. "You've been gone for five months. My brother and I have been looking for you everywhere."
Ava got a weird little smile on her face. "Okay, that's impossible, because I just saw you two days ago."
"You didn't. I'm sorry," Sam replied.
Her face scrunched up. "But that makes no sense. That's not possible but—oh my God! My fiancée! Brady! If I've been missing for that long, he must be freaking out!"
Noah felt sick in the pit of his stomach. He remembered hearing about her, but hadn't put the pieces together of who she was until now.
"Well, Ava…" Sam didn't finish his thought before Ava began to cry, understanding what he meant.
"God today is just the worst," Andy moaned at the same intensity as Ava.
The weeping woman stopped and looked at him in confusion.
Realizing how dramatic he was being, he held up a hand. "Hi. Andy. Also freaking out."
"So you're his uncle?" Jake asked, thumbing back towards Noah.
Sam nodded.
"Well you wanna confirm the crazy he's been spouting for two hours? He says you guys hunt monsters?"
"Unfortunately, that's all true. What else has he told you?"
"Not much else other than that."
"So, what are we all doing here? A few hours ago, I was in San Diego," Lily interjected.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I went to sleep last night in Afghanistan," Jake added.
Sam looked at the motley crew around them. "Let me guess, you're all twenty three?"
Everyone nodded.
"And Bryce? How old are you?"
"Ten," he said quietly. Noah and Silvia were both ten.
"Well, we're all twenty-three and they're all ten. And we all have abilities."
"What?" Jake asked.
Sam looked around the skeptical group. "It all started a little over a year ago? You found out you could do things? Things you didn't think were possible? See, I have these visions. I see things before they happen."
"Yeah, me too," Ava added.
Andy started to ramble. "Yeah and I can put thoughts in people's heads. Like make them do stuff. But don't worry, I don't think it works on you guys. Oh, but get this—I've been uh practicing. Training my brain. Like meditation. So now, it's not just thoughts I can beam out but images too. Like anything I want. Bam! People see it. This one guy I know—total dick, right? I used it on him. Gay porn. All hours of the day. It was like…you should have seen the look on his face…" Andy trailed off, remembering there were children there.
"Uh but you see kids, there's nothing wrong with being gay. And porn is a perfectly healthy part of—"
"Andy, shut up," Sam said.
"Right. I'm uh, just gonna go sit over there." He awkwardly shuffled through the group, everyone making a wide berth for him.
"Umm I get these visions, sort of, I guess. I uh hear things that can happen. Like if someone's gonna get in a car crash, I'll hear metal and glass breaking. Or if someone's in trouble I'll hear them screaming. And I guess I can make other people hear things, but I can't do it on purpose." Sam placed a hand on Noah's shoulder, knowing he was still feeling guilty for what he did to Cara when he was possessed.
"I can…I guess read minds. I know what people are thinking. And kind of like Andy…kind of…I can make them think certain things," Silvia piped up.
Lily animated in frustration. "So you're telling me all of you go 'Simon says give me your wallet?' and they do? And you have visions? That's great! I'd kill for something like that."
Sam held out a hand to her, "Lily, listen—"
She stepped back. "No it's not. I touch people, right? And their hearts stop. I can barely leave my house. My life's not exactly improved. So screw you. I just wanna go home."
"And what? We don't?" Jake asked.
Lily turned to him. "You know, what, don't talk to me like that, not right—"
"Can we not fight? I don't like fighting. Don't like it!" Bryce wailed, causing the area around them begin to shake.
Both Lily and Jake paused, realizing it was caused by the curly-haired boy.
"Can you both calm down?" Silvia asked. "When he gets scared, things blow up."
That certainly diffused any fight left in Lily or Jake.
"Okay guys," Sam said. "Whether or not we like it, we're all here, and so we all have to deal with this."
"And who brought us here?" Andy asked, from where he sat nearby.
"It's…less of a who and more of a what."
"What does that mean?" Ava asked.
"Well, it's a demon," Sam informed.
"Told all of you," Noah muttered, to an array of dirty looks.
Impala screeched to a halt in front of the Roadhouse. If Cara hadn't been wearing her seatbelt, she would've slammed face first into the dashboard.
Foot pressed against the brake, car still in drive, Dean and Cara were both frozen. "What the hell?" He whispered, seeing the charred from of the building the only thing standing. Thin plumes of smoke still came from the pile of rubble.
Getting out of the car, Cara approached the edge of the debris. "Oh my God."
Putting the car in park, Dean in shock, finally climbed out, but didn't move any closer. "Ellen! Ash?" He called, hoping to see someone.
Moving closer, Cara squinted, seeing something shiny. Among the rubble, she realized the shiny object was a black watch. Bending down, she reached into the soot, and grabbed at the watch, curious. As she pulled, it was revealed the watch was attached to a charred, burned hand. As Cara dropped the hand, the smell of burning flesh hit her. She had never smelt something like that before, but there was no doubt in her mind what it was. Scrambling to the side, Cara felt onto her knees and wretched onto the ground, whole body heaving, trying to expel the smell and image of Ash's burnt arm.
Dean was beside Cara in an instant, one hand rubbing her back, the either cupping her hair behind her face. Looking at what had made her vomit, Dean sighed. "Oh Ash, damn it."
Cara spent a few more seconds emptying her stomach. When she was done, she sat up, put her glasses up onto her head and wiped her face with her shirt. She turned to look at her father, but didn't say anything, just shook her head helplessly.
Dean nodded. "I know. I know." He pulled her into his shoulder so she was no longer able to see the sight of Ash's burnt body.
Standing, Dean was still holding Cara, her face buried in shoulder. Normally, she would've complained that she wasn't a baby and that she could walk. The fact that she didn't even move, just wrapped her arms around him tighter, that was a sign she had been through too much.
He placed her in the car. "Don't look," he said as he slammed the door and went around to the driver's side.
Once he pulled away and was on the main road, he told her it was okay to look.
Next, he called Bobby. "Where the hell are you?" Dean asked.
"I'm on my way to the Roadhouse—"
"Well don't bother. We just got there. Ash and Ellen are dead."
"What are you talking about?"
"The whole place was burnt to the ground."
"Oh my God," Bobby muttered softly.
"Yeah so we're headed back to your place now."
"Dean wait before you do—"
Dean slammed a hand against the steering wheel, scaring Cara. "I don't have time for this shit, Bobby! My son and brother are missing and you've been sitting at home with your feet up!"
"If you just let me explain—"
"I don't wanna hear excuses. I'll be there soon." With that, Dean tossed the phone in the back seat, prepared to ignore any calls from Bobby until he got there.
They continued barreling down the road and after awhile, Dean felt a nudge and his arm. It was Cara, leaning her head against it. "You're the only one left," Cara muttered quietly.
"Shh," Dean said. Rearranging, Dean pulled Cara closer to him and wrapped an arm around her, the other on the wheel.
BREAK
With a gasp, Alice jerked, realizing she wasn't in a motel room or hospital bed. She was still at Bobby's. And judging by how dark the room was, it was night.
Rubbing her head, she banished the demons from her mind and blinked several times. From the corner of her eye, there was a light coming from the desk.
Turning to acknowledge Bobby, Alice paused and frowned.
Instead of the ball capped man, it was a young blonde woman.
Alice shook her head and blinked several times, making sure she wasn't dreaming or hallucinating like she was in the hospital.
"What is going on?" Alice asked.
The woman looked up. "Oh! You're awake. Do you want something to eat or drink?"
"Where's Bobby?" Alice was up on her feet, edging her way towards the kitchen.
"He…went to go help a friend on a hunt."
"Olivia?"
The woman nodded. "Right. I'm your cousin."
"Uh-huh. And what are you doing here?"
"Bobby called me," Olivia admitted.
Alice was definitely dreaming or on drugs. There was no way this was real.
"Why would he do that? Have you two even talked?"
"He didn't want you to be alone."
"He wouldn't leave me. Not without telling me."
"It was an emergency."
"Who was he helping?"
"Someone named Ellen, I think?
Alice nodded. Okay, that could be a truth. "How long have I been sleeping for?"
"A long time."
Also, that could be a truth.
"Lynch, Kentucky is a far drive. I know I haven't been sleeping for that long."
Olivia paled. "I was on a trip."
"Yeah sure. Well, why are you here?"
"He called me."
"Why did you come, Olivia?"
Olivia picked at a fuzz on her sweater, and glanced down at the Bible. "I just wanted to help you."
Even in her current state, Alice knew that was a lie. "Why?"
"I wanted a change of scenery?" Even Olivia didn't believe that one, even if she was on vacation. Not to South Dakota.
"Why?" Alice yelled, standing over her cousin.
"I needed to atone for my sins, okay?"
"What sins?" Alice asked. She dropped down onto the seat opposite of the desk, across from her cousin.
"Cliff cheated on me."
"Am I supposed to feel bad for you?" Her voice was dripping in acid, much more emotional than it had been in a while.
"No. No. But it really forced me to take a good, hard look in the mirror, you know. What Cliff did to me really made me see what I had done to Piper. And it made me realize all the wrongs I need to make right."
"So I'm just a box for you to check to make you feel good about yourself?"
"It's not that. I walked away from my entire family. I was so mad at my mother for something that might not have even been her fault. I picked a man over my sister. A man that perverted my view of God."
"There's no God," Alice replied.
Olivia was shaking her head with a small smile. "Now that is a lie."
"Why should I believe in him, huh? After everything he's done? After what he's turned me into?"
"You're not broken, Alice."
The dark haired woman leaned forward. "You don't know what I've done."
That irritating sad smile was still there. "You don't know what I've done. Remember, I was in the hunting life a hell of a lot longer than you've been."
"Huh."
"What's so funny?"
"You swore. I can't remember the last time you've done that."
Olivia thought for a moment. "Huh. Neither can I."
"How'd it feel?"
"What? Swearing?"
"Yeah."
"Good, actually. Cathartic."
A contemplative silence overtook the room for several moments, as Olivia continued to page through the Latin Bible and Alice turned her hands over and over, looking at her wrists.
"We were always trying to be the good girls, weren't we?" Alice asked.
"Trying to impress people that we would never be good enough for," Olivia commiserated.
"Living lives that weren't our own," Alice added.
The two chuckled like little school girls, before Olivia stopped, looking at her cousin.
"You know, you figured it out way before me. You got out from under your parent's thumb. I was stuck for so long. Still feel like I am a lot of the time." She shook her head. "I still live in that damn house. I needed to go on a trip my myself. This little B&B in Wisconsin. Cause you know, Cliff sleeps on the couch most of the time and I was tired of seeing him—"
"Cliff still lives there?"
Olivia nodded. "Yeah. Some nights he's not there—"
"Why didn't you kick him to the curb?"
"He's the pastor of the church and—"
"Olivia."
Olivia looked down at the Bible she was reading, edging through the pages. "If I kick him out, what do I have? All I am is the cheating Pastor's wife. If I stay with him, people feel bad for me. If I leave him people think I'm a charlatan."
"So you're just gonna live in limbo?"
"What else can I do?"
"Leave."
"It's not that easy…"
"Why? Pack your things. Take what's yours and split. What's the point in being miserable?"
"Cause at least if I'm miserable there, I still have a house and a husband."
Leaning across the counter, Alice reached for Olivia's hands, clasping them in her own. "Okay, as someone who spent their entire childhood miserable, getting pregnant was honestly the best thing that could have happened to me. It let me get away from my crappy life with Sherry and Jim. It wasn't easy, though. I had some really dark days for a while. But, now? I have two beautiful kids and a man I love. And that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't left. Leaving changed everything."
"Was it hard?" Olivia asked in a small voice.
"It wasn't easy," Alice offered. "But it's worth it."
"But you had my mom after I left. I won't have anyone."
Alice closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh. "You'll have me."
"You're just saying that."
"You deserve second chance."
"But what do I do? I haven't talked to Seth in years. Piper hates me. And Merrill. Poor poor Merrill…how could I ever make any of that right?"
"I feel like we've always been the same, Liv. You have to make amends to your siblings and niece. I have to make them to my children, Dean, Sam, Bobby. And honestly, I don't know if they'll ever forgive me. But I still have to try. So do you."
Her words didn't do much to soothe Olivia. "Well shit, that didn't help at all."
"What was that?" Alice asked, with a little smile.
"I said your advice doesn't fucking help at all," Olivia responded with a wider smile.
"Well shit that fucking sucks," Alice replied.
"Well fuckity fuck FUCK!" Olivia yelled, while smiling widely.
As they were in a fit of hysterical laughter, the front door burst open, both women immediately on their feet. Olivia looked around for something to defend herself with, but could not. Heavy boot steps clomped across the floor, before Bobby emerged, dropping his back in the corner of the room.
"You're back early?" Olivia, said, ending it with a question.
"The Roadhouse—where my friends live—got burnt down. They're dead."
Both hands covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry."
"Also, Dean's on his way here with Cara."
She nodded. "Oh, okay."
"Not 'oh okay'. He doesn't know Alice is here."
As he said that, Alice said "What?" She was going to see her daughter.
"Well, where does he think she is?" Olivia asked.
"The hospital. I haven't really told him." Bobby didn't mention that Dean hadn't really asked about Alice.
Olivia frowned. "Well, doesn't he care?"
Bobby nodded, glancing at Alice. "He does. He does," he assured.
Alice shook her head and backtracked. "Wait. Wait. Olivia, you told me Bobby went to help Ellen." Alice turned to Bobby. "Is Ellen dead?" She knew the woman lived at the Roadhouse.
Bobby hadn't been counting on Alice being awake, in addition to finding out some of his friends were dead as not a good mix for withholding the truth. "I think so."
"And you said Dean is coming here with Cara?"
Bobby swallowed. "Yeah."
"Well, where the hell is Noah?"
She received strange glances from both Olivia and Bobby.
"Where is my son, Bobby?!"
Olivia and Bobby looked at each other. They hadn't been prepared for this scenario. "Alice, why don't you sit down? We have something to tell you."
Lily had heard enough.
She had found herself in some ghost town, saddled with a delusional kid holding what was essentially a vampire stake.
Apparently there as some apocalyptic demon army she may or may not be the general of. Definitely a may not from her. She was going back to San Diego to her reclusive lifestyle.
At least that way, she wouldn't hurt anyone.
As she stalked through the woods, she thought of Mia.
God.
It hurt so much to think about her girlfriend.
It had been a normal day, blurred among many.
Mia had come home. Lily kissed her. Mia gasped. Lily thought she was excited.
But instead?
Mia dropped dead.
Heart attack, they said.
Shook hands with a neighbor?
Heart attack, they said.
Brushed by someone in the grocery store?
Heart attack, they said.
Lily knew that was bullshit.
Everyone around her wasn't safe. For godsakes there were kids here. Those three kids—she hated they were there. Especially that Noah kid. She didn't know if it was cause she was stuck with him for the longest, but he was smart and kind. And yet, he had seen some shit. Maybe in the same way, Lily had been like him. Until Mia had died, she had been a carefree, innocent person, enjoying all life had to give her.
But then?
She had killed Mia and everything had shattered.
Lily had never been able to put the pieces back together.
So when she went stalking in the woods while everyone was sleeping, she almost entirely wanted to go home, but a little bit wanted to be with Mia.
So when a figure she didn't even care to name came out of the woodwork, Lily stood.
There was a slash on her chest.
She tried not to scream.
But she did.
At least she'd be with Mia.
She was laughing hysterically.
Hysterically, meaning enough to rival the fucking Joker. Alice was bent in half, sitting in a chair. Her arms were around her knees as she alternated between laughing and coughing like she was about to throw up. Bobby and Olivia watched her, someone wondering at which point they needed to call the paramedics. This went on for about a minute, before she straightened, felt a few more minutes of slight chuckling before she straightened.
"So more fucking demons?" She settled for.
Pale, Bobby nodded.
"When will they be here?" Olivia asked Bobby. She was perturbed by how alright her cousin seemed while they were talking, but was now melting down.
She'd seen that before.
"Soon. Very soon."
Within minutes, was what Olivia took that to mean.
"Hey? Do you wanna go upstairs?" Olivia asked to Alice.
"Get off me. I'm fine here."
"Alice, come on," Olivia said. "We can talk more up there."
"No. No. I wanna hear what Dean has to say!"
"Alice."
"My son is missing. Yeah lemme just sit upstairs."
As if on cue, the front door opened.
There was a lull from the trio in the living room.
"Bobby?" A deep masculine voice called.
Nearly tripping into the front hall, Bobby met Dean and Cara at the front door.
"Hey boy."
"You're serious? 'Hey' is all you have to say? You've been avoiding my calls—"
"Hey Dean."
Ceasing his angry assault, Dean stopped. Cara had stepped out from behind him.
Alice Mercer was here. She was wearing pajamas, but her hair looked great—if someone was to ask Dean later.
She looked hopeful. She stood like a shy, a hopeful thing.
And perhaps she got that when she heard:
"Alice?"
"Mom?
It's been a while since anyone has reviewed. Would love one.
Also love all y'all
V.