John continued to pace outside of the shop. He was sure that if anyone were to see him, they would think he was crazy. He watched as the group moved away from the window further into the store. Why were they trusting a witch? In the history of all of Earth, that was never a good idea.
John continued to pace, trying to feel the anger recede inside of him. He tried to convince himself that if he showed complete anger, the witch would show him the door herself, and there would be no way of watching her then. The last thing he needed was for the thing and witch to spend too much time together unwatched. Taking deep breaths, he shoved his anger into the back of his mind and walked back into the shop.
He traced the way down the aisles. He didn't see anything explicit, but it was only a matter of time. He saw the thing and witch sitting together at the front desk. It was reading while the witch was copying what he said down. Mary, Sam, and Dean were circling them, looking at their work. The blue-haired girl was missing.
"Where did the girl go?" he asked the group.
"She went to get more chairs," Sam said over his shoulder, paying attention to the work in front of them.
John went up to stand beside Mary, looking over what was going on. He felt he shift beside him but assumed it had to do with standing for a while. The sound of scraping filled the room as Emily dragged a couple of stools behind her. Everyone continued what there were doing, while Emily left and re-entered the room bringing more stools with her. Once there were enough chairs for everyone, she walked to the front of the shop, quickly coming back.
"I went ahead and locked the door, so no one should be coming in," Emily told the group. She pulled up a stool for herself up to the counter where everyone else had already sat down. "What do we know so far?"
"That whoever is the owner is a complete nerd," Dean commented. Castiel and Celine continued their progress. "It's just a bunch of information about herbs and whatnot. Many that don't exist anymore, so that's not any help."
The group watched as the two continued to work, in their own world practically. They had gone through several pages of notes before one of them acknowledged the group.
"Wait a second," Celine said. She reread the notes that she had written and turned back in forth between the last couple of pages. "I think this is a spell or at least an attempt at one." She held the pages out so that everyone could see. She continued as she points out aspects of the pages. "Here is the start of an 'ingredients' list followed by a bunch of instructions. In the end, there are some observations as to what happened."
Sam took the pages out of the table and looked at them. "I don't understand what the observations mean. It seems more like a coded message."
"It is. Symbology is very important. I wouldn't be surprised if they did this to keep others from reading it. I have some reference books in the back. I don't know if they go as far back as we're assuming these are from, but it might be a start since symbols don't change for just any reason."
Sam stood up and went behind the counter into the back room. Castiel and Celene continued what they were doing. A couple more pages in, Sam came back with a variety of books. Setting them down, the chose one from the top and started to read it. "These are quite in-depth," he stated to no one in particular.
He kept flipping through the book, trying to find a starting place. Dean groaned and picked one as well. Mary reached over her two boys and grabbed one as well. "What time period are we looking at?" she asked as she flipped through."
"Sanskrit was traced back to 2000 BC," Sam answered.
"Dude," Dean explained. "So this chick maybe four thousand years old?"
"That's kind of scary thought," Mary noted. "She's going to be very tricky."
"So... protective charms?" Emily asked. "Of all types?"
"That would be helpful," Sam responded.
Emily hopped out of her seat. She went to the back and brought out a couple of books, clothes, herbs, and measuring supplies. It took her three goes before she had everything she felt she needed. She spread the supplies out and stacked the books on top of each other. She opened up the top book up to a page and went to work.
John surveyed the room. The thing and the witch were continuing to read and write what the book said. Every couple of pages or so, the witch would hand pages to Mary, Sam, and Dean, who were cross-referencing what was being written. John noticed that the woman across the table was avoiding him at all costs, but he decided to ignore it. The girl beside him continued to make charms in sets of five. John took the opportunity to leave the counter and survey the store some more. No one was paying attention to him, so he slipped away.
It was hours later that they were interrupted by a ringing phone. Everyone jumped as they turned toward the object. Celine stood up and walked over to it. "Hello?... Hi, honey... Yeah, I'm still at the store. Something came up, and I wasn't able to leave... Yes, I'm staying seated... Can you bring us food?... Yeah, enough for nine people. Ten if you want to join us. Probably big portions since most of them are guys... Alright. Thanks a bunch... Love you too." She hung up and went back to the counter. She hopped back onto her stool and continued to work. Following her lead, the rest at the table did as well.
Two hours later, a knocking was heard on the door upfront. "I got it," Emily called over her shoulder as she already started walking to the door. They all hear the door unlocking and open. Following the sound was the aroma of food. As the door relocked itself, Emily returned, followed by a man with bright blonde hair. He carried a large casserole dish and brought it one of the tables. He walked around to Celine and wrapped his arms around her.
"What are y'all doing?" he asked, looking over the pages that Celine was writing.
"Translating that book and trying to figure out what it means," Celine responded.
"Why don't you just type it up? It would probably be easier."
"I'm not putting this disgusting trash on my computer. It would probably cause a virus."
Instead of responding, the man just simply chucked. He took off the backpack that he carried in. He took out packages of plates and napkins and a box of utensils. "It's late. You need to eat."
"Okay, just let us get to a stopping point first." She and Castiel continued until they got finished with the section of information they were copying. Afterward, she stacked the pages she was writing on and put them away. She motioned for Mary, Sam, and Dean to bring the books they had over to the table so the side table so they wouldn't get dirty. Emily was also quick to pack her stuff up and putting them to the side.
"Where did John go?' Mary asked.
Sam and Dean looked around. He was nowhere in sight.
"He was stalking around looking through my stuff," Celine said. "He's probably in the back right now."
The man was moving the casserole dish over to the counter and grabbed another stool. Emily came back to the table and tried to reassure them. "Don't worry. He'll probably come back once he smells Dan's food. He makes the best taco casserole."
"I'm flattered," Dan said as he passed plants around the counter as well as the utensils and napkins.
He unwrapped the dish, and the group was hit with the smell of the food. Almost simultaneously, their stomachs grumbled from not having eaten for the majority of the day. As predicted, John slowly meandered his way back to the rest of the group. He said right back on the table and rudely asked: "Who are you?" toward the stranger.
"I'm Dan, Celine's husband."
"Right," he responded with suspicion. Dan gave his wife a strange look to which she responded with a roll of her eyes.
Dab went ahead and served everyone a generous portion of his casserole. It was quiet while everyone dug into their food.
"That was delicious, man," Dean said in appreciation as he finished the last night.
"No problem," Dan said.
"I don't think I've ever had something that good," Mary commented. Sam nodded in agreement. "Where's the trash can?" she asked.
"It's in the back. I can take it out to the dumpster tomorrow," Celine answered.
Mary took everyone's plates and utensils and dumped them. She quickly returned and sat in the seat. As soon as she did, a yawn left here. "Sorry," she told the group.
"No worries," Emily told her, "We're all tired."
"I wouldn't mind calling it a night," Sam said. "How much more do we have of the book?"
"I would say that it will take an hour for us to finished," Castiel answered.
"Right, it shouldn't take too much more. That hard part is going to be deciphering what was said. Do you guys have any ideas?"
"The first real set of entries were different experiments that didn't go so well," Sam responded. "It was mostly tweaking the formula until that worked."
"After that," Dean continued, "it was mostly her trying to find a way to de-age herself. She's been slowly getting there but not quite finished."
"I assume that later on, we'll find out her latest spell to figure out what's she's doing," Mary theorized. "That will probably give us the most information about what we need to do."
"I made a bunch of hex bags, one of each for each of you," Emily informed them, bringing her completed ones over. "I have one against mind attacks, hexes, and a couple that should keep her from tracking you or sensing you if you're tracking her. I'm still pretty new to doing this, so it might not be perfect, especially against an experienced witch."
Dan butted in, completely confused as to what was going on. "What's going on? What exactly are you guys doing."
"We're saving the world, Dan," Emily said with a light in her eyes.
Dan gave her a blank stare before turning to his wife, who shrugged. "Kinda," she said. "We're trying to figure out how to stop another witch from killing people."
Dan sighed. "I knew my life would become complicated the moment I met you."
"Don't act like you don't love it."
"So, you really don't understand what's going on," John questioned Dan.
"Not really," he answered. "I was raised Christain and am still fairly active with the church. To be honest, I have no clue about half of what she says." At that, Celine just chuckled at him.
"And you don't care?" John asked.
"I don't see why I would. I was raised to be open-minded. It's not like she's hurting anyone, so I have no room to say anything."
Before John could ask another question, Sam interrupted. "When should we come back tomorrow?"
Celine took a minute to think about it. "Let's say about eleven. I'll be well-rested and able to work."
"Thanks for all your help."
"It's fine. I was glad to help you four. See you tomorrow." Celine hopped off her stool and stacked all of the papers. She bent over, pressed a few buttons. A safe door opened up and she put everything inside of it, before closing it again. "There, we shouldn't have to worry about that for the night. It's time for me to clean up and go to sleep. Now, shoo," saying the last part jokingly.
The group of five stood up and went to the front of the store. Emily followed after them. She hopped in front of them so she could open the door. She used them out, said a quick goodbye, and then locked the door behind them. The five all walked toward the Impala, getting into their usual seats and headed back to their motel.