The city of Cordoba was crowded and hot in late July, leaving little room to weave between the tourist groups and the locals in the narrow streets. More than once, they had taken a wrong turn and ended up staring down another dead end before turning around and trying again to find the cathedral they were looking for. Sam was feeling irritable and snapped at Deanna more than once while she was surveying the map and pointing them in a new direction.
Cas had offered to go investigate herself, but Deanna had insisted they were going to be looking into this the human way and asked Cas not use her abilities until they knew it was safe. That was one of the reasons Deanna had agreed to actually get on a plane to get to Spain, aside from Sam having no confidence in Cas' timid acknowledgment that she hadn't ever flown across a sea before, and didn't know if it would be in violation of the curse Hera had placed on her to walk the Earth. Even Deanna had admitted it was probably a bad idea to test that, loathe as she was to get on a plane.
"Aren't the Men of Letters here gonna get pissy that we didn't officially log our visit?" Deanna asked as they walked down yet another street.
"If they find out," said Sam. He saw Eileen get distracted by someone trying to sell her something. She shook her head at the man before trying to push past him, and Sam stood back a moment so he could take hold of her hand as they stepped through the crowded plaza. He didn't immediately think about how that might add to the awkwardness that had grown between them, and when he started to he was reassured when Eileen gently squeezed his hand.
"We should've. Dad would know where we were, but he's gonna find out anyway if we get caught here," Deanna pointed out, continuing their conversation oblivious to Sam's distraction. "And chances are dicey that we're going to get any help from the MoL branch out here if we set something off. They're big on registering hunters, and making sure out of towners sign in."
"And if they found out what Cas was?" Sam asked. "We've been over this Deanna. Three times today, actually. Why are you so goddamn antsy?"
"I'm fine," Deanna muttered leading them into a right turn. When Sam saw another dead end he let out a groan and snatched the map from her.
"My turn," he said. Deanna tried to grab it back, and Sam lifted the paper over his head.
"Okay, that just isn't fair," said Deanna, glaring at him. Up at him, specifically, since he was almost a foot taller than she was, and there was no way she was going to be able to get the map back. It didn't stop her from trying, however, and Cas pulled her back when people started noticing her and Sam's squabble over it.
"What's going on?" Cas asked Deanna, who avoided her eyes. "Deanna, you've been leading us in circles all morning."
That brought Sam up short.
"Wait, what?" Sam said. "We've been walking for three hours through hundred degree heat on purpose?"
Deanna was staring down at her feet.
"I don't know, okay?" she said to Cas. "I just have a really bad feeling. Like if we go, everything's going to go wrong."
Cas reached out to put a hand on Deanna's cheek. Sam watched as his sister slowly looked up at her wife.
"It's going to be okay. I promise," Cas said. She leaned in and kissed Deanna, a peck on the lips and then on the forehead, standing on her toes to do so. Deanna spared a small smile at that, some of her anxious restlessness seeming to fade, if only a little. Cas looked up at Sam and caught him watching the two of them curiously, and then nodded her head towards the map in his hands. "Lead the way."
Sam looked down at the map, figured out where they were and then broke out in the correct direction. It was only another half an hour of walking before they finally came upon the cathedral. The size of it was incredible, and Sam felt humbled in its presence despite himself.
Once inside, they realized quickly they weren't going to be wandering off from the group to snoop around on their own, so they followed the group from place to place, all the while waiting for Cas to say something. Sam could see she was reaching out for something from her expression, but she wasn't finding it.
They finished the tour having found nothing, and quiet disappointment was evident on Cas' face.
"I can feel something here," she said at last. "But it is in the city itself, not the cathedral. And it's hard to pinpoint. There is no one location, only the potential of arising at any location and a strong pull to the Cathedral as the last point of manifestation. If I didn't know what to look for, I wouldn't notice it at all."
It was hard not to see the sheer relief on Deanna's face when she heard this. Sam frowned at his sister, wondering if this was all the result of a gut feeling, or if something else was going on here.
"I think we're in the right place," Sam said. "We don't have to go inside again, but listen to me Cas. Stop focusing on finding Raphael. Instead focus on something you want, and pray for it. That's what worked for that woman in 1917."
Cas closed her eyes, and started to do so. Sam watched Deanna's face as that discomfort returned. He could see her shifting from foot to foot, almost as though she wanted to take off running but didn't know why. She was staring at Cas as though she were trying to figure out some way to derail what was happening, but before she seemed to be able to come up with a plan, Cas' eyes opened and light shone out of them. It was a brief moment only, and her eyes snapped shut the next second after which an almost imperceptible pulse came off of her.
It seemed as though they were in Cordoba one moment, and then by the ocean the next. Sam peered around in confusion, glad to see that Eileen, Deanna, and Cas were still surrounding him, even though the crowded streets of Cordoba had been replaced by a sandy beach.
"Where are we?" Sam asked. Cas opened her eyes again and looked around.
"Bermuda," she said after a moment. Her eyes flicked up and focused on something in the distance.
"Why did you take us here?" asked Sam next. Cas just kept staring at one of the people on the beach a long ways from them. "Cas?"
"I didn't," she said. "I asked Raphael if any of my brothers and sisters were left alive to bring them to me."
Sam's blood ran cold. Cas was one thing. She was at the very least a known quantity in that she loved Deanna and she wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize that. Any other angel and all bets were off.
"Remember that friend I've been telling you about," Cas said quietly, and Deanna nodded, her eyes fixed on the same person that Cas was.
"I really don't think we should be here," said Deanna. "Cas-"
"I'm not leaving," said Cas fiercely. She started walking forwards and Deanna stumbled after her, something very much like fear seeming to grip her. Sam exchanged a glance with Eileen, who shook her head and then signed at him.
'We stay back. If they get in trouble, we can help them.'
'Surprise attack?'
'Exactly,' Eileen signed with a tight smile. 'You still have what we need? Just in case?'
Sam reached for his bag and found to his relief that the jar of holy oil that Bobby had ordered special was still there. He nodded.
'Follow my lead,' signed Eileen. She put on a bright sunny smile, took out her phone and started taking pictures of things, and then took Sam's hand. Sam caught on quickly and pretended to ooh and ahh over her pictures while keeping a covert eye on Deanna and Cas. He and Eileen followed from a distance behind, doing their best to appear just like a couple on holiday while Deanna and Cas closed in on a sunbathing man in sunglasses and Hawaiian style swim trunks. Sam clocked some kind of mixed drink in one hand that was half empty and seemed to have bits of candy bars instead of fruit stuck on the toothpick. He didn't look up until Cas had marched up to his feet.
Everything else happened so fast, Sam knew he couldn't have changed it even if he and Eileen had chased after Cas and Deanna. The sunbathing man looked up, lowered his sunglasses, and then snapped his fingers. It felt as though Sam had blinked and they were gone, and he suddenly was possessed with the oddest feeling that they had never been there at all. He pushed it aside, dismissing it for the trickery it was.
'What do we do now?' he signed at Eileen, panic starting to grip him. Eileen frowned and then pulled out her cellphone. She tossed it to him.
'We run up my phone bill,' she signed back to him. 'You get Bobby to tell you how to summon an angel. I'll go to the gift shop and see what I can find.'
A plan in place helped Sam regain his composure instantly, and he dialed Bobby even as Eileen started walking off. With any luck, they would get both Cas and Deanna back no worse for wear. As far as Sam saw it, there was no other option.