AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really enjoyed all the comments for the last couple of chapters, so THANK YOU to everyone who left reviews! EmilyAnnMcGarrett-Winchester's succinct comment "Son of a bitch! So not good!" gave me a chuckle, I could hear it in Dean's voice! And Tumbler-Tidbits, your reviews just got better and better, I loved them, LOL!

Again, Content Warnings for swearing, violence, blood, angst...and Winchesters! Enjoy!

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Jervis and Dipper were laughing now. "Oh, this is a beauty. Mouthy little bitch really did shut the fuck up!" Jervis slapped his thigh.

Dipper went over to the table and picked up his chili dog, bringing it over to me. He leaned down, turning my arm slightly to direct the flow of blood dripping. He caught some of my blood on the end of the meat, and then lifted the chili dog up and took a huge bite. "Mmm, delicious!" He sneered. He dug his fingers into the gash on my arm again and spread the blood on the end of the hot dog, then tried to smear some on my lips. I screamed silently and moved my head away from him.

Dipper sucked the blood off of his fingers noisily, grinning at me.

The woman turned to him. "He's right, you are a filthy pig."

Dipper made pig noises as he wiped his hand on his shirt, leaving a smear of red.

"Clean her up. I'll finish this." The woman said briskly.

Jervis put his arm around her waist, drawing her close. "You're so sexy when you take charge, Ambrosia." He said throatily.

She shoved him away. "Let's get to work." She went over to the table and busied herself.

Jervis walked over to the chest of drawers and rooted around in the top one, then brought over a bandana. He tied it around the cut on my arm. "Don't have any witty remarks for me?"

"Fuck you!" I spat silently.

He laughed. "Oh, this is awesome!" He leaned down, resting his hands on his thighs, right in my face. He blinked, and his eyes turned black. "Can't say anything about the famous Winchesters now, can ya? They're not going to rescue you, you know. They don't care about you, you've been nothing but a drain on them ever since you were born."

"Shut up!" I mouthed, fresh tears coming to my eyes.

"Imagine how disappointed your daddy was when he realized what a failure you are. He tried to train you, but it never took, because you're just a loser. All you're good for is cooking and cleaning and grunt work. And they can find anyone to do that." He straightened up.

Dipper came over holding his knife and placed the tip under my chin. "Let me do a little more carving, it's been a long time since I cut up a live human body and I'm out of practice." He pressed the point into my skin and I gasped from the pain.

Jervis knocked his hand away, his eyes changing back to normal. "You've done enough, you worm!"

"But I wanna-"

Jervis rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know, you want to get revenge, but you're forgetting about the bigger picture!"

The woman turned, putting her hands on her hips. "Would you two stop your damned bickering?"

Suddenly the lamp in the corner flickered and there was a gust of air that made the candle flames jump.

A man appeared in the middle of the room, and everyone froze. He was tall and broad shouldered, wearing a black suit, with dark blond hair slicked back from his face. Goosebumps rippled across my skin.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?" The man boomed, stomping over to me. He reached down and touched the bandana on my arm, and my skin crawled at his touch. "What have you done?"

Jervis and Dipper were both staring at the floor, their heads lowered and their shoulders drooping. "I'm sorry, m'lord," Dipper said mournfully. "It was his idea, I was just following his orders."

"You lying sack of shit!" Jervis hissed.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The big man roared, waving his arm. Jervis and Dipper flew across the room, Dipper crashing into the bookshelf and Jervis hitting the wall opposite.

"Why are you here?" The man pointed at the woman, who was staring at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"I, uh, Jervis asked m-me for help, he-he needed a spell to keep her quiet." The woman stuttered nervously.

"You couldn't keep a fourteen year old girl quiet?" The tall man sneered. "You're even more incompetent than I thought."

"She kept repeating the exorcism prayer, m'lord." Dipper whined. "She's a poxy little strumpet."

The man rolled his eyes. "Would you stop calling me that? And you really need to update your swearing, this is the 20th century-you sound like an extra from a dinner theater production of Romeo and Juliet!"

"Yessir, m'sorry, sir." Dipper said.

The man turned his attention to Jervis. "What the fuck were you thinking, disobeying my orders?" He held his hand out, the fingers curved like he was holding something. Jervis began to slide up the wall until the top of his head was touching the ceiling. "Did you really think you could hide her from me and I wouldn't find out?" The man tightened his fingers and Jervis made choking sounds. "Were you perhaps thinking that you could deliver her on your own and get all the credit? How dare you!" He clenched his fist, and Jervis put his hand up to his throat, his legs kicking the wall. "And come to find out, you've injured her? He's not going to be happy about that!" He shook his fist, and Jervis began to bleed from his eyes, ears and mouth. Dipper yelled in pain, and I saw that he was bleeding the exact same way.

The woman threw herself down in front of the man, sinking to her knees and grabbing onto his legs. "Please don't hurt me, sir!" She begged. "I'll do whatever you want! Whatever-" she rubbed her hand across the crotch of his pants, up and down. "-you want." She licked her lips suggestively.

He grabbed her chin, twisting her head, and glared down at her. "Well, I guess I'll find a use for your mouth later." He shoved her down.

He waved his hand, and Jervis came crashing to the floor. He began gasping for air. Dipper whimpered and wiped his face with his hands.

"I wasn't really gonna hurt her, I just-brought the tools in to s-scare her." Jervis whined. "Dipper's the one who beat her and cut her!" He swiped his arm across his face, mopping at the blood.

The man stomped over to Jervis and kicked him. "You idiot, you weren't supposed to touch her, and you've brought in a witch-"

Suddenly there was pounding-it sounded like it was coming from outside different parts of the house.

"Who's that, Jackson?" Jervis blurted.

"Fucking Winchesters!" The tall man-Jackson-spat. "You, hide her somewhere, and I'll take care of them."

"No, don't hurt them!" I screamed, but it was just a huff of air.

Jackson snapped at Dipper. "Come with me!" He yanked the woman up and pulled her with him, and they left the room.

Jervis got up and stumbled over to the table, grabbing one of the knives. He came over to me and began sawing through the ropes binding my arms. "They're not gonna take you," He muttered.

I screamed silently as the knife sliced into my arm, but he didn't notice. He knelt and began to saw at the ropes around my legs. When he was done, he stood up and leaned down into my face. "You're not gonna try to to get away or I'll fucking kill you right here."

My eyes widened, and I nodded.

He pulled me to a standing position and then grabbed some of the ropes and looped them over his shoulder. My legs buckled, and he smacked the side of my head. "No fucking around!" He grabbed my arms and forced them behind my back, tying my wrists together again. "Walk." He pushed me forward.

I stumbled, and he said, "You're useless, come on." He moved in front of me and grabbed my arm, dragging me behind him. He opened the door and we went into the hallway and then walked through a sparsely furnished living room into the kitchen. He opened a door at the far end and pulled me into a small room. From what I could see, it was a pantry, the walls lined with shelves full of jars and boxes of food. He kicked a throw rug aside and I could see a trapdoor in the floor. He pointed at me. "Don't fucking move!" He knelt down and wrenched the trapdoor open with a loud creak. He pulled the rope off of his shoulder and tied my ankles together, then he bent down and picked me up, tossing me over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He stepped down into the trapdoor and I could see the top part of a wooden ladder, and beyond that, darkness. He went down one step, then another, and then he turned and threw me down into the black void. I screamed, but of course, no sound came out. My hip hit the side of the ladder as I fell and then my legs caught in one of the rungs and wrenched my ankle painfully as the weight of my body yanked me downwards. I landed hard, my head bashing against the floor, the breath whooshing out of me. I saw him looking down at me. "Stay right there." He said, and then he moved up into the light, and the trapdoor closed with a bang.

I was in complete darkness now. The floor beneath me was as hard as stone and cold. My hip was throbbing and my ankle was screaming and my head ached. My breath came back to me and I began to cry. I couldn't call out for help, I was tied up and could barely move. What if I tried to scoot away from the ladder and Jervis came back to find out I had disobeyed him? I had no idea what was down here- what if I tried to move and knocked into a shelf and it fell on top of me and hurt me? What if there were spiders or rats down here? Fear made my stomach twist up. I couldn't do anything except wait.

I started hearing noises above me-loud crashes, shouting, and gunfire. At one point there was a huge thump and I heard the ladder shake from the impact. I heard the crash of glass and more shouting. I thought I heard my name being called.

"I'm here!" I screamed silently. "I'm here, I'm down here, please!" I imagined my family, my dad, my brothers, looking for me- "Please let them find me," I said in my head, "Please come find me, I'm down here!" I reached out with my mind, feeling a sharp pain behind my eyes.

I was still right next to the ladder. I shifted my body around until I was lying on my back and then I lifted my legs, which were still tied together. I slammed my feet against the lower rung of the ladder as hard as I could. The top of the ladder knocked into the underside of the trapdoor, and I prayed that whoever was up there heard the noise. Pain shot through my injured ankle and I screamed again. I lifted my legs again and slammed them against the ladder, and then did it one more time. The pain in my ankle was so bad now I felt dizzy and faint, and I had to stop.

I heard a scraping sound, and then the trap door above me opened. I saw two heads in the square of light, and then a voice said, "Alyson? You down there?" It was Dean! I heard a click, and then a flashlight shone down on me. I squinted against the light.

"It is her! See, I told you!" Sam said with relief. I couldn't really see his face well because they were backlit, but I recognized the shapes of their heads- Dean's with shorter hair and Sam's longer hair.

"Aly, are you okay?" Sam called down.

Dean began to climb down the ladder, Sam right behind him. Tears of relief filled my eyes, and I sat up, wincing as my head throbbed. I could feel blood trickling out of my nose.

Dean reached the bottom and knelt down next to me. Sam crouched next to him, pointing the flashlight at me.

I stared at them, almost unable to believe my eyes. What if this was a trick? What if Jervis had gone into my mind again and this wasn't real?

They stared back at me, shocked looks on their faces. "Oh, look at you," Dean reached for me, and I scooted back a little, feeling nervous now.

He held his hand up, palm out. "Hey, it's all right, it's me. It's me and Sam. I'm gonna reach into my jacket and get out my flask of holy water so we can both have a drink and you'll see that it's us, all right?"

I nodded, watching both of them, and blinked the tears back.

Dean brought out his silver flask and uncapped it, taking a swig, and then passed it to Sam, who did the same. Sam capped it and handed it back, and Dean said, "See? We're not demons or anything, we're us. You're safe now, sweetheart."

He leaned forward to hug me. "C'mere, Aly." He let me go after a brief moment, saying, "Crap, you're tied up. Lemme get you outta those ropes. I'm gonna use my knife, okay?" He moved behind me and I heard a click, and then felt pulling on my wrists. He touched the fresh wound on my arm. "They cut you?"

Sam leaned forward to give me a quick hug. "I'm so glad we found you."

Dean freed my wrists and I brought my arms around in front of me. Sam took my hand, moving my arm and looking at the bandana and the bleeding wound on my other arm. My wrists were raw and red as well. "What happened here?"

I looked up the ladder nervously, worried that Jervis might be lurking above. "I can't talk! My voice is gone!" I mouthed.

They glanced at each other. "What's wrong, why aren't you talking?" Dean peered at me.

"My voice!" I motioned to my throat. "They did a spell!"

"Can you understand us?" Sam asked.

I nodded.

Sam reached into his jacket and pulled out his notebook and a pen. "Can you write down what you're trying to say?"

"They did a spell to take away my voice

I can't make any sounds" I wrote. "A woman ground up herbs and lit them on fire

blew the smoke at me and I breathed it in"

Dean watched me writing, reading it out loud to Sam. "A woman was here too?" Dean asked.

I nodded. "Is Jervis up there?" I wrote.

Dean frowned. "Who's Jervis?"

"A demon, the guy with brown hair who was at the GasnSip

He said he would kill me if I moved"

Dean got an angry look on his face. "He can't hurt you now, Aly. He's been-neutralized."

At that, tears filled my eyes again. I felt limp with relief that he couldn't hurt me any more.

"Hey, let's take her upstairs so I can get a look at her face and we can treat all her injuries. How'd you get the shiner?" Sam gently touched the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, good idea. Are you hurt anywhere else?" Dean ran his hand down my other arm. He looked down and saw that my ankles were tied together. "Lemme get those ropes off of you." He cut away the ropes around my ankles. I jerked as he touched my injured ankle, and he winced. "Oh damn, that looks bad." He pulled the hem of my sweatpants up to reveal my ankle, swollen and bruised purple. He moved my foot slightly and I screamed soundlessly and pushed him away. "All right, I'm sorry." He said gently. "I'll carry you."

He slid one arm under my knees, the other circling my back. "I gotcha, c'mon." He stood up, lifting me with him, and we began to ascend the ladder. I clung to his arms, feeling the smooth leather of his jacket under my palms, and I could smell him- his slightly spicy deodorant and his Dean-smell which would forever be linked to his leather jacket, and it hit me that I really was safe now, my brothers were here and the nightmare was over. Tears slipped down my cheeks as I buried my face in his chest.

We moved out of the pantry and into the kitchen, and Dean knelt down and gently set me on the floor. I kept ahold of him, not wanting to let go. He put his arms around me. "All right, all right, shhh, I gotcha, it's okay, you're safe now." He tilted his head back and called out, "Hey, we're in here, we've got Aly!"

Sam turned on the overhead light and knelt down next to us. "Let's take a look at your arms."

Dean rubbed my back. "Shh...you're okay, kiddo, we're both here with you, can you let me go?"

I sniffled and released him and he sat back. When he looked at my face, he shook his head. "Geez, they really did a number on you, huh?" He asked with chagrin.

"This-this is what I saw, Dean-" Sam gestured at my face. "I saw her face looking like this, I'm telling you!" He said angrily.

Dean's jaw twitched. "And I said I believe you, Sam. In fact, I believe you more now, but can we talk about it later? Right now we need to get her fixed up. Go find Dad, tell him Aly's safe!" He said urgently. "And grab a med kit!"

Sam leaned forward to drop a kiss on my head and stood up. "I'll be right back." He said, and hurried out of the room.

Dean started to untie the bandana from around my arm, but the fabric was now stuck to my skin with congealed blood. "Oof, it's stuck. Guess demons suck at wound care, huh?" He looked at me. "Your nose is bleeding a little." He patted his pockets. "I don't have a bandana on me, let me grab a paper towel." He stood up and walked to the counter.

As he came back over, Dad came to the doorway. "Alyson!"

I looked up at him, relief at seeing him warring with fear that he was still angry with me, and tears filled my eyes.

He started to walk toward me, and I had a flash of that terrible dream I had had before, when they were all standing over me. I looked up at them fearfully, waiting to see if their eyes changed to black. Dean was standing next to me and Dad and Sam were in front of me, just like in the dream- "No, please, I'm sorry!" I screamed silently, overcome with emotion. I held my hands up in front of me and hunched over to protect myself from any blows, closing my eyes as tears started to pour down my face.

"Alyson-" I heard Dad's voice and felt his hands on my arms. "Hey, Alyson, it's all right, you're safe." He pulled my arms away from my head and I opened my eyes. He was crouched down in front of me, and his brown eyes flicked back and forth, looking at me. He cupped my cheek, rubbing his thumb gently across my face. "I'm so sorry they did this to you." He said sadly. "C'mere." He gathered me into his arms, and then I burst into tears. "Oh, babygirl, I'm so glad to see you." His voice was husky. I clutched at him, my chest heaving with silent sobs. "Shh, you're safe now, it's all right, I've gotcha," He soothed. He stroked my hair until my crying slowed, and then pulled back and looked at me-there were tears in his eyes.

"Your nose is bleeding a little, too!" Dean said suddenly to Sam. He tore a paper towel in half and handed part to Sam and the other piece to me. I pressed the towel to my nose.

"Her ankle's messed up, it looks-" Dean sucked his teeth.

Dad sat back and looked at it, grimacing. "Can you move it?"

I shook my head, saying, "It hurts really bad!"

"When I moved it she, uh, her mouth opened like she was screaming and her whole body tensed up, so I think she's got a fair bit of pain from it." Dean reported.

"You can't talk?" Dad asked me. "Or make any noise?"

I shook my head, and then I coughed to demonstrate. Nothing came out but air.

Sam held out the little notepad. "This is what she wrote about the spell."

Dad took the notepad and read it. "Must be that bowl of burnt herbs in that back room." He said grimly.

Uncle Bobby appeared in the doorway. "John, the blonde one's wakin' up. Oh Jesus, Aly. look at ya." He grimaced and came over. "Sure is good to see ya, kid." He handed Sam a small duffle. Sam opened it and began to rifle through it.

I gestured to the notepad, and Dad handed it to me with the pen. I wrote, "Are the other guys here? There were 3 demons- Jervis

Dipper shorter guy with blond hair from Gasnsip

And a woman who did the spell long blonde hair

Jackson tall stocky guy he just got here

he was mad they disobeyed him

Jervis did his own thing wanted revenge for someone called Rosco

Jervis was hiding me from Jackson and Jackson hurt them"

Dad and Dean were leaning over me as I wrote, watching me.

"So we've got Dipper and Jervis here." Dean said.

"They're not too smart" I wrote, "they argued a lot

They did the spell to take away my voice because I kept saying the exorcism prayer out loud."

Dad chuckled and patted my shoulder. "Good girl."

"I gotta get back in there." Uncle Bobby said. "Y'all join us when ya can."

"We're going to get Aly fixed up and then out of here, and I'll be in." Dad said. He took my wrist and pulled at the bandana, realizing it was stuck to my arm. "Get a cloth soaked with warm water." He told Sam.

Sam stood up and walked over to the counter. There was a basket full of dish towels next to the sink. He removed one and ran it under the tap, then brought it over.

He handed it to Dad. "We can use the other towels to make a splint for her ankle." He said.

Dad looked up at him. "That's a good idea, go ahead." He put the towel on the bandana, soaking it in warm water, and in a few moments he gently worked the bandana off. The cut began bleeding freely. Dean was right there with gauze pads, and he helped Dad clean the wound and then held a clean gauze pad on my arm while Dad bandaged it.

Sam came over holding a pair of wooden spatulas and the basket of towels. He sat down at my feet. "Okay, Aly, I'm gonna take your shoe off, and it's gonna hurt." He said. "I'm sorry." He untied my laces and began to ease the shoe off of my foot, but the movement hurt so much I yanked my foot back. He looked up at me. "C'mon, kiddo, be brave." He said.

Dean took my hand. "Squeeze." He said. "On three."

"One…" Sam counted. "Two…" and then he pulled my shoe off.

I screamed silently from the pain as everything grayed out.

When I came to, my head was on Dean's thigh, and he was stroking my cheek. "You awake now?" He asked me. "Aly, you awake?"

"Yeah." I said, trying to sit up.

"Slow down there." Dean said. He put his arm around me and propped me up against his chest.

Dad was bandaging the cut that Jervis had made on my other arm.

Sam said, "Can you wiggle your toes, Aly?"

I wiggled my toes-it didn't hurt.

"Does that hurt?" He asked, and I shook my head.

"Can you move your ankle from side to side?"

I tried to, but it hurt too much, and I winced and shook my head.

"Okay, there's a possibility your ankle could be broken, I'll wrap it." Sam said.

He rolled the spatula handles up in dish towels and placed one on each side of my ankle, after layering other towels around my ankle as well for padding. Dad tore off a strip of bandage tape and handed it to Sam, who placed it on the edge of the towel. He taped the towels in place and then looked up. "That should hold her until we get to Calvin's."

I looked up at him and then over at Dad. "Who's Calvin?" I asked.

"Calvin is a hunter friend who is also a doctor. We're going to take you there to get you checked out and stay there while we're getting this demon business sorted out." Dad said.

"Did they-do- anything-are you hurt anywhere else?" Sam asked.

I sat up and pulled the hem of my shirt up to reveal bruising on my stomach and ribs. Dean swore under his breath. I wrote, "Both of them hit my face

Dipper beat me up

he kept wanting to hurt me

he cut me during the ritual to make me scream and then shoved his fingers in the cut

Then he put his chili dog under my arm so the blood would drip on it and he ate it"

"That sick bastard," Dean muttered. "Looks like I need to have a chat with Dipper." His voice was hard.

I pointed to the back of my head and then my hip, and wrote, "Jervis went down the ladder a couple of steps but then he threw me down to the floor

my hip hit the ladder and my foot caught in the rungs and I banged my head on the floor when I landed"

Dean clenched his fist and his knuckles cracked. "Guess I need to talk to both of those assholes."

"Can I take a look at your hip?" Dad asked.

I nodded and pulled the waistband of my sweatpants down to reveal livid purple bruising on my hip.

"I'll get some ice for that." Sam stood up and went over to the freezer.

"How does it feel?" Dad asked.

"It's just sore now" I wrote.

"You hit your head too?" Dad asked, and I nodded. He moved around behind me and I felt his fingers in my hair, searching for any injuries. I winced when he touched a lump on the back of my head.

"That's quite a goose egg." He said. "Let me check your eyes." He sat in front of me and made me follow his finger with my eyes and then he shined a flashlight in my eyes. "Pupils equal and reactive, that's good. With a bump like that we still want to be careful, though. You let us know if you start feeling dizzy or nauseous or your ears are ringing, all right?"

I nodded.

Just then, we heard a yell coming from another part of the house. It sounded like Dipper's voice-I felt cold all over hearing it.

Dad cupped my cheek again. "Don't worry, he's restrained properly, he can't get to you." He looked at Dean. "I was going to suggest we have Aly tell us as much as she can right now, but I think her hearing that is going to upset her. Sam, take her out to the Impala and you can text us anything she tells you, or take photos of her writing and send them."

Sam nodded. "Are you good with that, Aly?"

I looked at Dad. "I-I don't want to leave you!" I said. I grabbed the notepad, which had fallen on the floor next to Dean, and removed the pen. "I don't want to leave you!" I wrote.

"I know, sweetheart, but it's safer for you if you're not here." Dad said. "The Impala is warded up and you won't hear any shouting."

My eyes filled with tears. I was afraid that something bad would happen, that the demons would hurt them somehow, that I'd never see them again. I grabbed Dad's sleeve, looking at him imploringly. "Please-"

"This isn't our first rodeo, Aly, we know how to deal with these guys, it'll be okay." Dean said confidently.

Dad put his hand on mine and squeezed. "It'll be all right." I let him go, and he started to gather up the trash and stood up. Sam took the medical duffle and put everything inside of it.

Dad threw the trash away and then came back over to me. "I'll take you out to the car." He leaned down and picked me up like a baby, holding me against his chest.

"Hey, it'll be fine, short stuff." Dean leaned in and kissed my cheek. "See you soon."

I reached for him. "I love you." I said.

"What?" He frowned.

"I love you," I repeated, pointing at my heart and then at him.

He smiled. "Love you back, kiddo." He handed Sam his keys and left the room.

Sam opened the door for us and we walked outside. There were a couple of cars parked in the gravel driveway including the Impala and Uncle Bobby's truck. The house was surrounded by woods with no grass or yard or even fences that I could see.

Sam unlocked the driver's side and reached in to unlock the back. "Put her in the back so that she can prop her foot up."

I shook my head, pointing to the front seat. "No, I want to sit with you!" I huffed silently, pointing at Sam.

"It would be better to keep your foot elevated." He said.

I shook my head more emphatically, pointing at him and then the front seat.

"All right, you can sit up front with me." He shook his head.

Dad gently set me down in the passenger seat, and I grabbed him. He hugged me. "I'll see you soon, all right?" I hugged him tightly, resting my head on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Alyson." He patted my back, and I let him go.

"I love you, Daddy." I pointed to my heart and then at him, like I had done with Dean.

Dad smiled. "I love you too, Pumpkin." He kissed my cheek as he stood up. "Text me." He told Sam, who nodded. Dad closed the door, and he and Sam talked quietly for a couple minutes, then he went inside the house.

Sam got behind the wheel of the car and turned to me. "Geez, Aly-I can't believe this, I'm so glad we got to you-" He pulled me into his arms.

I hugged him, tears filling my eyes. I wanted to ask him if he had felt me in his head at all, if he had heard me talking to him, but I didn't know what to say. Maybe it was something that I had imagined in a moment of stress?

He let me go and pulled back, looking at me. "Let me get you some water." He leaned over into the back seat and I heard the sound of the cooler opening and closing. He opened a bottle of water and handed it to me and I grabbed it, gulping about half the bottle down. He held up a granola bar. "You hungry?"

My stomach growled. "Yes please!" I tore the wrapper off and ate the granola bar in record time.

"Did they feed you?" Sam asked, and I shook my head.

He reached into the back again, handing me another bar. I ate that one right up and drank the rest of the water.

Sam had the baggie he had filled with ice from the kitchen, and he put it on my hip.

"Okay, I know Dad's going to want to talk to you about everything later, but is there anything you think we should know?" Sam handed me the pad and pen.

"Jervis seemed to be the one in charge he told Dipper what to do

Dipper was eating all the time

they both did things to me Dipper made my heart speed up until I passed out

Jervis took my breath away

Dipper kept wanting to hurt me and Jervis told him they couldn't do anything permanent

When Jackson got there he was mad He said do you really think you could hide her from me

He said something about them delivering me and getting the credit and that he-someone else?

wouldn't be happy"

"Do you know who he was talking about?" Sam asked.

I shook my head.

"Did they ever talk about anyone else?"

"They mentioned Rosco

Jervis said that you guys hurt his friend and sent him back downstairs and they wanted to hurt me for revenge

But that's it"

"When they did the spell, did you recognize any of the words or the herbs?"

I shook my head and wrote, "I couldn't see what the woman was doing, but I heard her grinding up herbs

I don't know what language she was speaking

it didn't sound like Latin"

"Let me take pictures of this and send it to them." Sam pulled out his phone and then turned the overhead light on. He took photos of what I had written and sent them.

After a long moment his phone chimed. "Um, they said...they said they're probably going to be a while, so we should go."

I shook my head and pointed back at the house. "I want to wait for them!" I said.

Sam looked uncomfortable. "Sometimes these...interrogations...can take a long time. Like a day or so. And we really should get you looked at by a doctor. Calvin's place is only a couple of hours away." He started the car. "Buckle up."

I huffed and buckled my seatbelt. He pulled out of the parking area onto a long gravel-filled driveway that seemed to go on for miles. Finally we pulled onto a deserted road and Sam sped up.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me.

I yawned-I was feeling somewhat tired now.

"Are you hungry? I can stop for food."

I nodded.

"The town is about 45 minutes away." He said. "You want some tunes or something?" He reached for the radio and turned it on, spinning the dial until he found music.

I looked over at Sam and put my arm up on the back of the seat, resting my hand on his shoulder. I just wanted to touch him, to assure myself that this was real, that he was really here. He glanced at me and smiled.

The road we were on was dark, with no streetlights to be seen. The only light was from the car's headlights and the light of the dashboard on Sam's face. I remembered being little, being in the back seat curled up with Sam as we drove through the night, and feeling safe because I knew my family was in the car with me, and it was my whole world. For now, I felt the same way, knowing I was safe in the car with my brother.