Dean and Sam decided to take a quick look around the area where the kids went missing. They didn't expect the wendigos to attack them during the day, but they carried along ammunition just in case. Sam had a crossbow with silver tipped arrows, and Dean had a rifle and a flare gun. The rifle likely wouldn't harm the wendigos, but it made Dean feel more in control of the situation. One wendigo was hard enough; two was downright deadly. If there weren't lives on the line, even Dean would wait until they could get Cas to join them.
Sam had a map in his hand and was looking around the area. Syd had texted him a picture of the campsite where her uncle had disappeared. She had marked the area in yellow where they were camping and in red where he had disappeared. Sam had found a map at a gas station and translated it over, so they didn't have to worry about the cell phone battery and could get a better grasp of the area. Dean briefly wondered how Syd was holding up. There was a lot on her plate at the moment. Dean couldn't really help her with all of that, but he could solve this case. Even the angels had turned against her, although that wasn't really surprising to Dean. They had been just as willing for Sam and Dean to become vessels to the two beings that would destroy the world.
Sam motioned to Dean, and Dean walked over. There was an abandoned mine. Bingo. That was likely where the wendigo were hiding. Sam marked it on the map and set up a bear trap near one of the bushes out of sight of the cave entrance. Wendigos preferred to hunt at night, when their speed and ferocity gave them the best advantage, but they could also be active during the day. Dean quickly took out a small shovel and started to carve Anasazi symbols into the ground in a circle, so that if things went wrong they at least had a space to go to for cover. The search party for the hikers had already been through this area, and it was a small one at that. Mostly just a few officers and some dogs but they found nothing. It was likely that the wendigo had found a way to lure the dogs away from their mine.
Sam and Dean quickly walked back out of the forest and got into the car to discuss their game plan.
"So we should probably wait until about sunset and see if we can lure the wendigos out of the mine first," Sam spoke in a low voice.
"And if things get too hairy, we can either run for the circle or the car," Dean continued and took a deep breath.
"And try not to step in the trap. Stay out of the bushes," Sam warned Dean.
Dean grunted in approval and looked at the sun. It was about dinner time now, so they had a few more hours before they had to risk their lives for the greater good. Food sounded good, but it could also slow down his reaction time. He decided not to risk it.
"Hey, so how do you think Frampton is doing with Syd?" Dean asked trying to shift the mood.
"Um… pretty good, I guess. I saw Syd throw a table across the room the other day, but that could have been part of the training process."
"Yeah. He said that she's really good at that, so I probably should try not to piss her off in the future," Dean joked.
"Good luck to you with that," Sam laughed back. "So have you heard from Cas?"
"Not a peep," Dean grunted. "But he's probably trying to argue with the other angels, and we both know how they can be."
"Yeah, well, they're probably scared. This is all new to everyone, and they don't know Syd like we do. Hopefully, Cas can talk some sense into them."
Dean nodded in agreement, but he didn't quite know how he felt about that. Weird things usually happened to them, so it wasn't like Syd's soul being a conduit for Lucifer's grace was that far out of bounds. But it was still frustrating for them to have no idea how to help.
"And Syd said that Sean left to go meet with some kelpie about the spear. Hopefully he can find it," Sam continued as though deep in thought.
"Yeah, we have enough problems without someone getting ahold of a magic spear," Dean agreed.
"Agreed," Sam laughed again before getting quiet. "I'm still having trouble taking in the fact that Lucifer said that he likes Syd."
"He's probably just trying to creep her out," Dean retorted. "You don't really think Lucifer's a prime source of information do you?"
"No, but I've been thinking about it. It's the only thing that explains his deal with Daniel. Dean, he agreed to not even use his grace in exchange for Syd."
"As far as we know," Dean scoffed. "He probably just doesn't want us to have his grace. Besides what does it matter even if he does have a weird thing for Syd?"
"It matters because if he does then separating Lucifer's grace from Syd's soul won't end things. He'll still try to hunt her down."
"Then we'll find a way to stop him then. Like we always do," Dean assured Sam, although he didn't quite believe himself. Lucifer wasn't known for accepting no as an answer, and dealing with him would be its own problem. But at least the prospect of facing down two wendigos seemed just a little more preferable at the moment.