AUTHOR'S NOTE: A huge Thank You to Happygoddess2003 and WolfhoundLove for allowing me to pick your brains, and for all the ideas and advice, for the last couple of chapters. My apologies for a shorter-than-usual chapter...sometimes that's the way the muse wants it to be!

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"We'll be there ASAP, I'll call you when we're on the road," Daddy said into the phone. "Try and keep everyone calm."

"Will do," Uncle Bobby said.

Daddy hung up the phone and looked at me.

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. My head felt pressure in it, like there was something sitting on the top of my skull, and my stomach was in such a tight knot it was hurting.

"Charlie, I'm so sorry-" Daddy said.

"The- the creature-it was her?" I interrupted him. "It was my aunt? She came to the campsite and- and- she killed my mommy, she killed everyone there, and she coulda killed me too!" My breath was coming in shallow gasps. I look up at Grandpa John, who was standing by the sofa. He looked worried. Then I looked back at Daddy.

"Wait, does that mean I'm- am I gonna change into something too? Am I gonna turn into a creature THAT KILLS AND EATS PEOPLE?!" I screamed. I got up and scrambled backwards off of the sofa, away from Daddy.

Grandpa John stepped towards me. "Let's not go there, darlin'," he said calmly. He reached out to me. "Let's-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I screamed, backing away some more. My chest was starting to hitch, but the tears weren't coming.

The room door beeped and clicked, and Uncle Sam came in, carrying a styrofoam box. "They let me take some food from the buffet-" he said, and then he looked at all of us. "What's going on?" he asked uneasily.

"Nothing..." I said. "Except that I MIGHT TURN INTO A MONSTER AND KILL YOU!" I screamed, and then I ran blindly, tears now pouring down my face. In the bedroom I tripped over one of my shoes, hitting my head on the edge of the dresser, and fell flat on my face onto the floor.

I tried to move, but I was being held against something solid. I was sitting up, my arms crossed in front of me like I was giving myself a tight hug.

I turned my head. I was sitting on the floor, on Grandpa John's lap against his chest, and he was sitting propped up against the bed.

"Lemme go!" I said, squirming.

"Take another deep breath," he said calmly. "Come on, I want to hear you take another deep breath for me."

"I am breathing!" I snapped. My face was stinging and my head was throbbing.

Uncle Sam came to the door, with a small plastic bag and a little cup of medicine. He walked over to us and leaned down, then looked at me. "Charlie?" he said softly. "You with us?"

"What d' you mean? Lemme go!" I said again.

"I will let you go, but you are not to run, and not to hit yourself any more. Is that clear?" Grandpa John asked sternly. He let me hands go and I sat forward.

"What do you mean, hit myself?" I asked, looking up at Uncle Sam.

"You fell and hit your head on the edge of the dresser, you've got a goose- egg," he told me. "But you were hitting yourself in the face and calling yourself a monster when we came in, and you wouldn't stop."

He handed me the bag, which had ice in it. "Hold this on your head." he instructed.

I took the baggie and held it to my head, and winced as it touched the sore spot. Then he handed me the cup of medicine, and I drank it down and handed him back the cup.

Daddy came to the door. "How is she doing?" he asked.

"Calm now," Grandpa John said. He pulled on my arm. "Lean back and relax, you don't need to go anywhere," he told me. I leaned back against his chest.

Uncle Sam looked at Daddy. Daddy said, "We've got to go to the other site and deal with things. I'm sorry...that's the way it has to be right now." He looked at me and gave me a small smile.

"We'll be all right," Grandpa John said.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Uncle Sam said. They both left the room. Grandpa John shifted and then picked me up and carried me over to the bed and sat down, holding me in his lap.

"You're going to be okay, sweetheart," he said quietly.

Daddy and Uncle Sam came into the room, dressed in their suits. Uncle Sam came over and leaned down to kiss my head.

"See you in a while." he said.

I grabbed ahold of his arms. "Don't leave!" I pleaded, looking up at him.

Daddy walked over next to him. "Charlie, we have to," he said. "We have to get this thing with...your aunt settled."

"I don't want you to go!" I whined, letting go of Uncle Sam and getting up. I threw myself at Daddy, starting to cry.

"Charlie..." Daddy sighed, holding me in his arms. "I know you're scared, but come on-"

"I want to go with you!"

Uncle Sam and Daddy looked at each other.

"No," Daddy shook his head, "Absolutely not. We won't be gone long, and the creature...it's not alive any more, remember? So there's no danger."

"We need to tie up loose ends." Uncle Sam said.

"What does that mean?"

"We need to find some information on your aunt, and get that case wrapped up," Uncle Sam said.

"I still don't get it." I looked at him and then at Daddy.

"You don't need to get it, Charlie," Daddy said. "Don't worry about it. Let go, now, so we can go."

"But Daddyyyy-" I whimpered.

"Listen, Uncle Sam and I were talking, and we think that after we get this all squared away, we should go somewhere fun. How does that sound?"

"Like where?" I asked.

"I don't know, a zoo, or an amusement park- do you like to ride roller coasters?"

"I dunno." I said.

"Well, you think about it, and let us know when we come back." Daddy said. "Maybe you and Grandpa John can look online and see what kinds of places like that are around here."

"Okay," I sniffled, and let go of him. I sat back down next to Grandpa John.

"Good girl. We'll be back soon." Daddy kissed the top of my head.

He looked at Grandpa John. "Keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't have a concussion," he told Grandpa John.

"I know the drill, Dean," Grandpa John said.

Daddy leaned down and looked me in the eyes. "You're not a monster, Charlie," he said. "I promise you. We'll figure everything out, all right? And it will be fine." He kissed my cheek, and then stood up. "We'll call you and let you know what's happening," he said.

Grandpa John and I sat there quietly for a few minutes.

"Did you lose conciousness when you fell?" he asked me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Did you faint? Was it like you fell asleep for a moment?"

"Uh, no, not really," I said.

"Are you dizzy at all?"

"Uh-uh."

"Here, let me look at you," he told me. I turned to him, and he took my face in his hands and tilted my head slightly. "Open your eyes for me," he said. "I'm checking your pupils."

"Why?" I asked.

"If you have a concussion, they look different." he explained.

"What's that?"

"It's...a brain injury that can happen when you hit your head," he looked back and forth at my eyes for a long moment. "I think you're fine, but I'm going to keep checking," he said. "You let me know if you feel different, dizzy, or sleepy, or get a headache or anything at all, all right?"

"Okay." I said.

"You never got to eat, are you hungry? Sam brought up some food from the buffet."

"Yeah, I'm hungry." I said.

We got off of the bed and sat down at the table in the kitchen area. Grandpa John brought over the styrofoam box and opened it. There were two bagels, three danishes, a little container of cream cheese, and then a jumble of different pieces of different fruits.

Grandpa John started the coffee maker, and then sat down next to me.

"I don't know if we have a knife for the cream cheese." he said.

"That's okay," I said, licking my finger. I had already used my finger to scoop some onto my bagel and spread it.

He saw what I had done, and laughed. "Very resourceful," he said. He picked up a danish and put it on the table in front of him, then got up to get some coffee.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get my laptop," he said.

I felt myself getting tense as he walked out of the room, and when he came back in, I breathed a sigh of relief.

He brought his laptop over and set it down on the table, then opened it and turned it on.

"Have you been to an amusement park or anywhere like that before, Charlie?" he asked.

"No. Well, we went to a fair once when I was little, they had a merry-go-round and a baby roller coaster that I went on. It was okay. Mommy had a thing planned, we were gonna go to a big fancy place called a resort, once she was done with her treatments. But she, uh-"

Tears came to my eyes as I realized that her plans for us to go to the resort would never have happened even of she hadn't been killed at the camp site, because she had found out that she was going to die.

"If she hadn't been- if the creature hadn't gotten her she would've- she was gonna die anyway!" I wailed, starting to cry. "Why didn't she tell me!"

"She may not have known how to, Charlie." Grandpa John said quietly. He reached over and put his hand on mine.

"Yeah, well, I'm mad at her for not telling me!" I said grumpily. I wiped my eyes and looked at him. "Is it possible to be mad at someone who's dead?"

He laughed. "Yes, it is. It's part of grieving."

"What's grieving? Everyone keeps talking about it but I don't know what it is."

"It's dealing with the fact that someone you love is gone. It takes a while to work through." He looked at me. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay."I said.

"No headache? Blurry vision? Dizziness?"

"Nope."

"Good. Listen, there was a used bookstore I saw on the drive here, and I wanted to go look around. You like books, right?"

"Well, duh!" I said. "Like you even had to ask!"

"All right, are your shoes on? We can get some lunch while we're out, too, if you want."

"Okay," I agreed. I ate the last of my bagel and went to get my purse. When we left the room, I tried to be brave, but I couldn't help it, I got nervous. I grabbed for Grandpa John's hand as we walked to the elevator.

He looked down at me. "It's all right," he said quietly. "You're safe with me, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

Grandpa John had a pickup truck- I had never seen one that big before! It was so big it had a step for you to walk on to get up into the truck, but even with that, I couldn't manage to get in. Grandpa John chuckled and picked up me by the waist and put me in the seat.

When he turned the engine on, the same classic rock station that Daddy had been listening to came on. I wrinkled my nose. "You like this classic rock too?"

He glanced at me. "It's the only good music out there," he said.

"That's what Daddy said," I told him. "Bor-ing!"

"What do you like to listen to?" he asked.

"Music you can dance to!" I said.

We drove for about 15 minutes into the middle of the small town. He found a parking space on a side street, and then he had to pick me up and get me out of the truck. I took his hand again, feeling nervous about being out on the street. A car honked at another car as they drove by, and I jumped, startled.

The book store looked small from the front, but when you went inside, you saw how big it actually was. The walls were lined almost up to the ceiling with bookshelves, and the place had that musty smell like someone's attic. There were long tables with stacks of books on them too.

A short man with gray hair and small glasses came over to us. "Hi there, can I help you? Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Yes, I'm looking for the myths and legends section," Grandpa John said. He glanced down at me.

The man looked at me. "You look like a young lady who loves to read. The children's section is right over there in the corner, we've got all the Harry Potter books in right now."

"I already read them all," I told him.

"Well," he blinked. "I'm sure you'll find something else you like, there's all kinds of books over there."

I looked up at Grandpa John.

"Sure," he said, "Go on over."

I walked over to the area tht man had pointed to, and then Grandpa John began to talk to the man about something.

I glanced at the titles of the books on the shelves and nothing really caught my eye. I turned my head- there was an open area that looked like it led to more books. I turned back, and Grandpa John and the man were across the store, heads down looking at a book together.

I walked through the doorway into the other section. It was a hallway that had all kinds of nooks and crannies, all stuffed with all kinds of books. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to them being put there.

Then I got an idea. I wondered if there would be any kind of spellbooks here or a grimmer, like the lady had said in my dream. I started to look through all the books. There was one nook that had some books about witches and stuff, but they were history books with lots of words. I walked into the next nook and looked around, then a small book caught my eye. It was on the edge of a shelf, and it was an old-looking book with a worn cloth cover. It was the same size as my hand, and on the front it said, "Spells and Philtres for Love and Loss".

I opened the book and glanced through it- it was a spell book! It didn't seem to have anything about bringing someone back from the dead at first glance, but maybe I could get some ideas from it.

"Charlie?" I heard Grandpa John call my name. "Charlie!"

I glanced over my shoulder and made a decision. If I asked, he probably wouldn't buy the book for me, and then he'd ask what I was trying to do. I had to do this all on my own.

I unzipped my purse, and shoved the little book down to the bottom of it, then closed it.

"There you are!"

I turned to see him standing at the end of the hallway. I looked up at him- was he angry with me? Was he going to yell at me? Had he seen me put the book in my purse?

"You need to tell me if you're going to leave the area," he said in a stern voice as I walked towards him. "Let me know, in the future. I need to know where you are."

"Yes, Grandpa John," I said meekly. "I'm sorry."

"I'm ready to go. Did you see anything you liked?" he asked.

I followed him over to the counter. "Uh-uh," I said.

"Look what I found for you," he said, smiling at me. He picked up a book off the counter. It was a large book, and it said, "Magic in the Movies of Harry Potter" on the front.

"It's a book about how they do all the special effects, and it has a lot of photos," he told me.

"That's neat," I said.

He put it on the counter and the man picked it up and scanned it. There was a small stack of books there.

I looked at him. "You're buying it?"

He looked down at me and grinned. "Yes," he said, ruffling my hair.

I hugged him around the waist. "Thanks, Grandpa John!"

He chuckled and patted my back.

I felt guilty then, that I had taken the little book, and I almost said something. But I didn't.

When we got into the car, I turned to him.

"Uh, am I in trouble?" I asked.

He looked at me, frowning a little bit. "Why would you be in trouble?"

"Cause I broke a rule- I'm s'posed to stay with a grown-up and not wander off."

"Oh, I see. No, you're not in trouble." He started the truck's engine.

"But- are you gonna tell Daddy?"

He glanced at me and then looked over his shoulder to merge into traffic. "I don't really think we have to."

"But then, if I don't, it's a lie of 'mission!" I said.

"A what?"

"A lie of 'mission, where you do something bad and don't say anything about it."

"Oh, I see." He got a small smile on his face, and glanced at me again. "Boy, your Dad's got some rules for you, huh? I'll tell him what happened, but you won't be in trouble, all right? You were with me, and I trust you. You didn't leave the store, and I think I know what I'm doing here. All right?"

We went to a diner in town for lunch, it was an old-fashioned one that Grandpa John said was made to look like the diners from the 1950s. There were posters of old fashioned cars and black and white pictures of old movie stars all over the wall, and lots of bright neon signs. They had a thing where you could make your own flavored soda, so I asked if I could get a chocolate one.

While we were waiting for the food, his phone rang. He answered, and listened for a couple of minutes.

"That's good..." he said. "Oh, you did? That will be helpful. Okay. We're having lunch, but we'll go back to the room after and start packing. All right, talk to you soon."

He hung up and looked at me. "That was your Dad. They've finished up the case, and are on their way back. We're going to pack up and go to Bobby's for a while."

"How come?" I asked.

"Well...he's got a lot of books about a lot of different things, and he might be able to find out something about...your aunt." He looked uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?" I stared at him. A thought dawned on me. "You mean you need to find out if- if it's going to happen to me!" Tears came to my eyes.

He leaned over the table. "Charlie, no. It's not going to happen to you, all right? This is- this is something new, and different, and we've never seen it before. So we need to figure things out."

I wiped my eyes. "What's new and different?"

"Two people in a family...having completely different abilities."

He stopped talking as the waitress came to the table with our plates of food.

While we ate, he asked me about things I liked, and what I had studied in school, and what I liked to do for fun. It was kind of boring to talk about, but I guessed that he was trying to get to know me.

I was curled up on the sofa reading the Harry Potter book when the door beeped and clicked, and then Daddy and Uncle Sam walked in. I got up and ran over to them, throwing my arms around Daddy. He leaned down and hugged me.

"Are you all packed?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I told him. "Is everything all taken care of?" I looked up at him.

"Yes...but you don't need to worry about that." He smoothed his hand over my hair. "How are you feeling? Any dizziness, or headache or anything?"

"Uh-uh." I shook my head.

He sat down on the sofa and pulled me onto his lap, and then hugged me again. "Charlie, I wanted to tell you again that I'm sorry about yesterday. I was—I was tense, and feeling a lot of pressure about things, and...I took it out on you. Trying to find a balance between hunting and having a kid is...hard."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling guilty. "If I wasn't here, then you wouldn't have to deal with that and you could just be a hunter." Tears came to my eyes.

Daddy sighed. "No, don't say that, that's not what I meant...shit," he muttered to himself. He pulled back and looked me in the eyes. "Charlie, I'm very glad that I met you and that you're in my life now, and I wouldn't give that up for the world. This is just an adjustment for all of us, and that's normal. And we've got family to help us out, too." He smiled at me. "I'm so happy that you're my daughter." He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

"Even if I turn into-"

"Hush," he said, a little sternly. "That's not going to happen, and we're looking into your aunt's life. I don't want you worrying about that. All right?"

"Okay, Daddy," I said.

Uncle Sam came into the room, wearing his regular clothes- jeans and a blue t-shirt with a blue and green plaid flannel shirt over it.

"You should get changed and packed, Dean, so we can go."

Daddy put me on the sofa. "Okay, I'm gonna get out of this monkey suit." He stood up and started to take off the tie.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to Bobby's," Uncle Sam told me. "We were able to get all of your aunt's things, and she had a lot of paperwork that we need to go through."

"Oh," I said. "What about those witches?"

Daddy and Uncle Sam did their "talking without words" thing.

"That situation...took care of itself." Uncle Sam said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Daddy started to walk across the room. "Don't worry about-"

"Are the witches gone?" I asked, looking at Uncle Sam and then Daddy. "Did you get rid of them?"

"Charlie," Uncle Sam said sternly. "You don't need to know about it, so stop asking."

"But-"

Daddy stopped at the door to the bedroom and turned to me. "Did you hear Uncle Sam? Drop it." He gave me a look.

"Yes, Daddy," I said, and I felt myself blushing. I don't know why, I was still very interested in witches.

Daddy went into the bedroom, and came back out a couple of minutes later carrying our bags. He set them by the front door, and then went into the other room where Grandpa John was getting packed up. I could hear them talking.

"Are all your toys packed?" Uncle Sam asked me. "And your 3DS and everything?"

"Yep," I told him.

Daddy came into the room just then, talking an a loud, annoyed voice. "-can't do that, Dad. I put the rules in place with her for a reason!"

"I know all about giving kids rules, all right?" Grandpa John said. "You don't have to lecture me about it. I did what I thought was right at the time, she didn't need to be called onto the carpet for it."

"Yes, but she did break a rule!" Daddy stopped walking and looked at Grandpa John.

"She didn't do it on purpose. She knows what the rules are, and she asked me about it in the truck. You've got her on a short leash, Dean."

"Well it's my decision!" Daddy snapped angrily. "She's my kid, and I don't need you undermining me!"

"It's not undermining you. I knew where she was, I saw her leave the area out of the corner of my eye, she didn't leave the building. It was fine."

Daddy sighed. "If this comes back to bite me in the ass, or you, or any of us, I'm holding you accountable, and you won't have one word to say about my rules for her. You got that?"

"Excuse me?" Grandpa John growled in a low voice. "Did you forget who you're talking to? You may be Charlie's father, but you're still my son, and you will talk to me with respect!"

Daddy's face got red, and he looked down at the floor for a moment. "Fine," he said in a clipped voice.

"Fine," Grandpa John said in the same voice. He went back into his room, and then came back with his duffles slung over his shoulders.

"We ready to go?" Daddy asked.

"What's going on, Dean?" Uncle Sam asked quietly, and Daddy shook his head.

I took Daddy's hand in the hallway. When we got to the car, I didn't go over to the door and stand there like usual, I walked around to the back with them and stood there, craning my neck to see into the trunk. The false top was down and they put their duffles and bags onto it.

"Charlie, what are you doing? Nothing much to see in there," Daddy said, closing the trunk. "Come on, let's get started."

The drive to Uncle Bobby's was long. We stopped at a drive-thru to get dinner, and Daddy got a blanket and pillow for me from the trunk, so I could sleep in the back seat.

I woke up in the middle of the night, when someone was carrying me up some stairs.

"Where are we?" I asked, trying to sit up as Daddy laid me onto a bed.

"Shh, we're at Uncle Bobby's house," he said quietly. He leaned over and took my sandals off. "Lay down and go back to sleep. It's the middle of the night. I'm right down the hall, okay?"

I laid down and he pulled a quilt up over my shoulders. I rolled over and closed my eyes, and fell back to sleep.