The nasty ozone feeling in the air came only a second or two before the monster did, and that simply wasn't enough time for Nico to react before it reached Percy. It touched his head, did something, and they both vanished, leaving him alone in a dim motel room.

"Shit." Nico cursed, and lunged for his phone, scrolling through his call history. He dialed the number the younger Winchester had called him from the other day, ready to put the fear of gods into him if he had anything to do with the occurrence.

It wasn't unlikely; there had been the sound of birds' wings. An angel.

The phone rang three times before Sam picked up, but the delay was still enough to drive Nico's anxiety and irritability up. Percy had been in a mood when he'd awoken, and that hadn't done anything to improve his baseline.

"Hello?" Sam said.

Nico launched into a litany of insults, not bothering to announce himself. He let himself tear through a couple long sentences before ending with, "...and you better get your feathery monstro under control or so help me I'll make you wish the Apocalypse had happened!"

"Huh?"

How eloquent.

"Your angel." Nico hissed. "Has kidnapped Percy. This is unacceptable. You will be solving this."

"I'm sorry, my- my what?" Sam asked. Nico could hear the disbelief in his voice, and sighed internally. Of course he wasn't aware of this.

He took a frustrated breath, and then told Sam about the event. "An angel broke into our room about a minute ago." He said, slowly. "It took Percy."

"How do you know it was an angel?" Sam said.

"Because we can handle anything else." Nico said. He felt like he was talking to an idiot.

"Right, uh, okay." Sam said. "Dean, where's… shit-" There was some muffled noise on the other end of the line, and Nico heard what he presumed was Singer's voice faintly in the background. The line was silent for a minute or two more, and Nico was about to cut in with another sharp comment when Sam returned, sounding dead serious.

"You better get over here."

Without waiting or even bidding Sam goodbye, he snapped his phone shut and stepped through the nearest shadow, rushing blindly through the dark until he came out the other side in Singer's living room.

A shotgun was instantly raised at his face by the man himself, and just as quickly lowered. Sam looked at the silent phone in his hand, said, "oh," and closed it as well.

"What do you have to say?" Nico asked flatly, looking at Singer's grave expression.

Sam glanced out the window to the scrapyard, and then back to Nico. "Dean's gone too. And he's not answering his phone." He said.

"Are you implying that you didn't know about this until I called?" He asked.

"Listen, kid, we don't have angels on leashes around here, whatever you think." Singer said gruffly, seeming extremely unimpressed with Nico's appearance. "Hell, no other hunter out there has even heard of them. I didn't know diddly squat until very recently."

Nico wanted to bare his teeth at the man. "It raised Dean personally. I had assumed you and it were on… friendlier terms."

"I don't even know the damn thing's name." Singer said sourly.

Sam held his hands up placatingly. "Listen, Bobby, you've got all sorts of old stuff. Is there any chance we could, uh, summon it?"

Singer snorted. "Summon an angel? Jesus, Sam, I thought you had the brains of the two of you. How would we contain it?"

"You contain demons." Nico said. "I don't think an angel is that much more of a different creature. Our time is limited, too, unless you have any idea where it might have taken Percy?"

"And Dean." Sam tossed in, ever so thoughtfully.

"And Dean." Nico repeated, teeth clenched.

Singer seemed to sense his hostility, hand gripping tight around his weapon. "You're in my house, kid. Either cool your lid, or I treat you as a hostile."

Nico made an effort to relax his posture. "Fine. Fine! Mr. Singer, do you have anything in your repertoire that deals in angels?"

Singer shook his head slowly. "I might, but it'll be old. Antediluvian texts."

Nico cursed. "Fantastic."

Sam eyed Nico. "Is there anybody on… your side?"

Nico thought hard. He couldn't consult the Oracle, and he doubted there was anybody in the lands of his father's kingdom that knew of angels, immortal or otherwise.

Ever since Percy had crawled his way out of Hell, things had been strangely silent. Monsters barely showed their faces, as if they could smell the demigods coming and stayed far out of their way. Fewer and fewer children were making their way to either camp, no prophecies had been given since the latest, most threatening, and the gods were silent.

Even Chiron had been recalled (to where, nobody knew), and all of the places where history met the modern world were so thick with the Mist that nobody could get through, from either side. It was as if their world had gone into lockdown.

Ultimately, that meant resources were few and far between, and Nico had been forced to seek out this new world of the American hunters.

He'd made… few contacts since Annabeth had been abducted.

"I will call some of the Seven." He decided aloud, thinking primarily of Hazel. Perhaps some of them had been able to foster good relations.

"The seven?" Sam questioned.

Nico ignored him, already dialing Hazel's number, one he had long since memorized. The phone went straight to voicemail, and he cursed, before leaving a thorough but quick message summarizing the situation.

"It is almost miraculous." He groused. "Percy gets himself abducted so often he should be getting his card punched for it."

Nightfall found Percy and Dean lurking on the street where Mary lived, trying to come up with a semblance of a gameplan before they ousted themselves.

"What's your plan then, huh? March right up to mom and say, 'hey, not sure if you're aware, but don't go making any demon deals!'?" Dean said sarcastically.

Percy matched his attitude tit-for-tat. "Actually, no, I was just gonna give her the full rundown and beg her to think of the children."

Dean smirked despite himself. "Yeah, that'll go over great."

"That's what I was thinking." Percy said. "But in all honesty, how do you even broach this kind of situation?"

"Do I look like a time traveler to you?" Dean asked. "There's not exactly an instruction manual."

"Well, uh. We've got the go-ahead to meet the parents, I guess." Percy said. "Though she didn't sound particularly enthusiastic."

"My grandparents died before I was born." Dean said. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

A car drove slowly past, and Percy turned to follow it as it went past, stopping in front of one of the houses further down. "Well, hope you're ready," he said. "I think that's your precious car right there."

He could vaguely make out John and Mary exchanging platitudes in the dark, before John drove off. Mary stood on the sidewalk with her arms crossed, turned exactly to face the two of them.

Dean strolled up nonchalantly, and Percy followed behind, feeling for all the world like a scolded kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Guess I was right." Mary said. "You better have not been lying, for both your sakes. My father is… tough."

"I figured as much." Dean said.

Even in the dark, Percy could read her skepticism clear as day. Nevertheless, she led them up to her front door and slipped inside, calling out to her parents as she did so. "Dad! Mom! We have …guests!"

Percy waved his hand at the door in an over-the-top fashion. "Age before beauty."

Dean gave him a spectacular stink eye before following Mary into the house, eyeing the interior in an awed fashion.

Percy shut the door behind them, and hovered awkwardly in the entryway, unsure of himself. He only knew these people by the barest of associations. What was the etiquette for meeting your ex's dead grandparents years and years into the past? Hell, what was good seventies etiquette?

If he failed, was he about to get stabbed?

There was a balding man sitting at the dining table, and he eyed the two of them up and down. Instead of any words of greeting, he asked, "How do you kill a vampire? Stakes or silver?"

"You behead them." Percy blurted before he could stop himself, glad that he just knew the answer.

Mary's father gave him another once-over. "Great." He said. "Now get out of my house."

"Samuel!" Mary's mother scolded.

"I don't trust other hunters." Samuel said.

Nevertheless, Mary beckoned them closer to the table, and began helping her mother load it with food.

"Well, you're going to have to put up with them for dinner." Mary's mother said, and smiled warmly at them. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Deanna, and this is my husband Samuel."

Percy blinked. Before he could open his mouth and shove his foot in it, though, Dean looked at Mary and said "Samuel and Deanna?" in a disbelieving tone.

She nodded slowly, as if he was thick. Better him than me. Percy thought gratefully. He was glad there wasn't an opening for him to make a thoughtless joke.

As they settled at the table, Deanna turned her gaze on the two of them. "What brings you to Lawrence?" She asked.

"We're on a hunt." Dean said vaguely.

Mary looked at the two of them curiously.

"How specific." Samuel deplored. "Got any details?"

"I don't trust other hunters." Dean echoed, and Percy wanted to sigh. He had thought they were there to make nice with the grandparents. It'd be hard to save Mary from a demon deal if the elder Campbells wanted them dead.

"What about you?" Percy asked, trying to revive the topic.

"Dad's working on a job on Whitshire farm." Mary piped up, clearly on the same track as Percy.

Dean looked like he'd gotten hit in the face with a shoe–surprised, and struggling to figure out why. "Why do I know that name?" He asked.

"I saw something about it in the paper." Percy offered. "I dunno if you read that far, but there was something about an investigation being closed."

Deanna nodded. "Poor man got caught up in his combine harvester."

"That happens." Dean said, clearly not getting it.

Percy was also not following, but Samuel sighed like it was obvious. "All his crops were dead. Why was he on it?"

"Demonic omen?" Dean asked.

Samuel nodded. "That's what I gotta figure out."

Shit. If it was signs of a demon, then it probably was a demon, considering why Percy and Dean were even there in the first place.

A demon that Samuel was tracking… Percy's brain started running. What was he doing here? Why had the angel tagged him?

So far, this was clearly all just a family matter. John, Mary, Deanna and Samuel… These were all people on Dean's bloodline. Percy really had nothing to do with this. And yet, the angel had chosen him and not Sam to go with Dean. Shit, he could've even just sent Dean alone?

Percy had thought they were putting the puzzle together, but really all they had done was connect the outline. It just made it that more obvious that something was missing, a piece that would have tied Percy into the mess.

He would've asked Dean, but he didn't really want to interrupt the family gathering to draw attention to his anomalous nature.

He kicked Dean's ankles under the table, though he wasn't sure how much information that actually conveyed. Dean just leveled an unimpressed glare at him.

"What? Are you five?" The man muttered under his breath.

"Idea." Percy whispered back, hoping that Dean would be confused enough to bring it up later, thereby ensuring Percy's ADHD wouldn't erase the whole thought from his head.

Dean raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else on the matter, instead returning to the conversation at the table.

"We'll get the weather graphs by Friday." Deanna said. "We're hoping to see if there's any electrical storms out there."

"By mail?" Dean asked.

Samuel rolled his eyes. "Nah, private jet." He said.

The air grew tense. Percy could tell that Dean and Samuel were getting along like a toast sandwich. Problem was, he was struggling with coming up with a distraction for the tension. He really didn't know either man well enough.

"We might be hunting the same thing." He offered, hoping that Dean would follow the cue and back him up.

"What part of 'we work alone' are you not understanding?" Samuel said.

Percy sighed.

Percy sighed again when he saw the state of the wallpaper for the room they were renting overnight. It needed touching up in several places. The late-sixties look was also a… decision.

Or, thinking about it, the place had just probably looked like that since it was built.

"So, you gonna explain what all that was at mom's house?" Dean asked, dropping heavily onto one of the worn-out beds.

Right. "Yeah, I was just thinking." He said, diving back for that can of worms. "What am I doing here?"

"Demon deal?" Dean suggested somewhat snidely. "Or are you questioning your place in the universe? Bit late for that."

"Dude, no, I know that." Percy said. He peeled off his jacket and dropped it carelessly on the floor, before kicking off the bargain-bin shoes he'd grabbed from the store. He suspected that he was forming blisters on one of his toes; the shoes were a size too small and he still didn't have any socks.

"What I meant was, what am I doing here? We know you're here for the demon deal, that's your mom and your grandparents. But me? I don't have any connection to this at all. Why'd your angel tag me?"

"He's not my angel." Dean muttered, following suit with his own shoes. He leaned back until he lay flat on his bed, looking up at the peeling ceiling.

"Not the question."

"Fuck, I dunno." Dean spat. "Maybe it's a demon from your mess, or whatever."

"We don't have demons." Percy said. "Not like what you're thinking."

"Well, don't look at me for answers. I couldn't tell you."

"Great." Percy said. "Nico's probably outta his mind with worry."

"What, the corpse kid? I bet he's fine."

Percy snorted wryly at Dean's description. He didn't know how accurate he was.

Mistaking the noise, Dean rushed to defend himself. "What I mean is, like, I bet no time's even passed up there. We'll finish this and get home and it'll only have been like five minutes."

"What if it's not?" Percy said.

Dean sounded determined. "It better be, or that angel can kiss his wings goodbye."

"You should be grateful, Dean." Percy said sarcastically. "He's your get outta jail free card, right?"

Dean winced, and kept avoiding Percy's stare.

It was a bit of an asshole statement, he knew, but he felt well within his rights, considering.

"I don't know wh-"

"Don't." Percy cut him off, suddenly feeling extremely tired. It was all catching up to him, the further he sank into the shitty bed. Fuck, he was supposed to be recouping with the others right now. The whole mess with the Witnesses was only supposed to take a couple hours or so: clear out the Witnesses, secure the situation, and hopefully get a clue.

The Winchesters weren't supposed to factor into it.

With any luck, Nico would reach out to Hazel or maybe Rachel, and keep them informed. There wasn't much they could do, but they would at least know that the demon was a… dead end.

Percy groaned. "It's just shit. So, so shit."

"Yeah." Dean agreed, thankfully not asking for clarification.

"Look." Percy told him, making eye contact. "We'll go check for demons at Whitshire farm in the morning, yeah? We can get this wrapped up, summon your stupid angel-" Here Percy was ready for a spike of ozone or the sound of thunder, similar to cursing at the gods, but the air remained silent. "And get home before anyone is the wiser. Then we'll go our separate ways."

Dean was silent for a long time, thinking it over. Percy could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he just… didn't.

"Right, then." Percy said, and rolled over to go to sleep.

He didn't know why he even expected to have dreamless sleep anymore. Of course that wouldn't happen.