Hey guys! So sorry it took so long to update-just a string of bad luck. exams, power outages, getting grounded, just about every obstacle possible. But here we are:

Chapter Four: The Portal

Sarah Franklin was at the door when the brothers arrived, undoubtedly waiting for them. She looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties, a tall and willowy woman with long silver hair. Her face was rather ageless, yet her expression was anxious and stressed.

"Winchesters?" she asked cautiously, opening her screen door just a crack.

"Yes, ma'am," Dean replied, trying to be friendly, but the woman's uneasy demeanor threw him off, "I'm Dean and this is Sam."

"Right, yes, come in," she said hurriedly, only relaxing an inch as she opened the door all the way to show them in.

Upon entering the house, Sam crinkled his nose slightly at a familiar scent. He glanced about the hallway, looking into a dining room on the left and a living room on the right. There were pewter bowls in each room, wisps of smoke billowing out. Inside them, Sam deduced from the smell, were sprigs of sage burning. Well, this was interesting… Sage was known as a protecting herb that kept evil spirits away. He was fairly certain that Sarah Franklin wasn't ignorant of this. He eyed her curiously as she led them back into a small kitchen.

"How did you know to contact our dad?" Dean asked interestedly as he took a seat.

"I'm acquainted with him," Sarah Franklin replied shortly as she sat across the table from the brothers.

Sam brightened up. "You were the one that helped him, weren't you?" he said knowingly, rather excited to have found the mysterious assistant and to have realized that Sarah Franklin was more than she seemed. "You helped him bind Victor Gavin."

Dean, having not followed Sam's thought process, scowled at him. He refused to go along with Sam's theory, convinced that Dad wouldn't have needed someone else to help him.

However, he was forced to accept otherwise when Sarah Franklin took a deep breath and admitted, "Yes. I was." She sat back in her chair, her hand clasping a pendant around her neck. It was a plaited symbol, with three triangles pointed downward. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, her gaze becoming fixed on something behind the brothers.

The brothers turned to see a young girl, about fifteen, standing in the doorway. She seemed very perplexed to find the two of them sitting in the kitchen.

"Um…Grandma Sarah? Why're you burning that stuff again? And who're they?" she asked confusedly. Her eyes fell on the brothers, not sure what to make of them.

"Oh, Bethany…" Sarah said, quickly standing and walking over to the girl to usher her away. "This is Sam and Dean, they're…" she paused, trying to find an appropriate explanation, "The sons of a friend. We were just talking. Now, why don't you go back to you're homework?"

Sarah got her granddaughter out of the room before the girl could ask any more questions. Dean watched the interaction in mild interest. Sarah had not only essentially not explained what he and Sam were doing here, she'd also completely dodged any mention about the burning sage. Dean recognized these tactics as ones that his family also used in their line of work. It showed why Sarah had been so vague on the phone. She hadn't wanted Bethany to overhear anything too inexplicable.

The older woman stood in the doorway, watching her granddaughter go up the rickety stairs, intent on keeping the conversation with Sam and Dean on hold until she was certain Bethany was out of earshot. Then she turned back to them.

"I have been practicing magic for forty years," she stated with a hint of pride, but still in a quiet voice, as though she was afraid Bethany might still somehow hear her on the second floor. "I was familiar with your father, and called him when the killings started ten years ago. He discovered that it was Victor Gavin who was behind all of it, and with his help I bound Victor Gavin's powers."

Dean nodded. Okay, they'd already picked up on that. They needed new information. "Why did you call?"

Sarah hesitated, nervously glancing again toward the staircase, then turned back to the boys, her arms folded over her chest. "I'm watching after Bethany while her parents are away in California," she said quietly. Dean could see where this was going, but let Sarah ease into it. She was already very stressed, and what she was revealing was only making her worse. "At her mother's request, my granddaughter doesn't know about…about the full power of my beliefs. Do not ask Bethany any questions." She said the last part not as a request, but a serious demand, her gray eyes told them.

"We understand," Sam replied, his face letting her know that she could trust them, "What happened?"

Sarah looked at them both very closely, just to be sure that they would keep their word. Then she began to explain…

There were thirty students in the sixth period biology class at Coolidge high school. About half of them were looking down at their lab tables in disgust. The dead eyes of 15 American bullfrogs stared right back at them.

Though they were already through two-thirds of the dissection, Bethany West was not feeling any less grossed out or guilty than when they had began. Her Grandma Sarah had always stressed to her how precious life was, how it should be preserved. It was bad enough to kill an animal, but to take apart its corpse seemed barbaric. But Bethany needed the grade, so she'd swallowed her disgust and ethics to take up the scalpel.

"This is so sick," her lab partner, Maria, said for the thousandth time.

Bethany would have agreed, but as she stared at the open frog body before her, its tiny bones and tissues fully exposed, she honestly felt that if she opened her mouth, she'd puke.

Suddenly, there was a short shriek from the back of the room. Everyone turned to see Ashley, a tall blonde girl, jump away from her table, her lab partner Beatrice staring at her.

"What?" Beatrice asked confusedly.

Ashley pointed at the frog. "It moved!" she cried out.

A couple students chuckled, but Mr. Rourke, a balding thin teacher of twenty years, did not seem at all amused. "Miss Zentarski, if you're feeling ill, go to the nurse's office and cease interrupting the lesson."

Ashley looked like that was exactly what she was going to do, warily eyeing her frog. Just then, another shout accompanied by an unapologetic curse rang out. Mark Lowe and Dan Havel were now staring at their frog, arms up in an instinctual defense move.

"Oh, very funny boys," Mr. Rourke said sarcastically, "For that colorful word, Mr. Lowe, I'll send you down to the…"

But Mr. Rourke was soon too distracted by the sight that met him. Besides, anything he would've continued to say wouldn't have been heard over the collective cries of terror from the students as their dead, dissected frogs started flopping themselves off of their backs. Some classmates just gawked stupidly at the sight, while others yelled and ran around, panicking.

Soon the frogs were hopping around, not at all inhibited by the lack of most of their internal organs. They leapt about like normal, everyday, live whole frogs. They bounced contentedly about, from desk to desk, and soon were hopping, amongst the increased shrieks of panic, at the students as well.

The terrified teenagers ran for the door screaming, their hands held protectively over their heads. Some ducked under desks, but were soon chased out by the persistent undead amphibians. As Bethany was rushed along with the river of fellow frightened students, she saw one of the frogs settled comfortably on a desk. It was quite placidly eating the removed organs of one of his brethren. Bethany screamed in horror.

There was a pause when Sarah had finished relating her granddaughter's story. Naturally, Dean broke it with his usual joke to lighten the mood. "Wow. I'm never going to look at Kermit the same way again."

"As soon as Bethany told me, and after I read a story about a cat giving birth to serpents, I knew what was happening. I called," Sarah finished quietly. She was obviously very concerned for her granddaughter, and also about what the frog incident meant.

"Is it Victor Gavin again?" Sam ventured.

Sarah shook her head, and she seemed a little insulted. "No, not quite. He isn't a threat; my magic holds strong."

"Then it's the portal?" Sam guessed.

"Yes," Sarah replied with a nod, "It's ready to be opened. These things that are happening, the portal is the cause."

"It did this before then, when Gavin tried to open it?"

Sarah Franklin shook her head. "No, it didn't."

Dean's brow furrowed. "Wait, why not?"

"The portal can only be opened once," Sarah explained, "One week of an equinox in a certain year. Victor Gavin was ten years early."

Now Dean smirked. "Wait. This guy went through all this trouble, ended up loosing everything, and he was a decade off?"

Sarah eyed him, her face severe. "Five people are dead because of Victor Gavin's stupidity. They died slowly and painfully, and in vain. The irony of the situation does not out weigh its tragedy."

Dean's smirk quickly disappeared. Sam cast him a sympathetic look. Sarah Franklin was an extremely serious woman; her severity reminded Sam more than a little of Dad. "The equinox is this week," he stated, distracting Sarah from Dean, "And you say this is the year it's meant to be opened."

"Yes."

Dean seemed to feel brave enough to stay in the conversation. "Well, can't you just make with the hocus pocus and keep it sealed?" he asked pointedly.

"No, I can't," Sarah replied simply.

Sam raised an eyebrow. Why couldn't she? Sarah seemed perfectly coherent in the magical arts. "But the spells you cast on Gavin..."

"That was ten years ago," she snapped at him rather irritably. She sighed and put a hand to her temple. "I'm old now," she admitted, "I can barely keep up the protection charms I've cast over this house."

Dean sat back in his chair, arms folded over his chest. He gave Sam an 'oh well' look and shrugged. He felt they could handle the situation without Sarah's magic. They hadn't needed it before, right?

Sam wasn't so sure. This wasn't a demon that they could simply exorcize. They were dealing with ancient magic. "What can we do to stop it?" he asked Sarah.

"The portal cannot be opened by itself," she explained, "Someone must perform a ritual to open it. You must find the portal and stop anyone who attempts to open it within the next week. After the equinox, the portal will be closed forever."

Dean nodded. "Sounds simple enough. But how do we find the portal?"

"There will be more signs," Sarah said, "The portal wants to be opened. It will send clues about its location. Follow the signs, and you will find it."

"What about Victor Gavin?" Sam asked, "Do you think he might know where the portal is?"

Sarah paused, looking at him concernedly. "I hope not," she said sincerely. "If he does…he will try to find a way to open it. Though…I do wonder if he's even alive anymore," she added thoughtfully. In response to the questioning looks she received from the brothers, she said, "He was sentenced to death. I didn't bother to pay attention to when the sentence was to be carried out."

"Well, if he is still alive, do you know where we can find him?" Sam asked. Gavin could prove a useful asset. If they could get him to cooperate, they could get closer to where the portal was.

"I suppose he's at the prison in Florence," Sarah said simply, "That's only a few miles from here. But I wouldn't recommend going to him. He won't help you; he wants the portal open."

"She's right, Sammy," Dean said, "No point to it."

Sam nodded in agreement. He wasn't entirely sure that the option of using Gavin should be so quickly dismissed, but they had little choice. They had to stay here to follow the clues. If they took a trip to Florence, they might miss something.

"Did Gavin live around here?" Dean asked Sarah, "Maybe there's stuff at his old house that could help us out."

Sarah shook her head. "I assume that he did, but I don't know for sure. You'll have to find that out on your own."

With that the brothers stood to leave. There was no reason to hang around, and Dean was certain that he really didn't want to be in Sarah's company any longer than he had to. "Well, we'll do just that," he said.

"I wish you good fortunes," she said as they left, "For all of our sakes."

Dean shook his head as he led the way out, getting more and more comfortable the further he got from Sarah Franklin.

"Well, she was real cheery, wasn't she?" he said cynically as they got to the car.

"So, we look for Victor's old house?" Sam suggested as he got in.

"I guess," Dean said uncertainly as he started up the engine. "We don't have much else to go on."

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Next Chapter: the Switch