Evie sat huddled in the boat. She was exhausted. She looked up at the height of the cliffs above her, if her family ever found out what she'd done there'd be hell to pay. They never liked her risking her life, but what she'd done was almost suicide - that was how they'd see it anyway, but none of them had her feel for the water. She'd known that the water was deep in that one area, she'd known that so long as she could get Sam and her there, they'd both survive. She hadn't been in danger until the moment she'd got out of the water.
That had been stupid. Saving Sam, it had seemed the most natural thing in the world. But not looking after herself – her who usually only ever had herself to worry about – that had been madness. Idiocy.
Her arm was killing her. She hadn't even noticed the rocks scraping her arm at the time.
She looked up as Sam climbed in to the skiff, then leant her head against the side. Dean would be a while loading the boat up again, she should take that time to rest. What ever the reason she had met the Winchesters was, she knew instinctively that they were going to need her, they were going to need her talents. Yes she thought, rest now, while you can.
The small town came into view as Dean rounded the headland. Evie had barely moved the whole time, she just sat huddled in a corner. Some how seeing her vulnerable like that made Sam feel better about her, what ever she was, she was human and imperfect.
Now that the scare was over Dean was back to his annoying self, Sam had never thought there could be a long way round on the water, but some how Dean managed to find it. Sam was not a good sailor, in fact he could count the times he'd been on a boat on one hand, and that included the pedal boat Jessica had insisted they go on last summer.
It didn't make sense that Treve would stay next to the sea. The attacks, which had started out months apart, were now closing to weeks. A business man needed to stay in one place longer than that, even in this digital age. Evie had mentioned once that she didn't need to be by the sea, just near water. There were plenty of lakes inland, and lakes had rivers that led to the sea…
"Don't take us in," he called to Dean.
Dean looked round, surprised. "Thought you couldn't wait to get back on dry land."
"I can't, but there's somewhere we need to go first. Keep going along the coast a ways."
Dean shrugged. "It's alright by me, you up for it Evie?"
She roused herself. "What's your thinking?"
Sam explained himself. "I'm pretty sure I'd recognize that feeling if we passed another barrier."
"I'm sure you would too," Evie answered. "Seeing as it nearly killed you."
"What if he has gone in land? He'd be by a water course, wouldn't he?"
"And all water leads to the sea," Evie completed.
"Then all we have to do is find which one and track it upstream," Dean finished.
"Pass me another blanket then," Evie said.
They carried on, following the rocky coastline for a good three or four miles. They had passed a couple of small river mouths, but Sam had felt nothing. It didn't help that Dean kept looking around at him like he was some nautical instrument.
Then Sam's senses picked up, Evie too suddenly sat straight and looked over to the shore. As the small skiff closed in on the mouth of the river, even Dean began to feel something.
"I think we've found a winner," Dean said, slowing the boat.
Without power, the skiff was being pushed gently away from land, and the tide was coming in.
"Okay," Evie sighed, throwing her blankets off. "At least this time I'm ready."
"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Dean demanded.
"In the water," she said. "We can't leave it there. And what's the point of coming back?' She cocked her head. "I'll be fine. Just have the blankets ready." She passed the blankets over to Sam, then her fleece, giving him a good view of the tattoos Dean told him about, they were intricate and wound around her torso with no apparent join. Evie saw him looking, he looked away.
"Sorry."
"I don't care." She said. "I was never taught to be ashamed of my body.'
"Amen," Dean said.
She dived in. They looked for her but she didn't breach the surface.
"So," Dean said, coming over to wait by Sam. "Part mermaid. Cool."
Sam laughed. "You know you can talk all you want, don't forget I know what you didn't do last night."
Before Dean could answer, a shock wave pulsed under the surface of the water. A few seconds later Evie reappeared at the stern. She threw a second pouch into the boat, then took Dean's hand. The moment she was on the boat Sam threw the blankets over her.
"The pouch was kept in a waterproof bag, the moment I ripped it open it was neutralised. Good, let's get home then," Evie said, pulling her blankets around her once more.
oooooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooooooo
The moment Evie had learned that Sam and Dean had a bath, they lost it. An hour later she emerged from the steam as if the day hadn't happened, her eyes were clear deep blue again, and sparkled.
"It was a good call," Dean told her. "There's a lake at the end of this river."
She sat next to him on the bed wearing a bath robe, her hair wrapped in a towel. Her legs showed pink from the heat of the water where the robe parted.
"It's what, twenty odd miles in? We could make that by night fall easy."
"Not with your van we couldn't."
"Forget the van, I'll follow you on the bike."
"Will it be safe like that?" Sam asked her.
"With Caleb?" She laughed. "No one's going to get in. I'll need to pick up a few things first."
ooooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooooooo
Forty minutes later, with camping equipment, food, and a pair of flippers now jostling for room with the brothers' gear on the back seat, Dean was driving towards the lake with Evie close behind on her Harley. Dean kept looking in the mirror at her.
"What?" Sam demanded. "Something's bothering you about her now then?"
"No." Dean shook his head. There was a gleam in his eye that made Sam nervous. "I just want to see how good she is."
Suddenly he pushed his foot down, and the Impala sped away along the narrow and twisted road. After a moment, Evie joined the race.
The trip should have taken an hour, they got there in just over half the time, only slowing when Dean brought the car off onto the dirt road leading them almost straight into the bushes that shielded the lake from sight. The Harley skidded to a halt next to them. Dean was smiling, and when she pulled her helmet off, Evie was laughing gleefully.
"You're a maniac!" He said.
"You're one to talk!" She answered. On a high from the adrenaline, she threw her arms about his neck and kissed him, then pushed him away.
Sam watched all this to one side, and suddenly something clicked, he realised what had been bothering him, and because it was all so pointless he laughed out loud. Evie looked at him with those clear blue eyes, looked to the side, as she always did when she read someone's aura, then looked back.
"Well, you've just resolved something," she said to him.
"I've just realised who you remind me of," he told her with a smile.
"Who?"
"Dean." He shrugged. "You remind me of Dean."
"You hear that?" She said immediately. "You're a male Evie."
"No, you're a female Dean," he replied.
"Dream on, Motormouth." She walked over to the edge of the lake.
"You're a she me!" He called after her.
Her laughter drifted back to them only to fade away. "Guys, come and see this."
They pushed their way through the bushes to join her. The setting winter sun had left the sky a worn denim white, in the paleness the trees framed the sky in the mirrored lake, a salmon pink only now touching one edge. At the far end, alone on the lake, was an old shingled house, built on several levels into the hill behind. Although it was too far away to see clearly, the light caught a tiny waterfall that glinted alongside the white shingles. A jetty with a small fishing dingy moored by it stood in front, and a man dressed in black stood at ease on guard.
"This place is far too beautiful for scum like that," Evie said, and headed back to the car.
By the time Sam and Dean had followed her she already had the tent out.
"So now what?" Sam asked. "We just wait for a death ship to follow the river in it's own time?"
"Screw that," Dean said. "It could take weeks."
"He uses lures," Evie reminded them. "We need our own. It would help if we knew how he did it."
Sam helped her put the dome tent up, leaving Dean to unload the car.
"Whatever they're doing has to include planting something on the victims that's personal to Treve," Dean said, waving Evie's flippers around as he spoke.
"Clothes?" Sam suggested.
Evie caught the flippers from Dean, and stowed them with the rest of her gear.
"Well, they were all smugglers, it's not inconceivable that they worked for him. He could have made them a personal gift."
Sam considered this for a moment.
"No, he couldn't be sure they'd never take it off. He must be doing something to them."
"All this is academic," Evie said, now lighting the small gas stove she'd brought. "All that matters is how we're going to get the attention of the death ship, as Sam calls it, and bring it up a small river."
Dean pulled the map out of the car and sat by the stove to read it.
"Can't we have a fire?" He asked.
"No," Evie told him sternly. "Not with all those guards around."
"No fire, camping…"Dean grumbled. "I hope you got something to improve the situation."
"You don't like camping?" Evie asked in surprise. "Who the hell doesn't like camping?"
"Well, when you're a kid, and those noises you can hear outside your tent really could kill you," Sam said. "It kinda takes the fun out of it."
"Give me four walls any day," Dean added.
"Four walls can trap you," Evie answered. "I'll take my chances with canvas. Does that mean you're both sleeping in the car?"
Dean scratched his chin. "No," he finally conceded. "I don't need a stiff neck tomorrow. Besides, I wouldn't want to leave you defenseless."
"Oh yeah," Evie laughed. "Poor defenseless me. Are you going to do anything with that map?"
He spread the map on the ground and traced the river's course with a finger. Sam drew near, sensing in Dean the beginnings of a plan.
"The river's not that narrow," he told them. "That skiff could get up here easily."
Evie looked at the map, then at him.
"You mean to actually lead the ship up here?"
"It's better than leaving the lure at the mouth of the river and hoping."
Evie thought about this as she stirred the stew.
"Yes, it is. But I'd better do it."
Dean frowned. "Why?"
"Because so far it's only taken men. If the ship caught up with you, you'd be in terrible danger." Dean took a spoonful of the stew from the pan. "Hey! Wait 'til it's ready!"
"You've got a point," he said, ignoring her protests.
"She can't do it," Sam told them.
"Why not?" Evie asked. "I'm at least as good as Dean at that sort of thing.
"Don't get cocky." Dean warned her.
"She can't do it because we need her here. We're going to have to steal something from Treve, if he realises what's going on then they're going to try to block the lake, only Evie can handle that."
Evie spooned her stew out into three plastic bowls.
"You're right," she said. "I think I know what we need."