Chapter Twenty
"Sammy!" Athena called running up to him a plastic bag dangling from her arm. John was sitting, trying to be patient, at his feet.
"Is that the last of it?" he asked, reaching out to take her bags and handing over the dog's leash. Athena dug her sister's list from her pocket and scanned over it.
"Yea, we've got it all. I hope she's done with that stupid story. Or I'll never get any peace."
"Then let's go see."
Sam didn't just want to go back to check on Autumn's book, he wanted to get rid of the umpteen bags he was carrying, they weren't exactly light. Athena nodded in agreement and led the way back to the motel. She probably would have like to hang back at his pace but John was in a rush to get back. The dog was very protective of the girls, and didn't like leaving one alone with someone he didn't know. Sam couldn't exactly blame the dog for not trusting Dean alone with his master, he doubted he'd trust Dean in the dog's shoes either.
"Autty? …. Dean? You home? We're back with all the crap you sent us after!" Athena unhooked John from his leash and threw it over by the couch. Sam sat all the bags down by the door, and a couple seconds later Autumn came from the hallway.
"Hey! Did you get EVERYTHING on that list?" she asked.
"Yeah." Sam answered
"And you're positive?"
"Well… no… I sat with John and Athena did the shopping."
"Teenie did you get it all?"
"Yeah, I can't believe you wrote the page front and back. No one needs that much crap." Athena said.
"Well some things I didn't need per say. More like things I wanted."
"Oh, you mean like the Peanut M&M's you underlined God knows how many times?"
"Yes! Speaking of which, where are those?"
"In one of the bags. I got us each a bag of candy." Sam looked at Athena as if she were nuts. "What? it's just something we like a lot of." Athena began looking through all of the bags. Eventually she pulled a bag out of a bag and passed out 1 pound packs of candy.
"Sammy it's up to you which pack you want. But those spicy cinnamon chewy things are mine… and the M&M's are for Autty. So you have a choice of Snickers or uh… whatever the other candies are." Athena handed the bag to Sam who took it and laughed at the two twig girls standing in front of him. He couldn't picture the two eating so many sweets.
"Hey kids! What's going on in here that there's so much excitement?" Dean walked in the door.
"What's on your nose?" Sam asked shoving the bag into Dean.
"Oil… what's this?"
"It's candy… mystery candy. That's all that's left."
"It's not mystery candy. They're called Whatchamacallit's. They're actually pretty good."
"Okay well whatever." Athena looked at Autumn's hand. "What the hell did you do?" Autumn had a mouth full of M&M's. Her eyes widened and she looked around the room. She looked down at her hand and grinned.
"I ut my-elf" She tried to say 'I cut myself' but it didn't come out as clear as she would of hoped.
"You did WHAT to an elf?" Athena exclaimed. Autumn laughed hard and an M&M shot out her nose.
"EWWW!" Athena nearly threw up and this only made Autumn laugh harder. She bent down and threw the peanut that had just come out her nose and put it in the garbage. After a couple of seconds the M&M's were gone out of her mouth and she could speak normally again.
"I said, I cut myself. Dean was showing me how to change the oil in our car and the wrench slipped and I cut my fingers. So Dean wrapped a cloth around my hand and so I came in here to clean it up.
"If you and your catapulting nose don't mind. I'm going to go get the oil off my face and change clothes." Dean said walking off towards his room to grab another outfit. Autumn laughed a little at the thought of her nose being a catapult and shooting everyone she didn't like with peanut M&M's.
"Anyway, we've not got anything to do until around nine o'clock tonight, so what do you guys want to do?" Athena asked. "We need to return that movie, too. Late fees suck."
"Athena, we still have two days on it. Don't fret, it'll get returned." Autumn coaxed.
"That still don't solve the, what are we doing today problem? You know I thought there being four of us would keep us busy not bored." Athena complained.
"More us means the work gets done faster. Meaning more free time. Plus we didn't have to talk much with the locals." Autumn sat down her bag of M&M's in her lap. "Hey! Teenie, truth or dare?" the younger girl stared at her sister.
"Autty"
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth." Athena answered.
"Pussy, what is the scariest moment you've had as a hunter?" Autumn asked.
"When that spirit possessed you, in Birmingham." Autumn smiled.
"Even if I can't control my body, I'd never let it hurt you… too much." Athena chucked a Red Hot at her sister. "How about you, Sam, truth or dare?"
"Truth?" Sam said skeptically.
"Have you ever been head-over-heels-die-for-you-in-a-heartbeat love?" Athena asked.
"Yea." he answered without a moments hesitation, but his reply was still soft.
"Who was it?" Autumn asked gently.
"Jessica Moore, we met in college." he offered.
"What happened?" Athena asked without realizing the dangerous territory they were entering.
"She died." Sam allowed, but didn't go into further explanation, before looking up at Autumn. "Truth or dare?"
"Well, we've all chosen truth so far, so I won't break the pattern."
"Because you're chicken." Athena laughed.
"Did you really cut your hand changing your oil?" the question was lame, but the way his brother and her had been acting, one of them had more than an oil change on their mind.
"Yes, we were talking and I wasn't watching what I was doing, his wrench slipped off the nut and I banged up my hand. Teenie, truth or dare?"
"Dare." she said defiantly.
"Ummm okay," Autumn paused not sure what she should dare her sister, she hadn't set up any guidelines, "Dean's in the shower, right?"
"Yeah, what's that have to do with anything?" Sam asked.
"Okay, Teenie. I dare you to go in the bathroom, take all Dean's clothes and the his towel and then go in his room and grab his duffel bag then bring it all out here and stuff it all under the couch."
"You're kidding?" Athena said hopefully.
"Nope. You best get a move on too, he'll be out soon." Athena sighed and walked off towards the bathroom. She walked back out a couple seconds later with and arm full of Dean's clothes. She then walked into his room, grabbed his duffel bag and walked back out with it in her hand. Sam and Autumn were watching her every move as she sat all his stuff down in front of the couch and kicked it under the couch.
"Happy?" she asked.
"Very." Autumn laughed and nodded.
"So, Sammy… Truth or Dare?" Athena asked sitting down beside her sister. She too, had her candy in her lap.
"It's" Sam started but was interrupted.
"SAM!" Autumn exploded with laughs. Sam shot her grin.
"Yes, big brother?" Autumn's laughing proved contagious, infecting Athena and Sam.
"My clothes… and towel are gone." Sam had to deep breath for a second before he could reply.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Dean yelled something back but it was washed out by their laughter. After a few minutes Dean emerged from the bathroom to confront the others in the living room with the bathroom rug wrapped around his waist.
"Here, Athena stole these." Autumn said offering his clothes.
"You made me!" Athena shouted. Dean ignored the two girls and took his clothes trying to hold them without letting go of his rug.
Autumn leaned out the window behind the driver's seat and peered through the thick fog that had fallen at the house. Everyone was watching the house. The downstairs light was still on and the kid's bedroom light. Autumn, unlike the others, was looking for a way in. She was in hopes the bedroom window would be unlocked and there would be a trellis or drainpipe very close. She knew this would be way too easy but there was no harm in a little false hope.
Sam's eyes were locked on the downstairs' light. He could see the blue flicker of a television screen and on occasion three bodies moving around. He kept wonder what they were going to say or how they would get in. The minivan that had been in the driveway that afternoon when he and Athena had been there was gone, so the parents had left. There was a little BMW parked in its place, obviously the car of a teenaged girl whose parents spoiled her beyond all reason. In other words an easy target.
"So what's our excuse?" Athena questioned.
"For what?" Dean asked.
"We can't exactly just climb through the kids' bedroom window and expect them not to say anything or even look at us weird."
"We're the Scooby-Doo gang."
"You're kidding."
"You got a better plan?"
"Well, no. But the Scooby-Doo gang?"
"Yeah. I'm Fred." Dean grinned. "Sam you get to be Shaggy." Sam glared at Dean.
"What?"
"Shaggy sucks. That's what." Sam answered.
"Who would you rather be? Dafney?"
"No. Athena looks more like Dafney. With the blond hair and all."
"You're Shaggy, Sam. Unless you can come up with something better, you're Shaggy."
"So who am I?" Autumn asked.
"Do we have to go over this right now?" Dean was getting annoyed with all the Scooby-Doo talk. He hadn't liked Scooby since he was about six-years-old.
"I'm not going in there un-prepared, Dean." Autumn pressed.
"Fine. You can be Thelma."
"Thelma's ugly."
"Can't have everything sweetheart."
"So I'm Dafney?" Athena asked.
"YES! Sam is Shaggy, I'm Fred, Autumn is Thelma, and Athena is Dafney. We're prepared now all you shut your cake holes."
"Man-period." Athena whispered to Autumn.
"Yep…" Autumn replied. "I'll shut my cake hole as soon as you answer me one question."
"What?" Dean asked with a sigh.
"The boogeyman comes from under the bed. So how do we get in there walk across the floor and him not even notice."
"You can't see him while he's under the bed. That's why the parents always tell the kids there's nothing there. And so I'm thinking, he can't see us while he's under there either. We just have to get to him before he gets to the kids." Dean answered "Look." he pointed to the house. The lights were flickering on and off. "Come on." The four climbed out of the Impala and ran to the house with their weapons. They climbed up the drainpipe one after the other. After a few seconds of climbing they reached the twins bedroom. Luckily the window was unlocked and they were able to open it and climb in without waking the kids.
"Okay, the kids are going to wake up one way or the other. So why don't we make it easier? And it'll be safer for us to shoot and them not freak out and get themselves shot." Athena said.
"Yeah… okay." Dean answered. He and Autumn went to Jonathan's bed while Sam and Athena walked over to Madeline's.
"Madeline?" Athena asked. The little girl's eyes cracked open. "My name is Dafney. And this is Shaggy. We're part of the Scooby-Doo gang. That over there is Fred and Thelma." she pointed over to Dean and Autumn who were talking to Jonathan. "Can you help us out?" The little girl's eyes were wide open now and she was smiling from ear to ear.
"Yeah!" She answered.
"Great. We need you to lay here and keep your head under the covers. No matter how loud or scary things are; you've got to be quiet. Don't scream. There's going to be a lot of loud noises."
"Okay." There was fear in Madeline's voice. She didn't know what was about to happen, but from what she'd been told, she could tell she wasn't going to like it.
"Don't be afraid. In fact, how about your brother comes over here and you can both be under the covers at the same time. Would that make you feel better?" Sam asked.
"Uh huh."
"Okay. Fred, Thelma, Madeline wants Jonathan over here with her." Jonathan climbed out of his bed and jumped in bed next to his twin sister. They pulled the blankets up over their heads and the figures under the covers moved closer and held onto each other for dear life.
"Okay. To the corner!" Dean whispered. Athena and Sam rolled their eyes and followed Autumn and Dean to the corner.
"How much longer is this going to be? We've been here for half an hour already." Athena complained.
"It definitely shouldn't be too much longer. I think the kids went to sleep." Sam said.
Autumn was about to point out that adults hadn't ever really seen the boogeyman, and that it probably could sense them in the room, a furry black goblin crawled out from under Madeline's bed. It looked around the room and spotted the four in the corner. What it did shocked Autumn who was standing blocked behind Sam and Dean, Athena was closest to the monster all their guns drawn and pointed at the monster. It morphed in front of their eyes quickly becoming Athena's biggest fear; another Autumn was standing in front of her .She had deep cuts on her forehead and blood was dripping from one on her hair line. Athena started shaking fear gripping her despite the fact that she knew it was only a trick.
"Sam get behind it now." Dean ordered Sam slid along the wall staying out of sight so not to change the monster, while Autumn held her gun steady with one hand and with the other gripped her sister's hand.
"It is only a mind trick. I'm fine, Sis." Athena whimpered but made no other sign of hearing her sister. Dean looked at the two sisters and seemed to be fighting the urge to step forward and change the monster to calm Athena down. Autumn's jaw clenched. "Just saw when Dean-o." she said with a sideways glance.
Dean nodded toward Sam who knew this was his cue. He stepped forward and the bleeding Autumn spun around to face him and in the seconds it took to do this it transformed into John Winchester, with the big yellow eyes of the demon.
"Hey Sammy-boy." it snarled. "You going to shoot your daddy to kill me?" Sam was shaken but aimed at the monster's chest and fired. The kids woke up with a scream and Autumn and Athena were on the bed in no time to shut them up. "Oh you can do better than that, Sammy."
Dean fired off a shot and the monster stumbled but managed to turn around to look at him. It should have taken one shot to the heart but instead it had taken to shots and still not dead. The Boogeyman wasted no time in taking the form that terrified Dean the most. But it was slower this time and halfway through a transformation, into Sam with identical gun shot wounds to the chest and back, Autumn broke away from her sister and the children and shot. It seemed to take years for the bullet to travel from her gun and bury itself into the chest of the monster. But no sooner than it did, did the boogeyman drop to the ground, crumbling into ash and black fur.
Their victory was short lived. The moment the last shot fired footsteps sounded coming up the stairs. The four looked at each other in a flash. Dean and Sam ushered the girls out the window and the moment one person was out the next went. Dean managed to duck his head under the sill at the same time the babysitter burst through the door. Slowly but surely the four made it down the drain and across the lawn without being seen. The second they were out of sight of the house the four burst out laughing.
"We did it." Athena said from the back seat where her sister had shoved her.
"Yea, Teenie." Sam agreed.
"So what we just go home?" Autumn said, she'd somehow ended up in the passenger seat and Dean spared a glance from the road to look over at her.
"Where else would we go?" Dean asked.
"Tomorrow, we're going out then!" she announced.
The drive back to the motel was spent recalling the tale. They didn't make it any farther in the night because the moment they saw their beds they realized how tired they were. No showers, no last comments, no changing they just fell in their respective beds and went to sleep. The following morning Dean was woken up by a cold hand on his bare arm. He jumped up pulling the blade from under his pillow.
"Easy." he focused his eyes in on the person standing in front of him. "I had your cell. It vibrated and then started beeping don't know what it's problem is but here." Autumn said handing over the phone and sitting down on the foot of his bed. Dean flipped open the cell to find he had a text message. "What is it?"
"Coordinates."
A/N: Hey! This has been the quickest I've EVER posted a fic. It's also the quickest I've ever written one. So MANY thanks to our only replying view Sammie! Sammie, you rock! Everyone else, shame on you! Depriving Katie and I of our reviews we're going to cry now... But we also have another supernatural fic under construction right now. So hang around and we'll have more in a few days. Much loveSarah the mutant farm girl and her sister Katie.
