Ruby guided them to a remote, run down cabin a few miles off the highway. She'd been keeping them as far off the map as possible the entire time Sam had been working with her. How she knew where all these dumps were was a question he didn't have time to ask. He was too busy plotting. If he was right, he'd been had. If he was wrong, the worst that would happen was he would offend a friend. If Ruby really was his friend, she would understand.

He, Ruby and Anna settled into the tiny cabin for the night. It smelled of mildew and consisted of two small, damp rooms overrun with dust and the beginnings of a viney invasion from outside. Sam and Ruby camped out in the front room, giving Anna her privacy. Night was falling outside and the room was dimly lit by the moody, deep yellow light of a cheap electric lantern.

"We need food," Sam informed Ruby. He tossed her the car keys and she just barely caught them. She examined them with raised eyebrows.

"Why am I it?" she asked.

"One of us has to go and Anna's still totally freaked out by you," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, well the feeling is mutual," Ruby said with a shudder. "There's something off about that kid... I can't put my finger on it."

"You mean besides the voices she hears?"

"Duh. Keep a close eye on her. I get the feeling she's planning to make a move, probably sneak away. What do you want me to bring back?"

"Anything warm you can get your hands on."

"Right."

She hesitated at the door.

"Sam, are you ok?" she asked. "You've been quiet since we left Defiance."

"I'm fine. I just... I'm just disappointed," Sam confessed. It wasn't a lie. It also wasn't the whole truth.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Ruby said. She sounded so sincere. "I know you wanted to believe Dean was back, but... it's not going to be that easy. We have a lot more work to do before we can force Lilith to release him."

"Right. The plan."

"We have to stick to it. We can't afford to get distracted. Right?"

"Yeah."

With a final, encouraging smile, Ruby left. Sam waited until he heard the car pull off, then he opened a duffel bag and pulled out a stick of chalk. He didn't have a lot of time. Maybe thirty minutes tops. Not long enough for spray paint to dry and he didn't want to tip Ruby off to his trap with fumes anyway. He used a spare shirt to sweep the dust and dirt off the floor and started to draw the beginnings of a devil's trap.

"How's your friend going to get back in?"

Anna's voice at his back startled him and he jumped. His jumpiness startled her in turn, and she took a quick step back, watching him apprehensively with her giant green eyes. Sam floundered, searching for a good explanation.

"She, uh... well..."

It's complicated. She's a demon and I've never felt comfortable trusting her. But she's done so much for me, she seems so genuine... but now there are too many things that don't add up and it scares me. What if my brother was right all along? What if she's been playing me?

There was a scarier thought that Sam was doing his best to avoid. Still, it surfaced like a dread serpent from the uneasy waters of his conscience.

If she's been playing me this whole time, why? What's her endgame?

Deep, deep down, Sam already knew the answer. The endgame had to be the plan. Ruby's plan, her playbook to rescue Dean from hell. Hone Sam's powers, find Lilith, force her to let his brother go. According to Ruby, there was no chance of them resurrecting his brother. That was impossible. They could, however, get his soul out of hell and headed up where it belonged.

According to Ruby.

If she was lying, then Dean had been right all along. Ruby wanted Sam using his powers, growing them, and the chance of freeing Dean's soul from hell was just a shiny piece of bait on the end of a string long enough to lead him where she wanted. But where exactly was that? Did she, like the yellow-eyed demon believe he would turn dark and lead some demonic army? Maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe the reasons she'd been giving him weren't entirely untrue. Maybe she really did just want him to prove that dark powers could be used for good in the right hands.

Sam clenched his jaw considering that possibility. Even if that was the case, even if the truth wasn't the worst case scenario, he would never forgive her. Not for tricking him into breaking the promise he'd made to Dean. Tricking him into using his powers after he'd sworn not to.

"You're right not to trust her," Anna told him, breaking the reverie he had fallen into. "I don't know why you're with that demon, but it won't end well."

"Why do you say that?"

"Everyone knows demons lie. They're not to be trusted."

Everyone did know that. At least, any hunter would know that. Sam frowned, wondering how Anna Milton knew it.

"Did you hear something about her?"

"No, I just... I mean..."

Anna paused, struggling to put her gut instinct into words.

"I get these feelings about things," she finally said. "And I'm usually right."

"And you've got a bad feeling about Ruby."

Anna nodded gravely. Sam thought he understood why she unsettled Ruby. The kid was older than she looked. Her eyes betrayed it, sometimes her words did as well. Something about her gave him the impression that it went deeper than her having an 'old soul'. Something wasn't right about Anna. But what?

Sam didn't have time to worry about Anna. He let her disappear back into the second room while he finished his trap and started assembling a spell. It took him longer than he anticipated, and only half the ingredients were in the bowl when he heard the growl of the Impala's engine outside. He quickly switched off the electric lantern as it grew louder, coming closer and closer until finally it idled and stopped. Sam held his breath as he heard the door open, heard it slam shut. His ears strained for Ruby's footsteps, but her gait was perfectly silent and he never detected them. His heart pounded in his ears, nerves making his throat dry and tight as he waited for the door to open. It felt like an eternity before it finally did, with a creak that was both dreaded and welcomed in the pitch dark silence.

"Sam?"

Sam swallowed hard, his finger hovering over the lantern switch, waiting.

"Sam?" Ruby repeated herself. Sam could hear the uncertainty in her voice. She knew something was wrong. He didn't want to risk spooking her.

"Hey," he said, managing to keep the stress out of his voice. "What'd you end you getting?"

"Tacos. Why is it so dark in here?" Ruby pressed. Her voice hadn't moved from the doorway.

"Batteries went out," Sam said shortly. "I couldn't find replacements."

"Backpack, front pocket," Ruby said. "I swear, you'd lose your head if it wasn't- What the- What...?"

Ruby's confusion was the cue Sam had been waiting for. He hit the switch and the lantern hurled it's orange glow throughout the room. It cast Sam's shadow long over Ruby, frozen at the edge of the devil's trap. She blinked in the sudden light, her eyes darting from Sam to the ceiling, then finally to the floor. She dropped the bag of food she'd been carrying as horrified understanding spread over her features. Sam turned away from her, afraid of what else he might see in her face. He kept assembling the spell.

At his back, Ruby chose her words carefully.

"Sam. What are you doing?" she asked. "I hope this isn't your idea of a joke, 'cause it's seriously not funny. Sam? Sam!"

He ignored her, lit a match and threw it into the bowl. The ingredients ignited and he let them burn. The scent reached Ruby and she desperately inhaled, trying to pick out the aromas in the smoky mix. One stood out to her and made her heart sink.

"Is that wysteria?" she asked, tone full of disbelief that she had to force. She'd been afraid that she was losing Sam's trust, but she never thought he would resort to this. At least, not so quickly.

Sam ignored her and waited for the small flame to run out of fuel. Once it did, smoke filled the room and the smell of burnt herbs became overwhelming. Ruby swallowed back a cough while Sam uncapped a bottle and carefully poured the ashes of the herbs into the water within. Holy water if Ruby knew what he was doing. A seasoned witch, she was sure she did. He recapped the bottle, shook it thoroughly and finally turned back to Ruby.

"She's a liar," Ruby spat, unable to keep the vehemence from her tone. "You can't trust a word out of her mouth. If you have questions, just ask me, Sam! Don't do this!"

"I need the truth," Sam finally replied, approaching her. He uncapped the bottle again and Ruby shrank back desperately against the cabin door. "And this is the only way to get it."

"Sam-"

He tossed the bottle's contents at her and she shrieked as it steamed against her skin. Sam chanted over her keening, latin verses that flowed with damning clarity, devastating composure that broke Ruby. This wasn't an exorcism. This was so much worse. Ruby's screams subsided as she lost the power to voice her despair. She felt like the floor was falling out from under her as she sank into the depths of the mind she'd stolen from Allison Smith so long ago.

Allison Smith stood agog, shocked at the sudden, unexpected return of her agency. She felt like a second grader thrust into the spotlight at a school play while half out of costume. She stood still, dripping slowly onto the floor until the feeling passed and she remembered how to move. She opened her palm and brought it up to examine in the dim light, so ecstatic at her ability to do so that she would have giggled with giddiness if she could have remembered how faster. She found her discipline before her voice, however, and swallowed her excitement.

"Allison?"

Sam was trying to hide his uncertainty but he was doing a bad job. Ruby had painted Allison as the boogeyman and the apprehension Sam felt for her was deep-seated.

"Sam."

Allison spoke carefully. A look within told her that they were practically alone; Ruby was comatose, buried deep by the spell Sam had used. Too deep even to eavesdrop.

What a shame. I wish the bitch could hear me nailing her coffin, Allison thought spitefully.

"I have some questions for you," Sam announced, sounding more sure of himself.

Allison crossed her arms over her chest and waited, prompting Sam with her eyebrows.

"Is my brother alive?"

"Of course."

Sam's heart leaped. It was the answer he wanted. Could he believe it?

"And when I called Bobby earlier?

"The call never made it to Bobby," Allison confirmed. "But you already knew that. That's why we're talking now, right?"

"Yeah."

"Took you long enough."

"So... do you know where he is? Dean, I mean."

Sam needed to sit down. He stumbled to the corner of the cabin and slid heavily down the wall. Allison watched him, then leaned against the cabin door with her arms still crossed over her chest.

"No," Allison answered. "But you know he won't be hard to find."

"Yeah. Probably not."

"He's probably worried about you, you know."

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna go find him now?"

Sam just nodded.

"And what about Ruby?"

Sam wasn't ready to answer that question.

"Sam, what are you going to do about Ruby now that you know she's been playing you?" Allison demanded.

"I... I don't know. I guess..."

"You need to kill her."

The decisiveness of Allison's tone took Sam completely by surprise.

"What?"

"Ruby's a piece of shit," Allison informed him. "She's not interested in helping anyone or proving anything. All that crap she's been feeding you about her 'life's work'? About how me and Alice took that away from her? It's all lies. All she wants is to set the world on fire and laugh while it burns. Just like all the rest of her kind. They all deserve to die. Especially her. You need to do it while you have the chance."

"So you're ready to die with her?" Sam asked with raised eyebrows.

"I've been ready for the last fifteen years," Allison replied without a second thought.

"Sounds like vengeance talking," he pointed out.

"Astute."

Sam was quiet for a few minutes. His mind was a raging whirlwind. This changed everything.

"So, are you going to do it, or are you going to make me do it?" Allison asked. She pulled Ruby's knife from it's place at her thigh, swinging it's point back and forth between her and Sam. Sam watched her for a long moment as he thought it over. He'd never planned this far ahead. He'd been too busy hoping he was wrong, too busy making excuses for Ruby and turning a blind eye to the red flags she threw him. Now he knew beyond a doubt that he wanted Ruby dead. Tricking him into using his powers after he'd promised Dean he wouldn't was bad enough. Knowing that she knew Dean was alive and didn't tell him, that she had chosen to keep manipulating him, stringing him along... it made his blood boil.

Still, Ruby wasn't the only one he would be killing and now he found himself face to face with the potential collateral damage. Allison held his gaze steadily, unwavering. She'd made her choice. He saw no fear of death in her eyes, no regret or second thoughts. He did see something else that gave him pause. Under her determination, he saw something wild and carefully restrained. He saw spite and manic, crazed glee that burned and roared behind the golden lantern light reflected in her wide pupils. Killing Ruby might have been the best strategic move, but Allison hadn't made her decision strategically. What Sam saw in her eyes bordered on insanity.

"I'll do it," Sam told her. He stood and held his hand out.

Allison considered him carefully, taking his measure. She knew Sam as well as Ruby knew him. She expected him to be more reluctant to kill an innocent along with a monster. Maybe he didn't consider her innocent.

"You must really hate Ruby," Allison remarked, flipping the blade and presenting him with its handle. He must hate her enough, Allison justified, that his conscience was buried by his rage.

Sam didn't reply, just looked at the knife he now held.

"It'll feel good to kill her," Allison assured him. "It's the right thing to do."

Sam thought of all the possession victims he'd ever failed to save. He couldn't recall all their faces. There were too many. He felt a stab of grief for every one, especially the ones he least remembered.

"Could be," he said. Before Allison could react, he socked her in the jaw with all the force he could muster. She didn't even have time to cry out before she was laid out on the ground, down for the count.

"But that's not what my gut's telling me," he sighed, tucking the knife away. He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit redial. Each ring felt like an eternity and he began to wonder if it was going to go to voicemail.

"Singer's Scrap and Salvage."

"Bobby! You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice," Sam exclaimed in relief. He leaned against the wall, eyes darting to Allison's prone form in the devil's trap. This was the real deal, the genuine Bobby he had on the line.

"Sam? Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"You muttonhead!"

Sam knew it wasn't funny to Bobby, so he angled the phone away from his mouth as he stifled an amused chuckle while Bobby cursed him out. Any lingering doubts about the authenticity of the call were laid to rest.`

"Where the hell have you been the past three months?! And would it have killed you to pick up the damn phone and throw me a line?! You better start talking boy, and it better be good, or you oughtta be ashamed of yourself!"

"I am, actually," Sam admitted. "Ashamed of myself, I mean. I should have called, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Bobby, I heard something crazy. I heard... I heard..."

"Don't tell me. You want to know if it's true that Dean's back," Bobby guessed.

"Is he?"

"In the flesh," Bobby confirmed.

Bobby's words hit Sam like a freight train. He'd suspected as much for a few days now, even had Allison tell him it was true, but hearing it from Bobby made it real. Sam had a hundred questions, but he blurted out the least pressing of them without thinking.

"How?!"

There was a pause.

"You mean it wasn't something you did?"

"No!"

"Sam..."

He could hear the skepticism in Bobby's tone.

"I didn't do anything, I swear," he said adamantly. "I wish I had, but I... "

His voice caught in his throat as he remembered a time when, going against Ruby's warnings, he tried to strike a bargain to trade places with his brother. The abysmal despair that overwhelmed him when the demons refused to deal was still a fresh wound on his heart. After taking his brother, hell decided to add insult to injury, and all Ruby had to say about it was 'I told you so'. Looking back on it, he seethed. With the benefit of hindsight, it wasn't hard to see all the clues he'd missed along the way.

"Ok. I believe you," Bobby said, reading Sam's silence. "Well Dean's worried sick about you, Sam."

"Have you seen him?"

"He just left here."

"Where's he headed?"

"Oh boy, that's a whole can of worms... Tell you what, you got a pen and paper? I'll give you his number and you can drop him a line. He can tell you himself."

"Is something wrong?" Sam frowned. "Is he ok?"

"He's fine, I guess, it's just... complicated."

"Bobby, tell me where he's going."

"He's headed out to California, city called Arroyo Grande."

"Why, is he working a case?" Sam pressed.

"Look, like I said, it's complicated. You really need to talk to Dean about it."

"Bobby, I don't... I don't know if I can..."

After everything that had happened, the thought of his first contact with Dean being over the phone sat wrong with Sam. He was desperate to talk to his brother, hear his voice, know he was alright, but...

"I gotcha," Bobby sighed, signalling to Sam that he understood what Sam was feeling without it having to be spoken. "Tell you what. I'll find out where he's staying once he rolls into town. How far out from Cali are you?"

"Doesn't matter," Sam said. "I'll be there in a day."

"I bet. Do you want me to tell him you're coming, or are you looking to surprise him?"

"Let's keep this between the two of us," Sam decided. "If that's ok."

"Fine, on one condition. Take a picture, I wanna see his face," Bobby chuckled. "I'll text you when I know something."

"Will do," Sam grinned. "Thanks Bobby. And, uh... it's great talking to you."

"You in a hurry to ditch me? Or don't you give a crap about how I've been these past three month?" Bobby chided.

"I'm sorry, I'm just... I'm in the middle of something," Sam said shortly, glancing at Ruby, still motionless by the door. "I'll call you as soon as I can."

"You better. I've got problems too you know. Things I need help with. Research you can do to pay me back for all the times I've pulled your ass out of the frying pan."

"You got it," Sam laughed. "Talk soon, Bobby. Take care."

"You too."

Sam ended the call and closed his eyes. He took a minute to silently process all this new information, quietly letting reality sink in. Dean was back. He was alive. He was fine.

It was over. Somehow, Sam's nightmare was over and everything was alright now.

Of course, Sam knew better than to believe that. Someone or something must have brought Dean back. The phrase 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth' popped into Sam's mind, tempting him into complacency. And it was seriously tempting. What greater gift could he have gotten? Dean's resurrection was a veritable miracle. That kind of blessing didn't come along more than once in a millennium.

Unless it wasn't a blessing, the realist in him reminded him. Just because he didn't strike a deal to bring Dean back didn't mean that someone else hadn't. Just because he hadn't paid a price didn't mean that there was no price.

Sam shoved all those questions, all those worries and doubts to the back of his mind. He didn't have time to deal with them now, let alone enough information to even begin to hazard guesses. For now, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

Allison was still unconscious, Ruby still trapped by Sam's spell. He pulled their shirt aside to find the latest of the many binding marks that littered Allison's pale flesh, angry and red. The tale they told was one years in the making. Almost decades. Allison was finally going to be free after all that time. Sam had a thought of apprehension as he broke the binding link and retreated from the trap. What if freeing Allison wasn't the right move? Ruby wasn't to be trusted, but Allison was an unknown agent. All he had to go on was what he knew about her family. All he knew about her family came from Alice. Was it fair to judge someone he never had the chance to know based on the bad choices their little sister made?

More questions, more doubts that Sam didn't have the time or information to deal with. It was true that there was a lot he didn't know. What he did know, however, was that he couldn't kill Allison along with Ruby. He had too much blood on his hands already, too many lives he had failed to save. This time, he had a clear choice, the direct power to save or take a life. All he knew was that he couldn't afford to make the wrong choice. He couldn't afford to waste a potentially innocent life, no matter how much he despised the monster he wold set free in the process. All he could do was forge ahead and hope for the best.

Sam began the exorcism from memory. He'd never attempted to expel a demon under these circumstances before, so he had no idea it would go.

The first third was smooth and Sam went into the second with bated breath. The second third of an exorcism was always the roughest part. Would the spell containing Ruby hold her silent until she was forced out of Allison's body? Or would she break free?

The light flickered as Sam continued his recitation and a few lines in, Allison shuddered. She arched unnaturally off the ground, convulsing under the power of the rite. Sam continued, hurrying his recitation as Ruby shrieked with rage, dragged back to primacy by the exorcism.

"SAM!"

She growled and howled at him as he continued, balling her fists in Allison's hair as she twisted up onto her knees in resistance.

"YOU NEED ME, SAM!" she screamed, distorting Allison's voice in her furor. Wind whipped through the cabin, stirring up the dust, jostling the duffel bags and even tipping the electric lantern on its side. It flickered dangerously but its light shone bright none the less.

Sam raised his voice, shouting the exorcism over Ruby's keening, warped protests. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Anna peeking through the doorway, watching the scene fearfully but intently.

"I'M THE ONLY REAL FRIEND YOU HAVE!" Ruby went on, roaring over her own tempest and Sam's firm, commanding voice. "EVERYONE ELSE IN YOUR LIFE IS TRYING TO CONTROL YOU! HOLD YOU BACK! I'M TRYING TO SET YOU FREE! I'M THE ONLY ONE YOU CAN TRUST! I'M-"

She cut off, choking as the exorcism reached its peak and began forcing her from her host. She clutched her throat, desperately fighting against the pull of the rites. Sam met her pitch black eyes as she coughed out a final, pleading parting word.

"There's a lot you don't know," she managed, strangely calm considering the circumstances. "Find me when you're ready for answers."

"Go to hell," Sam snarled. He abandoned the exorcism, instead throwing his hands up and summoning the very powers Ruby had tricked him into awakening. One last time, he told himself. Make it count.

Ruby roared from her host under the force of his psychic pressuring, circling vicious like a cyclone inside the devil's trap before Sam focused and, with a final burst of effort, banished her from the Earth. She seeped through the decaying floorboards, leaving a faint orange flow behind her for the briefest of moments. Then all was still. All was quiet. It was done.

Sam took a deep breath, bracing himself for the dizziness, the faintness that always came after he used his powers. This time, however, it didn't come. He put a hand up to his nose out of habit, only to bring it away clean. No blood. Sam felt better than he ever had.

It didn't matter. Sam didn't take a step from where he stood before he made an oath to himself; this was the last time he would use his powers. Come hell or high water, he would never play into the demons hands again. Sam was done being a puppet of the darkness.

"What did you do? What did you do? What did you..."

Allison's voice was so soft that she had to speak three times before Sam heard her.

"You said you would kill her," Allison moaned, too weak from the experience to move. "You said..."

"It's not the first promise I've broken because of Ruby," Sam admitted. He offered Allison his hand. "But it'll be the last."

Allison just looked at him for a long time and eventually smiled.

"Bleeding heart," she accused him. Despite the fact that this was the face Sam knew as Ruby's, the voice he knew as hers, even the same words she used on him so often, he saw no trace of Ruby. Allison was so distinct from the demon that it was Sam truly felt like he was staring at a stranger.

"Just don't think you've seen the last of Ruby."

Allison took his hand and struggled to her feet. Her grip was weak and Sam could see her shaking. Despite that, her voice was strong and clear when she spoke again.

"The war is only just beginning, and the other side is about to get nasty."

She started to straighten, but just as she released her grip on Sam, her legs gave out. He caught her before she crashed completely back to the ground, helping her away from the devil's trap and setting her down with a duffel bag at her back for support.

"Can I get you something?" Sam asked carefully. He was still taking Allison's measure, waiting for her to show him who she was.

"Did any of the tacos survive the exorcism?" Allison asked, peering past Sam to where the bag of food still lay abandoned by the door. "I'll take a taco, some water, and a phone call."

Sam handed her the food with a frown.

"Who are you gonna call?"

"Your friend Bobby."

"I just got off the line with him."

"Really? Looking for Dean, of course," Allison realized as she slowly unwrapped a taco. "Well, you're not the only one looking for your family."

Sam realized what she wanted and pursed his lips.

"I don't know how much you know about what happened while Ruby was riding you," Sam began.

"I know everything."

"Last we heard, Alice was-"

"Last you heard," Allison corrected him as she bit into the food. "What Ruby didn't tell you could fill a book."

"So Alice is back too."

"Yeah. What did Bobby tell you? Did he hear from Dean?"

"Yeah."

"Good, good. I can tell from your face that he must be fine. She must not have gotten to him yet."

"Excuse me?"

"We need to find your brother, fast."

"Bobby already knows where he is," Sam informed her. "Or at least, where he's headed. What do you mean, 'she must-"

"Where's he headed?" Allison demanded through a mouthful of her second taco.

"California. Town called Arroyo Grande."

Allison froze mid-bite. She knew the importance of Arroyo Grande. She'd been there before. The worst night of her life had been spent in that town.

"Did Bobby say why he was headed there?" she asked cautiously, swigging some water while Sam answered.

"No, he just kept saying it was complicated and that I need to talk to Dean about it," Sam told her.

Allison's heart sank as she put two and two together. Parsifal had filled Ruby, and by extension, Allison, in on hell's plan to rope Dean into another contract. She knew the role her sister was supposed to play. When she figured out that Dean was still topside, she assumed Alice hadn't had a chance to fulfill her bargain with hell yet, but if Dean was heading to Arroyo Grande...

"What do you mean 'she must not have gotten to him yet', who hasn't gotten to him?" Sam pressed.

Allison swallowed hard and slowly unwrapped a third taco, thinking quickly as she did. She needed to buy a little time.

"Lilith," she lied after a short pause. "Lilith wants him back where he was a few weeks ago. She's going to go after him. We need to get to him before she does."

It was half true.

"We have to warn Dean," Sam realized. He stood, turning his back to Allison as he pulled out his phone. She cursed herself, realizing her hastily told lie had backfired. She was rusty.

She didn't have a second to waste. She reached into the back behind her, wrapping her fingers around a crowbar. She stood, wobbling a little in the process but steadying herself.

"Sam, wait," she said to stop him from dialing. He started to turn back to her, but she smashed the crowbar into the side of his head with a dull clang before he could complete the turn. He cried out and stumbled, but doggedly held onto consciousness. Allison seized the opportunity and hit him again as hard as she could. He should have been out cold with the first blow, but she was still weak and unsteady. The second hit sent him to his knees and a third finally put him under.

"I'm sorry, Sam," she gasped, collapsing next to him while she caught her breath from the exertion. "This isn't personal. I have to save my little sister's stupid butt. I owe her that much, after everything. I know you understand."

Down for the count, Sam was incapable of responding. While Allison tried to gather her thoughts, tried to slow her pounding heart, tried desperately to form a plan, Anna Milton made a mad dash past her to the door.

"Hey! Kid! Wait!" Allison called helplessly.

It was too late. Anna was gone and as much as Allison wanted to go after her, she had neither the time nor the strength to chase the teenager through the woods. Anna was on her own.

"Crud," Allison cursed weakly, rolling onto her back. She stared at the molding cabin ceiling and took a deep, steadying breath. "Ok. Ok. You can do this. You can do this."

She repeated the phrase to herself like a mantra while she forced herself to rise to her feet and stumble over to the duffels. She rooted through them, assembling the beginnings of a hex bag. Sam didn't have all the ingredients that she needed, so she instead lasered in on a length of rope. She grabbed it, bound Sam, and headed for the car. In her condition, magic was her only choice. There was no way she could save Alice on her own and no one on the planet who would help her of their own free will.

Allison needed to take free will out of the picture for a while.