"You're moving it," Jamie complained as the boys played with the Ouija board, sitting on the hardwood floor of his friend's bedroom, melodramatically lit with candles.

"No, I'm not," Danny scoffed. "I swear, dude! It's doing it."

Uh-huh, Jamie thought, rolling his eyes. Then that ghost needs to get a dictionary. Jamie knew about ghosts—hell, he'd seen them. He could sense spirits his entire life. And this—this game was just manufactured cardboard and plastic bought at a store. It didn't feel supernatural at all.

"Fine, you want something real? What about this? I read this in a book I found about the occult. It's some kinda seance or summoning ritual," Danny suggested.

"OOoooooo booga booga," Jamie taunted, wiggling his fingers at his friend, who playfully jabbed him in the shoulder. "Yeah, sure. I'll give you twenty bucks if this works."

With a snort, Danny scrambled to his feet and came back with a book that not only looked ancient but smelled musty. It reminded Jamie of some of the books at home in his basement, written in languages he didn't quite understand. Jamie's interest peaked. He had to chuckle that his family thought that he had made a friend that shared his interest in baseball. Little did they know that they had met at an occult bookstore on the way home from school. He had found himself in there one day, looking up the symbol his dad had tattooed on his chest and had literally bumped into Danny on the way to the register.

Unlike Jamie, Danny looked like he belonged in an occult bookstore. He had hit a stage and had that whole goth vibe. He had dark brownish-black hair with a blue streak that ran a little long and was decked out in total black-on-black attire. Even his nails were painted black. He looked like a walking and talking Hot Topic.

And there was Jamie who stood out like a sore thumb. He was tall for his age, almost as tall as his older brother already. His skin was tan from being outside all summer practicing baseball and any other sport he could to get his mind off of his mom. His brown hair was cut short but still kept the wave pattern at the ends, and it was a couple of shades lighter from the sun. In general, he liked to keep a baseball cap on. He had on a raglan and jeans with holes at the knees.

But the nice thing about that chance encounter was he made a friend. Danny was pretty cool. Besides the occult and learning spells, they liked to bike and play video games too. He was glad to have someone to hang with and avoid being at home with all the shit going on there. Their sleepovers happened a couple of times a week, but the summer was coming to a swift end now that they were in the first week of August. Only three weeks left until school and maybe some sort of normalcy. He was thinking about taking Cas up on his offer for him to move in with him and Gwen for the time being. Homelife was bananas now. He knew his sister was doing her best, but she was barely functioning herself. So Jamie was going to take all the sleepovers and time away from home, and the reminders of Mom, anywhere he could get them.

"Where did you get this," Jamie inquired, book in hand. The pages were so old that they were yellowed and stiff.

"It was just in a pile of stuff at the old used book store. I saw it was about supernatural stuff so I thought why not," Danny shrugged, as Jamie flipped through the pages. He paused when he saw one about candles and blood. He'd somehow heard something like this before, whispers in his mind.

"Let's try this one," Jamie proposed, showing his friend the page.

Danny nodded, grabbing one of the already lit candles, pulling a switchblade from his pocket."Let's do it."

They checked to make sure the bedroom door was locked. From the look of the summoning, it was as easy as a candle, blood, and an intention.

"Come on Jamie, it's not going to hurt," Dan assured, holding Jamie's palm. He knew his friend was a goddamn liar, but he didn't care if it hurt. Couldn't be any worse than what he was feeling."Ok, just don't go too deep," Jamie warned, wincing as his friend cut his palm with a dull kitchen knife. His instant reaction was a hiss.

"Now what?"

"Next, we drip blood over the candle, and you say who you want to summon, okay Jamie?"Jamie nodded, placed his closed palm over the candle, and let several beads fall onto the flame.

Mom, he thought. Nothing. He focused on his mind as he used to when he was young, to push the ghosts from his room.

The flame wavered softly at first, then crackled and fizzed, then turned an eerie shade of green.

Jamie?

"Mom?"

It was her voice. He could feel the surprise as his heartbeat sped up, and tears came to his eyes. He lost his concentration, and the candle blew out.

He had made it till 3 am before Danny fell asleep. Jamie was wide awake, staring at the ceiling. He found his eyes occasionally glancing over the candle, his blood now stained a rust color down the side of the white wax. Had he heard her? Had it actually been his mom? He missed Mom so damn much—and no one was talking. He didn't even know what happened when she died. All he knew was what he was told; she had an accident and was caught in a fire. But he wasn't stupid. From seeing April and Dylan, he knew there was something more. And when it came to his dad, he couldn't trust him to tell him the truth. He had tried talking to his uncle about it, but all he got was just vagueness, though he could read his Uncle Sam's eyes and knew there was something he was holding back. Dad, however, was Fort Knox with his emotions around him as had thought about trying to communicate with his mom for a while, to get a straight answer. He had been the one to ask Danny about the Ouija board, not that he believed that was going to work. But he was desperate for–

"Answers," a voice shot up from his sleeping bag. Leaning against the wall was a familiar form.

"Zachariah," he sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"Didn't I tell you to get bent?"

"You did. You've got balls, kid. Must be in the genes. Well, that and stupidity," the angel quipped. Jamie rolled his eyes.

"Just go! You're going to wake up, Danny."

"Jamie, he can't hear me or us. I'm here because I know what you were doing, playing with those spells, dabbling in the occult. Though, I'm not surprised. I'm surprised it took you this long," Zachariah responded.

Why would he say that?

"Kid, haven't you ever wondered why those books are in your basement, the weird ones? And why are you so drawn to them? Why did you see spirits? Or why are your parents and now your brother and sister so secretive with you?"

He couldn't deny he had, but Jamie just thought it was because he was the youngest boy. The baby. Wasn't that the way things always were, people keeping the bad stuff from the youngest members of the family? But it's true, his parents had been more involved in April and Dylan's lives over the last year or so. Jamie was pretty much glanced over. And he couldn't deny he had been jealous of his siblings. They already had a powerful connection being twins, but they hadn't been close to him for a little while.

"You're a Winchester, Jamie, that makes you very special and even rarer with who you're mother is—or was."

A shiver danced over his skin. "So, I'm a Winchester, so what? Lots of people have that last name."

"Not all of them come from a family of hunters, though."

"Hunters? Dad doesn't hunt. I don't think he could kill an animal—though he does love his burgers," Jamie thought. Seriously, he'd never even seen his dad pick up a gun before.

"He does, but I'm not talking about that kind of hunter. Remember when you used to see ghosts and spirits," the angel said, to which Jamie nodded. "You know those exist and do you know there are ways to get rid of them? Salt, for example. And there are more things out there; werewolves, vampires, ghouls, all sorts of bad things. And demons because you know if there are angels, there are demons."

"Yeah, okay," Jamie nodded, giving him a sarcastic thumbs-up before laying back down on his pillow with a thud."So you can believe in angels–"

"Because I can see you," Jamie sat back up to confront him. "You're real. I've never seen a werewolf or vampire–"

"You sure about that," Zachariah said, tilting his head.

Jamie had his arms around his knees, his mind reeling at the revelations. He couldn't believe it. Winchesters are hunters of the supernatural. It was a family business. And his mother, also a hunter, but also a vampire. A Lamia, Zac had said. His siblings too...and he was also. No way. It was too much to process. Everything in his life had been a front. Was it that they wanted to keep it from him to keep him safe? Either way, he felt hurt. Betrayed. It was like being the only person not invited to the party or not in on the inside joke amongst friends.

"You'd have to drink blood to become that, so don't worry, Jamie. You can avoid that whole thing, but yeah, all vamps, half-vamps in the case of your siblings. Did you know your father kills those things and still sleeps with one? That I'll never get over–"

"What about my mom? Where is she?" Jamie asked, his mind going a mile a minute. His heart was pounding in his ears.

"Purgatory," Zachariah admitted matter-of-factly. "Sorry, kid, all supernatural beings go there."

"No," Jamie hissed. "She was a good person. That's not fair." And she was. She was the best mom.

"That's where they go, besides the fact that she killed herself," the angel casually shrugged.

All the hair stood up on Jamie's neck, causing gooseflesh down his arms. That was not possible. She would never do that. She would never choose to leave them. Never.

"What did you say?" Jamie said, standing up to face the lounging angel. Funny, Zac wasn't that intimidating to him anymore now that he had grown taller. Hell, Jamie was almost already as tall as Dyl. As he grew bigger, he got stronger both physically and mentally. Zac didn't scare him anymore.

"You wanted answers, kid, and it seems like I am the only one giving them to you. She had to do it to defeat Lilith and save your sister. She took a knife and–," Zachariah said, acting out stabbing himself in the chest, tilting his head to the side, and sticking his tongue fastened his eyes hard, stopping the tears from flowing.

No, no, not possible. She died in a fire. She was trapped in a building, and she died in a fire. His hands were clenched at his side.

"The fire burned her body after she was already dead, son."

Son? He wasn't his son. Jamie was her son. And she decided to leave. She left him behind! And now, Dad was all but gone could feel a fit of intense anger building up and something burning inside. There was a power inside. It was flowing from his chest, humming through his body. He could feel an intense heat burning behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes to focus his rage on Zac.

"Yellow eyes, huh," Zachariah mocked. "Cute. You might want to keep that anger in check, boy. Ask your uncle Sammy how that panned out for him."

Yellow eyes? What the hell was he talking about? And why would he ask Sam about that?

"Look, I'm doing you a solid and telling you all this because I might have a deal for you. Do you think it was a coincidence that you could hear Abigail? It wasn't."

What? Jamie heard her? It was not just a product of his imagination? His heart thudded to an almost dangerous pace. His mom had said his name. His mom had communicated across the veil.

"You did it?"

"I did."

"So you can bring her back?"

"Sorry, kid, that is a no can do. See, there is this whole thing with Death and where people are supposed to go. We did help your Dean out once, from Hell...oh yeah, he went there. Deals were made, Hell Hounds sicked, father's dead...blah blah blah, angels resurrected him. It was before you were born. Either way, that was a necessity, and plans were made but, the general rule is no physical body, no resurrection," Zachariah shrugged. "But, I could break her spirit out so you could see her...maybe even communicate? How would that be?"

His heart stopped. Could he do it? The thought alone caused a ball in his throat and tears to come to his eyes. What would he risk to be able to do that again?

"You've got the gift, kid, you could see her, I could sneak visitation with Mommy...if you do something for us."

"What," Jamie asked, intrigued. "You could? Well, what do you need?"

"You. I need you to spy on your Dad. He's still kind of important to us. When he died, he was brought back for a purpose, and we like to keep an eye on our investment. Dean's tangled up in some Reaper business, doing things he's not supposed to, and we need the tea—and you're the perfect kid for the job."