November 25th - November 29th, 2005

I sat in a diner across from Dean as I ate my cheeseburger and fries. He was looking at the obituaries in a newspaper he had picked up earlier. Unfortunately, searching through obituaries was how we found most of our cases. Dean circled one of the people, which meant that he thought something was suspicious about their death.

"I think I found something." Dean looked up at me and snatched one of my fries.

"Hey!" I yelled at him and smacked his hand away as he smirked.

Our waitress walked up to us. "Can I get you anything else?" she asked while placing one hand on our table and leaning toward Dean in a way that pushed her chest out.

I rolled my eyes, sat back in my chair, and dropped the fry I had back down on my plate. I crossed my arms and watched the encounter play out. I had watched women flirt with him a thousand times. It was always annoying, and it always caused me to lose my appetite.

Dean looked up at her and grinned. He was about to say something when Sam came over and sat down in his chair.

"Just the check, please," Sam said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Okay." She nodded with a huge smile on her face and gave Dean one last glance before walking away.

Dean dropped his head in disappointment. "Ya know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." He pointed to our waitress. "That's fun."

I groaned, and I rolled my eyes at him. Sam just gave him a look.

Dean looked down, clearly feeling defeated. Then he shoved the newspaper at Sam. "Here, take a look at this, I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week, Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water... nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago."

Sam furrowed his brow. "A funeral?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, it's weird, they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure, or whatever."

"Closure?" Sam scoffed. "What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them."

I knew exactly what Sam was upset about. I felt like we had lost track of Dad too. We hadn't found any clue as to where he could be in a while. I was starting to wonder if we would ever see him again.

Dean furrowed his brow. "Something you want to say to me?"

"The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day," Sam said.

"Yeah, we haven't found any clue of where he could be," I chimed in.

Dean nodded. "Exactly. So, what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know." Sam shrugged. "Something... anything."

I leaned back in my chair, not wanting to be involved anymore because the conversation seemed to be heading toward an argument.

"Ya know what?" Dean shook his head. "I'm sick of this attitude." He furrowed his brow. "You guys don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?"

I felt bad that I had questioned him, Dean had always put family first, no matter what.

Sam sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know you do, it's just—"

Dean pointed to himself and me. "We're the ones that have been with him every single day for the past two years." He pointed at Sam. "While you've been off to college, going to pep rallies... we will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?"

Our waitress walked past us, which distracted Dean. Sam and I rolled our eyes, knowing exactly what had caught his attention.

"All right, Lake Manitoc," Sam said, trying to interrupt Dean's gaze, but he was ignored, so he cleared his throat. "Hey!"

Dean turned back and nodded. "Huh?"

"How far?" Sam asked.


After we left the diner, we hit the road and made our way to Lake Manitoc. It was a long trip. I mostly slept, ate snacks, and sang along to the music with Dean until we finally passed a Welcome to Lake Manitoc sign. It was a small town that was surrounded mostly by water and woods. Dean kept driving until we arrived at a little cottage in the middle of the woods.

Sam and Dean turned to look at me.

"Yeah, I know... 'stay in the car,'" I said, rolling my eyes while mocking my brothers. "Just hurry up, okay? It gets boring, just sitting here."

Sam gave Dean a smirk and then turned back to me. "All right, kiddo. We will be right back."

They both got out of the car and quickly walked up to the house. I watched as they knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. After a moment, the door finally opened, and a man, about the same age as my brothers, appeared. Sam and Dean held up badges and were eventually invited in.

A few minutes later, all three of them walked outside and down the steps of the porch. I ducked down before they walked past the Impala so the man wouldn't see me. I stayed low and out of sight while I spied on them over the back of the seat and watched as they walked toward the lake. I could see a man sitting on a bench on a dock in the distance. Sam, Dean, and the man stopped walking and began to talk. Luckily, they were close enough to the car that I could hear their muffled conversation.

"She was about a hundred yards out." The man nodded to the lake. "That's where she got dragged down."

"And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean asked.

"Yeah." The man nodded. "She was a varsity swimmer... she practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub."

"So, no splashing?" Sam asked, "No signs of distress?"

"No, that's what I'm telling you," the man said.

"Did you see any shadows in the water?" Sam asked, "Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?"

The man shook his head. "No. Again, she was really far out there."

"You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked.

"No, never." The man furrowed his brow. "Why? Why, what do you think's out there?"

"We'll let you know as soon as we do." Dean turned back to the car and gave me a smirk when he noticed what I was doing.

"What about your father? Can we talk to him?" Sam asked, causing Dean to turn back to the conversation.

The man turned and glanced at the man sitting on the bench. "Look, if you don't mind, I mean... he didn't see anything, and he's kind of been through a lot."

Sam nodded. "We understand."

As Sam and Dean turned back toward the car to get in, I turned around in my seat but stayed low until we were at a safe distance from the house.

"Where are we headed off to now?" I asked.

"We are headed to the police station to see if they can give us any more information," Sam said.

"Who was that guy?" I asked.

"That was Sophie's brother, Will." Sam shook his head. "He didn't really seem to know much about what happened to his sister. It was almost as if she just disappeared under the water."

Dean looked up at me in the rear-view mirror. "Promise me you will stay away from the water until we figure out what's goin' on here."

"Dean, I will be fine," I said.

Dean furrowed his brow. "Maddison."

"I promise," I mumbled as I leaned over, putting my elbow on the door, so I could rest my head on my hand and look out of the window.


When we arrived at the police station, I was asked to stay in the car again. I couldn't wait for the day I would actually be able to investigate with my brothers.

While I waited for Sam and Dean to return, I decided to watch as ships sailed by on the lake. The lake was so beautiful I couldn't believe something in it was killing people. It was sad knowing that things existed in this world that had the power to take the beauty away from the most innocent things. I felt an overwhelming sadness inside of me. No matter how many people we helped, death was always what attracted us to our cases.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I saw my brothers walking out of the police station with a woman and a boy who looked to be a few years younger than me. The woman kissed the boy on his hair, and he ran back inside the police station. Dean looked into the Impala and nodded, letting me know I should follow them. I knew that he probably still didn't want me to be seen, so I stayed back a little bit until they were barely out of my sight.

Then I got out of the car and followed. We walked for a while, I had no idea where we were going, but I figured Dean wanted me to come along because they probably weren't going back to the Impala for a while. After we walked a few blocks, Sam, Dean, and the woman stopped in front of a motel, so I walked closer to them. I got close enough to hear them talking, but I knew she couldn't see me.

"Kids are the best, huh?" Dean said, clearly trying to flirt with the woman.

The woman ignored him and pointed up to the motel. "There it is. Like I said, two blocks."

"Thanks," Sam said, noticing me waiting for them.

The woman nodded and smiled at Sam and then turned her attention to Dean. "Must be hard, with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line." She turned and walked away.

Dean made a slightly hurt face, and I giggled at him.

The woman called back over her shoulder, "Enjoy your stay!"

"'Kids are the best'?" Sam mocked. "You don't even like kids."

I decided it was safe to walk over to my brothers at this point.

Dean turned to Sam and ruffled my hair once I reached them. "I love kids," he said with a smile.

"Name three children that you even know," Sam said, smirking.

Dean wrapped his arm around my shoulders and shook me slightly. "Well, Maddi for one."

"Doesn't count," Sam said as he turned to the motel and waved his hand for us to follow.

Dean looked down at me, shaking his head. "You believe that guy?"

I shrugged. "I agree with him." I stuck my tongue out at him and ran off after Sam.


When we got settled into our motel room, Sam and Dean filled me in a little bit on what they had found out at the police station. They told me that the woman who had walked them to the motel was named Andrea, and she was the daughter of the sheriff. The little boy with her was named Lucas, and he was her son.

Sam sat at the table with his computer researching, while Dean sorted through his clothes, sniffing them to discern which ones were clean or dirty. I decided to pull a chair up next to Sam because I didn't really want to help Dean sniff out clean clothes.

He had a web page open to The Lake Manitoc Tribune, the top article read, Drowning Taints Ice Fishing Festival. He clicked it, and another web page came up, 12-Year-Old Girl Drowns in Lake, Second Drowning in Six Months at Lake Manitoc.

"So, there's the three drowning victims this year," Sam said.

"Any before that?" Dean asked.

"Uh, yeah..." Sam nodded. "Six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace."

"So, what? We got a lake monster on a binge?" Dean asked.

"Is it definitely a monster?" I asked, "Could it somehow be a spirit doing this? Maybe the victims are connected."

Sam nodded at me in agreement. "Yeah, this whole lake monster theory, it— it just bugs me."

Dean walked over to read over our shoulders. "Why?"

"Loch Ness, uh, Lake Champlain." Sam shrugged. "There are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but here, almost nothing." He clicked back to the tribune homepage. "Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it." He scrolled down to the comments section of one of the articles.

Dean pointed to one of the comments. "Wait, Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?"

Sam scrolled back up to the article. "Christopher Barr, the victim in May." He clicked a link, opening a new page, Local Man in Tragic Accident. Once the picture loaded, it showed a police officer with Lucas and Andrea.

"Oh. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas's father. Apparently, he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued." Sam clicked the picture for a better look, then scratched his head. "Maybe we have an eyewitness after all."

"No wonder that kid was so freaked out he won't speak. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over," Dean said, understanding the boy's pain.

"Let's go talk to Andrea. She said she would be going to the park with Lucas. Maybe she is there now." Sam looked at me. "You want to go with us? Could be fun to play with kids your own age."

I shrugged, not really interested. "Sure, I guess." It was better than being stuck in a motel room.


When we arrived at the park, I became even less excited to be there once I saw all the kids running around. Playgrounds weren't really my thing. I rarely got the chance to hang out with anyone my own age, and I was okay with that. I never had much to talk to them about, and I never really got along with girls my age. I'm not sure why, but I always got along a lot better with boys.

Sam turned to me and ruffled my hair. "All right, go have fun, we will be right over there." He pointed to where Andrea was sitting.

Dean smiled at me before they both walked off toward her. I put my head down, sighed, and kicked a rock before walking off to the playground.

Most of the kids there were a lot younger than me except for three of them, but they were all girls. I decided to give it my best shot anyway and walked up to them.

"Hi," I said to the group of girls, putting on my best smile.

They all turned to look at me.

"Uh, hi," said the one who seemed to be the leader of the group.

They were all dressed pretty similarly with their hair done almost exactly the same. Two had their hair pulled back into piggy tails, they had the same shirt and skirt on, one was wearing blue, and the other was wearing purple. The girl who spoke to me seemed to stick out a little more, though. She was a little taller, had a pink dress on, and her perfectly straight hair was pulled back by a headband with a pink bow.

"Do you want something?" she asked, with attitude while looking me up and down.

I raised my eyebrows, a little surprised. "Oh, I just thought that maybe we could hang out."

"I don't think so," she snapped at me.

"Okay?" I furrowed my brow, a little pissed off with the way she was talking to me. "What's wrong with you?"

All of them started laughing now.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" she asked, pointing at me and taking a step closer. "Just look at you. You freak." She scoffed.

I looked down at myself, not understanding what she was talking about. "What?"

"You are wearing over-sized boy clothes, and you look like you have frizzy ramen noodles for hair," she said as she flicked a strand of my hair out of my face.

All the girls screeched with laughter.

The leader stepped forward and shoved me to the ground. "Stay away from us, weirdo." Then they all turned and started to walk away.

I jumped up, spun her around, and shoved her against the monkey bars. "Don't you ever touch me again." I had her pinned with my left forearm while my right hand was balled into a fist, down by my side.

The other girls gasped and took a step back.

Their leader whimpered and put her hands up. "Okay, I'm sorry. Just don't hurt me."

I relaxed my body once I realized all I was doing was scaring them. I let her go, and we all just stared at each other, not saying anything. I put my head down, put my hands in my pockets, and walked off back toward the Impala.

Sam and Dean finished talking to Andrea and walked back to the car a little bit later. They got in and turned around to look at me.

"You all right?" Sam asked. "I thought you were hanging out with the other kids."

I quickly wiped the tears away and put on a fake smile. "Nope, I didn't want to bother them. They were already doing their own things." I didn't want them to know what had happened with those girls.

Sam and Dean gave each other a look.

"Did something happen back there, Maddi?" Dean asked, looking concerned.

I gave him a reassuring look. "Nothing happened, everything's fine. I promise."


When we got to the motel, I went into the bathroom. I wanted to see what that girl was talking about. I already knew she was right about my clothes. I pretty much just wore my brothers' old jeans from when they were little, and I would wear whatever shirt I could find lying around. I didn't really have any clothing of my own. I turned to look in the mirror. She was right. My hair was all over the place. My hair had always been extremely curly, so I tried to maintain it by keeping it back in a ponytail or a bun, but that just seemed to make my hair frizzy. I pulled my hair out of the ponytail it was in and brushed it. I then rolled it up into a bun and sighed at myself in the mirror before walking out and laying down on one of the beds.

"So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie," Sam said as he walked through the door.

I didn't even realize he had left.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead," Sam explained.

I sat up, shocked, not only did that man lose his daughter. He had lost his son too.

"He drowned?" Dean asked.

"Yup..." Sam nodded. "In the sink."

"What the hell?" Dean furrowed his brow. "So, you're right. This isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else."

"Yeah, but what?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Dean shrugged. "Water wraith, maybe? Demon? I mean, something that controls water... water that comes from the same source."

"The lake," Sam said, looking as though he realized something.

"Yeah." Dean nodded.

"Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time," Sam said.

"And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere." Dean sat in a chair to put his shoes on. "This is gonna happen again soon."

"And we do know one other thing for sure," Sam said, "We know this has got something to do with Bill Carlton."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, it took both his kids."

"And I've been asking around," Sam said, "Lucas's dad, Chris... Bill Carlton's godson."

"Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit," Dean said, standing up. "You comin' with us, kid?" He looked at me.

"Uh, no. I'll stay here," I said.

"Really? You never want to stay behind," Dean said, looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm just kinda tired," I said with a fake yawn.

"All right, stay inside," Dean said.

I nodded, and Dean gave Sam a concerned look before they walked out of the door.

I decided I would take a shower while they were gone, so I hopped in. When I got out, I brushed my hair and decided not to put it up in the hopes that it wouldn't become frizzy if I left it down. Then I decided to look for clothes that would fit me a little better. Looking for smaller jeans was useless, but I ended up finding one of Dean's old Metallica T-shirts from when he was a little kid that actually fit me pretty well. I went out to the main room and sat on the couch to watch TV while I waited for my brothers to return.


I must have fallen asleep on the couch at some point because I woke up to Dean shaking me awake, "Maddi, wake up. You're coming with us."

"What? Why? What happened?" I asked, startled by his urgency.

"We just watched Bill Carlton's boat get flipped over by something in the water, and then he just disappeared. So, you're coming with us. We don't want you out of our sight in case something happens," Dean explained.

"All right, all right. I'm getting up," I said.

I put my shoes on, and the three of us left the motel and got in the car.


We arrived at the police station, and I waited in the car for my brothers to take care of their business. After a while, they emerged from the station, looking slightly shaken up.

"What's wrong?" I asked them after they got into the Impala.

Sam looked at me. "The sheriff knows we aren't who we told him we were. He also doesn't believe us about what happened to Bill. He wants us gone."

"So, what do we do? What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means we're leaving," Dean said, looking back at me in the rear-view mirror.


Once we packed up our stuff, we hit the road and started to leave the town. As we drove, Sam and Dean had told me about some of the information they had found out. The thing that had been killing people was the angry spirit of a boy named Peter. They had found out that Bill Carlton had something to do with his death when they were kids, which was why the ghost was going after Bill and his family.

We were sitting at a traffic light when it turned green, but Dean didn't make a move. It was clear that something was on his mind.

"Green," Sam said, confused.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Light's green," Sam repeated.

Dean finally started to move the car and took a turn to the right.

"Uh, the interstate's the other way," Sam said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I know," Dean said.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I sat up.

"Something just doesn't feel right," Dean said.

Sam interjected, "But Dean, this job, I think it's over."

Dean shook his head. "I'm not so sure."

"If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest," Sam said, trying to convince Dean that we should leave.

"All right, so what if we take off, and this thing isn't done?" Dean asked, "Ya know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?"

"But why would you think that?" Sam asked.

Dean looked over at Sam. "Because Lucas was really scared."

"That's what this is about?" Sam asked.

"I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay," Dean said.

"Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?" Sam chuckled.

Dean glanced at Sam. "Shut up."


When we parked in front of Andrea's house, we all got out and walked up to the door.

"Are you sure about this? It's pretty late, man," Sam said.

Dean rang the doorbell, and as soon as he pulled his finger away, Lucas opened the door, he looked terrified. He was panting and then ran away upstairs.

"Lucas? Lucas!" Dean yelled, chasing after him.

Sam and I took off after them, chasing Dean and Lucas up the stairs. There was water pouring down them, which was coming out from under a closed door. Lucas ran to the door and started pounding on it. Dean ran up to Lucas and pulled him out of the way, pushing him toward Sam, and then he kicked the door in. As soon as the door opened, Sam ran into the bathroom, and Dean ran over and held Lucas. I stayed out of the way so they could help Andrea and Lucas as fast as they could. Andrea was in the bathtub being held under dark cloudy water by something. Sam struggled with the spirit to pull her up.

Finally, he was able to get her out, but when he did, he collapsed onto the floor, pulling Andrea on top of him. Andrea was coughing up water, but she was alive.


I sat in the living room with Sam as he asked Andrea about what had happened.

"Can you tell me?" Sam asked.

"No." She shook her head, still shaken up. "It doesn't make any sense." She started to cry. "I'm going crazy." She put her face in her hands.

Sam looked over at me but quickly turned his attention back to Andrea. "No, you're not. Tell me what happened. Everything."

"I heard—" Andrea sighed. "I thought I heard—" She shook her head. "There was this voice."

"What did it say?" Sam asked.

"It said— It said, 'come play with me.'" Andrea started crying harder. "What's happening?" She looked up at Sam, desperately looking for an answer.

Dean came over with a scrapbook, opened to a picture of a troop of boy scouts, and placed it down in front of the three of us. He turned it, so it was facing Andrea. "Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?"

"What? Um, um, no." She shook her head and then looked a little closer. "I mean, except that's my dad right there." She pointed to one of the children. "He must have been about twelve in these pictures."

"Chris Barr's drowning," Dean whispered to Sam, "The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff."

"Bill and the sheriff..." Sam nodded. "They were both involved with Peter."

"What about Chris?" Andrea asked, confused. "My dad... what are you talking about?"

While they were talking, I looked over and saw Lucas staring out of the window at something. I tapped Dean on the arm, and when he looked down at me, I pointed at Lucas.

"Lucas?" he asked, "Lucas, what is it?"

Everyone's attention was now drawn to Lucas. He opened the door and just walked outside. We all got up and followed him. We continued following him through the woods, having no idea where he was leading us.

"Lucas, honey?" Andrea called, becoming more concerned.

Lucas finally stopped on a mossy patch and just stared down at the ground.

Dean walked up to him and then looked at Andrea. "You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?"

Andrea nodded and pulled Lucas back to the house.

"What do you guys think is down there?" I asked.

"I don't know, but we are about to find out," Dean said.

We walked over to the Impala, and the boys grabbed shovels out of the trunk, then we went back over to the spot, and they started digging. They kept digging until they heard a loud clink of what sounded like metal. They dropped the shovels to the side and dug a little with their hands before pulling up a red bike, which looked like it had been buried for a long time.

"Peter's bike," Sam said.

"Who are you?" a voice asked behind me.

Sam and Dean looked up startled, and before I had a chance to turn around, Dean grabbed me and pulled me quickly behind him. When I finally steadied myself, I peered around Dean's arm to see the sheriff standing there, pointing his gun at us.

Sam raised his hand. "Put the gun down, Jake."

He ignored Sam's request. "How did you know that was there?"

"What happened?" Dean asked, "You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake, and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Jake growled.

"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago," Dean said, "That's what the hell I'm talking about."

Andrea ran over to us. "Dad!" she yelled.

"And now you've got one seriously pissed-off spirit," Dean continued.

"It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love," Sam said, "It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies god knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's gonna take you, and it's not gonna stop until it does."

Jake directed his attention to Sam. "Yeah, and how do you know that?"

"Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton," Sam said.

"Listen to yourselves, both of you. You're insane," Jake said in disbelief.

"I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us," Dean snapped, "But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake."

"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea asked, upset.

"No." Jake shook his head, still staring at us. "Don't listen to them. They're liars, and they're dangerous."

"Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake." Andrea's voice broke. "Dad, look at me."

Jake took his attention away from us to look at her.

"Tell me you— you didn't kill anyone," she said, desperately.

Jake looked away from her, ashamed.

"Oh my god," Andrea said in shock.

Jake sighed. "Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water." He shook his head. "We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long, and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank."

Dean and Sam gave each other a look.

Jake continued and looked at Andrea, "Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I had anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational—"

"All right, listen to me, both of you," Dean interjected, "We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now."

Something caught Andrea's attention, and she gasped. We all turned to see that she was reacting to Lucas kneeling on the dock, trying to reach for something in the water.

"Lucas!" Jake yelled.

We all started running for Lucas. I knew I could run pretty fast, so I ran off ahead of them, hoping I would be able to reach Lucas in time. I felt one of my brothers try to grab my arm before I sprinted out of their grasp toward Lucas.

"Maddison, no!" Sam yelled.

"Maddi!" Dean shouted.

"Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!" Andrea cried.

I grabbed hold of him, but as I tried to pull him back from the edge of the dock, something else grabbed his arm. I tried to pull both of us to safety, but I wasn't strong enough, and we both ended up being pulled into the water.

When I broke the surface, I could hear everyone yelling our names. I looked over and saw Lucas's head break through the water right before he was pulled back under by a ghostly gray hand, and he disappeared. I swam to where he vanished, trying to look for him, but then something grabbed my leg. I screamed and saw Sam and Dean jump into the water before I was pulled under. I opened my eyes and saw the decaying, gray figure of a boy about my age swimming toward me. I tried to swim away as he swam closer, and then he disappeared. I choked for air, my lungs started to burn, and then everything went black.


I woke up gasping for air and coughing up water. I felt a strong hand patting my back, trying to help me clear the water from my lungs. I opened my eyes and saw Sam kneeling above me.

"What happened? Where's Lucas? Is he okay?" I asked, trying to get up urgently.

Sam stopped me. "He's fine. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" I asked.

"Jake sacrificed himself for Lucas and saved both of you," Sam said.

I looked down sadly. "This is all my fault."

Sam put a finger under my chin and tilted my head up to look at him. "You and Lucas are fine. That is all that matters right now. What happened to Jake wasn't your fault. Peter wasn't going to stop until he was finished with his revenge."

I nodded up at him. He smiled and stood up, reaching his hand out to me. I took it, and he helped me up.

"I'm glad you're okay," Sam said, hugging me and rubbing my back.

I stepped back and smiled at him before looking down and trying to brush some dirt and leaves off me. Suddenly, I was tackled into a hug by someone twice my size. I looked up and saw Dean's worried face.

He kissed the top of my head. "Never do that again." He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back to give me a stern look.

I nodded, knowing there was no point in arguing. He ruffled my hair and then pulled me back into a long hug.

After checking to make sure Andrea and Lucas were okay, we got into the Impala. We headed back to the motel to rest up a little and change into dry clothes.


We walked out of the motel with our duffel bags in our hands. Sam opened the back door, and we all tossed our bags in.

Sam put his arm around my shoulders. "Look, we're not gonna save everybody."

I nodded.

Dean put his head down. "I know."

We heard Andrea's voice, "Sam, Dean, Maddison."

We looked over and saw Andrea walking up to us with Lucas.

"Hey," Dean said.

"We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road," Andrea said, pointing to the tray Lucas was carrying. "Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."

"Can I give it to them now?" Lucas asked his mom quietly.

I nudged Dean, noticing that Lucas had actually spoken. I looked up at him, and he smiled down at me.

"Of course." Andrea smiled and kissed Lucas's head.

"Come on, Lucas, let's load this into the car," Dean said with a smile on his face.

Sam nodded at them and then walked up to Andrea and crossed his arms. "How you holdin' up?"

Andrea sighed. "It's just gonna take a long time to sort through everything, ya know?"

Sam sighed and shook his head. "Andrea, I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "You saved my son. I can't ask for more than that. Dad loved me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."

I looked up at Andrea sympathetically and then left her and Sam to talk. I walked up to Dean, who was sitting in the Impala and Lucas, who was standing in front of him.

"All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time," Dean said.

I leaned up against the car, smirking.

"Zeppelin rules!" Lucas shouted with a smile.

"That's right. Up high," Dean said, holding his hand up.

Lucas gave him a high-five. I smiled at him and held out my fist, which he happily bumped back. Dean looked up at me, ruffled my hair, and smiled at me with proud eyes.

"You take care of your mom, okay?" Dean asked, standing up and patting Lucas on the shoulder.

"All right." Lucas nodded.

Andrea walked up and kissed Dean on the lips. "Thank you."

Dean hesitated for a minute, then scratched his head and smirked. He opened the car door for me. "Sam, move your ass. We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road."

We all got in the car and looked at Andrea and Lucas and smiled at them before driving away.

As we turned the corner, we drove past the playground, and I saw those girls I had encountered the other day.

I sat forward, resting my chin on the back of the front seat. "Hey, uh, do you guys think my hair is weird?" I asked hesitantly.

Dean looked at me in the rear-view mirror. "No, your hair is awesome. Why would you think that?"

"Does this have something to do with whatever happened at the park the other day?" Sam asked, looking over at me.

"Maybe." I shrugged and sat back in my seat.

"Are you going to tell us about it?" Dean asked.

I sighed. "Well, these girls were picking on my clothes and hair. So, I kinda pinned one of them against the monkey bars. I didn't hurt her, but it scared them."

"Whoa, did you know how bad-ass our little sister was, Sam?" Dean smirked at him.

"What?" I asked, sitting forward. "I shouldn't have done that."

Sam turned to look at me. "Well, that's true, but no one got hurt, and you stood up for yourself."

"Yeah, and maybe that taught them not to mess with other kids," Dean said.

"I guess," I said, still unsure.

Sam ruffled my hair, and I sat back. "It's fine, Maddi. Those girls were bullies. It takes guts to stand up to someone like that."

I looked up and saw Dean wink at me in the rear-view mirror.