Chapter 4 is up. I'm glad you people seem to be interested in this. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Let's see what else we have in store for our heroes :)

Chapter 4

Come little children, I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment

Come little children, the time's come to play

Here in my garden of shadows.

John Debney – Come Little Children

When Sam woke up the next morning, he realized he was alone in his room. He felt a flicker of alarm, before he caught sight of the Gone for coffee. Stay put sign pinned on the bedside lamp, right where he could easily spot it. Sam grinned. Dean knew him so well sometimes.

Sam had actually been hoping for some time to himself. He got up and riffled through Dean's duffle bag until he found their Dad's journal. He needed to see what Dad had written about the boogeyman Hunt from twenty years back. Maybe there would be a clue there about what had happened to him. If there was, Sam would have no choice but to tell Dean.

The journal was not too helpful, though. Sam scowled. His father had either written about his hunts in great detail, going as far as to draw the creatures he encountered, or he had given sparse information, keeping the rest of what he knew only to himself. The journal gave only some curt information about the boogeyman and how to kill him. One suggestion was cut out, with the note That didn't work. Tell Singer added to it. So, John had indeed killed a boogeyman. Nothing told Sam whether he had known there was another supernatural entity preying on kids.

There were also the names and ages of the victims (all between nine and twelve), but no details about who they were or what had happened to them. Sam didn't see his name there, but he wasn't too surprised. Even if he was right, and he had been a victim of either the boogeyman or the Pied Piper, that was not information John Winchester would mention in his journal. He was paranoid like that.

One thing, though, got Sam's attention more than the absence of what had been written there. The entry ended with a terse: Have to pick up Dean. Sam wondered if it had been John's intention all along to get Dean after the boogeyman Hunt – or if something that had happened to Sam had made him decide to get Dean from Sonny's quicker than planned.

The sound of someone fiddling with the doorknob had Sam shoving John's journal back in Dean's duffle bag. Several seconds later, Dean walked in, carrying two coffees in one hand and a plate of pancakes in the other.

"Courtesy of Loretta Bracegirdle," said, closing the door with his foot. "I think she likes us."

"Wait till she sees you parked the Impala right on her flowerbed," Sam pointed out.

"Dude, it's not my fault the only parking spot was taken last night. Didn't even think anyone else had come into town."

"They didn't," Sam replied sniffing suspiciously at his coffee – since this was Dean, it never hurt to me careful. "Apparently local judge likes to use this hotel as a love nest."

Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Dude, how do you even know that? Never mind. Let me tell you some real news. Whole town's on the alert, apparently."

Sam felt his blood run cold.

"What, another kid is missing?"

Dean nodded grimly.

"Jim Hayes. Also 12. Knew Kelsey, apparently. He disappeared last evening while he was on timeout for some thing or other. Parents and sister came home to find the window open and a big ass rat in the room."

Sam was beginning to reconsider breakfast. He pushed his food away pretending not to see Dean's frown.

"So, if he was being punished for something, I assume he was pretty pissed at his folks. When kids are pissed, they do rash things. Like run away."

Dean moved to sit opposite Sam, pushing the tray of food back towards his brother. Sam glared at him but did not comment.

"One thing that might not hold with your theory. See, the kid's parents say all his shoes were still in the house. So, either Jim Hayes must have really wanted to go out in a hurry, and he didn't mind going barefoot – or someone else took him."

Sam pushed back his chair abruptly. He still remembered what Robert had said. But it was more than that. He met Dean's concerned gaze with his wide eyes.

"It's what happened before," he said. "It's…I remember something now…"

xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxx

Sam woke up to raised voices.

Any other time he would have been impressed with the hotel. It was clean and tidy, completely unlike the dumps they all too often stayed in. dean would have loved it. Dean would have especially loved the pie the owner's daughter had prepared for them. The thought made the apples taste bitter in Sam's mouth.

He did not remember when he had fallen asleep, but he knew even without opening his eyes that it was still night. His Dad was arguing with someone. The other Hunter, he realized. Greenberg, who had said he would follow them and get the room next to theirs.

"I don't see why you always have to overcomplicate things," Greenberg was saying. "You said it was straightforward right? A boogeyman, that's all. The pattern really fits."

"The pattern fits with some victims, not all," John hissed. "And keep your friggin voice down. My son's asleep."

Sam kept himself perfectly still hoping the two were not looking at him.

"Oh yes – and why is he here?" Greenberg sneered. "What's this, his school was having career day?"

Sam wondered if Greenberg was aware he was pushing all of John's buttons and what happened to people who did that.

"I've got my own reasons for bringing Sam here," John said coolly.

"I wonder what reasons you could possibly have," Greenberg commented. "It's not my business, though."

"Damn right it ain't. Now, here's what I'm thinking. We need to figure out which victims were taken by the boogeyman and…"

"And nothing," Greenberg interrupted. "They were only taken by the boogeyman. There's nothing else here and I don't understand why you keep insisting."

"The boogeyman takes children it considers misbehaved," John argued. "Like the school bully or the guy who pranks his little sister by tying her shoelaces together and then laughing when she falls flat on her face…"

"And kids who run away," Greenberg pointed out. "Which is what the victims you keep singling out have in common."

The huff of annoyance told Sam that his father was at the end of his tethers.

"They were good kids, Greenberg. Just good kids in bad situations who ran away because they wanted to escape something. We don't really know if they really ran away. And it's really, really strange that all of them ran away during the night, without their shoes on"

There was a pause, then Greenberg's voice, sounding genuinely curious.

"Is that why you brought him along?"

Sam willed himself not to move. He nearly held his breath, but he realized that would only make his father aware that he was listening in instead of sleeping.

"What did you say to me?" John asked, his voice suddenly flat and dangerous.

"I mean – I don't blame you," Greenberg added, apparently not knowing when to quit. "The kid fits the profile. He already tried to run once, right? So, he's probably already on the creature's radar. Are you trying to use your own son as bait, Johnny?"

As Sam lay there stunned, not knowing what to think, there was a swift rustle and a gasp from Greenberg.

"You listen to me," John said, his voice so quiet, Sam had to strain his hearing to catch the words. "You get the hell out of my sight. And if you ever come near my family, I'm tearing you to pieces? Got that?"

There was a brief silence then, he heard the door being wrenched open and shut. Greenberg had left.

Sam stirred. With the racket Greenberg had made leaving, it would have been foolish to pretend he was still asleep. He opened his eyes and nearly flinched when he saw his father was looking straight at him. Something in John's face seemed to soften.

"Sorry, Sammy," he said. "Did we wake you?"

Sam shrugged.

"I don't know," he said, because he honestly did not know what had woken him. "Is anything wrong?"

John strode to the table where he had laid out the guns for cleaning. His back was to Sam now.

"Nothing's wrong, Sam. Go back to sleep. It's late."

Sam knew a dismissal when he got one. Still, he would not go to sleep without asking the one question that was always one his mind.

"Dad, this case…is Dean involved? Is he…one of the missing kids, I mean?"

John turned to look at Sam, startled by the question.

"No, of course not. He's too old for one thing."

But I'm not,Sam thought. He did not say that out loud, though. It would have been unfair. His dad may have been many things, but Sam was convinced he would never use is children as bait in such a manner. Whatever John did for them, he did out of his own twisted version of love. Not for his own gains.

John strode towards the door to make sure it was locked.

"Go to sleep, Sam," he insisted. "You'll be too tired to do anything tomorrow, if you keep staying up late."

That night, as Sam still lay awake unable to go back to sleep, he thought he heard something outside. Music, a soft distant sound that was both enticing and frightening at the same time. He longed to answer that call. He was sure that, if he followed that song, it would take him to where Dean was.

xxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxx

"Dad knew," Sam said. "Or maybe not exactly knew, but he suspected."

Dean looked at him in confusion.

"Suspected what?"

"That it wasn't only a boogeyman. That there was something else. He was arguing with Greenberg about it. Saying some kids didn't fit the profile and those were the kids who had apparently left their house in such a hurry they even left their shoes behind."

Dean was looking at him with suspicion.

"How come you suddenly know this?"

Sam shook his head, irritated.

"Look, that's not the point. It just came to me, alright? I remember Dad and Greenberg arguing."

"About what?" Dean insisted.

Sam hesitated, aware that any mention of Greenberg having suggested using a twelve-year-old Sam as bait for a monster would have ended up with the Hunter on Dean's hit list.

"About how to properly handle the case."

Well, that was not a complete lie, was it?

"And Dad suspected it was the Pied Piper?"

That was the big question, and it frustrated Sam that he could not remember. How much had Dad figured out?

"Dad suspected something was working in tandem with the boogeyman. As we know, they did catch the bogeyman, and I guess for a while kids stopped disappearing."

Dean did not look satisfied. He was frowning at Sam, as if he was searching for holes in his theory.

"But if Dad knew, why is the Pied Piper still here? Did Dad catch him – or thought he did or…what else happened, Sam? What else do you remember?"

The way Dean was looking at him, Sam could tell his brother suspected he was hiding something. Yet again, he thought about what Robert had told him – and realized he was not ready to share the information with Dean. Not yet. Not until he knew more.

"Nothing, Dean," Sam stressed. "I remember nothing. If I knew anything for certain, if I remembered anything that had a bearing on this case, I'd tell you. Believe me."

Dean's eyes narrowed. He took a step towards Sam, looking him up and down.

"You had crazy nightmares when I came back," he remarked. "Remember that?"

Sam shrugged. He really didn't. He had a lot of material to give him "crazy nightmares", anyway.

Dean turned away from him, becoming the objective Hunter ready to solve the case. Sam took a deep breath. He could handle this side of Dean better than the worried big brother part. Not when he was so scared himself that something had happened to him, and he could not remember anything. Well, what with his hidden memories of Hell and his soulless time, wasn't this just another day at the office for him?

"Fine," Dean said. "Let's focus on Jim Hayes for now. The police think he went into the woods. I say we go have a look around."

"Sounds good," Sam said. "You go to the car and I'll catch up. I want to see if Bobby has something on the Pied Piper."

He was glad that Dean left without pointing out to Sam that he could call Bobby from the Impala. Once Dean was out, Sam dialed Bobby's number.

"Hey, Bobby," he began. "So, we think we're dealing with a Pied Piper. That ring a bell to you?"

"Haven't heard of one this side of the ocean, not for a while," Bobby mused. "If you're really dealing with a Piper, it's gonna be tricky ganking him. They're slippery sons of bitches."

"Anything we can do to even the odds?" Sam asked.

"Well, his power is in his pipe. If you get your hands on that, you might have a chance. Problem is, they never let go of it."

Sam hesitated. He did not know how much he should tell Bobby of what he knew. He was aware that, if Bobby deemed it necessary, he would tell Dean immediately. But he had to find out what Bobby knew.

"Hey, after this case, did you talk to Dad? Or to Greenberg?"

There was a silence on the other end. Sam was sure Bobby was getting suspicious.

"Not immediately, no. Your Dad went to get Dan – which in itself was strange, because the deal was to leave him there another month. As for Greenberg – he went his merry way. Only sent me a message to say the boogeyman was toast."

Sam chewed on his lip. He might as well tell the rest of it, now – or, as much of the rest of it as he was sure of.

"Did you tell Greenberg you were giving this new case to us? Did you mention Dean and me by name I mean?"

"Didn't see any reason to. Why?"

Sam rubbed a hand over his face.

"The details are a little sketchy – but I think Dad and Greenberg did not part as friends."

Bobby snorted.

"Well, no offence, son, but not a lot of people wanted to be friends with your dad, he had that effect. As for Greenberg, he's a grade A psychopath. Makes Gordon Walker look like a Teddy Bear."

And with that, Bobby left Sam with more questions than answers. He wished he could find someone who knew what had happened between his Dad and Greenberg back then. But for now, the only thing he could do was focus on the case.

xxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxx

They drove to the forest, although it was not far. They wanted to have a quick getaway, in case it was needed.

"So," Dean said, after Sam filled him in on part of his conversation with Bobby. "Take the pipe. What do you think we should do with it afterwards? Burn it? Think that would put a stop to the son of a bitch for good?"

"Probably," Sam said thoughtfully. "What I don't get is why he's doing this? Why this town? What happened here? And why these victims?"

"Does it matter?" Dean asked.

"It might. From the way Bobby was talking it seemed there was more than one Pied Piper. So – maybe you can become one. In the right circumstances."

Dean thought hard about that.

"Didn't you say that, in the original legend, the dude took the kids away because he got pissed the townspeople wouldn't pay him?"

Sam nodded quickly.

"We should look for someone who was wronged somehow. Won't be easy. It's a small town. People collect lots of grudges here."

Dean grunted. He himself had never really liked small towns for that very reason. They were a magnet for all kinds of supernatural crap.

"Also," Sam went on. "The original Pied Piper took most of the kids in Hamelin. The only ones he left behind were those that could not go. Like a deaf kid who could not hear the music, or a kid who had trouble walking, so they couldn't keep up."

"So, why's this one being so selective with his victim pool?" Dean wanted to know.

"Don't know," Sam said. "But it could be important."

The forest was on the edge of the town. They had to cross a small footbridge to get to it. Dean parked in front of the bridge and they both got out.

"Let's get this show on the road," Dean said.

Sam nodded. He could sense Dean's excitement, but, for once, he could not share it. Everything about that place felt wrong to him. Something was screaming at him that he should not go there, that there were dangers waiting that he would never be able to escape again. He pushed through the fear and followed his brother. Even if this was the echo of some memory of what had happened to him before, he was not twelve this time. He was grown up, and he had been through far worse than the Pied Piper. He certainly could not have been worse than Hell.

The forest was quiet. They could hear nothing except the wind through the trees.

"That can't be good," Dean said. "There should be birds."

Sam did not remember seeing any birds in Rattigan either. In fact, the only wild animals he had seen were the rats. As they had driven towards the forest, they had spotted groups of rats scuttling around trash cans.

They walked through the forest, getting more and more unnerved by the quiet. Sam looked around, trying to find something familiar. He did not see anything, but at the same time he was more convinced than ever that he had been here before. He looked at Dean thoughtfully. The time had come for him to be straight with his brother.

"Hey, Dean," he began, taking a deep breath. "There's something I have to tell you."

His brother tensed, which did not surprise Sam. For both of them, There's something I have to tell you usually preceded news they were not going to like. But then Sam realized Dean had not been paying attention to him. Something else had distracted his brother.

"Hold that thought, Sammy," Dean said. "I think I saw something up ahead."

Sam squinted ahead, but he could see nothing. Just trees and more trees. And then, he thought he caught something next to a half-fallen tree. There was a hollow there, and Sam knew they should not be going anywhere near it.

"Dean," he began worriedly, but then stopped abruptly.

He could hear something now, coming from that direction. A faint whimpering, as if someone was crying. His eyes met Dean's. They did not need to say anything. They headed on ahead, their guns at the ready.

In the shelter of the tree there was a child. A young boy in pajamas, huddled there with his hands around his knees to keep himself warm. He was shaking, and it was hard to tell if it was from the cold or fear. There were tears in his eyes and dried tear-tracks on his face. He looked up at the sound of Sam and Dean's approach. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Hey," Dean said gently. "You're Jim Hayes, aren't you? You know, your family's real worried about you?"

The boy chewed on his lower lip, as if considering answering the two strangers or not.

"You're not him," he said at length. "The man with the rats."

Sam approached the boy cautiously, so as not to frighten him any more than he already was. He took off his jacket and handed it to Jim. It looked like the kid was swimming in it, but at least it would keep him warm until they got him home.

"We're not him," he said. "In fact, we're here to save you from him. We're here to take you home."

"But first we need you to answer some questions," Dean said. "Where did this…man with the rats…where did he take you?"

Jim gulped. Wherever he had been the night before, he certainly had not enjoyed it.

"There was this place," he said. "This huge hallway. It was dark. I was alone. I was so afraid."

Sam could feel Dean's eyes on him. He remembered the nightmare from the night before – and he could not deny the similarities with Jim's.

"How did you get loose?" he said.

Jim shrugged.

"I wasn't supposed to. There were doors on either side. I just kept opening them. I must have opened the right one."

And Kelsey had opened the wrong one, which was probably why she had returned as an old woman. And Sam? What door had he opened?

"First thing first," Dean said, his tone matter of fact and business-like. "We'll get you back to your folks. Then we'll make sure the man with the rats never gets you or anyone else ever again."

"He said those that come to him don't want to be found," Jim said. "But I did. I don't think I wanted to run away in the first place. I was just upset. Do you think that's why he let me go? Because I actually wanted to be found?"

"I think whatever he told you were lies," Dean said harshly. "None of the kids wanted to go with him. And they all wanted to be found. Now come on. Let's take you home."

Sam decided to carry Jim. He was glad he had apparently worked out while soulless. Carrying a twelve year old was not exactly easy, especially not in the forest. But, since Jim did not have shoes on and was one sock short, it was better for him.

As they walked back towards civilization, Sam chanced a look behind. He thought he saw something scurrying next to the tree trunk. A rat, for sure. And suddenly, he had the distinct impression that he knew that place. He saw himself walking that very forest at midnight, cold and afraid, like Jim Hayes had been, but held in a spell, unable to turn back. He nearly stumbled and was glad when Dean steadied him.

Sam glanced at his brother and noticed the darkness in Dean's eyes. He knew, Sam realized. He knew Sam had been hiding something about the case from him. Once they got Jim home, Sam had to prepare himself for the confrontation that would follow. He just hoped Dean would understand why he had kept this from him. It was hard to talk about memories you weren't so sure of yourself.

And the plot thickens ;) I hope you're still enjoying this story, I'm really having fun with both writing and researching it. Can't wait to show you what else I have in store for our boys.