A/N; This chapter was a lot of fun.
We don't own the cover or any of the fandoms we write about.
R+R please.
With love,
DragonXeona and MsThunderSkies
I was sitting on my bed, writing some stupid homestuck fanfiction, when there was a knock at my window. I slept in one of those rooms that were underground, so my window started at my waist and looked out right into the yard. At first I thought I imagined the knocking, but when I heard it the second time it was undeniable. I stood up and drew the shades. I jumped when I saw Atla crouching in front of my window.
"Dude!" I whisper shout, opening the window so she can climb in. She jumps down in front of me.
"Sup."
"The sky." She rolls her eyes.
"That's getting old real quickly." I shrug.
"Anyway. Library time?" She grabs my arm, and pulls me towards the window. I stumble slightly before saying, "Wait, my parents!"
She shrugs, "It's fine, you'll be back before dawn."
"Yes, but it'll still take some time to get there and back!"
"What are the chances your parents will check on you in the next hour?" She reasoned. I sighed. I guess it was unlikely, but it really made me nervous. I start nodding, trying to trick my brain into being ok with this.
"Alright, let's go." I pulled myself up onto the ground outside, and dusted the dirt off of my sweatpants. Atla stood up and we both ran to the street.
"We're walking?" I asked, looking around.
"I can't exactly pay for an Uber on my dad's account in the middle of the night." I shrug. Fair enough.
"Relax, it's only like a thirty minute walk." I nodded. That wasn't so bad. I just wanted to be back before my mom noticed I was gone. We arrived at the school and made our way to the library entrance. Atla pulled out some strange metal poky things.
"What's that?" I ask kneeling next to her.
"It's a lock pick." She says, pushing them into the lock. She started to twist them around.
"Where did you get that?" I ask, frowning.
"Got it as a present. Told my mom it was just for fun. But uh… It was really so I could break into my teachers drawers and grab the answers to the finals." I looked at her with a mixture of disapproval and admiration. She grinned brightly, then pushed the door open.
"Sold the answers. Like twenty-five per person. Made a shit ton of money." I started to do the math in my head, but stopped. The number was getting too high. When we found the book, it didn't claim to be by Rick Riordan. It didn't even have anything on it. Just a blank, brown leather book. We made our way down the unbelievably long stairs. I found the light and turned it on. The library roared into sight. We looked at each other for a moment, then split up.
We read, we searched. We sat in silence, my social anxiety prevented me from talking to her too much. I was reading the accounts of an early rape victim in america. It was… devastating. She wrote letters, begged the court. But received no justice. They didn't believe her, or care. I identified the different mistakes she made. Crying in the court. Rule number one of being a woman; never let them see you cry. I put that book down after completing it. It flew up to some remote corner of the library. The books seemed to sort of present themselves to us. I could see one, a black book high above my head that was calling out to me. It seemed like the fog had cleared so I could see it. I climbed up the ladder, and opened it. Along with the book, there was a collection of CDs. And on that entire shelf(When I say shelf I mean an entire book shelf that was probably a mile long) There seemed to be related stories. I took the CD, down to the player, and pushed them in. I recognized what was playing instantly; Supernatural.
"Atla!" I shout, running around the library trying to find her. I hear her voice, and the shelves seem to compact so when I turn the corner, she's right there.
"Jesus, this place is like Diagon Alley." I laugh before quickly saying,
"I found Supernatural!" She tilts her head at me.
"Is that the tv show on netflix with the lady who jumps off a bridge and then a car chases these two dudes?"
"Uh, yeah. That happens in the pilot."
She nods, "Uh, cool." She looks down at her phone, "Hey, Rowan?"
"Yeah?"
"My phone isn't working."
"What do you mean?" I lean over her. Her apps are working just fine, I don't see the problem. "Looks fine to me."
She huffs, "No, I mean, the clock isn't ticking. The time on my phone hasn't changed since we got in here."
"Weird, do you think it's broken? Or maybe service is just really bad down here." I answer.
"No you idiot, having data or not doesn't affect the time on phones."
I stop and think for a moment. This is the craziest idea and I can't even believe I'm considering it's possibility, but weirder stuff has happened. Cough, Cough, secret magical library...
"Do you think that it might be possible, that time-uh, time could stop while we're in here?" I grimace. She looks at me in shock. A couple seconds pass by and I start to get
worried, she hasn't moved, not even blinked. I snap my fingers in her face, "Atla, you okay?"
She sighs, "I'm fine, this is all so fucked up. Whatever, what do you wanna do with the Supernatural thingy?"
"I wanna go inside!" I say jumping up and down, gripping the book.
Atla shrugs, "Sure, let's go." I basically die of excitement. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. I sprint over to the altar.
"Hey Rowan," Atla turns to me.
"Yeah?" I ask, unable to contain my glee.
"Be cool, ok?" I nod. She places the book on the Altar, and everything goes fuzzy.
I turn around and I'm standing in a parking lot. Atla is next to me, and she looks around.
"Where are we?" My eyes land on a car a few feet from me.
"Oh fuck." She looks at me questioning. I would recognize that car anywhere. I run over to it.
"This, my friend, is the 1967, Chevy Impala." I'm having trouble breathing.
"Didn't peg you for a car person," She says walking around looking at it, "But it is pretty cool."
"You don't have to be a car person to understand how awesome this car is." I say.
"You got that right." A voice says from behind me. I spin around and find myself face to face with Dean Winchester. My eyes widen, and I'm close to passing out.
"This your car?" Atla asks leaning against it. I stare at her, shocked. You can't just lean against some stranger's car.
"Yeah it is." He says, looking at us suspiciously.
I stand there in silence for a second before getting out, "So, uh… How old are you?" He raises his eyebrows.
"I feel like I should be asking you that. Where are your parents?"
I'm thinking of what to say next, but Atla beats me to it, "Dead." He looks at her, his face doesn't soften, but he blinks, and sighs.
"Where are you staying?"
Atla bumped me, signaling it was my turn to speak. I couldn't think of what to say. I wanted to work a case with him.
"Do you have a brother?" I ask. Jesus that's suspicious.
"Yeah? Why?" I look around.
"Is he here?" I'm back to trying to figure out when in the series this is.
"Yeah, he's getting us coffee." I nod.
"How old is he?" He narrows his eyes at me.
"Twenty-two. Now why don't you move on?" I nod. Season one. Now we just gotta figure out what case.
"Look, we're hunters." I say, trying to make it sound believable. He smirks slightly.
"Yeah? What do you hunt? Fireflies?" I roll my eyes, and lean back on the Impala, trying and failing to copy Atla.
"Monsters." I say. He frowns.
"Sure." He walks around the car to get into the driver's seat.
"Wait! I know you're in town on a case, we just wanted to help out!" He shakes his head.
"Look, I don't know what you know, but no way am I letting you anywhere near this case. I don't need a couple of kids dying on my watch."
"I know a lot, more than you." I can pretty much feel Atla facepalm behind me.
"Is that right?" I don't nod, just gulp.
"What's going on?" It's Sam. I look up at him. I have to look WAY up. He's more than a foot taller than me.
"These two girls say they're hunters." He raises his eyebrows, before getting in the passenger seat.
"We are!" I say.
"Look," Atla steps in, "We're hunters, or at least junior hunters, and my friend here desperately wants to go on a hunt with you. She wants to kill some monsters. So let us come with you, or we'll annoy the hell out of you. And you won't be able to do anything about it, cause we don't have parents, and technically we don't exist."
Dean scoffs, "What do you mean you don't technically exist?" Atla just shrugs. The brothers exchange looks.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen." He gives me a look like, yeah right.
"Fifteen."
He nods, "Yeah that looks about right." I sigh. No way he's gonna let us go. And I'm right. He shrugs, and drives off.
"Damnit." I grumble.
"You're fifteen?" Atla asks.
"Well, I will be at the end of the month." I look over at her with a slightly guilty expression, but she seems indifferent.
"So, what now?"
"We need to prove we can be helpful, and figure out what hunt they're on." She rolls her eyes.
"Why is this so important?" I give her a look.
"Because it is. Let's go." We walked inside of the coffee shop. It was relatively busy, I walked up to the counter.
"Hey, um… What is this town called?" I ask casually.
The guy at the counter was probably only a few years older than me. He responded annoyed, "Cape Girardeau." Route 666. Interesting.
"Cool, and do you happen to know a woman named Cassie?" I ask hopefully. Maybe you could beat the winchesters there.
"Uh yeah, her dad passed away pretty recently, I think she works at the newspaper." I nod.
"Could you give me directions?" I ask wide eyed. If I was older, or a man, he probably wouldn't. But since I'm a small girl, what could be the harm in telling me where to go?
He nodded, and wrote down some directions for Atla and I. We made our way outside. Lucky the place was so close. The Winchesters would probably stop by Cassie's house before heading there. We walked into the register, I was trying my hardest to be cool. Cassie was there, in a harsh back and forth with the… Mayor? Chief? I don't remember. I haven't seen this episode in forever. But I do remember he's actually one of the good guys.
"Cassie?" I ask stepping forward. She turns to look at me, pausing her argument.
"Do I know you?" I shake my head.
"No, but we're acquaintances of Dean Winchester." She gives me a look.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, they should be here soon, but we're in the same line of work, and were in town so we thought we'd help out." She nodded suspiciously, before looking up behind us. We turned around, to see Sam and Dean standing in the doorway.
"Dean." She walked over to them, and they stared at each other awkwardly for a while.
"That looks like a whole lotta sexual tension." Atla whispers.
"It's complicated." She nods. Finally, Sam and Dean's eyes narrow on us.
"Can we talk to you two? Outside?" I hold my breath and follow them out.
"Alright, who are you?" Dean asked, crossing his arms.
"Uh, I'm Rowan, this is Atla." Dean nodded. Atla gave them a mock salute.
"Right that's all great but uh, what the hell are you doing here?" I roll my eyes,
"Look, your girlfriend, Cassie, her dad was killed by a truck, controlled by a vengeful spirit. It's killing off those who were involved in it's death." I say, crossing my arms.
"How could you know that already?" Sam asks.
"I'm good." Dean's eyes just about roll out of his head.
"Look, you're gonna stay here, and when this case is done, we're coming back and we're gonna figure out what to do with you." Dean went inside to get Cassie, and the three of them drove back to her place.
"Ugh." If we were a little bit older this would be so much easier.
"Ok, we've got some time to hang out. Let them deal with this, obviously they make it cause the show goes on. Let's just chill and catch 'em on the next one." I sigh, but agree. We walk around a bit.
"Look, you need to change. Cause you're wearing pajamas." Atla finally says, pushing me towards a store.
"I'm wearing sweatpants and my pep band sweater. How is that pajamas?" I reason, "And besides, we don't have any money."
"I brought some." She says grinning.
"You were able to bring money over?" I ask.
"Yeah, just some cash."
"Not enough to pay for a whole outfit though."
"Yeah I do. I had a feeling this might happen so I brought a lot."
I roll my eyes. "Fine." She pushes me into some store that was in the mall area. We walked around, her trying to figure out "What my aesthetic was." Jesus. We looked through a large range of clothes. Wanting to blend in with the Winchesters, I purchased a black tank top, that was actually kinda pretty, and over it an unbuttoned flannel shirt. And then I just got regular jeans. Atla took a lot longer. Finally coming out of the changing room wearing an off the shoulder purple sweater and some severely ripped black jeans. To top it off, she had sunglasses, and heeled boots.
"Wow, really blending in I see." She pulled her glasses down to wink at me before heading out the door. How on earth was she gonna run in that? There was a lot of running in Supernatural. Outside, we wandered around a bit, before we were stopped by a familiar car.
"What, you had a wardrobe change?" Dean asked about getting out of the car.
"Well, we had to pass the time somehow, and obviously you didn't want our help." I said putting my hands in my pocket. Dean made a face at me.
"Alright, so you know what you're talking about smartass. Great. You still wanna help? Cause we're kinda stumped."
"Was there another victim?" I ask, genuinely concerned. These were real people now. Sam nodded reluctantly.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Dean and Sam begrudgingly let us into the car. This was so cool. I was riding in THE impala. We arrived at the crime scene. Cassie was talking with that same man.
"Another one of her dad's friends I think." Dean whispered walking over.
"There was one set of tire tracks. That doesn't point to foul play."
"Mayor, the police and town officials take their cues from you, if you're indifferent about-"
"-Indifferent?-"
-Would you close the road if the victims were white?"
"Oh damn." Atla whispered to me. I nodded slightly. Dean and Sam both looked a little uncomfortable.
"You're suggesting I'm racist Cassie? I'm the last person you should talk to like that."
"And why is that?"
"Why don't you ask your mother?" We headed back to Cassie's to get ready. Sam and Dean told us to wait here for Cassie's mom to get back. Hopefully we could use our innocent charm to talk to her. They left to go interview some people. Atla and I sat on the couch.
"They're learning more about the truck. They'll hear some lore about it. A group of men were killed by a guy driving a big black truck. Phantom trucks will become a theory, they'll be back soon to talk about it. And then-" I trail off awkwardly.
"And then what?" Atla motions for me to continue.
"And then Dean and Cassie will have sex…" I say.
"Oh…"
"Yeah…" Should we stay here? Or leave? Maybe we'll go with Sam wherever he is when Dean gets back and… Leave them alone. By the time Dean got back, Cassie's mom came and left, and Cassie retreated to her office for the rest of the night. As soon as I heard the knock, I basically bolted for the door.
"We're going with Sam to do some research." I said, pulling Atla outside with me. He gave me a weird look, but nodded bye. We spent the night in the hotel, I took the couch, Atla what should have been Dean's bed, and Sam the other. But I suddenly sat up, remembering what would happen this morning.
"He's with me." Sam said, as Dean walked up to us.
"Where were you last night?" I saw Rowan was standing over the body, close to crying. Last night she suddenly woke up, telling me someone was gonna die. We didn't make it here in time. She blames herself. She thinks she could've stopped the last two deaths. I've been trying my hardest to convince her that nobody would have listened to us. But she was inconsolable.
"Every bone crushed, internal organs turned to pudding. Cops are all stumped but it's almost like something ran him over."
"Something like a truck?"
"Yep."
"Tracks?"
"Nope." I say butting in. Dean nods hello at me.
"Mayor owned the property. Got it a few weeks ago. He's white, and it didn't happen on the road. It belonged to the Dorian family. Last guy who lived there went missing in '63. Around the time the first string of murders were going on." I was just reciting what Rowan had told me. I guess I'm taking over now, she's in no shape to do anything right now.
"When did you have time to do this research?" Sam asked. I just shrugged in reply.
"Dorian... Dorian I'm pretty sure they were the racist assholes who used to own the paper." Dean said looking around.
"The first thing the Mayor did was bulldoze the place. That could've been what woke the spirit." I said, pulling more from what Rowan told me.
"That makes sense, but there are still holes in this." I nodded, and turned to look at Rowan. She was watching the mayor get driven away, pinching the skin on her arms. We got a call later that night. We raced over to Cassie's to answer her distress call, though Rowan and I knew she was gonna be fine. The truck (With no one in it) had visited her at her house.
"Whatever's controlling the truck, wants you afraid first." Dean observed.
"Miss… Do you know who the truck belonged to?" Rowan asked Cassie's mom, gently after a pause. The woman made eye contact with Rowan, but didn't say anything.
"Please, you and your daughter could be in danger." There was another pause.
"Cyrus," She whispered, "A man named Cyrus." Dean held up the image of Cyrus Dorian to confirm. She nodded.
"He died more than forty years ago."
"How do you know he died? The paper said he went missing." Dean said. He was being a bit harsh. Rowan's method seemed a bit more helpful.
"We were all very young, I dated Cyrus a while, I was also seeing Martin in secret of course. Interracial couples didn't go over too well then. When I broke it off with Cyrus and when he found out about Martin, I don't know, he just changed. His hatred… His hatred was frightening…" She went on to explain how the string of disappearances erupted through the town. How the church they were planning on eloping in burned suddenly, killing the children's choir.
"They all died." The woman's voice broke and she fell into sobs.
Sam gently asked, "Did the attacks stop after that?"
"No, there was one more. One night that truck came for Martin." The woman described how Martin was beaten by Cyrus, horribly, until he broke loose, and was able to defend himself, and how Cyrus, rightfully didn't survive.
"Why didn't you call the cops?" Dean asked. Jesus what a dumbass. The woman looked at him incredulously.
"This was forty years ago. He called on his friends." The other victims who died recently and Martin put the body in the truck and pushed him into the swamp.
"And the mayor?"
"He was a good man. He was a deputy investigating Cyrus' disappearance. When he found out what Martin had done, he did nothing. Because he also knew what Cyrus had done."
Cassie shook her head, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought I was protecting them," Her crying resumed, "But now there's no one left to protect."
"Yes there is." Dean glanced at Cassie, and the mother and daughter took each other's hands.
Outside, I finally spoke up. After seeing that body, I'd… shut down a bit.
"If we wanna salt and burn that body, we gotta dig it out of the swamp." Dean and Sam laughed, but then exchanged looks.
"Look, you've helped out on this, made some things go a lot faster, but uh… We don't want you anywhere near that stretch of the road tonight." Sam said, they'd obviously discussed this.
"Why?" I ask angrily.
"Cause you two aren't white. Which makes you an extra target." Atla scoffs.
"Yeah, which also makes it personal. We wanna kill his racist ass. And besides, we aren't black."
"Yeah, but I doubt a ghost sees anything but, 'coloured person I want to kill.'" That makes sense but it's not stopping us.
"Oh, let 'em go." Cassie says, coming outside, "I need to take care of my mom, and I actually am a direct target, but if I wasn't I'd be out there helping. And these two girls seem like they can handle it." I beamed at her.
Dean sighed, "Fine." He and Cassie exchanged… goodbyes, causing Sam to giggle slightly. Atla just rolled her eyes.
"Alright, you coming or what?" Dean asks, getting into the driver's seat. Sam laughs and joins him in the car, quickly followed by Atla and I.
The brother's used a borrowed pickup to pull the truck out of the swamp. As Atla and I watched, I wanted to tell them that salting and burning the body wouldn't work, but I knew they wouldn't believe me, so I let it play out. The monster truck rolled into view.
"Guess that didn't work." Sam said exasperated.
I grinned, an incredibly stupid idea formulating in my head. I guess hanging around Atla has made me more reckless? Wow… we've known each other for like three days and she's already made a bad influence on me.
"I got an idea!" I sprint for the impala.
"What? Stop!" Dean knew what I was thinking, because I got the idea from him. In an alternate universe at least.
"Burn the truck!" I yelled.
"What?! How do you burn a truck?!" Sam cried. Dean looked more horrified at the idea of a fifteen year old driving his baby. Atla was closer to the car then I was, so when I sprinted past her she was able to catch up. I jumped into the driver's seat.
"Do you know how to drive?" She said closing the passenger door.
"I have a permit." I say as the car roars to life. If Dean didn't want someone stealing his car, he shouldn't have left the key in the ignition.
"Having a permit doesn't mean you can drive!" Atla cried. This was the most worked up I had ever seen her. I guess the threat of death really makes roles reverse. I drove off and as I hoped, the truck chased me. I turned the corner, and sped down the bend. Atla looked around at the truck, right on our tail. I had technically never driven outside of a parking lot before. But at least there were no cars to dodge. I just needed to keep the gas pedal down. I couldn't remember from the show what turn to make, so I called up Sam, and gave Atla the phone.
"Hey, you gotta give me a minute." Sam responds.
"We don't have a minute!" Atla cried. Jesus, her and Dean are actually a lot alike. He gets off the line. I know he's calling Cassie, but I seriously remember where I'm supposed to go.
"Rowan."
"I'm here!" I yell into the phone. It's Dean's. He left that in the car too. Dumbass.
"It's important, I have to know exactly where you are." I look up at the sign. "Decatur Road, two miles off the highway."
"Headed east?"
"Yes!" Atla yells before I can respond. Everything is loud and tense, and I am putting all of my being into not crashing this very second. Just then, the truck bumps slightly into us.
"Jesus! Fuck!" A string of curses escapes from both Atla and I.
"Turn right! Up ahead, turn right!" Sam yells into the phone. I make a sharp turn, going about eight times faster than I ever have. I hear the tires screech. This is so cool.
"Did you make the turn?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, do you see the road up ahead?"
"Yup!"
"Turn left there." The truck is right on my left. I do what Dean did, pushing the brakes as quickly as I can without giving Atla and I whiplash. The Phantom truck kept going forward. I turned left, and pushed on the accelerator again.
"You need to go exactly seventh tenths of a mile and then stop."
"Got it!" I kept my eye on the mileage counter, watching it scroll, and then stopped, and turned around just in time to see the truck materialize at the end of the road. The truck revs, trying to scare me into moving. I hold my ground as it shoots down the road.
"What the hell are you doing?" Atla asks in a panic.
"Trust me!" The truck is about to hit us, I force my eyes to stay open against all my instincts, and as we come in contact, it disappears around us.
"Rowan, Atla?" Sam asks over the phone.
"Where'd it go?" Atla asked.
"We're at the church." I explain.
"What church?"
"The church Cyrus burned down." Sam fills in. I can hear Dean saying something in the background.
"It's holy ground," I say looking at Atla, "The church is gone, but it still is destructive to spirits."
"I'm just glad it worked." Sam mumbled, sounding thoroughly exhausted.
"You didn't know?" Dean's voice rumbled through the car, "What if you were wrong?"
"It uh, honestly didn't occur to me." Dean made some threats to Sam's life, when Atla shut the call off. We leaned back in our seats, and dissolved into giggles.
"Holy shit," Atla breathes out.
We speak in tandem, "That was fucking awesome."
I drove us back to the hotel. I texted Sam that I'd meet them there. They could take the pickup. I wanted to drive a little bit longer.
Atla and I went straight to bed, collapsing instantly.
The next morning, Sam was in the room, asleep. Dean presumably having off screen time with Cassie. We stood next to the impala as Dean and her said goodbye. I knew that it was goodbye for good. But at least it was ending on good terms. Dean turned and walked over to us. A pit fell into my stomach. And I thought I was scared when that truck was chasing me.
"You. Idiots." He said. Mostly directing his fury at me.
"Look-"
"No no, I talk now, you shut up." I nodded and he continued, "You. Could've. Died. I didn't want you coming on this to begin with. And you drove my car. You. Drove. My. Car. You're fifteen! A fifteen year old drove my car!" He seemed to be descending into insanity.
"Fourteen." Atla coughed. Dean's eyes just about popped out of his face.
"You told me you were fifteen." I shrugged and tried to smile. WHY WOULD SHE SAY THAT?
"I lied?" He says nothing for a moment.
"Are you gonna kill me?" I mumble.
"No. But I swear to god, if you ever pull that kinda stunt again, I will have you in a foster home faster than you can steal some other sucker's car." I nod.
"So… Seriously, do neither of you have parents?" We shake our heads. But suddenly I got a feeling in my stomach. Like, a choice. We could choose to leave now. Or we could stay. We could always come back. And I really needed to sleep in my bed.
"But uh, we got somewhere to be. Hope to see you on another hunt." I smiled at Sam and Dean before walking away. Atla put in her two cents, "Cheers, boys."
"Hey! Rowan, Atla!" We both turned at Sam's voice.
"You're not bad hunters." I laugh, and wave. We disappear around the corner before turning and finding ourselves in the library again.
"That was pretty awesome." Atla laughed.
"It really was." We sit in silence for a moment.
"I think we deserve a nap, then we should head back home." I nodded in agreement.
I was tempted to say to myself best day ever, but then the thought occurred that there will be many more days like this to come.