The Guard Changed at Dawn

Chapter 09

Dean leaned into Bobby's kitchen table. "Missing children?"

Jody nodded. "It looks like for at least the last thirty years, children have been going missing in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. It's subtle, not like dozens of children; more like a few a year from small towns and Indian villages."

Dean's brows rose. "Indian villages?"

"Yes. In fact, it was so under the radar, that Federal Authorities didn't even have a file. Often when children go missing from small towns, a local manhunt is mounted. When the child isn't found, it's assumed they were the victim of a wild animal attack, drowned in a nearby lake or pond, or fell victim to the elements if the weather is severe enough. When victims go missing months apart and the disappearance sites are varied and miles away from one another, there was nothing to follow…"

"Until Bobby," Dean said softly.

"I don't know how in the world he caught the scent, but he did, and he ran with it." Jody pulled a chart from the stack of papers and handed it to Dean. "This is a list of children missing since 2015. There are a few names from between 2002 and 2005, a couple from 2009 and 2010. I think Bobby found those and something struck him as odd. Then he started looking in earnest, going for a methodical approach starting with the most recent children missing and going back. Looks like he added children when their disappearances made news as he monitored regional news channels. There are likely more names the further back you go, but this is as far as he got before he passed.

"The missing children are usually between three and five years of age, males and females, all from camp sites, nature walks, small villages or towns scattered across South Central Washington, two children from Idaho nearer the Washington border, and one from Oregon."

"Near the border," Dean supplied.

Jody nodded.

"Any signs?"

"That's the odd thing. As far as Bobby's research goes, there's a complete lack of anything. Weather wise, there were no abnormal patterns. On the law side of things, the children weren't known to be problem kids or runaways. No one saw any strangers lurking around, there were no unfamiliar cars sighted, and according to police reports, one or both parents were within arm's reach when most of the children disappeared. It's like the hand of God reached down and plucked those kids right off the face of the earth. There might even be more missing that Bobby hadn't found yet. But I think it was the fact that there is documented proof that dozens of children have gone missing in one relatively small geographical area, and in every case there were no witnesses to even one significant thing that caught Bobby's attention."

"Where's Bobby's map?"

Jody gave a rueful shake of her head. Of course Dean would know Bobby had mapped all the missing children he'd found and the locations from where they disappeared. She dug into the stack of papers. Shortly she pulled out a long page and handed it across the table.

Dean started reading Bobby's list:

R. Smith: Wallula, Washington; M – 4 yrs – Ht 40" – 35 lbs – Missing: January 18, 2032

J. Anker: Ehphrata City, Washington; F – 3 yrs – Ht 37" – 31.5 lbs – Missing: October 12, 2031

D. Tsosie: Chewelah, Washington; F – 3 yrs – Ht 36" – 28 lbs – Missing: July 9, 2031

Dean glanced up at Jody, then looked back down and read each and every name. The list was meticulous yet detached. Bobby wanted to remember the children, but needed to maintain some distance so he could get justice for these little ones.

Dean turned to the attached page and saw a photo copy of a map of Washington State. Circled were all the places from where the children had gone missing. He flipped to the last page and saw twenty eight cities listed. "That's a lot of cities," he noted.

Jody looked over the top of the page. "Those are aside from the campsites and nature trails," she said, handing over another couple of sheets. "The disappearances are wide spread enough that neither small town nor larger city law enforcement agencies caught the connections. Cops are concerned with their own counties, and most offices are under staffed and over worked. And if a second child goes missing from your county in a few years, these towns don't have the manpower to review cold cases, especially ones that may be decades old. There may even be new staff and a new sheriff on the job. Most aren't going to connect two or three disappearances that happened seven, ten, even twelve years apart."

"No one caught a whiff of anything?" Dean asked.

"Not as far as Bobby's research states," Jody said. "Interviews with local law enforcement aren't included."

"He's laying the ground work here. Usually we get to law enforcement when we're at the hunt site."

Jody nodded. "Truthfully, I believe some officials had to have made a connection. But as you can see from the research, there's very little to go on even if a connection was spotted. There are only so many man hours law enforcement can carve out to investigate a case with no leads to work from, especially in small rural communities. They would have had to lay down the case to deal with their current loads."

Dean looked down at the pages in his hand. "Wallula, Washington: population 179," he read, "Quincy, Washington: population 6,750; Dodge, Washington: population 597; Chewelah, Washington: population 2,637; Metaline Falls, Washington: population 325…" Shaking his head, he read on. When he finished, he said, "All these cities have populations of less than seven thousand; most less than two thousand."

Jody nodded. "The largest city in the area is Yakima city, with a population of just over ninety-one thousand. Most of the children went missing within a hundred mile radius of Yakima City."

The kitchen door swung open and Caleb walked inside, cheeks flushed from the cold evening air. "Hey." He went to the sink and got a glass of water before moving to the table. Looking down at all the paperwork, he asked, "What's all this?"

"Bobby's last hunt," Dean said softly.

Caleb's eyes flew to his friend's face. Slowly he dropped into the chair at the end of the table. "Let me see."

Dean handed off the pages he'd already reviewed. Returning his attention to Jody, he said, "What else?"

Jody pulled another set of pages from the stack. "This is Bobby's work on what could be taking the children. He researched the lunar cycles for every missing child and ruled out werewolves. Vampires are crossed out…"

"Vamps usually want more blood than a child's body holds," Dean explained quietly.

Jody paled slightly and continued. "He ruled out changelings, because the children stayed missing, crocattas, shtrigas, vetalas, wenidgos…" Jody shook her head and handed the pages over, "well, the list goes on and on. Bobby even researched creatures that are considered indigenous to the Pacific Northwest region, like the batsquatch, several difference types of serpent, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus, and Mynoghra, which is a succubus with tentacles in place of hair, and lives in the forest."

Caleb whistled softly.

Jody picked up a small stack of pages and handed them to Dean. "Bobby researched not only the weather patterns, lunar patterns, supernatural creatures and mythical monsters; he also researched good old Animal Planet wildlife in order to eliminate bears, wolves, bobcats, and the like. He wanted to see whether there was any reason to believe any of these kids might really have gotten taken by some animal in the wild. I don't know how long it took, but he seems to have researched animals of every sort, four-legged, no-legged or winged. At some point he wrote this…" she pulled the stack back from Dean and flipped a few pages, then pointed to a large word Bobby had written along the top of the fourth page. It said, Owls.

Dean jerked straighter in his chair and looked at Caleb, whose face was slack with surprise. Quickly he pulled the papers back and started skimming the pages.

"But this is why I called you," Jody said, interrupting Dean's review. She picked up the last paper in front of her. "This is an outline of his research, with a broader outline on the number of children missing, town size, creatures eliminated, and this…" she passed the page to Dean, pointing to two large words written and underlined at the top.

The Guardian.

Bobby's house was quiet. JT, Max and James were asleep upstairs, Jackson and Steve had called it a night. Robert and Sam had a breakthrough in Robert's hunt earlier in the evening, and the man had hit the road back to Nevada. Mark had then claimed Sam's attention, and for the majority of the night they'd been absorbed in Mark's current online course and his upcoming class on weather anomalies and creatures who used weather to hunt their prey. Finally, when Jody had made her goodnights, the two had gone up to bed. Dean was sitting on Bobby's front porch, a place he'd relaxed so many times before, gazing out into the yard.

"Want some company?"

Dean smiled and nodded. A beer appeared over his shoulder. "Thanks."

Caleb came around and sat in the chair near Dean's.

Only the music of crickets and the occasional dog bark interrupted the silence for several minutes. Finally Caleb said, "Don't understand how, but do you think Pastor Jim had a hand in this hunt?"

Dean nodded immediately. "There are too many coincidences; all this apparently random stuff connects up together at the same time? Yeah, Pastor Jim is watching out for us, and watching out for whoever contacted you." Glancing over, he asked, "You have any more dreams?"

Caleb shook his head. "No, which has me a bit worried. I didn't want the dreams, but since the clear SOS, I haven't heard a peep."

"You try reaching out?"

"I don't know who to reach out to. I don't think this person is psychic, so I'm not sure how I got the dreams in the first place. I mean, I can read people who aren't psychic, but I need to know who they are, otherwise I'm opening myself up to everything out there."

"Yeah." Dean took a long pull from his beer. Several more minutes passed before he said, "It's not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Being here?"

"Yeah."

Caleb had never been as close to Bobby as Dean and Sam, but he still missed the man tremendously, and he understood. "It's like he's just inside."

Dean smiled. "I expect him to walk out here and hand me a slice of pie, saying he didn't want any damn leftovers cluttering his up fridge."

Caleb laughed. "Speaking of pie…"

Dean grinned and stood. "Wouldn't want to clutter Bobby's fridge, now, huh?"

"He'd want us to eat it," Caleb stated, leading the way.

The next morning Jackson manned the stove and made scrambled eggs, hash browns and buttermilk biscuits for the house.

"Thanks, Jack," Mark said, buttering a hot biscuit. "You went all out today."

"Do you guys trade off making breakfast?" Sam asked.

"We tried," Steve stated, dumping guacamole on his last bite of eggs. "But Jack said our attempts at making a decent breakfast were pitiful. Now he does breakfast, and me and Mark trade off dinner. For lunch we're on our own."

"This is great," Max said. "There's jalapeño and cayenne in these eggs."

"Yup," Jack said. "Add in corn, a dash of cilantro and cumin, and you've got true Southwestern scrambled eggs."

"Mind if I do a twist on this for Sawyers?"

"Not at all. If it's a hit, when I'm in New York I get to eat for free," Jackson bargained.

"Agreed," Max chortled gleefully.

"You thinking about opening Sawyers for breakfast?" Caleb asked.

"Sunday Brunch. Mom said she wouldn't mind bringing grandma to Sawyers for brunch sometime. I thought it might be a good idea."

A car pulled up in the yard and Steve rose to check it out. "Garland!" he called out, and they heard the front door open and shut.

"Customer," Jackson said, and put his fork down to head into the yard.

JT got up and started clearing the table. James watched his brother a moment, then rose to help.

Caleb covered his smile with his coffee mug while Dean gave a humorous shake of his head and continued eating.

Sam set his empty coffee mug down beside his plate and climbed to his feet. "When you boys have finished doing the breakfast dishes, we'll meet in the library for a briefing."

Caleb couldn't contain his amusement and he laughed outright. Sam had very neatly roped Max into helping JT and James with the breakfast cleanup. No sliding up to their room this morning.

Dean finished his eggs and said to his boys and Max, "See you in the library."

Mark got up and walked out, trying hard not to laugh.

James watched his dad and uncle leave the kitchen. "You know, sometimes it sucks being the kids."

"We're young adults," JT corrected, "but we still have to pay our dues."

"I do dishes all the time," Max stated.

"You do not," James argued. "You pay people to wash your dishes."

"I didn't when I started Sawyers; did everything myself. Now I can afford to have a washer."

"Yeah, okay," James conceded grudgingly. "But I don't own a restaurant," he muttered under his breath.

JT covered his smile and started loading the dishwasher.

.

Sam sat at Bobby's desk and sorted through his research. When Dean walked in, he smiled. It was a common sight, he or Sam sitting at Bobby's desk, though usually Bobby sat there after kicking them out of his chair.

"You look over the stuff Jody gave us last night?"

Sam nodded. "Bobby did an amazing job with that research. This was painstaking, time consuming work."

"Kids were involved," Dean said simply. "He wanted justice."

Caleb reached for the pages and picked up several, shuffling through them. "I wonder how he nosed this out in the first place. More than half of these missing kids have closed files. How did he tie those into the cold cases?"

"Somehow he did," Dean shrugged. "I'm wondering why he specifically called for me."

"Maybe he wanted to give you one last hunt with him," Caleb suggested, his eyes on his friend.

"Maybe," Dean said softly. "But this hunt could have been handed over to dozens of other hunters."

Another car sounded in the front yard and Caleb went to look out the front window. "It's Jody," he said, returning to the library.

A couple minutes later Jody walked into the house. "Good morning," she said as she hung her coat on the coat rack.

"You're just in time," Caleb said. "When the boys finish in the kitchen, Sam's going to regal us with his research on the Tah-tah-kle'-ah."

Jody frowned, hands on her hips. "The ta-ta what?"

"Owl witches," Dean supplied.

"O-kay." Jody turned toward the kitchen. "I'm going to need coffee for this."

Twenty minutes later Dean, Caleb and Sam, as well as JT, Max, James and Jody were seated in the library, ready to hear about the hunt.

"Where's Mark?" JT asked, shifting his coffee mug to the side so he could take notes.

"He's leading his online group in a recognize-the-monster workshop," Jody said.

JT's eyes lit bright with excitement. "It's going on right now?"

"We have a hunt," Dean said, then smiled when JT's expression indicated that he'd momentarily forgotten.

Jody gave JT's shoulder a squeeze as she set a plate of mini cinnamon buns on the table. "Considering the discussion that is sure to follow his class, we won't see him for another couple hours."

Dean looked over at his brother. "Sam?"

"James connected the Tah-tah-kle'-ah with the Yakama Tribe. Seems the myth goes back at least two hundred years, most likely longer. The Tah-tah-kle'-ah, translated Owl Women, are witches. They're exceptionally tall, taller than the average man, and much larger. They're said to resemble giant owls, but the research is vague as to whether that is due to their height and bulk, or if they actually have features that are owl-like. Apparently they have long, deadly claws, so maybe owl-like is literal."

"They live in groups of five," JT said, remembering his research from a couple days ago.

Sam nodded. "I didn't see a mention of more or less; just five. I don't know if that means one coven with five members, or if there are multiple covens with five members each. Joshua may be able to help answer that. I emailed him my research. They apparently live in caves, and are reputed to be able to fly. I suppose that would make sense, with the owl connection. According to Yakama legend, these owl women are the walking embodiment of death."

"Nothing creepy about that at all," Max interjected.

"I found a tentative creature connection with the Tah-tah-kle'-ah: seems these owl women have some features in common with Wendigos."

"They're psychic?" Caleb asked.

Sam gave a small shrug. "They might be, though I couldn't find any research to indicate that. But Wendigos hunt humans, and mimic human voices to draw their prey into traps. Research says the Tah-tah-kle'-ah also hunt humans and can appear in human form. That may be why there isn't any description of them other than owl like. They also trap humans by mimicking their language."

"Their language or their voices?" James asked. "Cause Wendigos mimic language in the form of exact voices."

"Several research sites say their language. In the absence of anything more definitive, I would say these owl witches speak a language other than Yakama Sahaptin, or English, for that matter. But they appear to be familiar enough with the Yakama language to use words that would bring people to them; maybe words like help, help me, or I'm hurt. They wouldn't need to understand the words necessarily, just the human response when they said them."

"I don't think Wendigos are found in the Pacific Northwest," James said. "Aren't they more of an East Coast creature?"

"They're known to be more East coast than West coast," Sam said, "but one thing we've learned over the years, is…"

"To never pigeonhole a monster," Caleb finished.

Sam nodded, and looked back down at his notes. "According to Yakama legend, they can move faster than the eye can see, almost like a blur. Some sites say they use energy to stun or trap humans. Since they're witches, they may use magic, though to what extent I don't know. Yakama legend says they can tap into nature's elements like lightening or rain, storms and hail to confuse or kill humans."

"That sounds like fear talking," Jody said. "People see something they're afraid of or don't understand, and they attribute something magical to it."

"That's possible," Sam said thoughtfully. "Since these owls women are witches, they may use magical arts to create lightening or something that resembles hail, and the villagers think they can influence the elements." He looked down at his papers. "The only other thing I've found is that they eat creatures the tribes find repellent; like lizards, frogs, or snakes." He looked over at Dean. "The Yakama also believe they kidnapped and sometimes killed children for food."

"The missing kids," Dean said.

"An old Yakama legend says that the witches once kidnapped a five year old boy; not to eat, but to raise and use to trap other children. Fortunately, this child escaped."

"Could the witches have learned the Yakama words for help me and help from this boy?" James asked.

"It's possible."

"Any suggestions on how to fight these owl women?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "I think that's something we need to look into today."

Dean nodded. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Today, we're going to dig deeper into these owl women, see if we can find anything on their weakness. Hopefully Bobby's library will hold the key. It stands to reason that the women were named after owls because they have something in common, so let's look at owls too; check out their weaknesses and what can kill them besides man-made weapons. Those aren't going to work on witches. We'll contact Joshua this afternoon, see what sort of ETA he has on finishing the talismans and getting to South Dakota.

"JT, you've got the sensory part of the equation. How do these witches use energy to stun, trap or kill people; find out how we can protect ourselves. Max, you're on weapons. See what you can devise that would be effective against something that has elements of both magic and nature. Build on what we already know works on witches, and make it bigger. James, find out whether the Yakama Reservation in Washington is traditional enough to have a medicine man or woman in addition to their tribal leadership. Find the paper trail on them, who they are, their families; whatever will help us get to know these people."

Dean paused for a moment to reconsider the riskiest part of his plan. Their research said Washington and the Yakama Indian Reservation was the place they needed to be to take care of this evil Pastor Jim warned them about, an evil Bobby had found as well. But there were a lot of people involved in this hunt; his Triad, JT's Triad, their advisors... He wanted to narrow down their target destination a bit more, if possible; maybe find out a little more about who had dangled the distress signal. For that, he needed Caleb to contact his dream visitor. But since Caleb didn't know the person, he would have to open himself up by lowering his blocks. That would put his Knight in jeopardy.

With a sigh, he made his decision. "I need Caleb and Sam for a couple hours."

"For what?" Sam asked.

"For a trip on the psychic side."

Caleb eyed his friend. "Why doesn't that fill me with confidence?"

"What about me?" Jody asked.

"You're going to find out everything you can about the current Yakama tribal leadership from your old law enforcement contacts in Washington. I want to know what kind of people they are and if we can trust them."

Jody nodded, pulled out her phone and started scrolling through her contact list.

Dean motioned to Caleb and Sam, and they walked into the living room.

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"We need to know who's contacting Caleb," Dean said. "If these owl women can mimic language, then I need help is on their list of greatest hits. If we're walking into a trap, I want to be prepared."

"I already told you…" Caleb began.

"I know," Dean said, holding off Caleb's protest. "But this person saw you somehow. The plan is for you to let down your blocks for a second then put them up again, on and off for a minute or two. Maybe flashing your psychic ability like a beacon will attract the attention of your dream caller. Sam can use his abilities to protect you if something nasty comes calling. But I'd like to see if this mystery guest can tell us exactly where to go."

"What?" Sam exclaimed, his eyes wide. "You want me to protect Caleb? He's a much stronger psychic than I am!"

"No, I'm not," Caleb corrected. "You just don't use your abilities to their full strength."

Dean could see the old argument erupting and quickly headed it off. "Sam, you don't have to literally defend Caleb. He can do that himself. And he isn't going to let his blocks down for very long. We're talking a second, like a lighthouse; the light swings in your direction, then vanishes as it turns the other way. All I want you to do is stand guard, alert Caleb if something does nose around when his blocks are down. He'll be wide open, so he may not sense a psychic attack in the noise. I want you to act like a giant psychic fly swatter; bat the creep away before they get near."

"You can do this, Runt. If I'm willing to lower my blocks for a second, then you can be a giant fly swatter."

"I knew you'd fixate on that part," Sam grumbled.

Caleb laughed. "It was too good to pass up. Thanks for the image, Deuce."

"No problem," Dean said, grinning.

"Okay, if Caleb's willing, I'm willing. But we're making a protection circle around him," Sam said.

Caleb nodded. "That's a good plan. Lowering my blocks lets everything in. That can be a lot to handle. And if a baddie does happen to be on his game, he might be able to see inside my mind. Then he'll know where we are and that the entire Triad, both current and future, are here. Lowering my blocks may allow the dream visitor to see me, but it also allows me to be seen by others."

"Okay, that makes sense. Just one question," Dean asked. "Will a protection circle defeat the purpose of broadcasting?"

"All Caleb will be projecting is a psychic light," said Sam. "A protection circle will protect him from spirits or psychic bad guys who want to latch onto his open mind and take a peek. Joshua can help me make it strong enough to obscure our location too."

Dean nodded. "Okay. What do you need?"

"I have everything in the trunk of the Impala for the protection part; angelica root, bay leaves, calendula petals, ginger, sage and mugwort. I'll text Joshua for the rest."

Caleb turned and headed out to the car, saying, "You have every ingredient organized and labeled in little ziplock bags, don't you?" The door slammed as he went out.

Sam looked at Dean and shrugged. "Yeah."

Dean smiled. "I'm all for organization."

.

Thirty minutes later Sam, Dean and Caleb were in the Bobby's old bedroom, because it had the largest open floor space on the second floor.

Dean looked around, marveling at how much it had changed. He'd been shocked when he first walked in, though now he was glad. He didn't want to see Bobby's boots by the bed, his jacket on the chair, or his shirts discarded around the room because the older man couldn't be bothered with hanging them up.

"You ready?"

Dean looked over and saw Caleb and Sam watching him. Nodding once, he said, "You both need to be inside the circle. Chairs are easier than the floor, so…" he grabbed the straight-backed chair near the window and pulled it to the middle of the room.

"The rocking chair isn't going to work," Caleb observed.

"I'll get one of the kitchen chairs," Sam said, and he disappeared into the hallway.

Dean watched Caleb prowl the room nervously. "You okay with this?"

"Yeah." Caleb looked over at his best friend, and then sighed. "To tell you the truth, I'm a little nervous. I've never fully let down my blocks before, not since I lost you in Rockefeller Square when you were six."

Dean frowned.

"Johnny had dropped you and Sam off at Macs after Bobby was laid up with a hunting injury; everyone was going stir crazy."

"Oh," Dean's said with a smile. "The special snowflakes."

Caleb laughed. "Yeah, those were some special snowflakes. You and I went to Rockefeller Square to see the giant Christmas tree. Hannah found me there, and you disappeared."

"I couldn't lose anyone else," Dean murmured.

Caleb nodded. "I needed to find you, and I sort of panicked. I opened up my abilities and everything flooded in; so many people, so many joys and fears and feelings. I got lost in the white noise of it all. Then," he smiled at Dean, "I found your thread in my mind, shining like a damn glow stick. Finding you allowed me to tune everyone else out, and I just followed the thread in my head to you."

Dean regarded Caleb, brushing past the sentiment and going for the confession. "That must have been scary," he said.

"Yeah, it was. It was overwhelming. I realized I could easily lose myself if I let everything in like that again."

"I got your back," Dean said, coming over and putting a hand on Caleb's shoulder. "You can trust me."

"You can trust me too," Sam stepped inside the door carrying the kitchen chair. "I won't let you get lost."

Caleb took a deep breath, then gave his Triad a quick nod. "Okay, then let's do this thing."

Sam and Caleb sat in the chairs waiting for Dean to make the circle around them. "You said make a circle of these ingredients first," Dean said, holding up a bag for Sam to see, "then make the protection circle right outside the first circle."

"Joshua said the ingredients to protect our thoughts and our location needed to be inside the broader protection circle. He also said he'd rather we wait till he got here."

Dean considered the situation for a moment, then said, "Hold on." He disappeared out the door and returned a minute later with Max in tow. After explaining what they were doing, he asked, "Do you have enough crafting experience to monitor the circle?"

Max swallowed. He knew quite a bit about crafting; Joshua was his father, after all. But he'd never really been called upon to use that knowledge in the field. In fact, he usually fought against using that knowledge in the field. Now, he needed to step up to the plate. Squaring his shoulders, he looked Dean straight in the eye and said, "Yes, I do. However, you're not going to start this circle till I go over protocol with my father. I'll be back in two minutes."

Dean watched the young man leave the room, then turned and raised his eye brows at Sam and Caleb.

"Told you, didn't he?" Caleb said with a grin. "Chip off the ole' block."

"Once again we must remind you that Max is Joshua's son, not yours," Sam declared.

"I'm his uncle and I trained him. He's as close as I'm gonna get."

Since that was the truth, Dean and Sam dropped the subject. Instead, Dean picked up the first ziplock bag he would need and waited. A minute later Max stepped back inside the bedroom.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen." Speaking, not to his godfather but to the Guardian, he said, "Dean, you'll lay both sets of lines. The inner circle you're going to seal with Triad magic. I'll seal the outer protection circle. A trained crafter needs to monitor the outer line to prevent a breech. All right?"

"All right," Dean said. He looked at the two sitting in the middle of the bedroom and said, "You guys ready?"

"Ready," Caleb said.

"I'm ready," Sam echoed.

Carefully Dean opened the ziplock bag and meticulously poured the inner circle, giving Sam and Caleb enough leg room so that the circle wouldn't be broken. Just before he closed the inner circle, he pricked his finger and sealed it with a drop of his blood. A cool blue light shot straight up from the arc, after which the glow settled about a half inch above the drawn circle. Blowing out a measured breath, Dean opened the second bag and made a second circle directly outside the first. When he got to the end, he looked over at Max and nodded.

Max knelt down beside the circle, pulled a stick of ash from his pocket and murmured, "With my blood and body I seal and protect those in this circle." He touched each end of the circle with the wand. Then he pricked his finger with a silver needle, finished pouring the protection powder and touched his finger to seal the circle shut.

A bright silver light raced around the circle, sealing it and lighting the pair inside.

Sam nodded to Caleb and said, "Whenever you're ready."

Caleb looked a little pale, but he nodded and closed his eyes. First he focused his attention on creating a mental net of sorts, to capture anything that tried to get into his mind. Once that was done, he took a deep breath and lowered his blocks.

He gasped. The world was a very noisy place, and his head felt like it would break with all the sound and fury. Quickly he shoved his blocks back up, leaning forward in pain.

"Caleb," Sam said softly.

Caleb didn't answer for a moment, then he said, "Yeah, Runt, I'm here."

Sam nodded. "Nothing came sniffing around. Want to give it a second try?"

Caleb took a deep breath, then nodded. Focusing on putting up his net, he then lowered his blocks again, and was hit in the face with more noise. "Ugh," he groaned, and put the blocks back up.

"Good job," Sam said. "No baddies around."

Max prowled the outer edge of the protection circle, checking to make sure it was equally strong around the entire rim.

Dean's eyes were focused on Caleb and Sam as he paced the floor, making sure to stay out of Max's way.

"Whenever you're ready," Sam said.

Caleb nodded, then suddenly frowned as a thought took shape in his mind. What if he focused his energy like a spotlight instead of simply lowering his blocks... The dream visitor gave him the location of the Enchantment Basin. While he couldn't trust that one hundred percent, their own research indicated that the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington State was where the hunt was located, and their research and deductive reasoning were sound. Bobby's research backed that up. If he could focus his energy directionally onto the Yakama Indian Reservation, he could essentially open a turret while leaving the bulk of his blocks up.

"Caleb?" Sam asked.

"Hold on…" Caleb said. That just might work, and his blocks would protect him from the bulk of thoughts, feelings, and emotions flooding into his head. Picturing a castle, he formed a turret in his mind. Once the opening was constructed, Caleb focused on the Yakama people and the Indian Reservation. Slowly he lowered his blocks, but this time only in the turret, keeping the rest of his walls in place.

"Ouch," Sam grunted in surprise. Then, eyes still closed, Sam's face relaxed and he murmured, "Oh." He focused on what Caleb was doing, and suddenly smiled.

Dean moved restlessly around the circle. "Are they okay?" he asked Max.

Max had been intently watching the exchanged between Sam and Caleb. "Yeah, they're fine. I think Uncle Caleb just changed the game plan somehow, and Uncle Sam was surprised."

Caleb shut the turret and took a deep breath, trying to relax his shoulders.

"You're doing good," Sam said softly.

Caleb nodded once, then opened the turret again. Suddenly he gasped and would have tumbled clean out of the protection circle if Sam hadn't grabbed his arms and steadied him.

Looking around, Caleb was standing on the edge of the meadow he'd dreamed about. But it wasn't dark this time. Sunlight was shining brightly and the meadow was filled with wildflowers and birds.

Hello? he thought into the meadow.

What are you doing? Came an angry reply.

Trying to help.

You could have been captured.

But I haven't. It isn't safe to keep this connection open. I'm vulnerable.

You're protected by light.

A protection circle.

Good.

Where are you?

White Swan. Hurry.

Who… And suddenly Caleb was back in the bedroom at Bobby's, held up by Sam, who was looking pale and white. "Wha…"

Max was on the floor near the back of the protection circle, his wand and the ziplock bag in his hands.

"Something came looking," Sam said. "I stopped them from getting into your head."

"Did they get where we are?"

"No, the circle protected us; Max kept it strong." Sam waited until Caleb was firmly back in his chair before he released his grip on the other man's arms.

Dean leaned as close as he could. "Are you both all right? Caleb?"

"You all right, Uncle Caleb?" Max asked anxiously.

"We're … fine," Caleb said, trying to steady his breath. "Max, I'm fine. You and Sam saved the day."

"That was a good move," Sam smiled, "opening a single path to Washington instead of lowering your blocks altogether. Nice."

"Wish I'da thought of it sooner," Caleb replied with a weary smile. "Would have stopped the poacher from trying to get in." Looking down at the glowing circle, he said, "You gonna let us out? I, for one, would like to lie down."

"You're going to have to stay inside for another hour," Max stated. "Dad said your psychic bat signal would interest a lot of creatures. He said both circles would need to stay in place until the fervor died down and the baddies went on about their own business."

"You couldn't have said that up front so we could make the circle bigger?" Caleb groused. "We could have brought in some water too."

"Sorry," Max said, his face coloring slightly. "I was kind of nervous."

"You did great, young Jedi," Caleb said. He put a hand to his jumpy stomach.

"You're not going to throw up, are you?" Sam asked warily.

"Hope not," Caleb mumbled with a hard swallow, "but I'm not feeling too great, Runt."

Sam looked around, trying to figure out a way to give Caleb a space to lie down without disturbing the protection circle. But the space, while roomy, didn't give them enough floor surface for that. "Sorry, I can't move the chairs so you can lie down on the floor. Please try to hang in there."

"Maybe you could tell us what happened?" Dean asked. "Did you meet your dream walker?"

Caleb nodded slowly. "It's a she. She was mad I'd dangled myself out there, said I could have been captured."

"I thought she wasn't psychic," Dean said, frowning. "How did she talk to you?"

"You used to talk to me inside my head and you're not psychic. All she needed to do was think her words and I picked it up."

"Who would be capturing you?" JT asked, stepping inside the doorway followed by James.

"Didn't have time to get that far, Johnny," Caleb said. "But since legend has it that our owl witches can stun and capture their prey, I'm going with the ta-tas."

"The Tah-tah-kle'-ah," Sam corrected, as though he couldn't help himself.

"Seems the owl-bitches might be psychic after all," Caleb said, gently massaging his temples.

"Aren't you supposed to be working on your assignments," Dean asked his sons, though not with any heat behind the words.

"We were worried," James explained.

Dean nodded an acknowledgement. "Where's Jody?"

"She went back downstairs. I think she's making Uncle Caleb some tea."

"Won't be able to drink it for another…" Dean looked over at Max.

"Fifty-two minutes."

Caleb put a hand to his stomach and grimaced. "See if she can have some aspirin ready too," he whispered.

Max knelt down beside the circle. "Lean back in the chair, Uncle Caleb."

Caleb focused one eye on his protégé, then nodded. He closed his eyes again and leaned back.

"Take a deep, calming breath and let it out slow and steady. No, don't take another too soon. Okay, now take a breath and let it out slowly."

"It's making me dizzy," Caleb mumbled, as he swallowed hard.

"Okay, don't take as deep a breath. Just breathe without talking. Uncle Sam, take Uncle Caleb's wrist and massage right here," he pointed to the base of his thumb. "Like this," he demonstrated on his own hand.

Sam picked up Caleb's hand and started to massage. "Like this?"

Max nodded. "It's acupressure. It should temporarily lessen the headache, which should help the nausea."

Sam continued to massage Caleb's hand while James, JT and Dean hovered nearby.

"Did this woman tell you her name?" Dean asked in a low voice.

"No," Caleb breathed. "Wasn't time."

"Caleb lets another woman go without getting her name," Dean quipped.

"Ha … ha," Caleb mumbled.

"Forty-three minutes," Max said.

"I need you to teach me that turret trick," Sam said. "That was pretty amazing."

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"Our research indicated the person we needed to help was in Washington State. That aligned with what the dream person told Caleb before, about Enchantment Basin Lake. Instead of letting his blocks down entirely, Caleb opened a turret, a small window facing Washington, and let loose. All his other blocks remained in place. It's like the castle being protected, with only a canon port as an opening."

"Brilliant," James declared with a grin.

"Unfortunately, I didn't think of that before I opened myself up twice," Caleb mumbled.

"Yeah, you were rather like Rudolph and his shiny red nose," Sam said with a smile.

"Do you know what came nosing around?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "I swatted it away before I got a good look," he stated, a sly smile on his face.

"That's my boy," Dean said with a grin.

Jody stepped inside the room. "How are they doing?"

"Sam's okay," Dean said. "Caleb, not so great."

"I'm fine, I'm okay," Caleb said stubbornly. "I'd just rather be great lying down than sitting up right now."

Jody winced in sympathy. "How long do you have to stay in there?"

"Thirty-six minutes," Max said.

Dean looked over to his sons, who were fidgeting anxiously, watching their godfather with worried expressions. "Caleb will be out of the protection circle soon. Why don't you both go back and continue the research."

"To be honest, Dad," JT said, his eyes darting from his father to his godfather. "I don't think I can concentrate until Uncle Caleb is out of that circle."

"Why don't we get started on lunch," Jody suggested. "By the time Caleb has gotten some rest, we'll have it on the table."

James looked to JT, who hesitated briefly before nodding. "Yeah, okay."

Dean smiled at his sons. "He's going to be fine. It's your Uncle Sam I'd be more worried about. He's the one who's nearest if Caleb loses his breakfast."

"Oh, thanks for that image," Sam groused.

James laughed and followed JT and Jody out the door.

"Thirty minutes," Max said.

"Sam," Caleb said, his face going white. "Can you stop that please?"

Sam stopped massaging Caleb's hand and sat back in his chair. "Feeling worse?"

Caleb nodded. "My head's buzzing."

"Are your blocks back up?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. But letting in the whole world, even for a second, leaves a mark."

Dean glanced worriedly at Sam. "A permanent mark?"

Caleb gave a slight shake of his head. "No. But it'll be a day or so before the buzzing stops."

"I'm sorry I suggested this," Dean said, guilt in his voice. "I didn't understand the consequences."

"My choice, Princess," Caleb murmured. "I could have said no."

"Was it worth it?"

Caleb opened one eye and said, "Yup. We're going to White Swan, Washington."