Supervision
After the snake's head no longer moved in any way, either moving its eyes, flicking its tongue or hissing, the entire monster burnt up like magician's flash paper, only a little slower. Any evidence that it actually existed was gone. Unfortunately, it had burned itself in the memory of those college girls, forever marking them with the knowledge that monsters are real.
A mark that, sadly, no hunter could remove.
Rowan was adamant that she didn't know what occurred. She didn't only forget what was going on between her and the snake; she downright believed it never happened. The more Sam, Dean and Veronica questioned her, the more she shut down, bursting into a fit of tears.
Although she never said it, Veronica was a little shaken up knowing that her friend and roommate really was strange. The girls at the sonority house, on the other hand, wanted Rowan gone, fearful that she too could be a monster. That was enough to have Veronica back to her old self, so defensive of Rowan.
After talking with them, Rowan and Veronica decided to take matters into their own hands and go visit the sonority house. The girls wouldn't let them in, so it was a shouting match on both sides of the door; Rowan and Veronica accusing the girls of spreading bullshit and the girls calling them freaks. The snake was obviously attracted to the noise and when it appeared, the girls ignored Rowan and Veronica asking to let them in. Everyone was just too scared.
As Dean looked at Rowan, he wondered just what was going on with her. Was she really Hel?
"We can take her with us." Sam said and Dean raised his eyebrows, not sure it was a good idea. "We can watch her, see if she'll remember." He said and then the decision was made when Veronica came up to them with pleading sorrowful eyes.
"Please take Rowan with you. She has no family, nowhere else to go. I'd have her stay with me, but I don't think I can be of any help. You can keep her safe because I highly doubt the FBI would have 'giant snake decapitation' as part of their training." She said, knowing that they weren't actually federal agents, but apparently not caring just what it is they did for a living. "Whatever you are, you can help her better than I can." she added and Dean nodded his head.
They probably were the only ones able to help her.
Rowan didn't complain, since the sonority girls pretty much closed their windows out of fear of her. She knew her roommate Veronica wasn't afraid, but rather uncertain, which was just as painful. Rowan gathered her things from the dorm room and got into the Impala with the brothers, being eerily quiet in the back seat.
Eventually, she fell asleep on the way to the Men of Letters' bunker; indeed the safest place to be. However, there was the issue of having Crowley locked up in the dungeon, which didn't deter them from feeling safe in their home. He was chained and trapped. But they would have to make sure she never found out about their captive.
When they pulled into the garage after several hours, she woke up, looking a little startled.
"It's okay. You're safe." Sam said and she glanced around at the garage full of old cars.
"You really aren't FBI." Rowan murmured.
"No. We're hunters, legacies, Men of Letters." Dean said and Sam shot him an inquisitive look, as if to say it was too much for her to handle. "We hunt and kill monsters like that giant snake." Dean added and she glanced at him as he got out of the Impala, like she wasn't sure if he was serious.
"We're brothers, actually. I'm Sam Winchester and this is Dean." Sam said, then gesturing to the crabby one that drove the very uncomfortable car.
Rowan reluctantly got out of the back seat, shouldering her bag of things, watching them with distrust.
"Why lie about being Feds?" she asked and the brothers were silent for a brief moment.
"It's how we get information of what's happening. It's our job." Dean said, walking away, leaving Sam to deal with the still confused girl.
Rowan glanced at Sam who pulled out her bigger bags, helping her bring in her stuff. She eyed Dean suspiciously and then followed Sam to the bunker. As she walked in, she stared at everything with astonishment. It probably wasn't what she expected. It was an old bunker, looking like an old military place, but with a splash of more elegant furnishings. Not to forget the obvious weird technology all over the place. It was like modernity was clashing with war-prepped times.
Sam showed her a room she could use. It looked bare, but she accepted it without complaint. She set her bag on the bed and took in her surroundings. Rowan didn't seem as fearful now, but her eyes were filled with uncertainty.
"We can show you around, if you want." Sam said, but she seemed too focused on her room.
"Maybe after it all sinks in." she said and Sam nodded his head.
"Hungry or anything?" Dean asked and, without looking at them, turned around, still eyeing the room like she could see things they couldn't.
"Sure." She replied and then got busy unpacking her bags. For some reason, she was hyper vigilant about the bunker. The brothers left her alone, but weren't going to stray too far. Dean stayed in the hallway as Sam prepared her a sandwich, grabbing along with it a bottle of water and an apple.
When he placed it on the bed beside her things, she looked at Sam and gave a small smile.
"Thanks for taking me in. I feel bad about being so mean to you two." she said and her eyes seemed a little sad. "It's probably best that I transfer out of Maple City and take the rest of the semester off." She added and Sam smiled at her. Rowan seemed a little more normal now, no longer hyper vigilant of her room.
"You've been through a lot. If that would make you feel better, you should go for it." he said and the sadness in her eyes seemed to fade a bit. "You can stay here as long as you need."
"Thanks." She replied, but then a hint of suspicion seemed to glow on her eyes. If there was anything she wanted to say, she kept it to herself. Sam left her to finish unpacking and met up with Dean in the kitchen who was taking care of his own stomach.
"She seems better, but I think she might be a little on guard." Sam said and Dean just nodded as he fixed himself what looked like a giant sandwich with nearly everything you can think of stuffing in between two slices of bread.
"She knows we want to help. We drilled her with questions shortly after killing the snake, remember? She isn't going to forget it." Dean said and Sam nodded, but there was something about that suspicious look in her eyes that unsettled him a little. He couldn't explain it, so he brushed it off for the moment.
Once Rowan had recovered from the shock of it all about an hour later, she joined them at their fancy tables with books spread out everywhere.
"Unpacked?" Sam asked her and she nodded her head, looking at all the books.
"So, I take it hunting rare animals isn't your thing; there's no taxidermy in sight." Rowan said and the brothers exchanged glances, as if mentally having a conversation. Would she be able to handle it?
"We hunt other things, more sinister things." Sam said and Dean didn't seem sure she could handle it.
"Please don't say ghosts." Rowan said and when the brothers remained silent, looking at her in a sort of defiant way, she seemed eager for some sort of admittance of a joke. "You're serious." She added and Dean looked back down at his book, jaw clenched like her disbelief was annoying him.
"Ghosts, vampires, werewolves. You name it, we killed it." Sam said and Rowan stared at them, not sure whether to nod or laugh. "They're real, Rowan. They killed people, destroyed families, and there's so much evil in the world." Sam said, his expression more soft than Dean's. "Evil like that isn't easy for the authorities to deal with. That's where we come in. There's no pay because most people don't believe in monsters, but those that have lost someone to them." Sam said and, by the look in his eyes, Rowan was silent. She evidently knew he was speaking from experience and she didn't want to hurt him by asking questions.
"Okay, I'm willing to accept this, since you're both so serious. No lunatics could live in a place like this." She said and Dean glanced at her, not finding that to be a compliment. "And I'm pretty sure it's not the first time you imitated FBI agents. I'm also willing to bet you're good at it, since they haven't caught up to you." Rowan added and the brothers were silent. Sam only gave her a small smile and then went back to his book.
Rowan sat in silence, glancing at all the books, trying to see what they were reading. From what she could tell, everything was about angels and God. That didn't give her much of a hint, so she tried to gently interrupt them with a question.
"So, what are you doing now?" she asked, her voice low and soft. Dean exhaled as if too annoyed and pushed his book away. Sam gave him a short glare, and then turned to her with a soft understanding expression. Obviously, where Dean lacked compassion, Sam made up for it.
"In between hunts, we have bigger fish to fry. This is one of them." Sam said and the fact that he was so vague, Rowan took it as a hint to not ask any more questions. She simply sat there, looking bored and uncomfortable.
After a few minutes, Sam couldn't take her sitting there bored out of her skull.
"There's a TV in my room." He said and she lit up. "I'll show you." He said, getting up and she immediately followed, thankful for something more interesting.
When Sam returned, Dean glanced up at him, annoyed.
"What?" Sam asked.
"I'm just not used to having someone else here. Charlie's different. But her?" Dean said and Sam shook his head. "We're supposed to help her remember so we can find out if she's Loki's kid. Not give her free board and rent." He added and Sam shot him a slight glare.
"We can't lock her up and drill her." Sam said, making his brother think of the other one who's actually locked up.
"We can't exactly ask Crowley anything with her here. She can't stay or else we won't be able to figure out how to open Heaven." Dean said and Sam understood the problem.
After hours, Rowan came out of Sam's room, looking for snacks in the kitchen.
Dean glanced at Sam as if to say they had to get her to remember what went on between her and the snake. She was calm now and, by the looks of it, no longer suspicious. It was now or later which Dean couldn't afford.
"Hey Rowan, got a minute?" Sam asked and she glanced over at them, the suspicion returning in her eyes. However, she approached and sat at the table like she had earlier, except with a bag of Dean's chips.
"I was saving those." Dean said as she crunched on a chip.
"Sorry." She said with a small smile. She pushed the bag in between them to share. Dean didn't look thrilled, but decided to let it slide, crunching on a few chips too. Sam watched them with a slight smile on his face, but it disappeared when he couldn't quite find the words to ease her into thinking back about the snake he believed was Jormungand.
"This is going to sound strange, but have you ever experienced anything like that giant snake?" Sam asked and she casually glanced at him with suspicion.
"No." she replied dryly. "I'm not going through this again." she added and was about to get up, but Dean decided to show that he can he somewhat soft.
"Just listen." He said and she settled back down in her chair, eyeing him suspiciously. "This wasn't just some giant snake. Our theory is that it's Jormungand." He added and when she frowned in confusion, he clarified. "A mythical monster." He concluded and she let out a dry snort of a laugh.
"From horror monsters to mythology; now I know you're crazy." Rowan said, about to get up again.
"We were there. We saw what happened. You were talking to the snake like Harry Potter in that one movie." Dean said and Rowan frowned at the pop culture reference, which didn't help to make him not seem crazy. "There has to be a reason why you don't remember that." Dean concluded and Rowan remained absolutely silent.
They explained more about the giant snake so she would understand what it was. Not only did they want to clarify that it was indeed a real monster, but to see if hearing about Jormungand would trigger her memory of what happened. They told her the myths of this monster and how the snake seemed to be searching for something. They loaded her mind with all this information.
No such luck.
Rowan just stared at the pages in front of her, of the way the snake traveled and killed young women from out of town, at the pictures in a book about Norse mythology. She seemed just as confused as Dean had felt with the whole mythology being part of their freaky supernatural world.
"Loki had three children." Sam began. "All three were the end of the Gods, Ragnarok, as they called it." he added and they watched her expression, seeing only a blank look of confusion. She wasn't remembering anything and none of this seemed to trigger anything.
When the brothers were silent for a brief moment, she looked up at them and for a change and she seemed scared.
"I don't know what you want me to say. I don't remember anything." she said and her eyes filled with fear. "One second the snake was there, scaring the shit out of us, and then it was decapitated. I thought it just happened so fast and that I must have been shocked." Rowan added, the fear gone to her voice, causing her words to come out shaky.
"You don't remember what you said to it?" Sam asked and the fear in her eyes quickly ignited into irritation.
"I just said I don't remember." She snapped and Sam tried to show her he was apologetic. "I don't know anything. Nothing happened!" she snapped again and one of the light bulbs in the room exploded as she jumped out of the chair, stalking down the corridors, back to Sam's room where she slammed the door behind her, diving back into his TV for comfort.
The brothers were astonished by the sudden outburst. She had actually caused a light bulb to shatter out of agitation. At that moment, any doubt was gone. Rowan had to have a connection with Jormungand. And, as crazy as it sounded, she just might be Hel with a bad case of amnesia.