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A/N: I've been "writing" this for days, but it's been slow going I'm having computer time issues. That and every time I sit down Pyro, my annoying flame loving cat whose got a cold and is sneezing like crazy plus is shedding like mad, wants to be in my lap or on my shoulders or my head or on the keyboard. I'm ready to take him out back and shoot him. I have a fiction press account that you can get to from my profile, I'm only mentioning this again because I started writing (in a notebook) a vampire story last night (its my new thing it won't last long but I'm trapped in Twilight), I plan on putting it up there as soon as I know where its going if anyone is interested it reading it. ALSO I'm going to plug The New Kid written by TammiTam it's a really good first fic.
Chapter Three
Athena glared at the bus as it pulled away, swearing under her breath about the little nosy brat who'd seen her weapons and got her deserted on the highway in the middle a no where. She was fairly certain that this was only the beginning of the tough luck she'd have on her way to where ever she was going. She heaved a sigh and climbed out of the ditch toward some shrubbery that'd hide her while she changed out of her jeans into shorts. The steady downpour would make sure she couldn't stand her jeans in all of two minutes if she kept them on. She was tempted to call Autumn, but admitting defeat already wasn't an option, so she stuffed her jeans in her bag, her feet in her shoes, and secured the duffle bag over her shoulder.
As she trudged on, the way the bus had been headed, she played with a list of people who'd help her. But she wasn't in any immediate danger, and help was nearly as bad as defeat. She promised to call Marc as soon as she got to the next stop, hadn't Jasper said he's the only one searching for Will? She'd have to call Jen eventually too, find out who he'd been hunting with so she could get a hold of them. Athena tried to convince herself that she'd done all the research she could and remain off of Autumn's radar, but she knew that wasn't true. Autumn wouldn't have noticed a few e-mails here and there collecting this information before hand, she wouldn't have said a word about her calling Marc and checking on things. If anyone would have understood Athena's want to know everything on Will's disappearance Autumn would have, but it was too late now. Athena sucked her bottom lip in and started chewing on it. Teenie-girl, what have you gotten into now?
Betsy watched them carefully, and the hunters knew they were under inspection. "You think a ghost made them do it?"
"That's the idea, yea." Sam nodded. They'd left yesterday not long after Betsy admitted to believing in ghosts, the family was starting to show and they didn't want to be there for that.
"You said you've seen them, what are they doing when you see them?" Autumn coaxed.
"You know normal stuff." Betsy shrugged. "Grandpa Ben'll be in the chicken barn gathering eggs, Grandma rocks in her chair upstairs, not that we've ever seen her, they just do what they did when they were alive. They react to changes too, Ben sees us he'll wave, when we got rid of the cow he stopped walking the pasture fence."
"They've never been violent?" Dean asked perplexed.
"No," Betsy grinned. "Hell they've save us more than a few times." That caught the hunters' attention, the girl bit her lip knowing she'd said something now.
"Bets, you wanna explain that one?" Autumn asked gently. Betsy, liked the woman, she was easy to talk to, like she'd been on the wrong side of the world her whole life and knew how to deal with it, she wasn't prepared with a million motherly things to say like most women her age when talking to younger girls she seemed more like everyone's big sister.
"Okay, so like things will happen and then they stop." Betsy said knowing she was being too vague for help. Autumn nodded waiting for more. "Like, we were always told to stay out of the corn crib because it was 'one gust of wind from hittin' the ground'" she mimicked her father's voice. "So one day all of us were goofing off in there and it started coming down, everyone made it out 'cept me and suddenly it just stopped falling long enough for Scott to come in and drag me out, we were just barely clear when if crashed."
"What else?" Autumn prompted. Sam and Dean fell back though they didn't move, Betsy saw the strategy here, she knew the boys had realized who she trusted and weren't going to intervene.
"When Scott and J.R. were ten we were out playing on the pond, it was frozen over, and we were just walking on the ice around the edge. But Bud fell, and slid out towards the center when he stood up to walk back he went through the ice. J.R. and Iris sent me and Scott running for adults and they went out. Iris first, she was lighter, but she went through too. When Scottie and I came back with help J.R. was gone and Iris and Bud were laying on the snow out cold." she closed her eyes a moment trying to summon the details and will to keep going. "There were adult foot prints going into the pond and coming out leading to both of their bodies then they went in again and never came out. The pond was drained the spring, we never found J.R.'s body and the foot prints came from now where we don't know who saved them." Autumn exchanged a look with her boys.
"Can you take us to the pond?" she asked. Betsy nodded with a smile.
"If that's what you want, but the farm is… well it's a tad messed up."
The farm wasn't far from Betsy's house, it settled into the valley between the two hills on top of which perched Betsy's house and the house Iris and Scott killed themselves in was on the other. Dean parked the Impala on the gravel drive and they all piled out. Betsy looking around like she was waiting on an attack, and then it came. First the sound of something running across the gravel then the growls followed. That's when Dean saw it, a large German Shepard running at them. He pulled Betsy back behind him when she tried to stand between them and the pissed off dog.
"Dean, let me go!" she squirmed under his grip and managed to get ahead of him. "Gretz!" she held her hand up in the halt position. "Sit!" she demanded and the dog stopped and sat down. "She's not real." Betsy said over her shoulder. "She was hit by a car in '98. Go lay down honey, I'll bring you a bone in a bit." the dog took off toward the barns where it'd come from.
"Next time warn us if your ghost dog is going to attack." Dean growled going to the trunk to grab a rock salt loaded gun.
"I did! I told you this place was messed up." Betsy protested. Autumn and Sam snickered looking around for the next spook. "The pond is this way."
"Sugar and spice my ass." Dean muttered following the girl off to the left of the barns between them and a field.
"We can get rid of her for you." Autumn offered running to catch up.
"Who? Gretz?" Betsy asked as they peaked a slight rise. The three hunters stopped behind the teen, they were standing just yards from a large dead ring of nothing. It didn't appear that anything had ever grown here, the grass on the edges was a sickly yellow phasing slowly out into the healthy vibrant green they stood on.
"What the hell?" Dean muttered looking the vacant field over.
"When they filled the pond in nothing ever grew, seemed like over night even the seeds turned to ash." Betsy said almost mournfully. "But as for Gretz don't touch her. You can do whatever to who ever is killing people, but the others are off limits."
"What?" all three hunters gawked at the girl. Betsy turned around to face them, round face slightly reddened, her hands on her hips.
"Don't look at me like that. These aren't just ghosts to me. They're my family, my pets. I've been around them as long as I can remember, they've never hurt anyone. So, you have to off one or two fine, but anyone who isn't directly involved is left alone."
"Betsy," Dean started and Autumn put her hand up stopping him.
"Why don't you think on it, there may be no other way. Can you live with that?" Betsy knew she wasn't going to get anywhere fast with Autumn and Dean on this one so she looked to Sam. The wheels were obviously turning in that pretty little head of his.
"Sam, don't let them do anything they don't have to." she pleaded.
"I… We'll see what we can do." Sam promised.
A/N: Yes, its VERY short. I'm sorry. But I wanted to get this out before I lost you all. I'm have a little difficulty getting into this at the moment. I'll do what I can to make the next chapter longer and out soon.