Near St. Louis

Sam, Dean, and Castiel speed down a highway in the Impala. Lights flicker past them in the darkness.

"Garth, hey, we're near St. Louis. Give me a call." Sam ends the call and puts his cell phone away. "Third voice mail and Bess hasn't heard from him either. I'm started to get worried."

Dean glances over. "Bess told you someone was following him?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should go check out Peoria first. I can trace his cell phone," Sam suggests.

"Dean, stop the car." Castiel says urgently.

Dean slams on the brakes, tires screeching. The car slides to a stop.

From the backseat, Castiel opens a door and gets out. He walks into the middle of the highway, looking at a faintly glowing rune on the road. Dean and Sam get out of the car.

"Cass, what's there?" Dean asks. The symbols stretch out down the highway as far as Castiel's eyes can see, but it is not visible to Sam and Dean.

Castiel crouches by the rune. "A spell." He stands up and begins walking back the way they came.

Dean says, "Cass, what's going on?"

Castiel continues walking.

Dean walks after Castiel. "Cass, talk to me!" He puts his hand on Castiel's arm.

"I need to leave this place." Castiel continues to walk, brushing aside Dean's hand.

Dean looks at the angel's back. "Get in the car." He walks quickly to the Impala and gets inside. Sam gets in the back seat. With a screech of tires, Dean pulls the car around and follows Castiel.

Sam opens the car door and in a gentle, coaxing voice says, "Cass, come on. We'll leave faster if you get in the car."

Castiel continues walking. Dean maneuvers the Impala closer. Sam snakes a long arm out. He carefully pulls the angel inside the car.

Sam reaches across Castiel and slams the car door shut. Dean hits the accelerator and the Impala speeds off.

"Cass." Dean looks in the mirror at Castiel's blank face. "How's he doing?" he asks.

Sam looks at Castiel.

Castiel blinks. "This is far enough. Call me when you have taken care of the witches." Castiel disappears.

"Dammit!" Sam swears.

Dean glances back at Sam. "Witches."

"Yeah," Sam answers, sitting back in his seat. He buckles up his seatbelt and takes out his cell phone.

Peoria, Illinois

In the pale light of the early morning, the Impala pulls into a gas-n-sip. With a sigh, Sam slips his phone into his pocket. He gets out of the car and walks to the store. A new puppy poster covers one of the large windows. "Dog Olympics Training Sessions 6pm!" Behind him, Dean swipes a fake credit card in the gas station's card reader.

Sam takes a second look around the lavish convenience store with attached juice bar. A heavy-set woman walks slowly from the juice bar to the counter. Sam's cell phone buzzes in his pocket. He turns around and walks out of the store, putting his phone to his ear.

"Hey hombre," Garth's tired voice speaks through the cell phone.

"Garth!"

"Cole, new hunter, you heard of him?" Garth says tersely.

As he speaks, Sam walks over to Dean. "Yeah Garth, he was going after Dean for killing his dad years back. Captured me, I escaped, long story. He and Dean fought and Cole walked away. Dean fed him some story. Look, don't mess with him, his judgment's a little screwy." Sam looks at Dean. "I'm putting you on speaker."

"Yeah, he tried to shoot me. He's got a buddy, Luis, backing him up. They've been tracking me. Luis held his fire when he had a gun at my back. Cole smells foxy. He didn't take it well when I talked to him about it. You know, the way those two were tracking me ... he'd be a good hunter if he wasn't hunting us," Garth ends disjointedly.

"Garth, you got anything on St. Louis?" Dean cuts in.

"Yeah, at least a couple dozen ghosts. I tried to bulldoze a cemetery to hit a bunch of em at once. They flipped the bulldozer and I ran. Blew through my salt lines, everything. My car's still back there."

"No witches, spells?" Dean asks.

"What? No. I steer clear of witches and so should you, kemosabe."

Sam and Dean look at each other.

"Look Garth, we had uh, a friend with us, he saw a spell on I-70 and it forced him to turn around and walk away," Sam explains cagily.

"Friend, like angel friend?" Garth asks in a casual tone.

"Yeah, Cass. He did the angel disappearing thing a couple hundred yards out." Dean answers. "Big time mojo. You didn't notice anything?"

Luis, the thin, nervous man glances over at Cole. They are sitting in a jeep listening to the conversation through a laptop. In the background, Garth's voice continues to speak, "I checked with Cheryl when I got in town. She knows the witches. Has a store off Manchester Avenue. I left my car parked at West Florissant and Claxton, across from Calvary Cemetery."

"They're on the side of angels ... Cole." Luis stares down Cole.

Cole looks away, his face set in an unpleasant grimace. He looks back at his friend.

Luis closes the laptop and slides it into a bag in the footwell. He gets out of the jeep and starts walking. Cole looks at Luis' back, then opens the door and gets out.

Gas-n-Sip, Peoria, Illinois

Luis walks briskly towards the Gas-n-Sip, Cole swaggering aggressively behind him.

Sam catches sight of the two men crossing the street. "Dean."

Dean's eyes flick in the direction of Sam's gaze. He catches sight of Cole and Luis out of the corner of his eyes. He puts the gas nozzle back on the station's dock.

"Cole and a friend are walking up to us. We're at the Gas-n-Sip on Farmington." Sam slips the phone into his pocket.