Later when Axel had come home, they all sat around the kitchen table eating lunch.
Noah was safely away in his room.
"So out off all the people that Harry killed how many were buried and how many were cremated?" Jo asked.
"Uh Irene was buried, we don't know about Tom." He said taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Ben was buried; closed casket of course so was the old sheriff." Sarah shivered slightly.
Ryce smiled in thanks as she set a plate down in front of her.
"Well we can assume that Tom was probably cremated but a quick check with the mental ward can confirm that." She muttered.
"Ugh why does this have to be so hard?"
"Ryce you gonna be okay with all this I can call the hospital where Tommy was staying?" Sarah said kindly.
"Thanks Sarah but Jo and I should handle this. But, really I appreciate the offer." she said patting Sarah's hand.
"Well tell me what you need and I'll get it for you." Axel said.
"Thanks we're gonna need burial plot numbers and we need you two find anything that the people were cremated might be attached to."
"That's why you burned the picture." Axel said to Sarah.
"Yeah Ryce said that Tom might be connected to it. Is there anything else I can think of I'll get and burn it."
"Remember guy's salt and then burn." Jo added.
"Okay I gotta head back to work I'll get what you need."
"Thanks the sooner the better." Jo mumbled.
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"Thank you so much for your help Mrs. Dail. Yes, my brother will be deeply missed. Yes, he was a troubled young man. Yes if you could send his possessions over night, I will pay for the fees. Thank you again."
"You okay Rye?" Jo asked putting a hand on her shoulder.
"No not really from all accounts Tommy was in serous trouble. It would seem that Harry was in his head the moment that man died." Hatred for the long dead killer colored her tone.
"Yeah Harry was a sick bastard." Jo agreed.
"Why couldn't Tommy have lived a normal life?" Tears of pain fell from her eyes.
"Rye you know as well as I do once the supernatural has touched your life there's no going back for some."
"Yeah I know." She says getting up.
"Well Mrs. Dail said that she would overnight what Tom had on him when he committed himself. It's not much but it's something."
Jo just nodded her head.
"Well Axel just called he said he got what you needed he'll be back by tonight." Sarah said joining them.
"Good all this will be over soon." Ryce said wearily.
"I need to take a nap. Jo we need to find out what Harry might be attached to.""I'll do it you go to bed." Jo said eyeing her friend.
"Alright." She said walking up the steps getting more and more tired each step she took.
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Ryce had really thought that salting and burning would help put all this shit behind them.
But, as she watched, the flames consume Irene she began to think differently.
Jo was off taking care of the other bodies.
Then that ghost of her once best friend popped up behind her and said,
"You can't salt and burn your memories Rycelynn."
That had her spinning around to face Irene.
"Why aren't you gone, you should be gone?"
Confusion laced her words.
"Mhm yep I should be but I'm not am I?" She said tapping a long tanned finger against her lips.
It was a move that was so Irene.
Thankfully, she did not look like she did the day she died.
No, she looked like she did ten years ago.
Young and so full of life. Mischief danced in her dark eyes.
Like they did in the old days.
She wore shorts and a black tank with her famous trucker hat.
Her blond hair spilled out the back.
"Hey sweetness how have you been?"
Ryce couldn't keep the glare from her eyes.
Brown met purple for a moment.
Ryce wanted to screech and jump up and grab her friend and hug her until neither one of them could breathe. But, she kept herself in check.
"How do you think I've been?" She snapped.
"You've been haunting us all why?"
Irene didn't flinch at her friend's anger she never did. It's what made them such good friends.
"We needed you here Ryce this thing with Harry it's not over."
What the hell was she talking about.
"Excuse me what do you mean it's not over. Sara and Axel are safe, we all are."
She said waving her hand around.
"No Ryce I mean it. Harry wants you let's just say you're the one that got away."
Well that didn't make any sense.
But then again psychopaths rarely make sense.
"It's time you for to go home Ryce. When he come's for you I'll be there. And, remember friend he is coming for you." With that statement ringing in her ears her world went black.
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"Rye! Rycelynn Charleston wake the fuck up!" She could hear Jo but it came out mumbled.
"Ryce please wake up!"With that, she started to come around.
"Geez Jo stop yelling you could wake the dead!" She snapped groggily.
"Oh damn it Rye! What the hell happened?" What did happen? Not that she remembers much just passing out.
"I don't know," She mumbled rubbing her head.
"What do ya mean you don't know?"
"I mean I don't know!" She snapped pulling away from Jo angrily.
"Alright well let me look at you maybe you have a concussion or something."
Ryce sat patiently while Jo thoroughly checked her over.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Just one," She snapped. "Are you through yet?"
"Yeah I just wish I knew what happened."
Ryce snorted, "Well you're not the only one."
"Well come on then Sarah called and said your package came in." Jo said helping her to stand.
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More salt more fire and even more pain.
She thought as she watched everything they had gotten from all the ghosts go up in flames.
"Will they leave us alone now?" Sarah asked her face lit up by the flames.
"They should but you call us if they don't." Jo said.
Ryce didn't want to speak. Had no words really.
Even she understood since that incident in the graveyard she had been to quiet.
"Are you leaving now?" Sara asked.
"Yeah we gotta head back. We'll keep in touch though." She said and Sarah wrapped Jo then her in a hug.
"You be safe."
They waved their goodbyes.
When they were by the car, Jo looked at her concern in her chocolate eyes.
"You want me to drive Rye?"She just nodded her head and tossed Jo the keys.
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Jo was a little more than worried as Ryce slid in the passenger seat and promptly fell asleep.
About half way home, that worry turned into full-blown fear.
So she pulled into a motel parking lot got them a room and dragged Ryce to bed.
Leaving her in a flannel tank and jeans.
She did manage to get her boots off.
When she was settled, she walked out the room to call her mom.
"Mom hey, yeah we're about half way to Bobby's. Well we stopped at a motel. Because well there something wrong. That's the thing I don't know." She paused to take a shaky breath.
"Well she's been real quiet after we burned the bodies and the other things. When we got in the car, she just fell asleep. No I don't need you to come out here I just needed some one to talk to. Yeah I love you to I'll see you tomorrow." She said then hung up.
She steeled herself before walking back into the room she shared with her friend.
It was going to be one long night. And, boy was it.
She was just expecting that Ryce would sleep through the night wake up and that would be it.
What she didn't expect was for Ryce to sleep like the dead.
She didn't move or call out in her sleep.
In addition, what worried Jo the most was that she seemed to be dreaming.
When she woke up the next morning, Ryce was still in a dead sleep.
It took everything she had to get Ryce up and moving.
She didn't even bother trying to get her dressed.
She just piled her in the car checked them out and drove to Bobby's.
Where three angry Winchesters, one angry mom and one pissed off uncle, greeted her.
"Joanna why didn't you tell me she was this bad." Ellen snapped while walking over to the passenger side.
She watched as her mom opened the door and hauled Ryce out.
"Sorry momma I thought she would be better by this morning."
"What happened to her?" Sam asked rushing over to help Ellen throwing her other arm over his shoulder.
"I don't know I found her in the graveyard unconscious," she started but was cut off.
"What!" Five people shouted at the same time.
"Yeah and the thing is she doesn't remember what happened to her. And, before you ask yes I did test her for a concussion."
"Mom, mom please speak to me." J.B. begged his mother taking her face between his palms.
"Bby," Came her mumbled reply.
"We need to get her in a bed. And you," Bobby said pointing a finger at her.
"Jo are gonna sit down with me, Dean and Sam."
"Yes sir,"
She knew better than to argue at this point.
She also knew that Ryce didn't exactly go into detail about them going to Harmony.
So, that meant that she had a lot of explaining to do.
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She watched as they laid Ryce down on her bed. She began sweating as if she had a fever.
Tossing her head around as if disturbed by wouldn't let on how worried she was as she walked down the stairs.
Leaving J.B. and her mom to tend to Ryce.
She found Sam and Bobby waiting for her in the kitchen.
Looking around she didn't see Dean but knew he be there soon.
"Alright Jo tell us what happened. And start at the beginning." Dean said walking into the kitchen holding a bottle of jack.
Bobby set a glass in front of her and Dean poured.
She ran her fingers through her long hair before speaking.
"It started some time after the second massacre. I started to have these dreams. Kept seeing Irene flitting in and out." She let out a bitter laugh.
"I thought I was going crazy. But then Ryce called telling me that Sarah and Axel were being haunted."
"By who?" Sam asked laying a hand on her shaky one.
"By Irene and Ben and the old sheriff. How weird I thought. Then she told me that she was seeing them to. And having nightmares to boot."She looked up at Dean and saw the shock on his face.
For the first time she understood what Ryce was talking about when she said Dean didn't get her anymore.
"How could you have not known?" She asked angrily.
"I dint know I've been sleeping down stairs."
She snorted at him.
"Well if you had been anywhere near her you would have known. Our first night together she screamed herself horse." She snapped and removed her hand out from under Sam's and takes a drink.
"She was absolutely scared to death about going back but wouldn't tell me why. We thought everything was fine. Just a simple salt and burn. We went a little further and burned any and all objects that we could think that the ghost would be attached to."
It was simpler that way referring to the people she cared for as ghost.
"Ryce even called the mental hospital where Tommy was committed. Pretended to be his sister to get all his affects. Wasn't much just some clothes and pictures. But there gone now."
"Tell us what happened in the graveyard." Bobby urged.
"That's just it I don't know. Ben and a few others were buried on the other side. I took care of them while she took care of Irene and the sheriff."
"You two separated?" Dean asked.
"Yeah the ghost weren't angry; they hadn't hurt anyone so we had no reason to think they would now."
Maybe they had been wrong in that assumption.
Try as she might she just couldn't see Irene hurting anybody.
"I don't know what happened. All I know is after that she seemed so tired. Later when we were leaving, she looked too tired to drive. I asked her if she wanted me to drive and she tossed me the key without another word."
She ran her fingers through her hair again.
It was just so damned frustrating!She just whished she knew what was going on.
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Irene watched in silence as the boy that she knew as a baby wiped the sweat from his mothers face.
Tears pooled in his expressive green eyes tears he wouldn't let fall.
She wished that she could have spared him this pain.
That bastard Harry had used her and the others to get Jo and Ryce back in town.
He was going to use Ryce and her family to get what he wanted.
Fucking psychopaths!
All they do is destroy any peace anybody ever had.
It will be alright though because now she and the others were free.
And, boy howdy were they pissed.
Ghost she learned did not like being used for someone else's gain.
They would get their revenge on Harry and pour Ryce and everybody she loved would wind up suffering because of it.
"I don't like this," Tom mumbled from beside her.
"I don't either Tom. But, Harry is growing stronger and Ryce,"
"Is growing weaker." He finished in a whisper.
"Yes, let's hope she strong enough for the day's ahead."
"We will have her back through this." He swore.
"It's the least we can do for them. If it wasn't for Sam and her we wouldn't have been free in the first place." She said looking back at the sweating figure, she once called friend.
Tom looks like he wants to reach out for her but she stops him.
"Don't Tom she told you once that she's not yours anymore. You don't have the right I wish you did but her heart lies some where else. And it's up to him to bring her home."With those whispered word he disappears.
He hasn't gone far she can tell that much.
The time is coming and he will need to be there to help her.
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