Chapter 26. Familiar Presence
A sudden cold wet sensation on his face brought him spluttering into consciousness. Dean didn't have time to wonder what was going on because some more water was splashed in his face. He coughed a few times and shook his head trying to get his bearings which he immediately realized was unwise since Phil Rudd had apparently taken up residence in his head, beating out an amazing drum solo that AC/DC would be proud of.
"Is he okay?" Dean heard someone ask.
"Yeah he'll be fine although unfortunately for Tommy, he'll be sporting one major headache when he takes over."
Dean squeezed his eyes shut against the thumping of his head and became aware that he was sitting in a chair but upon trying to move the young hunter found that both his arms and legs were immobile. Now that more of his senses were coming back he could feel the ropes that tied his wrists behind the back of the chair and he figured that if he could see his ankles they would be in the same predicament.
He was just preparing to open his eyes and discover what mess he had gotten into now when he felt a rough slap to the face and then someone was grabbing his chin with bruising force.
"Come on Winchester we don't have time you for to take a nap." Rodney, he thought as his eyes snapped open to glare at Mr. Taylor's face. The spirit had obviously never heard of something called personal space.
"Well then … maybe you shouldn't have cracked my head open, that tends to make a person a little sleepy." Dean's voice sounded a little scratchy but was getting stronger the more he spoke.
Rodney smirked but said nothing, still standing a little too close for comfort, "Dude you get any closer and you'll be sitting on my lap and I'm sorry to tell you I don't really bat for that team."
"You're a real comedian."
"I try." Dean sighed dramatically, "but you know … tough crowd and all."
"Rodney step back from him." Dean glanced behind Rodney to see Pierce heading towards them holding something in his hands.
As he got closer he could see that it was a cup. He wasn't sure what that was about and he was hoping that he wouldn't really have to find out.
"Are we nearly ready?" Rodney asked.
"Almost, Mrs. Chipshaw just made up a new batch of her concoction; once he drinks this we can start the process." Pierce explained, holding up the cup for Rodney to see.
"You know I'm not really all that thirsty," Dean quipped, giving the two possessed men a smile.
"Well like I said before boy … you haven't got a choice in the matter." Rodney took the cup out of Pierces hand and took a few steps and stood before Dean.
Dean started fighting extra hard with the ropes binding his hands together. He really didn't like where this was heading,"I'm not drinking that crap, keep it the hell away from me."
"You'll drink every last bit of it if I have to force it down your throat." Rodney walked the remaining steps to his prisoner and grabbed a hold of the boys short wet hair, yanking his head back, "Open up!" he ordered.
Dean kept his mouth tightly shut and his eyes squeezed shut, determined not to let them force the liquid down his throat although he knew that his attempt to do so was in vain because if they really wanted the stuff in him they could do it.
Proving his point a few seconds later he felt another set of hands on him. Pierce grabbed Dean's nose depriving him on precious oxygen. Dean tried to hold as long as possible but couldn't fight the need to breathe. Finally losing the battle, Dean opened his mouth and gasped for air and as soon as he did Pierce was there holding it open. Seconds later he felt a cool liquid being poured quickly down his throat almost making him choke. As soon as they thought he had had enough a hand was clamped over his mouth forcing him to swallow. He tried not to throw up at the sickly sweet taste. It was disgusting.
When Graham was sure Dean had swallowed it all, he nodded to Rodney to let the boy go and both men released their hold on the teen.
As soon as he was released from their hold Dean began coughing and gagging on the putrid taste, "Ackk … what the hell was that?" he asked still pulling faces at the disgusting taste in his mouth.
"That's just a little something to ensure that our secret is kept." Dean looked up at Pierce with a questioning glare and was about to ask him what the hell he meant by that when he remembered something.
"The EMF," he stated all of a sudden.
"What?"
"Why didn't I pick you up on the EMF?"
"What do you know about EMF?" Rodney asked suspiciously.
Dean rolled his eyes, "Electro Magnetic Frequencies, spirits and other supernatural things give off Electro Magnetic Waves as I'm sure you probably know but I scanned that whole damn house and nothing; you guys don't give the slightest bit of a reading. The only time my EMF meter did anything was when I was here in the woods," he rambled and then looked up at his captors.
"Why?"
"How do you know all that?" Pierce asked moving in closer to the teenager.
"Let's just say that the supernatural is kind of a hobby of mine. Now why the hell didn't the EMF work?"
Rodney and Pierce looked at each other with a nervous look on their faces.
"Guys unless you changed your mind about this whole possessing thing I'm not going anywhere."
"That stuff you just drank …"
"You mean the stuff you just poured down my throat," Dean reminded testily.
"Yes that. The herbs and a few of the other ingredients help to hide the signs of possession like EMF signals."
"You're kidding me right?" Dean asked incredulously. He had never once heard about anyone ever being able to do that.
"We don't know exactly what's in it, Mrs. Chipshaw makes it but it obviously works. Now I have a question for you."
Dean raised his eyebrows but stayed silent.
"Does your brother have the same interest in this as what you do?"
"You mean is Sam going to be a threat?"
"Exactly," Pierce confirmed.
"Nah … he thinks I'm a nut job. He has no idea what's going down." Dean thought that it was kind of true, Sam did think he was a nut job, just not for believing in the supernatural. The best way to keep Sam and even Stacey safe at the moment was for these ghosts to believe that he wasn't a threat.
"Well we'll soon see about that anyway. Once Tommy takes over he'll know everything you do."
"Not if I fight him."
"Sorry kid but there's nothing you can do about it."
Dean's struggles with his binding increased as Rodney walked away from them and into the cabin only to come out a few minutes later holding a book and a small box. He set the box down in front of the oldest Winchester brother with a smile.
"Time to say goodbye to freedom Winchester," Rodney snarled and opened the box and then stepping back.
Dean tensed as he watched a mist come from out of the box to materialize in front of him as a boy looking to be about Sam's age, "Son of a bitch," he cursed. He knew that it was extremely unlikely that he was going to get out of this.
He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mrs. Chipshaw had emerged from the forest just in time for the show.
By the time Pierce opened the book in his hands Dean was sweating from his attempts to get as far away from the ghost as possible. Rodney laughed at Dean's useless attempts at escape.
"Why the hell are you doing this anyway?" he asked and was surprised to see that it was the old lady that stepped forward and answered him.
"These children deserve to have a life … so I am giving it to them." Dean was a bit unsettled by how calmly she had spoken. If you asked him she had crazy written all over her.
"You can't just swap a life for another," he argued, wincing as the ropes started to bite into his wrists.
"I can," she told Dean seriously and then turned to Pierce, "Go ahead Mr. Pierce."
Pierce stepped forward with the book and Dean looked up nervously at the ghost that was still hovering in front of him. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Maybe they were cursed because even when they didn't go looking for trouble it seemed to find them. He knew he wasn't getting out of this and he just hoped that he would be able to hold back as much information as possible but the thing was he had never been possessed before so he really had no idea whether that was even possible.
"You know you won't get away with this," Dean taunted. It didn't matter whether he was losing this current battle or not, Dean Winchester didn't go down without a fight, even if all he could give was a verbal one, "I will find a way to come and waste all your stupid asses."
"You keep telling yourself that kid," Rodney responded looking amused.
"Colpriziana, Offina alta nestra, fuaro menut …" Dean heard Pierce begin the ritual and he started to breathe a little faster in panic. He didn't want to show these psycho's that he was anything but okay but he couldn't help panicking just a little. He really didn't want this to happen, "… You may now approach the gate and answer truly to my calling …" part of what Pierce was saying was filtering through to Dean's mind but all he could think about was Sam and that he didn't want to betray him or cause him any harm.
Dean didn't hear the end of the ritual, he was focused too much on his thoughts, but he did see the ghost, that moments before had been silently hovering over him, move towards him. He shut his eyes, breathing a little hard in knowledge that this was it. The ghost rushed him and he could feel a rush of cold air, chilling him to the bones, making him gasp.
Dean's body collapsed against the chair, unconscious and no longer fighting against the ropes holding him down
Pierce, Rodney and Marilyn Chipshaw all smiled at one another.
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"Argghhh!" Caleb cried out as he grabbed his head.
John immediately grabbed for the steering wheel so that they didn't crash, "Caleb, put your foot on the brake!" he shouted.
He had seen Caleb have visions before and they were never really pleasant. Thankfully for them and any other drivers on the road Caleb had still enough presence of mind to slam his foot on the brake before the vision completely took hold of him.
Panic, there was an air of panic around. An old man and old woman and a younger looking guy were standing around him and he appeared to be sitting in a chair. He couldn't seem to move and Caleb realized that he must be tied down somehow. The old guy was reading from a book and although didn't really understand the words he recognized the mixture of Latin and Hebrew. What chilled him even more was the transparent form of a boy around Sam's age hovering in front of him.
He could feel himself breathing heavy and then everything went blank as the person he was seeing this through suddenly closed their eyes. The next sensation shocked his senses as he felt an icy chill run through him …
Caleb gasped and snapped his eyes open and he realized that he was still breathing heavy, "Caleb?" John exclaimed shaking the younger hunter a bit.
Caleb looked around and saw that he was still in his car in the middle of the road and John was shaking him to get his attention, "Ease up Johnny, I'm fine." He shrugged off John's hands.
"That was a vision right?"
"Yeah," Caleb agreed, frowning as he tried to think. He had never actually seen who it was that had been tied to the chair but he had gotten a familiar vibe.
"Well what happened?" John asked impatiently.
"Well I guess we can say for sure that the possessions are happening again because I just got to play the part of the next victim."
"Did you see who?"
"No the whole vision took place from the person's point of view but I have a bad feeling," Caleb told him hesitantly.
"What?"
"Well the presence I felt … it felt familiar but I couldn't quite work it out. It was like something was blocking me from sensing too much information but I would know that vibe I got, anywhere."
"Who?"
"I can be a hundred per cent sure but I am positive it was one of the boys."
"How do you know?"
"John I have known you guys for a long time. I can usually sense you Winchester's amongst others."
John slammed his hand on the dash board, "Damn it!" he cursed, "Which one of the boys is it?"
"That's just it I couldn't tell. Under normal circumstances I would know Dean from Sam but it was like I was being blocked." Caleb rubbed his head to try and chase away the lingering headache caused by the short vision.
John noticed the motion and looked concerned at his young friend, "You okay?"
Caleb looked up and glanced at John, "Yeah I'm fine I just really want to get to the boys," he told him taking his foot off the brake.
"Yeah, me too."
"We'll be there in like half an hour, less than that if I can help it, lets go." Caleb slammed his foot down on the pedal, sending the car into motion, turning onto an old dirt road, leaving a trail of dust behind them.
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"Damn it!" Sam slammed the phone back down.
"Phone not working?" Daniel asked the obvious.
Sam didn't bother answering the question since it was obvious to everyone in the room, by Sam's outburst, that the phone was dead.
"Well what now?" Daniel asked.
"I know this might sound nuts but maybe we should tell Miss Northam?" Stacey suggested.
"What good would that do? I thought you said all the teachers were possessed?" Sam asked.
"No. Not all of them. Miss Northam is the only one as far as we know that hasn't been … possessed."
"What could she do?" Sam challenged.
"Maybe she could get us all out of here?"
"What good would that do? We'd still have a bunch of possessed people to deal with."
"Yeah but then we would be able to get hold of your Dad, he would be able to exorcise them or something right?" Stacey asked a little unsure whether she had used the right word.
"Yeah I guess but what about Dean. We don't even know what's happened to him." Sam felt sick with the knowledge that Dean was somewhere on the property in the hands of possessed freaks, possibly being possessed himself.
"Right now there is nothing we can do about that Sam. I think we really need to let Miss Northam know. We need to get everyone else to safety."
Sam nodded reluctantly, "Come on then," he said moving past his friends and to the door.
Stacey and Daniel followed Sam out through the back door and back to where Miss Northam and Mrs. Collins were with the four teams.
Miss Northam turned when heard Sam call her and looked at the group in front of her, "Hey guys … where are your baskets?" she asked after a moment when she looked down and saw that not one of her students had the baskets she had given them earlier.
"Ma'am we need to speak to you," Sam told her and then glanced at Mrs. Collins and added, "alone."
Jacqueline looked confused but nodded and led the three teenagers over to stand under the shade of the building, "Now what is it?" she asked kindly.
"Okay … um … Sam?" Stacey said looking at Sam.
Sam rolled his eyes, "Okay Ma'am, this is going to sound nuts but we have to get out of here."
"Why do you want to leave the camp, I thought you were excited about coming here."
"Not just me, everyone here. We need to get out because, we're in danger."
Jacqueline looked skeptically at Sam before turning to Stacey, "Stacey what is this all about?"
"Sam's right we need to get out. Mr. Graham and the others aren't who you think they are … we tried to call someone but the phone line is dead."
"What do you mean they aren't who I think they are? Would one of you like to explain to me what you are talking about please?"
"Have you ever heard of spiritual possession?" Sam blurted out.
"What?"
"The other teachers and some of the students have been possessed by ghosts Ma'am," Daniel supplied.
Jacqueline started to laugh, "Okay guys that's funny but jokes over," she told them and began to walk away.
Stacey reached out and grabbed her arm, "Ma'am this is no joke. I have seen it happen. Dean and I followed Mr. Taylor into the woods at night and we saw Lynda and Jennifer tied up to a chair. Mr. Graham was there and he started to read some kind of ritual out of a book and then spirits took over their bodies."
"I don't now why you are making …"
"We are not making this up, please believe us!" Sam pleaded giving her his best impression of his puppy dog look.
"Please Ma'am just help us get everyone out of here and if we are wrong you can punish us however you like but this is important and we are deadly serious," Stacey implored.
Jacqueline sighed. She could tell that these kids did really believe what they were saying, "I'll look into it."
"Ma'am you can't …"
"Let me handle it." Jacqueline turned and walked back to where she had been standing before with Mrs. Collins. She had noticed a change in the woman and Mr. Taylor for that matter but Spirit possession? That was just ludicrous.
"Is everything all right?" Jacqueline turned towards Mrs. Collins at hearing her voice.
"Yes everything's fine," she confirmed looking down at her watch, "I guess that should be enough time for everyone, how about we get them inside?"
"I think that's a good idea," Mrs. Collins said and as soon as Jacqueline headed over to call all the students back she gave a distrusting look in the direction of Stacey, Sam and Daniel.
Daniel shivered and looked at his friend, "Do you think she knows that we know?"
"I hope not." Sam had a bad feeling that things were going to get worse from this point on. If they couldn't get everyone out then they were going to have to get out of here and find some help. The only problem was that he didn't want to leave Dean here alone when he was in trouble.
"Okay guys lets go back to the classroom and sort out our findings," Miss Northam shouted so that everyone could hear.
"Come on boys," Stacey said putting her hands on their shoulders.
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The dirt road seemed to go on forever and ever but finally both Caleb and John could see the building. Both men felt more uneasy the closer they got especially since Caleb had had that vision but couldn't tell which one of John's boys had been possessed.
When they finally pulled up to the front gate John almost jumped from the car while it was still moving.
He reached the gate and looked into the grounds and saw that they were empty. He thought that that was a blessing because at least their arrival would go unnoticed. Looking at the gate he saw that it was heavily chained and locked.
"We'd probably make better time if we climbed the damn thing." Caleb came to stand by John.
John nodded. He would have preferred to have an easier retreat but he would have to work with what he got, "Come on let's get the gear and get in there."
They walked around to the trunk of Caleb's Charger and just like in the Impala, hidden in a secret compartment were Caleb's stash of weapons and other supernatural fighting tools, plenty of them. That was one thing John had always been sure of. If he needed anything in the form of weapons and ammo, Caleb was the person to come to.
They quickly packed a bag complete with shovels and once they were finished Caleb parked his car off to the side next to the fence so it was out of view.
"Ready?" He asked his mentor.
"Let's go." John didn't wait for Caleb as he started to climb the fence which was easier than he thought was going to be.
He jumped down to the ground on the other side and a few seconds later he heard Caleb's feet hit the ground next to him and the two wordlessly made there way across the rather large property as stealthily as they could.
Okay we are slowly coming towards the end ... at least John and Caleb have finally got their arses there lol i am going to try and work on a chapter over the weekend but i cant give you any promises lol BUT good news is today was my last day at work for the year which means i will have full days to finally complete the story ... before christmas :-) see you soon :-)