"Come again, Haley Joel?" Dean quipped, arching one of his eyebrows.

"Spirits," the girl continued, "The souls of the deceased- ghosts…demons…That's what I saw in you," she directed to Sam, "even though you're not evil, I don't think. I don't really understand how that is…"

"You don't wanna know," he said, cutting her off. "Hop in and we'll talk. You must be freezing."

The girl gratefully clamored in the back seat.

"Thank you," she nodded to them. "Like I was saying, I'm a clairvoyant. I see spirits. I sense vibes from people. Sometimes I have visions. That's how I knew you two were good."

"My name is Sam. This is Dean, my brother," he began before turning in his seat to face the girl, extending his hand.

She took it with a soft, weak grip.

"Dolores Fletcher. Everyone calls me Lory."

Dean examined her through the rearview mirror, his brow furrowing intently. There was an uneasy feeling in his gut, which was not to be attributed to the fifteen Buffalo wings he just ate. Lory's eyes caught his in the mirror, which made him jump a little. The girl smiled and he nodded, averting his eyes and pulling off.

"If you don't mind me asking," began Sam, "where are you headed this time of night- barefoot and in pajamas?"

"Oh, anywhere…" she said wispily, still eying Dean through the mirror.

Trying to keep his eyes fixed on the road, he avoided glancing into the rearview, but he could feel her little eyes burning on his face- as if she sent a ray of soft heat to deflect from the mirror onto his visage. Or perhaps it was simply his freckled cheeks warming with blood.

"I meant, why are you roaming barefoot in pajamas in the middle of the night?"

"Well, you already know, don't you? That's why Dean doesn't trust me."

"Sorry to be a downer, but could you not use the freaky-deeky mojo on me, please and thanks?" grunted Dean.

"Dean!" chided Sam in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Lory. He's…"

"It's okay. And Dean, I didn't empathize you. You're just not very good at hiding your emotions."

Sam broke into a grin as Dean rolled his eyes, inaudibly mocking her.

"But it's okay for you to distrust me," she smiled. "I would distrust me too, if I were you. But I wasn't put in there for drowning my baby or setting someone's house on fire or anything like that. My family…thought I was crazy when I told them I could hear things and see things. The doctors said I was schizophrenic."

"Like Anna…" said Sam almost to himself.

"Who's Anna?"

"No one," cut in Dean. "You were saying?"

"Well, now, I didn't think you were listening. My mom put me in Darcy- which is a horrible place filled with… horrible things. Patients are raped in there. Many of them have killed themselves- or SEEM to have killed themselves. There are so many angry spirits… And they know I can see them, and they want to be heard. I started to get used to seeing them… but then all of a sudden, there was a disturbance and they've grown- violent. For the past few months, they've been… attacking me and harassing me- and they'd begun to hurt other people. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't be alone for too long. So I made up my mind I had to leave."

"The past couple of months?" said Sam, raising his eyebrows. "A seal?" he mouthed to Dean

Dean simply shrugged with a concerned frown.

"Yeah, it's like they all just went haywire- Like someone just took one big piss in their ectoplasmic grits."

"Did you try communicating with them- asking them why?" Sam inquired almost urgently.

"There's not much time for conversation when you're getting jumped by angry spirits- you know, between running and screaming…"

Through the thick silence that followed, Dean glanced back up at the mirror to get another look at the girl. His heart jumped again, because she'd already beaten him to it, and looked as though she'd been staring for more than a few seconds. Sam shook the unease.

"I'm sorry, Lory. I forgot to ask- is there somewhere you want us to take you?"

"Well… I don't really have anywhere in particular to go."

"So you were just gonna wander around all night?"

"I probably would have found somewhere to sleep…"

"We're headed up to a motel now. You can stay with us for the night, you know, until you can get in touch with someone."

Dean's eyes opened to the size of green dinner plates, giving Sam the most reproachful look he could muster.

"I don't- I don't really have any money…"

"It's fine," said Sam, "I'll share a bed with Dean-"

"You'll do what, now?"

"Come on, Dean. It's just one night."

"Nuh uh, dude. You fart in your sleep."

"I do not!"

"Then what do you call those stinky little thunderclaps that come out of your ass?"

"I really couldn't impose-"

"You're not," Sam said shortly, cutting her off before averting his attention to Dean. "And I do NOT fart in my sleep," he hissed through his teeth.

The three pulled up in front of the Starlight Plaza motel, whose neon blue sign read "Stight Pa" thanks to a short in it. Dean stepped out, moving a few paces toward the rental office before beaconing to his brother. Sam followed and once they were out of earshot (but not eyeshot), Dean flicked him on the ear.

"What the hell are thinking? Inviting Little Miss Psycho Friend Hotline to spend the night in our motel?"

Sam rubbed his ear before flicking Dean's.

"Goddamn it, Dean! Don't you see what I'm doing? She could be our key to stopping the next seal!"

"We don't even know if that IS a seal! We don't even know if she's telling the truth! She escaped from a mental hospital!"

"So did Anna."

"That's different."

"Why, because you fucked her?"

Dean was taken aback by his brother's crudeness, but mostly by the fact that he was on the losing end of a checkmate.

"No, because she was a long shot. Do you think Dolores is some sort of fallen angel too?"

"No. I don't know what she is. But I'm convinced she can help. And if we show her a little kindness, then she shouldn't mind scratching our backs, too. This girl sees ghosts. What's our next job?"

"Hunting a ghost…" Dean replied grudgingly under his breath. "But… but she could be a demon!"

"She's wearing a silver cross! Dean, why are you being such an asshole about this? You know if she were some sort of bombshell you would be all over this."

"That's completely not true!"

The boys glanced back at the car in unison. As they both suspected, she'd caught on to the fact that they were talking about her and she was staring at them. They waved and she waved.

"Come on, Sam. Let's go inside already, she's beginning to creep me out."

As they headed toward the rental office, Sam lowered his head toward his brother, as not to be too obvious.

"I tell you what. We'll give Pamela a call. Takes a psychic to know one, right? We'll have her talk to Lory, see what she says. But we can't make it too obvious, all right? If we make it seem like we don't trust her, she won't trust us and she might take off."

Dean sighed, "Ah, whatever, man. What the hell. Can't hurt."

"Dean," Sam began earnestly, "I know you have your doubts but you gotta trust me. I keep getting this vibe…"

"Vibe?"

"Yeah…Like something big is going to happen and Lory's going to be the cause of it."

"'Big' good or 'big' bad?"

"Neither… or both."

0000000000000000

"If you want, we can get you some clothes and shoes in the morning, Lory," Sam offered before sticking the key in the door.

"That's very nice of you, but you're already letting me stay here."

"Well, it's no trouble at all. Is it, Dean?"

He looked up from twiddling his thumbs.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, no trouble."

Sam turned the key in the door, but Lory held her hand against his chest to stop him from pushing it open.

"There's something in there…" she whispered.