Chapter: 10
"Cas, wait." Dean whispered as soon as they had gone back inside. Castiel turned, half expecting Dean to be uncooperative. "Don't you try to barter with me, Dean Winchester. You're gonna learn to like reading whether you want to or not." Castiel said firmly. 'Huh. He DOES have a backbone.' Dean thought. "No, it's not that. It's just - my brother doesn't know that I'm dyslexic, and I'd rather keep it that way, alright?' Dean muttered dejectedly. Castiel seemed puzzled. "I'm certain that your brother would support you fully." He said, now concerned. Dean sighed. "It's not that, it's just embarrassing is all. So, can we maybe do this later, after hours or something so that he doesn't find out?" Castiel's heart was pounding against his ribcage. 'Alone after hours with Dean Winchester!' He thought. "Sure. Just be here by 9 o'clock." "Yeah, yeah." Dean said, turning to head back to the mythology section. He paused for a moment.
"Thanks, Cas." He said quietly before disappearing among the shelves. Castiel grinned, his head spinning. 'Dean and I, alone, in my bookstore, in only a few hours! But what should I start with? He mentioned dyslexia, I think I have a book somewhere in here on how to help cope with it and make reading easier. It should be in the back.' Castiel started off among the shelves. It didn't take long for him to find the book; he knew his bookstore like the back of his hand. He pulled it off the shelf and was about to head back to the front when he heard Dean's voice. He didn't want to eavesdrop, but he somehow couldn't help himself. "Sam, I'm not sure there's even a hunt to be had here." Dean said quietly.
'Hunt? What does he mean?' "Really, Dean? The missing persons count is at six so far and it's climbing." 'Is he talking about the disappearances of the locals?' "People leave, go on vacation, there are plenty of reasons that they could be gone." "Oh, so it's just a coincidence six people have disappeared in a two month period. Come on. There has to be something at work here. Maybe even something we've never seen before. Witnesses said they had seen a strange woman asking who the 'cleverest people in town' were, and that she would probably have been directed towards these victims. Now, we've never seen one before, but that sounds like a sphinx to me." Castiel was utterly terrified. He did not like the sound of this. Not. One. Bit. "A sphinx? Really, Sam? That's ridiculous." "Is it, Dean? It fits, and who knows when whatever it is will strike again? We'e got to hope that it IS a sphinx, and that we can be there to stop it." "Ok, say you're right. How do they kill people and how do you stop these things?" "They ask you a riddle and if you get it wrong they devour you whole. It seems to kill them you just have to answer their riddle correctly, but there could be more to it than that." Dean sighed.
"So, now we just have to find out who the next target is." "Yes, and it could be anyone. We'll have to ask around and see what the general consensus is on who is the cleverest person - still alive, that is." "Then we take the thing down and get the hell out of here." "Same as always." Sam replied. "Yeah, same as always." Dean said. Castiel sunk to the ground against the bookcase, as quietly as possible. He didn't know what to think. He wasn't sure what was going on, so he made a mental list of the things that he knew.
1) Dean and Sam Winchester are some kind of monster hunters.
2) There is a possibility of a mythological creature killing the inhabitants of my home town by challenging them to answer a riddle.
3) This creature will likely claim another victim soon.
4) There is a fair chance that that next victim, will be me.
5) I love Dean Winchester.
6) When the creature is gone, Dean will leave.
7) When Dean leaves, I must follow him. To hell and back again, should it prove necessary.
8) God will protect me.
The list wasn't helping very much, so Castiel, as quietly, as he could, went back to the front of the store. He put the dyslexia book under the checkout counter, and took out his old, battered Bible. He gripped it tightly, and prayed with everything he had inside of him, that no harm would come to the Winchesters. 'Please God, give me the strength to protect the Winchesters. Help me protect Dean and Sam. Make me strong enough to fight for them, brave enough to die by them, loyal enough to stay with them, patient enough to help them, honorable enough to be respected by them, trustworthy enough to be trusted by them, and caring enough to be loved by them, for they are like family to me, and I wish to treat them as such. ' Castiel knew how crazy it sounded, the Winchesters were practically strangers. But Castiel knew, that God had planned this, and that the Winchesters were already more of a family to him, than his own had ever been. They were family now, they just didn't know it yet.