Chapter 23

My phone started ringing and I groaned as I reached over onto the nightstand for it. I didn't bother looking at the caller I.D. since the only people who were in my address on the phone is Dean and John. And Sam.

I did look at the time though, and I cussed when I saw it was only seven in the morning. Dean was still in bed but the shower was running so I figured it was John since his bed was empty. I carefully moved Dean's arm off of me and stepped outside to take the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, it's Macy from the tourist center." I perked up.

"Oh, hi!" I said. I crossed my fingers.

"I hope it's not too early to call." I almost laughed but didn't. I assured her it was fine instead. "Anyway, I overheard a few people talking just now about a stone circle they passed on one of their hikes so I got the information for you."

She told me the name of the trail and how to get there as I started to see things in the corner of my eye. I quickly went back inside the room since I didn't have the pouch on me and I peeked out the curtains to see if I could see anything. There wasn't anything there.

"Thanks so much, Macy." I said, hanging up. I quickly changed while the shower was still running and I woke Dean up and told him what I had found out.

He grinned and kissed my forehead. "Sometimes I think we'd be dead by now if it weren't for you."

I laughed. "Well, yeah, who else would do the obvious things like I do?"

He nodded. "It's true."

John came out of the bathroom and we told him as well. The boys quickly got ready as I checked my laptop and found the satellite signal for the current weather. What I found wasn't good, at all.

"Uh, guys," I said, "you might want to check this out."

They both hovered over my shoulder.

"What are we looking at?" Dean asked. I pointed out the changes in the weather.

"These five different spots are showing abnormal weather changes." I said. "I think we've been looking for a much smaller circle than it actually is."

It was true. The five spots were surrounding the town in a circle. John swore under his breath.

"Why is the weather changing now?" Dean asked.

"I think it's because they know we're trying to get rid of them." John said. He ran his hand over his face and through his hair.

"Do you think they're going to start attacking more people?" Dean asked. I nodded slowly as another weather spot showed up.

"I think they all ready are." I said.

"Shit." John got up and threw us our pouches of the love charms/faerie repellants. "We'll all have to split up to destroy that circle. That means you too, Rose. Stick with Dean."

"What about the one that the lady from the tourist center just told me about?" I asked. "That can't be a coincidence. Maybe that was the circle that brought them here originally and they made the bigger circle so they could cover more ground."

John nodded. "That makes sense." He came back over to the laptop where Dean and I were.

"You two take care of these two and the smaller circle." He said, pointing to the two that were closest to the hiking trail. "I'll take care of the other three. Rose, make sure you keep your laptop on and with you so we can navigate around the weather spots."

I grabbed my laptop and one of the maps I had been working on and snatched my cell phone up.

"Call me after you destroy your three and I'll do the same." John said, opening the door. As soon as we made our way to the cars I started to see the faeries in the corner of my eyes.

"Guys," I said. Thunder clapped overhead and rain started to pour down in sheets. We ran for our cars and Dean locked all our doors and quickly turned on the engine before skidding out of the motel parking lot. John booked it out as fast as we did but headed the other way.

I opened the map and started directing Dean where to go. Before we knew it we were stuck in a wind storm.

"I guess we're close to the first one?" Dean asked, trying to keep the Impala under control. I nodded and pointed to a spot where he could pull off. He was wary about leaving his car in these conditions but he didn't have much of a choice.

"So how are we going to destroy this thing?" I asked. Dean popped open his trunk and pulled out a couple sledgehammers, handing me one. I almost grinned and remembered running around with Dean and Sam smashing pumpkins on Halloween with the hammers. We started running as quickly towards where we calculated the stone to be and I skidded to a stop when I saw the giant six foot boulder.

"Well, shit." I said. Dean didn't respond but just started to attack the boulder with his hammer. I quickly joined in but couldn't swing the sledgehammer as fast as Dean was. The boulder cracked finally and the ground quaked a little before a blast of light burst through it. Dean quickly covered me as it exploded and we started running back to the Impala. The wind had stopped and the weather was normal again.

"The smaller circle is closest," I panted as we both got in the car. I checked my laptop and saw that one of John's boulder's had been destroyed since the weather was back to normal again in one of his areas. More weather spots were showing up everywhere else and the ones that marked the boulders were constant.

Dean started the car up again and stepped on the gas as I directed him to the trail. We'd have to travel on foot a lot farther to get to this circle than the boulders but it would probably be easier to destroy. There were quite a few cars parked in the hiking spot's parking lot and Dean swore under his breath.

"Come on," he said, grabbing our hammers and getting out of the car. I followed and grabbed the trail map from a billboard at the beginning. Macy had told me exactly which trail markers to look out for so we found the stones as quickly as possible.

Dean handed me my hammer and we started breaking the five small rocks, experiencing the same things that happened at the boulder, but at a smaller scale. I could barely catch my breath as we ran the trail back to the car and we got back in.

"This is almost as brutal as John's old training courses. I swear if this doesn't work I'm going to cry," I said as I directed Dean to the next, and final, boulder we had to destroy. This one was pretty far out of the way.

"Aw, Rosie," Dean said. "I won't let you cry. I'll buy you another milkshake."

I laughed and agreed. The wind started picking up and it started to snow. Dean and I stared at each other. It was snowing in August. Crazy faeries.

I checked my laptop and saw that John had just destroyed another one and he only had one left, like us. I was amazed that he was breaking those huge boulders on his own, but I'm sure I didn't really help Dean all that much either. Besides, apparently it just needed one crack for it to break out of the circle.

Some of the random weather spots were disappearing which meant that the faeries were losing their energy and we were on the right track.

The Impala wasn't doing as well as we were though. The snow had turned into a blizzard and Dean was having trouble controlling the car.

"We're going to have to walk the rest of the way," Dean muttered finally. He left the car where it was and we got out. I cursed the sudden weather change. I had been wearing shorts and a t-shirt so I was pretty sure I was going to get frostbite. "Here."

I turned and saw Dean holding out his jacket for me. He was only wearing a t-shirt underneath it. I shook my head. "I'll be fine."

He laughed sarcastically and basically shoved the jacket on me. He grabbed my hand and we tried to make our way through the blizzard. "It's going to take forever!"

Dean didn't answer. Soon I wasn't able to talk either. I was too out of breath from trekking through the snow and my legs were starting to go numb. I kept tripping and the wind blowing against us didn't help at all. "Come on, Rose. You can do this."

He squeezed my hand and I tried to smile but it was too freaking cold. "I hate faeries!" I shouted. If it was even possible the snow started getting heavier and the wind faster. We were almost to the boulder.

"I think I see it." Dean called pointing ahead. I tried to see but it was too hard to see anything through the blizzard. It felt like hours that we were hiking through the snow and it probably had been.

We stopped finally and I looked up. The boulder wasn't as big as the other one we had dealt with, but that didn't mean it was going to be any easier to break. Dean handed me one of the sledgehammers he had been carrying. I was amazed that he had been able to carry two sledgehammers, hold my hand and navigate our way through all of this.

I tried to help with the boulder but I could barely lift the hammer. I felt so useless all I wanted to do was cry. Dean was swinging away at the boulder and I didn't even have enough strength to pick it up. I took a deep breath and finally picked it up, holding it over my head. I started to feel so dizzy but I swung that sledgehammer and hit that boulder as hard as I could.

I tried lifting it again but I couldn't. I felt too nauseous and weak. I kneeled down and bent my head between my legs. Everything was spinning and shaking, I knew I was going to be sick. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see a tiny faerie. The back of my neck started burning and I reached my hand back and felt a bump.

"Dean," I whispered, pulling my shaking hand back.

"Rose!" He sounded like he was miles away. I stared at the faerie in horror and watched as it started writhing in pain before it disappeared with a tiny pop.

I finally let everything catch up to me and I fell unconscious thinking about the faerie and how it bit me.

...

...

I know it's short and not very good (this chapter was so incredibly hard to write, I'm not even kidding), but I'm uploading the next chapter right after I upload this one. I'm going camping tomorrow for my birthday (yay!) so I won't be updating again until next Sunday. Please leave me lots of reviews!

Love, Erin