Author's Note: Guys... I thought Hook Man would be the chapter before TDOTL... I'll try my very best to complete this before the book's release. But I seriously can't promise anything, most of my chapters average 10'500ish words and that's not easy, but I absolutely love writing and I'll do it for you guys, my lovely readers!
Winchester and Cain
Chapter 8 – Bugs
Valkyrie's P.O.V
Sam and I were at a table in the corner of a bar in Oklahoma, Sam was busy buried in a newspaper and I was fiddling with the necromancer ring on my finger, Sam looked over and his eyes found the ring. "So, what's with that thing anyway?" Sam asked, I looked up at him and frowned in confusion, tilting my head slightly. "With your other magic, you use your hands but with necromancy, you have a ring." He pointed out, nodding his head towards the ring.
"Oh, uh," I stumbled, fiddling with the ring, "Necromancers have to base their power in an object in order to use it." I explained, remembering what Solomon Wreath had taught me countless times.
"Who's Solomon Wreath? Is he your old partner?" Sam asked, I stiffened and looked at him blankly in the eyes.
"Mentor," I answered in a quiet voice, "He's my... was my mentor."
"Mentor... he taught you Necromancy?" Sam pressed.
"He thought that maybe I wasn't supposed to be an Elemental after all, and Necromancy was the best for me." I gave a small shrug.
"What did your partner say?" Sam questioned further, I froze again and looked at him tensely.
"He, uh, he hated the idea of me learning Necromancy actually," I gave him a small smile, "It's a long story."
"Right." Sam rolled his eyes and I gave him a pained look.
"I'm sorry, Sam. I don't really want to talk about someone who I'll never see again." I explained, my voice going quiet again. Sam nodded slowly, then going back to the newspaper, Dean came over with a bright smile on his face. In his hand he was holding a large wad of cash in it, Sam looked up again and sighed heavily.
"You know, we could get day jobs once in a while." Sam gave us a look, Dean shook his head.
"Huntings our day job, and the pay is crap." Dean answered, reaching down and pulling me in for a kiss.
"Guys, do you really have to do that in front of me?" Sam moaned and we broke apart, I gave him a wry grin.
"Duh, Sammy." I answered as Dean's hand snaked around my waist.
"You guys are jerks," Sam shook his head and Dean chuckled, "Anyway, hustling pool, credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world, guys." He argued.
"Well, let's see," Dean sighed, his hand unwrapped from my waist as he held up both hands at the same height, "Honest," He moves his left hand down, "Fun and easy," He moved his right hand up and smiled at the scale he had done, "It's no contest. Besides, we're good at it – it's what we were raised to do." Dean shrugged, dropping his hands.
"Yeah, well, how we were raised was jacked, I bet Stephanie had a proper childhood." Sam gestured to me and I stiffened in my seat.
"Yeah Sam, I had a 'proper childhood'," I used my hands as quotation marks, "And look where it got me: I wasn't shoved into this life. I chose it. And you know why? Because normal life is not what I was supposed to do." I explained, leaning on the table with my elbows, there was silence in the room and Sam looked down.
"So... we got a new gig or what?" Dean asked, his tone a little awkward. Sam cleared his throat and tapped the newspaper he had been reading.
"Maybe, Oasis Plains in Oklahoma – not far from here. A gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob." Sam explained, giving us a grim look.
"Come again?" I asked, frowning at the odd word Sam had pronounced to us.
"Human mad cow disease." Sam smiled a little and I pulled a face.
"Mad cow. Wasn't that on Oprah?" Dean murmured, Sam and I stared at him in shock.
"You watch Oprah?" We chorused, I smirked at him and Sam chuckled a little. Dean didn't meet our eyes and forced a cough.
"So this guy eats a bad burger," Dean changed the topic awkwardly, "Why is it our kind of thing?" He asked.
I continued to smirk as Sam explained, "Mad cow disease causes massive brain degeneration. It takes months, even years, for the damage to appear. But this guy, Dustin? Sounds like his brain disintegrated in about an hour. Maybe less."
"Ok, that's weird." I muttered, shuddering a little.
"Yeah. Now, it could be a disease. Or it could be something much nastier." Sam nodded, Dean looked at his brother fr a moment, I glimpsed the challenge in his eyes as he drummed his hands on the table.
"Alright. Oklahoma," Dean grinned, standing up. Sam and I stood up with him and we walked out of the bar, "Man. Work, work, work. No time to spend my money." Dean sighed sadly as we got into the car.
Oasis Plains was pretty... empty. It was just a barren piece of land with a few new houses and building plots built on deserted ground. There was no scenery, just miles and miles of... nothing. There were builders working on a site at the corner of one of the almost finished streets, Dean parked the car and we got out, approaching a man looking at the building plans. "Travis Weaver?" Sam called, the man turned and took off his battered and torn cap. His face was lined and had stubble, his eyes were dark and hooded – as if he hadn't been getting much sleep lately.
"Yeah, that's right." Travis nodded slowly, eyeing us carefully.
"Are you the Travis that worked with Uncle Dusty?" Dean asked, his eyes wide and innocent.
"Dusting never mentioned nephews." Travis replied slowly, looking at the three of us suspiciously.
"Really?" I asked in pretend confusion, looking at Sam and Dean and then back at Travis, "Well, he sure mentioned you. He said you were the greatest." I smiled, Travis tilted his head and I nodded convincingly.
"Yeah." Sam smiled too, catching on to the lie.
"Oh, he did? Huh." Travis smiled a little.
"Listen, we wanted to ask you..." Dean trailed off, looking around the building site, "What exactly happened out here?"
"I'm not sure. He fell in a sinkhole, I went to the truck to get some rope, and, uh... by the time I got back..." Travis trailed off and scratched the back off his neck.
"What did you see?" I pressed.
"Nothin'. Just Dustin." Travis answered shortly, not wanting to dwell on the subject.
"No wounds or anything?" I frowned in confusion.
"Well, he was bleeding..." Travis looked at me and I nodded at him, encouraging him to carry on, "From his eyes and his ears, his nose. But that's it." Travis sighed and looked at the ground.
"So you think it could be this whole mad cow thing?" Dean asked him, Travis looked up and shrugged simply.
"I don't know. That's what the doctors are saying." Travis answered, his tone an attempt to disregard the subject.
"But if it was, he would've acted strange beforehand, like dementia, loss of motor control. You ever notice anything like that?" Sam questioned gently.
Travis frowned and shook his head quickly, "No. No way. But then again, if it wasn't some disease, what the hell was it?"
"That's a good question." I muttered, looking up at the huge, white houses that stood proudly up and down the street, "Can you tell us where this happened?" I asked, switching my gaze back to the man.
"Yeah." He nodded, he walked passed us and the three of us watched as he crossed the empty road, to the house directly opposite. The front garden looked as normal and exactly the same as the other houses that lined the street, save for an area of the garden that was sectioned off with yellow police tape. Dean nudged me and we followed the builder, walked until we stood beside him. I stole a glance at Travis and saw he was staring sadly into the dark hole in the earth. "If you need anything else, I'll be round the back of that house right there." Travis looked up at us, Sam nodded slowly and Travis took his leave. As soon as he was gone we crouched down and peered into the hole, it was deep and dark... not to mention narrow.
"Huh. What do you two think?" Dean broke the silence, I shook my head and Sam shrugged.
"I don't know, but if that guy, Travis, was right: it happened pretty damn fast." Sam answered, we moved further forwards and under the police tape. Sam reached into his pocket and bought out his torch, switching it on and shining the beam into the hole.
"So, what? Some sort of creature chewed on his brain?" Dean wondered aloud.
"Wouldn't there be an entry wound? Besides, it sounds like this thing, whatever it was, worked from the inside." I answered.
"Right. Well, which one of us is going down Alice's rabbit hole?" Dean asked, I shook my head immediately.
"Nu-uh, nope, not me." I shook my head, my eyes wide with fear. Sam and Dean exchanged a glance and then looked at me oddly.
"Why not?" Sam asked. I shut my eyes, the caves with Melancholia that time, with the creature carrying me away and trying to force me through the tight space, creatures crawling through my hair and on my arms.
"There was a thing," I opened my eyes and looked at them seriously, "I was in these caves, and there was this – this creature that attacked me. I just... couldn't..." I trailed off and bit my lip, the two boys looked at me in amazement.
"Huh?" Dean asked dumbly.
"I have Claustrophobia, ok?" I exclaimed, my voice getting louder and louder, my words tumbling out of my mouth quickly, "Enclosed spaces, they just make me wanna," I balled up my hands and unclenched them, moving the hair out my face and then burying my face in my hands, "I can't do it, ok? Ask me to do anything else, I'll do it, but this? No." I shifted uncomfortably, Dean and Sam looked at eachother before shrugging.
"Well, guess that rules Steph out," Dean gave me a smile before turning to his brother, "You wanna flip a coin?" He asked, his tone playful and challenging, making me smile.
"Dean, we have no idea what's down there." Sam shook his head, Dean shrugged and turned away, walking out of the police tape and picking up a discarded coil of rope.
"Alright, I'll go if you're scared," Dean smiled, his eyes mocking, "You scared?" He challenged.
"Flip the damn coin." Sam answered tersely, Dean chuckled and I grinned. The older brother stepped back under the tape and reached for a coin in his pocket.
"Alright, call it in the air... chicken." Dean goaded, holding the coin up and flipping it, it spun in the air for two seconds before Sam reached out and snatched it from the air.
"I'm going." Sam announced, taking the coil of rope from Dean, I raised an eyebrow at Dean and he shrugged.
"I said I'd go." Dean protested.
"I'm going." Sam responded, his tone stern, Dean shrugged and grinned.
"Alright." He smirked as Sam started tying the rope around his waist, he gave the rest of the rope to me.
"Don't drop me." He warned, I looked up at Sam and smirked.
"Would I do that to you?" I asked him sweetly, Sam rolled his eyes and jumped down the dark hole.
"So you found some beetles. In a hole, in the ground. That's shocking, Sam." Dean sighed and shook his head as he drove, Sam was in the front seat examining a dead beetle that lay in the palm of his hand.
I leant forward and frowned, "After all that squabbling outside that hole, we found a bug?" I sighed and sat backwards.
"There were no tunnels, no tracks. No evidence of any other kind of creature down there," Sam murmured in response, "You know, some beetles do eat meat. Now, it's usually dead meat, but-."
"How many did you find down there?" Dean cut him off impatiently.
"Ten." The younger boy replied.
"It'd take a lot more than that to eat out some guy's brain." I piped up, Sam looked up and turned his neck to face me.
"Well, maybe there were more." He argued, I raised an eyebrow and gave him a look.
"I don't know, it sounds like a bit of a stretch." I replied, eyeing the bug sceptically in his open palm.
"Well, we need more information on the area, the neighbourhood. Whether something like this has ever happened before." Sam answered, I sighed and looked out the window.
"Great idea, Sam, we'll just ask the person who lives right here... oh wait, no one actually lives here yet."I sighed irritably, Dean chuckled in the front and I sighed again, "I'm bored." I announced.
"Really? We hadn't noticed." Sam chuckled and Dean grinned back at me.
"Eyes front, Dean. You're driving." I reminded him miserably, I looked out the windscreen, a house caught my eye: red balloons were tied to the white picket fence and cars were lining the street. A sign outside advertised a local barbecue for house hunters.
"Hey, I know a good place to start," Dean pointed to the house, "I'm kinda hungry for a little barbecue, how 'bout you two?" He asked.
"Please! Anything to get out of this car!" I moaned dramatically, Sam shook his head and then gave his brother a knowing look.
"What, we can't talk to the locals?" Dean protested, his eyes widening innocently.
"And the free food's got nothing to do with it?" Sam smirked.
"Of course not, he's a professional, remember?" I smiled leaning forward again, Sam laughed and looked at me.
"Right." He said, his tone dripping with sarcasm and contempt, Dean pulled over and parked the car, the three of us got out and started walking towards the house.
"Growing up in a place like this would freak me out." Dean stated, making a disgusted noise as we opened the gate and started down the garden path.
"Why?" His brother asked, looking at Dean in shock.
"Well, manicured lawns, 'how was your day honey?' I'd rather blow my brains out." Dean complained, I nodded in agreement.
"See what I mean, Sam? It's mind numbing." I muttered, Sam whipped around and looked at me, his eyes bored down into mine before he shook his head.
"You guys are crazy, there's nothing wrong with normal." Sam argued, Dean shook his head.
"I'd take our family over normal any day." He replied, we fell silent as we climbed the stairs of the porch, Sam reached forward and knocked on the door.
A man opened the door and gave us a guarded smile, "Welcome."
"This the barbecue?" Dean asked, the man nodded.
"Yeah, not the best weather but..." The man trailed off, looking at the dull cloudy sky, "I'm Larry Pike, the developer here. And you are..?" He looked at us expectantly.
"Dean," The older Winchester smiled and then indicated to myself and Sam, "This is Steph, and that's Sam." Larry shook each of our hands in turn.
"Stephanie, Sam, Dean: good to meet you. So, you three are interested in Oasis Plains?" He asked, his gaze lingered hesitantly on the two boys, but I shrugged it off.
"Yes, sir." Dean confirmed.
"Let me just say – we accept homeowners of any race, religion, colour, or... sexual orientation." Larry gave Sam and Dean a forced smile, there was a brief silence before I burst out laughing.
"What? No, no – we're brothers." Dean protested, and then put his hand around my waist, "Stephanie's my girl."
"Oh, I'm – I'm sorry." Larry smiled weakly, his face flushed with embarrassment.
"No, no, don't be. It's hilarious." I grinned at the man.
"Our father is getting on in years, and we're just looking for a place for him." Sam explained hastily, before I threatened to explode into another bout of giggles.
"Great, great. Well, seniors are welcome, too. Come on in." Larry smiled, although I sensed the smile was apologetic, he motioned for us to walk through and we obliged, Dean's hand remained firmly wrapped around my waist as he gave Larry a tight smile.
"That. Was not funny." Dean growled through clenched teeth, I broke into a smile again and looked up at him.
"You're right, it was completely hysterical!" I giggled again and Dean rolled his eyes.
"I'm never going to live this down, am I?" Dean sighed and I shook my head.
"Nope." I answered as we reached the back garden, lots of people were stood around chatting and laughing amongst themselves, "This may be a hunch," I murmured, eyeing the people with narrowed eyes, "But I don't think these are our kind of people."
"Agreed." Dean muttered, putting on a smile for Larry.
"You said you were a developer?" Sam continued the conversation with Larry, the developer nodded, his chest puffed out slightly.
"Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team. There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels. And you know what, we built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house, we're the first family in Oasis Plains," Larry smiled, his teeth were pearly white and looked a little too perfect to be real. I woman with fake blonde hair walked over, Larry smiled and put a hand on her shoulders, "This is my wife, Joanie." He announced, Joanie smiled and shook each of our hands.
"Hi, nice to meet you." She greeted and I smiled in return, although it wasn't as wide as hers.
"This is Sam, Dean and Stephanie." Larry pointed to each of us in turn, "Tell them how much you love the place, honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell some houses." Larry joked, Joanie laughed lightly and the three of us chuckled politely.
"Guys, will you excuse me?" Larry asked and walked away.
Joanie watched her husband go and then looked at us, I moved away from Dean, spotting the drinks table and deciding to get a glass of water. I drank it and smiled politely to the other guests, I looked back at Sam and Dean and saw they were shaking hands with yet another woman, even from here I could tell she was one of those other enthusiastic people who you either liked or hated. Nevertheless, I guess there was only one way to get information on Dustin's death I walked back over to them slowly. "...Let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, colour or... sexual orientation." The woman was smiling tightly at the two boys, I sniggered and they turned around, shock written on their faces. "I'm sorry... and you are?" She asked.
"This is our friend, Stephanie." Dean answered for me, seeing my glance at him and he chuckled, "Right. Um... I'm gonna go talk to Larry," He turned to the Sam and smiled, "Ok, honey?" before walking away, smacking his arse as he did so. Sam coughed awkwardly and I struggled to keep the smile off my face. I zoned out again when the sales assistant began talking to Sam enthusiastically about the features of the homes that had been built here, thinking about Ireland and wondering what her parents would be doing at that moment. ]
A slight nudge from the younger Winchester jerked her back into reality, and she scowled inwardly when she saw that the woman was still talking about the houses. "Who say 'no' to a steam shower? I use mine everyday?" The woman laughed lightly and I forced a tight smile on my face in response.
"Sounds great," Sam replied, sounding as uninterested as I felt.
"And wait till you see the bedrooms, each room has it's own fitted wardrobe and dresser, along with a bed of course," She laughed again and I nodded, trying hard not to punch the fake smile off the woman's face. "And not to mention the-."
"Excuse me." Sam cut her off abruptly and I gave him a grateful look, but Sam had already moved away, I followed curiously and recoiled to what he was doing: a large, dark, hairy tarantula was crawling into Sam's hand and I cringed instantly, fighting the urge not to shudder as Sam carefully handled the arachnid, he walked over to where a teenage boy was stood, "Is this yours?" Sam asked him.
"Are you guys gonna tell my Dad?" The boy sighed, taking the eight legged monster from Sam's hand.
"Well that depends, who's your Dad?" I asked him, giving him a friendly smile, trying to ignore the wriggling dark mass in his hands.
"Yeah, Larry usually skips me in the family introductions." The boy scoffed in response, rolling his eyes.
"Ouch, first name basis with the old man – sounds pretty grim." I observed, whilst next to me Sam looked at the boy in interest.
"Well, I'm not exactly brochure material." The teenager smiled and I gave him a shrug. To my surprise Sam reached forward and clapped the boy on the shoulder.
"Hang in there, it gets better, alright? I promise." Sam told him, his tone sympathetic. I looked at him in sudden interest: Sam's relationship with his father couldn't have been that bad, could it?
"When?" The boy's smile dropped, desperation entered his eyes.
"Matthew." A voice sharply cut us off, we turned to see Larry and Dean approaching them, he shot his son a harsh look, before softening his gaze for Sam and I.
"I am so sorry about my son and his..." He looked down at the spider in Matt's hands in disdain, "Pet."
"Oh, it's no bother, really." I smiled, defending the teenager.
"Excuse us." Larry replied, taking my comment with no interest. I sighed as Matt was steered away by Larry quickly, I glimpsed the fierceness in the man's eyes and felt a pang of sympathy for the boy.
"Remind you of someone?" Sam murmured, I tilted my head and looked at the two boys as they watched Larry yell at Matt, Dean's eyes clouded over with confusion when he looked back at his brother.
"Dad?" He asked, perplexed, "Dad never treated us like that." Dean shot his brother an odd look.
"Well, Dad never treated you like that," Sam shrugged, "You were perfect. He was all over my case," He said bitterly, then looked at Dean in amazement, "You don't remember?"
"Maybe he had to raise his voice," Dean reasoned, "But sometimes you were out of line."
"Right, right," Sam scoffed with a shake of his head, "Like when I said I wanted to play soccer than learn bowhunting."
"Bowhunting's an important skill." Dean replied with an edge to his tone, making me raise an eyebrow: in some ways, Sam and Dean truly were entirely divided.
"Whatever," Sam rolled his eyes at his brother, "How was your tour?"
"Oh it was excellent, I'm ready to buy." Dean replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm, I laughed and he shot me a small sideways smile.
"You're so right," I grinned, "We should pool all our cash together and try and buy one, we could move in tonight, try out these steam showers that they've been raving about." I suggested, Dean chuckled and looked at me dubiously.
"Yeah right, because you have so much money on you." He smirked and I raised an eyebrow.
"Will a fiver do?" I smiled, pulling out a very crumpled five pound note from my pocket, Dean frowned and looked at it.
"Why do you have this?" He asked, looking at it closely.
"Because when I first arrived here it was in my pocket, why else?" I replied.
"Oh," Dean handed it back to me and I rolled my eyes, "So anyway, you might be onto something: looks like Dustin Burwash wasn't the first strange death around here." Dean turned to Sam and he looked at his brother in surprise.
"What happened?" Sam questioned.
"About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry's surveyors dropped dead while on the job, get's this severe reaction to bee stings." Dean explained and I frowned: bees.
"More bugs." I muttered and Dean nodded.
"More bugs." He echoed in agreement, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair irritably, Dean reached over and squeezed my hand gently, kissing me on the cheek softly.
Dean let Sam drive on the way back, Dean and I were sat in the back, John Winchester's journal on his lap and a flame cupped in my hands so we could read the pages. "You know, I've heard of killer bees, but killer beetles? What is it that could make different bugs attack?" Dean wondered aloud, I blinked tiredly as Dean flicked through another page.
"Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations." Sam replied.
"Yeah, but I didn't see any evidence of ghost activity." Dean argued, sighing in defeat as he closed the battered journal.
"Yeah, me and Steph didn't either." Sam agreed.
"I didn't know we were looking for any." I murmured, and Dean smiled slightly, "Maybe there being controlled somehow. You know – something or someone." I theorised quietly, watching the houses pass by the window quickly as Sam drove on.
"You mean, like Willard?" Sam asked and I frowned.
"Who?"
"Nevermind," Dean chuckled, putting his arm around me, I yawned and leant on him sleepily, "Yeah, bugs istead of rats." He answered his brother as I got into a comfortable position.
"There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals." Sam continued as I yawned again.
"Yeah, that whole Timmy-Lassie thing..." Dean trailed off and I sat up as I realised something.
"Larry's kid – he's got that spider for a pet." I pointed out.
"Not just one, he's got loads of bugs." Dean replied.
"Matt?" Sam tilted his head.
"Yeah."
"He did try and scare the really annoying lady with a tarantula." I muttered, thinking about the hairy black thing crawling towards my hand and I shuddered.
"You guys think he's our Willard?" Dean asked and I nodded slowly.
"I dunno, anything's possible, I guess." Sam responded quietly, but Dean wasn't paying attention anymore, he was looking out the window in interest.
"Ooh, hey. Pull over here." Dean pointed out the window, Sam shot his brother a confused look but did as he asked, we parked in the driveway of one of the Oasis Plains homes.
"What are we doing here?" Sam asked as he turned the car off, turning and looking back at Dean.
"Well, Steph can't keep her eyes open for a moment longer and it's too late to talk to anybody else." Dean shrugged, I blinked and tried to force myself awake.
"I'm fine." I told him as I yawned, Dean chuckled and moved some stray hair from my face.
"Sure you are." He smirked.
"We're gonna squat in an empty house?" Sam looked up at the large house doubtfully.
"I wanna try the steam shower," Dean shrugged again and I smiled sleepily, he got out the car and walked over to my side, carefully picking me up and carrying me in his arms towards the garage, I reached out tiredly and opened the door, Dean turned and looked back at Sam, "Come on." He urged, but Sam stayed still in the car, Dean sagged and stared at his brother, "Come on!" He urged, Sam sighed and reluctantly eased the car into the garage, I reached out and pulled the garage door down behind him. As Dean moved towards his brother I tiredly shut my eyes and gave in to the sleep that overtook me the moment my eyes closed.
Well, I had to hand it to the realtor: the showers were great. Dean and I's needlessly long shower was interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. "You ever coming out of there?" Sam's voice drifted towards us and Dean looked irritably over to the bathroom door.
"What?" He called loudly back, I smiled and padded through the steam over to the towel rail, grabbing one and wrapping it around my torso, leaving my hair to lazily drip on my shoulders.
"Dean, a police call came in on the scanner and I don't know where Steph is." Sam replied, I giggled as Dean shot me a mischievous grin and turned the shower off.
"Hold on." Dean called, I threw him a towel and he wrapped his head in it, I shook my head but a smile spread across my face at his antics.
"Someone was found dead three blocks away from here. Come on." Sam's tone was irritable now. The steam surrounded the room as Dean opened the door, Sam was stood there looking annoyedly at his brother, I ducked out from sight and hid behind the door.
"This shower is awesome." Dean exclaimed.
"Yeah, they're great," Sam muttered off-handedly, "Come on, we gotta be somewhere and I can't find Stephanie." Dean widened the door and I came into view of Sam, I gave the younger brother a smile.
"Morning, Sam." I greeted sweetly, Sam looked at me and then back at Dean.
"Come on." He sighed, rolling his eyes and walking away, I caught Dean's eyes and giggled again, he suddenly picked me up in his arms and I squealed with surprise as he walked us to the bedroom and shut the door behind us.
The drive over to the crime scene was awkwardly quiet, Dean was driving again and Sam was in his customary passenger seat, nobody said a word as Dean pulled over. There was an ambulance outside the house and policemen stood around talking with eachother in hushed tones, I recognised Larry standing a few feet away talking with an officer, I got out the car and approached as the officer walked away. "Hello, you're, uh, back early." Larry smiled weakly, his eyes were dark rimmed and tied, his tone was exhausted.
"Yeah, the three of us drove in, Dean and Sam wanted to take another look at the neighbourhood before we left." The lie came easily, I heard the boys approach behind me and Larry's tired eyes flickered to them both.
"What's going on?" Sam asked, looking at the officers.
"You guys met, uh... Lynda Bloome at the barbecue?" Larry stuttered, a body bag on a stretcher was being carried out of the house carefully by some paramedics.
"The realtor." I turned back to Larry, my eyes narrowing slightly.
"Well, she, uh... passed away last night." Larry explained sadly and my eyes widened in shock.
"What happened?" Dean spluttered.
"I'm still trying to find out. Identified the body for the police. Look, I – I'm sorry, this isn't a good time right now." Larry spoke distractedly, his eyes shifting to each of us.
Sam nodded in understanding, "It's ok."
"Excuse me." Larry cleared his throat and walked away quickly, the three of us watched him go in silence, a little way away, Lynda's body was being loaded carefully into the back of the ambulance.
"You know what we have to do, right?" Dean looked at Sam and I.
"Yeah. Get in the house." Sam nodded slowly.
"Should be easy enough," I agreed, watching as the ambulance drove away, then looking up at the house, "See if we have a bug problem."
The three of us moved quickly, skirting around the side of the house and climbing through Lynda's bedroom window, her bedroom matched the woman who had once lived here: pristine white floors and bedsheets, not a speck of dirt to be seen anywhere – save the blood splatters and the body outline that had been painted onto the carpet, a little way away from the outline there was a towel discarded on the marble floor. "This looks like the place." I nodded grimly, walking over to the towel and picking it up, little black things fell from it and I recoiled and dropped it, peering closer at what had fallen out. My stomach lurched when I saw that the towel was covered with dead spiders, I looked up at Dean, my mouth dry.
"Spiders," He sighed, looking down at what I had found, "From Spider Boy?" He asked.
"Matt," Sam corrected his brother tersely, "Maybe."
The rest of the day had flung by, we had stopped at a local diner but after the spider encounter I didn't really feel up to eating, Sam had also played with his food faint-heartedly whilst Dean had gladly munched into his mood without so much as batting an eyelid. On the drive back to Oasis Plains we saw a school bus pull up and recognised Matt getting off, we pulled over and watched as Matt began walking through a path just outside the new neighbourhood. "Isn't his house that way?" Dean asked, pointing towards Oasis Plains,
"Yup." Sam nodded and the three of us got out, walking quickly in pursuit of the teenager, we found him in the woods examining a stick insect.
"Hey Matt," I called, he turned and I gave him a friendly smile, "Remember us?" I asked, gesturing to myself and Sam.
"What are you doing out here?" Matt asked, eyeing us suspiciously.
"Well, we wanna talk to you." Dean shrugged.
"You're not here to buy a house, are you?" Matt asked, we all exchanged a look and shook our heads, Matt smiled triumphantly, then his face fell and fear crossed his features, "You're not serial killers, are you?" He asked, his voice a little weak, there was a brief pause and the boys chuckled, whilst I edged a smile.
"No, no, no. I think you're safe." Sam chuckled good-naturedly and Matt visibly relaxed.
"So, Matt..." Dean trailed off and looked at the stick insect on Matt's finger, "You sure know a lot about insects." He pointed, his voice nonchalant and his eyes innocent, nevertheless Matt's eyes narrowed.
"So?" The boy asked guardedly.
"You did hear what happened to the realtor, Lynda, right?" I asked him, my tone gentle.
"I heard she died this morning." Matt replied and I nodded.
"Mmm, that's right. Spider bites." I looked at him pointedly and he frowned slightly.
"Matt... you tried to scare her with a spider." Sam took over, stepping forward slightly, confusion clouded the teenager's features and then brightened.
"Wait. You think I had something to do with this?" Matt asked, horrified.
"You tell us." Dean shrugged.
"That tarantula was a joke," The boy explained quickly, "Anyway, that wouldn't explain the bee attack or the gas company guy." He tried and my eyes widened in surprise.
"You know about those?" I asked him.
"There is something going on here," Matt admitted, "I don't know what... but something's happening here with the insects. Let me show you something." Matt looked down at the stick insect and carefully laid it down on a nearby branch, then he picked up his school bag and began walking away, looking back at us and we followed slowly.
"So, if you knew about all this bug stuff, why not tell your Dad?" Sam asked, "Maybe he could clear everybody out." He suggested.
"Believe me, I've tried," Matt scoffed, looking back at us, "But, uh, Larry doesn't listen to me." Matt gave us a tight smile when he said his Dad's name.
"Why not?" Sam pressed.
"Mostly? He's too disappointed in his freak son." Matt replied scornfully, Sam slowed down and shook his head.
"I hear you." The younger brother scoffed, I looked over at Dean and saw he was frowning at his brother.
"You do?" Dean piped up, Sam turned to us and gave him a look.
"Matt, how old are you?" Sam called out, turning around and speeding up his pace a little.
"Sixteen." The teenager answered in a bored tone.
"Well, don't sweat it," Sam told him in a reassuring tone, "Because in two years, something great is gonna happen."
"Oh yeah? What's that?" Matt called back, his tone laced with doubt.
"College. You'll be able to get out of your house and away from your Dad." Sam answered cryptically, I blinked in surprise at Sam's advice.
"Ouch." I murmured, glancing at Dean.
"Tell me about it," Dean replied in a low voice and frowned at the back of Sam's head, "What kind of advice is that? Kid should stick with his family." Dean called out to him, Sam sighed and shot him a glare.
"How much farther Matt?" The younger Winchester turned back to the teenager again.
"We're close." Matt answered, Sam turned and gave Dean another glare and my eyes widened in surprise: Sam's relationship with his Dad can't have been good before he himself had left for college. When we reached a clearing Matt stopped walking, and over the silence you could hear the loud chirping and humming of insects nearby among the trees. "I've been keeping track of insect populations. It's, um, part of an AP science class." He explained, going red as he glanced at me, making me smile slightly.
"Wow. You and Sam are like two peas in a pod." Dean drawled, Matt looked away and Sam ignored me.
"What's been happening?" Sam asked the teenager.
"A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles... you name it. It's like they're congregating here." Matt frowned in confusion.
"Why?" I asked him, tilting my head curiously.
"I don't know." The boy shrugged in response, I glanced at Dean and sighed.
"What's that?" Sam pointed to a small hill on the far side of the clearing and I frowned, noticing the grass was darker than it was over where we were stood. We slowly walked over to the mound carefully, on the top of the hill there were hundreds of worms thriving in a small area, I wrinkled my nose in disgust. I discreetly moved my palms and sent a wave of air towards the worms, they fell away into the ground, revealing a hole in the Earth. Dean grabs a fallen stick and moved towards the hole, he poked the stick around the hole and looked back up at us.
"There's something down there." He announced, pulling the stick out and throwing the stick down and putting his hand down the hole, he rummaged around with a disgusted expression on his face. I braced myself in case he was dragged down the hole, I sighed with relief when he pulled his hand out safely, I looked closely and saw he war holding something in his hand, Dean used his over hand to brush away the debris and worms to reveal an old, human skull.
We headed straight to the local university after dropping Matt off home, when we pulled up outside Dean opened the trunk and pulled out the box containing the bones we had found I the clearing, then we headed for the university entrance. "So, a bunch of skeletons in an unmarked grave." Sam stated.
"Yeah, maybe this is a haunting. You know, pissed off spirits – some unfinished business?" I wondered as we reached the entrance to the university.
"Yeah, maybe," Sam murmured, "The question is though: why bugs? And why now?"
"That's two questions," Dean piped up, but his brother ignored him. "Yeah, so with that kid back there... why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?" He asked, I glanced at Dean at the corner of my eye but he kept his gaze fixed on his brother.
"Just, uh... I know what the kid's going through." Sam shrugged with an air of nonchalance, beside me Dean frowned and shook his head.
"How about telling him to respect his old man, how's that for advice?" Dean argued.
"Dean, come on," The three of us stopped walking altogether, Sam turned and towered over his older brother, "This isn't about his old man. You think I didn't respect Dad – that's what this is about."
Dean narrowed his eyes at Sam and I looked away awkwardly, the tension peaking, "Just forget it, alright? Sorry I bought it up." Dean sighed and held his hands up in defeat, then he started walking away, Sam stared back at his brother I amazement.
"I respected him, but no matter what I did it was never good enough." Sam called over to Dean, his tone incredulous.
"So what are you saying? That Dad was disappointed in you?" Dean glanced back at his brother.
"Was? Is. Always has been." Sam shrugged, I sighed and began walking again, keeping my distance from the boys.
"Why would you think that?" Dean demanded.
"Because I didn't want to hustle pool or bowhunt," Sam scoffed bitterly, "Because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our whacked out family: made me the freak."
"Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters." Dean joked, but Sam didn't appreciate the jibe.
"Dean, you know what most Dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud. Most Dads don't toss their kids out the house." Sam sighed annoyedly, Dean stopped walking and turned, his eyes narrowed.
"I remember that fight. In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases coming out of your mouth." Dean pointed angrily at Sam and glared at him accusingly.
"You know, truth is: when we finally find Dad... I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me." Sam admitted, meeting his brothers eyes sadly.
Dean froze for a moment and then sighed, "Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared."
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked in disbelief, a smirk appeared on his face as he stared his brother down.
"He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around. But even when you two weren't talking... He used to swing by Stanford whenever he could," Dean revealed, his voice uncharacteristically quiet, I glanced at Sam and saw his smirk slowly fade from his face, "Keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe."
"What?" Sam murmured, his eyes widened.
"Yeah." Dean nodded in confirmation.
"Why didn't you tell me any of that?" Sam asked, all his previous emotions dissipitating.
"Well, it's a two way street, dude," Dean shrugged and gave Sam a look, "You could've picked up the phone." Sam stayed very, very still, realisation brimming in his eyes.
"Come on, we're gonna be late for our appointment, guys." I broke the silence quietly, tapping Sam on the arm gently and walking away, leaving them both in the hallway.
"So, you three are students?" The old professor asked, looking at me behind his wide glasses.
"Yeah... yeah, uh, we're in your class – Anthro 101?" Sam questioned his answer and the professor nodded.
"Oh, yeah."
"So, what about the bones, Professor?" Dean asked, tapping the box with the bones we had excavated.
"This is quite an interesting find you three have made. I'd say they're one hundred and seventy years old, give or take," The professor shrugged, pushing his glasses up, "The timeframe and the geography heavily suggest Native American."
"Were there any tribes or, uh, reservations on that land?" I asked, feigning interest.
"Not according to the historical record. But the relocation of native peoples was quite common at that time." The man answered and I nodded slowly.
"Right. Well, are there any local legends? Histories about the area?" I pressed, the professor thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"Well... you know, there's a Euchee tribe in Sapulpa. It's about sixty miles from here, someone out there might know the truth." The professor answered and Dean grinned.
"Alright, then." He drummed his hands on the box and we exited the room quietly.
"Thank you!" I called to the man before we shut the door, "Right, let's go find the Yewtrees in the Sapapult." I smiled determinedly, Sam chuckled and Dean shook his head.
Upon arrival to Sapulpa, as the boys had corrected me, a man had directed us to the local diner where we would surely find someone who would know about any local legends and myths relating to ancient tribes. In the diner we spotted an old Native American man in the corner sorting through some very old looking playing cards on the table, we headed over to him and gave him welcoming smiles. "Joe White Tree?" Sam asked, the man looked up and nodded slowly, his eyes darted to each of us, studying us closely.
"We'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's alright." I told him.
"We're students from the university." Dean explained, lying effortlessly.
"No, you're not. You're lying." Joe shook his head as the three of us sat opposite him, Dean looked taken aback as he slid in next to me, he forced a laugh and faked another smile.
"Well, truth is-."
"You know who starts sentences with 'truth is'? Liars." Joe leaned forward and narrowed his wrinkled eyes at the older Winchester, Sam and I glanced over to him and I smirked at him.
"Have you heard of Oasis Plains? It's a housing development near the Atoka Valley." Sam took over before Dean could make an even bigger idiot of himself.
"I like him," Joe glanced at Dean, "He's not a liar," Dean frowned and my smirk turned into a snicker, it was cut short by Dean's foot connecting with my shin, Joe glanced at the two of us and then looked at Sam, "I know the area." He confirmed.
"What can you tell us about the history there?" Sam asked, a smile tugging at the end of his laps.
"Why do you want to know?" Joe asked, glancing at the three of us suspiciously.
"Something... something bad is happening in Oasis Plains. We think it might have to do with some old bones we found down there – Native American bones." I explained, Joe looked at me for a long time before leaning back in his chair.
"I'll tell you what my grandfather told me, what his grandfather told him. Two hundred years ago, a band of my ancestors lived in that valley. One day, the American cavalry came to relocate them. They were resistant, the cavalry impatient. As my grandfather put it, on the night the moon and the sun share the sky as equals, the cavalry first raided our village. They murdered, raped. The next day, the cavalry came again, and the next, and the next. And on the sixth night, the cavalry came one last time. And by the time the sun rose, every man, woman, and child still in the village was dead. They say on the sixth night, as the chief of the village lay dying, he whispered to the heavens that no white man would ever tarnish this land again. Nature would rise up and protect the valley. And it would bring as many days of misery and death to the white man as the cavalry had brought upon his people." He finished his chilling story with a glint in his wizened eyes, and I fought down a shudder.
"Insects," Dean murmured, "Sounds like nature to me. Six days."
"And on the night of the sixth day, none would survive." Joe nodded, I looked at the boys, alarmed.
"When did the gas company man die?" I asked as soon as we exited the diner.
"Uh, let's see, we got here Tuesday, so, Friday the twentieth." Dean worked out.
"March twentieth?" Sam asked, Dean nodded and I frowned.
"What's so important about the month?" I asked him.
"March twentieth is the spring equinox." Sam explained and I looked at him blankly.
"The what?"
"It's basically the night the sun and the moon share the sky as equals." Dean answered.
"So, every year about this time, anybody in Oasis Plains is in danger." Sam pointed out and I groaned.
"Larry's an absolute idiot: he built his neighbourhood on cursed land." I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, and on the sixth night – that's tonight." Dean concluded.
"Hooray." I said, with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
"If we don't do something, Larry's family will be dead by sunrise. So how do we break the curse?" Sam asked, to my surprise Dean chuckled and shook his head at his brother.
"You don't break a curse – you get out of its way. We've gotta get those people out now." Dean shook his head, we rushed to the car and got in, Dean slammed his foot on the pedal and we sped away.
"Yes, Mr Pike, there's a mainline gas leak in your neighbourhood." I spoke in urgent tones in the mouthpiece.
"God, really? And how big?" Mr Pike's voice answered worriedly.
"Well, it's fairly extensive. I don't want to alarm you, but we need your family out of the vicinity for at least twelve hours or so, just to be safe." I explained.
"And who is this, again?" Larry's voice sounded over the tone.
"Uh," I glanced at Dean in alarm, frozen, "J-Janet Parker, I work for Oklahoma Gas and Power." I plucked a random name out, biting my lip as Larry paused.
"Uh-huh. Well, the problem is, I know a guy who works there, Travis. I know the entire team who's been working on this site for the three years of development, and there isn't a Janet Parker on the team. So tell me right now, who is this?" Larry demanded, his voice suddenly angry. Dean glanced back at me and I shot him a panicked look, opening my mouth and closing it.
"Uh..." In a flurry of consternation, I thumbed the button on the phone and hung up.
Sam sighed and reached his hand out, "Give me the phone." I sulkily placed the object in his hand and Sam began to dial a number.
"Matt, it's Sam." Sam greeted cheerily and I rolled my eyes: of course the logical thing to do would to call the kid. "Matt, just listen. You have to get your family out of that house right now, ok?" Sam told him in a desperate voice, there was a pause and Sam suddenly sighed irritably, "Because something's coming." He explained, I glanced out the window as we rounded a corner, we were almost in Oasis Plains, "Yeah, a lot more." Sam rubbed his forehead in an effort to calm himself, but the stress was evident in his rushed tones, "You've gotta make him listen, ok?" Sam told him, Dean looked over to his brother and rolled his eyes.
"Give me the phone, give me the phone." He ordered, snatching the hand from Sam's grip roughly and shoving it up to his ear, "Matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts." Dean said in a tone full of authority, "Tell him you have a hsarp pain in your right side and you've gotta go to the hospital, ok?" He ordered, then he snapped the phone shut and looked at Sam and sighed, "Make him listen?" He repeated with a shake of his head, "What are you thinking?"
We pulled up outside Larry's house and peered in, inside the lights were still on and Larry himself was looking out the window staring at the car. "Damn it, they're still here. Come on." Dean sighed and we got out the car, Matt ran out the house as Larry stormed over to us.
"Get off my property, before I call the cops." Larry glared at us, his voice stern.
"Mr. Pike, you have to listen." I told him, meeting his gaze evenly.
"Dad, they're just trying to help." Matt tried, his Dad whirled and pointed angrily to the house.
"Get in the house!" He ordered, instead Matt turned to us, an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry, I told him the truth." He admitted, Dean and I sighed whilst Sam shrugged.
"We had a plan, Matt what happened to the plan?" Dean groaned.
"Look, it's 12.00 AM. They are coming any minute now, you need to get your family and go, before it's too late." Sam told him, glancing up at the sky.
Larry scoffed and raised an eyebrow at each of us, "Yeah, you mean before the biblical storm." Larry laughed and I glared at him, I was so done with this guy.
"Larry, what do you really think happened to the realtor, huh?" I asked, stepping over to him, towering over him, "And the gas company guy? You don't think something weird is going on here?" I glared daggers at him, expecting him to crumble under my gaze.
Instead, Larry crossed his arms and didn't back down, "Look, I don't know who you are, but you're all crazy. And if you come near my boy or my family again, then we're gonna have a problem."
"Well, I hate to be downer, but we've got a problem right now." Dean stepped forward, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Dad, they're right, ok? We're in danger." Matt was at his Dad's arm again.
"Matt, get inside! Now!" Larry ordered, his tone more forceful this time.
"No! Why won't you listen to me?" Matt argued back.
"Because this is crazy! It doesn't make any sense!" Larry turned to his son, his voice loud and wildly aggressive.
"Look, this land is cursed! People have died here. Now, are you gonna really take that risk with your family?" Sam cut in, leaping to Matt's defence.
"Wait." Dean called over the din, and everyone fell silent and looked at him, "You hear that?" He asked, we stood and strained our ears. A very loud, very deep humming noise could be heard, as the seconds passed the humming got louder and louder.
"What the hell?" Larry exclaimed, on the porch of the house the fluorescent bug light began to zap wildly, eventually over heating as several bugs fell from it. I gave Dean a fearful look, he reached out and squeezed my hand in an attempt of reassurance.
"Alright, it's time to go. Larry, get your wife." Dean pointed back to the house.
"Guys!" Matt pointed up to the sky, in the morning light on the horizon, the largest swarm of bugs were flying towards the house, flickering and blanketing the dark sky.
"Oh my God." Larry murmured, staring up at the sky in horror.
"We'll never make it." I looked at Dean and Sam and they stared at me for several seconds before Dean looked at the house.
"Everybody in the house. Everybody in the house, go!" Dean ordered, no one stopped to object, we rushed to the house and Sam locked the door behind us.
"Ok, is there anybody else in the neighbourhood?" I asked Larry.
"No, it's just us." Larry shook his head as his wife entered the hallway, glancing at us fearfully.
"Honey, what's happening? What's that noise?" She asked, looking up at the ceiling, half expecting it to collapse above them.
"Call 911," Larry told her, but Joanie didn't move a muscle, she merely stared at him in shock, "Joanie!"
"Ok." She managed, picking up a phone and dialling three numbers.
"I need towels." Dean looked at Larry expectantly, he frowned but pointed to a cupboard.
"Uh, in the closet." He answered, Dean nodded and walked away.
"Ok, we've gotta lock this place up, come on – doors, windows, fireplace, everything, ok?" Sam looked at Matt, he nodded and led him upstairs, Sam took one step before he looked back at me, "Come on, Steph." He called, I nodded and quickly followed.
"Phones are dead." Joanie stated as she and Larry climbed the stairs after us.
"They must have chewed through the phone lines," I muttered, listening to the loud and murderous buzzing that pounded the walls of the house, the lights and electrics suddenly snapped off and I sighed as we were plunged into darkness, "And the power lines." I gave a thin smile.
"I need my cell." Larry's voice came through the dark, and suddenly a light flicked on from his hand and shone on his face, "No signal." He sighed, putting the phone away.
"Sam, torch." I called out, there was a rustling and suddenly Sam's torch clicked on, the beam surveyed the room, Sam checked that everyone was present.
"Yeah, you won't get a signal. They're blanketing the house." Dean shrugged, coming up beside me. The air shifted around me and I frowned, the buzzing noise moved and suddenly became based on around the doors and the windows, Sam shone his beam on the nearest window and it showed a million bugs collecting on the glass, obscuring the view of Oasis Plains.
"So, what do we do now?" Larry asked us.
"We try to outlast it," Sam shrugged, "Hopefully, the curse will end at sunrise."
"Hopefully?" Larry echoed, Dean tugged on my arm and I followed him to the kitchen, he began searching through the cabinets and I frowned at him through the half light.
"What are you looking for?" I asked him.
"Bug spray." He answered simply, I nodded and began to help him search, rifling through the cabinets and throwing stuff around carelessly. "Alright." Dean smiled when he found two of them, he threw one to me and I nodded and tore the lid off just as Joanie entered the room and looked at us doubtfully.
"Bug spray?" She asked, eyeing the cans uncertainly.
"Trust us." I told her with a small smile, we moved back into the living room where Sam, Larry and Matt were, a creaking noise was coming from the direction of the fireplace.
"What is that?" Matt asked, Sam's torchbeam was trained on the fireplace.
"The flue." He responded tiredly.
"Alright, I think everybody needs to get upstairs-." Dean was cut off as thousands of insects broke through into the living room, swarming around us, the family screamed and tried to shield themselves. The bugs crawled around on my skin and in my hair, I flinched and moved my hand, bringing up a solid shield of air to protect myself, a little way away, Dean was using a lighter and spraying the repellent on the bugs, warding some away. I clicked my fingers and conjured a flame, past caring of being noticed by the normal people, I sprayed the repellent and aimed it aggressively on the insects that were flying around the room. "Alright, everybody upstairs, now! Go, go, go!" Dean ordered, Sam led the family up the stairs up into the attic, whilst Dean and I stayed in the living room.
"I can try and stop this!" I called to him, spraying as many bugs as possible, Dean turned and shook his head.
"No, I can't let you do that!" He shouted, but I shrugged.
"Dean, I can do this. I can use the air to put up a shield!" I explained, flinching again as the bugs flew a little too close for comfort near my ear.
"But what about the ones already in here?" Dean called back and I shrugged again.
"It doesn't matter now." I replied, Dean narrowed his eyes and shook his head furiously, running over and grabbing my arm, he dragged me up the stairs as the bugs flew up after us, we reached the attic and slammed the doors shut behind us. Matt, Larry and Joanie were huddled in a corner of the dark room, Sam stood over them with his torch in hand. Bits of sawdust fell from the ceiling and the buzzing of the insects amplified above us, Joanie looked up, her face pale and her eyes red rimmed with tears.
"Oh, God, what's that?" She cried out hysterically.
"Something's eating through the wood." Dean explained woodenly, glancing up at the ceiling worriedly.
"Termites." Matt whispered and I groaned.
"Alright, everybody get back. Get back, get back, get back!" Dean ordered, herding everyone as far away from the falling sawdust as possible, I stayed where I was and licked my lips, raising my hands and rotating it, just like Skulduggery had taught me. I moved the air and pushed it up against the roof, but not snapping my palms out so the air wouldn't break through the roof. The roof fell away and the bugs appeared in a chewed out hole on the roof, buzzing furiously against the wall of air I had put there.
"What is she doing?" Joanie screamed out in fear, but I didn't answer, just held my hand up and held the shield in place.
"Steph? Steph!" Dean called to me and I looked over to him a smile on my face.
"I told you I could do it." I rolled my eyes and he gaped at me, an impressed gleam in his eyes. Suddenly the buzzing moved away and sawdust began trickling from another part of the roof and I shot him a fearful glance, "Dean, I can't do this twice!" I told him, getting tired. The roof fell away and the bugs swarmed into the room, I swore and stepped back, throwing the repellent can to Sam and clicking my fingers and firing a continuous stream of flames at the waves of insects, over the loud humming, Joanie was screaming and I fought the urge to scream at her to shut up. I blinked drowsily as I forced my energy into my magic, keeping the flames going. When they cut out I backed away, moving to protect the family as Sam and Dean used their bug spray and lighters for makeshift flamethrowers, as a last ditch effort I moved the air and moved another shield up around the family and I, but it was fading fast. When the air shield failed I gave up and tore off my jacket, throwing it around the three of them. After a few more minutes of frantic swatting at the bugs, they suddenly swarmed together and flew out of the holes in the roof that they had made, disappearing off into the sky. I walked on shaky legs to the centre of the room, joining the brothers as we watched the insects, fade away into the morning sky. I sighed tiredly and leant on Dean he threw the can away and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, we looked back at the family as they peeked out from underneath my jacket.
Later that day, we dropped by the house to find two removal vans outside Larry's house, Larry himself was loading boxes into the back of one of the vans. "What, no goodbye?" Dean called out as we approached him, Larry turned and gave us a warm smile.
"Good timing, Another hour and we'd have been gone." Larry told us, shaking each of our hands.
"For good?" Sam asked him.
"Yeah. The development's been put on hold while the government investigates those bones you found, But I'm gonna make damn sure no one lives here again." Larry replied and I tilted my head at him.
"You don't seem too upset about it." I observed, Larry looked at me and shrugged.
"Well, this has been the biggest financial disaster of my career, but..." Larry's gaze flickered behind him and I saw Matt exiting the house carrying a box, "...Somehow, I really don't care." He smiled and I grinned back at him. Sam walked over to Matt and began talking to him, whilst Dean walked back to the car, I went to follow but Larry suddenly grabbed my arm. "Those things you did in the attic," He said, "The fire throwing, and the – the shields you made, how did you do it?" He asked me, I looked at him for a moment before shrugging.
"If I told you, nine out of ten times you wouldn't believe me, Larry. Let's just say that this world you live in, it isn't the only world out there that exists." I told him with a small smile, Larry frowned in deep and sudden confusion and I prised myself away from him, leaving him alone with his thoughts and walking over to Dean, I leant against him tiredly and watched as Sam and Matt laughed together.
"Tired?" Dean asked, looking down at me, I yawned and nodded.
"Exhausted." I answered, he chuckled moved some stray hair from my face gently.
"Well, you should be – you were using the air to make shields less than six hours ago." He smiled and I shrugged.
"It helped save Larry and his family." I answered with another yawn, "Uh, I need sleep." I groaned, burying myself into Dean's jacket, hiding from the bright sunlight.
"Ok, ok. We'll be leaving soon, Sam's coming over now." Dean chuckled and I risked a peek from beyond his leather jacket, Sam was approaching us with a determined expression on his face.
"I wanna find Dad." He said as stopped beside us.
"Yeah, me too." Dean nodded.
"Yeah, but I just... I want to apologise to him." Sam looked a little guilty.
"For what?" Dean asked.
"All the things I said to him. He was just doing the best he could." Sam answered, sighing a ittle.
"Well, don't worry. We'll find him. And then you'll apologise, he'll meet Steph, and within five minutes, you two will be at eachother's throats." Dean responded and Sam laughed,
"Yeah, probably," He caught my eye and frowned, "Should we get in the car?"
"Yeah, Steph's ready to pass out in the back." Dean nodded, opening the back door and helping me into the car, once I was safely in Dean got in the driver's seat beside Sam, the three of us sat in silence for a few moments before Sam cleared his throat.
"Let's hit the road." He suggested and Dean nodded.
"Let's." He agreed.
"Finally," I moaned sleepily, "If we have to do any other cases which so much as mention bugs. I'm gonna scream." The boys chuckled and we pulled away quickly, Sam opened the window and waved back to Larry and Matt, I was too tired to wave, and simply got into a comfy position and closed my eyes, welcoming the sleep that overwhelmed me in seconds.
Author's Note: This took m to write, guys! And technically it is up before the book comes out, but these chapters do take time. Alright, you all know the drill: let's say mmm... 50 reviews for the next update. I know I'm gonna lose some viewer because this time tomorrow they're going to have their heads stuck in the final instalment of the Skulduggery Pleasant series. Enjoy the chapter guys and also enjoy the book!