Dean kneeled in the grass of Stull Cemetery, staring at the spot where Sam had thrown himself and Michael into the Pit. It looked… ordinary. Just a patch of grass, a little brownish in places but nothing to signify the momentous event that had just taken place. He looked around for Bobby or Cas, but he was alone. Where had they gone?

He shivered at the memory of Sam, looking at him with the eyes of a stranger. And then that final moment when Sam had reasserted control of his body. He looked down at the grass again. Sam was gone. He'd failed to protect his little brother, the only thing that had given his life meaning for so long.

Dean.

He looked around again, but couldn't see anyone. He was utterly alone and although he'd promised Sam he'd go find Lisa, make a life for himself, in that moment he knew it would never be enough. He'd lurch through the rest of his life with a hole inside that could never be filled. A shell, playing at being human. He noticed the hard, heavy weight of his gun in his right hand suddenly and swallowed. He'd always considered suicide a coward's way out, an attitude Sam had chastised him for more than once. But right now, sweet black oblivion sang to him and the muddy gray of trying to be a normal person made his gorge rise in his throat.

Dean! You're dreaming!

He looked around again. "Cas?" He called out.

You have to find your way out. Follow my voice, Dean.

He staggered to his feet, and forced himself to move. The scenery shifted and he was no longer in Stull Cemetery, but at the edge of a lake. There was a wooden bench overlooking the water and Cas sat there, eyes distant on the island in the center of the lake. Dean shuffled over and dropped down on the bench next to the angel. He'd misjudged it and sat much closer than he'd intended, his thigh pressed against Cas'. He went to slide further away, but Cas' arm shot out and dragged him closer. Dean fought him for a second, but Cas was cheating by using his angelic strength to hold Dean against his body. Dean gave up. The angel was warm and the unique smell that Dean associated with Cas, although he'd never admit to it, washed over his senses. Ozone and cool, crisp autumnal air.

"Another dream?" He asked, as if he didn't know the answer.

"Yes," the angel rumbled, his eyes still focused on the lake.

"This is getting to be a habit," Dean commented ruefully. Cas turned to him and his eyes were intent.

"The dreams are a problem, yes," he agreed. "But my assistance in this matter is never begrudged to you, Dean." The hunter rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Should I be worried?" The angel started and Dean narrowed his eyes at him.

"There may be side effects," the angel said opaquely and Dean growled at him. "It's nothing to worry about," Cas reassured him.

"I dunno, Cas. I mean, it gets harder and harder to want to sleep, knowing what awaits me." Dean admitted and a strange expression flickered over the angel's face.

"Oh," Cas said finally. "Yes, you're right. That is something to be concerned over." Dean folded his arms.

"What did you think I meant?" He demanded. Cas looked uncomfortable.

"I thought you were concerned about my presence in your mind. I'm here a good deal of the time now." Dean stared at him, horrified.

"What do you mean, you're here a good deal of the time?" He cried. "What the Hell, Cas?" The angel made a quelling gesture with one hand.

"I have to monitor your mind so that I can intervene when the dreams start. But you resist me, quite stubbornly. So, it's easier not to leave once I'm here."

"Dammit, Cas. We've had this conversation before. I've told you I don't want you snooping around inside my brain!" Dean barked and Cas looked down at the ground.

"I know," he said. "And I am sorry. But if I don't do this, I can't get to you until the nightmares are much more advanced. I'm frightened that you'll hurt yourself, Dean. The first night I did this, you were on the verge of plucking out your eyes!" Dean sucked in a shocked breath.

"Shit! Are you serious?" Cas looked up, his eyes agonized.

"Yes. You don't remember?" Dean shook his head in denial.

"No, not really. I remember yelling at you for coming into my room while I was asleep." He gave the angel shy grin. "Sorry about that, by the way." Cas looked gratified at his apology, a little pink staining his cheeks. It was kind of adorable. Dean grimaced.

"So I have to put up with this then?" He snarled. Cas flinched but held Dean's gaze.

"No. Of course not. If you don't want me here, then I won't be. But the nightmares could get worse and they will be harder for me to combat," he explained. Dean nodded, thinking hard.

"OK. Stay, for now. But only until we get this sorted out," he decided. Cas looked pleased and Dean's breath caught at the warm affection in his friend's face.

"Good, Dean. I'm glad," Cas said, his face crinkling into a smile. Cas was hard to resist when he was like this, his whole attention on Dean, his pupils wide as he met the hunter's gaze. Dean's hand twitched with the sudden desire to reach out a touch the angel. What the Hell's gotten into to you? Cas doesn't want you touching him.

Don't I?

Dean started, he'd heard Cas's voice clearly but the angel's mouth hadn't moved. His eyes were riveted on Cas' lips.

Is this like some weird telepathy shit? He thought uncertainly.

Yes. But we've been doing this all along. Have you only just realized what's happening? Dean ignored that. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Cas' mouth, which remain closed as they talked.

Uh. OK. How far will this work?

I will hear you no matter where I am. Does this make you uncomfortable? Cas' mouth tightened and Dean cleared his throat uncomfortably.

No, I guess not. But don't tell Sam. I uh… Cas' tongue poked out to moisten his lips and Dean's train of thought derailed and plunged down an embankment. His hand twitched again and he had to ruthlessly crush his feeling of disappointment as the dream dissolved.

It was quiet, a couple of hours before dawn. Cas liked this time of night, when most humans were asleep and he could stand and watch the stars wheel above him and think. A scrape of footsteps behind him made him lower his head to see Sam approaching.

"Hey, Cas," Sam said, looking a little sheepish. Cas wondered where he'd been but didn't want to reignite the argument.

"Sam," he rumbled. "You should get some sleep." Sam nodded and clapped one hand on Cas' shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Was Dean pissed after I left?" Cas shook his head contemplatively.

"No," he admitted. "He's worried about you." The angel noted that Sam looked even more guilty.

"I get that," Sam sighed. "I do. But I don't need a chaperone." Having observed Sam earlier, Cas had his doubts but he was aware that Dean's attitude to his brother had colored his own perceptions.

"He only does it because he loves you," Cas told him. "Your brother does not love easily, but when he does, he does it with the whole of his being. It's incredible to observe." The angel's voice had become a curious mixture of wistful and awestruck and Sam had to swallow against a lump in his throat. He coughed uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I know. But does he have to be such an ass about it?" he complained, only half joking.

"He's a Winchester," Cas said solemnly. "Being an ass comes with the territory." That surprised a bark of laughter out of Sam.

"Message received," he grinned. "Loud and clear. OK, I'm gonna try and get a couple hours." Cas nodded and Sam turned away. He carefully eased the motel room door open and crept inside.

When Sam woke up, he was alone in the motel room. Dean's clothing was strewn around the room, his gun was in pieces on the table and there was an empty bottle of bourbon in the sink. Sam frowned. The socks on the lampshade was not outside normal behavior for Dean when drunk, although he did wish the state of the room owed something to activities other than drinking. But the fact Dean had left his gun disassembled made Sam a little uncomfortable. Closer inspection suggested a partial answer, the firing pin was missing. Had Dean taken it somewhere? The sound of the door revealed Dean laden down with coffee, donuts and a hesitant expression on his face. The look was so unusual, it took Sam a moment to recognize it for what it was.

"Hey Sammy," Dean said carefully. "Donut?" Sam gave him a smile and selected one from the box.

"Thanks," Sam said. "I uh…" Dean held up a hand.

"No. I'm sorry. You were right. I was being a jerk." Sam stared at him.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" he demanded. Dean laughed.

"Enjoy the moment, Sammy. Come on, we've got a case to solve." Sam bit into his donut, it was light and fluffy and absolutely delicious. Dean was right. They had a case to work.

"OK, so what's up with your gun?" Dean looked annoyed.

"Firing pin's bent. I was cleaning it this morning and found it like that." He pulled it out of his pocket and offered it to Sam to inspect. Sam stared at it in astonishment, how on earth had this happened? "I have spares in the car, but since I didn't drop my gun or do anything else to it that could have caused this, I wanted to know if it was magic. So I took it downtown to an old friend of Dad's. He says there's definitely traces of something, not witchcraft but something else. He couldn't identify what it was."

"Why didn't you get Cas to look at it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know where he is," Dean said. "I haven't seen him since last night." Sam's eyebrows rose.

"He was outside looking at the stars when I got back. I wonder where he went?"

"What time was that?" Dean asked. Sam raked a hand through his hair, thinking.

"I'm not sure. Sometime after 3." Dean chewed on his lip for a moment.

"He's probably checking up on Lucien," he decided. Sam struggled to keep his expression neutral but Dean wasn't paying attention. "So, after you left… I did some research." he announced. Sam raised his eyebrows but let his brother continue. "I know you were thinking ghost and I'm not saying you're wrong. But I kept coming back to those kids in the lab and what they said about Reed's jealousy over Meghan and Kyle." Sam nodded in thought.

"You think it's related to the case?" he asked. "OK, I'll bite."

"What if it was a spell? To make Meghan want him again?" Dean suggested. "Except something went wrong. Maybe the spell was badly made. Maybe the witch wasn't very experienced or maybe she…"

"Or he," Sam interjected.

"Yeah, yeah, or he, did this deliberately. Maybe they hated Reed's guts and this was meant to kill him."

"Or just scare him, but it went wrong. Yeah, that has possibilities. The timing issue, how all three died at the exact same moment, definitely smells of spellwork. So who's your suspect for the witch?" Dean gave him a rueful look.

"That's where it falls apart. If Reed himself was the witch, and this was just a spell gone wrong, why did Lon and Hugh have to die? It makes no sense for Kyle to be our witch, and anyway I really didn't get the witchy vibe off him, so right now I'm kinda out of ideas. Especially since Meghan seems to be AWOL."

"Do you think she's involved?" Sam asked and Dean shook his head in frustration.

"Maybe. But it doesn't really fit. I mean, why would Reed get her involved if she was the target of his spell?"

"Yeah, you're right. None this adds up. But I think Meghan might have some of the answers. We need to focus on tracking her down." Sam pulled out his phone and tried her number again and grimaced when he was bounced to voicemail yet again.

"Still not picking up?" Dean surmised. "Maybe she has skipped town. Dammit!"

"Let's go talk to Kyle again," Sam suggested. "I think he knows more than he's letting on."

"Sure," Dean agreed. "Lemme text Cas and tell him where we're going."

Kyle looked even more shifty and disheveled than the last time they'd interviewed him and Sam could smell vodka and the sweetish odor of cannabis.

"You're back," Kyle said unsteadily.

"Yeah, we've got a couple more questions for you," Dean told him. "And we're having trouble locating Meghan." Kyle frowned.

"Hasn't she been to class?" he asked. Sam shook his head.

"Nobody's seen her since your party. Her roommates, classmates, nobody we've spoken to."

"What about the homeless shelter where she volunteers?" Kyle asked. "I can't believe she'd skip out on them." Dean gave him an irritated look.

"We didn't know about it. What's the address?" Kyle scratched his head and then dug into a pile of trash on the coffee table and produced a card with a flourish.

"Here they are," he said. "This is Keira's card, she runs the shelter." Dean tucked it into his pocket and stared at Kyle for a moment. The young man shifted uncomfortably.

"So, uh. You had questions?" he said eventually.

"Look, we talked to some people who were here at the party. And a guy who was on shift in the emergency room that night and some things just don't add up." Sam began and Kyle's expression became alarmed. Dean tensed, this kid was about to do a runner and he was so not in the mood.

"What doesn't add up?" Kyle asked, looking around for routes of escape.

"If you didn't find Reed until 9:30, why did you tell the hospital you found him at 9? You kicked everyone out at 9pm too, why were Hugh and Lon still hanging around?" Kyle shifted suddenly and Dean grabbed his arm. "Answer the question!" he ground out.

"I had a test the next day, that's all. There's nothing weird about that," Kyle defended. Dean shook his head.

"So why host a party? Why not wait until the day after the test?" he demanded. Kyle was looking more and more panicked.

"It was Meghan's birthday, I told you." He struggled against Dean's hold and Sam took his other arm.

"Not good enough, Kyle. It was a Friday. How many professors set exams for a Saturday?" Sam said firmly and Dean started. How had he missed that?

"Yeah, and how many lecture on a Saturday either?" he exclaimed. Sam looked puzzled. "Hugh Nelson claimed to have an early morning lecture, remember. That's why he left Kyle and Meghan at the hospital." Sam's face cleared.

"You're right, I forgot." He turned his focus back to Kyle, who had stopped trying to free himself and was staring at the floor.

"So come on, Kyle. What really happened that night?" Kyle bit his lip so hard, blood began to ooze down his chin.

"Look, I swear, none of this was my fault," he begged. "I didn't even believe in this stuff. It was all Hugh's idea." Sam exchanged a surprised look with his brother.

"What was Hugh's idea?" Kyle shifted uncomfortably.

"You'll think it's stupid," he muttered.

"Try us," Dean said sternly.

"Hugh claims to be a druid or something. He makes sacrifices to these mythological creatures and he says they do things for him. Like help him ace a test or get a girl to go on a date with him. Stupid stuff like that. I mean, even if beings like that really existed, why would they be interested in doing favors for some college student?" Finally, Sam thought. Now they were getting somewhere. "Reed played a prank on me last year and Hugh was pissed, I mean really, really pissed."

"We heard about that. Why was Hugh so angry?" Sam pressed. "You were the one who was nearly killed." Kyle looked surprised.

"The minivan that nearly hit me was Hugh's mom. She was really shook up and the doctors reckon that's what triggered a heart attack. She died three weeks later. But that wasn't Reed's fault, how could he know what would happen?" Dean looked severe.

"No, but what he did was stupid and dangerous. You were lucky not to be killed, and if you'd reported it, he would've gone to jail." Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Reed was just like that, impulsive and thoughtless sometimes. He didn't mean anything by it." Sam flicked a repressive look at Dean, there was no point making Kyle defensive about this.

"OK, so Hugh blamed Reed for his mom's death. What happened at the party?"

"According to Hugh, Reed wanted to try and get Meghan to go back to him. I guess he had gotten over his guilt over the thing with my brakes. He wanted Hugh to do his druid thing and make a love spell or something. Hugh told Lon about it and they decided to double-cross Reed, and turn the spell back on him somehow. I don't really understand it. They roped Meghan in with their idiotic scheme as well."
"But not you?" Sam said insistently. Kyle shook his head. "Even though he was trying to get Meghan to leave you?"

"No. No way, I wouldn't have gone along with it. Reed's my friend." He choked. "Was my friend." Sam patted him on the shoulder.

"OK, take a deep breath." Kyle shuddered for a few moments before rallying.

"The plan was simple, Hugh would just do some fake mumbo-jumbo and Meghan would pretend to go along with it for a while, then publically denounce his scheme in front of everyone."

"OK, so far so dumb," Dean observed. "Keep going." Kyle hesitated.

"Look, I'm not saying I believe in this stuff, OK? But Hugh made a sacrifice to some ancient mythological hero called Efnysien. I'd never heard of him, but Hugh reckoned he was pretty badass. According to Meghan they lit a bunch of candles, killed a chicken, you know, like the plot of some bad horror movie. They asked this Efnysien to help them, I guess they weren't too specific about what they wanted, since it was all meant to be fake anyway." The door behind them suddenly opened and Kyle jumped. Sam and Dean turned around to see a plump, pretty girl casually dressed in jeans and a Volunteers t-shirt stride into the room.

"No, we weren't specific. We were just pretending," she said angrily, flicking her blonde hair. "I'm Meghan O'Connell. I think you've been looking for me." Sam stepped forward and introduced himself and Dean, flashing his credentials at her.

"It's not really a good idea to hide from the FBI," Dean told her forbiddingly. Her head came up and her eyes flashed.

"I wasn't hiding. At least, not from you. I was freaked out and I thought Kyle would never speak to me again. I got his best friend killed. But I swear, it wasn't supposed to be like this." Dean folded his arms across his chest.

"Then how was it supposed to be? Three people are dead and you're right at the center of it all." Sam nudged his brother with an elbow. Meghan was already hostile, did he have to go antagonizing her further?

"Right from the beginning things started to go wrong. Reed went out to get ice, which wasn't meant to happen." Kyle hunched unhappily.

"I asked him to go," he said. Meghan's face softened and she turned to him.

"I know. I was supposed to make sure we had everything we needed. Including ice. So it's on me. When he got back, he started trying to get Dylan involved in his plan. I don't know why because we already had everything planned out, and anyway, Yiyi hates Reed. She'd never let Dylan get involved in any of his schemes. We hadn't accounted for Reed going crazy and locking himself in the upstairs bathroom."

"That was actually kinda weird," Kyle interjected.

"So that's why you decided to close things down at 9pm?" Sam asked. "Kyle didn't really have a test, did he?" Meghan shook her head and Kyle looked out the window.

"No, that was my decision. Reed started sending me these really weird texts." She pulled out her phone and tapped at it for a moment then handed it to Sam.

I should have been consulted about the marriage - RM 8:04PM

What marriage? Who's getting married? - Meghan 8:05PM

The horses deaths were regrettable but necessary - RM 8:13PM

What R U talking about? - Meghan 8:18PM

My half-sister deserved better than that Irish dog - RM 8:22PM

U don't have a sister - Meghan 8:26PM

Do you think killing a hundred warriors was easy? - RM 8:29PM

Reed R U OK? - Meghan 8:31PM

I had to kill her son. It was the only way she could be free. - RM 8:35PM

"After that last text, I went looking for Reed. When I couldn't find him down here I went upstairs. I was really worried about him, even I don't like him all that much," Meghan said with a guilty flick of her eyes to Kyle. "He was sitting in the tub which was filled with water, he was fully clothed and his eyes closed. I asked him if he was OK, and he said he was ready for the final sacrifice. When I asked him what that meant, he said he had to die in order to pay for what he'd done and to save his people. I thought he'd lost his mind. So I went back downstairs and told Kyle what was going on. We cleared everyone out of the house except Lon and Hugh.

"When we went back upstairs, Reed was lying in the tub under the water. We pulled him out and he wasn't breathing. We got his breathing started again but he was so cold, I was worried he might die of hypothermia. We called an ambulance and Hugh said he'd drive us to the ER."

"Hugh really didn't want to stick around at the hospital," Kyle added. "We argued and eventually Hugh said he was leaving. Lon was a pretty quiet guy, he hadn't said much up until now, he followed Hugh out, said he'd talk some sense into him. I guess that didn't work out so well." Meghan peered curiously at Dean and Sam.

"I just told you the craziest story, and yet you haven't so much as batted an eyelid," she said suspiciously. "Who are you people, really?"

"We're experts," Dean told her. "That's all you really need to know."

"OK, Mr Mysterious Expert," she replied sarcastically. "What the Hell happened to us? Why are Reed and Hugh and Lon all dead. Are Kyle and me in danger?" Sam looked at Dean.

"Honestly, we have no idea," Sam admitted. "But this Efnysien guy must be at the root of it. We'll do some research and figure out if there's any reason for you to worry."

"Well, that's reassuring," Meghan said acidly and walked over to Kyle. "I'm sorry. I should have told Hugh where to stick his moronic ideas." Kyle pulled her in for a hug.

"It's not your fault," he told her. Sam tugged at Dean's arm and they quietly let themselves out.