Part 2
After seven shots each, Dean had finally loosened up. Alice and Dean found themselves closer and closer to the center of the room surrounded by the hundreds of party guests. Dean couldn't take his hands off of Alice, both for fear of losing track of her and just because, well, look at her. He didn't feel clumsy dancing with her like normal, or at least he didn't care if he was. Alice wriggled in his hands and kept the distance between them minimal. There was a rhythm between their bodies that made them forget about everyone around them. Alice turned so she was chest to chest with Dean and they both had their heads down. Alice kept her eyes closed and just let herself get lost in it.
Then there was a scream.
Dean responded first, head shot up in the direction of the sound. Alice followed where Dean was looking, towards the grand staircase. The scream had turned to laughter, but more maniacal than joking. Sam stuck his head up above the crowd and made eye contact with his brother, nodding towards the staircase. Dean glanced down at Alice and grabbed her hand pulling her through the crowd. Everyone else had just resumed what they were doing.
They were upstairs, unsure which of the multiple hallways to start with.
"Alright well, I'd say let's split up, but if I see two twins down a hallways, I'll shit my pants," Dean said. Alice rolled her eyes and Sam pulled out the EMF right as they heard another round of laughter coming from the southern corridor.
"I say we start there," Alice reasoned. The further they went down the hall the darker it got.
"Isn't there some law about keeping hallway lights on at all times in hotels?" Sam asked.
"I guess they don't want to spend more on electricity than they have to," Dean said. The EMF hadn't stopped going off since they turned left but that wasn't helping anyone.
"What, are all these rooms haunted?" Alice asked.
"Most likely," Sam said.
"Great."
"What, getting scared, Al?" Dean prodded.
"More irritated, if I'm being honest."
"Do you hear that?" Sam asked. It was quiet for a second and, even with all the noise downstairs, they heard the distinct sound of a harmonica.
"Is that," Alice said, "a Bob Dylan song? Girl From North Country, right?"
"At least it's got good taste," Dean said. Alice was still for a minute as the guys walked past her. She looked at the door 1202 and got a chill.
"Al, you okay?" Dean asked, once he realized she was behind him. She nodded before catching up.
"God, it's cold," Alice said,
"That happens."
Alice looked up at the few paintings and mirrors every few steps. There was one of a modern looking blonde who looked like she had been crying.
"Whoa," Sam yelled, distracting Alice from the painting. It turned out not to be a spirit but Dean jumping up behind him. "Seriously, Dean?"
Dean cracked up and turned to see if Alice had seen his little prank. She raised her eyebrows, falsely impressed. She turned to look back at the painting and only saw herself.
"Oh, shit," she exclaimed. Sam and Dean looked back, flashlights in her eyes and the EMF was still going wild.
"What, are you okay?" Sam asked.
"I swear to you, there was someone in that mirror. She was crying and she, she looked…"
"She looked what?" Dean asked.
"Like Marilyn Monroe." Sam and Dean backtracked to look at the mirror but didn't see her.
"Well, that would make sense," Sam said, "she's been known to visit."
Alice nodded. She had started to hear the harmonica louder and louder and then a woman's voice singing along to it. It sounded just like her mother. Alice looked over her shoulder back at room 1202 and started walking towards it. Dean called after her but Sam kept his mouth shut and shone some light on her.
"Alice what is it?" Sam asked. Alice held up a finger and leaned closer to the door as if to listen.
"You don't hear that? A lady singing along to the harmonica?" She asked. The boys shook their heads no.
"I don't even hear the harmonica anymore, Al," Sam admitted.
Alice turned the knob and pushed the door open. Dean had looked over his shoulder for a second but, when he turned around, Sam and Alice had disappeared and the door to 1202 had been slammed shut.
"Alice? Sammy?" Dean looked around him and saw no one beside him, no gargantuan little brother, no small brunette, only doors, closed doors, closed seemingly shaking doors. Or was the shaking from the floors? He could hear the uproar of partygoers downstairs but there was something else, a pounding and, was that someone calling his name?
"Dean!" Sam called from, it seemed, in the walls. There was a pounding from behind the mirror that Alice had seen Marilyn Monroe, so much so that the mirror itself shook off and smashed on the ground. At it shattered, Dean felt a cold spot and heard that scream and laughter again until it faded into nothing.
"Sam!" Dean called out. The pounding got stronger and stronger until an arm broke through. Dean stepped back and took a stance, bracing himself for whatever was coming out of that wall. Luckily, it turned out to be Sam. "Sam, how the hell did you get back there?" Dean said, pulling his brother out of the wall completely.
"I don't really know, Alice opened that door and...I heard her though, I heard her in the room. Did she go through?"
"I don't know, the two of you disappeared at the same time."
"I think," Sam said," I think she was talking to someone."
Dean leaned into the door where he last saw Alice and heard her voice ragged, but no one else's.
"You sure about that, Sammy?"
Sam nodded, finally getting his breath back.
"Remember when we checked out Alice's case all those years ago? Did we burn the bones?"
"Of Alice's parents? Yeah, that was one of the first things we did after the funeral."
"Right. They must be tied to something then."
"You think it's her parents?"
"Yeah, she said she heard singing
Sam just looked at Dean surprised, "well, why can't we hear it then?"
"I don't know," Dean said shaking his head. "But whatever they're tied to, it's gotta be in that room, right?" Dean started knocking on the door and calling Alice's name. It took a few minutes and Sam to join until she responded. Her voice sounded much farther than just behind the door.
"That's it, I'm kicking it down," Dean said. He started kicking and launching his body at the door but there was no avail.
"You're losing your touch, Dean."
"Shut up," he said taking a break. Whatever's behind that door won't let me open it.
"Let me try," Sam said, moving around Dean.
With just a nudge into the door it opened. Sam looked at Dean, showing off, but before Dean could retort Alice walked through the door, closing it quickly behind her.
"We should go," was all she said. She seemed to walk through Dean and Sam towards the staircase. Sam jogged to catch up but Dean peaked into the room before leaving. He saw a made bed, the door to the bathroom slightly ajar, two bedside tables, a chest and a window slowly defrosting. Nothing left.
As the three of them walked down the stairs, Alice was quiet, pushing past the strangers in costume at the party. Sam and Dean followed her to the Impala. She sat on the hood and took a breath in. She was thankful it was warmer here on the west coast and outside of that hotel.
"Alice, what happened back there?" Sam asked tentatively. He stood by her side, blocking her view of the hotel, and Dean moved more in front of her, blocking her view of the city. In her hands was a small ring, not big enough to fit her, not anymore. She moved the ring between her fingers before she looked at the boys.
"Can you burn gold?" she asked.
"Only if you want to melt it down," Sam said.
Alice nodded and looked like she may cry, but she ended up laughing instead, just a little. She put the tiny ring on her ring finger and it stopped at the knuckle.
"Alice, was it-"
"My parents," Alice confirmed, cutting off Sam. Dean's brow furrowed even more, if that was possible.
"You must have been their unfinished business," Sam said putting his hand on her shoulder lightly.
"No shit," Alice said nodding again, a strange mix of crying and laughing coming from her. She looked down and took a breath before looking back up at Sam and Dean, lingering, just slightly, on the older brother.
"C'mon," Dean said, motioning for her hand, "let's head out of here." Alice held onto his hand as she climbed down from the hood of the Impala. "Careful of the paint," he whispered to her as she stepped down.