Nikki POV
Two Days Later
"No, no its fine, Sam. Really." I said into my phone for the thousandth time.
"Ok…But are you sure? In your car, with how you drive, you could make it here in a day or less." Sam told me.
"Sam," I groaned. "Really! I have stuff I can do at Bobby's. And…After the whole Meg thing—"
"Say no more. You should rest, make sure you're at 100% before you start hunting again." Sam cut me off. I hated to bring that up, but his worrying was getting annoying.
"Exactly." I said. "So, call you tomorrow? Or, anytime, really, if you need something."
Sam chuckled. "Got it. Bye Nik."
"Bye." I said, hanging up and tossing my phone onto Bobby's kitchen counter. He walked in a few minutes later. Bobby was out checking my car, making sure that it was in perfect working order before I drove it long distances.
I sighed as went back to my notes and the various books I had; all about various ghost town in the US. Yellow-Eyes had been pretty specific about what he wanted.
The ghost town had to be very hard to get too, preferably surrounded by desert or woods. It had to be so haunted, or assumed to be so haunted, that there was a close to 0% chance of anyone else wandering it. It couldn't be a famous town either, it had to be one no one knew about and no one cared about.
I had it narrowed down to a few different abandoned towns, most down in the Southwestern states. There was a promising one on the other side of South Dakota though and I was itching to go there; it was an excuse to get out of Bobby's house.
The faster I found a town, the faster I found out what Yellow-Eyes knew about me, and the faster I stopped doing his grunt work.
I'd been in Bobby's house for the past two days (possibly developing cabin fever) and I really wanted to drive my car. I sighed and started to pack up my notes and stacked up my books before shoving them into my backpack.
"Hey, I'm gonna go out for a few days." I called to Bobby, who was in the living room.
"Where?" he grunted.
"South Dakota." I said simply, grabbing my duffle bag off the foot of the couch, making sure I had everything.
"You're in South Dakota." Bobby said, a small amount of condescension in his voice.
"Well, you have nothing to worry about then." I said as I slung my backpack onto my shoulders and grabbed my duffle bag. "I'll call when I get there, and don't tell Sam and Dean!" I yelled over my shoulders as I walked out to my car.
I tossed my bags in the back seat and turned my car on. I smiled as the engine growled to life and started to idle and purr. Feeling a little sentimental, I touched the two saint pendants on Chris's necklace. I patted the dash once before turning on the radio and started out of the salvage yard.
Four hours later, I got out of my Mustang and reached my hands over my head, stretching my muscles. I continued my stretching, getting rid of the various kinks and knots I had in my body before I looked around the street. Buffalo Gap was the only other city (over 500 in population) in the same county at the ghost town. From what I found out, the library here was the best shot I had at more information on the town.
I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulders as I walked up the steps to the library; which was apparently also the city hall, court house, and post office. I pushed open the heavy pine doors and shoved my mirrored aviator sunglasses onto the top of my head and looked around.
"Hello! Welcome to the Buffalo Gap Court House, City Hall and Library! Is there anything I can help you with?" A very perky girl, about my age, asked from behind the small desk by the door.
"Do you have to say that every time someone comes through the door?" I blurted out.
The blonde pouted a little, her bottom glossed lip jutted out. "In Buffalo Gap we like to make sure all outsiders feel welcome." She mumbled, smoothing her flowered, frilly blouse.
My eyebrows raised a little. "Al-right then." I said, sarcastic. "Point me to the library?"
"Of course!" the perky blonde, Emily, going by her nametag, said, jumping up. Her hair bounced as she half-skipped to the other side of the building. Her flowery blouse turned out to be the top of a flowery dress, which flared out with every half-skip. I'm sure I came off as a sullen, lost-looking punk behind this girl; me being dressed in some skinny jeans, my boots, a black tank top and my cargo jacket slung over my arm.
"Right here." Emily said, quieting her voice as she opened a door. I gave a half-sincere smile as I walked into the library portion of the building. Two story ceilings, old, wooden bookshelves filled with books, a few ratty chairs here and there to sit in and read, and some desks on the back wall.
I shut the door behind me so I didn't have to hear the sound of Emily's heels on the hardwood. I sighed and headed towards the desk to the left.
"Hey, where are the archives? You know, historical documents, county records, censes information, that sorta thing?" I asked the girl behind the desk. She pointed to her right, not looking up from her book.
I followed her finger, and saw a set of spiral stairs that led to a second level. You could see it from where I was standing, a railing was along the edge, desks and bookcases behind it.
"Thanks." I said, smacking the desk once before jogging up the stairs.
I slung my backpack onto a desk and started walking up and down the bookshelves until I found the file box I was looking for.
Cold Oak
I let out a long sigh, grabbing the back of my tanktop, and pulling it off my back briefly; it was sticking to my skin with sweat.
I looked up when I heard footsteps. There was a dusty mirror on the wall a few feet in front of me, and I saw the girl from behind the desk. I don't think she knew I could see her, or that I heard her.
She was my age, give or take, with wavy light brown hair tossed up in a mess bun. She had on a plain white t-shirt and a pair of shorts. But the oddest thing about her was the small whiteboard on a string hanging around her neck and the marker tucked behind her ear.
"Is it closing time?" I asked, breaking her silence. She jumped, grabbing the whiteboard against her stomach. I turned around when she didn't answer. "Is it?" I asked again. She just shook her head no.
"Oh…Well…Then…I have a lot'a work to do…" I said, turning back around.
A few seconds later I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around again, and saw the girl holding her whiteboard out to me, something written on it. Do you participate in Wiccan rituals?
I looked from her board to the girls face. "Excuse me?" I asked slowly.
She used the side of her hand to clear the board, and wrote quickly. On your shoulder, the mark. It looks like some Wiccan symbols.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I nodded. "Yeah…Yeah, uh, now and then. It's more of a personal thing." I explained vaguely. "If you don't mind my asking, I have a few questions…?"
She nodded.
"First, what's your name?"
Kory. My parents wanted a boy.
"OK. Nice to meet you Kory, I'm Nikki." I said with a polite smile. "Second, how do you know about Wiccan rituals?"
My parents died. Cops found strange symbols. Looked into everything.
I nodded, reading the whiteboard. "You know anything about Cold Oak?" I asked, turning back towards the books and old papers (this time in nice protective sleeves) on the table in front of me.
Kory nodded and sat across from me. She pointed to a legal pad with a questioning look. I nodded, telling her it was ok to write on it. She wrote quickly for a few seconds before handing it to me.
I've read everything in this building twice. Anything you need or want to know about Cold Oak, I know.
"Think you could write it down?" I asked her. She shrugged, then nodded. "You, Kory, are a lifesaver." I said with a smile. She grinned, showing a dimple on her left cheek, and started writing.
…
Closing time.
I pouted as I read the words on Kory's whiteboard, but started to put the papers back.
"Hey, wanna get a beer or something?" I asked, putting my jacket back on. Kory shrugged and nodded.
"Great," I said, grinning. I missed having a girl to talk too, or, that's what I was trying to think about. I was actually thinking about what she told me about; what happened after her parents died.
She remembered waking up outside her house with a sore throat. She was 5 years old at the time, so she had been talking, not much, she was shy, but talking. After the police got there, they had her checked out by the doctor and they found nothing physically wrong with her. After seven years of therapy, the doctors said it was probably psychosomatic. But Kory told me how when she was younger, she'd go out to a field behind her old house and scream, scream until her face was red and she was gasping for air, but nothing came out.
The more she told me, the more I thought it was Wiccan magic.
…
"Bartender! Another round!" I said loudly, over the noise of the bar. I've been trying to act like I was drunk when really I wasn't. Kory, on the other hand, was two beers away from being smashed. As odd as it sounded, I was trying to get her drunk.
She was grinning and spinning around on her barstool as I pulled our beers closer to us. As discreetly as I could, I dropped a small amount of shallot dust into her beer. Shallot was a powerful herb with protection and purification properties. If Kory ever had a Wiccan spell on her, this would get rid of it. She took the beer and greedily took a long drink.
"So, Kory, have you lived here all your life?" I asked casually, slurring my words just enough to sound drunk.
"Yup. Born less than a block from where I live now." Kory said. Her voice was low and cracked a few times, from disuse probably. She took another drink.
"Really? Huh. I don't know where I was born. Have you ever left here?"
"I tried to go to college in Idaho. The whole 'mute thing' didn't really…make it…easy…" Kory trailed off, her big blue eyes widening dangerously.
"Keep going." I said, dropping the drunk act.
"It-It didn't make it easy, so-so I came back here and-and got the job at the library—Oh my God—Nikki, Nikki did you do this?" Kory asked, her words slurred as she grabbed my shoulders.
"You owe me, Kory." I said with a grin. She squealed loudly and grabbed me in a bone crushing hug.
Then she gasped. "Can you drive me somewhere?"
…
I stopped my car in the driveway of an abandoned house. Kory was already half way out the door and running (her adrenalin from being able to talk for the first time in 19 years burning off the alcohol in her blood faster) towards the back of the house. I got out and followed her.
Once I caught up, Kory grinned at me, before she threw her head back and screamed. She screamed like she was on the world's fastest roller coaster, stopping only when she started laughing, looking at me.
"God that felt good!" she said loudly, jumping up and down as she grinned. "How'd you do it?" she asked, grabbing my shoulders again.
I just shrugged. "It's a Wicca thing." I said dismissively. Kory just kept laughing, then threw her head back and threw her arms out and screamed again.
"C'mon Nikki! Scream with me!" She laughed. I laughed at the idea, but, what the Hell? I was in nowhere South Dakota in some field five miles from anyone else. I cupped my hands around my mouth and screamed with Kory.
It was starting to get light out when we finally stopped screaming at the sky.