CHAPTER 11

Afternoon
Ocracoke Museum

When Dean had dropped her off at the Ocracoke Museum just after nine am, Casey had expected a long day of dealing with the cataloguing and organizing of various artifacts. She hadn't expected Matilda to excitedly proclaim that they needed to head to the beach. Now, standing back in the museum, hours later, Casey couldn't deny that she wasn't just as excited as the other woman. Getting her hands dirty on the beach, digging up scattered wreckage while Gary Darvill took his boat out and dredged up even more items had been a good way to spend the day. It had almost made her forget about the events of the prior evening.

She hadn't been foolish enough to not consider the possibility that the trip to Ocracoke would lead them into some sort of trouble. The island was home to a ghost ship, after all. Even so, Casey had been hoping that nothing would happen and she could just do her job and then enjoy some much needed time off with Dean. Stretching her neck, she felt the tension creeping up on her again. They'd been through so much recently and Dean wasn't the only one who was ready for a break.

"Casey, could you come take a look at this?" Matilda's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Sure." Casey nodded, trying to focus on the situation at hand. Dean was out there doing the investigating on the island. They'd discussed it all over breakfast and decided to divide and conquer. Her assignment: do her job and try to figure out if there was anything in the wreckage that could be causing the ghost ship to appear.

Now, hours later, she had helped Matilda catalogue endless artifacts that had washed up on the beach after the storm, but she had yet to make any progress on whether or not the wreckage had anything to do with the flaming ship making off schedule appearances. Glancing at her watch, Casey resigned herself to another hour before she could politely leave and meet up with everyone else for dinner. Lifting an elaborate necklace from the wooden box Matilda presented to her, Casey hoped he was having more luck than she was.

"Can we get one of these?"

Sam could barely hear Bennett's voice from where he stood in front of the microwave in the little kitchen. Opening the door, he called out absently, "Probably."

Waiting for the popcorn to pop, he heard Bennett continue, "I don't want a big one. Just a little one, OK?"

"Sure."

"Sam?"

"Hm?"

"What would we feed it?"

Sam frowned, realizing maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to agree to whatever she wanted to get. The popcorn started popping loudly and he couldn't make out whatever else Bennett was saying, but he knew he needed to be more careful about what he said yes to in the future. Grabbing a couple bottles of beer and the bag of popcorn, he headed back down the hallway to the bedroom.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we shouldn't get one after all."

"Why not?"

"Because they chew on stuff and Dean probably wouldn't like it if it chewed on the seats in the Impala."

Sam smiled, seeing her still curled up under the covers with his laptop on a pillow in front of her. She looked up with a mildly confused expression on her face. He flopped down next to her and offered her a beer, asking, "What are you looking at?"

"Puppies." Bennett said, showing him a picture of a Beagle.

Nodding slowly, he said, "Yeah, I'm not sure that Dean will go for a puppy."

"I'd probably kill it anyway." Bennett said, clicking the webpage closed as she reached one hand out for her beer and the other for a handful of popcorn.

Sam studied her cautiously and asked, "Why would you…"

"Because I had a plant once." Bennett grinned, "It was a cactus and I killed it. I'm pretty sure I'm not qualified to keep anything alive."

"You kept us alive in Chicago." Sam smiled, "So I think you'd do just fine." He leaned on his right elbow, his head near her left shoulder as he peered at the open window on the laptop. "Where did our movie go?"

"Minimized."

"Why? What are you looking at?"

"The news."

"Why?"

Bennett smiled a bit guiltily and said, "After last night...I just was curious."

Nodding, Sam reached for a handful of popcorn as he said, "Find anything interesting?"

"Well, no one was seriously injured and no one was killed."

"That's good."

Bennett nodded, "There isn't much else actually. Just a discussion about the bad weather and a sentence about the ghost ship."

"Thought we were leaving all this up to Dean and Casey today." Sam smiled, even as he leaned closer to read the article.

"I know. And it's been nice all day," Bennett said, pointing at the screen, "but I couldn't help it. Look at what that guy said, 'The ghost ship never caused this before.' What do you suppose he meant?"

"The weather? Maybe he thinks the weather was caused by the ghost ship?"

"Maybe." Bennett shrugged. She flopped backwards onto the pillows and stared at the ceiling. "And maybe not."

Sam studied her curiously. He set the laptop aside and asked, "What's up?"

"Well."

"Well?"

Bennett looked at him and he could see that she was both excited and nervous about something. After another pause, she finally sat up and leaned close enough that she could whisper, "I don't think we're alone."

Sam's eyes widened as he took in her statement. He asked softly, "What do you mean?"

"I think maybe one of them got off the boat last night."

"One of them?"

Bennett's breath tickled his ear as she said, "A ghost."

Sam sat back and immediately glanced around the room, ready to head for the weapons as he asked, "Why do you think that?"

"Either it was a ghost, or some stoned woman in Middle Ages clothes just walked through this room a few minutes ago."

"Middle Ages? The ship sank in the..."

Bennett glared at him, "I don't know. I'm not the historian. They were old clothes, ok? Like from a movie or something. She looked like she was from a history book."

Sam nodded, motioning for her to get up, "What did she do?"

"Nothing. Like I said, she looked stoned. Out of it." Bennett said, climbing off the bed. "She just appeared by the window and walked across the room and disappeared."

"Put your shoes on, ok? I'm gonna call Dean." Sam said, already pulling his EMF detector out of his duffle bag. He turned back and asked, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Bennett shrugged, "At first I thought I was crazy. Most of the time when people say they've seen a ghost, other people think they're nuts" She grinned and added, "But then I realized who I'm with and that a ghost isn't out of the ordinary for you."

"Not really, no." Sam said with a grin.

"Ghosts. But no puppies." Bennett looked up at him as she pulled her boots on. She looked a bit disappointed, but not nearly as much as he'd expected. Standing up, she put her pink knit cap on and smiled. "I guess I can manage with that."

"Yeah?"

"As long as I get to keep you."

Sam grinned, "Deal."

Dean hunched his shoulders against the miserable rain and sneezed. Then coughed. Then cursed. Wrapping his arms around himself, he practically ran the last ten feet to the Impala, bemoaning the fact that he was going to get his Baby soaked. Again. She'd barely had time to dry out from the previous night. The awful storm seemed to have blown over, but the waves were high, the beach half its original size and the rain were still pelting down unstopped. This was not normal. Not that anyone was in a position to disagree with him at this point.

Slamming the door, he immediately turned the engine on and cranked the heat up to high. And sneezed again. He was not getting sick. This whole mess was bad enough without him catching a freakin' cold on top of it. He glared at the ocean and fumbled for his phone while turning the windshield wipers on. The day had been one long exercise in annoyance and a complete waste of time.

The cops didn't know much. No one had been killed or seriously injured the previous evening, which was good. But they were saying it was some kind of a freak storm. The people he'd talked to in town, random residents and many tourists, all stating that either they had been on the beach the previous evening and seen the ship, or they'd been in town and hadn't seen anything odd except for the freak storm.

Even Gary Darvill, the opportunistic boat tour guide, had been less than helpful. The weather had been too bad to take his boat out today, so he'd been holed up in his shabby little office overlooking the boat docks. Darvill had been easy to talk to, but mentioned only one thing that seemed of significance. He said that he thought the ghost ship appearing out of season was directly related to the recent odd weather they'd been experiencing...and he correlated the beginning of all of it to the first day he'd discovered wreckage washing up on shore nearly two weeks ago. Which was enough to convince Dean that Casey's nice, innocent museum job was somehow very connected to the crazy.

"Hey." He said as soon as Casey picked up, "How's it going?"

"I'm ready to eat." Casey whispered conspiratorially. "Are you coming to pick me up or do I need to poof?"

Dean rolled his eyes and got the car into drive. He said, "Hold your horses, I'm about ten minutes from you. You get anything good from your day of work?"

"Not exactly. You?"

"Maybe. But not much."

"Alright, well, I'll be waiting for you. You gonna call Sam?"

"Wasn't planning on it. He seemed pretty insistent on having the day to themselves." Dean smiled, thinking about his conversation earlier with his brother. "Even told me he'd clean the car if I'd leave him alone."

Casey laughed and said, "Ok then. I'll be waiting."

"I'll be right there." Dean said. He'd barely hung the phone up when he heard the phone ring. Glancing at the caller ID, he was surprised to see it was Sam. Shrugging as he settled back into his seat and headed for the museum, he answered, "Don't tell me she dumped you. What did you do this time?"

"Dean, we need to talk."

"Sam?" Dean sat up a bit straighter, hearing the no-nonsense tone in his brother's voice. "What's up?"

"Where's Casey?"

"I'm about to pick her up."

"Good. Meet us for dinner?"

"Um. Ok. Your date going that badly?"

Sam snorted, "The date's been fine, dude. It's the ghosts that aren't."

Dean groaned, "What?"

"Just meet us at Dajio, ok? We can talk then."

"Day-jo what?"

"It's a restaurant in town. Ask Casey. She'll find it."

"I don't like this. I told you all that something like this was going to happen. I wanted to go to Florida."

"Dean?"

"What?" Dean muttered, not amused by the amusement he could hear in Sam's voice now.

"You gonna let that go, man?"

"Not until someone acknowledges that I was right." Dean said, hearing Sam trying to smother his snicker.

Sam said, "Ok. You were right. Happy?"

"I'm just plain jovial, Sam."

Dajio, evening
Ocracoke, NC

"And he didn't say anything else about what was going on?" Casey asked over her now empty cup of coffee. Dean shook his head and she asked, "Are they ok?"

"Apparently. Sam said not to worry, just that they needed to talk," Dean waved a hand.

"Good." Casey said, stealing a sip of his coffee. The waitress needed to come back soon with another pot. Taking a quick glance around but not seeing the waitress, Casey sighed and took another bite of her salad.

Dean raised an eyebrow, giving her a disgusted look as he stared at the lettuce hanging half out of her mouth. She chewed it quickly and shook her head, waving the fork at him. She said, "Say one word and I will break your nose."

Dean decided he preferred his nose unbroken, Dean shrugged and reached for his burger; a huge smile on his face. He nodded and wiggled his eyebrows at her when he took a bite. Casey rolled her eyes, then her thoughts wandered back to their present situation. She said, "This is just getting too crazy, Dean. And yes, ok, you were right."

Dean grinned, deciding he deserved to enjoy every single second of being right.

Casey glared at him without much heat and said, "We've got a ghost ship which I fully concede is very likely linked to the artifacts and wreckage that I'm helping to catalogue. And then there was the storm last night."

Dean shrugged and reached for his burger. He said, "Better yet, we've got whatever Sam and Bennett want to add to the mix."

It wasn't too much longer before the door to the restaurant opened and they saw Sam and Bennett walk inside. Waving, Casey stood up and slid around the table so she was sitting next to Dean. Pulling her plate around the table, she smiled as Bennett slid into the booth, hand automatically reaching out for Dean's fries. Dean glared at her and yanked his plate closer to himself. Casey elbowed him in the ribs and he begrudgingly shoved his plate back toward Bennett.

"How's the coffee?" Sam asked, ignoring the drama and eyeing the remaining half cup on the table, then looking hopefully for a waitress.

"Caffeinated." Casey said, her expression telling him clearly that the caffenation was the only selling point of the coffee.

"Sounds good to me." Sam smiled.

"So. Enough with the mystery. What kind of trouble did you two get into?" Dean asked, reaching for his cup only to find it in Bennett's hand as she drained it. Shooting her another glare, he joined Sam in looking longingly for the waitress and her pot of coffee. "

"Ghosts." Bennett said quietly, but not as quietly as Dean would have preferred. Her eyes were wide as she stole another fry and said, "I saw a real ghost! I've never seen a ghost before."

Dean shook his head, exchanging an amused glance with Casey. He couldn't deny that there wasn't a part of him that was actually kind of stoked to see Bennett taking a ghost encounter in stride. And then there was the other part that was anxious to hear what exactly had happened. Before he could say anything, though, the waitress walked toward them with the coffee pot in her hand. She said, "Coffee all around?"

"Please." Sam nodded, trying not to sound desperate.

She then took their orders and Dean pointed at Bennett and added, "Extra fries with hers."

As soon as the waitress walked off, Casey asked, "Tell us what happened."

"I saw a ghost."

Casey was a lot more patient than Dean would have been. She put a hand on his arm to calm him while she smiled and asked, "Where did you see the ghost, Bennett?"

"At the cottage." Bennett explained, "She just walked through the bedroom."

"Sam?" Casey's gaze moved to him.

"I was in the kitchen." He shrugged, "I didn't see anything."

"Cold spots? EMF?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head, "Nothing."

"Cold spots?" Bennett repeated, then said, "It was kind of cold when the ghost walked through."

Dean nodded, "Alright. Sounds like the cottage is haunted…"

"Not necessarily." Sam shook his head, "It could be something else."

"Such as?" Dean asked.

"She looked like she was from an old movie." Bennett said, pausing when the waitress brought their food, then she quickly reached for the ketchup and filled half the plate with it. She slid it closer to Dean.

Casey frowned, "What do you mean she looked like she was from an old movie?"

"She was dressed old fashioned."

"You said she looked like she was from the Middle Ages." Sam said.

Bennett frowned, "I know. But I don't know if that's right. She just looked old."

"Can you describe her?" Casey asked, "It might help me pin down a few more details on the ghost if you could tell me anything more about her."

"I'm not sure...um, her dress was blue." Bennett said around a mouthful of burger.

Dean tried to hide his smile and saw Sam doing the same behind his coffee cup. Casey smiled nicely and said, "That's not...is there anything else you can tell me about her? Can you describe her clothes?"

Bennett shook her head, "I don't know. I don't really know that much about how to describe clothes, I guess. I'm sorry."

"It's ok." Casey said exchanging glances with Sam and Dean. For a moment, they were all silent, considering the situation, then she asked, "What if you paint a picture for me? Could you recreate the scene?"

"I've never tried that before," Bennett said, frowning. "Maybe. I could try."

Casey smiled, "Good. Give it a shot. If I can see the woman, it would help me figure out what time period the ghost was from. Which could be helpful in tracking her down."

Bennett nodded and closed her eyes. Dean watched her carefully, then turned his attention to Casey after a moment. She was staring off into the near distance, obviously seeing something they weren't and Dean almost wanted to ask Bennett to include them all, but decided against it remembering how much her talent tended to give his brother a headache.

"Creepy." He said under his breath, meeting Sam's gaze.

"We can hear you." Bennett said, a slight smile on her face.

"Well you both look like you're spaced out on acid or something." Dean muttered, grabbing a fry and rolling his eyes at Sam.

Sam just shook his head and said, "Dean. Leave them alone."

"Alright alright." He shook his head, waving at the ceiling, "Place needs big screen TVs or something to liven it up."

"Wow." Casey said, sitting back, "That was amazing, B."

"Really?" Bennett asked, looking uncertain. "It worked?"

Casey nodded, leaning forward, excitement radiating from her as she spoke, "It worked great. This could come in handy! You have an amazing talent."

Dean wasn't sure if Bennett looked happy or terrified at Casey's praise, but he decided he needed to refocus the moment. He asked, "Casey, could you figure anything out about the ghost?"

"Yes." Casey nodded, "She wasn't from the Middle Ages, but you were right, Bennett, she was definitely old. Her clothes and hair style were consistent with the time period that the Flaming Ship is rumored to have been from."

"Meaning…" Sam said, hesitating for a split second before leaning closer and saying, "she's from the ship?"

"Oh that's just peachy." Dean said, the feeling of dread that had been stalking him since Casey had first mentioned the island starting to claw through his skull. He said, "So we've got a ghost from the ship on the island?"

"That's what I'm thinking." Casey said and there was no hiding the excitement in her eyes. "What if somehow she materialized on the island after the wreckage came up?"

Sam nodded, "We need to figure out what she's linked to."

Dean couldn't help but roll his eyes as he said, "Because that's all there is going to be to this. Destroy the object and happily ever do I not think it's going to be that simple?"

"Because it's not going to be that simple." Sam said, leaning back and settling his arm around Bennett's shoulders as he said, "One ghost shouldn't be able to cause the weather disturbance, and I can't believe that the weather isn't linked to whatever's going on here. And, on the other hand, if it is that ghost…"

"Then she's extremely powerful." Dean finished, already knowing exactly what his brother was thinking.

"She seemed nice." Bennett shrugged, grabbing her last fry with a downtrodden expression on her face.

Dean wasn't sure if she was more sad about the ghost or the fry. He shook his head and asked, "So. What's next on the agenda for this nice safe little trip to a small island where I'll be assisting with the examination and cataloging of nice, safe artifacts from a 200 year old shipwreck?" He pinned Casey with a meaningful look as he repeated her words from the other day. "Any thoughts?"

Casey narrowed her eyes but didn't rise to the bait. She just said, "I'm meeting Matilda at a bar tonight. See if I can learn anything else from her. It could be nothing, but she is involved with bringing up the wreckage. Which links her, even tangentially, to the case."

"We could head back to the beach," Sam suggested before Dean had the chance to complain about Casey's evening plans. He went on, "give us a chance to see if that ship comes back…"

"Or if there's another hurricane." Dean said, even less pleased with Sam's plan. But he had a feeling that it made sense.

"I don't want to go to the beach again." Bennett said, folding her arms across her chest and looking at Casey, "Can I come with you?"

"Sure." Casey nodded, although Dean thought she seemed a little wary of letting Bennett anywhere near Matilda Corprew.

He couldn't blame her. But he couldn't blame Bennett for not wanting to go back to the beach either, so he nodded and just said, "Fine. Great. Love this. If this trip were turning out anywhere near the way I had been led to believe it would go, we'd all be settling back in front of a good movie tonight. But fine, fine, I'll go sit on the cold beach with my brother," he glared at Casey, "while you two go have drinks with the crazy museum lady who may or may not be involved with all of this mayhem."

"Crazy museum lady? Me or Matilda?" Casey raised an eyebrow.

"Mayhem?" Sam narrowed his eyes.

"Shut up." Dean shot at Sam. He turned to Casey and answered "And I haven't decided yet." He threw his hands up in the air in annoyance, scanning the diner for their waitress.

Casey just laughed and said, "Besides, you boys wouldn't really fit in. According to Matilda, it's ladies night at the local pub."

"Fine. Go to the bar. We'll go to the beach." Dean said, still far from happy as he waved at the waitress and added, "But I'm having pie first."

Well nothing too bad happened in this chapter. All's good from here right? Just a night out at the beach for the boys and a girls night at the pub for Casey and Bennett. Nothing could possibly go wrong...