Chapter 13

0115
Wooden Nickel Pub
Ocracoke, NC

Casey had actually started feeling just a bit tipsy as she and Matilda sat at the bar and discussed yet another of the many freakish happenings on the island. Then the screaming had started and she'd snapped back to full alert. In two seconds she had located Bennett, by the pool table, and watched as a handful of ghosts rushed into the room and began ripping throats stabbing people.

Pirates? Really?

"Get to the back of the bar, get out of here." Casey said, pushing the very drunk Matilda off the stool.

The girl looked completely in shock and Casey wasn't sure she was going to do what she'd been told. But there were people dying so she just shoved Matilda again, then turned and ran toward the nearest ghost. The room was sheer chaos and Casey had to shove people out of her way in order to get to the monster. Not really caring who saw what, she pulled out her blade and shoved it through the ghost-pirate's heart. The ghost disappeared instantly although Casey knew it would be back.

It was too late for the ghost's victim, though, she found as she checked the body. Frustration filling her, Casey knew she had to stay focused. Had to save those she could. And she needed to find Bennett.

Casey looked up in time to see more ghosts heading for the back door. She ran after them, pulling her phone out as she did so. She still didn't see Bennett in the mess of people and there was no reply when she called her. Casey knew they needed back up and quickly called Dean.

"Echo?" His voice was a whisper, "What's going on?"

"Dean…" She tried to form coherent thoughts over the screams and chaos around her.

Searching for Bennett proved difficult in the mess of frightened people around her. She couldn't blame them; they couldn't even see what was ripping out their throats. The ghosts were flitting in and out of focus, but she was running her blade through any one she could reach. It wouldn't end them, but it would slow them down. Already, her mind was focusing not just on the carnage around her, but on what she needed to do next. Namely, get to the museum and destroy whatever item was holding the pirates.

Dean sounded tense the next time he spoke, "Are you ok? What's happening?"

"It was an attack, Dean." The reception flickered in and out and Casey cursed the stupid cell towers. "Ghosts. I didn't see exactly what happened, it was so fast, but there's more than one."

"Was what?"

"More than one ghost." Casey repeated, raising her voice. "Dean, they just came out of nowhere and a lot of people are dead and I can't find Bennett!"

Reception seemed to drop again, then she heard Dean ask, "Casey, are you safe?"

"I'm fine right now. But Dean…"

"Get somewhere safe and….in a minute; got a bit of a ghost problem ... moment." Dean's voice broke up.

"Dean!" Casey felt sick. Something was wrong on his end. She needed to go to him. But then she looked at the chaos and knew she couldn't leave yet. There were still ghosts everywhere she looked. And she needed to find Bennett.

"Casey?"

"It's Bennett." Casey said, running out into the back alley, "I can't find her."

"What? How did…"

"I don't know…" Casey started to explain, but then she heard the sound of something heavy apparently running into Dean. His breath expelled explosively and then Casey heard what sounded like a grunt of pain and the loud splashing of water. She screamed, "Dean!"

Hearing no answer, Casey was about to teleport straight to him when she heard someone screaming her name. Looking back inside the bar, she saw Matilda on the floor, a ghost kneeling over her. Running in their direction, Casey wasn't prepared for the ghost to grin up at her, grab Matilda and disappear.

She also wasn't prepared for the hurricane strength blast of wind that blew the front wall of the bar into the room, sending her backwards into the bar.

Sam watched in horror as Dean went flying into the water. Whatever had just pummeled into him had been invisible and even if it was a ghost, Sam wasn't planning to start firing rock salt at the ocean waves. He couldn't see Dean and he wasn't taking a chance of hitting his brother. At least getting pitched into the waves was better than the ghost lopping his head off, Sam reasoned running toward Dean. By the time he reached Dean, his brother was already pushing himself up. Buffeted by the waves and the sense-jangling blow he'd just received, Dean was struggling to get to his feet. Sam sprinted toward the water and reached down to yank his brother out of the water.

"Dean!"

Dean came up coughing and sputtering. Sam helped drag him away from the waves, hearing gunshots in the background, and Dean collapsed into the sand, spitting up ocean water. He fumbled in the sand for his phone, looking up at Sam. He asked, "You...get it?"

"No." Sam shook his head, looking up and shoving Dean back down as a rain of bullets impacted the sand next to them. They were sitting ducks. He met Dean's eyes through the rainy darkness of the storm and shouted, "We need to go."

"Now." Dean nodded, coughing and trying to get to his feet.

Sam grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet and they took off at a desperate run for the treeline. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear the crack of a rifle in the near distance and knew better than to stop and look around. They didn't stop running until they were at the Impala. Yanking the passenger door open, he basically threw his brother at the seat before running around to the other side. Bullets sprayed the pavement at his feet and he prayed the ghost wasn't dumb enough to shoot his brother's car.

"Keys." Sam said, hand out. Dean dropped them into his hand without a word. Mostly because he was still coughing. Sam started the car up and floored it, glancing over his shoulder briefly. He frowned as he caught sight of the ghost standing on the edge of the road.

"See that?" Dean gasped out, pushing himself upright and rubbing his side.

"The ghost?"

"Did you see what he was wearing?"

"I don't know." Sam said distractedly, flipping on the wipers and trying to keep the car on the flooded road.

"It was a uniform."

"Ok. So?"

"A Nazi uniform, Sam." Dean said, running a hand over his face. "The ghost was a Nazi."

"That's weird."

"It's not good is what it is."

"You think we've got more than one ghost ship out there?"

"I think we've got a bunch of ghosts from a bunch of different wrecks is what we've got." Dean said, fumbling for his phone.

"A bunch of ghosts?" Sam asked, looking at him. "What do you mean?"

Dean met his eyes grimly and said, "They also attacked town."

"What?"

"Casey said things were bad."

Sam tightened his grip on the wheel, using all his strength to hold the big car on the road.

He could still see the red glow of the ghost ship out the rear view mirror as he drove toward town. Glancing quickly at Dean, he asked, "How bad?"

"The bar was attacked." Dean said as he dialed the phone. Putting it to his ear he said, "Casey can't find Bennett."

Bennett felt the woman she was holding up stumble. Her eyes were on the ghosts though, even as she clung to the injured woman. With a deep breath, Bennett lifted a hand and concentrated on painting a picture. When they'd lowered their guns, she'd had a split second to come up with a plan. It wasn't much of a plan but if she could make the ghosts think she and the girl weren't standing right there in front of them, maybe they wouldn't fire.

Invisibility was a game more than just ghosts could play.

And it actually seemed to work! She gritted her teeth at the effort it was taking to paint the picture. The ghosts paused, lowered their guns and then just vanished. Letting the illusion drop, Bennett returned her concentration to the bleeding form she was holding up. People were screaming, shouting and running in every direction and she wanted nothing more than to join them. But she couldn't. All she could do was try to gently lower the girl to the ground, putting a shaking hand to her throat to feel for a pulse. It was there, but weakening.

She needed Casey.

Bennett straightened up and was about to head back into the bar when she heard the wind wail so loudly that she actually put her hands to her ears to block the awful noise. She crouched down behind a car and listened to what sounded like an entire building being knocked down. Debris blew into the alley and for the first time, Bennett realized it was pouring rain. She'd been far too distracted to even notice that at first.

Pushing herself to her feet, she started back down the now mostly deserted alley. Before she got far, though, a huge guy in a dark suit stepped into her path. Breath catching in her throat, Bennett hoped maybe he was someone who could help carry the bleeding girl to safety. She started to ask, but before she could get a word out, he'd punched her in the face so hard she fell backwards against the wall, sliding to the ground, barely keeping her eyes open.

It wasn't a demon. It wasn't a human. Another ghost, Bennett decided pressing a hand to her bleeding mouth. She was having trouble focusing past the pounding in her skull and the pain in her face. The ghost grinned maliciously down at her and Bennett knew there would be no reasoning with it. Gasping for breath and seeing stars, Bennett felt cold hands on her throat, but before the ghost could do anything more, she'd pulled out the salt packet she'd saved from dinner earlier. It wasn't much, but it was just enough that the ghost growled in annoyance and disappeared from in front of her.

The screams were what brought her back to awareness. And wasn't that just a fun way to wake up, Casey mused, rubbing a hand across the back of her throbbing head. Blinking in the darkness, she finally was able to make sense of the world in front of her. It was dark and the cold rain was coming down heavily in the destroyed bar. She could hear sirens in the distance and the screams up close. Pushing herself upright, she swayed for a brief moment, then recovered her balance and focus.

She didn't see any ghosts at the moment and, more alarmingly, she didn't see Matilda. It was strange, a ghost seeming to kidnap the woman. What did the ghost want with Matilda? Casey had a bad feeling it was linked to the wreckage and artifacts. They needed to find her, and get to the museum. But first, she needed to find Bennett and get ahold of Dean.

Helping the bartender up from behind the bar, Casey guided him to the front door and then heard her phone ring. She answered immediately, "Dean!"

"Echo. Where are you?"

"At the bar." She said, climbing over debris and heading to the back door. "Are you two ok?"

"Great. Headed your way. You find her?"

"Looking now."

"Ghosts?"

"Gone at the moment."

"Alright. Be careful and we'll be there as soon as we can, ok?"

"Drive safe." Casey said, hating to hang up but needing all her concentration on the task at hand. She headed out back just as her phone rang again. Glancing at the display, she was relieved to see it was Bennett. Casey answered, "Bennett, where are you?"

"Um...not sure."

Pausing at the corner of the street, Casey asked, "Are you ok?"

"More or less."

"Bennett?"

"I'm ok. I'm a little lost."

"Can you see a street sign?"

"Um…"

Casey shook her head, "Never mind, I'm coming." Concentrating on Bennett's voice, Casey focused and finally was able to visualize where she was. A split second later, Casey was standing in another alley and looking down at her friend. Bennett was sitting against the wall holding the body of a what looked like a dead woman in her lap. Casey knelt down and Bennett slowly looked up at her.

"Hey, Casey." Bennett whispered.

"Hey." Casey gently reached out and found that, as she had suspected, the woman was dead. She moved her hand up to Bennett's face. Her mouth was bloody and a bruise was forming on her jaw. Casey frowned and asked, "What happened?"

Bennett shrugged, gaze returning to the dead woman. Voice barely audible, she said, "I tried to get her safe, Casey. But she was just bleeding so…"

"It's ok. You did everything you could." Casey gently pulled the body away, lying the woman on the ground. She turned around, looking Bennett up and down, and asked, "Did someone attack you?"

"Yeah."

Casey felt anger burn through her, "What happened?"

"I had some salt from the restaurant." Bennett grinned. "Think I should probably get some more, though."

"Probably." Casey couldn't help but laugh. She touched Bennett's shoulder and said, "The boys are headed our way. How about I clean you up before you freak Sam out?"

Bennett nodded touching her lip, "That would be nice. Are you ok?"

"I'm great. Just wet and annoyed." Casey said, touching Bennett's head and healing her injuries. "Come on," she pulled her to her feet, "let's get out of the rain."

"What just happened?"

"I'm not sure." Casey said, leading the way back toward the bar. There wasn't much of it still standing, but there was a small spot where they could at least get out of the rain. "I think whatever is happening here is causing more than just the ghosts from the Flaming Ship to manifest."

Bennett frowned, stepping over a broken chair as she asked, "You think these ghosts were from other ships?"

"Yes. Some of them looked like pirates, and there was one guy that I didn't get a good look at who looked a lot more modern than a pirate."

"The guys who came after me at first had machine guns." Bennett said.

Casey turned and asked, "How did you get away from them?"

"I painted a picture." Bennett smiled, "I made them think me and that girl weren't there. Like invisible. It worked."

"That's awesome. Good plan." Casey said, pointing to the relative shelter of the broken building. She stared at Bennett and said, "We may need to use your talent again, Bennett."

"How?"

Casey looked out into the driving rain, waiting to hear the sound of the Impala as she said, "I'm not sure exactly how we're going to defeat these ghosts. There are a lot of them and it's going to be difficult to figure out what they're all linked to. But if you can create some kind of an illusion...make them see what we want them to see, protect the island, maybe we can figure out a way to get rid of them."

Bennett nodded, wrapping her arms around herself and pressing back against the wall. She said, "I'll do whatever I can."

"Good. We'll figure out a plan when we talk to the boys." Casey said, feeling nauseating worry over what might have happened to Dean. Even if he said he was fine she wasn't sure she believed him. Despite that worry, her brain was already trying to come up with a feasible plan to defeat the ghosts.

"Casey?"

"Hm?" She turned to look at Bennett, "What's up? You ok?"

"Yeah." Bennett smiled. She looked at the ground, then back up at Casey shyly. "It's a weird time to say this, but it's been so busy that...well, I just haven't had a good time to tell you with everything that's going on…"

Casey almost laughed despite the circumstances. She asked, "What are you trying to tell me, Bennett?"

"Sam kind of asked me to marry him." Bennett said, rushing on, "Well, he asked me to make breakfast with him. Forever. Which is basically a proposal and I said yes so I guess that means we're engaged?"

And this time Casey did laugh. She pulled Bennett into a hug and said, "Yes, sounds like you're engaged. Congrats!"

Bennett grinned and said, "I wanted to tell you sooner but everything's been…"

"When did this happen?" Casey asked, keeping an eye out for the Impala but remaining focused on her friend's happy news. Her mind was reeling with the revelation, not that she was exactly surprised.

"The other night. Right after you got back," Bennett shivered, not from the cold, "when Sam and I were talking while you and Dean were together."

Casey's eyes widened and she asked, "Did he propose to you at the truck stop?"

"No, before." Bennett shook her head.

"Good thing." Casey rolled her eyes. "Because if he had, I probably would have punched the idiot."

For a moment, they stood there, then Casey shook her head and said, "Forget this. Let's just go meet them."

Bennett grinned and said, "Works for me."

"Hello boys."

As utterly shocked as he himself felt, Dean had to admit Sam did an admirable job of keeping the Impala on the road despite the surprising sound of a voice in the backseat. Turning around, Dean said, "Don't say that. You sound like your uncle."

"Sorry." Casey had the grace to look a bit annoyed with herself for inadvertently copying Crowley's customary greeting.

His heart slowly returning to a more normal rate, Dean said, "You couldn't have called and let us know you were coming? Just jumped into the back seat? About gave me a heart attack." A glance at the way Sam was still white-knuckling the steering wheel let Dean knew he wasn't the only one who'd been more than a little shocked by the sudden appearance of the girls in the back seat.

"We got tired of waiting." Bennett said with a shrug.

"We're just glad you're both ok." Sam said, slowing the car. He asked, "Where do we need to go?"

"Just pull over for a second, Sam." Casey said. "We need to take a second to talk and make a plan."

It took less than five minutes for them to share their experiences with each other. As a fire truck roared by, sirens wailing, Sam turned in his seat and said, "So whatever brought the Flaming Ship up is also bringing up other ghosts from other ships."

"Including Nazi ghosts." Dean said, catching Casey's disbelieving stare. He said, "When Bennett and I were on that boat tour yesterday, Darvill said there were hundreds of ships that are off the East coast."

Bennett nodded, "He called it the Graveyard of the Atlantic."

"And he said there were even Nazi U-boats that were wrecked off the coast." Dean added. "So I'm thinking we have a far bigger problem here than one cursed ship."

Sam said, "We've got a lot of angry, confused ghosts roaming this island. We need to put them down."

"How are we going to do that?" Casey asked, feeling a bit lost. She'd hunted. She'd hunted a lot in fact. This was bigger than anything she'd ever done, though, and she looked at the brothers, waiting for their input.

Dean exchanged a glance with Sam and said, "We're talking ships. Under the ocean."

"Salt water."

"Exactly."

"Never dealt with this before. Salt repels spirits. But these spirits have been soaking in salt water for ages." Sam said, frowning. "We have to find a way around that."

"Can we burn all the artifacts?" Casey offered.

Dean shrugged, "It's a place to start. But if the wreckage is only from one of the ships then it's not going to get rid of all of them."

"Why are they all coming up now?" Bennett asked, leaning forward and resting her chin on the back of the front seat.

Everyone looked at her and Casey nodded, "That's a really good question."

"Right." Dean nodded. "Ok. We need to talk to Matilda and…"

"A ghost took Matilda." Casey interjected.

"Why?" Sam frowned and Casey shrugged. Sam glanced at Dean and said, "What if Matilda knows something and the ghost figured that out. She has been dealing with the artifacts."

Dean nodded and said, "Casey, can you find her?"

"I can try."

"Here's the plan." Dean said, "Casey, you take Sam back to the museum then go look for Matilda. Whatever reason that ghost had for taking her, it's nothing good. Sam, look at the stuff Matilda's got. See if there's anything that looks like it might be cursed. Get rid of everything. Whatever is there, burn it." He looked back at Casey and said, "When you find Matilda, get her to the museum and see if you can figure out if she did anything to cause this situation in the first place."

Casey nodded and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"My future sister-in-law and I are going to go look for Gary Darvill." Dean said, glancing

at Bennett and seeing her nod in agreement. "He's been pulling up wreckage, so maybe he's got something to do with this." He looked at each of them in turn as a brilliant flash of lightning split the sky. Feeling no small sense of satisfaction, Dean said, "I'm going to take this opportunity to say, I told you so. Again."

Sam groaned, Bennett nodded seriously and Casey just leaned forward for a quick kiss. She grabbed his jacket collar and said, "You were right. We all admit it. Now, how about we just deal with the crap and then get out of here. I have a bikini in my bag that I'm dying to try on."

Dean's eyes widened as she kissed him again. He heard Sam laughing and then he blinked and Sam and Casey were gone. Bennett still had her chin resting on the back of the seat but she was grinning up at him. He rolled his eyes and slid over to the driver's side. A split second later and Bennett had climbed over the front seat to land next to him.

"Dean?"

"What?" He asked a bit shortly, then took a deep breath and glanced at her, asking more nicely, "What's up?"

"Can I get a puppy?" Bennett asked with a hopeful grin.

Dean took a calming breath, turned up the volume on Poison and said, "You already got my brother, kiddo. Don't push your luck."