CHAPTER 16

She couldn't hear his words, couldn't tell what he had said, but Casey heard Dean's voice as clearly as if he were standing right here with his arms wrapped around her, his chin resting so perfectly on top of her head. For a split second, she smiled, feeling the comfort that came from knowing he loved her, that he was always there for her. But the comfort faded and she was left with nothing but a flaming ship around her and the cold abyss in her heart of knowing Dean wasn't with her.

Casey stared at the captain in front of her and let herself feel Dean's voice, feel his pain, his distress. She couldn't hear the words, didn't know what he'd said or what he needed, but she could feel his pain. He was hurting; physically and emotionally. He needed her.

So she went to him.

In a heartbeat, she was in the museum and looking at her family and her smile faded. Because they were a mess. She looked immediately at Dean and saw his eyes light up with disbelief and joy when he saw her.

"Did ya miss me?" Casey smiled, relief and exhaustion overwhelming her. The room went dark and then she was falling.

"Echo!" Dean reached futilely for her; hampered by a bullet wound in his leg and maybe just a little from the blood loss.

Thankfully, Sam was not so hindered and easily caught her before she could hit the floor. Dean strained to scoot closer, hearing Sam's reassurances as he did. Sam said, "She's ok, Dean. She's ok. Just worn out, I think. Took a lot of energy to…"

"She is singed, Sam!" Dean shouted, actually seeing smoke rising from her inert form. "She's singed."

Sam's eyes widened at Dean's proclamation, but he looked more amused than concerned. Casey was already stirring, her head tilting Dean's way as Sam held her. She rolled her eyes and mumbled softly, "I'm not singed."

"Your hair is smoking!" Dean said, cringing at the pain in his leg as he inched yet a little closer, still trying to reach out to her.

Casey lifted a hand to her head and pulled some of her loose waves in front of her face for an inspection. The strands came away in her hand in a smoky clump. Her eyes crossed as she stared at her hair, then she burst out laughing. She pushed herself up slightly and said, "You're right!"

"Of course I am." Dean muttered, letting himself fall back against the wall in exhaustion. He asked, "Are you alright?"

"Besides the sudden desire for a haircut, yes." Casey nodded, letting the strands of burnt hair in her hand drop as she pushed off the floor to scoot closer to him, a smile on her pale, slightly sooty face. She touched his cheek and whispered, "I'm alright, Deano. Really."

Before he could reply, or lean in for the kiss he so desperately wanted, a thunderous clap of thunder rocked the museum, and everyone stared at the shaking window as lightning flashed and lit the room. Sam met Dean's eyes and said, "This is not good."

"Not good at all." Dean agreed, turning back to Casey. "How did you get here?"

"The usual way. Pouf." Casey spread her fingers in an illustration of an explosion. "I heard you calling for me; not the words exactly, the spirit activity is really interfering with my ability to focus. I needed to stay out there to do what I could to keep the spirits in check, but I knew you needed me so I came." She narrowed her eyes and visually inspected his body, focusing in immediately at the blood on his leg. With a gasp, she leaned forward and said, "What happened?"

"Pissed off a Nazi." Dean grinned, even though he was starting to feel less cheeky and more like passing out might be in his near future. Casey reached out a hand, but he caught her wrist and shook his head, making the room spin dizzyingly. He said, "Don't."

"Dean!"

"Casey, don't. You look like you're going to fall over. Sam told me how much power it was taking for you to protect this building and be out there on the ship." Dean said, his voice softening, "Just, please. Wait."

Casey's eyes teared, and she squeezed his hand. "Dean, you're bleeding…"

"Not the first time." He let his head lean back against the wall and took a deep breath. "It's not that bad. Just need a minute to catch my breath. We all do."

Dean could tell Casey wasn't convinced, or happy, but she simply busied herself checking the dressing on his leg, then said something about looking for a bottle of water. He watched disinterestedly as she moved through the room, feeling the lethargy sweep over him. Sam had also moved away and was doing a careful sweep of the building as the thunder continued to shake the windows and even the floor under them. He knew this was no ordinary storm, even so, the frequency of the flashes of lightning and the fury of the thunder were shocking. He felt the vibrations of another pounding thunderbolt, then let his eyes slide closed. He just needed a minute. Just a minute to catch his breath. That was all…

"I'm going to check out back." Sam said, after circling the room.

Casey nodded, water bottle in her hand. She said, "I've still got the museum secured, Sam, but nothing beyond that right now."

"I'm not leaving the building." He assured her, "Just want to see if we have an army arranging itself between us and the lighthouse."

"Be careful." Casey said, probably unnecessarily. Sam nodded and headed for the back hallway. She was on her way toward Dean, when she noticed Bennett sitting huddled against the desk. Feeling the weariness to her core, Casey still felt terrible that she hadn't even thought about Bennett until right now. Making a detour, Casey set the bottle of water down and knelt next to her friend.

"Casey?" Bennett whispered, reaching out with a shaking hand.

"Hey." Casey smiled, catching her hand, "I'm right here."

"Did you take care of Dean?"

"I'm fine." Dean muttered, eyes still closed.

Casey rolled her eyes, but Bennett persisted, "He got shot. By a ghost!"

"I know." Casey said, frowning at the way Bennett was sitting stiffly against the desk. "What happened to you?"

"Tree…" Bennett said, squeezing her eyes closed as a shiver ran through her. "Wrong place, wrong time…"

"Story of our lives." Dean spoke up again, tilting his head and meeting Casey's worried gaze. He smiled slightly and said, "She learned how to drive."

Casey raised her eyebrows, glancing from Dean to Bennett, then back again. She asked, "What?"

Dean nodded, "Learned under pressure, sure, but she got us here in one piece."

"Good job." Casey smiled at Bennett. "How are you doing?"

"Headache."

No doubt, Casey thought. She gently touched Bennett's head and said, "I can help with that."

And she probably could have too, if the windows hadn't all blown in at that particular moment. Casey threw herself forward, shielding Bennett from the shards of glass, even as she concentrated all her power on maintaining the protection over the museum. It was disconcerting to feel unfamiliar weakness pulsing through her bones and Casey realized the malevolent spirits were combining their strengths under the guidance of Captain Montgomery.

It was taking everything she had to hold them back.

If it hadn't been for trying to control all the spirits out there, she wouldn't be struggling like she was right now. And she certainly could have had the strength to heal both Dean and Bennett. Feeling discouraged, she held back the powers that were shoving back against her with everything they had. Knowing she was still able to do that much did help absolve her of some of the guilt she was feeling.

"We've got a problem!" Sam's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Casey looked up through the driving rain that was pouring into the room from the shattered windows. Sam was running towards them, shotgun in his hands. He said, "There is an army out there. And they are not going to stay out there for long. Also, the Flaming Ship? It's almost to shore."

"Shore leave for ghosts?" Dean griped, brushing glass off his jeans and out of his hair. "Wonderful. Well, I've already met the only Nazi ghost I ever need to. Is there a plan? Please tell me there's some sort of a plan."

Casey exchanged a glance with Sam and they said at the same time, "There's a plan."

"Sort of." Sam amended.

"Not sort of." Casey argued.

"Just tell me what the heck it is!" Dean shouted over the din of the storm.

Casey said, "It's a spell. A reversal. The spell Matilda was using to bring up the wreckage also brought up the spirits. It awakened a particularly vengeful one named Captain Malcolm Montgomery. He's been possessing Matilda and has her spell book. Sam started working on a binding spell and then we need to get ahold of the original spell and work a reversal on it in order to send all the spirits back to the deep blue sea."

"Ok." Dean waved a hand, impatience clearly winning out over the blood loss and pain. "So let's do the thing."

Sam said, "It's going to be complicated."

"You really needed to clarify that for me, Sammy?" Dean rolled his eyes. "Has it ever, even once, been anything except complicated?"

"Maybe once." Sam said, with a quick smile.

Casey said, "I need to get back on the ship and get that spellbook back while Sam finishes the binding spell."

"Ok." Dean nodded, "So we do it. Where's the complication?"

"Me." Casey admitted, feeling her gut twist with the weight of her inability to do it all. To have the strength needed to protect everyone, heal them, and get the spellbook back. She said, "I'm having trouble holding back the power of the spirits. And the spellbook…"

"Is warded." Sam said, shoving a bookshelf in front of the nearest window.

"So you can't even open it to do the spell." Dean said, grabbing Casey's hand.

Casey sighed and said, "It was taking time for me to fight the spirits in order to get to the spellbook."

"And then you still need time to break through the warding," Sam added.

Dean wiped a hand down his rain-soaked face and pushed himself to his feet, using Casey's hand as leverage. He said, "We'll go together."

"No." Casey shook her head, "You are in no condition…."

"I'm fine." Dean cut her off immediately. "The only way any of this ends well for any of us is if we do the spells and gank these waterlogged ghosts for once and for all. Can you get us both on the boat, Echo?"

Hesitating, Casey weighed her options. There were few. And the look in Dean's eyes told her that she shouldn't even bother to bring up the few options since he was going to have an ironclad reason to shoot them all down. So she took a deep breath and said, "Alright."

"Alright." Dean said with a shaky thumbs up, still leaning against the wall. He said, "So what's the plan?"

Casey met Sam's gaze and said, "Same basic plan as before. I should be able to get us back to the ship and hold back everyone that's going to want to kill us while we grab the spellbook and you get it open, Dean."

Dean nodded and looked at Sam, "You get that binding spell done and we'll do our part."

"I will." Sam said, "Just like we planned."

"I won't be able to protect you any more if I'm concentrating my power on the ghosts on the ship." Casey said, desperation swelling.

Sam shrugged, but it was Bennett who spoke up. She said, "I can paint a picture...keep the ghosts from even seeing us."

Casey liked the sounds of that. In theory. What she didn't like was the way Bennett

seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open as she spoke. Casey almost protested, but, before she could, Sam spoke up, "Let's do it."

"Sam?" Dean asked, and Casey could feel her worries reflected in his tone.

"We need to do this." Sam said confidently, "We can do this."

"Okie dokie then." Dean said, a grin on his face as the thunder pounded and the rain swirled in through the other windows. He turned to Casey and said, "But after this…"

"After this?" Casey asked, wishing he didn't look so unsteady and that she could have healed the wound in his leg.

"After this," Dean said, "Bikinis. Beaches. Bacardi."

"In that order?" Casey raised an eyebrow, amused with the way his mind worked.

"In any order." Dean said, then waved a hand. "Let's go."

"Good luck." Casey said to Sam, then took Dean's hand and a second later, they were standing on the deck of the Flaming Ship of Ocracoke. Casey looked at Dean and repeated her statement, "Good luck."

Dean took in the sight of the burning deck, the ghosts swarming around them, and the sight of Captain Montgomery standing in front of them and he said, "Yeah. I think we're going to need as much of that as we can get, Echo."

Sam didn't like this any more than Dean or Casey did, but they really didn't have a choice. The howl of the wind and the nearly continuous rolling of thunder reminded him that his brother and Casey weren't the only ones who had a mission before them. Turning around, he saw Bennett holding out a hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"You going to be able to do this?" He asked, seeing her sway just a little before gaining her balance.

"If you can make sure…" She broke off, letting her head rest against his chest, then said, "that I don't fall over, then I can make sure the ghosts don't bother us."

"Deal." Sam said, keeping his arm around her shoulders as he surveyed the room.

The wind and rain were turning the once neat museum into the scene of a disaster. There was no way he would be able to do the spell in this mess. The candles wouldn't stay lit for one thing. Knowing time was of the essence, he said, "Bennett? I'm going to gather up the supplies we need. But we can't do the spell here. Can you look around for a closet or a storage room without windows?"

"Yeah." She said, taking one step away from him, her posture stiff as she moved. Rubbing her side, Bennett headed down the hallway.

"Be careful." He called out after her.

"You too."

As soon as she turned a corner, Sam quickly grabbed a cardboard box that held some of the artifacts from the shipwrecks and dumped the contents out onto the floor. He cringed as the stuff fell and something broke. Now was not the time to worry about what priceless piece of history he'd just shattered. If he didn't get this spell going, history wasn't going to be the only thing to shatter.

The entire island would be destroyed by its own history.

Shoving everything into the box that he thought he would need, and even a few things he didn't think he would need, Sam stood up quickly and turned around. He didn't see Bennett and hoped she was having success in finding a safe place for them to go. Holding the box carefully in his left arm, he picked up the shotgun and caught sight of a hoard of ghosts stalking toward the museum. Cursing under his breath, he moved off to one side of the window and waited for the moment the ghosts would come for the door.

"What are you doing?" Bennett's whisper, barely audible over the storm, startled him from his study of the ghosts.

Sam backed away from the window and hurried to her side, "We gotta go. The ghosts are…"

"Confused." Bennett grinned. Rolling her eyes at his look of confusion, she went on, "I've got them, Sam. Ok? I've got us hidden. For now."

"For now?" He asked, daring a quick glance back out the window.

Bennett sighed, "I've kind of got a headache already. I don't know how long I can keep up ghost distraction duty, so how about you stop trying to shoot them and hurry up and do that stupid spell?"

Sam laughed. And then shook his head at her annoyed expression. He nodded, "Ok, ok! Did you find a…"

"Room with no view?" Bennett asked, annoyance fading as she leaned against the wall and smiled, "I sure did. Without the ghosts, the witches spell, oh and the toilet, it would be actually kind of cozy."

"A bathroom?" Sam raised an eyebrow, following her down the hallway, keeping the shotgun ready.

"I thought we were in a hurry." Bennett said, hand against the wall as she walked.

"We are." Sam agreed as the building shook and something crashed into the roof above them. Bennett's eyes widened and Sam urged, "So hurry."

Dean thought he knew what to expect when he was about to be teleported to a flaming ship, but actually finding himself standing amid the flames, staring down at least a dozen very angry spirits, was more intense than he'd ever imagined. He'd been in a lot of crazy situations over the years. Crazy doesn't really even cover it, Dean thought to himself, feeling Casey's hand on his arm. This was an entirely new level of beyond crazy. A ghost ship floating in the Atlantic, resurrected by a witch's spell and led by a ghost who was trying to rouse all the spirits from the deep.

"Dean." Casey's voice was raised in order to be heard over the roaring wind and the crackling of flames.

"Yeah. Get the book. Got it." Dean nodded, feeling Casey's grip on his arm tighten. "You got the spirits?"

"Got them." Casey said, then moved from his side to pull him into a desperate embrace.

Dean leaned down as she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. Her hands were tangled in his hair as she pulled him ever closer until Dean almost forgot about everything except for the gorgeous woman he held in his arms. Wanted to forget about everything except for Casey and the seemingly far off dream of holding her close forever in peace.

But there was no peace right now. Only flames licking the blackened sky, burning into the clouds, tinting the ocean blood red.

He smoothed back her windblown hair and kissed her deeply, then pressed his forehead to hers and whispered, "I want to run away with you."

Casey breathed out a sigh and nodded against his head, her hands still twisted in his hair as she said, "You are everything I have ever dreamed of, Dean Winchester."

She pressed her lips against his once more, then Dean brushed her hair back from her face, pulling back slightly and meeting her gaze. He grinned and said, "Let's gank some ghosts, babe."

"And bikinis after." Casey smiled, stepping back and lifting a hand toward Captain Montgomery.

Painting a picture for a ghost was far easier than painting pictures for a demon. However, painting pictures for twenty odd ghosts with a headache the size of Mt. McKinley was so much more difficult. At least they were out of the rain and sheltered from the wind. Even if being crushed up between the sink and the toilet while Sam set up the supplies necessary for the spell was not exactly her idea of a good time. She flicked her Zippo and lit the three candles he set up on the lid of the toilet. Bennett decided that, as much as she had been irritated with the way Matilda had been falling all over herself in front of Sam, the girl did have at least one good point.

Matilda was apparently a clean freak.

Given the fact that she was practically cuddling with the museum toilet, Bennett was grateful that Matilda kept a clean shop. Once the candles were lit, she slid back as far as she could and pulled her knees up to rest her head on them while she listened to the roar of the wind outside. Worry bubbled up as she thought about Dean and Casey out there on that ship, but she forced herself to focus on the one thing she could do to help them. Painting a picture to keep the ghosts away so that Sam could do his part and work the spell.

"Bennett?" Sam's voice was calm, soft. "You ok?"

She nodded, not lifting her head from her knees as she whispered, "Remember that part about hurrying?"

"Yeah."

"So hurry."

Time passed in a murky, spinning haze of misery that reminded her all too well of the very first time she'd ever gotten drunk. She could hear Sam's calm voice reciting words she didn't understand and let it lull her into a sense of peace as she concentrated on the spirits.

Dean figured out pretty quickly why Casey's hair had been on fire.

He was going to smell like smoke for days. At least he wasn't actually on fire. He glanced quickly at Casey, saw her hand extended as she fought off the captain. She was holding back the flames from him, keeping the ghosts away from him and, from the looks of it, she was annihilating a few of them at a time. Dean saw the absolute determination in Casey's eyes and knew she was going to be just fine.

She had the spirits contained and all he had to do was find the warded book of spells and perform the second spell before Casey burnt herself out. Dean knew where he was most likely to find the book and headed toward the Captain. He heard Casey call out to him to be careful and he nodded, waving a hand distractedly. Trusting her to protect them both, he took a step across the deck.

His leg didn't give out like he'd been afraid it would, but it was weaker than he would

have liked and each unsteady step forward reminded him that he was still leaking blood and not at the top of his game. Gritting his teeth, Dean limped forward, the shotgun gripped in his hands. The rain was almost a solid wall of icy water as he walked through it, the ship lurching and rolling under his feet. Between the flames, the smoke, and the downpour, and oh yeah the quart or so he was low, he was having a difficult time simply walking across the deck.

"Dean!" Casey's voice broke through the thunder and storm.

Turning his head, he looked back at her through the driving rain and held up a questioning hand. She rolled her eyes and said, "He's holding the spell book!"

"I know!" Dean shouted, "Hence the walking toward him!"

"Well walk faster!"

This time, he rolled his eyes and limped forward as he shouted, "I'll just saunter on over with a hole in my leg."

"You're the one who wanted to come on this trip!" Casey screamed, her eyes flashing grey as a half dozen ghosts suddenly went up in flames.

"All I wanted was…" Dean started to say, but was interrupted by what sounded like an explosion. He stumbled forward, grateful that he ran into a railing and not a ghost. Going down on one knee, he felt the sharp pain in his leg as he kept it stretched out on the slick deck.

Glancing back at Casey, he saw that she had flattened everything around her. The entire stern of the ship was aflame now.

"You are a fool."

Dean blinked, staring into the face of a pirate with yellow teeth as the ghost's hand closed around his throat. The Captain's breath reeked of rum and Dean grimaced, his hands coming up around the pirate's wrist as the Captain said, "You should never have come here."

The grin on the pirate's face vanished in a cloud of smoke and salt spray as Dean brought the shotgun up and fired it into the spectre. The heavy spell book hit the deck and he slid down to the deck, bleeding leg stretched out in front of him as he reached for the book, casting a quick look at Casey. She was walking towards him, but her focus was on the spirits.

He opened the book and flipped through the pages, searching the unfamiliar text for the binding spell that would forever consign the ships and the spirits back to the deep where they belonged. The storm seemed to swell and the rain, if it was even possible, fell out of the sky four times as heavily as before. Bracing his back against the railing, Dean kept half his attention on what Casey was up to and used what was left of his attention to focus on his search through the book.

It took far longer than it should have to find the spell, but finally it was in front of him and he was reading it off, tripping over some of the words. The heat of the flames seemed to be licking closer with every syllable he uttered, and then he was at the end of the spell and looked up at the feel of a hand on his shoulder.

"Dean?" Casey was screaming.

"It's done!" He shouted back.

Casey nodded, leaning down and taking the book. She hurled the book into the flames and the ship seemed to tilt on its axis. And then she knelt next to him, her hands sliding around the back of his head as she leaned her forehead against his and said, "Time to go put on my bikini."

"Yes please." Dean grinned. "How do we get off this doomed ship?"

"Well…" Casey said slowly, her hands gently running through his hair. Her face was pale and the answer he didn't want to hear was written clearly in her eyes.

Dean drew her closer, holding her steady as the ship jolted and spirits screamed all around them. He said, "We don't get off this doomed ship, do we?"

Casey kissed him and said, "We're getting off. But we're going to get wet."

Dean waved a hand at the downpouring sky and said, "Wetter than this?"

Laughing, Casey said, "Ok, maybe not wetter."

"Are you alright?" Dean asked, although he already knew. She wasn't alright. Not at all. He pulled her closer until her head was tucked against his chest and said, "So we swim."

Casey nodded, her hands tightening around his back as they both felt the ship begin to tear itself apart.

Sam sat back against the wall across from Bennett. He'd finished the spell a moment ago and the screaming of the spirits had escalated and then died off sharply even as the wind had gusted and he'd briefly thought the museum was going to blow down on top of them. When the roof remained above them and the walls stopped shaking, he felt the tension ease out of his shoulders.

"Sam?"

He glanced over at Bennett. She'd had her head down against her knees the entire time he'd worked the spell. He slid a bit closer in the cramped space, and gently touched her shoulder, "Hey."

"It over? I can't...I don't sense the ghosts anymore."

"Almost. The spell is done. Just waiting to see…" He broke off at the sound of an explosion outside. The tension that had just eased returned with a vengeance and he squeezed her shoulder and said, "Stay put."

Sam carefully opened the bathroom door and found the hallway devoid of spirits although it was littered with leaves, sand, papers and puddles of water. He closed the door behind him and held the shotgun ready as he walked back into the main room of the museum. Shaking his head at the mess, Sam had just stepped up to the wide window facing the ocean when he caught sight of the Flaming Ship of Ocracoke.

Despite the pouring rain, the flames continued to lick up to the dark clouds. It was such a vivid sight, yet so far away. So unreachable. And that was where Dean and Casey were. Sam wondered how they were doing and how he could get out there to help him when the ship suddenly exploded. His stomach twisted as he watched the flames triple in height. Holding his breath, Sam waited, hoped, prayed. But the ship disappeared into the water and no one appeared standing safely beside him in the shelter of the museum.

The water turned red as the Flaming Ship of Ocracoke sank into the water, then everything went to black.

For a long moment, he remained frozen in place. The downpour didn't lessen. The sky was still split by shards of bright lightning and the thunder rattled the building, but there were no more spirits in sight. And still no big brother or his angelic girlfriend appeared. Worry coursing through his veins, Sam turned around and found Bennett staring up at him.

A tear slid down her cheek as she whispered, "Are they…"

"I'm going to find them." Sam said immediately.

"Not without me." Bennett said, grabbing his jacket.

"Yes without you."

"Like hell."

Sam smiled at the unexpected response. He shook his head, "I'm getting you somewhere safe and then I'm going to find them."

Bennett grabbed his hand and said, "I am coming with you. They're my family too."

It only took a split second for him to weigh her words before he nodded and said, "Yes they are."

"So let's go find them."