When the Cradle Falls
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Golgothica
A Few Months Later
Cornwall, Connecticut
"This place looks like that creepy dollhouse you used to have."
Cara's mouth pulled into a frown. However, Noah couldn't see her as he was sitting in the back—yes he had gotten shotgun for the final stretch of the ride. "That was my favorite dollhouse."
"Uh-huh. Well if anywhere it's haunted, it's here," Noah said, still half ignoring Cara, staring at the Victorian-looking hotel.
"My dollhouse…?"
"No, not your dollhouse. This place." He pointed expressively through the windshield. "I mean come on, just look at it, Cara!"
"My dollhouse was not creepy."
"I bet you I'll find the ghost before you do."
Still offended with the fact Noah didn't appreciate her childhood toy as much as she did, Cara crossed her arms and slumped down further into her seat. "The ghost is more likely to find you before you find it."
Noah brushed off Cara's comment and the two sat in silence for a few minutes. Their mom had gone inside to check-in, leaving the kids in the car once again. Cara wondered when they would finally stop spending most of their times on hunts waiting in the car. They were back in school and at least once a month, during the weekends, Dad and Uncle Sam came to take Cara and Noah on hunts. The hunts had always been fairly local and benign—vengeful spirits making up a majority of the haunts.
But this hunt was different—not in the sense that it wasn't a ghost, they all knew it was—but because it was far away and Mom had come with them. She hadn't gone on the at all because she had to work. And this one was special because this was the first hunt they were all going on as a family.
And in that time, Cara was wondering what she would tell her classmates it someone asked what she did during the weekend.
"Hey Noah? Have you uh have you heard anything?" Cara asked, breaking the silence.
Noah immediately knew Cara wasn't referring to his ears, he shook his head. "No. Nothing."
Cara nodded and took a deep breath.
That was a good sign.
It meant none of them were in any mortal danger for the moment.
"Oh look here comes Dad," Noah replied, moving the conversation swiftly ahead. He opened his car door and exited the vehicle, Cara following close behind.
"How was the ride?" Dean asked, pulling each kid in with one of his arms.
"It was fine," Cara said, still a bit miffed she had been relegated to the back.
"Good, except Mom's taste in music is terrible."
Dean let out a good natured laugh and playfully pushed Noah away. But he had to agree. Alice did have terrible taste in music. Nothing but that country and pop crap.
"Yeah because My Chemical Romance is so much better."
Noah turned around, eyes squinting. "Better than that crap you listen to."
Cara raised her eyebrows and glanced at her father, as if waiting for him to scold Noah for saying "crap".
But Dean didn't appear to notice, as Alice and Sam came back and joined the group, both looking a bit miffed.
"We did EMF. The whole place lit up like a freaking Christmas tree," Sam informed, shoving the makeshift device back into his pocket.
"Find the needle in a stack of needles," Dean muttered. "But I mean look at this place, of course it would be somewhere like this."
"Oh come on! It's not that bad!" Cara insisted.
Dean patted her on the shoulder. "Oh honey, wait till you see the inside."
"Oh," Cara said in a low voice. She had turned around, only to see an old, flowery dress apparently adhered to the wall, unfortunately above the bed she had been stuck with.
"Now you see?" Noah asked.
"Switch with me."
Noah scoffed, immediately launching himself onto the bed he had claimed.
"I hate you."
"Hey, don't say that," Alice said, appearing in the doorway, looking—frankly—pissed off.
Both siblings rolled their eyes minutely. The last thing they needed was for her to try to find a reason to pull the plug on this hunt. It was weird. Because originally their dad had been the one who didn't want them to hunt, but over the past few months he had actually warmed up to the idea and didn't spend the entire hunt pouting. However, their mom had now taken his place and made sure to be the rain on their parade as the person that didn't want to hunt, even though Dad was on board.
"Sorry Mom."
"Yeah, she didn't mean it," Noah added.
"I don't care if you meant it. I don't want to hear you say that to each other. We don't say that word in that family because we don't hate. Got it?"
"Yeah whatever Mom," Cara said, growing a little more irritated with her mother that she wouldn't just leave her alone. She had really been getting on Cara's nerves lately.
"Don't talk back."
"I didn't! I—"
Alice held up a finger at Cara. "Ah! You're talking back!"
Cara gaped at her mother with an open mouth. "I didn't do anything!"
"What did I say?"
"I didn't do anything!" Cara snapped, her irritation giving away to indignant anger.
"That's it, Cara Clementine. You're done. You're sitting out this hunt."
Cara's mouth dropped open. "What? Why? That's so unfair! Why because I said I hated Noah? It was joke!"
Alice crossed her arms, mouth tightening into a thin line. Cara had always been a bit combative and stubborn, but as soon as she started middle school a few months ago, it was like the teenager switch had flipped. Since then, the mother and daughter had had their horns locked together nonstop.
"It's not just that, young lady. For the entire car ride you were disrespectful and rude—"
"Are you kidding me?" Cara exploded.
"You heard me. You've been acting out lately and I'm sick of it. So that's it. You're not on this hunt anymore."
"Dad won't let you—"
"Dad doesn't tell me what to do. I tell you what do to!"
"Well I hate you!" Cara yelled loudly. She immediately stomped towards the hotel room door and threw it open. She marched into the hallway, gave her mother one more nasty look and slammed the door loudly.
It felt like the entire building shook.
"You're grounded for three months when we get home!" Alice shouted.
Alice closed her eyes for a moment and took a ragged breath. She finally turned around at looked at Noah, who was staring wordlessly from the bed. "Don't start with me either," Alice said, moving past him, and into the bathroom, where she slammed the door.
"Stupid stupid stupid," Cara muttered from the bench she sat on. After the fight with her mother, she had gone outside, ripped down a small branch from a tree, and was now viciously ripping the leaves into tiny pieces.
"Excuse me, are you okay?"
Cara looked up, about to snap at whoever had interrupted her. But she stopped when she saw it was two girls. One of them was a pale blonde with curly hair, maybe a little younger than Cara. Her eyes were sunken in like she was tired. The other one—the one who had talked—was a bit younger, with straight, dark hair.
"Uh yeah, I'm fine," Cara replied.
"Are you staying at the hotel?" The younger girl asked.
"What's it to you?" Cara replied rudely, a little too angry with her mother to feel bad for being short with some random girls.
Immediately, the younger girl looked down, like she was about to cry. The blonde put a comforting arm around the younger girl and glared at Cara. "This is my house. That's what it is to you."
Cara took a deep breath. "Sorry. That was mean. Let's start over. Yes, I'm staying here with my family for the weekend. I'm Cara, by the way."
Perking up, the younger girl sniffled and wiped her eye. "I'm Tyler. This is Maggie."
"Nice to meet you two. So how long have you guys lived here?"
"My whole life," Tyler replied.
"Nice," Cara said, watching Maggie with her side eye. The blonde was still glaring at her. "It must be really neat to live in such a cool place."
Tyler immediately looked like she was about to cry again.
"What?" Cara asked, wondering what she had done now to set off the little girl.
"It's nothing it's just—"
"They're selling this place. They're selling my home," Maggie supplied with a dark edge under her voice.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Do you know why they're selling it?" Probably because they had a ghost that was killing guests. Cara didn't say that part, though.
Tyler shrugged. "I don't know. My mommy said she's just tired of living here."
"I'm sorry. This place is really something."
"It's my home," Maggie said again, sounding more angry than sad.
"I'm really sorry," Cara said again, feeling uncomfortable around Maggie. "Look, I should probably go find my family. But maybe I'll see you guys around later."
A few minutes later, Cara departed and was walking back to the hotel.
The entire way back, it felt like she was being watched.
Cara had taken to wandering around the hotel. She had cooled down a little bit but knew if she went back to the room and saw her mother, she would just get all fired up again.
The hotel wasn't very big—only three stories—but it felt like a maze. Each hallway was different. It seemed like every door, wall, and decoration was a different color or pattern. And Cara had decided that although the outside was originally adorable, and reminded her of her childhood, the inside felt like she had been swallowed up inside the belly of a wooden monster.
The drab and dreary interior reminded her a lot of Aunt Jan's old house.
Cara stopped for a moment and felt a weird ping in her chest, thinking about her aunt. She couldn't tell if it was because she missed her aunt, or because Cara felt guilty for not thinking about Jan more often.
But it was mostly probably due to the fact it was Cara's fault her aunt was dead. Sure, her parents told her not to blame herself, but if Cara had just listened to her aunt and kept the door shut, then maybe none of it would've ever happened.
Cara continued down the dark hallway, turning one direction, presented with another corridor. She had taken only a few steps the air in front of her turned white. She noticed the nearby windows had frost creeping up the edges of the panes.
Crap.
Feeling her pockets for salt, Cara realized she didn't have any with her.
She had left it in the room.
Glancing around frantically, Cara noticed a nearby fireplace tucked into an alcove. Reaching near where the fireplace tools were kept, Cara grabbed the pointy one used for stoking the coal. She wasn't sure if it was even iron, but it was the best she had at the moment.
Turning away from the fireplace, Cara continued down the hallway, holding the iron stoker out in front of her like a sword.
As Cara came to the end of that hallway, she began to hear a strange crackling sound. Not sure if it was the window panes buckling under the frostiness, she ducked around the corner as she saw a black figure stretching across the hallway.
Taking a few deep breaths, Cara waited until the figure turned the corner, before she jumped out, ready slash her way through a ghost.
But instead of a ghost, all Cara saw was her father, the EMF reader in one hand, buzzing like crazy, and a sawed off pointed at her, no doubt filled with rock salt.
Immediately seeing it was his daughter, Dean dropped the gun. "Damnit Cara, I thought you were the ghost."
Cara lowered her weapon as well. "I could say the same about you." At least she couldn't see her breath anymore.
Dean pocketed the EMF when he saw the activity ceased. "Well, at least the ghost is gone for now. Where'd you get that?" Dean pointed at her weapon.
"There's a fireplace down the hall. I could see my breath and it got really cold. I didn't have my salt or iron with me so I grabbed that."
"Well quick thinking, but can you tell me what the hell you were doing, wandering around the hotel with no weapons by yourself? Especially when you know there's an angry spirit here?" Dean asked, trying to keep his voice level. But it was hard, because if it had been the ghost that found Cara instead of him, then what?
"I was just trying to blow off some steam," Cara said, looking down at her shoes.
"Why?"
"Mom sidelined me."
"She what?"
"We got into an argument and she told me I wasn't allowed to help on this hunt. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm grounded for three months when we get home."
"Cara Clementine what did you do?"
Instead of yelling, Cara felt tears to begin to fill her eyes. "I don't know what I did! Mom just said I've been rude the entire trip and she was tired of it. But she won't let me explain myself and I don't understand why she's been so angry with me when I didn't do anything."
Dean sighed. He knew Alice was a bit on edge—similar to how he had been on other hunts. And he knew that tenseness she was feeling could come out as misdirected anger towards the kids. However, Dean did know that Cara was becoming moodier the last few months—similar to how Sammy had been around her age.
"Okay Cara, we'll both talk to her. But even if she did sideline you, I don't want you wandering around by yourself. Understand?"
Cara nodded slowly. "Um…Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I guess there is one other thing…"
Dean tensed. "What?"
Cara looked bashful as she explained. "Well, you know she made me really mad. And I said something to her I didn't mean."
"What did you say?"
Cara finally looked up at her father, eyes shining. "I told her I hated her. But I didn't mean it. I swear."
Bending down, Dean held out his arms for Cara. "Listen to me Cara, your mom knows you don't hate her. She knows you didn't mean it." He pulled back from her with a smile. "You have no idea how many times Uncle Sammy told Grandpa John that same thing. But he never meant it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But Cara, you should tell her you didn't mean it. Does that sound fair?"
Cara wiped an eye. "Yeah. That sounds fair."
"Great, then let's get the hell out of this creepy hallway."
When Dean and Cara finally returned to the room, she hesitantly followed her father in, surprised to see that only her mother was in there.
"Where's Noah?" Dean asked.
Alice looked up from the book she was reading in the corner chair of the room. "He's with Sam. They're talking to some of the hotel staff." Alice turned her glance to Dean. "Did she tell you what happened?"
"She did," Dean said in a neutral voice.
"And?" Alice asked in a challenging voice. "Do you have anything you want to say to me, Dean?" It was obvious she was still in the mood for a fight.
He shook his head. "No, but Cara does."
Alice scoffed and raised her eyebrows, thinking Dean was goading Cara into continuing this argument. He was gonna—
"Mom, I wanna say sorry."
"What?"
Cara shuffled forward a few steps. "I wanna say sorry. I don't hate you and I didn't mean it. I'm sorry for saying that. I'm sorry, but…I'm still mad at you."
Alice couldn't help but give a small smile. "Thank you Cara. I know you don't hate me. I love you." Getting up, Alice bent down and gave her daughter a hug.
"So…can I hunt now?" Cara asked, thinking that if she apologized, all would be forgiven.
"N—" Alice began, but then caught Dean shaking his head minutely. "I'll think about it. Okay."
Cara nodded. "But does that mean I'm still grounded for three months?"
Alice gave a slight smirk. "Don't push your luck, young lady. But I'll think about that too. Okay?"
A while later, it was close to midnight. Alice and Dean were sitting in the front seat of the Impala. Sam was holed up in his room researching. The kids were fast asleep, salt lines drawn around their beds, on the windows, and in front of the doors. Alice had also carefully placed a small iron tool under each of their pillows.
The two were sitting in silence. Dean stared at Alice's side profile. He didn't know what it was about her, but she seemed almost different. The expression on her face was stony, and she seemed wound up.
He also noticed how tightly her jaw was clenched.
"Alice, is everything okay?"
She turned her head slightly. "Yeah. Everything's great."
He frowned. "Are you sure? You seem…different."
She looked up at the ceiling. "Different, huh? I take it from your tone you mean that in a bad way."
Dean retracted slightly. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I just mean—Alice, I've known you long enough that I can tell when something is bothering you. And I can tell whatever it is is eating you."
Alice gave a sharp breath and immediately exited the Impala. She slammed the door shut and leaned against her side of the car.
Dean took several deep breaths and then followed her a few seconds later, emerging from his own side.
He paused for a moment, shocked when he finally looked at Alice. She was leaning against the side of the car. There was a click from a small object in her hands, and a flame rose from it. Alice held the flame to a stick between her two lips.
Removing the object, Alice blew out a puff of smoke.
Dean's mouth hung open. "Is that a cigarette?"
"Very astute, Dean," Alice said, talking with the cigarette hanging on one side of her mouth.
Dean continued to watch in surprise as she took another drag. She held it in for a second, and then tilted her head back. She closed her eyes and blow the plume of smoke up towards the sky.
It freaked Dean out with how much ease she went through the movements.
"You smoke?" Dean asked.
"It's a fairly new habit," Alice said looking as if she was talking to cigarette in her hand instead of Dean.
"Well, that's a filthy habit. And I would've thought you as a nurse—"
"I'm gonna stop you right there before you finish that thought, Dean. And relax, I don't do it all the time."
"But still! Your lungs—"
Alice angrily spun towards him. "Well then let's see who goes first: my lungs or your liver."
Dean immediately snapped his mouth shut. He watched her for several more seconds as she took longer and longer drags. Although she said it was a new habit, she was smoking with the ease of someone who knew their way around a cigarette.
"Alice, please tell me what's bothering you. I know it has to be more than Cara acting out. Is it the kids hunting or—"
Alice flicked the ashes of her cigarette to the ground. "You know, it's funny, Dean. You act like you're entitled to know every single one of my thoughts. And yet I'm not even supposed to ask you about how you're doing."
"I'm just worried."
"And don't you think I'm not always worried about you?" She retorted.
"Look Allie, you know I've always been a wallowing cesspool of anger and self-hate. But, you're not like that."
She frowned. "Yeah, but maybe I am."
"What do you mean?" Dean asked.
Alice sighed, almost laughing to herself in irony. "Here I go, about to tell you everything again. Because I just can't not tell you when you look at me like that and ask me like that." Her voice broke at the end.
"Allie, what's going on?" Dean pleaded. He was starting to get scared with how she was talking.
"A few weeks ago…that one hunt you and Sam took the kids on—you know the one I didn't go on?"
"Yeah?" Dean responded apprehensively.
"Well…I lied to you. I told you I have to work, but I really didn't. I just wanted the weekend to myself, you know. But then I go a message from Seth saying he was gonna be in Chicago for the weekend—some gig or something. And he asked if he wanted to meet up.
"So we did and ended up talking and drinking, and all Seth could talk about was how great his dad was and how much he missed his mom. He told me all these stories of when he was a kid, all the hunts they went on…
"And the entire time I was just thinking about how I had never had that. And I don't know if it was the alcohol talking, but the next day I ended up driving to Broken Bow."
Dean was utterly silent.
"And I drove to my old house—it looked exactly the same. I just walked right up to the front door—I don't know what I was thinking—and rang the doorbell. And then I heard footsteps on the other side, and a few seconds later, the door open.
"And…it was my mom. She just looked grayer and more severe, but it was her. But as soon as I saw her, the first thing that came out of my mouth was 'Hi Mom," Alice scoffed. "'Hi Mom.' That's what I said. Like no freaking time was passed."
Alice took another puff from the cigarette. "And do you know what she said to me? Do you know what my fucking mother said to me?"
Dean knew Alice wasn't expecting an answer.
"Sherry fucking Mercer looked at me right in the eye with this cold glare. And with this icy, frosty voice she said 'I'm sorry I think you have the wrong address, I don't have a daughter.' And then she shut the door. Right in my face."
Alice sniffled a few times, which turned into disbelieving laughs. "'I don't have a daughter.' And then she just slammed the door in my face. Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell did I ever do to you, Sherry, for you to say that to me? Is it because I had kids out of wedlock? Oh wait, I know you never acknowledged them but now you're gonna act like I never existed, right to my fucking face. But even before that, what the hell did I do to deserve for you to treat me the way you did. You never showed me even a smidge of affection or warmth. And now you're just gonna erase me from your memory?
"First of all how dare you. Just because we haven't talked in years doesn't mean you're not my mom. I have never denied the fact you're my mother. And second of all, how dare you for making me feel like I was the problem my entire life. You made me feel like I was a failure, a freak. And you know what? I spent my entire life believing I was as pariah.
"But you know what? Fine. I'm done with you. Because I know there was nothing wrong with me. You were the problem, Mom. Not me. And shame on you for making me think I was."
Alice scoffed again. She was stomping out the current cigarette while simultaneously lighting a new one in her mouth.
"The kick in this pants is that I called her when Aunt Jan died and she at least acknowledged who I was then. So maybe it was stupid and impulsive of me to show up without saying anything, but I'm done wasting any energy on her. Finished. Goodbye. You're dead to me, Sherry Mercer; just like I am to you"
After about half a minute of her dragging on her cigarette, Dean realized she was done speaking.
Slowly approaching her, he stood directly in front of her. Gently, he took the cigarette out of her lips and stomped it under his boot. "You don't need that." Then, he leaned forward and kissed her, both hands on either side of her face.
Alice pulled away from this kiss. "Mmm. I would love to. But please, if you don't want me to smoke my entire pack, can we please go to a bar? I need some tequila shots."
Dean smirked slightly. "Forgot you liked those."
Alice gave a small smile. "The mood calls for it."
"Do you think the kids will be okay?" Dean asked.'
"Text the kids. And text Sam and let him know to watch out for the kids. We'll be back before the morning anyways. And trust me, they know better than to leave the hotel room."
The Next Morning
With a sudden start, Sam jerked backwards, sliding the chair he had fallen asleep in into the wall and was woken up by the sound of knocking at the door.
"God damn," He muttered, rubbing his head where it had hit the wall. He looked at the table in front of him. It was piled in notes and now there was a stain of coffee across a good deal of the papers.
"Jesus, I hear you!" Sam half shouted to the door, expecting it to be Dean telling him to move his ass.
But when Sam swung open the door, he was surprised.
His niece and nephew were standing in front of him in their pajamas. Both had a short iron blade in one hand and a canister of salt in the other.
"What's going on?" Sam asked,
"Mom and Dad texted us saying they were going out last night. They told us to tell you if anything went wrong. They said they'd be back by the time we woke up. And they're not back yet," Noah supplied.
"You have a phone?" Sam asked incredulously.
"We have a safety phone," Cara informed bitterly. "You know. In case we're ever in danger. We share it. So stupid…I should just have my own phone, I mean I am in middle school so I should have my own phone…" she trailed off into her own thoughts.
"And what time is it?" Sam asked.
"Almost eight."
"She woke me up early," Noah accused.
"That's why things are wrong. We tried to call them but they didn't answer," Cara supplied, feeling worried. "They told us text or visit you whenever we wake up."
"Okay well both of you come in here. You're not standing in the hallway." Sam ushered both of them in and then excused himself to the bathroom before he shut the door before he tried to call Dean and Alice
When Sam was in the bathroom, Cara turned to Noah. "I told you Maggie and Tyler don't know why their mom is selling this place."
He shrugged. "Maybe cause they've had guests die."
Cara shrugged. "Well yeah…but why?"
"Cause Maggie and Tyler's grandma is really sick," Noah responded. When he and Sam went to talk to guests, they found out from the owner Susan—her mother was on her deathbed, and Cara had filled him in on the grandchildren, Maggie and Tyler. "I mean you met them and neither of them mentioned the fact their grandma was really sick."
"But don't you have to be dead to be a ghost?" Cara asked.
Noah shrugged. "I don't know. Okay?"
"I could ask Maggie and Tyler, I guess," Cara said.
Noah blanched. "But you said they didn't say anything."
Cara gave an explanation. "Look, you said I couldn't get everything at first."
"But they didn't say anything," Noah responded.
"Well maybe I didn't ask them hard enough," Cara responded. "Look, if you just cover for me then maybe I can figure out why."
"Cara…there's a ghost out there."
Cara sighed and took a step towards her brother. "I'll have my shotgun, salt, and EMF with me—I'm prepared, even if they don't believe it. I'm already grounded for three months—definitely more than not—so at this point, what's another month? We've been through worst monsters than a ghost. Also, Mom and Dad aren't here, so we just have to sit here forever or what?"
"Then let me come with you," Noah said.
Cara smiled. "Look, I know Maggie and Tyler better than any of you, okay? I'm pretty sure I'm the one they'll talk to, especially Maggie—she's kinda weird. You said you never even met them so it's best if it's me again."
Noah frowned at felt a conflict within him. He really didn't want his sister to go alone but he also wanted to figure out what the hell was going on—since they seemed to be the only ones in the game.
"Cara, wait," Noah begged, as Cara opened the door.
"What?" she asked, turning around.
"Aren't you gonna change?"
Looking down at her t-shirt that she was wearing from a ballerina competition—which she definitely didn't want—and the floral pajama pants, plus the sandals, she decided it was fine.
"Does it matter how I look when I catch a ghost?" Cara asked.
"Well, please just let me help you," Noah responded again.
Turning to her brother, Cara scrunched her eyebrow. "What if we have to run far?"
Noah gave a fake cough into his shoulder. "I'll be fine."
Cara gave him a slight smile. "I'm not gonna let you bust your knee again. I mean I can't stop you from following me, but you won't get as far as me so it's pretty useless anyways. And you might as well stay here."
"My knee is fine!"
"Okay, fine! Your knee is fine but that's not the problem here!" Cara replied, sneaking near the door. "I'm the only they will willingly talk to so please…Noah, hey look, I have to go. Please cover for me and I'll owe you? I'll do whatever you want."
Noah growled and hopped onto a chair at the table, not liking her proposition.
Kneeling down in front of him, Cara looked at his face. "Will you sit here and let me do this?"
Noah looked at his sister. "I hate it."
"But will you?" Cara asked, sounding hopeful.
"Fine. But if anything happens to you—"
"I'll be fine," Cara responded, with a smile.
"I don't care. If something happens to you, you owe me, I don't care if I already owe you something.
Cara nodded, gripping her brother's hands. "We'll end up okay."
She approached the door and turned as she opened the door. "But if something happens, I'll owe you double, okay?"
And then she was gone.
The Previous Night
"Hey bartender, can we have another?" Alice asked, feeling her voice almost separate from her body.
"You really want another shot?" Dean asked.
"Yes, Jesus fuck," Alice responded, as she slammed back the shot. She really wanted another cigarette but figured some more alcohol would appease Dean a bit more.
Snapping around to Dean, Alice stared at him. "You know, you owe me three shots."
"Are you kidding me Alice?"
She gave him the slightest smile. "No.''
Dean gave a small sigh. "Allie…we're on a case here. Don't you remember what happened last time we went out while hunting?" He asked, referring to the Devil's Lake case in North Dakota.
Feeling her buzz ruined, Alice frowned and snatched the neck of the half empty beer bottle near her elbow. She took a swig and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "What? You mean the fact I almost went home with another man?" Alice asked, referring to Peter.
A flash of possessive anger crossed Dean's face. "That's not what I meant."
Feeling mischievous, Alice leaned forward, placing the tip of her finger under his chin. "I can tell how angry it made you."
Dean pushed her hand away. "Alice, cut it out."
Irritated at his rebuff, Alice slid off the stool. "Well, Dean, I was hoping you would be the man I take home tonight, but I guess I could find someone else…" She felt a hand grab her wrist.
Trying to hide a smirk, Alice turned towards Dean.
"Come on, Alice," Dean said again. "I know you're acting out because—"
"Acting out? Cara's the one acting out. I'm an adult, Dean."
Dean sighed. "You're hurting. I can tell—"
Alice huffed and sat back down next to him. "You're killing my vibe, Winchester."
"Alice—"
"I'm not talking about this anymore." Her tone was final. It was the same voice she often used with Cara and Noah when they had finally pushed her to the edge.
Clenching his jaw, Dean nodded and silently grabbed his own beer.
Feeling a bit bad by how abrupt her comment was, Alice sighed, and placed a hand on his thigh. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so harsh. I just...want to forget about it for a while."
Dean swallowed as her hand went higher up his thigh. "Allie…"
"I just wanna forget, Dean. Please help me forget."
The Current Morning
Sam exited the bathroom and looked around. "Where's your sister?" he asked Noah.
Noah looked at the door and gave a slight shrug.
"Where?" Sam asked again.
"Hmm." Noah tapped his chin for several long seconds. "I mean…I think she said she was going to put on some jeans or something. Look, Sam, I just want to prepare you. She wears mascara and lip gloss now," Noah supplied, trying to act like it was some groundbreaking revelation. He just remembered their dad had not been happy to find out Cara was now wearing makeup.
Noah continued. "You have no idea how long it takes her to get ready. I've spent hours waiting for her."
Sam gaped at him. "She takes that long?"
Noah sighed. "Oh definitely. She tries on at least three different outfits. Okay, maybe she's wearing some eyeshadow too. Look, I don't know. She's ready whenever she's ready. And if you try to rush her well…can I just say good luck."
"It takes her an hour to put on eye shadow?" Sam asked, thinking about how long it took Jess to get ready.
Noah panicked for a moment but ended with a smile. He had a promise with Cara. "It takes her over an hour to get ready—she's so bad at makeup. It's really such a pain. She's such a girl. I hate it. She takes forever." Noah shook his head like he was irritated with Cara putting on mascara, even though she was doing something he knew everyone would hate.
"Are you kidding me?" Sam asked. "It can't take her that long."
Noah gave a laugh. "Don't let her know that, though. She'll feel bad, okay?" Noah responded, with a rock in his stomach.
Sam sighed and took a step towards the door.
Noah stood up—hating himself, and wishing Cara was okay. "Wait!"
"What?"
"There's…something I need to talk to you about."
"What is it, Noah?"
Noah twiddled his thumbs, trying to make himself look nervous for what he was planning on saying, as opposed to the fact his sister was hunting a ghost alone. "I just…I don't know how to tell you."
"Noah, what is it?"
"Well…Uncle Sam…I think I like someone…but I don't know. And I can't ask my dad because you know…he's dad."
Sam glanced at the door. "Noah, is this something we could talk about later?"
Pulling out the big guns, Noah did his best puppy dog impression. "Please, Uncle Sam?"
With a sigh, Sam sat down on the bed opposite of Noah.
"Well, you see…Uncle Sam…I really like Heather." The young boy gave a dramatic, distressed sigh. "She's really nice. But…I also really like Morgan. And I just…I don't know what do to."
Sam sighed and took a deep breath.
Cara had only been wandering in the hallways—like she wasn't supposed to—for a while before Tyler found her.
"Aren't you coming to our tea party?" Tyler asked.
Cara shrugged. "Sure. Who's gonna be there?" She tried to hide the small bag with all of her stuff in it behind her back.
Tyler smiled. "Well, now you, me, Maggie, and Mrs. Bear."
Cara looked down at the stuffed animal in Tyler's hand. She then looked up at Tyler. "When is the tea party?" Cara asked.
Suddenly appearing at her side, Maggie had a hand gripped tightly around her arm. "I mean I hoped it would be right now."
Cara looked around the hallway. "Really? Cause I was hoping I could get some ice."
Maggie smiled. "Don't you want some fresh tea?"
Cara shrugged, trying to look carefree. "Maggie, I'm just a little tired. I was hoping to get some ice for my water. I was really thirsty. I was gonna get some water and then go back to bed."
Maggie gave a stern smile. "You're thirsty? Then perfect. Tea will hit the spot."
Looking down at the pale hand wrapped around her wrist, Cara suddenly became aware to the strange crackling she had heard earlier.
Wrenching her wrist out of Maggie's grip, Cara dropped to her knees, her bag in front of her. Sifting through the bag, she finally pulled out the EMF reader.
It was going crazy.
Standing up slowly, Cara held the device out in front of her. "Guys, it's not safe here," Cara suddenly said. "We need to get out of here."
Sweeping the EMF reader in front of Tyler, the reading went down a bit.
When Cara swept it back the other direction, she stopped when the device was held in front of Maggie. The EMF reader was crooning at the highest, most annoying pitch, with the red sensor lit all the way up.
"You?" Cara whispered, staring at Maggie.
With an insidious glare, Maggie flicked her wrist and the EMF reader went flying into a wall, shattering into little pieces.
Immediately scrambling for her bag, Cara groped for either the shotgun, canister of salt, or iron. But before she could grab anything, she felt herself lifted up by the collar of her shirt. Slammed against the wall like her EMF reader, Maggie held her against it with paranormal strength.
"That wasn't very nice. To make up for that, you're coming to my tea party." Maggie slammed Cara's head harshly against the wall, the young girl passing out.
"And she always smells like strawberries—" Noah suddenly stopped.
"Noah?" Sam leaned forward in response to his nephew freezing.
"Wait just…be quiet for a second." Noah got up and stood in the middle of the room looking around.
"Noah what—"
"Shh!" Noah insisted still looking around.
Sam only waited several more seconds before he grabbed Noah by the shoulders and shook him. "Noah. Noah! What is it?"
Noah's eyes refocused and stared at his uncle. "I hear something."
Sam shivered, knowing instantly Noah was talking about his powers from Yellow Eyes. "What do you hear?"
Slowly, Noah turned his head to the door. "I hear water."
Sam was still trying to process why Noah would be hearing water, when he realized his nephew had bolted from the room, and was now sprinting down the hallways.
"Cara! Cara where are you!" Noah shouted.
"Noah! Noah stop!" Finally catching up to Noah, Sam grabbed his nephew by the wrist and dragged him back. "Stop and tell me what the hell is going on!"
"Cara's in trouble."
"How do you know that? Because you hear water?"
Noah desperately looked around the hallway. "No! Because she went looking for the ghost!"
"What do you mean she went looking for the ghost?"
"I—I was supposed to distract you so Cara could go talk to the sisters that live here. She said she was hoping she could figure out who the ghost was."
"So you're telling me Cara went off on her own to go try and find a ghost and you lied to me so she could?"
"Yes! Because Mom and Dad are gone and we knew you would've made us sit in the room!"
"And isn't it better if you were?" Sam demanded, his worry flaring. And of course, Alice and Dean were nowhere to be found when shit was hitting the fan.
"Well does it really matter now?" Noah yelled back.
"Fine, but we're talking about this later."
"We can talk about whatever you want whenever we find—" Noah trailed off.
The two had turned down another hallway, both stopping dead in their tracks.
"That's her bag," Noah murmured. He bent down near Cara's abandoned backpack. Everything—her salt, shotgun, and iron—were all neatly tucked away inside.
"Noah, look," Sam called from a few feet away. He held out his hands, showing Noah the shattered pieces of Cara's EMF reader.
"Where is she?" Noah asked. "Cara?" He called out softly, unable to make himself any louder than that.
"The ghost has her. Noah, the ghost got her," Sam said.
All Noah could hear was the sound of water getting louder and louder.
"Ah!" Cara lurched forward, waking up from the foggy dream state she had been in. "What's going on?"
"We're gonna go for a swim," Maggie said. The little ghost girl was holding tightly onto Cara's arm.
"I don't like it up here," Tyler cried. She peered over the side of the ledge, down to the pool below.
"It's okay. All you have to do is jump," Maggie assured.
"But I can't swim!" Tyler said.
Cara immediately felt a shiver run through her, thinking back to the Hanratty brothers and that damned pond.
"I know. But it won't hurt. I promise. And then we can be together forever. And no one will bother us."
"Why don't you just come with me and Mommy?" Tyler asked, tears running down her face.
Because put a hand on the side of Tyler's face. "Because I can't leave here. And you can't leave me. Please. I don't want to be alone."
"Don't do this Maggie, please don't do this," Cara demanded, trying to prying the ghost's hands off of her.
Maggie turned to Cara, her eyes actually glistening. "If you just float, it doesn't hurt. Don't fight it and I promise it won't hurt."
"No, Maggie no—"
"I know you've floated before, Cara. This'll be just like last time. So peaceful."
"Maggie please no!" Cara begged as the ghost dragged her and Tyler towards the edge.
"Maggie what are you doing?" Tyler cried, now sobbing uncontrollably.
"Here Cara, teach her how to float."
And with that, Cara was flung over the edge, plummeting into the water.
"Susan, hey Susan!" Sam greeted the hotel owner, nearly running into the stack of boxes in her hands.
"Oh uh hi Sam," Susan replied, righting the boxes, and attempting to move around him.
"Susan, where are your daughters?" The end of his phrase was cut over by the sound of the top box tumbling to the floor.
"My d—I don't know Sam. I really don't have time right now. The moving truck is here and—" She was bent down, trying to grab the objects that had fallen out of the box.
"Have you seen either of your daughters?" Noah tried again, impatiently.
Susan paused, object in midair. She looked at Noah like he had grown a third arm. "Um, I only have on daughter."
"One?" Sam asked.
"But I thought you had two daughters named Maggie and Tyler."
Susan now looked at Noah like he had four arms. "Tyler is my daughter. Maggie is imaginary."
Noah immediately turned to Sam. "Maggie is the ghost."
"Susan, where's Tyler?" Sam demanded immediately.
"Did you say ghost?"
"We don't have time for that now. Now Susan, where's Tyler?"
Beginning to become frantic, Susan threw her hands up. "I don't know! Tyler mentioned something about having a tea party with Maggie but that's all I know!"
"Well then who is Maggie? She must've died in this hotel, right?" Noah yelled.
Flustered, Susan's cheeks were becoming red as she ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know I don't—oh my God. Wait. My mom had a sister named Margaret. She barely spoke about her."
"Did Margaret happen to die here when she was a kid?"
Susan nodded her head vigorously. "She drowned in the pool."
Noah heard a splash.
"Oh f—" Alice immediately clapped a hand over her eyes and tried to turn her head away from the bright sunlight.
Her hand scraped across the bottom of the floorboard. Feeling a piece of fabric, Alice blindly sat up and put on the article of clothing. Without opening her eyes, she could tell it was Dean's undershirt. It smelled like him.
Eyes still shut, Alice sat up, her limbs tangled with Dean.
Only she sat up too quickly and banged her head against the window. "Oww! Shit!" She muttered, scrunching her eyes shut even further, rubbing her head.
"Al?" Dean asked.
"Nothing," Alice said. "Just hit my head." But she knew that wasn't the only reason it hurt.
"Good lord," Dean grunted as he sat up. "My neck…"
"Yeah, my back. Seriously, don't you think we'd learn by now that doing it in the backseat of a car is never a good idea?" Alice asked, slowly acclimating to the sunlight.
"Guess not. Damn. What time is it?"
"A little after—oh shit."
Dean sat up a little straighter. "What is it?"
"I have a ton of voicemails from Sam and the kids."
Pulling the phone to her ear, Alice played the newest voicemail from Sam. "Hey look, Dean's not answering his phone and I don't know what the hell you two are doing but both of you need to get back over here now. The ghost took Cara. So get back here."
The phone nearly fell from her hands as Alice catapulted herself over the front seat and shoved the keys into the ignition. With no word to Dean, she sharply reversed the car, causing him to fall off the seat.
"Alice what the hell?"
Alice glanced back at him the rearview mirror. "Sam left me a voicemail. He said the ghost took Cara."
God, this was all her fault.
Sam, Noah, and Susan all reached the pool house and began pounding on the front door, yelling both Cara and Tyler's names. The three of them pounded on the door and began to break the glass around it.
"Is there another entrance?" Sam yelled.
"Around back!" Susan shouted.
"Noah, you stay here and keep trying to get in. Okay?" Noah nodded, only able to hear the sounds of water splashing.
Susan and Sam ran around to the back door, and after giving several sidekicks, the door burst open. Just as the two made it, Noah had been able to break enough glass and wriggle though an opening in the window.
Not even thinking, Sam launches himself into the water and grabs one of Tyler's limp arms and one of Cara's. Surfacing, he dragged both of them to the edge of the pool where Noah and Susan were waiting, helping to pull them out.
Both girls were unconscious.
"Cara? Cara? Cara wake up! Don't you remember you said you'd owe me if anything happened to you?"
"Tyler, come on baby, Tyler, please."
There were several seconds when the pleading had stopped and the trio anxiously waited for the girls to wake up. And then suddenly, both girls began to cough up water, gasping against the air.
Crying, Susan collected her daughter in her arms and held her tight.
Sam propped Cara up with one arm. While Noah wrapped his arms around her. "You so owe me," he muttered into her ear.
"I'm gonna be in so much trouble," she coughed.
The Impala screeched to a halt in the parking lot, both Alice and Dean feeling their hearts drop.
There was an ambulance pulled up to the entrance of the hotel and a gurney with a body bag was being rolled out.
Exiting as quickly as possible, Alice began to yell Cara's name.
Dean followed closely behind, staring at the body bag, feeling his world crumble, thinking his daughter was in that bag.
Just as Alice was about to essentially jump on top the body bag, Sam appeared and held her back.
"Sam let me go! I have to see her!" Alice wailed.
"Alice Alice listen to me! Cara's alive!"
"What?" Dean asked quietly from behind.
"That's not Cara. That's Susan's mother. Dean, Alice, Cara's alive. Do you understand me? She's fine.
"The ghost was Maggie, Rose's little sister who drowned in the pool years ago. She came and killed Rose. The ghost is gone and Cara is okay. Rose is the one in the body bag, not Cara."
"Cara's okay?" Dean asked, hollowly.
Sam gave a relieved smile and clapped him on the shoulder. "Yes man. She's alive. She and Noah are upstairs in the room."
Alice looked around, as if she was trying to find something to focus on. "Drowned?" She whispered so quietly that no one heard her.
"You said she's upstairs?" Dean asked again.
"Yeah."
Alice felt someone grab her hand and drag her through the rat maze of a hotel.
When they entered the hotel room, they saw Cara, wrapped in a mass of blankets, propped up on the bed further away from the creepy dress pinned to the wall. Noah sat cross legged on the end of the bed. There was a deck of cards laid out in front of them.
Noah turned over his shoulder and glanced at the door. He stared at his disheveled parents for a moment before turning around like he hadn't seen them. "Do you have any eights?"
"Uhh…go fish," Cara replied, her voice sounding hoarse.
Actually hearing and seeing her daughter in person reanimated her. Launching forward, Alice closed the space between her and her oldest child, kneeling down on the side of the bed, and pulling Cara sideways, nearly causing her to tumble to the floor.
"Hi Mom," Cara muttered in a muffled voice, face smushed into the crook of Alice's neck.
"Oh my baby!" Alice mewled, making a huge scene.
Noah shook his head and scoffed as his parents fawned over Cara. "Where were you guys?" Noah asked, quietly.
Pulling away from Cara, the two parents looked back and forth between each other. "We were…" Alice began.
"We're here now, Noah. It's okay," Dean said, trying to place a hand on Noah's shoulder, but the young boy jerked away, showing a level of annoyance the parents weren't used to seeing in their youngest child.
"But where were you? You left us alone in a haunted hotel where there was a ghost killing people."
"How did the ghost get in the room?" Alice asked, her arms wrapped around Cara.
Feeling some of his annoyance eroding away to sheepishness, Noah looked down at the cards in his hand. "We weren't in the room."
"Why not?"
"Because you guys weren't there. Your text said to find Uncle Sam if we needed help. So that's what we did."
Dean frowned. "You're saying you were with Sam when the ghost got you?" That didn't add up to the father.
Cara and Noah looked at each other. They had talked about this before their parents got there. Sam already knew what happened, and the two had begged them to let them tell Dean and Alice, knowing they would rather catch their parents flak, as opposed to the shrapnel from Sam's retelling of the event.
And don't worry, Sam had already reamed both of them out.
"He wasn't, so don't blame him," Noah said. He turned and look at his sister. She had an almost dreamy expression on her face. During their game, he kept having to recapture her attention.
He wondered if she heard splashing water.
"I distracted Sam while Cara went to go talk to Maggie and Tyler, hoping she could find out more about the ghost. Too bad that none of us realized Maggie was the ghost."
"Why would you two think that was a good idea?" Dean asked. If he wasn't so relieved by the fact Cara was alive and both of his kids were in one piece, he had no doubt he would've blown a gasket.
"People were dying. You weren't there. And we knew Uncle Sam wouldn't have gone to hunt the ghost without you, Dad.
"We were the only ones that were there."
"You have anything to say about that, Cara?" Dean asked.
She shook her head. "Everything he said is true."
"You two know better than to go out and hunt without us."
"I know but we are hunters, Dad. It's in our blood. We save people. Same as you. And that's all there is to it." With that, Noah crossed his arms and was done. He wasn't going to justify himself anymore. He said his peace and now his parents could ground the pair of them for a year.
Dean glanced over at Alice, who vaguely seemed to be listening what was happening. She still clutched Cara like their daughter was a baby bird almost blown from the nest.
If Dean wasn't so hungover and goddamn glad his kids were alive and the ghost was dead, he probably wouldn't have been able to recognize that Noah was right—to an extent. "Okay. Maybe you're right. But I don't know how many times I have to tell you that you two can't just go off like that."
Noah nodded, but wisely didn't say anything. He didn't want to push his luck, as it sounded like his dad was actually going to be reasonable for once.
"Still, I can't just let this slide. I'll let you guys keep hunting—but if either of you pull anything stupid in the next few hunts, you're done. So instead of taking away hunting, you guys are on weapons cleaning duty for the next six months. Both of you." Dean turned and glanced at his daughter.
Cara nodded, knowing she had a hand in her almost drowning.
By the lack of protest from both kids, Dean knew they both understood what they did was stupid.
He was glad they recognized they had been stupid.
What scared him was that they still went ahead and did the stupid thing anyways.
He was going to have to keep a closer eye on them when on hunts.
He shook his head. It was amazing how far he had slipped from the beginning, when he hadn't even wanted them to hunt in the first place, and then he had given them the opportunity to do something stupid. He trusted them enough to hunt, but it was apparent he had forgotten they were kids, and their judgement was critically flawed.
But again…they were just children.
Again, Dean's thoughts looped back around to how it was his fault that they were even in the situation in the first place. Regardless of the fact they were hunting, he had gone with Alice to the bar to get smashed and end up passing out in the Impala.
Slowly, Dean swiveled his head to Alice, still trapped in her own head. It reminded him of the first time he saw her. She was wearing converse, jeans that were too small for her—her parents didn't believe in buying new clothes too often—and a sweater that tightly fit around the top of her torso. Her hair was parted down the middle, and she had books clutched in her hand. He didn't know what it was that captivated him, but maybe it was the fact she glided past everyone, so unaware of how many people stared at her—it didn't matter if she was classified as a nerd…she was gorgeous.
God…the effect Alice had had on him. All it took her was a single bat of her eyelashes or a sweet plea, and he would do anything she said. She had a hold on him since they were teenagers, but every time he came back to her, her hooks seemed to sink deeper into his heart, even more than that first time in the hallway. And she had imprinted herself so deeply within him, he couldn't think of ever leaving her or saying no to her.
And Dean would never blame her for what happened to the kids. Maybe it was her idea to go to the bar, but she was hurting. Her own mother pretended like she hadn't known who she was. Maybe John had always been a bit rough around the edges, but he had never denied Dean as a son.
Damn. No wonder Alice was spiraling. It seemed like she always had been, and had stopped for a long time. But now, it seemed like she was spiraling like they were when they were kids.
"Alice?" Dean asked a few times.
Eventually turning her head, her glazed eyes made contact with his. "Yeah?"
"I told them that they both have to clean weapons for six months…but maybe you shouldn't ground Cara for three months? Six months of weapons cleaning instead?"
Alice frowned at him from where she sat on the bed. "Okay, I'll agree to that if you give Cara seven months of weapons cleaning and Noah six."
Cara's mouth hung open. "Mom are you kid—"
Dean held up a stern finger and shushed her. "That's a lot for lenient than we should be. Do you understand?"
A bit miffed—still glad she got to hunt, but the fact her near death experience didn't help her at all—Cara gave a curt nod. "Yeah. I do. I understand."
Dean nodded. "Good. So we're all okay now."
The four of them all nodded like bobble heads at different speeds.
After a few seconds of silence, Cara sat up a little straighter, uncomfortable with the silence. She gave an uneasy smile and tried to joke. "Hey at least when I almost drowned in the pool it didn't smell like fish like that pond."
Sorry it's been so long since I've gotten a chapter out. I just finished my first semester of graduate school so these past few months have been a bit crazy and stressful. Regardless, I still appreciate everyone who has favorited, reviewed, and followed.
I would like to know if you guys prefer:
-Shorter chapters but more frequent
-Longer chapters but less frequent
Again, I think starting now, if people leave reviews, I will start trying to respond to to them at the end of the chapter.
Again thanks everyone for your patience!
V.