Jade tilted her head, and a pleased expression slowly overtook her face. Even before Chase translated for her, she nodded and replied "Xie xie!", stepping out from the protective cover of the boxes. If she looked petite before, she looked absolutely tiny now. She still didn't flinch at the sight of everything looming around her. She carried herself with quiet dignity and purpose despite the fact that she walked on a floor tile wide enough to hold a house for her.

Gold stayed close by her while the others followed. He said something to her and she answered matter-of-factly while continuing her determined walk across the open floor.

Determined or not, their strides couldn't cover a lot of ground and the office blocked by police tape was quite a trek away.

"He thinks they should do it on their own. Says their luck can only stretch so far," Chase said, hanging back to keep Dean and Sam in the loop. "She's still our biggest fan, though."

Chase let himself shudder from the draft in the room. His body was smaller and thinner than Sam and Dean's, so he had an even harder time retaining body heat. Sam's recommendation to bring a jacket made more sense by the second, and Chase found himself burying his hands in his pockets when he asked, "So, can spirits, like, fight each other or something? Do they do that a lot?"

Sam shook his head, latching onto Chase's question to distract himself from the vast expanse around them. Normally, if they were to spend any time away from the walls or cover, Jacob would be around. His presence was a comfort, always listening for them to give him directions and ready to offer a hand off the floor if they told him so. Even then, they only came out in the open in extreme circumstances.

Out in the open was danger.

Even with Jade's confidence, the hairs on the back of Sam's neck rose with nerves, and he knew his brother was feeling the same, based on the way Dean's shoulders bunched up slightly. Sam gratefully focused on what he knew of spirits. "Mostly, the spirits that stick around in our world are here for a reason. Something that holds them back, or if they refuse to move on. They lash out, a lot of times continuing the same patterns they used to follow in life. Plus, most of the vengeful spirits we've heard of from the books or our dad work alone. So we don't have much experience with multiple spirits together."

Chase raised his eyebrows, quietly impressed by the well of knowledge that spilled out of Sam. There was a lot more to the entire thing that he had never considered. "I guess all bets are off with these guys, since they were sent here, rather than getting stuck," he mused. Their master, it seemed, had been keeping tabs on things from wherever it was spirits went when they passed on.

When the small group's long trek took them across the slanted beam of dying sunset light, Gold glanced back at the others. He called something to them, and Chase answered back in equally snarky Mandarin. Gold's eyes widened and he bristled, but a dismissive wave of Jade's hand stopped him before he got started.

Chase chuckled and shoved his hands in his pocket. "Man, he really doesn't wanna be here," he commented.

"If he wants to head on home, we've got this covered," Dean stated brashly. "Little salt, a little fire, and that spirit's as good as gone."

"Dean," Sam said, sending a glance towards Jade and Gold to make sure they didn't know what Dean was going on about.

"What?" Dean gave him his most innocent look. "If he doesn't want to finish the job, we can take care of it for him."

Sam nudged him with an elbow, and Dean tried to dodge out of the way. The banter served as a distraction from the room around them, helping dispel some of the nerves of people who were too small for the open world.

With Dean behaving (for the moment), Sam frowned in curiosity. "I never read much about other cultures and how they take care of their dead," he admitted, thinking to himself that he might borrow the laptop from Jacob when they finished up in town. Years of living in a motel with no access to any source of knowledge that wasn't Dean, Walt or Mallory had left him behind in many of the studies he wished he could have delved into.

Chase shrugged, though a smirk remained on his face. If not for Sam's comment, he might have considered telling Gold about Dean's offer just to see what the uppity spirit might say about it. Instead, he tilted his head thoughtfully. "Whoever these guys work for, my guess is he's been gone a few generations."

While the zhi ren strode on purposefully, that strange paper rustling always accompanying their steps, Chase went on. "These two were made by burning little effigies in an offering. They're supposed to be puppets so he can have an easier afterlife. I guess coming and collecting embarrassing family members counts. I guess it's pretty cool that old tradition actually works. Almost comforting."

While he spoke, the small group made good progress. Despite having short legs, the zhi ren never seemed to tire, crossing the dusty floor with purpose. The door to the scene of the death loomed closer and closer. A tall X of yellow police tape covered the frame, but the door hung wide open and even from several feet away the small group could see into the room. It was the tidiest room in the rented space, free of any stacks of boxes, but dust still floated in the air within.

Chase clenched his jaw at the sight of a dark brown splatter stain high on one of the walls within. Blood.

"Jesus, whoever these guys came for is not playing nice," he commented weakly. That stain was high enough on the wall to be chest level with Jacob. Chase thought he might turn green when he realized that there was more blood in one glimpse of a stain than he had in his entire body.

"Most spirits don't," Sam said gently. "They're frustrated and confused, and they lash out. They're like cornered animals until they're put to rest." The sight of blood didn't turn his stomach so much as the smell did, and they weren't close enough yet to make out that trademark stench. The sharp tang of iron would kill anyone's appetite.

"There's more to all those legends and traditions than you might think," Dean interjected. "In fact, a lot of those old stories tell us how to get to the bottom of a case, like werewolves and silver."

"You've got to watch out for red herrings, though," Sam continued. "Not all legends, after all the years of being passed down, have any truth left to them."

Chase winced. He told himself he'd need to have Jacob catch him up on a few things after all this. Sam and Dean were both repositories of more information than he'd be able to take in on this particular case. Tempting as it was to pour out question after question, he didn't need any distractions. Not while he was pocketable.

The closer they came to the door, the more Chase could see of the office. Papers and trinkets alike were scattered on the floor, most of them looking like they'd been knocked away by a struggle. Shards of a two foot tall porcelain statue littered the floor near the open doorway. Chase could see one piece crushed in a bloody shoe print, most likely stepped on by one of the people that found the victim.

Jade and Gold stopped a foot from the door and turned around to face the others. Chase swallowed thickly as the stale air clinging to the room seemed to drift towards them with aims to drag them in. More and more dried blood came into view.

Jade pointed into the room, at the desk standing towards the back. Most of the papers and office supplies and tools that originally lived on it were on the floor or knocked over. All except for one thing.

A vase, white with blue designs painted on, stood as pristine as though it were new instead of a century or two old.

Chase opened his mouth to ask something, but frowned and tilted his head. "You guys hear that?" he asked, glancing up at Sam and Dean. Something distant called for his attention. It took him a moment to realize what the achingly familiar sound was, until he remembered the sound of a shoe scuffing on linoleum. The same echoed in real life, somewhere nearby.

Sam paused, back in the rear of the group to listen and wait. Unfortunately, with Chase looking at him, his most useful ability was cancelled out. A constant tingle accompanied Chase's gaze, making it impossible to tell if anyone new was about to spot them. Sam grimaced, focusing on his hearing.

Maybe he was relying on that ability too much.

Dean froze when he heard a scuff, then a distant door creaking open. "Jacob wouldn't come up here unless it was an emergency," he said knowingly, a dark tone in his voice. The sound of someone saying Dude! drifted to the five tiny people in the room, and it wasn't Jacob's voice.

Out in the open. They were out in the open and Jacob hadn't locked the door of the office.

"Chase!" Dean snapped. "We've gotta go! Tell them it's time to run and regroup!"


Harry trudged up the stairs behind Ed, letting out a world-weary sigh as he checked over the EMF meter for what had to be the tenth time. "This better not be a waste of time like the last place we searched," he shot up the stairs in a hiss, adjusting the equipment slung around his shoulders, including the camera bag for the DSLR at the ready in Ed's hands.

Ed turned his head slightly and held out a hand in a calming manner. "Chill, dude," he said, his slower, deeper voice a counter to Harry's hyperactive behavior. "Remember, just a few more hits like the hellhouse we found back in Texas, and we get everything we ever wanted."

The case they'd found was more promising than most while they waited for the leap year to investigate their 'big fish,' the Morton House. A killing in a house with locked doors was a red flag on their list of 'things to watch out for' that they'd compiled in their years since founding . It would help fuel their dreams of having their own network TV show in the future, and make it that much closer to being a reality.

Maybe they could even have their own team.

Until then, they would steadfastly travel around, searching for proof of the paranormal and supernatural world that they knew was out there, one strange rumor at a time.

"Fame, fortune, girls," Ed continued on, giving Harry his most knowing look. "It's all waiting out there for us, we just have to reach out and grab it."

Harry took a deep breath. "Right." He closed his eyes to steel his nerves. He would never forget the sight of the man haunting the hellhouse back in Texas, their first real encounter with the supernatural almost two years back now.

WWBD. I can do this.

"Lead the way," Harry said, fiddling with the dials on his EMF meter. It finally lit up, tracking the electromagnetic frequencies around them and hopefully finding them a ghost. Fame, fortune… girls.

Ed took the last few steps up the stairs, and found the door to the office space to be open. "Dude!" he exclaimed. "Don't even have to break in this time. We are golden." He pushed it open, stepping over the threshold and holding his camera at the ready. Most of their money went into the equipment and their mobile home, but it would all be worth it soon when they had their own show, own following, even a team to work with.

The police tape pointed the way to their destination, and Harry took the lead with his EMF reader while Ed scanned the room with the camera to give their future viewers a good look at their surroundings.


Chase's eyes widened and he stared past Dean at the impossibly tall door of the office. He could hear the voices beyond it, and he could feel tremors in the floor. His mouth was suddenly parched and his heart rate quickened, knowing it wasn't Jacob out there. He had no idea who had just come through the door from the stairs.

Suddenly, his size came crashing down on him just like before.

He was small. One of the smallest in their group, as it turned out, and without any of the knowledge of how to survive at this size. Motes of dust floating in the air would probably have actual weight if he let one land on his palm. The hallway stretched overhead and all around like the Grand Canyon.

He was already calling to Jade and Gold when he turned around to face them. They were whispering quietly to each other, and he ran up to them to put a hand on each of their shoulders. "We have to go! " he told them in Mandarin. They still didn't look any more concerned than before.

"It will be alright," Jade answered him calmly. She lifted a hand towards his face as if to comfort him while Gold bristled at the sound of voices in the hall.

Chase shook his head and turned away from them, ready to follow Dean's lead. He hadn't realized that after his blind dash away from Jacob, he'd feel a similar fear coursing through him. The imminent threat of completely unknown giants filled him with adrenaline. These ones weren't as experienced as Jacob. They weren't as careful and loyal. They were strangers that could inadvertently step on him if they weren't looking.

"Chase, get them moving!" Dean called to them, hating every second that his voice was raised. Noise meant they could be heard, and being heard…

The door started to swing open and Dean switched over to fight or flight mode. Priorities crashing over him suddenly streamlined, and he focused on what he could do.

Fighting was out of the question with humans, which left flight.

He was about to run for Chase and the zhi ren when he realized he hadn't heard a word from Sam since originally hearing the humans coming into the building. Dean turned, and felt a curse rise to his lips.

Sam was frozen, his eyes wide with fear.

Memories came to mind of all the years they'd lived in the motel together. That one fateful night, when Sam was first starting to accompany his older brother to the rooms to get supplies. They'd passed by a room with a kid who was throwing the tantrum to end all tantrums.

Cries, screaming… even going so far as to stomp an action figure of his into pieces. Dean had gotten his little brother away from the sight as fast as possible, but it had scarred Sam in more ways than one. No more would Sam go willingly near a room with a kid in it.

For Dean, all he could remember was the wide-eyed fear in Sam's face as his little brother clung desperately to him, and he'd carried Sam away.

That same fear was staring out at Dean now, and he instantly tossed himself into action. He couldn't let Sam get himself caught.

Dean hit Sam with more force than he'd meant to, almost toppling them both over as he latched onto Sam's arm. "C'mon, kid, we gotta go!" he ordered, his voice snappish in his hurry. Sam didn't say a word, but Dean's actions galvanized him into moving his legs, slowly coming out of his panicked funk.

The towering boxes were just in reach as the humans crossed over the threshold.

"Holy shit, dude!" Harry exclaimed, his attention off the EMF meter as he spotted tiny figures down on the ground running from them. His own eyes were wide, an accidental mirror of Sam's from seconds before. "Look, there's a… look. There's two guys over there… I saw… where'd they go?"

While Harry was babbling incoherently, Ed spotted the other three trying to catch up with the two that vanished. "This is it!" he exclaimed. The camera fell out of his hands, only held up by the strap that connected around his neck. Not risking the last of the tiny people escaping them, he grabbed the camera bag that was hanging from Harry's shoulder and practically dragged his friend from his feet while lunging forwards. Harry's arms pinwheeled.

The bag slammed down over Chase and the zhi ren's heads, leaving Harry and Ed staring at each other in disbelief.


A/N:

And our secret guest stars have appeared! Presenting: The Hellhounds! (also known as The Ghostfacers in later appearances)

Next: June 28th, 2023 at 9PM


Adding in this author's note for all my followers here, and will keep it on all chapters going forward:

If the worst happens and fanfiction shuts down, you can find all my stories on both archive of our own and deviantart, posted under the nightmares06 account. You can also find our story tumblr, which contains a ton of information and answers that are only posted on that site, along with artwork for the stories and future plans we have. That can be found under the brothersapart tumblr account. I can't put links in chapters, but googling "Brothersapart tumblr" should bring it right up!