"Hello?"

I flinched at the suddenness of the gruff voice in the mostly silent house. "In here!" Man. I had almost gotten to sleep. While standing…bad planning Cass. Bad planning.

Two men holding shotguns came in cautiously and looked a little startled at the amount of ghosts. They looked vaguely familiar.

"Dean, we're going to need more salt." The taller one said.

Dean looked at us. "You two okay?"

"Tired, but fine. I'm glad they don't care about the dog."

Batman was awake now, and going over to the men, hesitant and still defensive.

"Batman, where's your ball?" I asked, distracting him.

"Your dog's name is Batman?" Dean asked.

"Yes, let's focus on the dog while we're surrounded by ghosts and we aren't sure where my half-brother is. That's what's important," I said dryly, folding my arms.

He gave sort of a nod, looking at the ghosts as they walked past them.

Nico finally woke up and got up, barely awake. "Are the ghosts still surrounding us?"

"Yeah," I smoothed his hair. "But Grandpa's help has arrived I think."

"Why aren't they attacking us?" The taller man asked, frowning at the room.

"Anybody you know that would want to send ghosts after your two?" Dean asked, going right up to one of them.

They didn't even look at him. They were fixated on us.

"Not really." Nico smirked a bit. "Normally I'm in control of the ghosts."

Then I really looked at them. Two men. One named Dean. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had kept me from realizing that I definitely recognized them.

I gripped Nico's arm. "Two things. One, my curse that we're working on breaking."

Both men glanced at each other and moved through the ghosts to us.

"Second," I continued, dropping my voice to a whisper. "Supernatural. They're the Winchesters. And they don't know about our…history."

Nico frowned. "Dude…"

"You know who we are?" Sam asked, looking confused or maybe concerned as he entered our salt circle.

"Yes, but you'll never believe where I know you from. It's complicated. How do we get rid of these ghosts?" I checked my container of salt. Empty. Of course.

Dean looked around the kitchen, then nodded toward the can of tomato sauce. "Were you making dinner or something?"

"I was hedging my bets, tried burning sage. That seemed to make them…well, like this. There were pretty hostile looking before. How do you know Grandpa?"

"Gareth? We didn't even know he had grandkids. Met him while we were fighting a hydra. You're his granddaughter?" Sam was definitely friendlier right now than Dean.

Of course, they were just now noticing my skeans, and the iron poker that Nico was casually holding like he would his sword.

Parker managed to leap onto the counter and hiss exhaustedly at the ghosts, then sniff at the burnt sage.

"Cassandra? Nico?" Grandpa Stoll's voice boomed from the entrance.

"In here!"

The ghosts were moving, their attention caught by his entrance. They rushed toward him as he ran in, he had a strange sort of weapon that seemed to make them dissipate.

"Bloody awful!" He leapt into the circle, hugging us close to him so that there was room for him. "Sorry, I brought some more salt."

I gave him a hug, then backed away. "Theory time?"

"Ooh, goody!" Grandpa nodded firmly at the Winchesters. "Boys, good to see you're alive. Now, what's your theory, Cassie?"

"They're after our kind. Nico could go out there and be fine, those two too. But if I were to step out or you, they would attack again."

"How do you suggest testing this theory?"

I shrugged, watching to see when the ghosts calmed down.

"Alright, why didn't you just get rid of them with that iron poker?" Sam asked.

I took it from Nico and stabbed a ghost.

The screech, the hair rising, the goosebumps, the chills and Nico hastily taking it back from me as it left my bones feeling tingly.

Dean made an understanding face. "Let's not do that again. Salting and burning that many bodies won't be easy."

I looked around, then saw the wall that had the secret panel. It required my irish-ness.

I glanced at them as they discussed ghosts and such. If I was quick, if I used my swords, I could get to the panel and get the emergency warding supplies that Allison had planted for us.

"Alright, so, if we really want to test her theory then we need to try stepping out of the circle."

I darted out, heading to the panel.

"What the hell?!" Dean yelled.

Everyone was generally just not happy with me for doing it.

I got to the panel and managed to open it and grab the emergency crystal and slammed it into the wall.

Bright blue light flashed.

"The hell was that?"

I peeked back and could see that all the ghosts were missing. "A temporary solution. We have half an hour. If these instructions are right. So, what do we do?"

"Salt and ward the house," Sam said, but he was staring at me a little.

Dean was frowning at me.

Grandpa chuckled. "Smart girl, but why didn't you do that earlier?"

I pursed my lips. "It's been a long night." I walked back over, fighting a yawn.

Nico darted over and grabbed my hand, pulling me back in the circle. "Any more crazy stunts, or are you done scaring us?"

Grandpa shook his head, still chuckling. "They were definitely after you. Now if you pull another stunt like that I will make sure you get grounded for the next four years."

"Yes sir," I said, but held up the bag. "We have two more shots with these, but after that we better be ready."

Sam and Dean were already spreading salt along the walls, and seemed to be muttering together to try and figure out a plan hopefully.

"Dean, they're kids." I barely overhead Sam.

"Kids with swords and magic, Sammy."

"And ears," I called over. I fought another yawn.

"I suppose neither of you got any sleep?" Granpda asked, mixing some herbs together in a bowl.

"I got some sleep, but Cassie didn't." Nico took the bag of salt from the counter and started helping line the walls and windows. "She's stubborn and I was too tired to fight her on it."

Grandpa nodded a little. "Cassie, get the garlic powder, please."

I grabbed the container of garlic powder and set it beside him. "What's this?"

"More anti-ghost stuff, learned this in Camelot. It's not much, won't be nearly as useful as salting the perimeter. Dean, Sam, do we have a plan for getting rid of these ghosts?"

They glanced at each other, then Sam straightened up. "She mentioned a curse?"

I nodded. "It can't be broken until the new year, a friend is working on gathering some of the rarer items and I have to gather what she can't. It mostly causes bad luck." I shrugged, hugging myself, not wanting to go into it. "I suppose this might count, but if it was the curse, I'm pretty sure they'd be focused just on me. Not Grandpa or Travis."

Dean nodded. "I'll go get some more ammo. We're going to need it. You stay in that circle, got it?" He looked pretty angry at me.

I shrunk back a bit, but nodded.

Batman growled at Dean for about ten seconds, then sat protectively between me and Dean.

I shushed the dog, then stared out the window. The morning looked beautiful. "What's the likelihood of the ghosts not returning until night?"

"It's possible," Sam said, taking a friendlier tone than his brother. "But it's better to be safe. Gareth, you said that someone was taken?"

"My actual grandson, Travis. He's about twenty, tall, curly brown hair, blue eyes."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, showing Sam a picture of me with both Travis and Connor. "He's the taller one."

Sam looked at it, then showed Dean as he came back in with a duffel bag. "Any ideas why ghosts would take him?"

I shook my head and looked at Grandpa, who looked like he'd had a disturbing realization.

"These might be the ghosts of the Athraitheoirí ama." He looked ghostly pale, aging him about thirty years and making me worry that he might have a heart attack or something.

I frowned over the Irish words he had used. "Time transformers?"

"In English we usually refer to them as meddlers. They were able to…" He stopped himself. "Are able to…"

I arched an eyebrow, then covered my face with my hands. "Oh, I so need a nap!"

Sam and Dean were still waiting for Grandpa to finish when I finally pulled my hands away.

Grandpa seemed to be struggling with words for once.

Nico came back.

"Okay, let me see if in my half-asleep state I have everything straight. The ghosts are after my kind, but not their kind or Nico's, the curtains between the worlds have grown impossibly thin and war could break out or reality could implode, I have two books of my mother's to finish, school starts back up on monday—tomorrow, and on top of everything else that's going on, I still have to fight greek and roman monsters so that I can try to finish high-school, figure out what I want to do with my life and try to make sense of…everything. Did I miss anything?"

"Boys and dating?" Nico suggested half-heartedly.

I groaned. "It's not worth it! I'm going to bed. If they kill me, so be it!" I dropped my face back into my hands, too tired to actually go to my bed.

It was pretty quiet.

Nico actually laughed a bit. "You're too tired to go up the stairs, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Di Angelo."

He laughed a little more. "You weren't kidding when you said you hadn't slept Thursday night."

I peeked through my fingers to sort of glare at him.

Nico kept laughing. "You also forgot that you have your own book release to think of, and the safe houses you're building, the fact that you might become an important figure at camp, training, exams, maintaining friendships, giving interviews, and trying not to have nightmares about your mom getting killed or getting raped, or worrying about all of the people you care about and their general well-being, and the ten or twenty other charities and such that you want to build up, being an ambassador for the Celtic peoples to the Greeks and Romans, and somehow manage your money so you come out on top."

I stared at him, wide-eyed. I couldn't breathe past the knot in my throat.

He laughed a little more, then calmed down and looked at us. His eyes slowly widened. "What the…Cassie, I didn't mean to say that, I don't why I said that! Cassie, breathe!"

I took a little gasp of a breath, my vision swimming. My limbs felt a little heavy, and I was shaking all over.

"Crap! I'm sorry!"

"Stay back, you might be possessed or something." Grandpa blocked Nico from getting to me.

"Is she alright?" Dean asked.

Batman was whining and nudging my hand, licking it and then barking at them.

I blacked out for what felt like one second, but it must have been at least a minute. At most…

Well, I wasn't sure.

Stupid sleep deprivation and anxiety.

Sam was leaning over me. "She's waking up."

I blinked then glanced around. I was in my bedroom. "I passed out?"

He nodded, trying for a comforting smile but it was like a flicker and then it went out and he glanced back. "The ghosts haven't come back yet."

"How long has it been?"

"An hour."

I felt my eyes widen. "Are you kidding me?!" I pushed myself up and looked around.

Nico was tied to the arm chair, napping.

Dean was standing in the doorway with a shotgun.

Grandpa was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Grandpa?"

"He went to make sure Connor was okay, I guess." Sam looked like he was concerned that I was moving.

I nodded, then gave Batman a bit of a shove. "Off, you lug. You're not supposed to be there. He didn't hurt you guys, did he?"

Sam shook his head. "What Nico said…"

"If you're wondering if it's true, then yes. I have anxiety attacks, it's fine. I just have no control over them and thus look like a complete idiot sometimes." I rubbed my left arm, silently willing it not to go numb. "Normally I can catch it before I pass out. Is the whole place salted?"

"No, we just did this room. Tied Nico up after he helped us find all the weapons and tools we could use. Why are there so many weapons?" Dean asked, nodding to the pile of swords, arrows, knives, and iron fireplace tools.

"Greek and Roman monsters sort of make it their goal to ensure our death," I explained a bit. "It's complicated and my brain is still a little fuzzy. You'd think passing out would help you feel rested."

Sam looked concerned still. "Go ahead and try to sleep. We've got things covered. We'll wake you if there's a problem."

I hesitated. "Wake me when the ghosts show back up, not when there's a problem."

He nodded. "Just, rest."

If I hadn't watched all twelve seasons of the show, I probably wouldn't have done as he said. But having watched the show, I trusted them for who knows what reason and curled up in the bed to sleep while they kept guard.

"I told you, they're just kids. They fight monsters, but they aren't used to doing what we do." Sam whispered to Dean.

"Something weird about them, though, Sam. What if this is some sort of trap?"

"I'll do some research on them while they sleep, will that make you feel better?"

"It's better to know what we're up against." Dean's whisper wasn't exactly quiet.

I peeked out at them, then rolled over. It was weird not being trusted, and knowing that explaining things would only make things more complicated. I didn't know how much of the show was real and how much was just the machinations of some alternate being that made it into a show. Though I supposed only time would tell.