A hand touched my shoulder and I woke up with a scared shriek.

"Get away from me!" I yelled before I even had my eyes open all the way.

Dean jumped back with his hands in the air. "Whoa, calm down."

I blinked a couple times, then starting taking deep breaths to calm myself. "Sorry." I rubbed my arms, waiting for my hands to stop shaking.

He didn't seem concerned by my reaction, actually looking like he understood it. "Don't worry about it. We just had some questions about you two so we could try to figure out this ghost situation."

I nodded slowly. "Okay, yeah. Go ahead."

"Nico said your mom was killed, did she die here?" Sam asked gently.

I shook my head. "No, a warehouse in Michigan. We were kidnapped. They stabbed her. That was back in May."

"Do you have anything of hers on you?" Dean asked.

"You're joking, right? Practically everything I own was hers. Besides, I don't exactly think she could be more than one ghost. And Nico definitely would have seen her if it had been her."

"We'll come back to that," Dean said, sitting down. "Your dad?"

"Complicated, and not exactly in the picture."

"Complicated how?" Sam asked.

"Met him briefly once, earlier this summer. The only reason I can go to the same camp as Nico is because of my father. That's all I can tell you. Honestly, it opens up too many rabbit holes if I were to elaborate."

"Alright, so we're back to your mother."

I sighed. "Juliet Dellaro, she was an author. Big fan-base."

Dean looked just a little too casual. "Dellaro…like…the author of the Forgotten Bridge?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It was my idea to have it be a covered bridge. It was originally a rope bridge."

Sam looked confused, but also slightly amused. "You know who her mom was?"

"She wrote the best books, and she was…" He grinned, then looked at me and smothered it. Probably also because he had read the books, but…

"A mother, yeah. At least I don't have to explain who she was." I rolled my eyes.

"She's dead? But what about—"

"She had the next book finished, it comes out next year. She never wrote about ghosts, and it can't be her. There has to be some other explanation."

"There is," Nico said.

I flinched. "A little more noise when you wake up is okay."

He nodded slightly, frowning at the floor. "A ship sank just off the coast, killing the irish slaves on board. The rich managed to escape."

I frowned a bit. "How do you…"

He looked up. "A chat with my father."

I nodded slowly. "So a talisman or a piece of the ship, somewhere in the house could be bringing it in."

Dean got up and headed for the door. "Best lead we've had all day. What did you get from the beach to decorate or whatever?"

"I don't know, my mom did all of this before she died and I found out we owned this place afterward. It was already decorated." I hugged myself, trying to think. "But there are a few things that stick out in my mind. There's a compass in the living room, it has some engraving on it. A driftwood table in the bedroom down the hall, and an old map hanging on the wall of the laundry room. If it's not one of those, then I don't know what it could be."

Nico grunted. "Can I please not be tied up?"

"Until we figure out what caused the outburst, you're staying there." Dean pointed at me. "You stay there."

"I can help," I protested.

"You're safe here, let us do our job." Sam almost put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but stopped himself just short as if just remembering how I woke up just a few moments before.

I blinked at him, then nodded. "Right. Go."

He followed his brother out to collect the suspected haunted things.

Batman trotted after them.

I looked over at Nico. "That one hit me fast."

He nodded. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"Pretty sure that's why you're tied up," I replied, teasing a bit.

He snorted. "Yeah. Like that will stop me if I'm determined to get out."

"But you're not."

He smirked at me.

I stepped back, dread spreading across me like a blanket. "Nico?"

He started chuckling.

"Nico, this isn't funny."

He jerked a shoulder forward and the ropes snapped.

I darted for the weapons.

He tackled me, pinning me with my good arm twisted back. "You're coming with me."

"You're giving me Nico back!" I tried to roll but his grip was like iron.

"Not likely. Not right now."

"Cassie, everything alright up there?" Dean yelled from downstairs.

I went to respond, but Nico's hand held my mouth shut, pinching my nose as well.

"Yeah, Nico just fell over in the chair!" Nico's voice sounded like mine.

I struggled against him, wondering why Batman didn't start barking or something, then remembered that he was downstairs.

Not-Nico leaned in close to my ear. "You know what's easy about this? I can send you into blind panic with just a few words while I have you pinned like this. Isn't trauma such a wonderful tool? Don't get me wrong, your little Greek friend put up a fight, but I knew how to manipulate things just right. He'll take another five minutes to get back here. So, should I start with what will make you panic? Or should I just knock you out to make the trip easier? Good thing those boys are busy with the ghosts, huh?"

I tried to scream, but I couldn't even breathe. I couldn't breathe. Tears sprung to my eyes.

"Hey, Cassie," Sam said, then appeared in the doorway. "Hey!"

A loud bang, and Not-Nico jerked me back and the force was so strong that it took me a couple minutes to see straight again. But I could breath and no one was pinning me down, so that was at least a little better.

"There, all chained up."

I blinked a few times, then looked around and noticed the think cuffs that chained me to wall of the cell.

Not-Nico had transformed into someone else and was smirking at me.

Travis was glaring at the thing from the other side of the cell.

"Travis!" I gasped out.

He looked at me and nodded slightly. "It's going to be okay, Cass."

"Do you know what the benefit of the catholics destroying the texts and monuments of our religion was?" The shape-shifting creature asked, looking over Travis and then me. "Some more classified information was destroyed with it, making it easier to operate. But then the Meddlers faded from view, without the matriarch to teach and initiate the next generation. Thankfully, we found her and we can now initiate the two best candidates. Don't worry. You don't need to tell the Greeks, they won't be able to tell anyway. In fact, it could even make your jobs easier."

I looked desperately at Travis, hoping he understood some of it.

He looked pale, eyes wide. "The…matriarch…"

"Yes, of course. We had to search for a long time to find her. When she realized we were the ones trying to capture her she obviously used her military training to evade detection, and her magical training to counter ours. And with you and your brother living in the world of the Greeks full-time, she couldn't send you messages to let you know she was alive."

I swallowed hard. "His mother. She's the matriarch."

"I thought you'd be quicker to figure that out, Cassie Lynn," The creature mocked me.

Travis just about reached it, but it jumped just out of reach of his chains.

"My, my, what a temper! You'll just hurt yourself you know. Look on the bright side, once the meddlers are reestablished you could break the Cursed One's curse, or just enjoy some time with your mummy." It laughed and walked out of the cell, swinging the door shut.

"What happened after they got me last night?" Travis asked, his voice a little rough.

"Nico and I managed to get in a salt circle and call your grandfather. He called the Winchesters, who are real, by the way. They came to the house. Then I remembered the emergency crystals. Apparently at some point during this time, that thing switched out with Nico. It had to be right after he started helping the boys salt the house." I sat back against the wall. "What is going on?"

"The meddlers are an ancient organization. It takes special sorts of people to become meddlers. Irish and Greek or Roman decent is a must, Norse mixed in helps too. They can…" He seemed to get caught on the words for a moment. "Do a lot of things. The Greek gods, the Roman versions of the Greek gods, none of them can mess with a meddler. That was the whole point, to be able to rebel against the gods."

"Time manipulators, that's what Grandpa called them in Irish."

Travis nodded slowly. "They dream of outcomes, Cassie. They can see to other realities, and can create ones in their minds. Places where they can see how changes play out. A powerful meddler can actually change time, but there were laws made against it within the meddler community."

I let that all process, trying to figure out how all of this played together with what was going on. "Why us?"

"Aside from the Greek and Irish decent?" Travis sat back as well. "Me because my family has a history with them. You…because you're already making yourself a source of change. You're an innovator. Every meddler has a specialty."

"Grandpa is a meddler, isn't he?" I asked, the pieces starting to fall together.

Travis nodded.

"What's his specialty?"

"Artifacts and history. He specializes in Camelot, Albion, all that. But he has a broad range of historical artifacts, and magical artifacts. Think of him as an archival wizard, I guess."

I shook that thought from my head. "Your mother?"

"Matriarchs excel at keeping order, ensuring that the meddlers stay under the radar and that they follow the laws. There's a reason my mom made an excellent Marine. She hadn't been ready to take up the mantle of Matriarch, but my Grandma died suddenly and my aunt wasn't prepared for the role."

"You have an aunt?"

"Maybe, last we saw she was still alive. Grandpa cut her off when she married that—" He cut himself off. "She was apparently too reckless to be a meddler anyway."

"Who else is there?"

Travis shook his head. "Just Grandpa and Mom. Allison is a prime candidate as well, but she's far too strong to get kidnapped."

A door banged open somewhere outside of our cell, then a guard unlocked the cell-door and they dragged in an unconscious Allison, and a hog-tied Connor. They chained them to the walls while Travis hurled insults and threats at them.

They took the gag off of Connor and he spit in the one's eye.

They just laughed and left.

I looked at Allison, then at Travis again. "You were saying something about her being too powerful for them."

He winced, then looked at Connor. "The hell, man? I thought you were safe in camp?"

"Chiron sent me to the convenience store down the street to get some more peroxide for the infirmary. They were running low and I needed to get away for a bit. When did you two get taken and where's Nico?" Connor had a nasty black eye forming.

"Apparently on some wild ride or other. He got taken last night. I got taken…half an hour ago?" If Connor was here, where was Grandpa?

"It's hard to say," Travis answered.

Allison moaned softly, then groaned an, "Ow" before slowly sitting up, using her chains to help her. "Did not see that coming. I feel like I got hit with a brick wall."

"How did they get you?" Travis asked.

She gave a sheepish smile after a moments' thought. "They blasted me into a brick wall."

I shook my head. "You can't be serious."

"I am, unfortunately. I didn't mean to make such a corny pun, though." She studied the chains for a moment, then looked pretty scared. "Tell me we're not where I think we are."

"We're not where you think we are," I told her.

"We're where you know we are," Travis told her, not even letting a beat pass between our sentences.

She bit her lip. "I can't remember if any of my kids were with me."

"I'm sure they're fine." I looked at the ceiling. "Is Peter really the son of Pan?"

"Oh yes, on that I have no doubts. But he's more than that. I hope he's safe. I've made sure that they knew to protect him, but if these things can get me…"

"Sonny! Not helping," Travis interrupted. "All we can do is hope that they're okay."

She nodded, her eyes closing.

Connor cleared his throat. "What's going on?"

Travis explained again, but left out the part about their mom. Once he finished explaining the meddlers, and how we were all prime meddler material, he hesitated.

"Your mother is here. She's the matriarch. They need her to make us meddlers," I explained softly.

Connor looked at me, then at Travis, then back to me. "W-what? Mom…" His breath hitched. "Mom's alive?"

Travis nodded slowly. "That's what the creature that brought Cass here said."

I didn't like seeing them so upset and not being able to even hold their hands or something. I couldn't even clasp my hands together, nevermind trying to get close to anyone else.

"Have you tried—"

Travis cut his brother off with the shake of his head. "Only all night. Can't be picked."

Connor nodded, then sat back against the wall. "So we just wait?"

"What else can we do?" Allison asked, a deadly glare directed at the prison bars. "My magic won't work here and we're weaponless. We're just going to have to hope that either your mom has a plan to help us, or Grandpa rescues us."

I hoped that the Winchesters didn't shoot Nico when they saw him again.