1.07
Sam doesn't even bat an eye when I order a coffee at the café. So I take it as a win and don't say anything. Sam checks his watch and says he can call now and heads off. I pull out my laptop to read about WWI. Apparently the articles are supposed to tell me all about how it started but I'm confused as to how one guys' murder sparked an entire world war. But all I'm learning is that I have better emotional control than early 20th century politicians. I'm confused as to how I'm going to pass the test later this month. I think about asking Sam.
A waitress comes over and brings our drinks. "Black coffee," she smiles widely as Dean waves his hand but he's reading something on Sam's laptop. "White coffee?"
"Me thanks," I say.
"And a half-caf double vanilla latte?"
I indicate to the empty seat where Sam was.
"Study group or something?" the waitress asks me.
"Something like that," I say and go back to reading.
She lingers for a little, hovering over Dean, but eventually leaves.
I'm reading the old newspaper article when I get confused. "What's a burgomaster?" I ask.
Dean looks up. "A what?"
"A burgomaster."
"I have no idea. What the hell are reading?"
"About an assassination."
"Wonderful."
"What are you reading?"
"Mutilation and murder."
"Wonderful."
Sam comes back over. "Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin' cold over here, Frances," says Dean.
I sip my coffee.
"Bite me," Sam says and sits down.
"So, anything?" asks Dean.
Sam shakes his head. I had 'em check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."
"Sam, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think Dad wants to be found."
Sam and I both lean back in our seats.
"Check this out," Dean says and turns the laptop to Dean. "It's a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about a hundred miles from here."
Sam reads aloud, "The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road."
"Keep reading," says Dean.
"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible."
"Could be something interesting."
"Or it could be nothing at all," Sam says. "One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man."
"Doesn't mean it's not," I say with a shrug.
"And what if it is?" says Dean. "Dad would check it out."
We arrive at Ankeny at a wild looking house.
"Is this a frat house?" I ask when we park.
Sam and Dean exchange a look and we get out of the car. The frat guys all look at us.
"One more time, why are we here?" asks Sam.
"Victim lived here," says Dean. He looks around. "Maybe you should wait in the car, Munch."
I look at some of the frat guys at the car. "And have them right there?" I say. Unsure.
Dean looks at all the guys in the yard. "Yeah I think you're right," Dean says. "Stay close." We walk up to the guys fixing the car. "Nice wheels."
The guys look at us strangely. "We're your fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We're new in town. Transfers. Looking for a place to stay."
They tell us to go inside. It's a little wild and I purposefully walk right behind Sam. I've already seen too many nipples for one day.
We come across a lone guy in a room, painting his body. Dean knocks on the open door.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"We're your new roommates," says Dean. He walks in. I lean on the doorframe. I'm not going into a half-naked painted frat boys' room. There's a name on the door, Murph. Of course.
The guy holds out the brush and paint to Dean. "Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today."
Dean points to Sam next to me in the doorway. "He's the artist. Things he can do with a brush."
I've never seen Sam look so mortified. I smile. He takes the brush and paint and paints the guys back.
Dean sits casually in a chair and picks up a magazine. "So, Murph. Is it true?"
"What?"
"We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week."
"Yeah."
"What happened?" asks Sam.
"They're saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy."
"Rich, he was with somebody?"
"Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen."
"Who's Lori Sorensen?" asks Dean. He turns to Sam. "missed a spot. Just down there, on the back."
Dean's grinning. I can't see Sam's face but I can imagine. Dean grins at me and I laugh.
"Lori's a freshman," says Murph. "She's a local. Super hot. And get this: she's a reverend's daughter."
"You wouldn't happen to know which church, would ya?"
Dean's adamant that we go to the church now.
"The service will be nearly over now," says Sam. "We could just wait."
"Gotta catch them before they all evacuate," says Dean. "It's practically lunchtime."
"Why are you assuming everyone's going to run out after the service?" I ask.
Dean shrugs as we get in the car. "It's Sunday, his daughter's in college and she's at church, she's gonna run."
I roll my eyes but we go to the church. It's actually quite cute. Dean opens the door and the pastor is preaching but then the doors slam shut behind us. Everyone turns to look at us. Thankfully, the pastor keeps going.
"…as a community, and as a family. The loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings."
We find a spot and sit down.
"So, please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children."
Everyone bows their heads and pretend to pray.
The service ends and we follow the crowd outside.
"Bet that's her," I tell Sam when we're outside. There's two pretty girls, and one of them looks sad. It's the look of someone who's lost someone.
We walk over to her as her friend is walking away.
"Are you Lori?" asks Sam.
"Yeah."
"My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean, and my sister, Jane," he says.
"Hi," says Dean.
"Hi," I say.
"We just transferred here to the university," Sam lies.
"I saw you inside," says Lori.
"We don't wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and..."
"We wanted to say how sorry we were," says Dean.
"I kind of know what you're going through. I-I saw someone...get hurt once. It's something you don't forget."
Lori nods a little and the pastor comes over.
"Dad, um, this is Sam and Dean. They're new students. And their sister, Jane."
Dean shakes the pastor's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon."
"Thank you very much," says the pastor. I notice his collar. Reverend? "It's so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord's message."
Dean laughs a little. "Listen, uh, we're new in town, actually," he says and grabs my arm, "And, uh, we were looking for a, um, a church group, and youth program for the little one," he pulls me along as we walk off with the reverend. I feel awful lying to the reverend, but I have a feeling he knows Dean's full of it, so it doesn't last that long.
We go to the university library to try and narrow things down. Sam tells us what Lori told him.
"So you believe her?" asks Dean.
"I do," says Sam.
"Yeah, I think she's hot, too."
I hit Dean on the arm. "Don't be gross."
"There's something in her eyes," says Sam. "And listen to this: she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car."
"Wait, the body suspended? That sounds like the—" says Dean.
"Yeah, I know, the Hook Man legend."
"That's one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don't think that we're dealing with the Hook Man."
"It's a pretty widespread urban legend. It has to start somewhere," I say.
"Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?" says Dean.
"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn't a man at all," says Sam. "What if it's some kind of spirit?"
"We need to find out who," says Dean. He asks the librarian to dig up arrest records and thankfully, she obliges.
After about 10 minutes, she comes back and has big boxes and puts them on our table.
"Here you go. Arrest records going back to 1851," says the librarian.
Dean blows dust off one of the boxes and coughs. "Thanks."
"Okay," she says like she clearly thinks we're nuts. She walks away.
"So, this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?" asks Dean.
"Welcome to higher education."
Sam hands me a stack of old folders and I begin reading. It's mostly dry but some of it's funny. One guy was arrested for spitting tobacco on a 'prominent woman of the community'. It's hours later before Sam finally says, "Hey, check this out. 1862. A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red-light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, "some of the deceased were found in their bed, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh."
"He did that to 13 people in one night? That's some serious anger. Even for a preacher," I say.
"Get this, the murder weapon?" says Dean, looking at another page. "Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook."
Sam points to another page. "Look where all this happened."
I look. "9 Mile Road?" I read.
"Same place where the frat boy was killed," says Sam.
"Nice job, Dr. Venkmen," says Dean. "Let's check it out."
We pack up all the stuff and make copies of all of the stuff on the preacher.
Sam and Dean leave me at a motel by myself while they go preacher ghost hunting. I'm a little annoyed, but then take the queen bed. And put on pillow in the middle and go to sleep. It's late in the night when I wake to being moved.
"Oi," I say and grab the hands on me.
"Relax it's me," says Sam.
I groan, and he pushes me across the bed.
"There's another bed," I grumble and reach back to grab my pillow.
"I'm not bunking with Dean," he says climbing into the bed.
"There's a sofa," I say yanking the blankets over me as I get comfortable.
"I won't fit on that." Sam yanks the blankets back over himself. "I can always put you there."
"Don't you dare," I say and grip down on the remainder of the blankets.
Sam kicks my legs until he's happy that I'm on 'my side'. I wave blindly behind me until I hit his face. Satisfied with my thwack on his nose and his "oof" I get comfortable again and go back to sleep.
In the morning, they report on the news that there's been another murder. At a sorority. We get dressed quickly and head over to the sorority. We park on another street and because it's so busy out the front, it's easy for us to slip around the back.
"Why would the Hook Man come here?" asks Sam. "This is a long way from 9 Mile Road."
"Maybe he's not haunting the scene of his crime. Maybe it's about something else."
Two girls come out of the house and Sam and Dean lean against the side of the house. They don't see us.
"Dude! Sorority girls!" whispers Dean excitedly. "Think we'll see a naked pillow fight?"
Sam gives me a leg up to climb up the balcony as we both tactically ignore Dean. Deans helps Sam up and then Dean comes up. I crawl through a window. Dean nearly falls on Sam.
"Oh, sorry!" says Dean.
"Be quiet," says Sam.
"You be quiet!"
"You be quiet!"
"Both of you shut up," I whisper.
We hear someone in and we hide in a closet. Sam opens the door a little and waits. We then step out.
There's writing cut into the wall above the bed. And an awful lot of blood.
"Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" Sam reads. "That's right out of the legend."
"Yeah, that's classic Hook Man all right," Dean taps his nose. "It's definitely a spirit."
"Yeah, I've never smelled ozone this strong before."
I can't seem to pull myself to stop staring at the writing. It's creepy. Dean wandered off to look at something.
"Hey come here," says Sam. He points to the writing. "Does that look familiar to you?"
I look at the symbol at the bottom of the message. "Wasn't that on the preacher's hook?" I ask.
We go to the car and Sam pulls out the copies we made of Karns' stuff. I sit on the hood of the car and Sam and Dean lean on the hood either side. Sam pulls out a sketch of the preacher's hand/hook thing from the pile of papers.
"It's the same symbol," says Sam. "Seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns."
"All right," says Dean. "Let's find the dude's grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down."
"Sam reads the article, After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave."
I groan.
"Super," says Dean.
"So we know it's Jacob Karns," says Sam. "But we still don't know where he'll manifest next. Or why."
"I'll take a wild guess about why. I think your little friend Lori has something to do with this," says Dean.
I'm left at the motel alone again as apparently Dean wants the college experience. But it's not even 10 o'clock when Dean does his knock on the door. Annoyed, I get off the sofa and unlock the door, leaving the security latch on.
"What?" I ask him.
"Wanna come grave digging?" Dean grins through the crack of the door.
I frown but grab my jacket and go with him.
We arrive at Old North Cemetery and it is only a little creepy. We look around for a while before I notice, "Most of these graves are too new," I call over to Dean.
"Yeah, we need to find the old part…" says Dean.
We traipse through further back through the cemetery and then the gravestones get older. It's still a little while before Dean calls out that he's found it.
I come over and look. "How nice of them to mark the unmarked grave," I say noticing the symbol on the gravestone.
"Here we go," says Dean. He takes his bag off and passes me the flashlight and starts digging. He's at it for a while and I try to help but the night is a bit too dark and I can only help for a little before I need to hold the light down rather than across the grass or gravestone. I climb out of the hole and pick the flashlight back up. Dean's exhausted.
"That's it. Next time, I get to watch the cute girl's house," he says.
"And what? I get to keep digging up old graves with Sam?"
"Sounds like a good deal to me." He breaks through the bottom of the grave to the coffin. Dean breaks it open, and I shine the light down. "Hello preacher," he says.
He tosses the shovel to the side. I go to the bag and pass him the lighter fluid. I pour the salt over as he pours over the lighter fluid. Dean jumps out of the grave.
"Goodbye, preacher," says Dean, he lights the match and throw it in. The preacher goes up in flames.
"Burn in hell," I say.
When we get back to the car Dean gets a message from Sam saying that he's at the hospital.
"What happened?" I ask.
"He didn't say, let's go."
We get to the hospital and there are sheriffs on the floor that Sam said they were on. They're not happy with us. We see Sam. They don't want us to go through.
"No it's alright. We're with him, he's our brother," says Dean. "Hey! Brother!" Dean yells.
Sam and the sheriff he's talking to look over at us and we both wave at Sam.
Sam's sheriff says to let us through.
"Thanks," says Dean.
Sam comes towards us.
"You okay?" asks Dean.
"Yeah."
"What the hell happened?"
"Hook Man."
"You saw him?" I ask.
"Damn right. Why didn't you guys torch the bones?"
"What are you talking about?" says Dean.
"We did!" I say.
"You sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?" asks Dean.
"It sure as hell looked like him," says Sam. "And that's not all. I don't think the spirit is latching on to the reverend."
"Well, yeah, the guy wouldn't send the Hook Man after himself."
"I think it's latching onto Lori. Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman."
"So what?"
"So she's upset about it. She's upset about the immorality of it. She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished."
"So her dad does something she knows is wrong and the preacher kills him because she knows it's wrong?" I say.
"Preacher Karns is doling out the punishments for her for people who she knows are in the wrong, even slightly," says Dean.
"Right," says Sam. "Rich comes on too strong, Taylor tries to make her into a party girl, Dad has an affair."
"Remind me not to piss this girl off. But we burned those bones, we buried them in salt, why didn't that stop him?"
"You must have missed something."
"We got everything in that coffin," I say.
"Did you get the hook?"
"The hook?" Dean and I ask.
"Well, it was the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him," says Sam.
"So, like the bones, the hook is a source of his power," says Dean.
"So if we find the hook..."
"We stop the Hook Man," we all say together. Maybe we're spending too much time together. That was freaky.
We go to the university library to try and find out what happened to the hook. At least now we know what year we're looking at.
"Here's something, I think," says Dean. "Logbook, Iowa State Penitentiary. Karns, Jacob. Personal affects: disposition thereof."
"Does it mention the hook?" asks Sam.
"Yeah, maybe. Upon execution, all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner's house of worship, St. Barnabas Church."
"They took all his possessions back to the house?" I say, "Why would anybody want a murderers' stuff in a church?"
"He was the preacher there," says Sam. "Wait, isn't St Barnabas where Lori's father preaches?"
"Yeah," says Dean.
"Where Lori lives?" says Sam.
"Maybe that's why the Hook Man has been haunting reverends and reverends' daughters for the past 200 years."
"Wouldn't people have noticed the murders at some point?" I ask.
"Yeah, and if the hook were at the church or Lori's house, don't you think someone might've seen it?" says Sam. "I mean, a bloodstained, silver-handled hook?"
"Check the church records," says Dean.
Sam finds the records for the Church and reads, "St. Barnabas donations, 1862. Received silver-handled hook from state penitentiary. Reforged." He sighs. "They melted it down. Made it into something else."
"Well that's just fan-fricking-tastic," I groan.
We drive to Lori's house and church and climb out.
"Alright," says Dean, "we can't take any chances. Anything silver goes in the fire."
"I agree," says Sam. "So, Lori's still at the hospital. We'll have to break in."
"Alright, take your pick," says Dean.
"I'll take the house," says Sam.
"Ok," says Dean and Sam heads off. "Hey," Dean calls, Sam turns. "Stay out of her underwear drawer." Sam walks away.
"Must you?" I ask.
Dean shrugs. "Just lookin' out for him. Come on, we've got burnin' to do!"
Breaking into the church is easy. The lock is pathetic. I crack it in ten seconds. "That was too easy," I tell Dean.
"Maybe you're just getting good?"
I stand up and open the door. "Maybe churches don't have a lot of reason to think people will break in."
Dean cocks his head. We go downstairs and Dean starts a fire. I run back upstairs and grab everything silver I can. There's not much in the church, some candlesticks and I throw them in a pile in the basement while the fire gets going.
"Any more upstairs?" Dean asks as the fire burns bright.
"I think I got it all, but you can check."
Dean checks and I push around the candlesticks to make sure they're melting. Dean throws a few more things on the fire.
Sam comes downstairs with a bag of things. "I got everything that even looked silver."
"Better safe than sorry," says Dean.
We throw the stuff onto the fire. There are footsteps above.
"Move, move," Dean says pulling out his gun. We go upstairs. It's Lori, she's crying. Sam goes over to her. Dean and I go back downstairs. We double check everything we can find and Dean moves things around in the fire. Then we hear noises upstairs. Running, and smashing. Dean and I run upstairs. Dean pulls his gun out before we reach the top of the stars. I see the Hook Man standing over Lori.
"Sam, drop!" yells Dean and he shoots the Hook Man. He disappears.
"I thought we got all the silver," says Sam.
"Do did I," says Dean.
"Then why is he still here?"
"We must have missed something!" I say, running over.
We look around.
"Lori, where did you get that chain?" asks Sam.
"My father gave it to me," Lori says.
"Where'd your dad get it?" asks Dean.
"He said it was a church heirloom, he gave it to me when I started school."
"Is it silver?!" says Sam.
"Yes!"
Sam rips the necklace from her. A long scratch comes down the hall behind me.
"Sam!" Dean yells and throws him the gun. Sam tosses him the necklace and Dean runs downstairs.
The scratch comes closer and back away.
"Jane, drop," says Sam.
I do and he shoots at the scratch. He reloads and I crawl towards Sam. Sam pulls me behind him and Lori grabs my arm. The Hook Man suddenly appears and knocks the gun out of Sam's hand. We crawl into a corner and the Hook Man comes towards us. I grip onto Sam's arm tightly. The Hook Man raises his hook, ready to strike. But then it starts to melt... And then Hook Man himself burns away. I let out a huge sigh of relief and rest my head on Sam's shoulder. Lori's breathing is ragged but she's thanking god under her breath. Sam wraps his arm around me. Dean comes upstairs and looks over at us, relief washes over his face.
Lori was the level headed one and called the ambulance. Sam's not great but the paramedic assures me he'll be fine. The sheriffs arrive and question Lori, then me and Sam. They don't seem to like our story of a hook man who ran off. But we've got some lovely bruises and scrapes to prove there was a fight so that's nice. The sheriff goes to question Dean.
"I promise, Miss, your brother is fine," says the paramedic helping Sam.
I didn't realize I was staring. "Okay." I say and shuffle my feet.
Sam smiles.
"What?"
"You like me," he teases.
"Shut up," I say. "I just don't want you to leave me alone with Dean, god knows what we'd do to each other."
Sam smiles again.
Lori comes over, "You gonna be okay?" she asks.
"Yeah."
I read the room. "Nice meeting you," I say to Lori and go over to the car where Dean is. She just smiles at me.
I climb into the passenger seat and notice Dean looking in the mirror. "Are you spying?" I ask.
"No, I'm being nosy."
I smile but decide to give Sam his privacy.