Sam and Samuel's journey in spititland Chapter 4 (4/5)
Chapter 4
Sam was alone in the room when he woke up and the sun was shining bright and high through the windows. Jumping out of bed and in his coveralls, Sam ran to the dining room. He stopped there, eyes caught by a red card sitting next to a couple of bagels on the table. Before he knew it, he was sitting and eating, reading the note Jo had let him. “We got a raise thanks to you, so we let you sleep while we repair ALL the lights.”
Sam was about to join his coworkers, rising from his seat, when a flash of white in the sky drew him to the window. It was the same weird bird he had seen the day before, and it was being followed by a mass of smaller white birds, hunting and attacking it. As they came closer to the window, he saw that the weird bird was a more of a chimera. The wings were of a bird, as were the four legs, but they were attached to a feline body, white fur and long tail while the face was wolf-like with blue blue eyes.
Sam opened the window and screamed, “Cas! This way! Come on!” The teen wasn’t sure why he knew it was Cas or if his friend had heard him, but the chimera flew left and right, trying to lose its attackers and then dove toward the window. Sam jumped to the side as Cas flew past him and crashed in the opposite wall, slumping to the ground as the teen tried to close the window. The attackers, which were in fact origami cranes, crashed against it, pushing back as they tried to enter but Sam finally closed the window. The few cranes that had managed to slip in crashed to the ground, weakly shaking their wings. Ignoring them, Sam moved slowly toward Cas, noting the blood that marred his fur and feather and dripped on the floor.
“Cas? Is that really you?” The chimera wasn’t moving, just breathed rapidly, looking all around him like a scared animal. Sam stopped in tracks when its eyes locked on him and it showed its teeth. The teen crouched down, showing his hands, talking softly. “You’re safe now. The… birds, cranes, they’re gone. You’re sa…” The chimera jumped forward and rushed to the window. It burst through it, pieces of glasses and drops of blood flying everywhere. Sam had just the time to run after him, leaning carefully over the broken window to see his friend disappear into the top floor. “That can’t be good,” murmured Sam. Thinking of Cas and his wounds in Crowley’s office, the teen felt anxiety creet into him. Rushing to the door, Sam didn’t hear the rustling of paper a crane made as it unfolded itself and flew to stick itself on the teen’s back.
Sam ran up the stairs but, approaching the last story of the employee area, had to duck under the stair to avoid a group of coworkers. He stayed hidden and silent as they passed, rethinking his way up. He couldn’t lose time playing hide and seek with the other employees as he walked up to Crowley’s office by the inside. The only way to not risk getting caught was the ladder fixed to the outside wall he had seen earlier. Making up his mind, Sam carefully walked to the nearest window, eyeing the ladder and moving to a window closer to it. Opening it, he took a deep breath and leaned outside, climbing out of the window and onto the ladder, firmly keeping his eyes just a few rungs up.
When Sam finally toppled over the railway onto the balcony surrounding the top floor, his arms and legs were aching and his lungs burned. He would have like nothing more than to lay there a few minutes but Cas needed him. Crouching, he kept close to the wall and moved slowly toward Crowley’s office. He stopped and hid behind a potted plant when he heard his boss’ voice coming from open French windows. “…don’t care who is at fault, I… Now listen to me, you incompetent moron, you stop doing whatever the hell you’re doing and wait for me.” Sam winced at the sound of the receiver being slammed on the telephone. “I’m surrounded by bloody wankers. You, get rid of Cas, I don’t need him anymore.”
Hearing the name of his friend, Sam tried to peer into the room. Crowley was gone and something invisible was pushing an unconscious Cas toward a hole in the ground while the three black clouds were floating over it.
“Well, well, well. Seems like we’re not going to see little Cassie anymore. Ooh, how sad.” Sam jumped and turned around. A young woman leaned over him, long blond hair framing her smirking face, malicious eyes looking inside the office. Sam recognized her voice: it was the one he’d heard when he signed his contract, Crowley’s daughter’s voice. She suddenly looked down at him and the teen jumped to his feet and ran to Crowley’s office. She laughed and ran after him. “Playing tag? A bit childish but I like it.” Sam turned abruptly inside, going straight to Cas batting away the black clouds diving at him. His friend was about to be thrown in the hole and Sam fell to the ground, gripping his forelegs and pulling back.
Things happened quickly then. The thing that was pushing Cas stopped and turned to Sam, its breath so horrid the teen almost gagged as Crowley’s daughter fisted her hand in the back of his coveralls and pulled him. No one noticed the square of paper lifting off Sam’s back and fluttering away. It touched the floor and a loud bang resounded, freezing all the room’s occupants.
“Look like some are having fun in there.” They all turned around. Standing over a square of paper, a brown haired woman in a jeans and shirt was looking at them with an amused smirk. She was slightly transparent but didn’t seem to care. “My, Ruby, you turned into a beautiful young lady since the last time I saw you.” Her voice dripped with irony and Crowley’s daughter let go of Sam and surged toward the intruder. The older woman just laughed and sidestepped the attack, snapping her finger and Ruby shrank quickly. Her hair became black and she seemed to turn younger, her clothes falling on the floor as they became too big. When it stopped, she seemed no older than five or six years old and her T-shirt looked like a badly cut dress.
Something surged past Sam then, the invisible thing that had been pushing Cas, but the woman avoided it too and, with another snap of her fingers, it became a visible black Labrador puppy. The three black clouds didn’t move but were transformed too, merging together, their shape shifting to look like the older blonde Ruby. “There, much better.” said the witch. The puppy had joined little girl Ruby as the woman now approached Sam and Cas. She didn’t look amused anymore and the teen moved to be between her and Cas, putting an arm around his friend’s neck.
“Who are you?” asked Sam as the witch stop right in front of him.
“Me? Ellen Harvelle. Crowley’s thorn in the side. And thanks to you, I am know in his office. The old fart, I’d like to see his face when he’ll see what I’ve done to his precious baby girl.” The witch fell silent, suddenly pained. Sam frowned as the woman whispered something about not being able to help her own… The teen didn’t catch the end of it and the witch had already snapped out of her mood, poking him in the chest. “Now boy, I stop playing. The angel is mine!”
“Angel? What? No, you can’t!” protested Sam, clinging more to Cas’ body.
“Can and will. He’s a thief. He stole my seal and I intend to get it back.”
“Cas would never do that!” The witch raised her eyebrow, looking down at Sam with disdain.
“Oh you think so? And what kind of angel enslaves himself on earth for more power huh? Now out of the way. He hasn’t got much time to live anyway. It’s not like I leave my property unprotected.”
Screams and barks halted the witch as she was plunging for Cas and she turned around. The fake Ruby was chasing after the real one, who was throwing object to defend herself with one arm and carrying the puppy in the other. The witch tssked but, as she turned once more toward Cas, he woke up and whipped the piece of paper she had appeared onto with his tail, cutting it in two pieces. “Damn!” was the last word she said before exploding into tiny specks of light. Momentarily blinded, Sam just had the time to record small arms circling his waist before Cas fainted again and toppled over in the hole, bringing the teen, Ruby and the puppy with him.
They were falling in the dark. Sam tried to wake up the angel, screaming his name but his friend remained unconscious. He looked around, barely able to see the walls around him. Ruby wriggled on his back, making him slide underneath Cas and he linked his legs around the angel by reflex. Something strange happened then, a feeling of flying instead of falling and of hot air rushing on his arms and forehead, the sound of a roaring fire. It lasted for a second and Sam swore he saw flames. Sam screamed again, joined by Ruby and her puppy, and again when, turning his head, he saw strange shadows rising up from the bottom of the well.
“CAS!” The angel opened his eyes this time and spread his wings. He flapped them with force and Sam feared for a moment that he couldn’t make it, that they were too heavy. But as the first shadow was about to claw at them, Cas straightened up and flew toward the wall. They were an opening there, a small tunnel so narrow the angel had to fold his wings and run. Sam held tight to him and felt Ruby little arms tighten again around him. The puppy howled, and as Sam saw the end of the tunnel approach, he closed his eyes and buried his face in Cas’ fur.
This time, the fall was short and they smashed sideway on the ground.
“Balls!”
Sam opened his eyes at Bobby’s curse and sat up, careful not to squash either Cas or Ruby. His side ached and he felt dizzy, not sure if the ghosts floating over them were real or just the result of the fall. When the world stopped spinning, he noticed Bobby rolling out of a small elevator next to his platform and towards him. Sam felt Ruby sit up too, checking the puppy, and the teen turned to the angel. “Cas? Cas, wake up, please!”
“Move aside boy,” said Bobby, his wheelchair stopping with a screech. Sam shuffled aside staying close to his friend as the old man leaned over him. The teen tensed with fear when Bobby leaned back on his chair, looking helpless. “I’m sorry boy, but there’s nothing I can do. The thing eating him from the inside is too powerful for me.”
“What? No! It can’t…” Sam crowded next to Cas, putting his head on his lap and gently stroking the fur. Ruby sat next to him and awkwardly patted Cas’ neck before hugging the Labrador puppy. Even the ghosts seemed morose and floated low above the ground.
Suddenly, Sam sat up straight and reached for his pocket, taking out the vial of blue liquid he had been given the day before by his customer. He vaguely heard Bobby asking him what it was but he ignored him, uncapping the vial with his teeth while trying to open Cas’ mouth with his other hand. Keeping it open, the teen managed to poor half the liquid in Cas’ mouth before the angel suddenly woke up and thrashed around. Sam reacted quickly, stuffing the vial between his teeth and encircling his friend’s mouth with his hands, forcing him to drink the liquid.
Sam finally let go of Cas when he reared back and crashed down, spitting black goo before slumping on the ground. The black goo melted, revealing a black worm sitting on the seal. “That’s the thing I was talking about. Don’t let him go!” yelled Bobby as it tried to flee, sliding quickly on the flour. Sam surged to his feet, running after it and, after a few try, finally stomped on it. It made a horrible splashing sound, black liquid splashing all around.
“Gross,” Sam said, as a shiver ran down his spine. He grimaced at Bobby when the old man rolled himself next to the teen, looking at the mess with disgust.
“Only one thing to do to be sure it stays that way,” Bobby said, getting a Ziploc of white-grey powder, what looked like a small bottle of gas and a match-box out of some pocket on the side of his wheel chair and onto his lap. “We salt ‘n burn it. I’m afraid your shoe has to go too. Just to be sure, you know.” Sam opened his eyes wide and stared at his shoe, lifting it to look at the goo encrusted in the sole. Sighing, he sat down and untied it as Bobby poured salt and gas over the worm’s remnant and then Sam’s shoe before lighting it all with a match.
They let it burn, Sam getting rid of his other shoe before coming back to sit next to Cas. Bobby rolled after him while keeping an eye on Ruby, who stood near the fire. “Is Cas… is Cas an angel?” asked Sam. Bobby grunted.
“Yep. They got different forms. This one though, I’m not sure you’d be able to see it in your world without your eyes burning.” Sam hummed in agreement and bent down to take the seal in his hand.
“That must be what Cas stole from Ellen Harvelle.”
“Ellen Harvelle?” shouted Bobby. “Hot damn! You really don’t want to be on the bad side of this lady. Cas, you idjit.”
They both jumped when Cas’ body chose this moment to revert to human form, his wings being the last things to disappear. While Sam crouched down to turn his friend on his back, putting the seal in his pocket, the older man made the ghosts bring a blanket to cover the angel. Sam laid it on his friend then took the bottle of water Bobby held out to him. “Holy water. Should help him get better.” The teen took the bottle and made Cas drink from it, wiping what was dripping out of his friend’s mouth with his sleeve. “He came here seven or eight years ago, upset, wanting to be more powerful. He thought Crowley would help him but… he just became his handyman.” Sam smoothed black curls of hair back from Cas’ sweaty forehead in a gesture he had often received from Dean.
“Bobby, sir?” Sam looked up at Bobby who nodded. “Will you look after Cas while I’m bringing the seal to Ellen Harvelle?”
“You want to go to her? Are you crazy?”
“Please sir. Cas saved my life and maybe Ellen Harvelle knows how to save him, I have to go ask her. Do you know where I can find her? Please?”
“Boy…” sighed Bobby.
“It’s Sam.”
“Sam…” The teen looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping that what his brother called his ‘puppy eyes’ would work on the old man. It seemed it worked, Bobby grumbling a “Fine!” and wheeling away to his platform. Sam looked at him as the small elevator took the wheelchair up on the platform.
They were sounds of drawer opening and closing, papers being ruffled. “Yahtzee!” Bobby finally said and Sam stood up. He walked toward the platform as Bobby was getting down again. The old man shook a string of bus tickets in front of Sam’s face but pulled them out of the way when the teen reached his hand to grab them. “To go to Ellen Harvelle, you’ll have to take the bus. The stop is the sixth one, the Roadhouse one. Don’t miss it, the bus only rides one way. You’ll have to walk back here. Got it?”
“Got it, sir. Thank you.” Sam took the tickets, pocketing them carefully. “I’ll go now.”
“With what shoes?” Sam gasped and looked at his feet. He had forgotten his lack of shoes and his face grew hot. Bobby laughed, rolling to the cupboard under his platform and rummaged in it. “While I’m searching for shoes, go put on your own clothes.” Sam froze. “I know everything that happen in here, boy. Now shoo.”
When Sam walked back a few minutes later, dresses in his own clothes with vial, tickets, seal and Mr. Wyatt’s card secured in his trouser pocket, Ruby was wearing a T-shirt and a sweatshirt her size, cropped jeans and was doing up the Velcro of her sneakers. Bobby gave him a pair of boots and Sam was surprised to see they were just his size. He checked one last time that he had all he needed and stood in front of Bobby. “Look like you’re ready to go. The bus stop is down the building. You go the same way you ended up here the first time, going down the stairs instead of up this time. Here, I packed you some snacks.” Sam took the satchel Bobby gave to him and slid the strap on his shoulder. Thanking Bobby again, the teen cast a last look at Cas and walked to the door. A small hand caught his as he opened the door and he looked down at Ruby and the puppy standing next to her.
“You want to go with me?” The little girl nodded and stepped forward, tugging on Sam’s arm. The teen looked back at Bobby who shrugged and Sam waved him good-bye.
It was sunny and warm outside, already mid-afternoon, and by the time they arrived at the bus stop, they were thirsty and the puppy was panting heavily. They took a drink and, by the time Sam put the bottle back in the satchel, the bus stopped next to them. Sam helped Ruby and the puppy up the steps and handed the driver the tickets. “We’re going to the Roadhouse stop.” Without a word, the man punched the tickets and gave them back to Sam, jerking a thumb toward the inside of the bus. Sam and Ruby walked up the small central alley, wobbling a little when the bus took off, and sat down somewhere in the middle, the little girl and the puppy gluing their faces to the window as Sam leaned back on his seat.
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