Requiem for Snow
Title: Requiem for Snow
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: None
Warnings: Language, mild violence, complete disregard for Greek Mythological Canon
Notes: This story follows canon up to Changing Channels - sort of - and borrows chunks of the rest of Season Five completely at random. This story has no beta.
Trailer 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LXZM9nRC4
Trailer 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wijPDaRc9iA
Trailer 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eR1JNDxstk
Summary: The January before he went to Hell, Dean and his brother Sam faced the Last Calusa in Key West, Florida. Following the defeat of this ancient curse, the brothers left, barreling straight into their destiny and the inevitable showdown against Lilith and her minions. But what they assumed was just another hunt was actually a key part in the plans of the Apocalypse. A plan not laid by the powers below, but by the ones up above. Title from the song by The Fray.
Summary This Chapter: The boys and Bobby start to work on the writing on the wall and get a message from Nate. All is not well in the Greek Pantheon when Zeus sends Mnemosyne on a mission he'd rather not - but something unexpected will come from her trip. Nate has a startling dream and things are slowly falling into place.
After a short discussion, Dean, Bobby and Sam decided to go through the messages on the walls in Heather's room one side at a time. Castiel stated that tracking Michael would be suicidal at this point and had resolved to find the person who most likely had the rest of the answers they needed: Melpomene. He figured it would take him at least two days to track the muse down, a week at the most - provided she neither went home or did any time travel. The group had started with the wall least covered - the one with the window - and it had taken them a good three hours to get everything transferred down to paper. The three of them went down to get settled in the library and start to work through whatever sort of crazed message Heather had been trying to send.
Sam went outside to get more wood for the fireplace before getting down to his part in the research - being the most technological savvy of the three, he was going to go through Heather's laptop and I-Pod . He was halfway through filling the carrying trough when the sound of a diesel engine caused him to pause. A flatbed tow-truck had pulled into the salvage yard and was lowering a very wrecked looking sedan into what could be considered Bobby's front yard. He set the logs he was carrying down and half walked, half slid down the ramp to meet the driver and two passengers - the older one angry and the younger half angry, half scared. “There a problem?”
“Yeah, there's a fucking problem.” The older of the passengers spat in Sam's face. The man was two inches shorter than him but didn't seem to notice. “Where's the kid?”
Sam blinked. “Kid?”
“Don't play dumb with me... I know this is where the red-headed girl lives.”
“Dad...” The teenager seemed slightly embarrassed at the moment. “I don't know if...”
“Look.” The man poked Sam in the chest. “I know that girl did this, so get her down here so I can have a few words with her!”
“Did what?” Sam asked as he heard the front door open and shut and someone come down and join him. He turned his attention to the wrecked car and did a double take. All four tires had been slashed and everywhere - on the doors, hood, trunk, even on the windows and bumpers there were scratches. He moved closer to inspect them and saw they weren't scratches, but words. It appeared to be the same phrase over and over again. He had to search for a moment to find one in a language he recognized.
“What's going on here?” It was Bobby. “What'd you dumping your crap in my yard for, Smithson?”
“That niece of yours has trashed my son's car, that's what!”
Sam glanced up to see the owner of the tow truck come over to Bobby. “Sorry I didn't call beforehand Bobby - but...”
“Not your fault, Greg.” Bobby sighed. “Least you've never brought me a car with a body in the trunk.”
“Stop stalling!” Smithson barked. “Just let me talk to the kid!”
Sam brushed his thumb against one of the marks - he'd finally found one in English. Thou Shalt Not Kill. He looked up. “If you think Heather did this, you're sorely mistaken.”
“What?”
Sam stood up straighter, repressing a smirk - he had a pretty good idea what had happened. “You're telling me that a thirteen year old girl got out of bed with a severe case of flu and a broken leg... got all the way to wherever you had this parked, did this to your car and got back here without any of us noticing? That's about the most unbelievable thing I've heard in years and I've heard lots of bullshit in the past decade.”
Bobby came over to the car and was looking it over and Sam could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Not to mention the fact that she doesn't know most of these languages on this car... a few phrases in Spanish and German maybe, but I doubt she speaks Japanese.”
“Why don't I believe you?” Smithson barked.
“Believe what you want.” Bobby came over to the man. “How many times have I called you to tell your idjit son not to chase that girl with his car?”
“Well, maybe if the girl would stop playing chicken...”
“Oh shit, I hit her?” The kid finally spoke up. “I didn't think...”
All four adults turned to stare at the kid. “I thought I was far enough ahead of her to get back into my lane!” Panic was evident on his face. “She... she didn't fall off the bridge, did she?”
“Oh, damn it, Keith!” Smithson smacked his son on the back of the head. “Was that girl playing chicken or not?”
“No!” Now the kid sounded terrified. “Honestly, I didn't mean to hurt her! I didn't think I'd hit her!”
“I'll get the car out of your yard Bobby...” Greg shook his head and headed for his truck. “Go ruin Sheriff Mills's day instead.”
Sam headed back for the house as he heard Bobby and the man talking, the upshot of it being Bobby telling him to get the hell off of his property. He picked up the logs and went inside. “That's just crazy...”
“What's crazy?” Dean said from the library.
“The car that's getting hauled out of here... I think either Michael or Gabriel did a number on it... I'm betting on the former.”
Dean looked up as Sam fed the fire. “What makes you say that?”
“I'd say because the kid that hit Heather is walking around and not stuck in some illusion.” Sam groaned and sat down on the couch, pulling the girl's I-Pod towards him and flipping it on. “Guess it's a good thing she left this at home the other day... odds are, it would have been fried otherwise.”
“Can we please not discuss what shape Heather's things might be in right now?” Dean was doing his best to try and not think of how the archangel that was supposed to be wearing him was now wearing his daughter instead.
“Just saying...” Sam frowned. “She sure gives her play-lists weird names.”
“Such as?” Dean said, going back to his stack as the door opened and Bobby came inside.
“After the usual top rated and what not, the first one is entitled Alder and Percy Slaying Dragons.”
Bobby chuckled softly and poured himself the last cup of coffee and then made a fresh pot. “Those are fictional characters Sam. I heard her and that other kid, Nate or something talking about 'em last time he was here. According to them, one was born a badass and the other achieved badassary by killing a Titan.” He went into the library.
“Anything else of interest on that thing, Sammy?” Dean said, frowning at a line of text that he knew had to be from the Bible just on how it was written.”
“Yeah... the last play-list on here... Songs on the Wall.”
“I'm guessing she's not talking about Pink Floyd.” Dean replied. “I doubt she even knows who that is...”
“Oh she knows...” Sam was flicking through the list of songs. “She's got practically their entire works saved on her laptop. I noticed them the first time I went through her music folder.”
Bobby came into the library and sat down at the desk, looking over his own pile of papers. “Given how full those walls are, she's been doing this for over a month... odds are, she was going to move to the ceiling soon.”
**
Heather wasn't entirely unaware of what was going on around her. Most of the time she had the feeling of either being carried around in her own mind or being curled up in a warm place. Even the dark didn't bother her all that much. Occasionally, however, sounds would shake her hidden spot - and they had to be very, very loud for her to hear them in the first place. Her concept of time was long gone so it could have been as little as two hours or as much as two decades for all she knew. But the near omnipresent feeling was the sensation of moving fast - so fast that stopping actually hurt. She'd seen a few things - a rusted out factory, a vaulted ceiling and a massive swath of blue-black she assumed was an ocean or other large body of water. Michael didn't talk that much - but when he did, he seemed to ramble on for stretches of time without taking a breath - it was dizzying. For now, they were stationary and Heather had the feeling they were waiting for something. “Where are we?”
“We are in Italy.” Michael's didn't sound like hers in her head and he didn't sound like he used to when he talked in her dreams. He was starting to sound like Dean.
Heather was about to ask where in Italy they were when her vision cleared a little and she was able to see. They were against a stone building looking into an open restaurant. The strong smell of oregano, sage and basil assailed her senses and she almost felt hunger. The focus of Michael's attention seemed to be on a man sitting at a table with two women, one with black hair and the other with red. The man was insanely good looking - he might be not any older than Dean in appearance, but she could tell that he was much, much older. Then a feeling nearly overwhelmed her as Michael narrowed her eyes at the man.
Fury.
There was no other word for it - it wasn't just a strong dislike, this was a horrific feeling - an anger and hate so unfathomable that it made blood boil and rational thought almost disappear. That was the first time Heather was actually afraid. “Who is that?”
“Apollo.” In Michael's voice, the name sounded like a curse.
“Uh, does he know we're here?” Heather frowned in her own mind.
“No.” Michael lifted their chin, the feeling wasn't subsiding at all - but it was being controlled as they watched the two women giggle at something Apollo said and then their food was brought out. “We're hidden... his companions are Calliope and Euterpe.”
“Let me guess... he's an asshole.” Heather was about to apologize for the curse when Michael responded.
“Heather, there are millions of assholes on this planet who are better people than that... thing is.” And then the two of them left and Heather sank back into darkness.
**
Nate had only been in the Singer house once and even then, he'd not looked around at all. He'd followed Heather's directions to the bathroom and not nosed around at all. Although he'd merely glanced into the library and knew he'd wanted to spend a few hours in there if he possibly could. The man had more books then it seemed possible. He tucked the brown grocery bag under his arm that held the two textbooks that had been in Heather's locker and the assignments as he made his way up the freshly de-iced and shoveled ramp that led to the kitchen door. He had seen the shiny black Impala parked in one of the garages, which meant Dean was probably here. “I just hope they don't ask me to explain what the hell the Western Wall is.” He knocked on the door once. He saw the shade covering the window shift slightly and then the door was opened. “Uh, hi...”
Sam frowned down at the kid. “Help you?”
“Yeah...” Nate shifted the bag in his arms. “I... I'm Nate, I go to school with Heather... I uh, wanted to bring her our assignments and stuff, since she was sick today.”
Sam blinked. “Oh...right.” He opened the door a little more fully and took the bag from him. “You're the one she's working on that project with, right?”
“It's a diorama of The Quillian Games, glad to see you pay attention, Dean.” He snapped in reply.
Sam stared at him. “I'm not Dean, I'm Sam.” He frowned. “Wait... are there two Nates in your class, or is it just you?”
“Is there a problem if I am the only Nate?” He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets.
“Nate who can see the angels...”
“Yeah, just like Heather can, why?”
“Who is it, Sam?” Bobby came over to the door and opened it a little wider. “Hey, kid.”
“Hello, Mr. Singer.” Nate instantly stood up a little straighter.
“Heather's sick today.”
“I know, I brought her today's homework. Course, Luke said she sounded like death warmed over yesterday, so I'm guessing today she sounds like death deep fried...”
“Who the hell is Luke?” Bobby asked.
“Luke Andros, they ride the bus together because he's the only person in our class who lives all the way out here too... Well, the only person who's talked to her lately.” Nate bit at the corner of his lip. “The girls don't really like her because she hates all that vampire and werewolf crap.” He glanced away for a moment. “Uh, Mr. Singer, could I uh...”
“Yeah, kid - come on inside...” Bobby pulled Sam back to let the boy inside. “You remember where the bathroom is?”
“Yes, sir.” He kicked the snow off his boots before stepping into the house. “Thank you.” He took his coat off, set it on a kitchen chair and made his way through the library, getting a glance from the man sitting at one of the desks and went down the hall to the bathroom.
“Bobby...” Sam asked in a quiet tone. “Do kids get out of taking shots of holy water?”
“He just walked under a Devil's Trap, son... that would have got him cold if there was something in him that wasn't supposed to be there.” Bobby shook his head and went back into the library. “Any progress?”
“Well, I've gotten all the words in bold singled out - and one word keeps showing up, a grand total of seven times...the strange thing is, the word is light.” He glanced towards the hallway. “That's Heather's friend, Nate, right?”
“Yeah.” Bobby said, looking over the list of words.
“That's weird...” Dean frowned. “Him coming all the way out here with her homework when she's only been sick one day...”
“Maybe there's something up with their project he wants to check on...” Bobby frowned. “I hope he knows where the two of them stashed it, because I sure don't.”
Sam picked up the tablet Dean had been working on. “Some of these phrases seem familiar for some reason...”
The sound of the toilet flushing and then water being run caused the three of them to turn to the hallway and when Nate came back into the library, he stopped short, looking at them. “Uh... did I do something wrong?”
“No, it's okay.” Bobby said quickly. “Thanks for bringing Heather's things out here. Though I'm not sure she'll be up to doing any homework any time soon.”
“Yeah... I hear this flu is pretty brutal...” He started to say something else but something in his mind clicked. “Um, I see you got better Mr. Singer.”
“What do you mean kid?”
“Weren't you in a wheelchair the last time I saw you?”
“I got better.” Bobby left it at that, hoping the kid would use his common sense and get the hell out of his house.
“Well, that's good.” He turned and headed back into the kitchen to put his coat on.
Dean stood up from his seat at the desk and followed him. “Can I ask you something?”
“I guess.” Nate straightened the collar of his coat.
“You know Heather isn't here, don't you?” Dean said, fully aware that Bobby and Sam were listening.
Nate's arms fell and he set his hands on the back of a chair as he took a deep breath. “Yeah.” He looked up at Dean. “I don't know what's going on with the angels and stuff... but I have a feeling she sort of got dragged into the middle of it kicking and screaming.”
“What makes you say that?” Sam said, coming up next to Dean.
“Because that would be my reaction... whatever is going on with her, it's major and she doesn't want anyone getting close to her... heck, there's only two other people in our class besides me who's gotten more than five sentences out of her at a time.” Nate started to fasten up his coat. “I'm surprised Mrs. Fasci or Mr. Saunderson hasn't found a reason to send her to the school counselor yet.”
“Who's Mr. Saunderson?” Dean asked.
“He's our history teacher.” He dug his gloves out of his pockets and let out a breath. “I mean, it can't be easy for her, losing her parents the way she did...”
“She told you what happened to her parents?” Sam said incredulously.
“Not exactly... I mean, I know they died, but I figured out how they died on my own...not to mention I found the news article on-line.” Nate felt his shoulders droop. “I really should get back... I've got my own homework to do.” He started for the door and paused with his hand on the knob. “I uh... I was told to tell you that you just need to pay attention to the western wall... whatever that means.” He shrugged and went outside. As he paused to pull his helmet off the back of his four-wheeler, he glanced up at the house and saw Dean standing near one of the windows upstairs, looking at something in the room. Nate shook his head left the salvage yard on his four-wheeler and headed for home.
*
It took another three days to get all the of the phrases, quotes and other notes copied down from the walls in Heather's room. They had figured that the western wall Nate had mentioned had been that wall of the girl's room - it was the one that he bed was against and seemed to contain more block letter words than the other three. Sam had figured out that the play-list on the I-Pod coincided with the longer phrases written down. He was still trying to think how the girl had managed to get so much down in such a short amount of time. But what all of them were really waiting for was for Cas to come back with the Melpomene in tow.
Dean, in an effort to try and understand something of the music left behind - and to get some time alone to think about just what the hell Michael was doing with Heather, he'd gotten a pair of headphones and had started going through the play-list. Most of the songs made his body cringe in distaste - the band called Train made him sick and Carbon Leaf was weird. He wasn't sure if the order was a factor or not. He was in the middle of his third run through of the damn thing when suddenly he realized something about one of the tunes. He had hit repeat on it several times, but after wracking his brain and listening to the song at least six times, Dean realized where he'd heard the song 'I Believe' by Cowboy Mouth before.
It was the song Melpomene had hummed under her breath.
**
Noah had always been prepared for any bad news he would find out about his birth family. When he was younger, he used to think that his father had been killed in the Vietnam War and his mother couldn't shoulder the burden of being a single mother. Or they'd been hippies and a baby would affect their free wheeling life-style. He'd never felt truly abandoned, he never felt left behind - he was born at a time when adoption was relatively easy. He'd actually felt very thankful at times that his parents had realized they couldn't take care of him and so, had given him up. The name that the angel had let slip - or more likely, had said on purpose - James Novak - had given him a way to start tracing back to the past.
He found a total of three James Novaks living in the United States - but as only one was missing, it hadn't been that hard to find out more information. It was when he found a photograph of the man that he'd been a little startled. His cousin had dark hair and sharp blue eyes. Wesley thought that the two of them looked alike and the more he studied the 'Missing' poster, the more Noah could see it. They had a similar build, the same hair line, the same ears. Oddly though, there weren't any reports of the man's daughter, Claire being missing. Even with the reports of Amelia Novak's death - Noah figured the girl was in some kind of Angelic Witness Protection or something. Which sounded both insane and plausible at the same time.
James, he also learned, had been raised by his aunt and uncle in Pontiac, Illinois after his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was six. That had been rather heartbreaking to read. Noah was two years older than his cousin and couldn't fathom what would have happened to him and his sister if they had lost their parents at that age. Marcia Higgs-Simon, James's aunt, was the only living child of Nicholas and Jane Higgs. Their other two children, the other daughter being James's mother, had died fourteen months apart.
Noah did a little more digging and found out about the couple's one son - Aaron. The man had died in the Tenerife Air Disaster in nineteen seventy-seven. After another long search, Noah finally found a picture of the man he assumed to be his biological father. The quality was horrible, since it'd been taken in seventy-six, but he could make out a few details. Mainly that the angel had been right. He knew that face all to well... Wes did look like him. Knowing one half of his parentage felt good... but that left one very, very alarming fact left.
The angel had stated that the girl he was possessing was also his cousin - apparently on his biological mother's side. But if the girl was thirteen... that made her twenty-six years younger than he was. Well, he'd heard of massive age differences in families before.... and for all he knew, the two sisters had different mothers.
**
Mnemosyne stood motionless in the vast chamber, her hands behind her back, waiting. She'd only been summoned like this four times in the past. The last time had been shortly after the American Civil War. She didn't say anything, despite the fact that her mind was ringing with thoughts of I told you so and there's still time to fix this. The braziers were dim, giving exactly two pools of light to illuminate the space and the air was heavy with the scent she always associated with Zeus - that heavy, to-rich smell of perfume. And then there was the god himself. Try as she could, Mnemosyne could never make herself completely hate him. She had nine miracles left from that encounter and she couldn't hate their father without hating them. No, she didn't hate Zeus.... she just hated his actions. He was pitiable, the way so many pagans tended to be. Stumbling little children, not to unlike humans, but with a lot more punch to them that made them feel superior. She released the breath she was holding as Zeus slowly straightened his shoulders, his gaze still in front of him, staring at the massive frieze that decorated the far wall.
“I... I do not like sending you on this mission again.” He let out a deeper breath. “You never did tell me what my brother said.”
The Titan-Angel swallowed. “He was expecting me. I do not know if it was his intention to be caught or not.”
Zeus looked over his shoulder, his blue eyes were rimmed in red. “A hunter killed him, correct?”
“Yes, Zeus.” Mnemosyne bit at the corner of her lip, frowning. “He broke the first rule, only the second requires intimidate execution. No one has ever been foolish enough to break the third, let alone the fourth.”
“That is true...” The god swallowed hard and looked away from her. “Just... just make it quick, will you?”
“Understood.” She inclined her head slightly and backed away.
**
Mercury, also known as Hermes, had always prided himself on getting ahead of schedule on almost anything he ever set about to do. The Elysian Fields Hotel was nothing short of perfect. He'd been among the first to arrive and had the whole place almost completely set up before the other gods were present. The only one who had not shown up yet was Kali, who, for some unknown reason, was delayed. Ganesh couldn't explain her absence either, and they were in the same pantheon. It didn't matter either way, the talk was going horribly. Half of them wanted to catch the Winchesters and kill them. The others wanted to capture the two men and then hold them for ransom against the angels. Either way, neither method worked out. They didn't even have the Winchester Brothers yet. So, as the brothers weren't hidden from pagans...
The bell on the desk ringed once and he looked up. “Checking in.” A cold voice said.
Mercury smile faltered slightly. He'd not seen an angel at this close of a range in centuries. “Lucifer.” He heard his voice nearly crack. “So good to see you.”
The angel smirked. Arrogant little shit. “Well, you did call me.” He could be personable for a few minutes longer.
“It's just that...” Mercury shrugged every so slightly. “The way that it's going in there...”
“Oh you did the right thing.” Lucifer was thinking that he might just save this one until last when a soft cough came from behind him.
“Excuse me.”
Lucifer turned and both he and Mercury turned and stared at the woman standing in the angel's shadow.
“What are you doing here?” The god said in an accusatory tone. “You lost the vote, remember Mnemosyne?”
“I know I did. That's not why I am here.” She turned to Lucifer. “I am very sorry to interrupt your little pow-wow, but I need to speak with Hermes here for just... oh, not more than five minutes... then I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing.” She kept her voice contrite and humble. “I'll even do you a favor and forget I saw you here.”
Lucifer stared at the Titan. “Is this some of your seriously deranged pagan shit?”
“Yes, yes it is.”
Mercury's eyes narrowed. “Why are you here, anyway? You're not supposed to be here, it's breaking the fourth rule....if you get caught, my father will send his assassin after you.”
“Oh, I'm not afraid of the assassin.” Mnemosyne said, the faintest tint of superiority creeping into her voice.
Lucifer folded his arms and smirked. “This is rather amusing...” He nodded slightly to the woman. “You can have your five minutes.”
“Thank you.” Mnemosyne replied and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small chunk of coal. “Hermes, do you know what this is?”
“It's Mercury and that's...” His expression became confused. “That's a... an ember from Hestia's Fire.” He looked at Mnemosyne as if seeing her for the first time. “But... but only the assassin and Hestia can pull those from the blaze.” He went from shocked to horrified. “You?”
“That's the best you can come up with? After three thousand years of wondering who the assassin is and that's all you can say?” Mnemosyne chuckled.
“Oh, so you're the one who killed Poseidon” Lucifer interjected.
“Actually, that was Elijah Campbell...” She replied. “He really should have laid off the sauce... broke rule number one.” She turned back to Mercury, grabbed him by his collar and shoved the stone into his mouth, shaking the younger god until he swallowed it. “You, Hermes,” She kept using his Greek name because she knew it pissed him off. “Have broken rule number two... aiding and indulging in the act of unwilling human sacrifice. That's grounds for immediate execution.” She threw the god against the wall, releasing him. The 'E' in 'Elysian' shattered on impact. “But I come in here to find you in violation of rule number three..” She looked over at Lucifer for effect. “What part of not throwing rocks at the hornet's nest don't you understand?”
“Hornet's nest?” Lucifer was taken aback.
“Collective term for angels...no offense meant.” She turned back to the god. “You have been found guilty and have been expelled from the fire of Olympus and are no longer welcome into our fold. As the law which was established which you have broken calls for immediate death....” She stopped, bit her lip and shot a look at Lucifer. “But I think today...” She tapped her lips with a finger. “Ennie, meanie, minie mo....” She wagged the finger between the other two for a moment. “Father told me to pick the best one and you are not it..” Her finger landed on Mercury.
“You...won't get away with this...” The god stammered. “My father...”
Mnemosyne moved fast. She slammed one hand on the side of Lucifer's vessel and as he recoiled from the released memories, her fingers left his skin her other hand was on the god's head in a motion to fast to be seen. “Actually, you don't have parents, you sorry sack of creationary fall-out.” She stepped back, a triumphant smile on her face, hands falling to her sides. “How do you feel, adelfos?” She directed at Lucifer.
“Arael?” The angel was stunned - he thought his sister had been dead all this time and now... now... He looked over at the god, who suddenly looked nothing short of terrified. He remembered now - remembered the day that Joshua had crawled into his father's garden, wings broken and bent, screaming those horrifying words. And the he saw what his sister had seen - a god had caught her when she tried to run - this god was the who had broken his sister's wings. She'd known her fate before she had left, known what been coming... but even so... Lucifer became furious. “How...”
“Now I bet you really wish you'd have come with me instead of climbing that garden wall.” She shook her head. “Remember to clean up after you're done playing.” She turned and looked over at the clock. “I'm done thirty seconds early...”
“I...uh...I...” Mercury tried to bolt and was suddenly obliterated.
Lucifer lowered his hand and turned to look at his sister. “You've been there, all this time?”
“Yes, yes I have.” She sighed and turned. “By the way, you look like shit, Luci, you should really take a bath.” She shook her head and walked out the door of the motel, keeping her focus dead in front of her. She was halfway across the asphalt when Kali materialized, heading for her. Normally, she would have given the Hindu goddess the right of way, but not now, not this time. The moment they were level, she grabbed the younger woman, turned her around roughly and kept walking.
“What do...”
“There's a world of hurt going on in there...” A loud yell, it sounded like Zao Shen, echoed towards them. “There was a break down in the peace talks and it's every god and goddess for themselves now.”
“Are... how...” Kali was dumbfounded. First, the Titan was actually acting authoritative, when in the past she'd been meek and silent. Secondly, she actually wasn't afraid of what was going on behind her. “Is there...” A moment later and the two of them were walking down a road somewhere in the Himalayas.
“Why don't you be a good girl and stay over here in your hemisphere while us Westerners have our little fight.” Mnemosyne backed away. “You don't like us much anyway.”
“How dare...” Kali was about to strike the Titan down when a hand grabbed her wrist. She looked over. “Loki?”
“Thank you, Mnemosyne.” Gabriel said quietly.
“You're welcome.” She inclined her head slightly and vanished.
“What is going on?” Kali rounded on the the Norse god.
“A lot.” Gabriel sighed. “....and you just dodged one of the biggest god slaughters since the Greeks went to Egypt...”
**
Calliope stood, arms akimbo, glaring around the sitting room at seven of her eight sisters - the only one missing was Erato, who was in Vancouver. She wasn't a part of this, she knew that. Atty had no children. She took a deep breath and started to pace the room. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all go about our business.” She noted that Perry looked like she would rather be somewhere else and Thalia kept her gaze on the floor. “I know that the five of you...” She glared at her remaining sisters. “All had children alive during the second World War. I also know that Emil is the only one still alive.” She gave a pointed look at Urania.
Terpsichore shifted in her seat. “I really don't see what your point is here, sister.”
“The point, Cori... is the fact that we need to start accounting for all the children... thanks to Clio and her darling Riordan fellow...” She spat.
“It's a story, Callie.” Clio spat out. “You don't really care one way or another if we have any living children, it's Apollo who wants to know.”
“He has a right to know.” Thalia spoke up. “He's our brother...”
“Yeah, so is Ares... are we going to tell him too?” Melpomene retorted.
“Of course not.” Thalia jumped up. “Apollo is different!”
“Just because you sold your kids out so he could blackmail you doesn't mean you have the right to drag the rest of us into your guilt filled Hell.” Urania stood up. “It doesn't matter.”
“Oh it does matter.” Calliope said, sneering. “Because I have had just about enough of the five of you being so insubordinate to our brother. Dad said we had to do what he said...”
Clio's face went black with rage. “I don't think part of that condition was sleeping with him....”
Polly stood and slapped her sister. “Shut your filthy mouth.”
“Stop it, all of you!” Melpomene stood up, holding Clio back from attacking her younger sister. “Perry, you've been pretty quiet over there in your corner...”
“Callie...” Perry stood up, looking somewhat afraid. She was the only one of the nine who shared their mother's red hair. “They have a point, Apollo's never cared about our children until now... I mean, we're lucky he never killed them at birth.”
“I don't get what your problem is. I counted the charms on mother's bracelet... The last time I saw it was forty years ago... it has seven more charms now than it did then.... that tells me that these five have unaccounted children.”
“You moron!” Perry snapped. “I've had kids since then! And you know what, probably the one reason Apollo wants to keep track of the kids is so he can use them against us...” She shuffled her feet. “Or at least, against the three of them...” She indicated her blond sisters. “Since... well, you know...”
The door of the room was suddenly flung open and a very out-of-breath Artemis stood there. “Missy?” Cori stood up, frowning. “What is it?”
“Em... emergency meeting....dad's going nuts....” She was more in shock than overtaxed. “Our stupid older brother went and threw rocks at the hornet's nest.”
**
Nate had flat out lied to his friends and his teachers about Heather. He told them she had mono - which was a little more believable than the truth. He'd made up a halfway decent story about one of the guys who visited Bobby Singer having it and a soda-can mix up. Not that to many people were asking about her. The teachers seemed concerned when Tuesday arrived and Heather still hadn't come back to school. He'd at least had the foresight to tell Mr. Singer what he was telling people at school so the two of them were telling the same story. Truth was, Nate was starting to get worried too. He didn't exactly expect the archangel to let Heather send him an email or something... but still...
He dropped his backpack on his desk chair and then fell back on to his bed. Nate was starting to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with him. Seriously - Heather had told him to just drop the subject when he brought up the seeing angels thing. That alone told him that it wasn't something everyone could do. Hell, he should have known that the first time he'd seen Castiel in the church. He sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't even know why he was so damn tired right now. He'd just take a short nap... just until dinner. He didn't have all that much homework...
The dream hit hard, fast and Nate could barely make out a lot of large details. A congregation listening to a woman in a pink sweater that he knew wasn't a woman. A shocked look from one of the people, a shot rang out and he saw a small person - a teenager, maybe - fall. A fraction of a second later, he saw the woman in the pink sweater again... with stark terror in her eyes.
Nate jerked awake, breathing hard. What the hell was that?
*
Thousands of miles away, a small pair of hands, the nails painted in alternating colors of blue and green seized hold of a bare branch of cypress and jerked it clear from the tree. The crack echoed through the still market but the figure seemed unaffected as the hands cleaned off the gnarled branch and then stuck it into the inner pocket of her tan coat. A voice suddenly rang out and she turned as the screaming became more distinct.
“You there, what are you about, you little bitch? What do you mean, appearing in public in such a manner!”
The girl titled her head at the man, blinking as if she didn't understand a word he spoke, although she understood perfectly.
The man drew out a long bladed knife and charged over to her. “You dare stand there in ignorance, you piece of filth?” As he raised the knife over his head to bring it plunging down into the girl's chest for breaking a tribal law, he suddenly found his wrist caught in the girl's hand in an iron grip. “What?” His shout brought out others, and now a circle of men surrounded the pair.
“These affairs have nothing to do with you.” The girl spoke in perfect Arabic, her voice strong and clear. “Turn and return to your homes. Forget what you have seen.”
“Release me!” The man grabbed the girl's hair with his other hand. “You piece of...”
“I did warn you...” The girl said and suddenly her eyes turned blazing and the light spread to fill the entire town square. Screams were cut off into liquid gurgles and several shots rang out. When quiet returned, four of the ten men who'd been standing there were dead. The other six were stricken deaf - and their eyes had burned from their sockets, The girl, however was gone without a trace.
Chapter 22
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: None
Warnings: Language, mild violence, complete disregard for Greek Mythological Canon
Notes: This story follows canon up to Changing Channels - sort of - and borrows chunks of the rest of Season Five completely at random. This story has no beta.
Trailer 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LXZM9nRC4
Trailer 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wijPDaRc9iA
Trailer 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eR1JNDxstk
Summary: The January before he went to Hell, Dean and his brother Sam faced the Last Calusa in Key West, Florida. Following the defeat of this ancient curse, the brothers left, barreling straight into their destiny and the inevitable showdown against Lilith and her minions. But what they assumed was just another hunt was actually a key part in the plans of the Apocalypse. A plan not laid by the powers below, but by the ones up above. Title from the song by The Fray.
Summary This Chapter: The boys and Bobby start to work on the writing on the wall and get a message from Nate. All is not well in the Greek Pantheon when Zeus sends Mnemosyne on a mission he'd rather not - but something unexpected will come from her trip. Nate has a startling dream and things are slowly falling into place.
After a short discussion, Dean, Bobby and Sam decided to go through the messages on the walls in Heather's room one side at a time. Castiel stated that tracking Michael would be suicidal at this point and had resolved to find the person who most likely had the rest of the answers they needed: Melpomene. He figured it would take him at least two days to track the muse down, a week at the most - provided she neither went home or did any time travel. The group had started with the wall least covered - the one with the window - and it had taken them a good three hours to get everything transferred down to paper. The three of them went down to get settled in the library and start to work through whatever sort of crazed message Heather had been trying to send.
Sam went outside to get more wood for the fireplace before getting down to his part in the research - being the most technological savvy of the three, he was going to go through Heather's laptop and I-Pod . He was halfway through filling the carrying trough when the sound of a diesel engine caused him to pause. A flatbed tow-truck had pulled into the salvage yard and was lowering a very wrecked looking sedan into what could be considered Bobby's front yard. He set the logs he was carrying down and half walked, half slid down the ramp to meet the driver and two passengers - the older one angry and the younger half angry, half scared. “There a problem?”
“Yeah, there's a fucking problem.” The older of the passengers spat in Sam's face. The man was two inches shorter than him but didn't seem to notice. “Where's the kid?”
Sam blinked. “Kid?”
“Don't play dumb with me... I know this is where the red-headed girl lives.”
“Dad...” The teenager seemed slightly embarrassed at the moment. “I don't know if...”
“Look.” The man poked Sam in the chest. “I know that girl did this, so get her down here so I can have a few words with her!”
“Did what?” Sam asked as he heard the front door open and shut and someone come down and join him. He turned his attention to the wrecked car and did a double take. All four tires had been slashed and everywhere - on the doors, hood, trunk, even on the windows and bumpers there were scratches. He moved closer to inspect them and saw they weren't scratches, but words. It appeared to be the same phrase over and over again. He had to search for a moment to find one in a language he recognized.
“What's going on here?” It was Bobby. “What'd you dumping your crap in my yard for, Smithson?”
“That niece of yours has trashed my son's car, that's what!”
Sam glanced up to see the owner of the tow truck come over to Bobby. “Sorry I didn't call beforehand Bobby - but...”
“Not your fault, Greg.” Bobby sighed. “Least you've never brought me a car with a body in the trunk.”
“Stop stalling!” Smithson barked. “Just let me talk to the kid!”
Sam brushed his thumb against one of the marks - he'd finally found one in English. Thou Shalt Not Kill. He looked up. “If you think Heather did this, you're sorely mistaken.”
“What?”
Sam stood up straighter, repressing a smirk - he had a pretty good idea what had happened. “You're telling me that a thirteen year old girl got out of bed with a severe case of flu and a broken leg... got all the way to wherever you had this parked, did this to your car and got back here without any of us noticing? That's about the most unbelievable thing I've heard in years and I've heard lots of bullshit in the past decade.”
Bobby came over to the car and was looking it over and Sam could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Not to mention the fact that she doesn't know most of these languages on this car... a few phrases in Spanish and German maybe, but I doubt she speaks Japanese.”
“Why don't I believe you?” Smithson barked.
“Believe what you want.” Bobby came over to the man. “How many times have I called you to tell your idjit son not to chase that girl with his car?”
“Well, maybe if the girl would stop playing chicken...”
“Oh shit, I hit her?” The kid finally spoke up. “I didn't think...”
All four adults turned to stare at the kid. “I thought I was far enough ahead of her to get back into my lane!” Panic was evident on his face. “She... she didn't fall off the bridge, did she?”
“Oh, damn it, Keith!” Smithson smacked his son on the back of the head. “Was that girl playing chicken or not?”
“No!” Now the kid sounded terrified. “Honestly, I didn't mean to hurt her! I didn't think I'd hit her!”
“I'll get the car out of your yard Bobby...” Greg shook his head and headed for his truck. “Go ruin Sheriff Mills's day instead.”
Sam headed back for the house as he heard Bobby and the man talking, the upshot of it being Bobby telling him to get the hell off of his property. He picked up the logs and went inside. “That's just crazy...”
“What's crazy?” Dean said from the library.
“The car that's getting hauled out of here... I think either Michael or Gabriel did a number on it... I'm betting on the former.”
Dean looked up as Sam fed the fire. “What makes you say that?”
“I'd say because the kid that hit Heather is walking around and not stuck in some illusion.” Sam groaned and sat down on the couch, pulling the girl's I-Pod towards him and flipping it on. “Guess it's a good thing she left this at home the other day... odds are, it would have been fried otherwise.”
“Can we please not discuss what shape Heather's things might be in right now?” Dean was doing his best to try and not think of how the archangel that was supposed to be wearing him was now wearing his daughter instead.
“Just saying...” Sam frowned. “She sure gives her play-lists weird names.”
“Such as?” Dean said, going back to his stack as the door opened and Bobby came inside.
“After the usual top rated and what not, the first one is entitled Alder and Percy Slaying Dragons.”
Bobby chuckled softly and poured himself the last cup of coffee and then made a fresh pot. “Those are fictional characters Sam. I heard her and that other kid, Nate or something talking about 'em last time he was here. According to them, one was born a badass and the other achieved badassary by killing a Titan.” He went into the library.
“Anything else of interest on that thing, Sammy?” Dean said, frowning at a line of text that he knew had to be from the Bible just on how it was written.”
“Yeah... the last play-list on here... Songs on the Wall.”
“I'm guessing she's not talking about Pink Floyd.” Dean replied. “I doubt she even knows who that is...”
“Oh she knows...” Sam was flicking through the list of songs. “She's got practically their entire works saved on her laptop. I noticed them the first time I went through her music folder.”
Bobby came into the library and sat down at the desk, looking over his own pile of papers. “Given how full those walls are, she's been doing this for over a month... odds are, she was going to move to the ceiling soon.”
**
Heather wasn't entirely unaware of what was going on around her. Most of the time she had the feeling of either being carried around in her own mind or being curled up in a warm place. Even the dark didn't bother her all that much. Occasionally, however, sounds would shake her hidden spot - and they had to be very, very loud for her to hear them in the first place. Her concept of time was long gone so it could have been as little as two hours or as much as two decades for all she knew. But the near omnipresent feeling was the sensation of moving fast - so fast that stopping actually hurt. She'd seen a few things - a rusted out factory, a vaulted ceiling and a massive swath of blue-black she assumed was an ocean or other large body of water. Michael didn't talk that much - but when he did, he seemed to ramble on for stretches of time without taking a breath - it was dizzying. For now, they were stationary and Heather had the feeling they were waiting for something. “Where are we?”
“We are in Italy.” Michael's didn't sound like hers in her head and he didn't sound like he used to when he talked in her dreams. He was starting to sound like Dean.
Heather was about to ask where in Italy they were when her vision cleared a little and she was able to see. They were against a stone building looking into an open restaurant. The strong smell of oregano, sage and basil assailed her senses and she almost felt hunger. The focus of Michael's attention seemed to be on a man sitting at a table with two women, one with black hair and the other with red. The man was insanely good looking - he might be not any older than Dean in appearance, but she could tell that he was much, much older. Then a feeling nearly overwhelmed her as Michael narrowed her eyes at the man.
Fury.
There was no other word for it - it wasn't just a strong dislike, this was a horrific feeling - an anger and hate so unfathomable that it made blood boil and rational thought almost disappear. That was the first time Heather was actually afraid. “Who is that?”
“Apollo.” In Michael's voice, the name sounded like a curse.
“Uh, does he know we're here?” Heather frowned in her own mind.
“No.” Michael lifted their chin, the feeling wasn't subsiding at all - but it was being controlled as they watched the two women giggle at something Apollo said and then their food was brought out. “We're hidden... his companions are Calliope and Euterpe.”
“Let me guess... he's an asshole.” Heather was about to apologize for the curse when Michael responded.
“Heather, there are millions of assholes on this planet who are better people than that... thing is.” And then the two of them left and Heather sank back into darkness.
**
Nate had only been in the Singer house once and even then, he'd not looked around at all. He'd followed Heather's directions to the bathroom and not nosed around at all. Although he'd merely glanced into the library and knew he'd wanted to spend a few hours in there if he possibly could. The man had more books then it seemed possible. He tucked the brown grocery bag under his arm that held the two textbooks that had been in Heather's locker and the assignments as he made his way up the freshly de-iced and shoveled ramp that led to the kitchen door. He had seen the shiny black Impala parked in one of the garages, which meant Dean was probably here. “I just hope they don't ask me to explain what the hell the Western Wall is.” He knocked on the door once. He saw the shade covering the window shift slightly and then the door was opened. “Uh, hi...”
Sam frowned down at the kid. “Help you?”
“Yeah...” Nate shifted the bag in his arms. “I... I'm Nate, I go to school with Heather... I uh, wanted to bring her our assignments and stuff, since she was sick today.”
Sam blinked. “Oh...right.” He opened the door a little more fully and took the bag from him. “You're the one she's working on that project with, right?”
“It's a diorama of The Quillian Games, glad to see you pay attention, Dean.” He snapped in reply.
Sam stared at him. “I'm not Dean, I'm Sam.” He frowned. “Wait... are there two Nates in your class, or is it just you?”
“Is there a problem if I am the only Nate?” He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets.
“Nate who can see the angels...”
“Yeah, just like Heather can, why?”
“Who is it, Sam?” Bobby came over to the door and opened it a little wider. “Hey, kid.”
“Hello, Mr. Singer.” Nate instantly stood up a little straighter.
“Heather's sick today.”
“I know, I brought her today's homework. Course, Luke said she sounded like death warmed over yesterday, so I'm guessing today she sounds like death deep fried...”
“Who the hell is Luke?” Bobby asked.
“Luke Andros, they ride the bus together because he's the only person in our class who lives all the way out here too... Well, the only person who's talked to her lately.” Nate bit at the corner of his lip. “The girls don't really like her because she hates all that vampire and werewolf crap.” He glanced away for a moment. “Uh, Mr. Singer, could I uh...”
“Yeah, kid - come on inside...” Bobby pulled Sam back to let the boy inside. “You remember where the bathroom is?”
“Yes, sir.” He kicked the snow off his boots before stepping into the house. “Thank you.” He took his coat off, set it on a kitchen chair and made his way through the library, getting a glance from the man sitting at one of the desks and went down the hall to the bathroom.
“Bobby...” Sam asked in a quiet tone. “Do kids get out of taking shots of holy water?”
“He just walked under a Devil's Trap, son... that would have got him cold if there was something in him that wasn't supposed to be there.” Bobby shook his head and went back into the library. “Any progress?”
“Well, I've gotten all the words in bold singled out - and one word keeps showing up, a grand total of seven times...the strange thing is, the word is light.” He glanced towards the hallway. “That's Heather's friend, Nate, right?”
“Yeah.” Bobby said, looking over the list of words.
“That's weird...” Dean frowned. “Him coming all the way out here with her homework when she's only been sick one day...”
“Maybe there's something up with their project he wants to check on...” Bobby frowned. “I hope he knows where the two of them stashed it, because I sure don't.”
Sam picked up the tablet Dean had been working on. “Some of these phrases seem familiar for some reason...”
The sound of the toilet flushing and then water being run caused the three of them to turn to the hallway and when Nate came back into the library, he stopped short, looking at them. “Uh... did I do something wrong?”
“No, it's okay.” Bobby said quickly. “Thanks for bringing Heather's things out here. Though I'm not sure she'll be up to doing any homework any time soon.”
“Yeah... I hear this flu is pretty brutal...” He started to say something else but something in his mind clicked. “Um, I see you got better Mr. Singer.”
“What do you mean kid?”
“Weren't you in a wheelchair the last time I saw you?”
“I got better.” Bobby left it at that, hoping the kid would use his common sense and get the hell out of his house.
“Well, that's good.” He turned and headed back into the kitchen to put his coat on.
Dean stood up from his seat at the desk and followed him. “Can I ask you something?”
“I guess.” Nate straightened the collar of his coat.
“You know Heather isn't here, don't you?” Dean said, fully aware that Bobby and Sam were listening.
Nate's arms fell and he set his hands on the back of a chair as he took a deep breath. “Yeah.” He looked up at Dean. “I don't know what's going on with the angels and stuff... but I have a feeling she sort of got dragged into the middle of it kicking and screaming.”
“What makes you say that?” Sam said, coming up next to Dean.
“Because that would be my reaction... whatever is going on with her, it's major and she doesn't want anyone getting close to her... heck, there's only two other people in our class besides me who's gotten more than five sentences out of her at a time.” Nate started to fasten up his coat. “I'm surprised Mrs. Fasci or Mr. Saunderson hasn't found a reason to send her to the school counselor yet.”
“Who's Mr. Saunderson?” Dean asked.
“He's our history teacher.” He dug his gloves out of his pockets and let out a breath. “I mean, it can't be easy for her, losing her parents the way she did...”
“She told you what happened to her parents?” Sam said incredulously.
“Not exactly... I mean, I know they died, but I figured out how they died on my own...not to mention I found the news article on-line.” Nate felt his shoulders droop. “I really should get back... I've got my own homework to do.” He started for the door and paused with his hand on the knob. “I uh... I was told to tell you that you just need to pay attention to the western wall... whatever that means.” He shrugged and went outside. As he paused to pull his helmet off the back of his four-wheeler, he glanced up at the house and saw Dean standing near one of the windows upstairs, looking at something in the room. Nate shook his head left the salvage yard on his four-wheeler and headed for home.
*
It took another three days to get all the of the phrases, quotes and other notes copied down from the walls in Heather's room. They had figured that the western wall Nate had mentioned had been that wall of the girl's room - it was the one that he bed was against and seemed to contain more block letter words than the other three. Sam had figured out that the play-list on the I-Pod coincided with the longer phrases written down. He was still trying to think how the girl had managed to get so much down in such a short amount of time. But what all of them were really waiting for was for Cas to come back with the Melpomene in tow.
Dean, in an effort to try and understand something of the music left behind - and to get some time alone to think about just what the hell Michael was doing with Heather, he'd gotten a pair of headphones and had started going through the play-list. Most of the songs made his body cringe in distaste - the band called Train made him sick and Carbon Leaf was weird. He wasn't sure if the order was a factor or not. He was in the middle of his third run through of the damn thing when suddenly he realized something about one of the tunes. He had hit repeat on it several times, but after wracking his brain and listening to the song at least six times, Dean realized where he'd heard the song 'I Believe' by Cowboy Mouth before.
It was the song Melpomene had hummed under her breath.
**
Noah had always been prepared for any bad news he would find out about his birth family. When he was younger, he used to think that his father had been killed in the Vietnam War and his mother couldn't shoulder the burden of being a single mother. Or they'd been hippies and a baby would affect their free wheeling life-style. He'd never felt truly abandoned, he never felt left behind - he was born at a time when adoption was relatively easy. He'd actually felt very thankful at times that his parents had realized they couldn't take care of him and so, had given him up. The name that the angel had let slip - or more likely, had said on purpose - James Novak - had given him a way to start tracing back to the past.
He found a total of three James Novaks living in the United States - but as only one was missing, it hadn't been that hard to find out more information. It was when he found a photograph of the man that he'd been a little startled. His cousin had dark hair and sharp blue eyes. Wesley thought that the two of them looked alike and the more he studied the 'Missing' poster, the more Noah could see it. They had a similar build, the same hair line, the same ears. Oddly though, there weren't any reports of the man's daughter, Claire being missing. Even with the reports of Amelia Novak's death - Noah figured the girl was in some kind of Angelic Witness Protection or something. Which sounded both insane and plausible at the same time.
James, he also learned, had been raised by his aunt and uncle in Pontiac, Illinois after his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was six. That had been rather heartbreaking to read. Noah was two years older than his cousin and couldn't fathom what would have happened to him and his sister if they had lost their parents at that age. Marcia Higgs-Simon, James's aunt, was the only living child of Nicholas and Jane Higgs. Their other two children, the other daughter being James's mother, had died fourteen months apart.
Noah did a little more digging and found out about the couple's one son - Aaron. The man had died in the Tenerife Air Disaster in nineteen seventy-seven. After another long search, Noah finally found a picture of the man he assumed to be his biological father. The quality was horrible, since it'd been taken in seventy-six, but he could make out a few details. Mainly that the angel had been right. He knew that face all to well... Wes did look like him. Knowing one half of his parentage felt good... but that left one very, very alarming fact left.
The angel had stated that the girl he was possessing was also his cousin - apparently on his biological mother's side. But if the girl was thirteen... that made her twenty-six years younger than he was. Well, he'd heard of massive age differences in families before.... and for all he knew, the two sisters had different mothers.
**
Mnemosyne stood motionless in the vast chamber, her hands behind her back, waiting. She'd only been summoned like this four times in the past. The last time had been shortly after the American Civil War. She didn't say anything, despite the fact that her mind was ringing with thoughts of I told you so and there's still time to fix this. The braziers were dim, giving exactly two pools of light to illuminate the space and the air was heavy with the scent she always associated with Zeus - that heavy, to-rich smell of perfume. And then there was the god himself. Try as she could, Mnemosyne could never make herself completely hate him. She had nine miracles left from that encounter and she couldn't hate their father without hating them. No, she didn't hate Zeus.... she just hated his actions. He was pitiable, the way so many pagans tended to be. Stumbling little children, not to unlike humans, but with a lot more punch to them that made them feel superior. She released the breath she was holding as Zeus slowly straightened his shoulders, his gaze still in front of him, staring at the massive frieze that decorated the far wall.
“I... I do not like sending you on this mission again.” He let out a deeper breath. “You never did tell me what my brother said.”
The Titan-Angel swallowed. “He was expecting me. I do not know if it was his intention to be caught or not.”
Zeus looked over his shoulder, his blue eyes were rimmed in red. “A hunter killed him, correct?”
“Yes, Zeus.” Mnemosyne bit at the corner of her lip, frowning. “He broke the first rule, only the second requires intimidate execution. No one has ever been foolish enough to break the third, let alone the fourth.”
“That is true...” The god swallowed hard and looked away from her. “Just... just make it quick, will you?”
“Understood.” She inclined her head slightly and backed away.
**
Mercury, also known as Hermes, had always prided himself on getting ahead of schedule on almost anything he ever set about to do. The Elysian Fields Hotel was nothing short of perfect. He'd been among the first to arrive and had the whole place almost completely set up before the other gods were present. The only one who had not shown up yet was Kali, who, for some unknown reason, was delayed. Ganesh couldn't explain her absence either, and they were in the same pantheon. It didn't matter either way, the talk was going horribly. Half of them wanted to catch the Winchesters and kill them. The others wanted to capture the two men and then hold them for ransom against the angels. Either way, neither method worked out. They didn't even have the Winchester Brothers yet. So, as the brothers weren't hidden from pagans...
The bell on the desk ringed once and he looked up. “Checking in.” A cold voice said.
Mercury smile faltered slightly. He'd not seen an angel at this close of a range in centuries. “Lucifer.” He heard his voice nearly crack. “So good to see you.”
The angel smirked. Arrogant little shit. “Well, you did call me.” He could be personable for a few minutes longer.
“It's just that...” Mercury shrugged every so slightly. “The way that it's going in there...”
“Oh you did the right thing.” Lucifer was thinking that he might just save this one until last when a soft cough came from behind him.
“Excuse me.”
Lucifer turned and both he and Mercury turned and stared at the woman standing in the angel's shadow.
“What are you doing here?” The god said in an accusatory tone. “You lost the vote, remember Mnemosyne?”
“I know I did. That's not why I am here.” She turned to Lucifer. “I am very sorry to interrupt your little pow-wow, but I need to speak with Hermes here for just... oh, not more than five minutes... then I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing.” She kept her voice contrite and humble. “I'll even do you a favor and forget I saw you here.”
Lucifer stared at the Titan. “Is this some of your seriously deranged pagan shit?”
“Yes, yes it is.”
Mercury's eyes narrowed. “Why are you here, anyway? You're not supposed to be here, it's breaking the fourth rule....if you get caught, my father will send his assassin after you.”
“Oh, I'm not afraid of the assassin.” Mnemosyne said, the faintest tint of superiority creeping into her voice.
Lucifer folded his arms and smirked. “This is rather amusing...” He nodded slightly to the woman. “You can have your five minutes.”
“Thank you.” Mnemosyne replied and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small chunk of coal. “Hermes, do you know what this is?”
“It's Mercury and that's...” His expression became confused. “That's a... an ember from Hestia's Fire.” He looked at Mnemosyne as if seeing her for the first time. “But... but only the assassin and Hestia can pull those from the blaze.” He went from shocked to horrified. “You?”
“That's the best you can come up with? After three thousand years of wondering who the assassin is and that's all you can say?” Mnemosyne chuckled.
“Oh, so you're the one who killed Poseidon” Lucifer interjected.
“Actually, that was Elijah Campbell...” She replied. “He really should have laid off the sauce... broke rule number one.” She turned back to Mercury, grabbed him by his collar and shoved the stone into his mouth, shaking the younger god until he swallowed it. “You, Hermes,” She kept using his Greek name because she knew it pissed him off. “Have broken rule number two... aiding and indulging in the act of unwilling human sacrifice. That's grounds for immediate execution.” She threw the god against the wall, releasing him. The 'E' in 'Elysian' shattered on impact. “But I come in here to find you in violation of rule number three..” She looked over at Lucifer for effect. “What part of not throwing rocks at the hornet's nest don't you understand?”
“Hornet's nest?” Lucifer was taken aback.
“Collective term for angels...no offense meant.” She turned back to the god. “You have been found guilty and have been expelled from the fire of Olympus and are no longer welcome into our fold. As the law which was established which you have broken calls for immediate death....” She stopped, bit her lip and shot a look at Lucifer. “But I think today...” She tapped her lips with a finger. “Ennie, meanie, minie mo....” She wagged the finger between the other two for a moment. “Father told me to pick the best one and you are not it..” Her finger landed on Mercury.
“You...won't get away with this...” The god stammered. “My father...”
Mnemosyne moved fast. She slammed one hand on the side of Lucifer's vessel and as he recoiled from the released memories, her fingers left his skin her other hand was on the god's head in a motion to fast to be seen. “Actually, you don't have parents, you sorry sack of creationary fall-out.” She stepped back, a triumphant smile on her face, hands falling to her sides. “How do you feel, adelfos?” She directed at Lucifer.
“Arael?” The angel was stunned - he thought his sister had been dead all this time and now... now... He looked over at the god, who suddenly looked nothing short of terrified. He remembered now - remembered the day that Joshua had crawled into his father's garden, wings broken and bent, screaming those horrifying words. And the he saw what his sister had seen - a god had caught her when she tried to run - this god was the who had broken his sister's wings. She'd known her fate before she had left, known what been coming... but even so... Lucifer became furious. “How...”
“Now I bet you really wish you'd have come with me instead of climbing that garden wall.” She shook her head. “Remember to clean up after you're done playing.” She turned and looked over at the clock. “I'm done thirty seconds early...”
“I...uh...I...” Mercury tried to bolt and was suddenly obliterated.
Lucifer lowered his hand and turned to look at his sister. “You've been there, all this time?”
“Yes, yes I have.” She sighed and turned. “By the way, you look like shit, Luci, you should really take a bath.” She shook her head and walked out the door of the motel, keeping her focus dead in front of her. She was halfway across the asphalt when Kali materialized, heading for her. Normally, she would have given the Hindu goddess the right of way, but not now, not this time. The moment they were level, she grabbed the younger woman, turned her around roughly and kept walking.
“What do...”
“There's a world of hurt going on in there...” A loud yell, it sounded like Zao Shen, echoed towards them. “There was a break down in the peace talks and it's every god and goddess for themselves now.”
“Are... how...” Kali was dumbfounded. First, the Titan was actually acting authoritative, when in the past she'd been meek and silent. Secondly, she actually wasn't afraid of what was going on behind her. “Is there...” A moment later and the two of them were walking down a road somewhere in the Himalayas.
“Why don't you be a good girl and stay over here in your hemisphere while us Westerners have our little fight.” Mnemosyne backed away. “You don't like us much anyway.”
“How dare...” Kali was about to strike the Titan down when a hand grabbed her wrist. She looked over. “Loki?”
“Thank you, Mnemosyne.” Gabriel said quietly.
“You're welcome.” She inclined her head slightly and vanished.
“What is going on?” Kali rounded on the the Norse god.
“A lot.” Gabriel sighed. “....and you just dodged one of the biggest god slaughters since the Greeks went to Egypt...”
**
Calliope stood, arms akimbo, glaring around the sitting room at seven of her eight sisters - the only one missing was Erato, who was in Vancouver. She wasn't a part of this, she knew that. Atty had no children. She took a deep breath and started to pace the room. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all go about our business.” She noted that Perry looked like she would rather be somewhere else and Thalia kept her gaze on the floor. “I know that the five of you...” She glared at her remaining sisters. “All had children alive during the second World War. I also know that Emil is the only one still alive.” She gave a pointed look at Urania.
Terpsichore shifted in her seat. “I really don't see what your point is here, sister.”
“The point, Cori... is the fact that we need to start accounting for all the children... thanks to Clio and her darling Riordan fellow...” She spat.
“It's a story, Callie.” Clio spat out. “You don't really care one way or another if we have any living children, it's Apollo who wants to know.”
“He has a right to know.” Thalia spoke up. “He's our brother...”
“Yeah, so is Ares... are we going to tell him too?” Melpomene retorted.
“Of course not.” Thalia jumped up. “Apollo is different!”
“Just because you sold your kids out so he could blackmail you doesn't mean you have the right to drag the rest of us into your guilt filled Hell.” Urania stood up. “It doesn't matter.”
“Oh it does matter.” Calliope said, sneering. “Because I have had just about enough of the five of you being so insubordinate to our brother. Dad said we had to do what he said...”
Clio's face went black with rage. “I don't think part of that condition was sleeping with him....”
Polly stood and slapped her sister. “Shut your filthy mouth.”
“Stop it, all of you!” Melpomene stood up, holding Clio back from attacking her younger sister. “Perry, you've been pretty quiet over there in your corner...”
“Callie...” Perry stood up, looking somewhat afraid. She was the only one of the nine who shared their mother's red hair. “They have a point, Apollo's never cared about our children until now... I mean, we're lucky he never killed them at birth.”
“I don't get what your problem is. I counted the charms on mother's bracelet... The last time I saw it was forty years ago... it has seven more charms now than it did then.... that tells me that these five have unaccounted children.”
“You moron!” Perry snapped. “I've had kids since then! And you know what, probably the one reason Apollo wants to keep track of the kids is so he can use them against us...” She shuffled her feet. “Or at least, against the three of them...” She indicated her blond sisters. “Since... well, you know...”
The door of the room was suddenly flung open and a very out-of-breath Artemis stood there. “Missy?” Cori stood up, frowning. “What is it?”
“Em... emergency meeting....dad's going nuts....” She was more in shock than overtaxed. “Our stupid older brother went and threw rocks at the hornet's nest.”
**
Nate had flat out lied to his friends and his teachers about Heather. He told them she had mono - which was a little more believable than the truth. He'd made up a halfway decent story about one of the guys who visited Bobby Singer having it and a soda-can mix up. Not that to many people were asking about her. The teachers seemed concerned when Tuesday arrived and Heather still hadn't come back to school. He'd at least had the foresight to tell Mr. Singer what he was telling people at school so the two of them were telling the same story. Truth was, Nate was starting to get worried too. He didn't exactly expect the archangel to let Heather send him an email or something... but still...
He dropped his backpack on his desk chair and then fell back on to his bed. Nate was starting to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with him. Seriously - Heather had told him to just drop the subject when he brought up the seeing angels thing. That alone told him that it wasn't something everyone could do. Hell, he should have known that the first time he'd seen Castiel in the church. He sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't even know why he was so damn tired right now. He'd just take a short nap... just until dinner. He didn't have all that much homework...
The dream hit hard, fast and Nate could barely make out a lot of large details. A congregation listening to a woman in a pink sweater that he knew wasn't a woman. A shocked look from one of the people, a shot rang out and he saw a small person - a teenager, maybe - fall. A fraction of a second later, he saw the woman in the pink sweater again... with stark terror in her eyes.
Nate jerked awake, breathing hard. What the hell was that?
*
Thousands of miles away, a small pair of hands, the nails painted in alternating colors of blue and green seized hold of a bare branch of cypress and jerked it clear from the tree. The crack echoed through the still market but the figure seemed unaffected as the hands cleaned off the gnarled branch and then stuck it into the inner pocket of her tan coat. A voice suddenly rang out and she turned as the screaming became more distinct.
“You there, what are you about, you little bitch? What do you mean, appearing in public in such a manner!”
The girl titled her head at the man, blinking as if she didn't understand a word he spoke, although she understood perfectly.
The man drew out a long bladed knife and charged over to her. “You dare stand there in ignorance, you piece of filth?” As he raised the knife over his head to bring it plunging down into the girl's chest for breaking a tribal law, he suddenly found his wrist caught in the girl's hand in an iron grip. “What?” His shout brought out others, and now a circle of men surrounded the pair.
“These affairs have nothing to do with you.” The girl spoke in perfect Arabic, her voice strong and clear. “Turn and return to your homes. Forget what you have seen.”
“Release me!” The man grabbed the girl's hair with his other hand. “You piece of...”
“I did warn you...” The girl said and suddenly her eyes turned blazing and the light spread to fill the entire town square. Screams were cut off into liquid gurgles and several shots rang out. When quiet returned, four of the ten men who'd been standing there were dead. The other six were stricken deaf - and their eyes had burned from their sockets, The girl, however was gone without a trace.
Chapter 22