Part 5 – Some Supernatural Help
"So basically we're back to square one?" Emery was tired and sleep-deprived. She had spent endless hours deciphering the symbols but nothing had come up. Sam and Dean were equally worn-out because they weren't getting any useful leads either. Sam had even sent the photos to Garth to see if he could make any sense of the symbols but his response had not been very helpful.
"Well, I wouldn't put it that way. We never went anywhere from square one is more like it," Dean said, shaking his head. They had spent an entire day trying to figure out what they were dealing with but every lead turned out to be a wild goose chase. With a sigh, Emery grabbed her bag off the chair and headed towards the door.
"Where are you going?"
"My head's spinning, Sam. And we still have no idea what we're up against. You might be able to live on…" Emery paused. She looked around the room and saw a few wrappers and something on the table that could have been called a sandwich… two days ago. Not being able to come up with an appropriate word, she just said, "whatever it is that you guys eat but I need some real food. So I'm going to the grocery store around the corner. You guys want anything?"
"Pie!" Dean's eyes almost lit up. "Get me some pie!" Realizing he wasn't asking Sam but Emery, he innocently added "Please?" almost like a question. He clearly thought that a pie was well worth ignoring the mutual resentment at the moment.
"Pie?" Emery was confused. Because of the on-going cold war between them, she wasn't expecting Dean to ask her to get anything for him. She certainly wasn't expecting him to ask for a pie.
"You know, that baked round thing made of pastry dough with a filling of sweet apples or pumpkins or…"
"I know what a pie is," Emery responded rolling her eyes. She was getting used to Dean's sarcasm. "But doesn't that beat the whole purpose of real food?"
"What?! No!" Dean actually seemed genuinely offended. How could anyone not consider pie real food?! "Pie's real food. Very real." He was dead-serious and Sam shook his head with a smile on his face. He was well aware of Dean's love of pies.
"Whatever you say." Emery turned towards Sam. "You want anything, Sam?"
"No, I'm good, thanks." Emery shook her head and headed out the door.
"You know, we could really use some help here," Sam looked at Dean.
"I was thinking the same. Where is Cas, anyway? I haven't seen him in a few days."
"Beats me. Last I heard he still wanted to be a hunter."
"Yeah, we both know how that's going," then Dean added in a voice mimicking Cas's, "I was being bad cop!" And both Dean and Sam let out a friendly laugh. A moment later, they heard the so-familiar flapping of the wings and Cas appeared in their peripheral vision.
"Jeez, Cas, were you spying on us?" Dean said, giving him an annoyed look.
"You were talking about me, were you not?" Cas had the same serious, pensive look on his face and a slight doubt in his voice that made Dean roll his eyes.
"As the matter of the fact, we were wondering where you've been?" Sam asked.
"Yes, well, I've been doing a lot of research and it's fascinating…"
"Do we want to know?" Dean asked remembering the whole monkeys-are-great and honey-bees-the-best phase of Cas.
"I suppose not. I have just been taking some personal time."
"Everything okay, Cas?" Dean knew that that was a tough phase for Cas and was glad that it was over now. Was it over? Was his friend really okay?
"Yes, everything's fine."
"Good, 'cause we could really use your help here." Sam brought Cas up to speed.
"And you have no theories as to what this could be?" Cas inquired.
"We have a lot of theories like werewolf attack, ritualistic killing." Dean further clarified. "But the thing is it doesn't completely fit with any single theory."
"Do you know anything about this?" Sam asked Cas.
"I don't know. As you said, it is strange. I have seen some of those symbols before but not all of them together in a circle like this. So I can't say what it all means."
At that moment Emery returned holding a couple of bags. As soon as her eyes settled on Cas, she took a step back out of surprise. "What the hell is that?" The question came out in a panicky voice. Her first instinct was to reach for her weapons but neither Sam nor Dean seemed to be in a combat mode so she decided not to.
"Geez, Emery, I know you're not the most pleasant person to be around but you should treat people with respect. Shouldn't the proper question be "WHO the hell is HE?" Dean asked.
"I... I didn't mean any disrespect. It's just obvious that it... he's not a real person," Emery replied totally ignoring Dean's earlier comment.
"How's it obvious? How do you know he's not, as you said, a real person?" Sam inquired.
"His aura is glowing white. It's sort of radiating off of him." Upon receiving looks that said speak-English from Dean and Sam, she continued, "You won't understand… it's just… it's just not like anything I've ever seen before." Though that wasn't a consummate explanation by any means, the boys were impressed. Sam never really doubted her but then again, Dean was the skeptic. He had been in the business since forever but hadn't met more than a couple real psychics. So naturally he hadn't believed Emery off the bat. However, he was getting more and more convinced that she did have a real gift. Even though he still had no idea what exactly it was. "Now do either of you care to explain who he is?" Emery's eyes never left Cas the entire time.
"Relax, Emery, this is Castiel. He's a friend of ours." Sam was trying to ease the shock by first reassuring her that she could trust him.
"Good for you. But it doesn't answer my question."
"Cas is an angel." Dean said it, just like that. Sam gave him an annoyed look like here-I-was-trying-to-make-it-less-shocking-and-you-completely-screwed-it-up. Dean just shrugged. They expected Emery would say something along the lines of "I don't believe you" and they would have to spend some time convincing her that Cas really was an angel. All the crap Dean would rather not deal with right now. He was about to make a sarcastic comment about that when Emery took a step back from them, her mouth hanging open and shock written all over her face.
"Emery? Emery, you okay?" Sam took a concerned step towards her. He then looked at Cas trying to make sense of why Emery was reacting this way.
"She can see my true form," Cas explained and Dean's head whipped towards Emery.
"Without getting her eyes burned out!" Dean added his tone less sarcastic, much more surprised.
"You… You really… are an… angel." Emery's words came out slowly as if she was trying to grasp their meaning at the same time. Even though this was a statement not a question, Cas nodded, which was followed by a long silence in the room. "You've seen God?" Three heads whipped towards Emery all at once. Cas, Dean, and Sam looked perplexed. No one was expecting this question out of nowhere.
"Oh, come on! Now's not the time to exchange our favorite God stories." This was infuriating. Why the hell does she never react in a way he'd expect? Cas gave Dean a blank look while Emery continued to look at Cas expecting an answer.
"I have never seen God." Cas voice was a little disappointed.
"But you're an angel…"
"I'm not an archangel. Only archangels have seen God." This was apparently a touchy topic for Cas after his quest to find God had failed. Emery sensed that and simply nodded.
"Well, I'm glad we've got the introductions out of the way. Now can we get to work?" Dean was eager to get off the topic of God. It seemed like Emery did believe in God and the last he wanted right now was to witness Emery and Cas's heart-to-heart on the topic.
"Yeah… I'm gonna grab a bite to eat and then dive back into symbolism."
"Hey, that reminds me. Where's my pie?" Emery almost smiled at his excitement. Of all the things in the world, a stupid pie got that reaction out of him. He obviously loved his pies so Emery had to tease him a little.
"What pie?" Emery furrowed her eyebrows and shrugged as if she had no idea what he was talking about. Without another word, she stepped out the room. Dean looked like he was about to cry and Sam just raised an eyebrow at that. A couple seconds later, Emery reappeared at the door, "Hey, Dean!" She tossed a box of pie at him and added, "You're welcome" with a wink. Then she was gone. Sam and Cas exchanged a look before looking at Dean who was still staring at the empty doorway.
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