Saints or Sinners | {BOOK 3}

70| Messenger of God

"What did you find in Kevin's notes, Sam?" I asked, avoiding Dean's question.

"This symbol?" Sam replied, pointing to a figure on one of the pages. "I know it. Now, Kevin has it down as, as a sort of signature, for the Scribe of God. It appears every time Metatron makes one of his, uh, like, editor's notes."

"Okay...?" I trailed off, balancing Zeppelin on my hip as I looked at the symbol.

Across the table, Dean was glaring at me while Maddie sat on his lap, but I ignored him. In Sam's feverish state, he didn't pick up on Dean's behavior or the fact that Maddie and Zep were suddenly back from Heaven with no explanation.

"But I think I've seen it before," Sam continued. "I mean, it was a long time ago, it was in one of my, uh, humanities courses at Stanford."

"They taught Word of God at Stanford?" Dean asked, tone scarily calm.

That's how I knew he was really angry. He would appear calm and collected on the surface, but underneath, an energy radiated from him that let anyone in his general vicinity know that he wasn't messing around.

"No, uh, it was an overview in Native American art- I think it's a petroglyph."

"A petro-what-now?"

Sam remained oblivious as he got up to track down a book on the shelves of the library.

"Eleanor," Dean snapped at me.

"Yes, Dean?" I asked in a sweet tone, looking over at him.

He didn't say anything, just giving me a pointed look over Maddie's head. He had heard Naomi's deal for returning the kids to us. He knew the only way they could be here now is if I had given Cass up to her in some way. So, there was no point in us arguing about it. He was just giving me a chance to explain why I did it.

Sam came over, slamming a book down on the table and pointing.

"This one belonged to a tiny tribe in Colorado, more of a- a clan, really. It says here they held on to their scrap of mountains when all the other tribes fell to the white men. So this glyph was a territorial marker- closest translation: 'Messenger of God'."

There was a beat.

"Messenger of God," Sam repeated. "Messenger of God- Dean, Ellie, we have to go there!"

"On that hunch?" Dean questioned. "You can barely function."

"I'm only gonna get worse," Sam dismissed him as if that somehow made it better. "I mean, until we get back to the real job, until we find the third trial- we're out of prophets! We're not gonna figure out what Kevin couldn't! I'd say we go to this Messenger of God who wrote it in the first place!"

"And you think this Metatron is hiding out in the mountains with a bunch of Indians?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I do," Sam paused, thinking. "You're not- you're not really supposed to say Indians, it's... We should go."

He turned on his heel heading out of the room.

"You're delirious!" Dean called after him.

⁘

I entertained Maddie and Zep in the backseat of the Impala all the way to the Two Rivers Hotel on route 34 in Colorado. Zep had gotten so big since the last time I'd seen him back when I handed him off to Sara and he looked so much like Dean with his dirty blond hair and plethora of freckles. His hazel eyes were the only physical manifestation of me, though. Maddie was more of a balance between me and Dean. Dean kept glaring at me in the rearview mirror on the drive up.

Once we were checked in, Dean helped Sam get situated in our room. The moose had become even more delirious when we arrived, going on about some pack-mule ride he and Dean had gone on when they were little. While he rested, Dean and I took Maddie and Zep downstairs so I could keep an eye on them away from Mr. Fever-Dream while Dean questioned the hotel clerk. Considering Sam's illness was from the trials and wasn't natural, he probably wasn't contagious, but I still wanted to keep Maddie and Zep away from him.

"Mama, is Uncle Sammy okay?" Maddie asked me downstairs.

"He's just sick, darling," I replied. "We're going to get him better soon."

"What were the offerings?" I heard Dean asking the clerk.

"Huh?"

"Uh, what did the great spirit's sacred messenger ask for?"

"Stories," the clerk said. "He asked the people to tell him stories."

There was a beat and I looked over to see Dean look at a picture and then back at the clerk.

"I bet I know what the blessings were."

At that moment, Dean's phone rang, and he glanced at it before giving the clerk an apologetic look.

"Sam?" he answered. "Sammy?... Sam."

Without waiting for me and the kids, Dean bolted toward the stairs to go figure out what was wrong with his brother.

"Uncle Sammy?" Maddie asked worriedly.

"He's okay," I muttered, leading them back up the stairs after thanking the clerk.

When we got to the room, Sam had a towel wrapped around his shoulders and he was drenched.

"He's here, Dean. Metatron is here, I know it, I can hear him."

"What're you talking about?" Dean asked.

"All I know is that I'm connected to it somehow."

"What, like you got a link to him, like a prophet?" I piped up.

"I don't know!" Sam shook his head. "I just know he's here. Metatron is here."

Maddie was clinging to my leg, hiding herself from Sam's view and Zep had buried his face in my neck, having decided downstairs that he was tired.

"Okay, 'here', where?" Dean questioned his brother.

"I can show you. I can show you. The manager. He was delivering books to him."

"Books?"

"Books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, novels- books."

"Stories," I translated, thinking about Dean's conversation with the clerk. "Alright, Maddie, will you stay here for a minute with Zep? We'll be right back."

Maddie nodded her head and I laid Zep down on one of the beds to nap. She climbed up on the bed next to him and after making sure she had the remote and was contentedly watching cartoons, I followed Sam and Dean out into the hall.