The End | {BOOK 5}

47| No Longer on This Earth

When we got to the cabin where Jack was last located, there was a pile of ash inside and it looked like a major angel nuke went off in the back.

"Guys, if Jack did that-" Sam began.

"Hey, we don't know what happened, okay?" I snapped. "I mean, we don't know what Nick did. He probably deserved it."

"Ellie, look. No one wanted Nick dead more than I did, but- I mean, that..." Sam trailed off as the door opened. "Cass."

"Is that Nick?" the angel asked, seeing the pile of ash we'd found.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "We looked around. No sign of Jack, Emilie or the kids. There's a, um, blast site behind the house. It looks angelic, just bigger."

"Might have been Lucifer," Dean added. "Nick was trying to bring him back."

"Yeah, but Jack said-" Sam began.

"Who cares what Jack said?" I yelled. "We don't know what happened! But I swear, if he did something to them, if they are-"

I pointed at Cass, fuming.

"Then you're dead to me."

Castiel's face fell, looking crushed at my words, but I couldn't find it in me to care. It would be bad enough if it was just Jack and my mom missing, but it made it so much worse since Maddie and Zep had been with them, too.

"Ellie," Dean spoke up quietly.

"No, he knew," I growled. "He knew something was wrong with Jack. He knew it, and he didn't tell us! He didn't even tell us!"

"I was scared," Cass defended himself. "I believed in Jack for so long, I believed that he was- he was good. I- I knew he would be good for the world. And he was good for us. My faith in him, it- it never wavered, and then I-I saw what he did. It wasn't malice. It wasn't evil. It was like Jack saw a problem, and in his mind, he just solved it with that snake."

"The snake?!"

"What he did wasn't bad. It was the absence of good. And I saw that in him. But we were a family, and I didn't want to lose that, so I thought I could fix it on my own. Felt like it was my responsibility. So I left. And I didn't tell you. If I could go back and just- just talk to him right then and there, I would. But I can't, Eleanor. I failed you. And I failed Jack. And I failed-"

"No, no," I shook my head, cutting him off. "Don't even say it. Don't even say their names."

"Guys," Sam interrupted as his phone rang.

"Who is it?" Dean asked.

"Rowena. Hey."

"Hello, Samuel," the witch greeted him. "I did what you asked. I used scrying magic on the boy, tried to find him. But his energy, it's too unstable. It was like looking into the sun."

"And Ellie's mom? Maddie and Zep?" Dean asked.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Say it!" I demanded.

"I don't know what happened or where they are, but I can tell you with certainty that Emilie Dawson, Madelaine and Zeppelin are no longer on this Earth."

It was like everything just stopped. No one spoke, no one breathed. I felt my legs buckle out from under me, and suddenly the silence was shattered as a strangled cry made its way from my chest through my lips. A moment later, Dean's arms wrapped around me as he knelt next to me on the floor. I sobbed, soaking his shirt with my tears as his shoulders shook, both of us mourning the news.

"So, what do we do?" Sam asked.

"What do we always do when we lose one of our own?" Dean asked. "We fight. We fight to bring them back."

"How? Billie?"

"Rowena. She's got the Book of the Damned. She's resurrected herself more times than we can count."

"How?" Cass asked. "We don't even know where Eleanor's mother, Madelaine or Zeppelin are."

"Then we go to Heaven and find them! Tell Rowena we're on our way."

⁘

When we got to Rowena's, Jack had taken her away, so we just left. However, we hadn't gone far when she called Sam again.

"Rowena, hey. We just left your place."

"Well, I'm back! Listen. Jack is using magic to try and bring back Eleanor's mom and the kids."

"Can he do that?" Sam asked.

"There aren't bodies," Rowena explained. "And your boy, he snapped. He's desperate. Confused, angry. You have to try and stop him."

"Why?"

"Necromancy is a delicate art. It's unpredictable under ideal circumstances. In his state, oh, I fear your boy will bring back something terrible."

Suddenly, the Impala's engine stalled and we rolled to a stop.

"What the hell- what are you doing?" Sam looked over at Dean.

"The engine just stopped," Dean shrugged.

I gasped as out the window I saw Jack standing next to three bodies.

"Jack," Sam breathed, spotting him as well.

We got out and I rushed over, falling down next to the dead bodies of my mother and children.

"It didn't work," Jack said quietly.

"No, no," I said, more tears somehow managing to spring to my eyes. "No. Mom? Darling? Bud..."

Dean and I held the bodies of our lifeless children as Sam and Jack looked on sadly.

"Cass," Sam said as the angel joined us.

"They're in Heaven," he said. "They're at peace."

"So, Naomi told you, huh?"

"Dumah, actually."

"So, what?" Dean glared up at him. "Are you just gonna take her word for it?"

"No. No, she let me in. I saw their Heavens, and they are happy. Emilie is with James, and there's no sorrow. There's no guilt. Just joy."

"What about..."

"They're together; they're happy, too. I talked to Rowena. Um, she said that she thinks what Jack brought back- he just brought back shells. Bodies, you know. That they are empty. Just replicas. 'Incapable of holding life.'"

I took a shuddering breath, pressing my lips to the top of Zep's head.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Sam asked.

"What we always do," Dean replied.

We made a funeral pyre, putting all three bodies on top and watching them burn. Dean held onto me tightly the entire time. Sam tossed two different pictures, one of my mom and one of the kids, into the fire as we said our goodbyes.