All Magic Comes With A Price

The Curious Case Of August Booth

"You say I would make a better liar / And never face the music when it's dire" --Marianas Trench

At first, Dean was thrilled to find something out of the ordinary going on. This was more his speed, the spying, tracking part of a case, those were his favorites, not the playing-FBI-agents or fake reporters or what have you that they'd been having to pull their entire time in Storybrooke. But after nearly half an hour of just watching the woman have some archery practice with an old tree, he was getting bored and wondering why he had followed her in the first place. Maybe she just didn't want her family to find out she had deadly accuracy with a bow and arrow, or she just wanted some alone time and this was her way of losing some steam. Either way, Dean was about to give up and go back to Granny's for more take out.

Just as he was about to turn from his hiding place, however, he saw some movement just past the tree the woman was taking her frustrations out on. Curious, he hunkered back down into his crouching position, watching the spot carefully. Somehow, the thing had vanished, but he could have sworn the movement was made by a piece of wood itself. But that would be ridiculous, right? Then again, angels and demons exist, so why not something like a wood nymph? He continued to watch, his eyes peeled for anything.

Moments later, the woman who continued to shoot at the tree missed the tree entirely. Dean assumed that she too had seen the thing on the other side, but he had no way of knowing unless she decided to investigate. Luckily for him, that's exactly what she did, although it looked as though she was just retrieving her arrow rather than looking into a mystery creature. But that arrow she'd shot, well, it seemed to have gone exactly where he'd seen the moving wood. Not so lucky for whatever that thing turned out to be.

Keeping in stealth mode, Dean followed the woman as she went to find her arrow, discovering it quite a few yards from where it should have landed. Not only was it in a strange place, but the tip had been broken off and was nowhere to be seen. Her curiosity was now piqued, and she began to track down the missing arrowhead and the thing whose body it was probably now embedded in. Dean's own curiosity kept growing with every step. What were they following, and why didn't he just reveal himself to the woman so they could work together to find it? The answer to the second was simple; he didn't want to be found, because who knew what sort of setbacks that might cause to their investigation of the town? But as to what they were tracking... that was the real mystery here.

A few minutes of silent tree skirting resulted in coming upon a small clearing, in which there stood an average sized travel trailer that looked like it had been in need of repair for at least a decade, maybe two. Dean stuck back for a minute as the woman approached the trailer cautiously, his eyes squinting in concentration. The whole scene reminded Dean of any horror movie ever, or maybe even just too many scenes in his own life. Something creeps around, people go investigate, and then people die. He hoped this lady wouldn't be one of the dying ones; she was kinda hot.

Not even knocking, she yanked the door open, peering carefully inside. Even from his hiding place in the trees, Dean could tell this girl was nearly fearless, and that made him like her even more. When she disappeared completely inside, he made his move, hurriedly shuffling to a concealed crouch beneath one of the dingy windows. He hoped that the trailer was in such bad shape that even the windows needed some TLC and he would be able to hear whatever went on in there.

"Anyone in here?" the woman called out.

Dean hadn't expected to hear an answer, but there was one, low and belonging to a man. "Just me."

A moment passed, and Dean could only hear footsteps inside, definitely not the delicate footfalls of the woman, he'd followed her long enough today to be able to tell that much. He pulled his gun from behind his back, ready to burst in there if she was in trouble. But then he heard her surprised voice. "August?"