The Good Life (Book 11, The Life Series, Supernatural)

Twigs and Twine and Tasha Banes

Sam, Dean, Amara and I were talking in the library of the bunker, talking about what happened with Castiel last night.

"Okay, so last night... that Super Mario power-up crap?" Dean asked. "That wasn't Cas. That freaking baby isn't even born yet and it sock puppeted him. Think about it." He stood, starting to pace. "Cas said that he had faith in Lucifer Jr.? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Sam looked just as frustrated and confused as Dean, shaking his head, turning to us. "I don't know. I mean, look, this doesn't make any sense to me either, Dean. But if we wanna have some shot at finding Cas, the we have to... I don't know. Uh, try and think like him."

"How?" Dean asked. "Seriously? I mean, up until now if Cas messed up, if he did something wrong, but he thought it was for the right reasons, I got it. Right? But last night, when I looked at him, I did not recognize the guy staring back at me."

We had no response.

I turned away, reaching for a bundle of brown leather, opening it to reveal the Colt inside. It was melted and broken from Dagon.

Amara put her hands on the table to lean forward, taking a closer look at the destroyed Colt. "Can you fix it?"

I picked up a part of the Colt. "I hope so." My phone rang. I pulled it out, seeing that Alicia Banes was calling, answering, putting it on speaker. "Alicia, hey. What's going on?"

"Like Max and Alicia?" Amara asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Yeah, sorry to bother you, Ness, but we thought..."

We heard Max loudly interrupting Alicia to make a point that this was not his idea. "No. No. Mm-mm."

"I thought you would be down to help. Uh, be our backup on this, um..."

"You sound crazy."

"Hey, guys," Amara told them. "It's Amara. Uh, you okay?"

"Yeah, depends who you ask," Alicia told us. "Um, our mom was hunting this witch who's killed people all over Wyoming. Uh, anyway, mom usually checks in with us, but she's sort of disappeared."

"Oh, my God," Max told us. "She did not disappear. She's busy."

"Wait, so--so your mom is missing?" Dean asked.

"Where are you guys?" Sam asked.

"We're on our way to Rock River, Wyoming," Alicia answered. "But Max thinks I'm overreacting, but I--"

"Because you're being dramatic," Max told her. "Mom's fine. Stop bothering them."

"Fine," Alicia told us. "Okay. Hey, we'll be okay. Uh, never mind."

I spoke quickly to stop her from hanging up. "No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Um... Hey, why don't you text me your address? I'll meet you."

"You will?" Alicia asked.

"She will what?" Max asked.

"I'll see you soon," I told them, hanging up, standing.

"Ness, what are you doing?" Sam asked. "What about Cas?"

"Guys, Cas ditched his cell phone," I told them. "Look, Jody put an APB out for Cas and Kelly across three states. Until that shakes something loose or we get some other break, all we're doing is--is sitting here, banging our heads against a brick wall. You boys can keep working, but Max and Alicia are my friends and have been for years, and so has their mom, Tasha. So if there's even a hint that there could be something wrong, then I'm going."

Amara nodded in understanding. "Fine. We'll go with you."

"You guys don't have to come," I told them.