Linking Lives / Book 12 / The Life Series / Supernatural Season 13

The Bad Place

In the library of the bunker, I was researching on my laptop, while Sam, Aiden and Amara sat nearby.

Dean walked in with a paper bag. "Any word from Cas?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Uh, he says he's still looking for Jack, working a lead in Tucson."

My phone rang. I saw that it was Jody calling, answering, putting it on speaker and the table. "Hi, Jody."

"Hi, Jody," Amara told her. "What's going on?"

"Hey, guys, I got something for you. Friend of mine from Bismarck PD called with a lead. He said that a local artist as found dead with his eyes burned out."

We were startled.

"Sounds angel-y," Aiden told us.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, except for that there was a witness. The victim's girlfriend. She pegged someone at the scene. She gave the police a description. I think it's your boy."

Sam, Dean, Aiden, Amara and I looked at each other consideringly, really hoping that Jack didn't kill anyone, but worried about the possibility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam, Dean and I were talking to the victim's girlfriend as FBI, Paula, showing her a photo of Jack.

Paula nodded. "That's him. He said his name was Jack, that he was a buyer."

"Um, a buyer?" Sam repeated. Paula pointed at the numerous paintings around the studio. "Ah."

"Some freaky stuff here," Dean told her. "Derek had quite the imagination."

"He hated that word," Paula told us.

"What, freaky?" I asked.

Paula shook her head. "Imagination. He liked to think of his art more as reportage."

Dean rolled his eyes, turning away.

"Reportage?" Sam repeated. "Reportage from where?"

"From the places he'd visit," Paula answered. Dean kept walking around the studio, stopping near a particular painting, now partially hidden behind a stack of other canvases. "Derek was a dream walker."

I knew what that meant, nodding.

"Sam?" Dean asked. "Ness?"

Sam and I looked toward Dean. Dean showed us Derek's painting, depicting the landscape from the apocalypse world that they told Aiden, Amara and I about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the art studio, there was a huge mural of wings painted on the wall in front of where the Impala was parked. Aiden and Amara were in the backseat. Sam, Dean and I walked toward the car with coffee and chips, getting inside, Dean in the driver's, Sam in the passenger, and me in the backseat next to Aiden and Amara. I handed them drinks and chips.

"Hey, thanks," Aiden told us.

"Yeah," Amara agreed.

"So the lore on dreamwalking is pretty inconsistent," I told them. "Uh, there are stories about are stories about it across numerous Native Ameri..."

Dean sighed. "Ness." I looked up. "We gonna talk about it?"

"What?" Amara asked.

"We saw a painting depicting the apocalypse world," Sam answered. "Where our mom and Lucifer are."