The Winchester Code

Chapter 19 - Hang Over

Hang Over

Chapter 19

“Can you help her?” I ask Cas as he places Zai on my bed. He had zapped us to the bunker as soon as I had climbed down the ladder. I explained what happened and he gave me a disapproving look. He’s right, I mean, it is my fault. But I can’t feel guilty about that. She’s not dead, she’s just not quite alive.
“Her body is still intact,” Cas had explained, “but there’s something wrong.”
“Wrong how?” I asked as I lead him to her bedroom. Before we had got there, I was holding open the door to my own room and decided that it was probably just as good as hers.
“I don’t know.” Cas answered.
I watch as he puts his hand on her forehead and I reach for my phone in my pocket. Just as I suspected, I have twelve missed calls from Dean and twenty three unanswered texts. I quickly press the redial button and bring it to my ear.
“Dean,” I say as he picks up the other end.
“Sammy, what the hell happened?” I can’t decide whether he’s angry or relieved. “Are you alright.”
“I’m fine,” I say. “Zai – ”
“What happened? I’m half way down the I-70.”
“What?” I ask. “No, Dean, I’m fine-”
“You said something about Lucifer, Sammy.”
“I know.” I sigh, realising how absolutely horrified he must’ve been when I called him with the news. “I’m fine, he’s not here. Go check out the case.”
“I’m coming back.”
“Dean…”
“I called Garth, he’s on it.” Dean says, finally. “I’ll be there by morning.”
He hangs up and I sigh, turning back to Cas. He is rolling up his sleeve and stretching out his fingers.
“What are you doing?” I yell, even though I already know.
“I have to check her soul.” He says. “This will be painful.”
He reaches inside her and I watch as her back arches off the mattress. Her face twists in pain and turn away as she cries out against her will. Cas retracts his hand and I look back to him expectantly; Zai lying still as a dead body on the bed.
“Well?” I ask.
Cas averts his eyes and I know this is going to be bad. Normally he answers without sparing human emotions. Ever since he became human, however, he has been more caring towards people’s feelings, although he still isn’t extremely good at sparing them. It wasn’t too long ago that he got grace again, so now he’s pretty much a full-fledged angel.
“Her soul,” He says carefully. “It’s not like yours was after the cage.”
“Ok.” I wait for him to continue. I clasp my hands together, absently cracking my fingers against my palms. “What is it like.”
“I…” He hesitates. “It’s hard to explain.”
I shake out my hands and turn around, not quite sure if I want to know what he means.
“It’s shattered.”
I blow into my hands, trying to distract myself from her shivering on the bed. “What do you mean?”
“Your soul felt like it had been skinned,” Cas starts. “Hers is like a broken mirror.”
“A broken mirror?” I ask, starting to pace the floor. Shattered like a mirror. That’s seven years bad luck. You can’t fix a mirror.
“Shattered, Sam.”
“How?” I ask, feeling completely helpless. “What does that mean? What can we do?”
“I don’t know.” He admits. I don’t know what question he answered, but he doesn’t offer anything else, so I guess all three.
He has no idea what to do.
“I guess we wait it out.”
“Wait it out?” I almost laugh. “She’s broken!”
“She’s alive!” Cas yells. I stop pacing and turn back towards my desk, leaning my forearms on the cool surface. I rest my head in my hands and let the coolness help clear my mind.
“Listen,” Cas says gently. I hear his trench coat rustle as he walks over me. “Sam.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and I look up as he awkwardly continues to try and comfort me. “I can help heal her. She’s not well. I can fix her on the outside, but she’s got to do the work on the inside.”
I take a deep breath and nod. I stand up straight, towering over the angel, and look back at her. She’s pail. She doesn’t seem right. I should have noticed it before. The bags under her sunken eyes, the way her hair fans around her face, dull and lifeless, her chewed nails, her facial features a little too prominent. She’s not okay, in more ways than one.
“Do it.” I say. Cas nods and turns away from me.
“This won’t be pleasant.” I don’t know if he says that for Zai’s benefit or mine.
“When is it ever?”