𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 || 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Chapter 32 ~ Does This Make Me Chihiro?

Episode: Season 15 - Drag Me Away (From You) Pt. 1

Yasmin's POV:

I groaned to myself, rolling my eyes as I flipped past yet another boring reality show coming through the grainy TV screen of the cheap hotel we were staying at. Okay, maybe the word "cheap" was one I should keep to myself considering Dean and Uncle Sam were childhood friends with this woman. After all, her family did own this place. But still - this was probably the least enjoyable hunt I had been on since Roman and I got sucked into this world.

Mom, however, had been insistent. Secretly, I think it was all a ruse to get Dean and I to spend more time together - "bond". I still didn't want that, though. In fact, I preferred to be far, far away from him. The only reason I had decided to contact them in the first place was to find mom. Going on hunts, meeting their old friends, tracking down the supernatural creatures roaming the earth - never my intention.

And yet, somehow, it all led me right here - in a run-down hotel with my kid brother, his dad who was also my uncle and my estranged father who was in turn, my brother's uncle, to save their childhood friend from some creepy fairy-tale creature haunting this place. Yeah - just a normal day for a normal family, nothing to see here.

The keys on the laptop clicked constantly as Uncle Sam continued his research from the table in the corner of the room, Roman still trying to wrestle the remote away from me as he sat beside me on the bed.

While on the other bed, the blonde woman - Caitlin - looked down at her phone, scrolling through images found on lore web pages.

"So...this is your life now?" she asked our uncle, incredulous.

Sam sucked in a breath, "Pretty much,"

"I'm sorry," she sympathized with him, "Don't you ever wanna be, I don't know, normal?"

"Well, we help people. You know, save them. Just sorry we couldn't save Travis..."

They shared a smile before finally, Sam went back to his research. But it was only a few minutes later when obviously, he stumbled across something interesting. He hummed once to himself, alerting everyone's attention before calling us over.

"Look at this," he said as we all gathered around him, gazing down at the screen, "Uh, Baba Yaga,"

I arched an eyebrow, "You mean the witch from Spirited Away?"

Sam eyed me silently for a second before shaking his head, continuing on, "I don't know what that means. But it says here, Baba Yaga is as you said, a witch who feeds on children's fears using hallucinations. So according to this, she wears this ring-"

He pointed to the screen, my eyes locking on a bright, ruby-red ring on her finger in the drawing depicted on the page, "-that's technically her heart and it's the source of her power,"

"Click on that!" Caitlin told him, her voice becoming frantic as her blue eyes widened in disbelief.

Sam zoomed in on the image, the ring enlarging before our eyes.

"That's...Travis' ring,"

"What?"

"My mom gave it to him. That winter, she pulled it out of a vacuum," Caitlin recounted slowly, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "It was unclaimed property. The stone inside used to be all busted up but he thought it looked cool. Put it on a silver chain, wore it on his neck,"

Our uncle's eyes widened considerably, his expression one of shock.

Caitlin moved to get up then, starting to pace across the room, "It was his lucky charm! He got it fixed a few weeks before..."

Her words trailed off into silence as Sam's went on, "So what if stabbing her isn't what stopped her? I mean, Dean cut her fingers off so the ring got separated, lost. So, what if, wait...the stone. You said it used to be broken-"

Sam's words were cut short as he glanced up, realizing she was gone. Hurriedly, we all went down to the parking lot - her car was there still, trunk left open. But no Caitlin. Sam tried to call Dean then, let him know she was missing. But even that was a big waste of time as it kept going to voicemail when finally, the motel door swung open and Dean appeared in the threshold.

"Hey, where have you been?" Sam asked him once he noticed, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

"Wow, somebody's hungry," Dean mused, tossing the bag of take-out onto the table beside the entryway, "Where's Caitlin?"

"Gone! I've been looking for her, I-I found her car in the parking lot, I've been calling her - she hasn't been answering her phone. I think the Baba Yaga grabbed her,"

"The Baba Yaga?"

"Yes, the Baba Yaga. It-it - we IDed the monster. Ancient witch, immortal - kind of. But I don't think we ever really killed her, just damaged the source of her power," he told his brother before whipping out the image on his phone, "This ring,"

"Okay. So we track her down, junk her precious and game over?"

"I think so, yeah,"

Dean pulled out his gun then, cocking it, "Alright, what we looking for?"

"Her nest. Last time, kids were taken all over town near the Cannery. This time, all of the attacks have happened here,"

"Alright, it's gotta be close. Let's split up and check it out," Dean said as he began to walk towards the door.

Roman and I started to grab up our own gear to go when Sam stopped us.

"Wait, no, you're not going. You two are staying here where you're safe," he told us sternly, shooting Roman a warning glance when he started to protest.

I rolled my green eyes, "No way! If something is happening, I want to be in the middle of it, okay?"

"You are not." Dean said fiercely, turning back to face me, "Didn't you hear Sam? This witch is taking kids - you're not going to be on that hit list, got it?"

I glared daggers back at him, irritated beyond belief as I spat, "I am not a child, Dean! Maybe you'd know that if you had actually been around when I was one!"

 Sam bit down on his lip as silence stretched between Dean and myself before finally, lost in thought, he spoke up.

"Dean, maybe they're right,"

He arched an eyebrow at his younger brother, "Excuse me?"

"Look, if this witch is linked to the hotel then she can show up anywhere. Isn't it better if she shows up when we're around to protect them?"

Dean knew his brother had a point, it was written all over his face in a mixture of annoyance and reluctant acceptance. So when he nodded, I couldn't help but feel like cheering on the inside. At least, something interesting was finally happening on this hunt.