Bobby was wrong. Sam and Dean moved from hunt to hunt only checking in now and again. They only ever called Bobby or Bee, too. After the night Sam and I had, I guess I expected him to at least talk to me. It had been two and a half months of cold shoulder from Sam and Dean. Then I got a call that made my blood run cold. 

"I'm on a hunt, and Dean went missing. I don't want to go in without backup. How fast can you get to Illinois?" Sam asked.

"Give me six hours." I hung up and raced upstairs. I yanked the blanket off Bee's bed. "Get up. Dean is missing."

"Five more minutes," Bee mumbled. 

I threw her duffle bag on her. "Get up! Dean is missing."

Bee practically jumped out of bed. "Why didn't you say that the first time?"

"I did. You were still asleep," I said.

After speeding down the highway almost as fast as the roadrunner would go, I got to the motel Sam was staying at. I knocked twice. He answered.

"What do you have?" I asked. 

"It's a djinn," Sam said. "I have a knife coated in lamb's blood, but I didn't want to go in alone. This thing is powerful. I don't know why Dean didn't wait."

"We'll get him back." I wanted to touch Sam's arm to comfort him, but I pulled back, not knowing where we stood.

"Where do we need to go?" Bee asked. The way her eyes flicked between us, I know she sensed the awkward moment.

"There's a warehouse a few miles from here," Sam said. "Can we take your car? Dean has the Impala."

"Let's go," I said.

I could feel the panic in Sam as I hastily drove to the warehouse. The place made me feel uneasy, too. As much as I hated to do it, we needed to split up if we wanted to catch this thing off guard. We each took a knife and went our separate ways. 

About ten steps down one of the hallways, I heard a noise. "Might as well come out. I know you're here."

The djinn moved so fast, I hardly saw it. It slammed me against the wall. When I came to, I was in my parent's house in Spokane. My hands grew sweaty as I walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs. Mom stood at the counter making breakfast.

"I wondered when you'd be up," Mom said. "Miri and Mark already left for the day. Your dad is working on the old Roadrunner and then he'll be off to work, too." She paused as she looked at me. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Without a word, I walked over and hugged her. "It's so good to see you."

"Honey, you just saw me last night. Is everything alright?" She smoothed my hair.

"Everything is perfect." I let go of her and sat down at the island in the kitchen. Mom put a plate of biscuits and gravy in front of me. "Where's Bee?"

"The Goodwin's already left for work, too. High stress at the bakery. There's a shortage of brown sugar, I guess," Mom said. "You should probably be off, too. Sam will be here any minute."

I nearly spit the mouthful of biscuit out. "Remind me why."

"Because he's meeting with the wedding planner, of course. You two need to finalize the details today. You're getting married in a week," Mom said.

This time, I choked on the biscuit. Mom patted my back several times before I finally coughed it up. I pushed the plate away and hopped off the chair. "We're meeting in town, right?"

Mom felt my forehead. "Are you sure you're okay? Not getting cold feet are you?"

"I'm fine, Mom. See you later." I walked out the door as the black Impala pulled into our driveway.

"Ready to go, Mel?" Sam asked.

I smiled as I got into the passenger seat. I wasn't quite sure what happened or how I got here, but I was loving this new life.

"Melanie? Melanie, can you hear me?" Sam's voice seemed panicked and far off.

My head started to ache. I closed my eyes and touched my head as Sam continued to call my name. When my eyes popped open, I was lying on the floor in the middle of the Illinois warehouse. Dean looked exhausted and there was a girl I didn't recognize clutching Bee.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The djinn got you, but Dean killed it," Sam said.

"Thank you," I said to Dean.

He smiled weakly. 

We shuffled to the cars and took the girl to the nearest hospital so she could contact her family and get the care she needed. Bee and I drove home in the Roadrunner while Sam and Dean followed in the Impala.

"What'd you see?" Bee asked.

"Huh?" I raised my brows.

"When a djinn attacks you, they send you into your dream world. What'd you see?" Bee asked.

I shook my head. "Our parents were alive. You were working at a bakery with your parents. Miranda and Markus didn't hate me...And I was marrying Sam."

Bee looked shocked. "The best job you could dream for me was a baker?"

"Hey, you know your mom loved to bake. Don't blame me for that one," I said.

"Wow, even after the past two months, you still want to marry Sam?" Bee grinned.

"He doesn't hate me. He's just upset. He wants to fix this, and he can't," I said.

Bee nodded as her phone rang. "Sure. We'll see how this goes." She flipped open the phone. "What's up? Fine, we can stop. Where you looking?" Bee paused. "Cool. You want to lead the way?" Bee hung up. "Let Dean pass you. He wants to stop for food."

I followed Dean to a place called Sunnyside Diner. 

"What do you want?" I asked Bee.

"A burger is fine," she said. "I'm not super hungry."

"You got it." I turned the car off, tossed the keys on the driver's seat, and walked toward the diner. 

Sam joined me. "Dean wants extra onions."

"Yuck," I said. "I'm sorry."

We ordered our food then stood by and waited. Just as I was getting up the nerve to talk to him, the lights flickered. Sam and I both looked at them, then our eyes landed on each other. Before we could prepare for what was coming, the world went black.

*****

I woke up on a wooden floor in a building I didn't recognize. Sam was nowhere to be found. I knew better than to call out for him. Something weird was going on here. 

It appeared I was in a living room. I picked up the fire poker from the fireplace and walked toward the door. There were footsteps on the other side. As quietly as I could, I leaned against the wall where the door hinges were.

A dark-skinned man and a blonde girl stepped through the door.

"I swear I heard someone in here," the guy said.

"Friend or foe?" I stepped out from behind the door brandishing the fire poker.

"Whoa, easy." The guy whirled around. "I don't know why we're here. Do you?"

"I don't know for sure, but I have an idea." I lowered the poker. "Are you both twenty-three? Have weird abilities that you didn't know you had until about a year ago?"

They both nodded.

"How did we even get here? A minute ago I was in San Diego," the girl said.

"If it makes you feel better, I fell asleep last night in Afghanistan," the guy said. "I'm Jake by the way."

I shook his extended hand. "Melanie. You?"

"Lily. I don't shake." She shook her head at my extended hand.

"Did you see anyone else?" I asked. "I think someone I know might be here, too."

"Naw, just the two of us," Jake said.

I opened the door and crept into the hall. "Fancy an exploration mission?"

"I'll cover the rear." Jake took the spot behind Lily.

We filed through the hall and out the front door. The whole time, I kept my ears and eyes peeled for any sign of life. Once we got onto the porch of the house we woke up in, I panicked more. We were in the middle of a ghost town that y like it hadn't been touched since the 1800s.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Jake shouted.

I spun around as fast as I could and hissed, "What the hell are you doing? Do you want to draw whatever is out there to us?"

"What do you mean whatever is out there?" Lily asked.

I scanned the treeline of the woods that surrounded us. "I'm not sure, but I don't think we're alone. And now, whatever is out there knows where we are."

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking." Jake held up his hands.

"Didn't they teach you to think first in the military? Now isn't a time to be losing your head, okay?" I asked.

Footsteps approached on the porch. I signaled for them to flatten against the wall as the sound grew nearer. From the sound of their feet, at least two people made their way toward us. I raised the poker again dreaming of stabbing yellow-eyes. However, the person I most wanted to see rounded the corner.

"Sam." I dropped the fire poker and threw my arms around his neck.

His arms wrapped around my waist. "I thought I lost you."

"I'm here," I whispered. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm okay." He released me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

Someone cleared their throat behind Sam. A dark-haired man and light-haired woman stood behind him, both looking scared out of their minds.

"Mel, this is Andy and Ava," Sam said.

"The Andy and Ava you helped before?" I asked.

"That's us," Andy said.

"You must be Melanie," Ava said. I couldn't help but detect some ire in her voice.

I gestured to Jake and Lily. "This is Jake and Lily. They woke up in this house with me."

"So, what can you guys do?" Ava asked. "I get visions."

"Me, too," Sam said.

"I read minds," I said.

"Yeah, and I can put thoughts into people's heads. Like, make them do stuff. But don't worry, it—I don't think it works on you guys." Andy was talking faster than I thought a mouth could move. "Oh, but get this—I've been practicing. Training my brain, like meditation. So now, it's not just thoughts I can beam out, but images, too. Like, anything I want. Bam! People, they see it. This one guy I know—total dick, right? I used it on him: gay porn. All hours of the day." Andy chuckled nervously. "It was just like...you should have seen the look on his face." We all looked at him to let him know he should stop talking. "Uh...okay."

"So, you go, 'Simon says give me your wallet', and they do?" Lily looked at Sam. "You have visions?" Then her eyes fell on me. "And you read minds? That's great! I'd kill for something like that."

Sam stepped forward. "Lily, listen, it's okay—"

Lily backed up "No. It's not. I touch people? Their hearts stop. I can barely leave my house. My life's not exactly improved. So, screw you. I just wanna go home."

"And what, we don't?" Jake asked.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "You know what, don't talk to me like that, not right—"

I stepped in the middle. "Hey, guys, please. Look, whether we like it or not, we're all here, and so we all have to deal with this."

"Who brought us here?" Andy asked.

"It's less of a 'who'. It's...more of a 'what'," Sam said.

"What does that mean?" Ava asked.

Sam looked at me before answering. "It's a...it's a demon."

Lily sighed next to me. I shot her a look. 

"Like it or not—even believe it or not—that's what we're dealing with. If we want to get out of here, we need to work together." I looked at each of them individually. "You're either with us or you're on your own."