"Creepy-ass inn." Dean parked the Impala in front of a German-styled hotel.

"Ellen says there's been two deaths in the past three weeks." I peered out the window at the inn. "One drowning and a nasty fall."

"That's not abnormal," Bee said.

"The guy's head did a one-eighty," Sam said. "Is that abnormal enough for you?"

Dean opened the door. "This is pretty cool though. We never get to work in these old-school haunted houses."

We all followed Dean to the entrance of the hotel with our bags slung over our shoulders. Dean muttered something about Fred and Daphne, but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes were scanning everything around us. 

I grabbed Sam's arm as I noticed a carving on one of the planters. "Ghosts may not be our issue."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Look at this." I pointed to the planter. "That's a quincunx, right?"

"A quincunx?" Bee asked.

"A five-point. It's a pretty powerful hoodoo spellwork," Sam said as he traced over the mark.

I looked at Bee. "Fill this with bloodweed and you've got a powerful spell to ward off enemies."

Dean must've realized we weren't following because he spoke directly over my shoulder. "I don't see any bloodweed."

I glanced at Sam trying to send a it's still an issue look at him. Sam took my hand as we walked up the path into the inn. As we were checking in, the lady at the counter told us we were going to be some of the last visitors since the inn was closing down. We split up and began exploring.

"So, the first vic was the realtor handling the sale, and the second was a mover." I watched the EMF meter intently.

"Whatever is here doesn't want it to close," Sam said.

"Then we should make it very clear that we are not here to help it shut down." Bee looked around hesitantly.

With no blips on the EMF, we decided to divide and conquer. Sam and Dean took the lower floors while Bee and I took the upper floors. A few hours later, I went back to Bee and I's room to watch a lawyer get carted out on a gurney. 

Unable to watch his dead body move, I turned away from the window. Sam joined me in the room.

"He was a lawyer closing the estate sale. They found him hanging from the fan in his room." I hugged myself feeling cold from the window.

"Yeah, I saw." Sam slumped into a chair. He looked slightly disheveled and had a far-off look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" I looked him up and down. "Why are you in our room?"

"Can't I come to see my girlfriend without it being suspicious?" Sam asked.

"Alright." I cleared my throat and sat down across from him not enjoying his sour-puss mood. "What did you find out about the grandmother in the attic?"

"You're bossy." Sam looked at me and snorted, too. "And short."

I got up and moved closer to him. His eyes were slightly blurred. "Are you drunk?"

"Yeah, so?" Sam asked. "Bee does it all the time."

I sighed. "What the hell, Sam? We're on a case. Bee's never drunk on a case. What's going on with you?"

Sam looked away from me and mumbled something I didn't catch. When he looked back, something about his eyes made a fist close around my heart. Something was wrong.

I kneeled beside him and rubbed his thigh. "This isn't you. Please, tell me what's wrong."

"That guy that hung himself, I couldn't save him." Tears filled Sam's eyes.

"Sam, you couldn't have done anything. You didn't know this was going to happen, did you?" I asked.

"No, but that's just an excuse. I should've found a way. I should've saved Ava, too." Sam wiped his face.

I got up and touched his face. "We can't save everyone. You've even said that. Besides, we don't know for sure that Ava is dead."

"But Melanie, the more people we save the more we can change." Sam took my hands in his.

I furrowed my brows. "Change what?"

More tears slipped down his cheeks. "Our destinies, Mel."

"Sammy, I know you. You're a good person. You have a strong moral compass. There's no way yellow eyes will get to you. You don't need to change." I got no response. "Let's get you to bed. You'll feel better probably not in the morning but sometime tomorrow."

I pulled Sam to his feet. At first, I wanted to take him back to his room, but as we stumbled around with me supporting most of Sam's weight, I decided my bed worked just fine. I quickly shot Dean a text so he wouldn't think Sam had vanished again.

"Alright big guy, you can sleep here, but if you vomit on me, you won't live to see the morning." I crawled into bed with him.

Sam instinctively wrapped his arms around me even though his eyes were closed. "If you see me start to change, promise me you'll tell Dean. He knows what to do."

"Sammy—"

"You have to. Dad gave him instructions. Promise me, Mel." When I didn't respond, Sam's eyes opened.

A tear slipped down my cheek. "I promise."

Sam closed his eyes again and passed out. I, on the other hand, tossed and turned. What was I supposed to do? There was no way that he was going to sleep without me promising him, but I also couldn't watch Dean put a bullet in his brain either. He was my rock. How did I do that for him? How could I show him he wasn't all bad?

Sometime in the night, I must've dozed off. When I woke up, the bed beside me was cold. I sat bolt upright remembering the night.

"Sam?"

A groan came from the bathroom. "In here."

My heart rate slowed as I climbed out of bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a garbage truck and then it backed over me for good measure," Sam said.

"You probably don't remember a thing from last night, do you?" I asked.

Sam dry-heaved. "I can still taste the tequila."

I joined him on the floor and rubbed his back. "I'm sorry."

The door to our room beeped and then banged open. Someone began rifling around in our stuff.

"Mel, where are you?" Bee asked.

"In the bathroom," I said.

Bee appeared around the door frame. "Rough night, Sam?"

"You have no idea." Sam clutched his stomach.

"Been there." Bee shook the memories away. "Anyway, Dean and I did some exploring and questioning last night and found out Grandma Rose had a hoodoo nanny when she was a kid."

"Really?" I got up from the floor. "You think she's been messing with the place?"

"There's only one way to find out," Bee said. "Dean and I plan on checking on the old lady later today. Take care of the sick boy."

"Let us know what you find," Sam said.

"We will." Bee waltzed out the door.

I turned to Sam. "What do you think?"

"It depends on the condition of the grandmother. Hoodoo takes a lot of power. If she's frail it's most likely not her." Sam stood.

"Yeah, probably not," I said

"But, if she is frail, maybe she was warding off something dark and now can't," Sam said. "I just feel bad for the daughters. This has to be super freaky for them."

"We'll know more when Bee and Dean get back." I flopped on the bed.

Sam breathed into his hand and sniffed. "Why didn't you tell me my breath smelled so bad?"

"I didn't want to bother you. You were ill." I leaned on her elbows to look at him. "Don't use my toothbrush!"

Sam stuck the baby blue toothpaste-covered toothbrush in his mouth. "It's payback."

"Samuel!" I jumped out of bed and tried to pull it out of his mouth.

Sam just leaned out of the way. I began trying to use Sam to hoist myself up high enough to reach him. One of the times I jumped up, Sam grabbed me, pulled me tight to him, and leaned over to spit.

"You're making this kind of difficult," Sam said nonchalantly.

"If you wouldn't have stolen my toothbrush, this wouldn't be happening." I glared.

"Well, I wasn't going to walk all the way back to my room just to brush my teeth." Sam grinned before resuming brushing.

"You're a jerk, Winchester." I stuck my tongue out before walking away.

"Just doing my job," Sam said.

He rinsed off the toothbrush before returning it to the holder. Sam also rinsed his mouth out in the sink. I caught his eyes in the mirror and grinned with a brilliant idea. Getting a running start, I jumped onto his back. He caught my ankles as I threw my arms around his neck and spun me around. I giggled as Sam dumped me onto the bed. He fell beside me.

"Thanks for catching me. That would've been awkward if you hadn't." I smiled so big my cheeks hurt.

"I could see it in your eyes." Sam brushed my hair out of my face.

"The mischievous glint." I giggled before kissing his cheek.

Sam leaned in to kiss me when Dean and Bee burst through the door. They both looked startled.

"Save the smooching for later. We're being kicked out," Dean said.

"What the hell did you do?" I stood.

"Susan caught us with Grandma Rose," Dean said. "Come on, Sammy. We have to pack."

I looked at Sam who was still lying in the same place. Sam stared back at me. I cocked my head to the side not understanding.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing." Sam got off the bed. "I'll see you later."

He gave me a quick peck on the lips before leaving. I watched Dean follow him out with a confused look on his face. My only response was to shrug. I didn't understand what was happening with his mood swings. Dean shut the door behind him.

"What's wrong with Sam?" Bee grabbed her clothes out of the wardrobe.

"I don't know. We were fine until a few seconds ago," I said. "I don't think we should be leaving."

"Me neither, but Susan kicked us out. What else can we do?" Bee asked.

"Nothing." I threw a shirt in my bag.

*****

As we drove out of the town, I couldn't shake the bad feeling in my gut.

"Turn around," I said.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Something's wrong about this. I don't care what Susan said. We need to go back," I said.

Dean sighed. "I hope you're right."

As we pulled into the driveway, my gut feeling proved to be true. Dean threw the Impala into park and saved Susan from being hit by her car. Sam and Dean explained that everything was being caused by a ghost.

"I don't believe this," Susan said.

"That car didn't try to run you over on its own," Dean said. "Well, I mean, it did, bu-but the spirit—"

"Look, believe what you want," Sam interrupted. "The fact is you and your family are in danger, alright? So you need to clear everybody out of here. Your employees, your mom, your daughters, everyone."

"I only have one daughter," Susan said.

"One?" Bee asked.

"I thought Tyler had a sister named Maggie," Dean said.

Susan looked at all of us in turn. "Maggie's imaginary."

"Where's Tyler?" I asked.

"I-I don't know." Susan got up and began frantically looking around the inn. We all followed her closely.

"What do you know about Maggie?" Sam asked.

"Not much. She showed up after my mother's accident." Susan kept looking.

"Do you know anyone by that name?" I asked.

"No," Susan said.

"Think. Someone who might have lived here. Maybe passed away..." Dean said.

"Oh my God. My mother. My mother had a sister named Margaret. She barely spoke about her," Susan explained.

"Where'd she pass?" Bee asked.

"The pool." Susan covered her mouth.

We all took off for the pool. Sam and I were the first ones there. No matter how much we yanked on the doors, we couldn't get in. Eventually, I quit caring about the integrity of the poolhouse, took a cement lawn ornament, and broke a window. Avoiding the jagged glass, I carefully slid inside. Tyler was slowly fighting against the pool cover. Without thinking, I jumped in.

I didn't realize the clear cover was still on the pool before I jumped in. I began to sink alongside Tyler. Though I thrashed my body as much as I could, the only direction I went was down. I wasn't strong enough to fight out of the heavy cover. The world around me grew fuzzy. My lungs burned as my nostrils forced me to breathe.

Just as the world was fading around me, strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me to the surface. I gasped in a large breath before the hands pushed me over the ledge of the pool. Dean pulled himself out behind me. Panic flooding through me, I crab-walked away from the pool as fast as I could.

Tears began streaming down my face, but I noticed a wet Sam leaning over Tyler's body a short distance away. Knowing Tyler was safe, I covered my eyes and dropped my head to my knees letting the panic take over. My body trembled uncontrollably.

A small hand touched my back. I jerked away from it and lifted my head.

"What were you thinking?" Bee asked. "You can't swim."

I wanted to answer her, but I couldn't. It felt like my throat was closing as I drew in raspy, quick breaths. More tears slipped from my eyes as I reached up to touch my throat. I should be dead.

"Mel." Sam knelt in front of me. "Try to relax. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Do this ten times with me, okay?"

I nodded. Sam breathed in and out slowly. I mimicked his breaths. Even though my breathing returned to normal and I wasn't worried about suffocating anymore, my body still shook. Sam cradled me in his arms.

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry," I whispered.

"You're okay," Sam said. "Don't apologize."

Susan brought towels for us. Tyler shivered, too, but she seemed unharmed.

"You alright?" Dean ran the towel through his hair.

"Th-th-thank y-you," I mumbled.

Sam smoothed my hair down and kissed my head. 

"Tyler, do you see Maggie anywhere?" Dean asked.

"No," Tyler said.

"My mother!" Susan sprinted out of the pool house.

Sam moved to follow as Tyler, Dean, and Bee chased Susan, but I was frozen in place. He pulled the blankets around me tighter before scooping me up and carrying me to the inn.

From the crying upstairs, I assumed Rose was dead. I just stared absently at the ground in front of me. The feeling of the water in my lungs and the weight of my body as I sunk lower and lower was overwhelming.

The trembling slowly ebbed away, but I couldn't shake the dreadful feeling. Everything around me was a blur. Soon, we were in the Impala with the inn growing smaller and smaller in the background.

"Go to sleep." Sam had squeezed into the backseat to help comfort me. "I'll keep you safe."

"Thank you." I closed my eyes and sank into the darkness.