Note: For anybody wondering: Yes, it is 1:05 in the morning. Yes, I am sitting on my kitchen floor eating ramen noodles as I finish composing and posting this chapter. And yes, I did write almost nine thousand words in one day after (once again) procrastinating all week. So, things are pretty much going the same as usual lol.

Thank you so much, as always, for reading, voting, and commenting! I am so grateful to all of you. I know I've been a bit of a mess for a few weeks now with the end of the semester, but this has been my first week in over three months when I didn't have to worry about classes and work and could write a chapter relatively distraction free. I know I still finished at one a.m., but nobody's perfect.

This chapter is for a request by the wonderfully patient SydneyHodder who wanted to see Anna go on a hunt with Rowena without the boys knowing about it. I'm sorry that this took so long to write! I feel pretty good about the way it turned out, though, and I sincerely hope you'll find it was worth the wait.

Also, when reading Rowena's dialogue, try to imagine her voice/accent in your head. I started out trying to change the spelling of certain words to reflect her accent, but it got pretty messy. I'm sure you can all hear her voice in your head without much effort anyway.

Anna is seventeen in this chapter.

Make the Choice, Give the Chance

"You're quiet," Dean said into the warm but uncomfortable air of the Impala.

Anna shrugged absentmindedly, staring out the window at nothing in particular. The morning sky was a dull shade of gray this morning, a few thin, sad-looking clouds dispersed throughout. "So are you," she challenged without much force in her voice.

Dean gave her a sideways look. "Okay, well, you're in a mood this morning."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I'm not in a mood."

"Don't make this into a nobody understands me because I'm a teenager thing. I didn't say you were in a mood for no reason. I just said you're in a mood."

"Thanks for the validation," Anna said sardonically.

Dean let it roll right over his back. "You're welcome."

Anna gave another eye roll.

"So..."

"So?"

"So?"

"So?"

"So?"

"Dean. Shut up."

"Then talk to me."

"I'm just mad, okay?" Anna finally grouched and followed it up with a sigh.

"Okay. Why?" Dean asked.

Anna sighed and looked out the window again. "Because... Cas."

It apparently wasn't what Dean had been expecting, because it took him a minute to answer her. "You mean because he said 'yes,'" he surmised.

"Yes, because he said 'yes.' To Lucifer. Of all people. After frickin everything."

"Well, it was a crappy situation."

"Really? You want to defend him?"

"No, I don't want to defend him. Not that choice anyway. I'm just sayin', sometimes when the shit hits the fan, people forget the bigger picture. You're kinda known for that, you know."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't invite the devil to ride my ass."

"Never said you would," Dean said patiently. "I'm just saying, crappy situations lead to crappy choices. We're gonna get Cas out of this. He's done the same for us."

"He's done the same when we had no choices left. Sam spent hours in there before we even made it. We spent all that time getting our asses beat just so he could give up at the last second? That's not exactly the same as when we get backed into corners."

"Well, maybe he felt like he was backed into a corner."

Anna snorted, "But you're not defending his choice."

Dean sighed. "If I was happy about it, we wouldn't be trying to find him and get him back."

"Well, if you were pissed about it, you wouldn't be either."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means his screw-up, his problem."

"You don't mean that," he dismissed.

Anna glared over at him. "Why? Because he's family? Because I seem to recall you saying that about Sam a time or two."

Dean gave her a sharp look, the air between them thickening. Anna held his gaze. It had been a low blow, but she wasn't wrong either. "Well, maybe I grew up a little since then."

An equally low blow, but it hit her right between the eyes. "Why does everything have to be about how young I am?" she demanded and turned deliberately away from him, her right knee hitting the passenger door as she pivoted her head to look out the window again.

"You sayin' I was right pushing Sam away back then? You may have been small, but you remember as well as I do how that ended."

The challenge had Anna going quiet. She felt so uncharitably toward Cas for giving himself up as he had that the last thing she wanted to do was listen to reason. But Dean had a point, and she had to admit that. Not aloud, of course, just to herself. She stayed quiet altogether, which wasn't an admission that she thought he was right but did serve as a sign that she was listening.

"All I'm sayin', Anna, is that you have to give people room to make mistakes sometimes. Cas wasn't right to let Lucifer in, but if we leave him to it, who's to say things won't get worse. More than that, giving up on family isn't what we do." He paused, and the only sound left for a moment was the whir of the Impala's wheels against gravel. "You gotta give people second chances sometimes."

A pang of shame hit Anna in the stomach at her apparent cold-heartedness toward somebody as close to her as Cas. She wanted to continue to believe Dean was being hypocritical, but it wasn't true. He'd learned from his mistakes and was trying to keep her from repeating them. She wanted to hang onto her anger because it was a lot easier than admitting that she was really scared for Cas. But her anger was going to only have the opposite effect of what she actually needed. She needed Cas back. Staying angry at him and leaving him to his own devices wouldn't get him back. It would hurt him, and more than that, it would damage his relationship with all of them.

The buzz of tires on gravel and the rumble of the engine under the hood calmed her until she felt able to say, "You're right."

Dean looked sideways at her with a barely perceptible one-sided smirk. "That must've really hurt to say out loud," he teased.

"Oh, shut up. That was such a profound moment for me and you just ruined it." She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. But she was smiling.

()()()

The following morning, the boys left early for a hunt a few states away, promising to be back within a few days as it seemed just to be a vampire nest waiting to be cleared out. So Anna made plans with Kate and they met at the café around nine.

When she stepped inside, Kate was arguing with somebody on her cellphone in the back corner. She wasn't being particularly loud, but Anna could see how angry she was even from across the small café. She was moving with her free hand in short, impassioned gestures, and every line of her face was visibly drawn as Anna walked closer.

"How old do you think I am?" Kate said tersely into the phone and promptly hung it up. Anna dropped into the booth seat across from her.

"Seventeen," she grinned. "Going on thirty. What's up?"

"Thank God, you're here," Kate exclaimed and let her head hit her forearms on the table. She breathed in deep and let out a long sigh. "Out of nowhere this morning," she said into her arms, voice muffled. "My dad texted me to say he's had this big change of heart."

"Can you sit up?" Anna requested, tugging gently on Kate's shirt sleeve until she sat up. "Okay, what'd he say?"

Kate sighed again and rubbed her eyes with the fingers of one hand. "He says he's had this change of heart. He wants me to come visit him."

Anna reared back in surprise. "Didn't he just move to Alaska?"

"Last month," Kate nodded. She rubbed her eyes again, looking weary. Anna felt Kate's exhaustion in her own body as she watched it play out in front of her. After three years, it seemed like there was still a constant onslaught of new familial collapse in Kate's life. And Anna was there every step of the way, but it wasn't the same for her. The pain she felt was secondhand every time, and she knew that. "He's crazy."

"Katie, come on," she said sympathetically. She shook her head and grabbed Kate's hand on the table. "He's not crazy. He's just back and forth about a lot of things. People make weird choices."

Kate shook her head right back and held Anna's gaze with surprising strength even as she looked like she was going to cry. "The mid-life crisis excuse stopped working when I was fifteen. He's crazy."

Anna pursed her lips, trying to think of something to say to make this better. "Why don't we get some fresh air?" she suggested. "I'll go get us some coffee and we can take a walk."

Kate sighed shakily but then nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'm gonna text my mom. She'll go all attack-dog on him. With any luck, I won't end up on a plane to Alaska this time next week."

"Kate, if there's any real danger of that, I will go attack-dog on your dad." She got a genuine smile and even a small laugh, so Anna counted that as a win. "I've done it before," she reminded her friend anyway. Kate's smile softened as she nodded in acknowledgement. "Do you want coffee, or a dirty chai?" Anna asked as she slid out of the booth and checked her pockets for the ten dollar bill she was pretty sure she'd put there this morning.

"Maybe a double red-eye."

"It's that kind of day," Anna agreed. "I'll be right back."

She weaved her way past tables, a few of which were occupied by twenty-somethings on coffee dates or with laptops out, writing papers. "Hey," she greeted the cashier. "Can I get, uh..." She glanced sideways at a flash of red in her vision and did a double take. No way was that who she thought it was.

"Rowena," she whispered in shock.

"I'm sorry- We don't serve that here," the cashier told her, looking annoyed.

"Wha-? Oh. No, sorry, I wasn't talking to you. Um-" She turned, dumbfounded, away from the counter and practically jogged to the door where Rowena had just walked in. She'd half expected to realize it wasn't who she'd thought it was, but she got a few feet away and realized quickly that it was really her. "Rowena?"

A self-satisfied smile tugged at the witch's mouth as she said, "Hello, dear."

"Hello? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Why, looking for you, of course," she said, sickeningly sweet. Anna just stared at her, stoic-faced, waiting for her to say more. Rowena tilted her head, her smile disappearing. "I require the help of a hunter," she explained as if the very thought disgusted her. It probably did. "And you're the least... suffocating of your kind."

"I am?" Anna repeated, hovering somewhere between feeling flattered and irritated. She'd been in the middle of helping her friend through something important enough that just thinking about Kate in that booth trying to explain to her mother filled Anna with a sense of urgency. "Whatever," she said. "I don't care. I can't do anything for you. I'm not even a real hunter yet anyway."

"I'm not asking you to slay any fantastical beasts," Rowena said, her voice raising slightly in pitch as she tried to keep Anna from walking away.

It worked somewhat. Anna didn't like to hear that kind of desperate tinge in anybody's voice, and as much difficulty as Rowena had caused them over the years, she'd also been instrumental in removing the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm. That had to win her something, whatever more negative remarks her recent actions might make about her character.

Turning on the balls of her feet, Anna crossed her arms over her chest and fixed Rowena with a coldly indifferent look, unconsciously channeling Dean. "I'm in the middle of something," she said. "So make it quick."

With an unhappy bobble of her head that said she didn't like being rushed or treated as a beggar of any sort, Rowena huffed. "I've a mite of a problem getting at something I need. A bit of powerful magic."

"And I would want this so-called powerful magic falling into your hands because...?"

Rowena looked affronted, placing a hand against her chest. "You're still a girl," she said, sounding as if she was controlling her voice carefully. "So I won't take it to heart what you've said. I'll only remind you what I've done for you. Getting the Mark of Cain off your no-good brother's arm."

Anna made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. "Yeah, insult my family. That'll convince me to help you."

"T'wasn't my point at the start," Rowena pointed out, gesturing for Anna to calm down. "I only bring it up to because you seem to have forgotten we've got history."

"I don't care about history. I care about the present. What do you want with that magic? Can you promise me no one gets hurt if you get your hands on it?"

"Is that all you want?" Rowena scoffed. "On the contrary, dear, it's quite a powerful healing spell. Were you to help me, I might owe you something in return. It could turn out to be rather helpful to you someday."

"You're not bullshitting?" Anna asked cautiously, tilting her head slightly as she thought through everything. If Rowena really had a powerful healing spell within reach, and if she would really share the spell sometime when the Winchesters asked... it might be worth whatever she was being asked to do.

"I wouldn't waste my time betrickering a Winchester. We all know how that ends."

Anna nodded slowly as she made her decision. They'd been keeping somewhat quiet all along, but he lowered her voice a bit more before speaking this time, just in case someone was in hearing range. "What, hypothetically, would I be doing to help you get this spell? What, are there demons in the way, or is it in some kind of cursed spell box, or what?"

"Not quite, Dear," Rowena smiled. "I could handle that on my own. It isn't that I need you to fight for me. I just need..." She moved her hand in slight circles as if trying to find the right word. The rings on her fingers glinted in the warm light of the café. "Accompaniment," she finally said with a sort of devilish smile on her face.

Anna knew better than to trust her. She really did. But so far, this didn't sound dangerous. And it sounded like she could get something pretty significant out of it, something that could end up saving Sam, Dean, or Cas's life. The thought of Cas only cemented her decision in her mind. Dean had said she needed to be able to give people chances. Rowena's less than spotless reputation was no reason not to give her a chance. Of course, she knew that she was turning Dean's advice on its head in a way. He wouldn't have meant for her to take it that way. Hell, she knew that if she were to call right now and tell him what was happening, he wouldn't let her go anywhere near Rowena's hunt.

"Alright, fine," she said, pretending to be much more reluctant and stand-offish than she actually felt. "But I have to be back in a couple days."

"You've other commitments then?"

Anna tilted her head and tried to think of a reasonable lie to tell. "I have school on Monday," she excused. "People would wonder where I am."

"I would say let them wonder... but I know that isn't your true reason, Dear. You don't want your family knowing where you've been all weekend. Do you?"

Anna swallowed and let out a little angry breath. Rowena just smiled knowingly at her, and it seemed a bit mocking. "I'll be back by Monday morning."

"It's no matter anyway. I'll need you for but a few hours."

"A few hours?" Anna repeated, pleasantly surprised. "Okay, well... tonight?"

"That's when things are set to take place, yes."

"Where?" she pressed. "Is it close? Do we have a lot of driving, or-"

"It's nearly eight hours. I've a car we can use."

"Great," Anna said sarcastically. "Look, I was kinda in the middle of something. Do I need to bring anything? Other than my gun?" Nevermind how weird it was going to be spending eight hours alone in a car with Rowena. She would have to make sure she brought her earbuds and had a good, long playlist downloaded to her phone.

"You won't have any need of that."

"I'm sorry? You said you wanted a hunter's help."

"I want the help of a capable young woman. Like yourself. Now, are you up for that or aren't you?"

"Yeah," Anna said with only the slightest hesitation. "I'm in, but what exactly are you asking me to do?"

Rowena made a grand gesture with her hands. "You're going to have a wonderful time doing it. That I can promise you. For now, we've got a lot of work to do, and I can explain the details to you when we're someplace more private..."

Anna shrugged off the hand on her arm that had been steering her toward the door. "I'm here with a friend, Rowena. And she's going through something. I can't just ditch her."

Rowena looked majorly put off. "You don't think it's a bit more important that we strategize in preparation for an important evening in the history of magic than you sort out your little friendship problem?"

With an irritated look, Anna replied simply, "I'm not leaving her here without warning. Let me have five minutes." When Rowena stared at her, unimpressed, she added, "I don't see how you think you're in charge here. I'm the one helping you, and if I say no, what'll you do?"

"Five minutes," Rowena clucked, looking altogether displeased.

Anna struggled to hide her smile as a rush of pride at how she'd stood Rowena down rushed through her. She turned and hurried back through the café to get to the booth where she'd left Kate.

"Girl, that took forever. How hot was the barist- Where's the coffee?"

"What cof-" Anna made a face. "Oh. Yeah. I forgot."

Kate's expression turned to utter bewilderment. "You went to get coffee and... forgot the coffee?" she asked haltingly.

Anna shrugged. "Yeah. Look, something's come up. I kinda have a case."

Kate's eyes widened. "No. No, you don't. How the hell do you have a case? Sam and Dean just left this morning."

"Yeah, I didn't exactly hear about it through them," Anna dismissed.

"What are you talking about? You can't go hunting by yourself!"

At Kate's increasing volume, Anna pinched her lips together. "Dude, be quiet. I'm not going by myself. I'm going with a... well, not a friend but an acquaintance, I guess. We've worked with her before, and she's... she's capable. This is important. And so is this thing with your dad, so I don't want to just run out right now. I want you to know that I really, genuinely care about everything that's happening. I just- There's a time table on this and I have no real choice-"

"Anna," Kate laughed. "It's fine. Go. But just be careful. If you come back dead, I'll kill you."

Anna grinned. "Thanks. That means a lot."

"Yeah. Well, I meant it. So..."

"I'll be back on Monday," she promised. "If I'm not, call my brother and tell him I left with Rowena. He knows her. And, uh, I'll text you the name of the town we're going to later today so if you have to call, you'll know."

Kate looked more concerned the more details she was given. But it was just precaution and Anna knew she knew that. "Seriously, be careful."

"You know I will," Anna assured, and she pulled Kate to her feet so they could hug. Kate's grip on her was tight enough that Anna knew there was some fear there. "I'll be fine. This isn't even gonna be as dangerous as most hunts are. Probably won't even draw my gun," she added more quietly. "I'll see you Monday," she tossed over her shoulder and bounced out of the café.

As her feet hit the sidewalk and the bell on the door jingled behind her, Anna felt her shoulders drop with realization. She still didn't have any coffee.

()()()

"I don't get it. I rushed through saying goodbye to my best friend so we could go shopping?"

Rowena pulled her hand back from the rack of expensive dresses she'd been perusing. "Well, you can hardly show up at a soirée in flannel and denim."

"A soirée," Anna repeated distastefully. "Are you kidding me? I didn't sign up to go to some rich person party, Rowena. I signed up to help you with a case."

"On the contrary, Dear. You agreed to help me however I needed, and what I need is for you to attend a soirée."

"Oh God," Anna groaned and put a hand over her face. "I don't believe the things I get myself into." She followed Rowena through the store a little longer until they reached a line-up of, if possible, even more expensive-looking dresses. "I still don't see why we had to come here," she said. "I own dresses. I bought one a few months ago for a date. I'll wear that."

"What, a cocktail dress?"

"Well... a skater dress, actually." Rowena scoffed, and Anna frowned. "What's the difference anyway? It's just a different cut. And it looks good on me."

"If tonight is to work at all, you have to catch the eye of a rather wealthy young man. And wearing a skater dress to his soirée would be rather an unappealing way to do that."

"Okay, but I have no interest in wearing one of these. I mean, they all hit the floor, they're so long. And the amount of glitter on these things is downright shameful."

"Ocht," Rowena exclaimed and turned her back on Anna to lift a dress from its place and hold it out for a better look. It was a soft lavender in color and was, fortunately, devoid of glitter. "This will do nicely for you."

"You... are you sure? I mean, it's so... fancy."

"Of course I'm sure. Try it on."

Five minutes later, they were standing outside the mall waiting for Rowena's cab driver-- her equivalent of having a car, apparently-- and the purple dress rested securely over Anna's arm. The dress both thrilled and unnerved her. She'd never touched anything so expensive before and wondered if she would ever have the opportunity ever again. Maybe this time spent with Rowena-- even if it did include going to some kind of party full of wealthy people who thought the word 'party' was beneath them-- would have its perks.

()()()

She was clear on the plan as she stepped inside of the massive ballroom, but Anna was not happy about the plan. She hated to attend any kind of party, and she hated to be around any kind of crowd. But this kind of party and this kind of crowd? She felt so hard out of place as she entered that she wasn't sure if she would even be able to make her mouth form words by the time she found the boy she was supposed to talk to. No, not talk to. Flirt with.

She really should have forced Rowena to disclose all the details of the job before agreeing. Something to keep in mind for next time, Anna noted silently.

As she strode across the floor in four-inch heels, the hem of her dress gliding along the floor behind her, she tried to exert an air of confidence. It was as important, Rowena had told her, as the exquisite dress and shoes. Her appearance had always been rather distinct, between the uncommonly pale shade of blonde, curly hair and the striking green of her eyes, both of which her dress complimented and made pop. But in the expensive clothing and jewelry Rowena had gotten for her, her appearance was even more striking. That, and she looked older, which was also important.

"Good evening, Miss," a waiter spoke as she passed, holding out a tray of what she presumed were champagne glasses.

"Good evening." Anna smiled courteously but didn't take anything from the tray. She searched the room with her eyes instead, trying to find a boy with jet-black hair and gray-blue eyes. He would be dressed in such a way that she would be able to pick him out, or so Rowena had promised. Apparently, the soirée was like an extravagant twenty-first birthday party for this kid.

This kid who also happened to be one of the only male witches whose name Rowena bothered to remember. This kid who had somehow either curated or stolen one of the most powerful healing spells ever discovered. The kid who Anna had to distract so Rowena could steal from him.

His suit was teal and shimmered in the light. That was how she knew it must be him. She called to mind the image of him she'd spent a long time staring at in the car-ride over and thanked everything she didn't believe in that at least the guy was both attractive and distinctive-looking. It shouldn't be too difficult to act interested and keep him distracted presuming that his appraisal of her was equally positive.

She didn't approach him. She simply placed himself in his line of sight. Rowena hadn't given her a name and had instead insisted that the more realistic their meeting, the better. Anna had taken that at face value, but it still frustrated her. If she somehow spoke to the wrong man, she could have realized her mistake when he told her a name that didn't match. Instead, she had to trust her memory of his appearance.

She spent a moment simply looking around and accidentally caught eyes with a woman a few feet away. It seemed only more natural for her to be speaking to somebody, so she smiled, trying to look friendly. The woman approached, and Anna glanced surreptitiously over her shoulder. She hadn't caught the boy's attention yet.

"I don't believe I've seen you before."

Anna smiled at the woman before her who was dressed in royal blue and holding a glass of something sparkling. "I don't believe I've seen you either." She held out a hand and the woman took it for a handshake, though she gave Anna a strange look at first. "My name is Lyra," Anna lied. "And I'm not from the area. I was introduced to the family at a charity event in New Hampshire."

"Quaint," the woman smiled. It made Anna want to stick her finger down her throat just to show how disgustingly obnoxious this all was, but she resisted the urge. "Octavia Radcliffe."

It was an old money surname, so her snobbish outlook made a lot of sense. Then again, Anna thought, she would have decided the snobbishness made sense if she'd heard a new money surname too. So, in reality, it meant very little. This conversation, over all, meant very little, she reminded herself. The goal was to speak with the birthday boy, and she needed to get over there, but she couldn't introduce herself to him. That was too obvious.

She stepped around Octavia under the guise of collecting a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray, then promptly turned. She could see the young man over Octavia's shoulder. He was looking at her, but when their eyes met, he quickly looked away. Anna smiled and looked back at Octavia, taking a sip of her champagne. It tasted... well, not as good as she'd always thought champagne would, but not bad either.

"Do you know the family?" Anna asked.

"Oh, the Burnes? Not personally. Hardly anyone does. You meet them once, you end up on every guest list."

"I understand. That's the way things often work." She tapped one manicured fingernail against her glass thoughtfully. "I prefer to be more personal, but few people feel the same."

Octavia hummed in agreement and took a sip of her own drink. "Speaking of personal, an old friend of mine has just arrived. But, Lyra, enchantée."

Anna wondered, as Octavia left, what it was with wealthy people and butchering the French language. She was pleasantly surprised, though, when she felt a light touch on her elbow and turned to meet gray-blue eyes shadowed by a fringe of black hair. "I hope I didn't startle you," a kind voice greeted. "But I was waiting to speak with you." He took her hand and bent to kiss the back of it gingerly. "Thomas Burnes."

Anna smiled with a slight tinge of pink in her cheeks at the greeting. "Lyra Berkshire. I suppose I should wish you a happy birthday."

Thomas smiled and nodded once. "Actually," he said, "Don't tell anyone, but it isn't my real birthday. We have one of these nearly every month."

"I won't tell a soul."

"And for some reason, I trust you." Things were quiet for a moment as they held one another's eyes. Anna began to think, in the privacy of her own mind, that this was going to be an easy job. Not only was this boy attractive and clearly believing the same about her, but he wasn't acting snobbish. Well, aside from the whole kissing the back of her hand thing, he wasn't acting snobbish. "Allow me to show you around some place other than the ballroom?" He offered her an arm, and Anna slid her hand into place on his forearm, feeling like a character in an old western.

"Do you mean that this is your home? Or do you simply know the building well?"

"It is one of the family homes, but I would hardly give it the title."

"Is that right?"

"I've done more... work here than anything else."

Feeling more sure that Rowena would turn up what she was looking for now that he'd unknowingly admitted to her that he practiced magic in this house, Anna tilted her head just slightly without conscious thought. "So, where is home if not in such a beautiful place as this?"

"My father has a place in New Hampshire. I was raised there. But I'm between houses for auctions and socials and business so often, I don't stay in any one place long enough to feel at home. I suppose that's rather a little sad, isn't it?"

Anna looked sympathetically at him. "I suppose so. But I felt similarly for a long time. It wasn't until I was nearly grown that my own family put down roots in one place." Revealing half-truths was the best way to lie, and being human was the best way to interact with other people, so she continued, "I still haven't decided whether I like it."

"I don't think I'd be quite able to stay in one place for more than a week without calling for my jet to take my across the country or the world. I think I'd suffocate."

Anna tried to brush off his casual mention of owning a freaking jet and instead took a sip of her champagne. "I haven't found myself suffocating," she admitted. "I rather enjoy the stability, actually. But I do long for excitement sometimes. It gets tiresome seeing the same people and the same sights every day."

"Really?" Thomas echoed, sounding pleased. "I think we'll get along well," he said as they reached the edge of the ballroom. They had to walk by two large men in suits to go through the doorway, and Anna tried not to sweat with anxiety. She was totally the exact kind of threat they were there to stop. Well, maybe less direct or less immediate a threat, but still a threat.

Speaking of, she scanned the next room they entered, a large sitting room with velvety chairs and sofas and draperies that seemed to have been pulled from the set of The Big Valley. There were no visible signs that Rowena had been there, but Anna wondered whether she had. It didn't seem like the type of place where anybody would do magic, but Anna wasn't exactly well-versed in all things witchcraft, so she didn't know for sure.

What she did know was that her heart was starting to beat a lot faster now that she was alone with this guy who was a few years older than her, tasked with keeping him distracted and away from wherever Rowena was searching for his coveted magic, and-

"Would you like a fresh drink?"

Anna smiled sweetly at Thomas as he took the mostly full champagne glass from her hand. "Thank you," she said. "But I don't drink much."

"A glass of water then? Or lemonade?"

"Lemonade sounds lovely," she accepted and sat down when he gestured for her to do so. She felt a pang of anxiety as he walked out of the room. Maybe she shouldn't be letting him out of her sight. What if Rowena was in the next room? God, they should have studied the layout of the house and made a plan for where each of them would be at what time. Suddenly everything about this plan felt sloppy, and Anna's heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest.

Thomas re-entered the room, looking calm and bearing a glass of lemonade. Anna received the glass graciously and watched as he poured himself something amber and sat in the chair across from her.

"I've never seen so many antiques in one room."

"Oh, this is nothing," Thomas chuckled. "You should see some of the collection rooms. They're my father's favorites. But they aren't to my taste." He smiled, tilting his head. "Try the lemonade," he insisted. "We have incredible caterers. They can make the simplest thing into something to make you fall head over heels."

Anna nodded with a polite smile and took a delicate sip of her lemonade. It was good, but it wasn't anything to brag so intensely about. She looked up at Thomas.

He had the most beautiful eyes. The most beautiful hair. He was so handsome. And kind. He had such a big heart, such a charming personality. She couldn't believe her luck to have met him tonight.

"What do you think?" he asked her.

Anna's eyes brightened as she looked at him. The fact that he was giving her attention thrilled her to no end. She leaned forward in her seat and smiled so widely she thought her face would split in half. Her green eyes flashed a pretty shade of violet.

"I think I'm in love with you," she breathed.

Thomas' smile was slow this time. "That's right," he said. "So finish your lemonade, Lyra."

Anna put the glass to her lips and drained it.

()()()

The third floor was very quiet. Anna sat on the floor just inside one bedroom doorway, playing with the fringe of her dress, bouncy curls resting on her shoulders and back.

The quiet was only broken when light footsteps raced suddenly towards her. "What in the hell are you doing up here? I give you one job and you botch it?"

"Rowena, I met the most beautiful man. He was the one you told me about. And he has hair like midnight, eyes like the ocean. He's perfect. And he told me to wait here for me. He just has to entertain some party guests. You go on ahead without me."

Rowena stared at her for a moment before gritting her teeth and spitting, "Bollocks!"

Anna fought the hold on her arms all the way outside, but Rowena muttered a spell and she suddenly felt rather compliant, letting herself be guided along until they were both standing outside. "Why did we have to leave?" she demanded. "Thomas is going to wonder where I am. I promised I'd wait for him. I can't pass this up. He's the man of my dreams. A regular prince charming. I didn't know there were real people as perfect as him, you know."

Rowena hushed her all the way to the hotel across town, but Anna didn't stop talking all the way there. Every word out of her mouth was about the same person-- well, witch-- Thomas Burnes.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Rowena admitted after locking the hotel room door behind the two of them. She looked wrecked, but Anna couldn't think of a reason why. This had been such a good night. She'd met the boy of her dreams! "But I've got little choices left."

()()()

"She's what?" a voice crackled loudly over the speaker phone.

"Cursed," Rowena repeated patiently.

Several feet behind her, Anna sat on the edge of a soft mattress, her wrist handcuffed securely to the bedpost. "And how the fuck did that happen? No, wait. I got a better question. Why are you anywhere near Anna at all?"

"It's quite a long story, lads. I wouldn't want to bore you with the details. The point of it is that she's under a love spell of the likes only time can counter."

"A love spell?" Sam repeated. "Where are you guys?"

"Rapid City, South Dakota. And we've quite a serious problem if you could spare the time."

"Are you kidding me? You call and tell us our sister is cursed, you can bet we'll make the drive, Rowena. Now spill. What's the danger here?"

"Not much, really," Rowena stalled. "I've only stolen his most valuable bit of magic. And if I can't keep your sister away from him, he very well might kill us both to get his spell back. Not to mention, he's clearly quite fond of her if he cast the love spell to start... For all we know, it's Anna he's after."

"He promised he would come back for me. It's gonna take longer," Anna said reasonably from the bed. "But he'll find me anyway. We're in love, you know."

"Was that-?"

"Your sister," Rowena answered tiredly. "She's not quite herself as you can hear. I promise you, I'll straighten it all out, but I can hardly focus my mind on two tasks at one time and I've got an angry witch with wounded pride to worry about."

"I said we're on our way, Rowena. But that kid better be in one piece when we get there, or it's on your head."

Rowena let the threat go without mention. "How long will you be?"

"We're about five hours out," Sam replied. "Be careful."

"I won't pretend it's my safety you're worried for," she said and hung up the phone.

"I don't understand the big deal," Anna beamed. "I'm in love with Thomas. He's not gonna hurt us. Maybe if I ask him, he'll even share his spell with you. Then you don't have to take it from him. You know, I don't think you should have done that anyway. He trusts me, and I..."

Rowena's face concealed none of her annoyance, but Anna didn't care about that.

She cared about only one thing as her eyes welled with tears and flashed violet for a second. "I betrayed him." Her face quickly grew damp with tears as she hiccuped and sobbed.

Rowena simply sighed, and the breath seemed to reflect the weariness in all of her body. It was going to be a long five hours, that was for certain.

()()()

It took her nearly twenty minutes, but Anna managed to unlock the cuff and cover the sound with her sobbing. Once she'd slipped her hand free, she looked very cautiously up at Rowena, standing across the room with her back turned to Anna. It wasn't a perfect opportunity for escape, because making for the door would end with her caught, and the window wasn't open or even unlatched. She needed a better angle. She needed to have access to the door. She needed more time.

She didn't like her final choice, but it was the only way she could get out, the only way she could get to Thomas. She wouldn't do it for many people, but she would do it for the love of her life. Anna dashed for the door, still in her fancy, poofy dress. When Rowena realized what was happening and turned around to catch her, she delivered a powerful right hook, putting in all the strength she could muster. Rowena hit the ground and appeared to be out cold.

Anna smiled and hurried out the door.

()()()

She didn't stop running until she made it back to the soirée where she'd met her true love. It was upstairs that she found him. But Thomas looked angry, and she didn't know why.

"I found my way back," Anna told him, her face glowing with naive hope and affection. "She tried to keep me away, but I found you, because I just love you too much. I couldn't let her keep us apart."

"That's nice," Thomas said shortly. "But you lied to me anyway, didn't you, Lyra? If that's even your real name. You aren't a party guest. You're a witch, or working with one anyway. And you have something I want."

Anna shook her head. "No, I'm not with her anymore. I came to find you instead of staying with her. I wanted to prove to you how much you mean to me."

Thomas growled angrily at her as she put a hand on his arm. He shoved her backwards and watched her stumble, tripping over the hem of her own dress and falling in a heap on the floor. "I don't care how much I mean to you. I don't care to play games with little girls any more tonight. The most valuable thing I've ever laid eyes on has been stolen out from under me!"

Anna's eyes brimmed with tears and glowed violet. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I let you down. I- I-"

Thomas rolled his eyes in annoyance and straightened the jacket of his suit, still shimmering in the light. "These love spells," he pondered with a shake of his head. "I've tried countless varieties and they all go wrong. You're a sniveling mess. Why can't I convince you to fall in love with me without forfeiting your personality for the spell?"

"Aye," a new voice said from the doorway. "Magic is costly." Anna turned in that direction and saw red hair. The next words Rowena spoke weren't recognizable to her, so Anna just watched the lines of purple light that short across the room to hit Thomas in the chest. She screamed as he stumbled back, looking to be in pain.

He recovered with surprising speed, though, and was soon standing up straight again. "Nice try. But I have enough defense spells embedded in this house and my body to ward off attacks like that one for days without breaking a sweat."

"Don't hurt him anymore," Anna pleaded and struggled to her feet past the layers of her lavender dress. "Please." She moved backward toward Thomas and was startled when he grabbed her arm harshly and yanked her back against his chest with his arm around her neck. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up," was hissed into her ear. Then, to Rowena, "You have my spell, haven't you? My life's work. And I want it back. So give it to me, or I kill my little admirer here."

"I haven't got it with me."

"Well, then get it. We'll wait for you. Won't we, Princess?"

"I can't do that," Rowena said carefully.

Thomas' face filled with rage and he suddenly turned Anna around to face him. He spoke words in a language Anna didn't know, and her body filled with heat that seemed to roast her from the inside out. But her mind cleared suddenly and she fell to the floor, palms hitting carpet as she gasped.

"Careful with this one," Thomas was saying above her.

Anna was tempted to stand up and stab him in the throat. A love spell. What a creepy son of a bitch. She didn't have the strength to do more than breathe, though.

"It's a real time bomb." He tugged Anna to her feet and shoved her toward Rowena. "Kills the cursed in just 24 hours. I've seen it play out before. The poor sap who was killed suffered a rather painful death."

"It's a cruel-hearted man that would kill a child for a bit of magic."

Anna looked at Rowena with a combination of fear, frustration, and desperate hope. Rowena had done worse for less before. And even now, if she refused to hand over the spell, she would be sacrificing Anna's life for the same piece of magic Thomas was. There was so much hypocrisy in her words, it might have been laughable were the situation not so imminently threatening her death.

"Bring it to me," Thomas said, unwavering. "And I'll lift the spell."

()()()

"I can't believe you," Dean started, pacing a line in front of her.

Anna grimaced and tried to think of a way to defend herself and her choices. Jumping on board without asking two questions to help Rowena covet a healing spell from a powerful witch... the idea sounded less and less intelligent every time she thought about it.

"I mean, really? Rowena, of all people? What did you think was gonna happen?"

"I don't know. I mean, it sounded relatively simple. Flirt with boy. Get healing spell. Two step process, no backlash."

"It sounds more than simple, Anna. It sounds like a fantasy."

"Hindsight's 20/20."

"You really want to be throwing that around? Because foresight can get pretty damn close if you think for a minute before going through with something."

"Okay, point made," Anna exclaimed. "But can we make sure I don't die now?"

Dean glowered at her. "You're not gonna die."

"Okay, see, I'd love to believe you except I've been told that I'm dead at 11:30 tonight, so."

"Stow the sarcasm."

Anna rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Dear God," she grumbled to herself as she realized yet one more problem she needed to solve. At least this one was pretty straightforward, though. "I have to get out of this dress." She stole a clean sweater from Sam's duffel, found her pair of jeans from that morning, and went into the bathroom to change.

The high heels were the first things to go. Her feet were aching terribly as she stepped out of the bathroom, feeling at least slightly normal again for the first time in about twenty hours. She walked barefoot to stand beside Sam and was disgruntled when he looked at her with disapproval and just shook his head at her. She was beginning to realize that she wasn't going to get away with this one. But more importantly, she was beginning to feel rather shitty about the fact that she'd been stupid enough to agree to help Rowena in the first place.

"The spell's rather elementary, really. Difficult to break by any way but the obvious."

"Obvious?" Sam echoed.

"Killing the spell caster, of course," Rowena crooned.

"You know for sure that would work?"

"There's no guess work in magic, Samuel. Of course I know for sure."

"Okay, well, he doesn't know we're here, and we've got plenty of witch-killing bullets in the trunk," Dean said decidedly. He turned toward the door and snagged his jacket off the bedpost. "Should be easy enough."

"Woah woah woah woah!" Anna argued, grabbing Sam's shoulder to keep him from standing to follow Dean. "You can't just kill him. He's only twenty-one and he's never killed anybody before."

"No, but he's had loads of fun casting love spells on underage girls."

Ignoring the protective growl in Dean's voice, Anna made a face. "He didn't know I was seventeen."

"Look, Rugrat, I don't take pleasure in killing anything, okay? But even if he's never killed anyone before, we've got a countdown clock that says he's in the process of killing you. With that in mind, I'm not about to wait to see a corpse before I cap him."

"Dean's right," Sam agreed and stood up. "But only if there's not another way to break the spell." He looked at Rowena. "And we all know there's another way to break it."

"I could search for a counter spell," Rowena offered, stalling. "But it would take more time than she's got."

"That isn't what I meant, Rowena. And you know it." Rowena stayed silent, staring at the spell book she held open in her lap rather than looking up to meet Sam's eyes. "Thomas said he would lift the spell if you give him back whatever you took from him. It's nothing dangerous. It's just a healing spell. So we give it back."

"There's no need," Rowena pointed out. "Not when you could kill him."

Anna tried her best not to gawk at her, but it was difficult. She hadn't realized just how skewed Rowena's priorities were until this moment. She would really prefer to take a life and keep her spell rather than see things end peacefully. Sure, it meant taking a loss and going home empty-handed, but at least it meant everybody would go home. That was the most important thing. Every time. If Rowena couldn't see that, she might be on the same level as Thomas Burnes.

"Don't look at me that way," Rowena said to her, voice surprisingly soft. Her eyes grew dewy and Anna's expression went from disgusted shock to confused sympathy. "You haven't any idea what I need the spell for. Or why I can't give it up now I've got it." She looked from Anna to Dean to Sam and back at Anna. "I've been killed before, Darling," she said mockingly. Her voice went loud and suddenly angry as she shouted, "It'll happen again. It's only a matter of time!" She shook her head as if trying to deny the inevitability of her own mortality. She held the spell book to her chest as if it were the spell she'd stolen and didn't want to let go of. "Without Burnes's spell I've no way to protect myself. You lot, you've got each other and an arsenal. I've got only myself and my magic."

For a long moment, the room was silent. Each Winchester's face expressed a different amount of sympathy for Rowena.

Finally, Anna said, "You don't have to." Rowena tilted her head in question. "You don't have to have just yourself and your magic. If you look out for other people, they look out for you. I came with you this morning, didn't I?" The words earned her a sharp look from both her brothers at the same time, likely because they were in agreement on the fact that her joining Rowena this morning had been one of her worst decisions, especially considering it had nearly cost her her life. "I just mean looking out for number one all the time is a vicious cycle."

It took another long moment, but Rowena set down the spell book she'd been holding. "I don't know what it is about you," she told Anna. "But I can't bear the thought of killing you."

For a second, Anna wasn't sure whether she should take that as a compliment or what. But she quickly decided it wasn't important. Rowena dug the spell out of a book she'd close it in and held out for all of them to see. It looked like a simple piece of paper. It could just as easily have been a recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Funny how such an innocent slip of paper could hold so much power, both literal and metaphorical.

"If he refuses to lift the spell when you give it to him, we'll be close," Sam promised. "Either way, the spell is broken."

Anna swallowed hard, feeling strangely at peace despite the devastation on Rowena's face and the seriousness in both her brothers' gazes. She'd been at the center of this, but she felt like she was the one who would be least affected in the fallout.

()()()

As she and Sam carried their duffels out the car, Anna walked with a lightness to her step. "Think that's the only case I've ever heard of where nobody got killed."

"There's still time," Sam reminded her. "And Dean's pretty pissed at you."

"You make a good point," Anna admitted, suddenly looking and feeling a lot less cheerful and weightless. She and Sam each deposited a duffel in the trunk and turned to head back to the lobby for more, but only Sam made it past Dean who was walking toward the car with a bag. His free hand shot out to snatch Anna's arm and haul her back toward the car with him. She didn't dare make any sort of argument, knowing that she didn't have the excuse of fearing for her life this time were she to be called out for backtalk.

Dean dropped the bag in the trunk and then dragged her around to the front of the car where they both leaned against the hood. Several yards in front of them, the early morning traffic rushed by with the whir of tires, growl of engines, and occasional yelp of a car horn being honked.

"I'm gonna spend the whole eight hour ride home listing all the reasons what you did was stupid," Dean promised calmly. Anna looked over at him with a combination of dread and surprise in her eyes. He didn't sound pissed right now. "Because if we hadn't been five hours out, you could be dead right now."

Instead of speaking, Anna let that sink in. She looked at sky, at the traffic rushing by, at her brother. What if she'd died at 11:30 last night?

"But I'm gonna let you spend a few minutes thinkin' about something else before we take off," Dean said, looking just the slightest bit smug.

"What?" Anna asked.

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about finding Cas and cleaning up his mess now, huh?"

Anna squeezed her eyes shut and tossed her head back as she realized just how completely full circle these last few days had come. Her life could fall cosmically into place sometimes, and it always felt like an anvil hitting her in the gut, because it always left her drowning in guilt and embarrassment over her own naivety. She could hardly believe she'd been so pissed at Cas for making a bad choice and taking a risk. She'd done the same a few too many times in the past 24 hours.

She'd thought, the other day, that she'd been able to see Dean's point about giving people second chances. She'd thought she understood that people make mistakes and you've got to be willing to pull them out of trouble sometimes or everyone ends up worse off. But she could never have understood then like she did now. Grateful for the lesson even as it filled her with shame for the way she'd felt a couple days ago, Anna dug through her pocket until she found a pen.

On the back of her hand, in blue ink, she wrote make the choice, give the chance.

La Fin