Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine - The Truth

The attic was exactly how they'd expected it to be. Dark, slightly humid, covered in cobwebs and decades of junk, trinkets, furniture and artwork.
"So, I guess this is your first mystery." Velma thought aloud. "So, Sam, if you could keep those giant, line-backer shoulders from knocking over any clues, that would be great."
"Why do you keep talking about my shoulders?" Sam frowned.
"Hey, batta-batta." Eden muttered, unable to hide the amused smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Oh, I, uh..." Velma turned her head to hide her blush, pulling at her orange turtleneck with a nervous giggle before walking off further into the room.
"Is that a girl thing or something?" Sam whispered, leaning into Eden.
"Not exclusively." She shrugged. "You just have... Very nice shoulders. Lots of fun to cling onto in times of great... Peril."
"You're hilarious." The Winchester said monotonously.
"Oh, I know." She hummed, walking off in the direction Velma had taken.
Sam looked around the room with his flashlight, the beam catching on a mannequin. He yelped, staggering back, ending up falling over onto the floor.
"Maybe that was the ghost." Velma commented as both girls reached out a hand to help him up.
"Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this," Sam started, getting a warning look off his love. "But, ghosts are real. My brother, Eden and I; we hunt them. Along with Werewolves and Vampires and Demons and- we've saved the world. A lot."
"It's true. We do." Eden shrugged.
Velma stared at them blankly for a few moments before breaking out into a chuckle.
"Look, Sam, Eden, the simple fact is, monsters are nothing more than crooks in masks. Usually unscrupulous real estate developers." She replied, walking off.
"One, there are way better real estate scammers." Sam started, following her. "And two-"
"Hey, look! A clue!" Velma pointed out in front of her.
In her flashlight beam, there was a toy chest entirely untouched by dust, with a black goo dripping out of it and pooling on the floor.
"That's strange." All three uttered.
"Huh, I guess we all noticed that these toys are the only thing not covered in dust." Velma observed.
"Actually, I was noticing this." Sam replied as he and Eden knelt down in front of the chest. Both dipped their fingers in the black goo. "Ectoplasm, right?"
Eden dabbed her tongue on the tip of her goo-covered finger.
"Yep. Ectoplasm." She scrunched up her nose, dangling her tongue out of her open mouth in disgust.
"It gets left behind by ghosts." The Winchester informed the newbie.
"Oh, stop already." Velma placed her hand on her hip to accompany her frown. "You can't really believe in ghosts."
Just as she finished her sentence, purple sparks coated the toys, lifting them out of the chest. The trio had to quickly duck as the toys flew at them, crashing into the wall a few feet behind them before continuing to fly around the room.
They broke into a run towards the door.
"Told ya." Sam commented.
"It's not a- it's probably just Christmas lights and fishing wire!" Velma retorted, getting clobbered by a teddy bear.
"Let's maybe not find out if you're wrong." Eden replied, opening the door for them, closing it the second they were all out as a few wooden bricks flew at her head.

As the trio walked down the corridor back towards the stairs, Fred, Daphne and Dean came running towards them.
"Oh, this must be that bit where we all run into different rooms in one corridor and appear out of a door we definitely didn't enter through just for cartoon comedic value." Eden nodded to herself.
"Maybe less explaining, more running." Sam grabbed her hand as the ghost floated down the corridor at them behind Castiel, Shaggy and Scooby.
Comedic value, it most certainly was. Eden could practically hear the Scooby-Doo theme tune playing in her mind as she vacated one room into another, somehow getting separated from everyone as both she and they continued to run the impossible circuit.
The ghost went into one room and, from out of nowhere, the Scooby Gang had planks of wood, hammers and nails, quickly blocking the door before it could exit again - obviously forgetting that it had not long walked through several walls and doors.
The gang separated, blocking off the rest of the doors.
Dean took the time to check Daphne out as she worked, his eyes widening when the ghost appeared through the blocked off door behind her. He grabbed her hand, leading the charge down the corridor as the entire group made a b-line for literally anywhere else.
The older brother planted on his brakes when the ghost floated towards them in the direction they were going, swiftly changing their running direction.
They hid in five tall vases conveniently placed by the wall down the hall; Castiel in one, Fred and Shaggy in another, Daphne and Dean had theirs, Scooby and Velma in the tallest one and Sam and Eden in the last one.
Dean leaned in to kiss Daphne, but she screamed as the ghost roared behind them.
The group disappeared in a cloud of dust.
Somehow, they'd all manged to separate again, only to crash into each other like a set of bowling pins into a heap on the corridor floor.
"This is, hands down, the stupidest thing I have ever been a part of." Eden glared into nothingness, drumming her unamused fingers on the floor as she held her head in her other hand.