Down the Rabbit Hole

Tougher Than the Rest

Soundtrack:
Toto – Rosanna
Elton John – Bennie and the Jets
Embrace – Ashes

Lacey picked up her book and headed down the hall to the staircase. She was staying at the Institute for a few days while the adults were away at a political conference. All the older X-men had gone with them so she was "babysitting" the newer recruits. As she descended the stairs she stopped short of slipping on a patch of ice on the lower steps. Shaking her head she headed for the kitchen, where the sounds of chatter could be heard.
"Bobby! Clean up your ice!" She told him as she entered, heading for the kitchen counter, where all the breakfast items were laid out. She grabbed a pastry before turning to survey the room. Bobby had disappeared but the others were still sat round the table.
"I'm going out to read by the pool, you guys need anything?" There was a resounding chorus in dissent. "Ok, cool. If you wouldn't mind cleaning up the breakfast stuff when you're done, and preferably not you know kill each other." Lacey smiled at them as they all began to laugh but a few of them looked around, shiftily. With a final nod Lacey headed out the back door and picked a lounge chair by the pool to relax on. She picked up her book and leafed through it before putting it down again with a sigh. She'd hoped the book would distract her but no such luck. She let out another sigh before closing her eyes and drifting away. When she opened them again she was standing on a suburban street. She glanced around taking in her surroundings before she heard a familiar voice. She turned around to find Sam and Dean walking towards her. Dean was grinning happily and motioned her to come over.
"Hey, Lacey's here, let's get her opinion on your artistry." Dean chuckled. He held up a notebook and showed Lacey one of the pages.
"Uhhh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was done by a six year old." Lacey frowned at the drawing that was barely more detailed than a stick figure. Dean began to laugh again.
"Drawn by a six year old." He managed to gasp out before Sam grabbed the notebook from him.
"Yeah, like you could have done any better. So what did the Doc have to say about Kyle's brothers?"
"Not much, they were D.O.A at the scene. He did give me the lowdown on the coroners report."
"Lemme guess, their hearts were missing?"
"Nope." Sam looked surprised. "But chunks of their kidneys, lungs and intestines."
"That's just gross." Lacey pulled a face in agreement with Sam.
"Yeah. Also definitely not werewolf behaviour."
"So, what? Demon? Attacker could have been possessed." Sam suggested.
"Why would a demon stop half way through an attack?"
"I think that...could've... Yeah, I got nothing."
"Me either."
"Sounds like a mystery to me." Lacey smiled as they continued walking down the road.
"Yeah, you wanna help solve it, Nancy Drew?" Dean asked, smirking at her.
"I'll do my best."

They got a call a short while later and headed to the hospital, where another strange case had come in. As they arrived the Doctor was just coming out of the patients room.
"Detectives."
"Doctor Garrison." Dean nodded.
"What the hell is going on here? My whole town is going insane."
"We'll let you know as soon as we do." Sam told him. The Doctor nodded before continuing on his rounds. They headed into the room to talk to the patient.
"Miss Watson? Hi. We just need to ask you a few questions." Dean told her, flashing his bagde.
"Do we have to go over this again? Now?" She asked looking pained.
"We'll try to be brief. Miss Watson, can you tell us how you got away?"
"I didn't eat as much as Ken did, so I wasn't as out of it. And when the old woman was... carving up Ken." She shuddered, holding back tears. "I shoved her and she fell. Cracked her head on the stove. She's dead, right? I killed her?"
"Do you have any idea why she'd do this to you?" Dean asked.
"No. One minute she was a sweet old lady and the next, she was like a monster."
"Can you remember anything else?"
"Yeah. Did you find a little girl there, by any chance?"
"A little girl? At the house?" Sam looked confused.
"I thought I saw her outside the window. She just disappeared. Just vanished into thin air." She looked between the two of them, knowing it sounded crazy. "It must have been the drugs."
"This disappearing girl, what did she look like?" Dean asked.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes. Every detail matters."
"She had this dark, dark hair and really pale skin. She was around eight. She was a beautiful child. It was odd to see her in the middle of something so horrible."