Ketch Me if You Can

Chapter 30

The ice-cold wind ran its fingers through my hair and over my already chilled skin. There was a deep quiet over the group as we walked. I was sure no one wanted to break it, because if we did, then we'd have to talk about what happened. It was thick and tense, completely void of happiness. The crackle of leaves under our feet echoing through the dead forest was the only sound.

Elly stared at her feet as we continued to walk, her face and hair covered in dirt and drying blood. She'd slung the baseball bat over her shoulder, tense for any other attacks that may come. Her face had gone blank after the tunnel, and she'd avoided my gaze like it was the plague. I couldn't imagine the feelings that ran through her mind. She had known. From the moment we'd gone through the rift, she had known he was going to...what was going to happen in that tunnel. I couldn't begin to understand how hard it had been for her to keep it quiet and not disrupt fate more than she already had. It wasn't fair to her.

"D...Dean?" Maggie spoke the first sound in several hours. "I'm sorry about your friend."

A sting of pain wound itself through my heart and I turned to watch Dean look at her. I was afraid he was going to snap at her, say something he wouldn't mean. But his dead, dark eyes only stared at her, and his jaw stayed tight and locked. He turned back around and continued to walk like she'd said nothing at all. She shrunk back and looked small, dejected.

"He was our brother." I whispered as I passed her, "Keep moving, he'll be like that for a while."

"We're almost there," Elly muttered, sniffling. She still didn't look up from her feet as shifted the pack on her shoulders.

I looked ahead, past Dean as he led our melancholy pack. I started to see wooden boards nailed to trees with different wardings painted onto them. They all looked like standard angel wardings, save for the few I had never seen before. Most likely stronger variants.

"We must be close," Maggie called from behind me, "Or on the outskirts at least."

"I can't...I can't walk any further." Cas said, his voice strained as he tried to move against the magic forcefield. "Their wardings are strong."

Gabe, after watching his brother struggle for a moment, silently walked over to one of the boards, studied it, and ran his angel blade down the center. When that did nothing, he placed his hand against the board. The symbol began to glow red and burn against the board until it was a smoldering black. Cas sighed, stumbling forward as the magic released its hold on him.

There were mere seconds to rejoice before there was movement all around us. People sprang from bushes and from behind trees, all with guns loaded and aimed at our heads. Dean had his own shotgun up and aimed for the nearest before anyone else could react.

"We're not here to fight!" Cas said. I watched the angel, his arms now up in surrender, "We're looking for..." His words trailed off as another figure came over a small hill. A soft easiness filled my chest and Dean's gunlowered. "Mary."

"Castiel?" My mother's sweet voice asked. She took a few steps towards Cas, her soft green eyes filled with confusion and wonder before she spotted us. It was seconds before Dean was in her arms, wrapped in a tight hug. I stood silent, waiting my turn. "How did you find us?"

I was pulled into her arms next. I may have held some animosity towards her when I was a child, growing up not knowing her until she was already dead was hard. And then when she had just appeared back in our lives again last year, things had been strained and difficult. But we had pulled through it and had become stronger for it. And now, I relished in the feeling of her arms wrapped so tightly around me, like a toddler and their security blanket.

I tried not to cry as she held me. I didn't want to cry anymore, I had done enough of that while we walked here. But it felt like such a lifetime since I had seen her. Since I had seen my mother. And she looked well like she had somehow come out of everything she'd been through without a scratch. She'd even managed to keep her hair in those perfect curls she liked so much.