TINTED ▷ Sam Winchester [1]

13 | DEVIL'S BARGAIN

    "Because it's crazy, okay? And it's not gonna happen. How many times do I have to say that this is a horrible idea?"

    "About as many times as I have to say, "Okay, then what else we got?""

    I sigh heavily and rub a hand across my forehead. For the past few days, I've listened to Sam and Dean arguing back and forth about what to do about Amara. Sam is still hanging on to the idea of going to the Lucifer's cage in hell to ask him, which Dean thinks is a terrible idea. And I'm afraid I agree.

    "Listen, I'm all ears," Sam says. "Dean, ordinarily, I'd agree with you, but the visions only happen when I reach out to God. I asked him for a way to beat the Darkness and the visions got more specific. And I was in the Cage."

    "Yeah, with Lucifer," Dean points out. "The biggest monster ever hatched. Fan-friggin-tastic."

    "You know what? Lucifer was the biggest monster ever hatched until you and I hatched one that's even worse," Sam says. Dean doesn't say anything.

    "Listen, in the vision, Lucifer... touches me," Sam says. I take my hand from my face and an expression of disgust crosses my face. "And I feel calm. Like things will be alright. And that's not something I would ever come up with. I mean, that is the last thing I would ever think."

    "Yeah, if Lucifer touched you, it would be the last thing you'd think," Dean says, closing his laptop. "Ever."

    Dean gets up from the table, turning around with an empty glass in his hand, going to fill it across the room.

    "Why would God even ask this of you?" Dean ponders. "And you know what? What proof do we have that any of this is actually real?"

    "There was a burning bush," Sam says after a moments pause.

    "A burning bush," Dean repeats.

    "Like in the Bible," Sam tells him. I furrow my eyebrows. If this didn't seem fishy before, it definitely does now.

    Dean considers this for a moment. "You were in a forest. There are bushes there. And sometimes they burn!" I almost smile at this. But, wrong time.

    The boys don't say anything for a moment. Dean sits back down in the chair across from Sam. "So what's Bailey's opinion on the whole 'sending my brother back to the cage' deal?" Dean asks, taking a sip of whatever alcoholic beverage is in the glass.

    "I think it's a bad idea," I admit.

    "Bailey—" Sam begins, ready to defend himself.

    I hold a hand up. "Like I told you before, I don't think these visions are from God." Dean looks surprised at this. He looks back and forth between me and Sam.

    "You don't," he says, more like a statement. "Well, I'll bite, who do you think it is, then?"

    "Lucifer," I reply instantly. I didn't know before, but I've done some thinking, put the pieces together and that's who I've come up with.

    Both of the boys turn to me with shocked expressions. "Lucifer?" Sam repeats, disbelief.

    "Mmm-hmm," I nod.

    "Why would you think they're from Lucifer?" Dean wonders.

    "Well, God hasn't showed up for millions of years so I don't think he would really care about this," I began. "And Lucifer's an angel so he would have been able to hear when you prayed," I say, looking at Sam. "Maybe he's sending you these visions, pretending to be God, to get you to go back to the cage."