Down the Rabbit Hole

Dark Horizons Part 1

A few days later they took a break from hunting and did something fun, as Dean had promised. The three of them were walking down a sunny street filled with shops and boutiques. Well.... It was fun for Lacey anyway. Although the boys didn't mind too much as she was usually in and out of a store within five minutes. Lacey smiled happily and linked arms with Dean, her other arm weighed down with the purchases she had already made.
"Having fun, sweetheart?" Dean asked, kissing her on top of the head.
"Obviously." Lacey smiled "You know, we can stop and find a bar in a bit if you want." Dean smiled back at her.
"It's like you read my mind." Lacey rolled her eyes playfully.
"Excuse me?" The three of them turned to see and older man with white-grey hair, wearing an old fashioned suit, hurrying towards them. "Excuse me, are you Miss McNulty?" Lacey frowned.
"Yes, I am."
"Miss Lacey McNulty?" He clarified.
"Yeah... do I know you?" She asked.
"It's me Miss, Claybourne, your Father's valet." Lacey blinked at him for a moment.
"My Father...?" She looked at Sam and Dean for help but they just shrugged. "I'm sorry I...I don't really remember..."
"You've been missing for fourteen years. But I'd know you anywhere, you look so much like your Mother when she was younger." He smiled at her happily. Lacey continued to stare at him, her mind reeling. "Your parents will be so happy to learn that you are safe."
"No." The words left Lacey's mouth almost involuntarily. "I mean... I don't... I need time to process this." Lacey stuttered. Dean put an arm around her.
"Why don't we give her some time, she's just in shock."
"Oh yes, well, of course. Here." He handed Dean a card. "Please do call when you are ready to set something up." He looked at Lacey one last time before heading off.
"You ok, Lace?" Sam asked.
"Yeah... I just have a headache. Do you think we could go back to the motel for a bit?"
"Sure." Dean nodded and took her arm again and leading her over to where they had parked the Impala. As they drove back to the motel Dean glanced in the rear view mirror to where Lacey was sat in the back seat. She was frowning and rubbing her forehead. A short while later they pulled up to the motel and got out of the car. As they headed for their room there was a bang behind them. Sam and Dean spun around. Lacey had dropped her shopping bags on the floor and was clutching her head. In a flash Dean was by her side, holding her up.
"Lacey, what's up?" He asked worriedly.
"I don't know... my head..." Sam picked the bags up from the floor as Dean ushered her inside. As they passed through the door Lacey's legs gave way and Dean caught her. He picked her up and laid her on one of the beds.
"Lace? Lace!" He put a hand on her cheek. Lacey groaned in pain but opened her eyes again.
"P....Professor." She managed to mutter. She raised her arm, the effort showing on her face, and a portal shimmered to life at the foot of the bed. She collapsed back on to the bed. Dean and Sam exchanged a look.
"I guess we're going through there."
"I guess so." Sam nodded. Dean picked Lacey up off the bed and cradled her in his arms. Sam took a step forward and through the portal, into the blackness, followed by Dean. As soon as they took another step Lacey lost consciousness and the portal closed behind them. As they stepped through the other side they found themselves in a dark office, the only light coming from a fire in the open grate. A man in a wheel chair sat in front of it, reading the book that was open in his lap. He turned and smiled at them. His smile turned to a frown as he spotted the unconscious Lacey in Deans arms.
"Professor?" Sam asked in awe.
"Yes. You must be Sam and Dean. Lacey told me all about you. Why don't you put her down on the couch and tell me what happened." He answered calmly, with an air of authority. Dean moved forward and gently placed Lacey on the sofa.
"We don't really know what happened. She said she had a headache, next minute she's collapsing, only thing she managed to do was open a portal here before she blacked out." Dean told him. The Professor wheeled forward and placed a hand on Lacey's forehead. He closed his eyes in concentration. A few minutes passed before the Professor opened his eyes. He removed his hand from Lacey's forehead and sat back in his chair, his fingers steepled as he mulled over the information.
"Can you tell me what happened before she got this headache?"
"Some guy who knows her family came up to us in the street. She seemed pretty freaked out." The Professor nodded in understanding.
"That would explain things. As you know among her many powers, Lacey is a telepath. Now, when she arrived here last year we set up some mental blocks within her mind, to stop her from constantly hearing others thoughts and to prevent other telepaths from getting into her mind without permission. This is something Lacey has to maintain at all times in the back of her mind. It seems to me that the sudden shock of hearing about her family caused her to lower those mental blocks and this left her mind vulnerable to outside attacks." Sam and Dean listened to the Professors explanation intently. "Generally speaking this should not have caused such a severe reaction, but Lacey has become a person of interest over the last year, and I believe this is why she was attacked. Have either of you heard of an entity called the Shadow King?" Dean looked at Sam expectantly but he just shrugged. "The Shadow King is a creature we have faced before. He no longer has a human form and is trapped on the astral plane, however he can reach out telepathically and I believe that is what has occurred. He must have been monitoring Lacey, seen an opportunity and taken it."
"So what do we do?" Dean asked.
"I believe I can remove the hold the Shadow King has on Lacey's mind. But bringing her back is another matter, she has disappeared into the far reaches of her mind as a form of defence. The Shadow King was feeding off of her psychic energy, forcing her mind into different scenarios and feeding off the potential energy. It is going to take a lot to pull her out of those creations. We may need your help." Sam nodded.
"Whatever we can do." A moment later there was a knock on the door and a young woman with red hair entered carrying what looked like a helmet.
"Sam, Dean, this is Jean Grey, one of my students. She is also a telepath and is going to help us fight off the Shadow King." Jean smiled at the two of them and handed the helmet to the Professor. "Please take a seat." The Professor indicated two chairs beside the sofa. He put the helmet on. "I am going to link up with Cerebro and attempt to banish the Shadow King back to the astral plane. While I am doing this, Jean will link your mind to Lacey's. You need to find her inside her mind and stop whatever scenarios from playing out the way the Shadow King has devised." The Professor instructed. Sam and Dean sat down in the chairs he had indicated. The Professor activated Cerebro and closed his eyes, concentrating on Lacey. Jean stepped forward.
"I'm going to link your mind to Lacey. Focus on her and you should have no problem finding her." Jean closed her eyes and raised her hands to her temples. Sam and Dean exchanged a look before closing their eyes too. Moments passed and nothing seemed to happen. Dean began to get impatient and opened an eye, only to find he was no longer in the Professors office. Instead he found himself stood in a cavernous entrance hall, dark wood panelling covered the walls and twin staircases led up to a second level. Dean nudged Sam who was standing next to him, his eyes still closed.
"Dude." Sam opened his eyes and blinked at his surroundings.
"Where are we?"
"No clue. Well we're inside Lacey's mind but I have no clue where this is supposed to be.." Dean trailed off as the sound of giggling could be heard in the distance, followed by footsteps. Dean glanced up to see a small girl with long blonde hair looking down at them from the stairwell. She smiled and came to stand at the top of the staircase nearest them.
"Hello boys." She swished her blue and white dress around playfully before descending the stairs. It took Dean a moment to realise this was a younger version of Lacey.
"Hey kid." He nodded as she reached the bottom. "Do you know where we are?"
"Of course silly, this is my house."
"You live here?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Well I did, until I fell down the rabbit hole." She added. "Did the Professor send you?"
"Yeah, he did."
"Okay. The Shadow King trapped me, well parts of me, all over my mind, I think you need to find them and help them." She explained. Sam stared at the little girl in surprise. It was strange hearing things like that coming from the mouth of a child.
"Well, lead the way then." The little girl smiled and took hold of each of their hands. She lead them through one of the archways between the stair cases and into a brightly lit kitchen.
"This is it." She pointed at a white door in the corner of the room.
"What is that?" Sam asked.
"Well normally it's the freezer. But today it's the door way to find the next part of me. Go on through. I'll wait here for you." She jumped up and sat on the edge of the counter, legs swinging back and forth.
"Okay, here goes nothing." Dean muttered as he opened the door. The two of them stepped through and found themselves in the icy cold of the freezer. Dean curled his lip as he came face to face with a carcass hanging from a hook in the ceiling. He pushed it aside and the two of them continued to the back of the freezer, swinging meat out of the way as they went. A second later Deans foot hit soft ground and they found themselves on a lawn outside a pair of large gates. The air felt a lot warmer than it had been in the freezer. Dean looked around. On the other side of the gates a gravel drive led up to a large red brick house, which could well have been the one they were in moments ago. The house was lit up in the darkness. Suddenly there was the noise of a car approaching. Dean pushed Sam back behind one of the stone columns between the railings as the cars headlights passed over where they had been standing and came to a halt. The driver, a young woman with long black hair got out and stood beside the car, smoking a cigarette. There was a rustle of leaves and Dean squinted into the night, trying to find the source of the sound. A moment later a head appeared over the top of the wall, the person scrambled over the top and jumped down the other side. As they straightened up under the street light, Dean realised it was Lacey. She was younger than when they had first met but older than the little girl they had seen. She looked to be in her late teens. She was wearing a black strappy top, leopard print shorts, a denim jacket and black high heel boots with dark make up all around her eyes.
"Hey Danni, Thanks for coming to get me." She smiled and hugged the dark haired girl.
"What were you grounded for this time?" She asked as she took another puff on her cigarette.
"Threw my brother's phone out of the window." Lacey sounded kind of proud.
"Ha! I bet he deserved it." Danni smirked, "So do you want to go to Em's or swing by the dance?" She asked.
"Let's go to the dance, I heard Joey Ramsden and his friends are gonna be there." Danni nodded.
"Sounds good." She stubbed out her cigarette and the two climbed into the car.
"What do we do?" Dean asked as the car roared to life and rock music began to blast from inside. A moment later though his question was answered as the world shifted and they found themselves standing in a school parking lot just as Danni's car pulled up.
"Okay, weird." Sam said as he adjusted to his new surroundings.
"I suppose we just go wherever Lacey does." Dean shrugged. They watched as the two girls got out of the car and followed them towards the entrance, keeping a safe distance. Once the girls had disappeared inside they ducked through the doors and found themselves in the gymnasium. The place had been decorated for the dance and the whole room was crowded with teenagers.
"Where did they go?" Sam asked over the loud music. Dean pointed to a corner where Lacey and Danni were standing, talking to a group of girls. Lacey waved to someone across the room and Dean followed her gaze to a guy in a leather jacket leant up against the wall who nodded in return. Dean pointed him out to Sam.
"I'm guessing that's who we have to keep her away from, go check him out, see if you can work out what we're dealing with." Sam nodded and disappeared into the crowd. Dean watched from the side lines as Sam made his way over and subtly poured some holy water into the cup the guy was drinking from. As the guy took a sip his face scrunched up in pain, and for a moment his eyes flashed black. Suddenly Dean noticed Lacey heading across the dance floor towards the demon. Dean took a chance and cut across the room to intercept her. He grabbed her by the hand and spun her around before pulling her in to dance with him. She stared at him surprised.
"Hi." Was all she managed to get out at first.
"Hey." He replied.
"Do I know you?" She frowned.
"Not yet, but I couldn't let the night pass without dancing with the prettiest girl in the room." She blushed at that. "I'm Dean." He told her.
"I'm Lacey. Well it's nice to meet you Dean, but aren't you a little old for high school?"
"Maybe a little." He shrugged.
"How much is a little?"
"Let's just say I left high school a little over a decade ago."
"So you're thirty?" She looked at him sceptically.
"There abouts."
"Good." He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Why is that good?"
"Well for one thing my friends over there," she nodded at the group of girls, "will be more jealous the older you are. Oh and two if I ever have to give your description to the police, the more facts I know the better." Dean's eyes widened but he carried on dancing.
"So you think I'm trouble?" She smirked at him.
"A girl can dream." They carried on dancing for a minute before Dean changed the subject.
"That guy over there you were waving at?"
"Who, Joey?" She looked at him quizzically.
"Yeah, Joey. He's bad news, you should stay away from him."
"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yes. Most definitely."
"So what am I going to do instead?"
"You could go for a drink with me." Dean Suggested.
"I could.... but I wouldn't get served." She told him.
"How old are you?" He asked.
"18."
"Good." He leant forward and kissed her. When he pulled away she stared at him, surprised. "Still wanna stick around with Joey?"
"I suppose not, but seeing as you can't buy me a drink, you can buy me a burger instead." Dean smirked.
"My kind of girl."
"Let me just tell Danni I'm going." She said.
"I'll wait in the hall for you." Dean replied. She nodded and headed over to her friends. Dean signalled to Sam to head for the door.
"Did it work?" Sam asked as they headed out of the gym and down the hallway.
"Yeah, she's gonna meet us here." Dean replied. It was a few minutes before they heard the shout. Dean rounded the corner and found Joey trying to drag Lacey out of a side door. He had hold of her arm while she struggled to get away.
"Let go of me!" She yelled and kicked at his leg. He let go of her just as Sam and Dean reached them. Dean punched him in the face, sending him reeling. He grabbed hold of him as Sam began the Latin exorcism. A minute later the demon smoked out. Lacey stared in shock.
"What the hell?"
"That was a demon." Dean told her.
"A what?"
"We should go, in case there are more." Sam told them. Dean nodded and the three of them headed for the door. When they stepped through they were back in the kitchen. The younger version of Lacey was still sat there waiting for them.
"You did it." She smiled at them.
"That's it?" Dean looked around expecting the other version of Lacey to reappear.
"Yes. You saved me. Well, that version of me. Now it's time to move on to the next." She jumped down from the counter and took hold of their hands again. This time they headed back into the foyer and took the right hand archway under the stairs. She led them across a lavishly furnished living room and through a gym to another door.
"This is the pool. If you're lucky you'll see it." She smiled at them.
"I better not end up in the pool." Dean said as he opened the door.....

Soundtrack:
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
Bif Naked – Chotee
Billy Idol – Dancing with myself
Cheyenne Kimball – One original thing