The Search for John Winchester

14) Nightmare

Percy was woken up by Sam shaking Dean awake. He had been having a good dream — something that didn't happen often — and it was ruined.

"Dean," Sam said, shaking him until he knew he was awake. "Dean."

"What are you doing man, it's the middle of the night," Dean rubbed his eyes, watching Sam start grabbing his things. He raised himself on his elbows, and Percy made an annoyed grumbling sound.

"We have to go," Sam said simply.

Dean, now alert, but not alarmed, asked, "What's happening?"

"We have to go. Right now," Sam grabbed his bag and walked out of the room.

Percy and Dean shared a look, and as his boyfriend climbed out of the bed, Percy made another annoyed grumble, before quickly following.

***

"McReady," Sam talked into a phone, reading from a Michigan State Police ID as Dean drove. "Detective McReady. Badge number 158. I've got a signal 480 in progress, I need the registered owner of a two door sedan, Michigan license player Mary-Frank-six-zero-three-seven. Yeah ok, just hurry."

"Sammy relax," Dean said. "I'm sure it's just a nightmare."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sam huffed.

"I mean it," Dean frowned. "Y'know, a normal, everyday, naked-in-class, nightmare. This license plate, it won't check out. You'll see."

"It felt different Dean. Real. Like when I dreamt about our old house. And Jessica."

"Yeah, that makes sense. You're dreaming about our house, your girlfriend. This guy in your dream, you ever seen him before?"

"No."

"No," Dean nodded. "Exactly. Why would you have premonitions about some random dude in Michigan."

"I don't know," Sam said quietly.

"Me neither."

"Yes I'm here," Sam said into the phone, getting somewhere with the people on the other end of the line. He listened for a long moment, glared at Dean, then picked up his pen. "Jim Miller. Saginaw, Michigan. You have a street address? Got it. Thanks." He hung up the phone. "Checks out. How far are we?"

"From Saginaw? Coupla hours."

"Drive faster."

Percy just groaned and stretched out across the back seat, hoping that when he fell back asleep, he'd go right back to that good dream he was having.

***

Percy's luck was shit. Always had been. Instead of falling back into that awesome dream — it had dolphins, ice-skates, and seven Sonic drinks, not necessarily in that order — he fell into a dream about the manticore. He'd never liked the manticore, but he might have been a bit biased in that matter. When Percy was fourteen, he'd saved two demigods — Bianca and Nico di Angelo — from the manticore. Of course, saving them had cost him Annabeth tackling the monster off of a cliff, so it was kind of a bittersweet memory. He then went and spent a week of terror attempting to save Annabeth and the goddess Artemis, and the manticore was the cause of a lot of that terror.

He figured he had a right to be biased.

The slowing of the Impala is what woke Percy up, and when he lifted his head, still a little delirious from his sleep, he emergency vehicles and someone on a stretcher being zipped into a body bag. Percy realized after a long moment of confused thought, this must have been Jim Miller's home, the man from Sam's dream.