Marked (Supernatural) [Rogue Trilogy] {2}

19. Charlie

19. Charlie

"You know, if you want to do something productive, helping us would work," says Dean. I'm whistling in the bunker library, scrolling through my phone.

"Who said that I wasn't?" I retort, scrunching my legs closer to my body in the chair. That's a lie; I'm refreshing my messages in hopes that Cas talks to me. Since our incident in my bedroom, he's kind of gone radio silent. He'll talk to my brothers, though. My nose wrinkles at the smell of that green smoothie Dean offered me and Sam earlier. "I agree with you, Dean. I can't wait till that mark is off either. That smoothie smells."

"But you gotta admit the omelet was good," says Sam, who (like normal) is surfing the Internet.

I nod. "I will give him that."

"What the hell?"

"Cain or Crowley?" asks Dean.

"Charlie."

"Um, who's Charlie?" I ask, rising from my chair to hover over Sam's shoulder.

"Friend of ours."

"Is she back from Oz?" Dean asks Sam. Oz? As in...? I guess with what we've gone through, it's not entirely impossible for Oz to exist. "She didn't call?"

"Yeah, uh...She's been busy."

"What the hell are we looking at?" I ask. Dean's beside me, and the three of us are watching video footage. I see a flash of red hair—which I assume is their friend, Charlie.

"So, you know, I was looking into the news, checking for anything weird, right? I found this story about a torture vic. Apparently, some kid videotaped this at his next-door neighbor's house."

"What are you saying, Charlie tortured someone? Our Charlie? Yea high, wouldn't hurt a Hobbit, practically sparkles?" Dean takes action, pulling out his phone. "Come on, Charlie, pick up."

"The guy she went all Jack Bauer on—uh, Peter Harper."

"She's not answering."

"District attorney in Topeka. According to this article, he wasn't the only person in town that was hit. Uh, a court stenographer was assaulted the night before."

"Well, you know, Charlie wouldn't go off on someone without a reason."

"Yeah, I wouldn't think so either, but look at the video."

"Are you sure you guys know her well?" I butt in.

"Trust us, Jo, we know her," says Dean. "But you know what we do, taken out of context, it doesn't look that much different. She could be hunting. Why don't we talk to this asshat and see what's going on?"

* * *

My brothers and I go as FBI to Peter Harper's house. I get some details I didn't know before. Like, Charlie's parents got into an accident, and one of her parents was pronounced brain-dead at the scene. After wearing Peter down, he gives us a name—instead of Charlie roughing him up, Dean scares the life of God into him. From Peter, we get a name: Councilwoman Barbara Cordry. Before we leave, Peter also slips us Charlie's social work file.

I'm the one to look over the contents as Dean drives us to Barbara Cordry's house. Charlie's real name is Celeste. Sounds like a pretty name, unusual.