December 20th, 2019
Foghills, Arkansas

"Jacky, wake up, kid," Ash hissed, shaking him without any sense of finesse.

"Huh? What?" Jack mumbled back, having just managed to fall into a dreamless sleep despite the horrible sick feeling still lingering inside his body. It had been two days since Charley and Piper left, and so far they'd caught more of a trail than Will had.

"You have to help me out with something."

"With what?" Jack groggily sat up and closed his eyes tightly until the room stopped spinning around him.

"We have to run an errand for Lee." Ash grabbed Jack's duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Let's go."

Jack obediently followed, falling into the same routine he had a thousand times before. With his eyes half closed, he shoved his feet into his shoes, grabbed his heavy coat, and whistled lowly for Keala. He stumbled quietly after his older brother, waiting to ask any questions until they were in the confines of Ash's beat up old car.

"What are we doing? It's not even midnight." He yawned, leaning his head back against the seat and trying to forget about the way his entire body ached.

"Running an errand for Lee," Ash responded, as if the answer was obvious. He pulled out onto the dark road, sighing when they'd made it clear of the house without Will or Marley waking up.

"Yeah, you said that. Why are you being so sketch about it?"

Ash shrugged, glancing in the rearview mirror every so often. "If someone's watching the house, I don't want anyone knowing that we left Marley alone with Will."

"Bullshit. Will's the best shot we know, probably even better than Piper. She's safe with him. What's the real reason, idiot?" Jack winced as he tried to move around to get comfortable.

"Lee was supposed to make a pick up, but she called me ten minutes ago saying she was up to her ears in madness back at the compound. Someone's spreading the word about a half-breed, so witches are flocking to the Lockwood's for safety," Ash responded vaguely, pushing in one of his favorite Rush tapes and turning the volume up as the song, Tom Sawyer, played loudly through the speakers.

"Why do you need my help?" Jack stifled a groan as he fervently wished for the pounding in his head to cease, and the screaming guitars were doing nothing to help his situation.

"Because I don't feel like going alone, and I'm just used to you being my sidekick, man." Ash smirked as he reached over to ruffle Jack's thick black curls.

Jack rolled his eyes, digging through his pockets for his tin of joints. There were only two and a half left, so he took the half-smoked Marijuana cigarette and placed it between his lips, lighting it before Ash even had a chance to yell at him. "Fine, but this isn't going to take three days, is it?"

Ash laughed wryly. "No. Come on, dude, do you have to smoke that in the car?"

Jack easily ignored his older brother's complaint and took another hit off the joint. "Is this gonna be one of those stupid things Piper warned us not to do?"

Ash lifted his shoulders into a half-assed shrug. "Probably. Lee wouldn't have called me if she thought it was an easy thing she could do. Girls, man."

"If you're not going to tell me what we're doing, at least tell me where we're going." Jack narrowed his sharp eyes, staring at his brother's profile.

"Alright, alright, calm your tits, Smokey. We're going to Green River."

"Wait a minute," Jack growled, letting his brother's words sink in. "Isn't that the place where you got nabbed for dealing drugs? Ash! We still have a warrant out for our arrest in that entire county!"

"Calm down, kid. We're gonna be in and out quick. You'll see," Ash assured, absently scratching at an old, peeling, bandage wrapped around his arm.

"I'm pretty sure you said that same thing the day we ended up running from the cops for two weeks." Jack took another couple of hits off his joint and blew the smoke in Ash's direction spitefully.

"Hey, you gotta admit, it was kinda fun. Never really thought Dad's paranoid survival training would ever come in handy before that." He laughed, his voice laced with amusement.

Jack shook his head, putting out the joint and stuffing his tin back into his pocket. "You're just lucky that our faces didn't end up plastered all over the 6:00 news," he grumbled back, resigning himself to the adventure ahead. Whatever Ash had planned, it wasn't anything good.

The anxiety-ridden drive to Green River didn't take nearly as long as it felt to Jack. Where they'd only been in the car for about two hours, he felt like he'd been trapped for at least double that. Ash's phone call with Lee must've been somethin' else, 'cause he hadn't been in such a good mood since the day they'd found Kit. He spent the entire drive singing along with whatever mixed tape of his favorite hits he decided to shove into the player and blast at the highest volume he could stand.

"This is it?" Jack muttered when they pulled the car up alongside an abandoned ranger station just off the Old State Highway.

"What were you expecting?" Ash jumped out of the car, while Jack slowly looked around first before following his brother cautiously. Instead of darting off into the shadows like she was prone to do, Keala stayed right at his side, a low growl brewing in her throat.

"I dunno." Jack's nerves were wound tightly as he waited for something to jump out of the dark and attack them.

Ash rolled his eyes at his jumpiness. "You know you can stay in the car, Shirley," he teased, walking up to the building like he didn't have a care in the world. "Yo, Taz! You here, man?" His sudden shouting startled Jack into jumping noticeably.

"That wasn't funny," he complained when booming laughter erupted from the menace at his side. Keala's growl intensified into a warning bark as she moved to stand between the two of them.

"Alright, alright, call off your mutt." Ash took two large steps away from the pissed off dog before she could make him her new chew toy.

"Calm down, girl." Jack softly pressed two fingers against the fur beneath her left ear. Keala whimpered, gazing up at him with questioning eyes, her stance remaining stiff, but she stopped growling and barking. "Good girl," he praised, reaching into his pocket for one of the biscuits he usually had on hand. The dog took it savagely, careful not to bite him, happily munching on the treat, while Ash and Jack focused on the locked door in front of them.

"He never just knocks," a gruff voice growled, and yanked the door open wide. A big tank-looking guy stood in front of them wearing a nasty glare on his hard face.

"Let them in, Taz," a calm, feminine, voice instructed from behind the man. Taz stepped to the side easily, allowing them to move further into the dank, dusty, building.

Ash's steely gaze immediately found the girl standing behind a thick wooden desk stacked high with meticulously packed bricks filled with Marijuana and Cocaine. "Arizona," he greeted coolly, "I thought you were out."

The girl shrugged, her flashy, clear-blue eyes glowing with one-sided humor. "A girl's gotta make a living." She shrugged, brushing long, straight, strands of glossy brown hair behind her ears.

"You promised me you were done with the drugs the last time I took the rap for you." Ash took three threatening steps forward before the giant, Taz, blocked his way.

Arizona tilted her head thoughtfully. "The way I remember it, I promised to try to live a normal life with Rowan and his kids. And I did, until I turned eighteen and couldn't do normal anymore."

For the first time since they entered the building, Jack's eyes moved from the drugs and the giant guy, to the girl behind him, Arizona, and he almost screamed. Biting his tongue, he clenched his fists and tried to control his racing heart. His eyes narrowed dangerously, and he couldn't take his gaze off the creatures flanking the girl.

Ash's eyes flashed with rage. "We had a fucking deal, kid. Fuck, if it weren't for your goddamn bodyguard, I'd wring your scrawny little-"

"Ash, stop." Jack grabbed his brother's arm when he tried to move passed Taz, fear seeping through his voice as his stare remained fixed to the creatures only he seemed able to see.

"What?" Ash turned on him. "Whoa, Jack, what's wrong, man?" The anger immediately drained from his voice, replaced with hard-edged concern.

"I think they're reapers." He spoke just loud enough for his brother to almost hear him.

"They're what? What the hell are you talking about?"

Arizona's shimmering eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. "You can see them?" Surprise coated her every word.

Jack's eyes never left the floating black thing that stayed close to the girl, and the glowing ghoulish ghost next to it. "Yes." He shuddered.

"They won't hurt you," Arizona said quickly. "Don't kill them."

Jack shook his head, watching as the creatures looked back at him with nearly identical interest. "I won't." He wasn't even sure he knew how. "Who are you?"

The girl straightened at the question, her mask snapping back into its place across her face as Taz moved to stand beside her. "Arizona Paxton," she answered brazenly. "I've never met anyone else who can see ghosts before. You have one attached to you too, ya know?"

"Who, Dick? You can see him?" Jack glanced around, but he didn't see any sign of the ghost.

Arizona nodded solemnly. "I can see ghosts whether they want me to or not. I can talk to them too, but that took me years to figure out." She spoke about communicating with the spirits like it was a natural thing for her.

"Fucking freaks," Ash muttered under his breath, earning a sharp glare from the other three people in the room. Holding up his hands in surrender, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I meant weird– no. No, I meant freaks."

"You're just pissed 'cause I'm making it big time in the drug game." Arizona smiled sweetly.

"Stop taunting him, babe. He's got weapons on him." Taz wrapped the smaller girl under his arm and shot a warning glare in Ash's direction.

"Listen to your friend, Ari. Just give me what I came for." Hostility dripped from Ash's voice.

Arizona flashed him a sultry grin. "But I've just now gotten to meet your friend. You're not planning on sticking around so we can become besties?"

"Ari, stop being a bitch," the ghoulish-looking creature spoke up, the harsh words tainted with obvious amusement.

"Awe, you take the fun out of everything, Sterling." Arizona looked over her shoulder at the creatures only she and Jack could see. Or hear, apparently. Turning back to Ash, the girl rolled her eyes, a scowl crossing her perfectly made up features. "Fine, Lee's shipment is all packed up next to you and ready to go. Tell her my suppliers are getting antsy with all this talk about half-breeds, so that might be the last we get in of the Cocaine for a while."

Ash crouched down and slung two of the duffel bags over one shoulder and another two over the other, leaving the last four for Taz to grab and load into the car, while Jack stayed and talked to Arizona. "You're not a witch, are you?" he asked, watching fondly as Keala explored their new environment eagerly.

Arizona laughed. "Not even slightly. I'm a freak, but I'm not that creepy." The mirth disappeared from her face almost as quickly as it had appeared, and she shot him a look full of questions. "I thought Ghost Talkers were all but extinct?"

"Ghost Talkers?"

"Us." Arizona rolled her eyes at his incompetence.

"Oh. Right. I was told we're very rare, yeah. But I've met people who can sense them, or even see them before," Jack responded, a bud of hope blossoming in the pit of his stomach. Maybe there were more out there like him than he thought.

She scowled at him. "Those people aren't like us, Jack. Sure, they might be able to see a little or hear a little, but you and me are different. We're special."

"How do you know?" Jack asked slowly, trying to figure out what Arizona had discovered that he hadn't.

She shrugged casually as though her answer made no difference. "I just know. We can communicate with the spirit world, like fully communicate, with them. I've met a lot of people and I've never met anyone else like you."

"You're a half-breed, aren't you?" Jack guessed. The way she talked was like she was something different, something like Marley or him.

Arizona blanched at his question. "W-w-why would you a-a-ask th-that?" she stuttered, keeping her gaze focused on Jack as big booming laughter sounded outside the old ranger station.

Jack smirked at her telltale reaction. "I've never seen a reaper so attached to a soul before."

Arizona blushed a deep scarlet. "It's not my fault. He's my bodyguard and she's my sister." Before Jack could even open his mouth to ask a single question she cursed under her breath and swiftly moved directly in front of him. "Yes, okay. My dad is a hot-headed reaper that wasn't following the rules."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Half-reaper?" he whispered. "I've never even heard of that before..."

She grinned, but it was bitter. "No one has. There aren't many of us."

"I'm not a half-breed."

Arizona laughed, her eyes softening. "No, you're not. But for some reason, you can see what other people can't."

Jack shrugged. "I'm used to it-"

"Let's go, Jacky." Ash slammed through the doors with Taz right behind him.

"But I'm not done," Jack started, quickly snapping his mouth shut when he caught sight of the fire burning in his brother's gaze.

"You're done. We have to get this shit out to Lee ASAP."

"Wait, Ash," Arizona muttered, an apologetic expression crossing her features for the first time since they'd walked through the door. "I'm sorry I couldn't get out for good."

Ash shook his head, rubbing his hands across his face before leveling the girl with a serious glare. "No, you're not. Don't give me that bullshit, Ari. I spent a year in county for you, I took a fucking bullet in the shoulder for you, and you couldn't bother getting some bullshit job at a fast food joint like a normal fucking eighteen-year-old?" He sounded angrier than Jack had heard in a while.

Arizona's cheeks were ablaze and she looked appropriately scolded as she hesitantly met his gaze. "I know and I'm sorry. It's just, I tried to be normal," she insisted, the look on her face pleading with him to understand her.

"Whatever, kid. I just don't want to see you end up dead. I made your brother a promise that I wouldn't let anything bad happen."

Arizona snickered, her eyes glowing with amusement that Jack didn't understand. "You fulfilled that promise two years ago, Ash. I went to high school, I had friends and family, and birthdays. I had everything you wanted me to have. Now, Taz and I, are back to doing what we were meant to do. Some people are just good at doing bad shit." She shrugged absently.

Ash chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "You're somethin', Ari. If you were anyone else, I'd kill ya."

Taz, of all people, laughed heartily at that. "I think I've said that about once a week for at least three years."

Arizona scowled and smacked the guy's shoulder at her side. "But you can't kill me. Not inside the Green Mile anyway."

"The Green Mile?" Jack asked. "The book?"

Arizona laughed, while Ash only scowled with his arms crossed and an irritated expression adorning his features. "No. It's this stretch of road, hidden from anyone without one of these." She pulled a chain out from under her shirt with a familiar silver medallion hanging from the end of it. Ash had the exact same one hidden beneath his layers of clothing.

Jack looked up at his older brother and smirked. "Lee can get you to do pretty much anything, can't she?" He gestured to the symbol of black magic hanging around his brother's neck.

Ash glowered at him, but didn't respond. "The Green Mile is used for illegal transactions for the Lockwood compound. Selling dime bags and shit on the road is a good way to make money."

"Marley and Will can't find out about this crap. Or we'll never hear the end of it."

Ash grunted in acknowledgement. "That's why I brought you. Look, I'm sorry, Ari, but we gotta get going."

Arizona hardly batted an eyelash. "I know. But, hey, Jack, you're welcome around any time. Just, um..." her voice faltered a little, "don't tell anyone about what we talked about."

"Sure. No problem." Pulling out a piece of crumbled paper from his pocket and a pencil from behind his ear, Jack scribbled his phone number down and handed it to her. "Call us if you guys ever need an exterminator. Or anything."

Arizona stuffed the paper into her pocket. "I'm sure we'll see ya'll around. After all, we're the only drugstore for monsters." She grinned, taking the wads of cash Ash handed over to her and counting it in front of them. "Pleasure doing business with you, boys."

"Jack." The ghoul appeared in front of him, making both him and Arizona jump at the suddenness. "Please, be careful. The real monsters are out there. Alive and breathing."

Jack stared at the ghoul incredulously. "The real monsters?"

She nodded earnestly. "They want you dead, kid." She disappeared again, reappearing where she'd been before like nothing had ever happened, as Taz and Ash shot each other identical bewildered looks.

"Well, shit," Jack muttered under his breath, while uncontrollable chills spread throughout his body.

"Jacky. Come on." Ash did some handshake with Taz before shooting Arizona one last pleading look. "If you're gonna do this shit, fine. But at least be a little more careful. And if anything happens, don't go to Lee's, go to Kit's house."

Arizona nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, okay. Anything goes down, we'll get out to Foghills as soon as we can." Her response sounded sincere, but Ash only eyed her skeptically before turning to leave.

"Tell your brother to stop placing bets he can't win," he shot over his shoulder, nudging Jack forward, while Keala trotted alongside them. "Keep that one in line, Taz."

"You got it, bro." Taz smirked, amusement clear in his eyes.

Jack didn't say a word to his brother until they were back in the Blazer driving down the long, lonely, stretch of road, known as the Green Mile. "How do you know those people?" He cut his eyes in Ash's direction to see if he would lie or not.

"Met 'em on a job I did a few years back. A rogue reaper was killing folks that weren't supposed to die." Ash stiffened, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"She's the reason you were in prison?" Jack had never thought the charges brought against him had been just, but he never would've believed the truth if it hadn't stared him right in the face.

"Only part of it. She's really not a bad kid, just a little misguided."

"A little?" He scoffed, shaking his head and glancing surreptitiously at the duffel bags in the back seat filled with drugs. "She sells monster-grade drugs. I'm pretty sure she's long passed misguided."

Ash let out a bark of laughter, his eyes shining a little, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Yeah, alright. You got me there. Honestly, I'm just glad the kid's alive. Rowan called me a few months ago saying she'd gone off and disappeared on him. But I couldn't go search her out, 'cause she attracts monsters like shit to flies." His voice held a hint of the guilt he'd felt, though it was faint.

"She's strange," Jack muttered, thinking back on the encounter.

"Yeah, wait until you really talk to her. She always reminded me of you. Now I know why." Ash turned the volume on the radio up to drown out anymore talking. He was anxious to get to the compound to meet Lee, and Jack had a feeling it had more to do with fear than longing. Witches and monsters were haunting the place, and they were about to just waltz right in like nothing was wrong. But at least they had a sixteen and a half hour drive ahead of them to really think it through.

They were definitely gonna be gone at least three days. Jack moved around to get more comfortable, settling himself in for the long drive.