March 11th, 2020
Hollis, Washington

Jack woke up early the next morning, earlier than anyone else because Marley shook his shoulders. After his eyes fluttered open, she nodded at the door where Keala was waiting patiently. Slowly, he stumbled off the couch, trying not to wake Will or Ash. It wasn't often they stopped at hotels while they were on the road, so he figured he'd let his brothers sleep for as long as they possibly could.

He followed Marley outside, to stand in the cold morning as the sun was just beginning to rise. "What's up?" he whispered, watching Keala carefully make her way through the parking lot and toward a cluster of trees on the other side.

"What's up?" she repeated. "You tell me. I don't see you for a month, and then you show up all cold and serious and... different. What the hell happened?"

"I... don't know," he answered truthfully. "A lot of shit."

"That's specific." Marley shot him a look that made his blood run cold. "Did you go dark?"

"What? No! I mean... I don't think so. I kinda don't remember a lot of the last couple weeks. Pulled a job in Texas, and then I woke up in some field in Nebraska."

"So, you maybe went dark?" Marley crossed her arms, completely ignoring the icy cold wind that blew around them. "That's not reassuring. And Ash thought I was the one to worry about."

"I'm not gonna hurt anyone. I promise. Just..."

"Did Ash take you back to Golden Meadow?" she asked concern bleeding into her voice for the first time since she dragged him out of bed.

Jack grinned. "Emmaline made a house call." A lightbulb seemed to go off in Marley's head.

"That's why she showed up all freaked out. Will made me go away, but I eavesdropped anyway. Not that it did me any good. She didn't really tell him anything, except that she never wanted to work with us ever again. Ya know, except him."

"Oh, yeah. That. I think I scared her. But I wasn't trying to or anything. She said she felt the coldness inside me."

"Freaked me out too. I don't know what's going on with you. But I really don't like it..."

"You think this has something to do with me dying and coming back to life." Jack didn't like the look of distrust that gleamed in her dark eyes. They were supposed to stick together and have each other's backs. So, why did it feel like she was afraid of him just like Emmaline?

"That's exactly what I think. You were sent back by a reaper, Jack. You're practically destined to go dark at some point."

Jack laughed unintentionally. "Actually the psychics say I'm destined to die again before this thing's over. So, everyone's got their version of the story."

"Goddamn, Jack." Marley's gaze softened. "This is getting too real. I can feel the power getting stronger. I'm scared, and I need you to be here for me. You've gotta keep me from hurting people. So fight it."

"I am," he promised. "I think-"

"Hey, what're you two doing out here? It's cold as fucking balls." Ash opened the door and stuck his head out.

"We didn't want to bother you and Will," Jack responded, following his older brother back into their hotel room.

"We're up now. So, where do you guys wanna go? We can meet up with Sophia on the bleeder thing. Or we can go to Foghills. Or we can pick up a new job. I got texts about three potential ones, and at least two of them are paying."

Marley fell onto Ash's unmade bed, while inside the bathroom, the shower turned on. "You're gonna let me go with you?" she asked, surprise written across her delicate features. "I don't have to go back to a safehouse?"

Ash smirked, but there wasn't a lot of happiness behind it. "No. We're already traveling with this walking time bomb. What's another one?"

Jack wanted to be offended, but he just shrugged. "I guess that's fair. Did you guys sleep okay?"

"Did you?" Ash moved around the hotel room, throwing all his stuff back into his duffel and digging through his backpack for some energy bars. He passed one to both of them before ripping open the packaging and stuffing it into his mouth.

Jack just smiled softly. "Sure, it wasn't too bad."

"There weren't any ghosts?" Marley asked, surprise staining her features. "You haven't been using your dream catcher this whole trip."

"Oh. Huh. I haven't even thought about that thing in weeks. Well, I mean, there are always ghosts. But they don't try to show me how they died anymore. Most of them are too scared. They only tell me things that are important. Things that I can change."

"Somehow, that's not very comforting to me." Ash and Marley exchanged a significant glance that Jack tried to ignore as the water shut off in the bathroom.

"It's the truth. Would you rather me lie to you?"

"Definitely not. Keep the truths coming, no matter how inconvenient. Speaking of which, Mars, how are you doing? Nobody's been tailing us or anything, but keep up the spellwork."

Marley blushed. "You know about that?"

"Yeah. Not hard to guess what you're doing when you disappear as soon as we get somewhere new. Like I said, keep it up." He paused for a few minutes before speaking up again as Will finally joined them. "You never answered my question. Where to next?"

"Easy." Will dried his hair with his towel before tossing it over onto the bathroom floor. Ash shot him a dirty look and he went back to pick it up. "We're going home. We haven't been back for months, and if we're gonna all end up at this big showdown anyway, I want to see Mom again."

Marley and Jack both looked over at Ash, waiting for his response. "Yeah, alright," he actually gave in. "But if we run into any monsters on the way, I'm going to stop and kill them."

"Deal. In fact, I heard about something in Wyoming, if you wanna head that direction. Sounded pretty witchy. We can maybe even see Yellowstone if we have the time."

Marley's whole face lit up. "Ooh, can we, Ash? Please?"

"Sure. As long as I get to waste a witch, I'm cool with whatever."

"Awesome!" Marley had all her stuff packed in under a minute. "We should leave now, 'cause we got about ten hours to drive."

"Yeah, okay. Can I drive?" Will asked while the four of them did one last sweep of the room before they left.

"Hell no." Ash grabbed the keys from the table by the door. "I'm driving. We don't need to deal with the cops when you get into a car accident."

"Seriously. When was the last time that happened?"

"The last time you drove," Ash and Jack responded in unison.

Will rolled his eyes. "Fine." The last one out, he closed the door, while Jack whistled for Keala.

They rolled into Jackson, Wyoming around four thirty that evening, and Jack pulled into a diner parking lot. His stomach growled loudly, while Will, Marley, and Keala jumped out immediately. Before Jack could open his door, Ash dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"If you start feeling... ya know, just tell me. We'll get ya outta here. I don't want you-"

"Going dark." He couldn't stop the bitterness from seeping into his voice. "I'm not gonna let that happen."

"You don't know that. You could snap at any second."

"Yeah, sure. I'll let you know."

Ash raised his eyebrows. "Good. 'Cause I'll rent a motel room and stick you in it until all the evil things in this town are dead." He was serious, Jack knew he was, so he just agreed to ease his brother's mind.

"I get it."

"Good. Let's get inside and eat as much food as we possibly can. And then some more. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Jack laughed. "Yeah, me too." As they entered the diner, he grabbed a local newspaper, following Ash to the table where Marley and Will were already seated.

"Will said there are bison and a giant Geiser in Yellowstone. And other cool things. I'm so excited." Marley practically squealed, bouncing on her seat, while Jack spread out the newspaper on the table, looking through local articles, and a waitress came up to the table.

"Hello, what can I get you all to drink?" She was young, with dark red hair and thick, black-rimmed glasses. They all put in their drink orders and she smiled flirtily at Ash. "You guys new in town?" she asked conversationally as she wrote down all their orders.

Marley grinned up at her. "Just passing through on our road trip. It's a sibling thing."

The waitress grinned. "Well, have fun. I'll go get these drinks for ya. Let me know if you have any questions about the menu or anything."

"Thanks!" When she was gone, Marley started telling them all the things she wanted to do when they had a day off and could spend some time in the national park. Jack was only half listening as he scanned through a few pages until he found an article that sounded like a job.

"So, who's hiring?" Will asked right before the waitress came back with a tray of their drinks. Waters with lemons for all of them.

After the waitress left again, Ash leaned in over the table to speak quieter just to them. "Guy named, Ralph Thimms is sitting in the county jail 'cause he gutted his wife. Swears up and down it wasn't him. Says he came home and found her dead inside the locked house, not even any windows were open. Ralph's sister is friends with an Exterminator I know who asked if I'd go talk to her. I called her when we stopped for lunch in Missoula. I'm supposed to meet her in the park a few blocks from here in an hour." Ash glanced over his menu for about two minutes before he laid it down.

"This article says Mrs. Thimms had a brother who died six months ago. Could be a revenge thing." Jack folded the paper up and set it aside as the waitress came back to take all their orders.

"In that case, no wonder the sister reached out," Will muttered. "She's probably really scared."

After that, Marley brought up more things she hoped to experience when they had the chance, and conversation switched to everything each of them wanted to do before their road trip together ended.

The four of them sat in the diner talking and laughing until it was time to go meet up with Ralph Thimms' sister. Instead of driving over there, Jack clipped on Keala's leash and collar, and they all walked the couple of blocks to the park, pretending like the world wasn't about to see monster attacks like never before. The closer they got to the Equinox, the more power Jack felt radiating inside of him.

"See that picnic area?" Ash pointed to the edge of the park near a cluster of trees. "I'm gonna sit over there. You guys can come and wait with me or do whatever."

"It's nice out, I'll set up on the one about ten yards to the left. Haru and I have been working on a project together the last few weeks." Will patted his laptop bag, which was slung over his shoulder.

"I'll come with you," Marley offered, skipping alongside Ash, her long dark braids floating out behind her. "So, will Jack." He smiled at her following them as Will veered to the left.

Marley chattered at Ash and Jack for almost five minutes, mostly about their time out in Summerland, and what she thought of the other Exterminators, before a woman walking her big German Shepherd headed straight for their table. She sat down without saying anything for a long time, as she scrutinized them.

"Ash Slayer?"

"Yep. You're Ralph Thimms' sister?" Ash sat forward, pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders as a bitter cold wind blew around them.

"Yes. Maggie Masters." She held her hand out across the dirty picnic table toward them. "Thank you for coming out... But no offense, what the hell can you do for my brother that the lawyers haven't already tried?"

"Can you tell us what happened first?" Jack asked calmly. He quickly added, "I'm Jack. This is Marley."

"Oh, uhm nice to meet you... I guess." She took a deep shuddering breath as her big German Shepherd laid down right beside Keala. "I got a call from my brother a couple weeks ago. He said he and Justine were having some problems. But that didn't mean he could kill her. No way. He was driving home from work when she died. No one believes me, though. My family and friends think I'm delusional, and the cops think I must be involved. My husband has even talked about taking the kids away for a couple weeks." Maggie set her elbows on top of the table and rested her chin in her hands. She had straight blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail and her light brown eyes filled with tears. "Seems like I'm losing my whole damn family, piece by piece."

Jack settled his hand on top of hers comfortingly. "We'll figure out what happened. The truth."

Teardrops spilled down the woman's cheeks and she tightened the bright purple scarf around her neck and adjusted her wire-framed glasses. "Thank you." But she sounded guarded, like she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Can you take us to your brother's house so we can have a look around?" Ash asked, sounding as professional as he always did when they visited a client at the start of a new job.

Maggie shook her head, brushing stray strands of hair out of her face. "I-I'm sorry. I – all that – all that blood... I c-can't go back there again. But here. Here's my key. You might want to wait 'til after dark, when the patrol car leaves."

"Thanks. We'll let you know what we find. Call us if you need something." Ash stood up and motioned for Marley and Jack to follow him.

"Okay. Just be careful. There's something evil inside that house." Fear flashed in her eyes, but it was gone in just a few seconds.

"We'll be fine. We always are," Marley chirped, skipping toward Will, and pouncing on him when she got close enough.

They spent the next couple of hours finding a cheap motel room in town to set up and filling their stomachs, before they ended up outside the former home of Ralph and Justine Thimms. There were a few lights already on in the house, which made Jack feel a lot less paranoid than he did just using flashlights to look around.

"Find anything that points to a witch?" Ash whispered, even though they'd all searched the place from top to bottom and no one else was there except for them.

"Nothing," Will answered as he, Ash, and Marley all entered the living room where Jack had been standing practically the entire time they'd been in the house. Almost forty minutes.

"Jacky, you good, man?" Ash grumbled. He'd been all for Jack staying in one place while they were splitting up to do the search, but there was unmistakable nervousness in his voice. "Jack?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. But you guys should probably leave for a few minutes. This isn't a witch thing. It's a ghost thing."

Ash grabbed Jack's arm and started dragging him toward the exit. "We're all leaving. Now."

"No. You should leave me. Unless you want to see what's about to happen. This house is filled with them." Jack could feel the power surging through him, but he tried to control it while his siblings were around. Ash had already seen it, but Will and Marley hadn't, and he didn't want the way they viewed him to change. Ash had always kinda known what an oddity he was, but the other two looked at him with wonder and awe, at least Marley did, and he wanted it to always be that way.

"Maybe we should let him do his thing, Ash." Will started to inch his way to the doorway. "Maybe it'd be better if we just waited outside-"

"Go. If you want. I'm staying right here."

"Let's go, Marley." Will motioned for the door, and Marley reluctantly followed him, glancing back every few seconds until Jack heard the door slam closed.

"You can't be serious. We talked about this shit." Ash's voice was gruff, but there was a little pleading edge to it. "We should leave. We can get rid of the ghosts. Just Marley, Will, and me."

"No. Sorry." Ash tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, but Jack flicked his arm and his brother went flying across the room. He opened his mouth to apologize, but the temperature around them dropped as half a dozen ghosts entered the room all at once.

"We've been waiting for you," one of the ghosts stepped forward as Ash stumbled to his feet, pulling a knife from his belt.

"Wait, Ash. Stop." But he kept stalking forward anyway until one of the other ghosts flung him backward again. "What do you mean?" He directed the question at the ghost talking to him.

"We've been waiting for you, Jacky. We have a message."

"What?"

"You only have a few more days to finish what you started. The boss is protecting you, but he can't do it forever."

"What does that mean? I haven't even started anything," Jack denied silently, as Ash painstakingly dragged himself to his feet again. "Let me talk to Death."

The ghost in front of him wore an old pair of work coveralls and dirty work boots. He laughed, his black eyes gleaming. "Ha! Talk to Death? That's a good one, kid. If it weren't for him, we could tear you apart right now. Why would we help you?"

"Because I can leave you all here, send you to hell, or free your spirits. You choose." Jack didn't know if he could actually do it, but he sure as hell could bluff.

"You're lying..." one of the other ghosts spoke up, and the room seemed to grow even colder.

"Want to test that? Come here," Jack commanded and a ghost from the back darted forward, standing in front of him against its will. "How long have you lived here?" He gestured around at the large old house situated on the end of the block.

The ghost, a girl who couldn't have been older than fourteen or fifteen, stared up at him with her black eyes wide as she glanced back at the ghost he'd been talking to.

"Hey! Don't look at him. Look at me and answer." Jack felt the iciness flowing through his veins as he tapped into the power in his soul, taking over. He could almost feel his eyes turning black.

"I died in 1983. He killed me." She pointed at the other ghost. "Arthur Watkins. He killed us all. He-" The girl disappeared from sight, while the other spirits seemed to get uneasy and anxious.

"You know us ghosts, Jacky. Always lying." Arthur Watkins smiled a slimy smile.

"I think not. Go to hell, you sonofabitch." Jack just had to think of sending the ghost to hell, it came easier to him than it ever had before. Arthur Watkins screamed as he disappeared into the ground, leaving a black scorch mark that only Jack was able to see.

He heard Ash groan, leaning against the wall and holding his stomach. "Jacky, you gotta take control of that shit, man. Don't let it own you," he hissed through gritted teeth.

Jack heard his brother's voice and it actually penetrated the haze in his mind. "I have everything under control," he heard himself say, his voice sounding like three instead of one, once again.

"What are you gonna do to us?" The girl was back again, her presence seeming to stir up the ghosts even more. "Please, take mercy on us. We've been trapped here for so long. We just want peace." For a second, Jack thought he saw her eyes flash light brown like they must've been before her death.

"Don't worry. Everything will be okay," he said out loud and both Ash and the ghosts seemed to understand him.

He had no idea what the hell he was going to do, so he did the only thing he could think of. "Sterling Paxton!" he shouted in his head, trying to summon her to him, even though he had no clue if it would work or not. He only had to wait a few moments to know for sure.

"This better be good, Slayer," she snarled, appearing before his eyes.

"Holy shit!" Ash muttered, and it took a second for Jack to realize he could see her too. "Sterling?" She ignored him, her attention focused solely on Jack.

"Where's your reaper? I need his help."

Sterling shrugged. "Not far. What do you need? Wait, never mind. I can feel them all." She glanced around and he knew she was seeing the same thing he was. Not a single sound passed her lips, but the reaper appeared in just a second. He didn't even need to be told what was going on.

"Alright, everyone. Come with me." One by one he took the souls wherever the good ones went.

Jack glanced over and Ash's eyes were wide, and behind him, he heard Marley suck in a deep, sharp, breath. "Jack?" She stood frozen in the doorway an awed expression on her face.

Death took the last soul, the woman in the photos displayed around the house, before he and Sterling appeared in front of Jack again. "Anything else you need?" She sounded bored and a little annoyed.

"No. But thank you."

Sterling seemed to smirk a little bit. "You're going to die in place of my sister. I'll do whatever you want."

"Uh... Yeah, thanks, I guess," he responded right before Sterling and her reaper disappeared together.

"Uhm... Jacky?" He heard Ash's voice, but there was something different about it that Jack couldn't quite put his finger on. "Is that you in there?" Slowly, Ash reached for his hip and drew his gun. He pointed it straight at Jack as he started to walk toward his big brother.

"It's always been me," he responded, and in the back of his mind, he recognized that there were several voices coming out of his mouth all at once. He continued to stalk forward as he tried his best to contain the power flowing rampantly through him.

"Jack, stop..." Ash warned as he inched closer. "I'm serious, man. I don't wanna shoot you."

"I'm fine, I swear. Just..."

"Jack, no!" Marley screamed when he was close enough to reach out and grab Ash. She quickly whispered a spell that sent him flying backward into a wall across the room, knocking off family photos, which shattered as soon as they hit the ground.

Jack crumpled into an unmoving pile, groaning a few seconds later. He sat up, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. "Jeez, Mars..." His voice came out sounding perfectly normal. "What the hell was that?"

Marley moved in front of Ash, who pushed himself away from the wall and winced. "Is he... Jack again?" She glanced up at their older brother like he had all the answers.

Ash shrugged, while Jack sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. "You itching to kill one of us, ghost boy?"

"Uhm... no," Jack answered, through the vicious pain of a headache pounding against his skull. "I never wanted to kill you."

"Huh... Coulda fooled me. Looked like you were gonna send me away like all those ghosts. What the hell just happened here, anyway? Am I concussed or did I see Sterling?"

"You saw her." Jack finally stood up among the shattered glass and broken picture frames. "She's attached to a reaper, so I asked for them to save the trapped souls. It was one pissed off ghost killing people for a long damn time." He winced when he touched a nasty cut on his left arm that he hadn't noticed before then.

"You killed him?" Marley questioned, her eyes wide. "How?"

Jack shrugged. "It's hard to explain. It just... I just do it. I'm sorry, though." He moved his eyes to the ground and softly kicked at a couple pieces of glass to avoid looking at either of his siblings. "I didn't mean to scare you." He'd seen it in their eyes, clear as day.

"It's... It's okay, we uhm..." Marley trailed off and Jack's heart sank. They were going to start looking at him like the monster he could feel himself turning into. "I wasn't scared, I was just... wonderstruck." Jack's eyes snapped up at the genuine sound of her voice. He'd thought – he's sworn he'd seen fear, but the way she said it, she'd been marveling. "I saw the spirits disappear, and they didn't look angry or in pain, they looked peaceful. I've never seen that before."

"But... But you flung me across the room," he pointed out, and even he heard the disbelief in his own voice.

Marley smirked, jabbing a thumb in Ash's direction. "He was gonna shoot you. Would you rather have a bullet in your arm?"

"Yeah... In your arm..." Ash muttered, mostly under his breath, but Jack still heard him.

"No. I wouldn't. Thanks, Mars."

"Are we forgetting that you sent me flying into a wall fucking twice? What about that? You deserved to take a fucking bullet," Ash grumbled, leaning against Marley as they started for the exit.

Will was standing outside the house, gripping Keala's leash for dear life when they finally emerged. The second he saw them, his shoulders dropped in relief and he let go of the dog, so she could fly at Jack and practically tackle him to the ground.

"I'm fucking glad you guys are alright," Will muttered, picking Jack up and towing him and Keala toward where they'd parked the car.

"Yeah, if you can call it that. Pretty damn sure my ribs are broken. Maybe all of them. Jack, you drive, you sonofabitch." He held the keys out and Jack took them as they all climbed inside. Ash spouted out a string of every curse word he'd ever heard until he was finally situated, and then his phone started ringing in his pocket, which started a whole new string before he finally dug it out. "Hello?"

Jack started driving as quickly as he could until they were out of Jackson, Wyoming and headed toward Ashgrove, Colorado, while Ash told Maggie everything that happened.

"I don't know how much help it'll be in your brother's case. But the ghosts are gone now, including the one responsible for your sister-in-law's death." Ash was silent for a long time before saying, "We'll send you the bill, Mrs. Masters, but take your time."

"Is she gonna be alright, you think?" Will asked as one of the phones in the center console started ringing and Jack reached down to grab it, keeping his eyes on the road, and reaching back to hand it to Ash.

"She'll be fine. Eventually. She's tough and smart. Awe, Jacky, no. You answer it, I'm gonna try to sleep the pain away." He winced when they hit a pothole, and Jack instantly felt bad.

"Hello?" He answered the phone about a second before it was about to go to voicemail.

"Thank fuck! I called about a dozen other phones, Ash. What the fuck?" Piper snarled in his ear.

"Whoa. Calm down, it's Jack. What's going on?" In all the time he'd known her, he'd never heard her get so worked up before.

"Jack? It's a fucking mess! We got home and somehow, the goddamn leech escaped. And then I had to leave to go to pick up some food, and when I got back Charley was gone. The witches have her. They left a message burned into our front yard."

"Alright, Piper. Take a deep breath. We're on our way. We'll be there in a few hours, everything will be okay." He hung up the phone and Ash sat up abruptly.

"Ow! Fuck. What the hell was that?"

Jack tossed the phone back in with all the others. "Sorry, Will. Mom's gonna have to wait. We're going to Foghills."

"Why? What's going on?" Carefully, Ash sat back against the seat a bitter scowl on his face.

"Roger escaped. And Charley's missing."