December 9th, 2019
Interstate 94, North Dakota

"Where is this place, again?" Marley grumbled in the seat beside Jack. "It feels like we've been driving forever!"

"Quit your whining," Ash chastised lightly. "We've been in the car sixteen hours and as far as I'm concerned you get to speak up about potty breaks, that's about it. When you learn to drive, you can bitch all you want."

When Marley's gaze shot to Jack he shrugged in response. "You never hear Will complaining, do you?" he pointed out, mostly right.

"Yeah, that's because-"

Marley's speech was cut off by Jack's loud, jarring ringtone. Checking the caller I.D., the word private flashed across the screen. "Hello?" he answered cautiously, ignoring the questioning stares from his siblings.

"Jack! Oh, thank goodness! I told Ashton to check in, but I haven't heard a thing since I talked to you last week. Is everyone alright? How's Marley doing?"

A frown of confusion marred Jack's features. "Mom?"

"Hi, sweetie," Marcia Pleasant murmured softly. "I just heard the news about your father. How is everyone? How is Marley?" Her voice sounded strained, like she was trying not to cry. "I put one of her inhalers in Ashton's glove compartment a few months ago, just in case she needs it."

"We're all okay," Jack answered back, trying to make himself seem more confident than he felt. "Marley's fine. Are you okay?" As he spoke, he was aware that his siblings were listening pryingly to the conversation.

"I'm doing better. I miss you kids like crazy, though. I have Juliet here, and she's been a wonderful help, but I just... I really miss you all."

"We miss you too, Mom." Jack blinked back tears. He didn't realize just how true his words were until they spilled out of his mouth. Their dad had just died and all he really wanted to do was hug his mother. He wanted to hear her comforting voice while she stroked his hair and told him everything would be fine, that they'd get through it together. But more than anything, he just wanted to see for sure that she was okay.

"Can I talk to Marley, please, sweetie?" she asked, and Jack passed the phone over to his sister, just as Marcia told him she loved him and he responded in kind.

"Hey, Mom!" Marley greeted happily, immediately giggling at something the woman told her. "No, it's okay, they're not being that bad. I'm sorry about leaving that night. I didn't mean for-" Marley paused, interrupted by her adoptive mother, listening intently. "Okay, I'm sorry. I love you too," she said finally, before she went back to giggling about something. Despite the circumstances surrounding their relationship, they'd always been rather close, having bonded right off the bat.

Marley was still gossiping with their mother an hour later when they pulled up to a nondescript cabin in the woods, two state lines away from the Lockwood compound. Haru had promised to get them as far away as he could while still being within a day's drive.

"I call a bed," Will muttered as soon as he stepped out of the vehicle and eyed the cozy little cabin warily.

Jack shrugged, pulling open the back door of the truck and grabbing his old duffel, slinging it over one shoulder before reaching for one of the many bags Lee and Haru had loaded them up with. "I still can't believe Lee makes you pay for all that ammo." He lugged the heavy bags toward their home for the foreseeable future, or at least until they picked up another job.

Ash shrugged absently. "I'm used to it," he responded fondly. "Besides, the Lockwoods don't play favorites."

"Yeah, we can tell," Will grumbled, following them into the comfortable little house. It was one of those old log cabins that the Lockwoods had restored and retrofitted with all kinds of neat features. They walked into a big open kitchen with two picnic-style tables to their left and the kitchen appliances to the right. Beyond that, was a large living room with an old potbellied stove situated directly in the center of everything, just waiting for a fire to heat up the entire structure. A set of staircases between the living room and the kitchen led upstairs to where the bedrooms were located, and downstairs to where giant stacks of firewood lined the cold cellar.

"Whoa, this place is awesome." Marley came in behind them, weighed down with gear from the car.

"Don't get too comfortable," Ash grumbled. "We're here long enough for the dust to settle, and then we gotta get moving again. These monsters aren't going to take contracts out on themselves."

"You're gonna let me go with you?" Marley demanded eagerly, a smile brightening her face.

"Maybe." Ash shrugged off her excitement and dumped his bags on the ground, while Keala darted passed him and dove onto one of the built-in cushioned wooden benches that lined almost every wall of the living room. "Menace," he muttered, glaring daggers at the dog.

"She's just happy, leave her alone, Ash," Jack chastised blithely.

"I miss Piper and Charley already." Marley fell onto the makeshift couch next to Keala. "Us girls have to stick together, Keals." She buried her face in the dog's velvety black fur, while Jack snickered. Keala nudged Marley's face affectionately and slobbered all over her.

"You think having the girls spy on the witches is really a good idea?" Will grumbled unsurely, not for the first time since they'd left Charley and Piper behind.

"Piper is the best shot I've ever met, and Charley is Mountain Charley. They'll be fine. They've been doing this shit as long as I have. If anything, they're the people I'd trust the most to do it."

Will stiffened, dropping his stuff on the floor near the stairs. "Fine. Do we at least have Wi-Fi here? I don't wanna get caught off guard by whatever can cause such destruction with attracting so little attention."

Ash shrugged, pulling open the cupboards to see that they'd been stocked with nonperishables. "Do you think Haru would retrofit anything without the proper technology to keep him sane?" he snorted sarcastically. "Of course your computer will work. They had electricity and whatnot built in. Except there's still only an outhouse, 'cause Haru said he forgot about plumbing when he designed this one and ran out of funds at the end."

Jack laughed heartily. "I love the Lockwoods. So... Ash, what's up with you and Lee, anyway? Did you guys make up?" He grinned broadly at the scowl that immediately formed on his older brother's face.

"Shut up, Jacky." For the rest of the afternoon, they settled into the cabin. Jack and Marley even dragged Ash out with them for a hike. Will, however, refused, and threatened death if they kept pestering. Throughout the course of their hike, they got so lost that it took them nearly four hours to find their way back. It was almost ten by the time Keala found them and showed them the right way to the cabin.

The second they stepped through the door, Ash immediately went into older brother mode, telling them all what to do. "Marley, come help me with dinner. Guys, bring up firewood from the cellar and start a fire. It's getting late and I want to go to bed soon."

"Yes, sire," Jack mocked heading toward the creepy basement filled mostly to the brim with chopped wood.

"What are we having for dinner?" he heard Marley ask as he trudged back up the stairs with an armful of splintered wood.

Ash grunted unintelligibly as he sifted through the ingredients they had available. Jack had a sneaking suspicion he was glad to finally be in a place again where he had the opportunity to cook food. The man had the uncanny ability to make just about anything taste good. "You'll know when it's finished," Ash muttered in response to Marley's question, washing his hands under the cold sink water that came straight from the river at the bottom of the hill. For the next hour and a half, while Ash barked orders at Marley – who listened easily and without complaint, Jack and Will built a fire in the pot-bellied stove and set the table, before heading upstairs to put everyone's bags away.

"Time to eat, guys," Ash called out, putting a big heaping bowl of chili on the table, as Marley set out toppings that they could add in if they wanted to.

"Really, chili?" Will grumbled, sitting at the table and piling a giant portion into his bowl. "I'm gonna have to smell you guys farting all freaking night?"

Ash laughed. "We're all gonna have to endure that shit. Stop being a fucking weeny."

"A weeny?"

"Oh, shut up, would you?" They were both silent after that, digging into their meal.

"This is fucking good, man," Jack praised, his mouth full of chunks of meat and beans and tomato and whatever else Ash had added to make it so damn delicious.

"Thanks, bro," he accepted still staring into his bowl intensely. "Marley helped."

"Well ya'll did a good job. I forgot how much I missed your-" The jarring sound of his cell phone once again cut him off. "Hello?" he answered easily, glancing down and seeing Kit's name flashing across his screen.

"Why isn't your brother answering his phone?" Kit demanded sounding more irritated than usual.

"I dunno. Hey, Kit? You know it's 11:48 PM, right?" He grinned before shoving a spoonful of chili covered in a layer of cheese into his mouth.

"I'm not a moron, Jack. Of course I know what time it is. Were you sleeping?" For a single second, she almost seemed concerned, but right as he opened his mouth to respond, she spat, "Of course you weren't. I'm not an idiot, kid."

He laughed good-naturedly. "Fine, fine. What's up? I'm putting you on speakerphone, so everyone can hear."

"I have an old friend in your neck of the woods. You are up at the Riverside cabin, right?"

"Yeah. Did you talk to Charley?" Jack asked, thinking it was the only way she could have known such a confidential detail.

"She called me a few hours ago. Anyway, my friend, Blair Armstrong and his wife Linda just moved into a new house that they've been renovating for a few years. It took them a long time to get it built because weird stuff kept happening. They've been living in it for a few weeks, and the way it sounds, they've got a seriously pissed off poltergeist wreaking havoc on the property," she explained, her tone precise and professional.

"This Blair guy isn't in the business?" Will asked, his forehead creased into a confused frown.

Kit sighed into the phone. "No, he's an old friend from my trucking days. He's a good friend, so I want you guys on this personally. It'll be on your way while you're tracking down that job Brando abandoned ya'll with."

"Yeah, okay," Ash responded gruffly. "We'll get some sleep and leave tomorrow. Shouldn't be too bad. Poltergeists aren't shit compared to what we've just seen these other monsters do."

"I've been informed," Kit grumbled back with a yawn. "Get some rest, and hurry your asses out there. Blair has offered a decent chunk of change for a job well done."

"How much?" Marley asked, perking up instantly.

"Forty grand is what he quoted to have my best crew come out." Kit's response was like music to Jack's ears.

"We're on it. We'll check in when we're finished."

"You'd better, Ash. And turn on your goddamn phone, already. Stix lost contact with me about six days ago around your area, so be careful. Good night, kids. Love you." Kit hung up before any of them could say another word, and for a few minutes the only sound was of their eating.

"Well, you heard the crazy old lady. Rinse your bowls out and get to bed, punks," Ash grumbled, standing up and taking his bowl and the empty chili pot over to the sink and scrubbing them clean, while the rest of them continued eating.

"I'll go in a-"

"Interstate Blues strikes again. Ten people are dead just twenty-five miles from here. You could've stopped it, Jacky." Dick popped up in front of him with an angry scowl on his face.

"The fuck?!" Jack shrieked, jerking backward so hard he fell off the bench, landing on his tailbone. Marley and Will jumped at his outburst, staring at him as if he'd just grown another eye and sprouted three boobs. "I thought you were back at the compound!" His eyes were wide as he tried to draw breath back into his lungs and calm his racing heartbeat.

"Charley slipped my coin into your pocket when she hugged you," Dick groused, his voice shaking with aggravation. "That's not the point though, Jacky. More people are dead. That means there are ten potential ghosts out there. We have to put them to rest. One of them was just a freaking kid."

"How do you know about this?" Jack stood up and dusted himself off, his glare never straying from the angry spirit.

"Ghosts talk, Jacky. You should know this by now. Word gets around fast." The apparition glared daggers at him. "Now, are you gonna do something about this shit or not? We've got to stop them before more people get killed by these things."

"We have a poltergeist to get rid of, and then we'll go after them. We're still on their trail, but we can't just jump into this. We should do it smart. Why do you even care, anyway?" Jack sighed, irritated by Dick's sudden intrusion. "Did any of your ghost friends give you a description we can use?"

"One," Dick answered, ignoring his first question. "There was a bouncer near the door that tried to help people escape. He watched the attacks start. According to him, a man jumped off the stage and the tips of his fingers morphed into spirals of sharp teeth with a long spike shooting out of the middle. He grabbed the first person near him and the spikes dug into his skin sucking out bone marrow, spinal fluid, brain matter, and basically anything that wasn't blood. Everything went black before he could see anything else."

"What the hell is that thing?"

"I don't know. That's what's freaking me out so much. I try to help ghosts rest when I can, 'cause after all these years, I wish I could. These things whatever they are, they're causing some seriously fucked up shit to happen. We need to find out who's behind all of this. For all my brothers and sisters."

Jack yawned tiredly. "Look, we'll figure it out. After we've had some sleep." His mind wandered to Marley's charmed dream catcher. Maybe it'd keep Dick away too. He doubted it, but it was a nice thought.

"Hurry up, long pig."

Jack stared in the place he'd been long after the ghost disappeared, a perplexed expression marring his features. "What the hell just happened?" he demanded, unsure of it himself.

"We should be asking you that." Ash stared at him with the same freaked out expression as Will and Marley.

"I think he just insulted me," Jack grumbled, thinking back on the conversation, becoming more irritated by the second.

"What did he say about the monsters?" Marley's intent gaze never left his face.

Jack shook his head dismally. "I'll tell you guys tomorrow," he mumbled, still trying to process the information that he'd just had dumped in his lap. Without another word to his siblings, he trudged up the steps into one of the two rooms, hanging up his dream catcher and collapsing on one of the wooden built-in beds, with the same cushiony material on it as the benches downstairs.

Jack was up just before noon the next morning, stumbling quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen to put on a pot of water. He slowly made his way to the front door and let Keala out into the bitter morning, startled when he turned around to see Dick sitting at one of the tables, staring out the window forlornly, his back to the kitchen appliances.

"I'm sorry about last night. I'm just stressed out," the ghost murmured apologetically. "I'm coming up on my seventy-sixth death day. It's on Tuesday." He dropped his head onto the table and grumbled something incoherently.

"Ghosts celebrate their "death day"? Is that even a thing?" Jack dropped a few tea bags into the mug he'd found in the cupboard and ladled boiling water over the top.

"The living celebrate their birthdays, can we not have a death day celebration? Hell, isn't that what your Halloween is all about?" Dick shot back defensively.

"I guess so. Do you need something else?" Jack slumped down at the next table over and took a scalding sip of his tea. The temperature didn't matter much to him, it felt good, singeing his throat.

"Well... I just wanted to warn you that there may be someone else sniffing out the poltergeist job. Just be careful, and get a move on," he warned, and Jack had to wonder why the ghost was being so loyal and helpful. There had to be something else going on that he wasn't mentioning. He'd never met a ghost so willing to stick around and hang out. It seemed to go against their nature. "Also... I just wanted to make sure you aren't planning on leaving me behind."

Jack snorted, shaking his head. "You are a strange creature, Dick Grayson." He chuckled while the apparition disappeared.

His siblings woke up and were packed and ready to go a few hours later, as the clock on the dashboard approached two and the sun broke through the cloudy skies, offering a glimpse of light blue above them. Jack had dutifully slipped Dick's coin into the pocket of his jeans, checking every once in a while to make sure it was still there, all the while keeping an eye on his surroundings. He'd just received two warnings of danger that he couldn't ignore.

"Have you ever faced a poltergeist before?" Marley asked Ash, bouncing her legs excitedly. She'd been dragged around by their father on enough jobs as a kid to know that some things were more difficult than others to kill.

"Plenty of times. Whatever this is, it'll be a quick job. In and out."

"From these news reports," Will started, typing away on his laptop, an expression on his face that he only ever had when his concentration was solely focused on one thing, "It sounds like it's not just in the main house, but messed up stuff happened in the barn, and the sheds. All the animals they tried to bring in went feral. Every last one."

"Whoa." Marley leaned over so she could see the pictures on Will's laptop.

"Huh... I've heard of spirits doing that stuff before, but I've never actually seen it."

Marley grinned, her dark eyes sparkling mischievously. "Cool. Then we all get to learn together. Back at the compound, Piper taught me how to shoot a gun. Do I get one this time?"

"No," Jack, Will, and Ash responded in unison.

Marley giggled. "Fine, okay. It'll be my first job anyway, I don't wanna ruin anything."

"Good. Jacky, have you heard anything more from your ghost buddy?" Ash changed the subject.

"Just what I already told you. Although," Jack murmured, thinking back on his earlier conversation with Dick that morning, "he did say that there might be someone else trying to snake the job."

Ash groaned. "Great." He turned up the volume on the radio and the conversation was over.

It didn't take them long to reach Johnston, a small town that boasted one supermarket and a jailhouse. Ashgrove was almost double the size of the dinky little area, but there were people milling about and Main Street hummed with life. There was a bright, happy, energy about all the folks they passed, but something felt off.

"This place looks too nice to have an evil spirit lurking around," Will commented, glancing around skeptically as they passed through the town center and on toward the outskirts.

"I'm sure it'll get creepier." Ash turned left onto a dirt road that winded into the woods, and back into the Armstrong property. The first thing Jack spotted was the giant house that the driveway brought them to. It looked almost like a mini-castle, but it was smaller than the Lockwood compound by a lot.

The moment Ash shut the engine off, the front door to the house opened and an older couple shuffled out, looking despondent and anxious. "If ya'll are here from the papers we've had just about enough of your damn heckling," the man called over from his porch as soon as they started piling out of the car.

"We're not from the papers, sir," Will answered, while Jack stared at them as chills ran up and down his spine. "Kit sent us."

A look of confusion passed across the couple's faces. "That man and that nice young girl never said anything about anyone else coming." The woman didn't sound so sure herself.

"You are Blair and Linda Armstrong, right?" Ash asked, glancing at the crumpled piece of paper he'd scribbled the names onto.

"Yes," Blair answered, shooting a cold look in the direction of the Slayers. "Are you sure you're not from the paper?"

"No, sir. Like I said, Kit sent us," Will repeated, as Jack continued to scrutinize the couple discreetly.

A look he couldn't decipher passed between Linda and Blair before they turned back to them and the man said, "Well, your friends are around back in the big barn, I believe. You're welcome to go on back there."

Linda nodded her head earnestly. "If you don't mind, we'd rather like to stay put. I hope you kids understand."

"We do, Mrs. Armstrong," Ash assured, leading them toward the back of the property, which sprawled for acres down into a valley.

"This place is beautiful." Marley looked around at the picturesque estate appreciatively. "Don't ya think, Jack?"

"Hm? Um... yeah, sure," he mumbled in reply, a stricken expression crossing his features the moment they were out of earshot of the house. "Did it not strike any of you strange that Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong didn't mention a thing about Kit?" His gaze shifted back and forth between his siblings suspiciously.

"Yeah, that was a bit odd," Will agreed, his forehead creasing.

"Okay, good. Then it won't be so weird when I say, those people were not Linda and Blair," Jack whispered gravely. "I mean, I'm sure they looked like them but they're possessed."

Ash stopped in his tracks, whirling on his brother so quickly he nearly whacked him in the face with his backpack full of gear. "What are you saying? Kit was contacted by ghosts? They want us here?"

Jack shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. Sometime in between the time they called and now, the ghosts got to them."

"How can you tell?" Marley scooted a little closer to Jack as their day seemed to get more dangerous by the second.

"It's hard to explain. I can just see that they're not themselves," Jack mumbled in reply. "The barn is behind those trees, let's just try and find whoever's already on the job and help 'em out."

"Or send 'em home," Ash grunted. "They're probably just some wannabe paranormal chasers."

"Maybe," Jack dismissed, worried that they might be underestimating whatever it was they were supposed to be killing, and whoever else was chasing it.

The barn was bigger than he'd thought it'd be. It was two stories tall with a loft that spanned across the entire room. Inside was filled with rows and rows of empty animal stalls and abandoned, rusting, farm equipment. It was cold as hell too, colder than the air outside, even.

"Shit it's freezing, dark, and musty, the perfect setting for a horror movie." Will grabbed Marley's hand as soon as she was close to him, and even when she tried to pull away a little, he wouldn't let go.

"Scared, Willie?" Ash taunted, and Jack silently cursed himself for agreeing to leave Keala in the car.

"Fear is good-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" a woman's voice snapped from behind Jack, cutting him off. Before he could say a word, he felt a cold metal object press into the base of his skull.

"Um... killing a poltergeist?" He hesitantly held his hands up in an "I surrender" gesture.

"This is my job," she growled in response. "Now turn around and leave. All four of you, or I'll blow his pretty little head off."

"Aw, sugar, don't be like that," Ash cooed drily, a ruthless glare adorning his features.

"Ash Slayer. I should've known you'd be the one to try and steal my kills."

The cold metal lifted from Jack's neck as the girl stepped around so they could get a clear view of her chilling, dark, eyes. She stared harshly at the Slayer siblings, who stood close together under her scrutiny.

"Kit called us. These people are friends of hers. So, we can either take over, or you can tell us what's goin' on since we're here anyway," Ash responded authoritatively. "Come on, Soph, we can double team this one."

The girl immediately aimed her gun at his head in one swift movement. "Don't call me Soph, ever. My name is Sophia," she spat slowly through gritted teeth.

Ash held his hands out in front of him casually. "Okay, okay, Sophia."

"It's nice to meet you," Jack said cheerfully, trying to hide the anxiety clawing at his insides. He'd dealt with hundreds of ghosts throughout his life, but he'd only ever encountered one other violent, possessing, poltergeist, and it hadn't ended well.

Marley elbowed Jack in the ribs none-too-gently. "She just threatened to blow your brains out, it's not nice to meet her." Jack only shrugged in return, while the woman in question stared at him blandly.

Somewhere in another part of the old, expansive, barn an echoing scream pierced the stiff air. "Shit. Fine, if you're going to help we need to find Stix. I'm pretty sure that was him screaming like a girl."

"Will and I'll take upstairs, you, Jack, and Marley look down here." Ash dragged Will away, forcing him to let go of his iron grip on their little sister's hand, jerking her forward slightly.

"Great." Marley glared steadily at Sophia's back. "Leave us with the crazy psycho."

"Stop it, Mars," Jack warned seriously. "Don't mind her, she's kinda salty."

"Who brings a newbie on a fucking poltergeist hunt like this?" Sophia grumbled to herself, while Jack and Marley fell into step with her.

"Ash said this was gonna be an easy one. Plus, I gotta learn sometime." Marley's tone matched the older girl's perfectly.

"Yeah, well maybe the biggest poltergeist haunt I've ever seen ain't a great practice range for that." Sophia fell silent after that, her attention focused on their dark, eerie surroundings. There was something else in the barn with them, maybe even a few somethings, Jack could feel their presence, and it made his skin crawl.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, as they moved from one stall to the next, checking to make sure they really were empty.

Sophia rolled her eyes and shook her head derisively, her golden blonde hair pulling out of her tight bun and flying around her face. "Of course you didn't do your homework. You're Slayers. All brawn, no brains. I've dealt with your kind before. The Armstrong property used to house an asylum. And the fucking barn we're in, the ground we're standing on, this is where they buried all the lunatics. This is their graveyard."

"Shit," Jack murmured. "So not only are we dealing with angry ghosts, we're dealing with psycho crazy angry ghosts. Great."

"Pretty much."

"Awesome." Marley grinned up at Jack and he returned it with a smile of his own.