Ruby groaned and rolled over, covering her eyes. A voice asked, "What happened to staying in the library to look at the books?"

"Dean?" She uncovered her eyes. Dean was sitting at the edge of her bed. Light from the hallway came in through the door. She could only see part of his face. She was laying in the fetal position. She was burning up; her body ached; her throat hurt. She was still wearing what she had been earlier. "How long was I out?"

"A day. Give or take. Long enough for everyone to get here. Long enough for me to have to force Sammy to get some sleep in my room. You really scared us." Ruby couldn't even imagine. Cas must have woken everyone up. She thought about if it had been Sam. If Cas came in her room to tell her Sam had passed out and wasn't waking up.

"God, Dean. I'm so sorry. I wasn't being smart."

"We can't leave you alone for five minutes, can we?" That was his way of saying they wouldn't make that mistake again. Great.

"So. What did I miss?" She drank some water from a glass that had been on her bedside table.

"Kevin thinks he's almost got the third trial. Meg is flirting with Cas and he doesn't know what to do. It's kind of funny actually." Dean smiled a little.

Ruby slowly started getting off the bed. "Do the showers work?"

Dean stood next to her with his arms out in case she needed help. "Yeah. The water pressure is amazing, actually. But, don't you think –"

"I'm fine." She grabbed her toiletry bag and some clothes out of the duffle bag on the floor. "I'm just going to shower. It'll take like ten minutes then I'll come out. We'll eat breakfast. It'll be a riot."

Dean talked as she walked out the door; he was following her. "Actually, everyone's already eaten. It's 11:30."

"Fine. I'll just eat the pop tarts I bought." She walked in the bathroom and closed the door. That was probably rude; she all but slammed the door in his face.

She unzipped her toiletry bag and took out her hairbrush and toothbrush and toothpaste. She pushed other things aside, but didn't find what she was looking for. Just like she'd thought, Sam must have gone through her bag and taken out her razors. "Dammit," she snapped. But it didn't matter; she had others. She wasn't even really going to do anything, she just needed to know if they were there.

She brushed her teeth and got in the shower. She made sure the water was cold before she got in. The water washed over her, soaking her hair and rinsing the sweat off her body. It felt amazing to have a proper shower. To put shampoo then conditioner in her hair. To lather soap all over her body. To shave her legs and underarms.

Ruby felt like a new person when she was done.

"Ah, she lives," Meg said when Ruby walked in. She curtsied and smiled sarcastically. She grabbed a random book off the shelf and plopped down in a chair. Kevin was next to her, pouring over the tablet with noise cancelling headphones on. Meg and Cas were across from her. Meg was whispering something in his ear. Ruby opened a packet of pop tarts and ate a small bite of one.

Mary was at the end of the table, a book open in front of her. "How are you doing?" she asked, nonchalantly.

"I'm fine. I don't want to talk about it. Actually. You know what? I wish people here would be honest. We're family, right? We should be able to talk about shit with each other." She looked at each of them. Kevin hadn't looked up; he hadn't noticed her mini-meltdown. Mary and Cas seemed neutral, waiting for her to say more. Meg looked amused. "For example, I'm pretty pissed right now. Sam took my razors and I feel like shit mentally and physically."

"Well, I, for one –" Meg began to say when Kevin dropped his pen and took his headphones off, a stunned look on his face. "What's up with the kid?" she asked.

"I got it," he said, and swallowed. "The third trial is to cure a demon."

"Of what?" Mary asked. Ruby put her head in her hands.

"Whatever it is, sign me up," Meg said. "As long as I get to stay with my unicorn and see Crowley rot in Hell."

"It must mean to heal the demon's soul – to make it human again," Cas said, sounding hopeful.

Behind her closed eyelids, Ruby was seeing a scene from Beauty and the Beast play out. There were dancing cutlery and kitchenware singing "human again." She shook her head. The image disappeared when she opened her eyes and looked up. "I've never even heard of that."

"Well," Mary said. "It's a good thing we have the Men of Letters' library to back us up,"