13. The Zanna Killer

We end up burying Nicky the mermaid, even though Dean and I seem to do most of the work.

By nightfall, we're at another house, the place where Weems supposedly is. We search through the sheets on the lines. I'm not sure what Weems looks like, so I honestly have no idea who I'm looking for.

"There," I say, finding blood stains. The four of us follow the trail, which leads into a garage.

"Weems!" Sully exclaims as he runs to his best friend. "Weems, are you okay?"

"Yeah, ugh," Weems says. "It went right through my love handle. My fat saved me. Can you believe that?"

"Fat is the best."

"I didn't realize we were intruding on a bromance," I mutter.

"Yeah, well, the mermaid wasn't so lucky," says Dean.

"Is he talking to me?" Weems asks Sully. "Who are these guys?"

"They're friends," says Sully.

"Hey, Weems, when was the last time you saw Nicky the mermaid? God, I can't believe I just said that," says Dean.

"Yesterday," says Weems. "Why? What happened to Nicky?"

"She was murdered," I say.

"What?"

"Weems, I am so sorry," Sully tells him.

"No! She...she was my girl!"

"Sparkle's gone, too."

"Not Sparkle! Dude, that's like our whole posse!"

"I know right? But hey, you're okay. You're okay."

"Okay, all right," says Dean. "So you're all pals. Is there anybody who would have beef with the bunch of you?"

"I've never seen her before in my life," says Weems.

"Wait a second—you saw somebody?" asks Sam.

"Some chick. After she...shivved me, she took off in an old VW Bug."

"So this is a good thing, right?" Sam asks me and Dean.

"Uh, no, this is a great thing," says Dean. "I mean...a manicorn, a freaking mermaid? What am I supposed to do with that? But a chick in a car? That's terra firma. I'm home."

"All right, you and Jo go."

"I gotta ask. Hey, uh, acid wash. What's so special about you?"

"Mermaids dig me?" says Weems, like it's the most obvious thing on the planet.

"No, I mean, why do kids like you?"

"Oh. I play air guitar."

"You play air guitar?" I ask, unconvinced. "Sam plays air guitar. Dean can play it. I can play it."

Weems sits up, and I shit you not, when he starts playing air guitar, legitimate music starts playing, right up until the big finish. The air guitar exhausts him, he grabs his wounded side.

"It's okay, it's okay," Sully tell him. "Good solo, good solo."

"Thanks. Ugh."

"Well, he's no Clapton," says Dean.

"I'm gonna go get some bandages. Okay? Oh—I'll be right back, Sam."

I look at Dean. "Let's go find this Bug." The both of us leave the garage.

"You have an imaginary friend, Jo, when you were younger?" Dean asks me as we approach Baby.

"Never needed one, I guess." I shrug, climbing into the passenger's seat. "You know, what you said to Sam, about not being alone...Think about it. We were off on hunts with Dad, Sam wasn't old enough or Dad just didn't let him come along, so he was holed up in the motel room at the time. He was by himself. He was bored." Dean starts the engine. "Do we have any way to track this Bug?"

"Guess we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. With our eyes."

I roll mine. "Genius idea."

We start off into the night, Baby's headlights as our guide. We wind down the road, low rock music playing in the background.

"Wait, that might be it," I hear Dean say.

We move with the curve of the road, stopping as Baby's lights come onto the blue Bug. He cuts the engine off, and we both climb out. We flick on flashlights. This has to be it. I take the left side of the car while Dean takes the right. I shine the light on the windows. There's nothing inside.

"Dean!" I panic when I hear a sick crunch and see fractured glass on the other side of the car. As I run around the front of the Bug, a figure cloaked in black has already knocked Dean unconscious.

Realizing I don't have any weaponry on me, I leap over my brother's body, engaging the figure. The first few blocks don't hurt me, but when their weapon hits the same spot, it starts to. I get hit on the side of my face, sending me to the ground.

"Dean," I hiss, reaching for him.

The blow to the back of my head sends me under.

* * *

"God damn," I hiss, picking my head up. My arms are stuck behind my back. The interior of where I am is dark. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dean stir. He, like me, is tied to a post. At least we have a stool to sit on. I wiggle my wrists. Whatever's on them isn't easy to wiggle out of. "Dean."

He seems pretty lucid. I whistle to get his attention. He cranes his head as much as he can in my direction. "You okay, Jo?"

"Not really." I know I'll have a lump on the back of my head now.

"Good. You're awake," says a female voice from the shadows. I can just barely make out her outline in the dark. "Your brother's on his way."

"What did you do?" I growl.

She emerges, bearing a hoodie, which doesn't help me like her much. That and the fact that the bitch hit me on the back of the head pretty hard.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean asks groggily.

"I think we have a mutual imaginary friend. You know Sully?"

Crap. This can't be good.

Almost as if on cue, we hear a door open. The girl grabs a knife, holding it to my throat. Sam, accompanied by Sully, come into the area. Sam pulls a gun on the girl.

"Hold it," he tells her.

"Reese?" Sully says.

"Hey, stranger," says Reese. "You give me Sully, I give you your brother and sister."

"What do you want with Sully?" asks Sam.

"Ask him. He's the one who killed my sister."

"It was an accident!" Sully pleads.

"What?" I ask in bewilderment.

"Reese and her twin sister, they were my first kids after I thought I screwed things up with Sam."

"So this is his fault?"

"No! No, Reese, I'm the one that bungled it. It was me. I should never have let her chase me into the street. We were just playing tag. I don't know why I didn't see the car coming. That's why I never went back in the field, that's why I never found another kid. I was too scared I'd hurt them."

"Do you know how bad you messed me up?" Reese demands. She moves away from me, removing the threat of a knife at my throat. "'Audrey's dead because of the invisible man.' Try telling that to about ten different kid shrinks! I always wondered if Sully was real, so I got obsessed with folklore. I studied abroad in Romania, and then I found out he's a Zanna."

"Yes, and Zanna are good," Sam says.

"That's what the witch tried to tell me, too."

"The witch?"

"She sold me a spell, so that I'd be able to see these freaks. She gave me this, too. Finally, I can save other kids from these monsters."

"So you killed my friends just to get to me?" asks Sully. He looks absolutely heartbroken.

"And I would have done it sooner if these three hadn't shown up."

"Why didn't you call? I would've come."

"Honestly, I kinda liked watching you suffer. You weren't just Audrey's best friend—you were mine, too. And after she died, Sully, I...I never needed you more."

"I panicked when Audrey died. And I left you to deal with the pain, 'cause I couldn't handle being the one that caused it."

"So maybe I'll take something you love, Sully—a real person."

"That's not gonna happen," Sam says.

"Will killing me make you feel better?" Sully asks Reese.

"No, Sully, that's not the answer."

"This is what I do. Whatever's best for the kid. Reese—if this is what you need, I'm okay with it."

"I'm still mad," says Reese. "I can't stop it. I'm just still so mad!"

"Reese," says Dean. He's up on his feet, having wiggled out of the ropes. "Trust me. Revenge? Ain't gonna make you feel better. Listen, I've seen more than my share of monsters. And I mean real monsters, bad. These guys? These are Sesame Street mother Teresas. But when I wasn't there for my little brother, when Jo wasn't, Sully was. Now, look, I'm not saying that he didn't make a mistake, but you know that there is not a monstrous bone in his body."

"I'm so, so sorry," Sully says to Reese.

For a second, I almost believe Reese is gonna launch herself at somebody. Instead, the dagger falls from her hands, and she hugs Sully.

"Oh, Reese, I'm so sorry," Sully says.

Dean comes over, untying me from the post. I rub my wrists. Until now, I didn't realize just how much Sully helped Sam when Dean and I couldn't. How he kept my little brother company when we couldn't.

I've never appreciated Zanna so much until now.