19. Charlie

"You know, if you want to do something productive, helping us would work," says Dean. I'm whistling in the bunker library, scrolling through my phone.

"Who said that I wasn't?" I retort, scrunching my legs closer to my body in the chair. That's a lie; I'm refreshing my messages in hopes that Cas talks to me. Since our incident in my bedroom, he's kind of gone radio silent. He'll talk to my brothers, though. My nose wrinkles at the smell of that green smoothie Dean offered me and Sam earlier. "I agree with you, Dean. I can't wait till that mark is off either. That smoothie smells."

"But you gotta admit the omelet was good," says Sam, who (like normal) is surfing the Internet.

I nod. "I will give him that."

"What the hell?"

"Cain or Crowley?" asks Dean.

"Charlie."

"Um, who's Charlie?" I ask, rising from my chair to hover over Sam's shoulder.

"Friend of ours."

"Is she back from Oz?" Dean asks Sam. Oz? As in...? I guess with what we've gone through, it's not entirely impossible for Oz to exist. "She didn't call?"

"Yeah, uh...She's been busy."

"What the hell are we looking at?" I ask. Dean's beside me, and the three of us are watching video footage. I see a flash of red hair—which I assume is their friend, Charlie.

"So, you know, I was looking into the news, checking for anything weird, right? I found this story about a torture vic. Apparently, some kid videotaped this at his next-door neighbor's house."

"What are you saying, Charlie tortured someone? Our Charlie? Yea high, wouldn't hurt a Hobbit, practically sparkles?" Dean takes action, pulling out his phone. "Come on, Charlie, pick up."

"The guy she went all Jack Bauer on—uh, Peter Harper."

"She's not answering."

"District attorney in Topeka. According to this article, he wasn't the only person in town that was hit. Uh, a court stenographer was assaulted the night before."

"Well, you know, Charlie wouldn't go off on someone without a reason."

"Yeah, I wouldn't think so either, but look at the video."

"Are you sure you guys know her well?" I butt in.

"Trust us, Jo, we know her," says Dean. "But you know what we do, taken out of context, it doesn't look that much different. She could be hunting. Why don't we talk to this asshat and see what's going on?"

* * *

My brothers and I go as FBI to Peter Harper's house. I get some details I didn't know before. Like, Charlie's parents got into an accident, and one of her parents was pronounced brain-dead at the scene. After wearing Peter down, he gives us a name—instead of Charlie roughing him up, Dean scares the life of God into him. From Peter, we get a name: Councilwoman Barbara Cordry. Before we leave, Peter also slips us Charlie's social work file.

I'm the one to look over the contents as Dean drives us to Barbara Cordry's house. Charlie's real name is Celeste. Sounds like a pretty name, unusual.

When we find Barbara Cordry's house, the way she answers the door screams guilty to the three of us. So, we stakeout her house.

"What the hell is kale?" Dean complains as he bites into his sandwich.

I chuckle and go back to reading Charlie's file. "'Anti-authority disorder, clinical depression, violent outbursts.'" I whistle. "Charlie was, uh..."

"Dude. If a shrink interviewed us at that age, you think the report would be all kittens and rainbows? Come on. She's a good kid. There's got to be an explanation for this. There's just got to be."

"She's not real young, is she?"

"You saw the video. Did she look real young to you?"

"Younger than the three of us." I frown slightly.

I startle in the backseat as we hear a crash and a scream come from Barbara Cordry's house. All at once, we run in broad daylight and break into the house, with guns drawn. We move into the house, the living room, to find Charlie holding a weapon at Barbara's throat. Charlie is dressed in full black, her hair stick-straight and deep red.

"Should have known Rocket and Groot would track me down," says Charlie. "Didn't expect Gamora to be around, though."

"We just haven't had the pleasure to meet," I say. "Formalities can wait."

"Let her go," Sam demands.

"Who?" Charlie simpers. "Oh, her?"

"Don't do this."

"I just want answers."

"Yeah?" Dean asks. "Since when do you start pounding on people for those? What the hell happened to you in Oz?"

"Everything I wanted. An adventure. Even got my own little sword."

"Charlie—" Sam starts.

"Oh, Sam, you're adorable. You're not gonna hurt me. In fact, that's your problem—all good-guy code, no bite. What a waste. And you..." Charlie turns to Dean. "Always letting this albatross hold you back."

"Jo, don't," Sam hisses as I try to advance. I give him a scalding look.

"Okay, all right, you know what?" Dean snaps. "I don't know what's going on here, okay? But this—this is not you."

"Oh, it's me, all right," says Charlie.

"Charlie, put the knife down. Let her go. We don't want to hurt you, kiddo, but we're not gonna let you do this."

I take first action with a flick of my wrist. I separate Charlie from Barbara Cordry, sending Charlie into the wall and Barbara towards the door. Wordlessly, the three of us branch off, with me and Dean in pursuit of Charlie, who's running through the house.

With another flick, I send Charlie's feet out from under her. She hits the floor stomach-first, and I hang back while Dean fights her. I circle the outside of the fight, waiting to make my move.

I actually don't jump in when Charlie gets her legs around Dean's neck. Instead, I smirk in amusement.

"Sam! Jo! Do something!" Dean shouts.

Since Dean wants to kill the fun, I trot to the scene and rip Charlie away from him. In return, she slashes at me with the knife, striking me in the arm. It cuts skin, and my hand covers the slice.

"I've got her!" I yell to Dean as I run after Charlie.

Once I break out of the house, Charlie is way ahead of me. She tears down the road in a large SUV. I try to stop the car somehow with my powers, but she's already gone.

"Damn it!" I remove my hand from my wound and hiss. It's bleeding.

"Jo!" I hear Dean run out to be beside me.

"I tried, she beat me," I say.

"Well, come on, we can still get her." I follow Dean as we both head for Baby. "Oh, you son of a bitch." One of the tires is slashed.

"You still think you know Charlie, Dean?"

"Not now, Jo!"

At the honk of a horn, our heads snap up. I have to blink my eyes in confusion at the driver of the yellow Volkswagen. Didn't Charlie just drive off in an SUV? How is she driving this car too?

Wait. Her hair isn't straight, it's curly. She has an overall different demeanor now. I look at Dean, who exchanges a confused look with me. Does she have a twin that my brothers never knew about?

"What's up, bitches?" Charlie greets us, although this is the first—or is it second?—time I'm meeting her. Dean and I just stare at her. "Who's this?"

I clear my throat. "Jo—Josette Winchester. Yes, I'm a Winchester. We can get past the shock of all this."

Her eyes are wide. "You're bleeding."

"Yeah, curtesy of you."

Charlie's face falls. "Right. Um, we should probably catch up."

**Ah, Josette gets to meet Charlie.**