34. The Werther Project (Part 2)

They're only holding onto you so that they don't lose sight of you. When they do, and they will, you'll wish you were back in Hell. You'll want that. Because, let's face it, Josette, you're not good. You're Hellspawn, and that's all your brothers see you as. Worthless, just an animal to keep on a leash.

Let the darkness eat away at you until you don't even recognize yourself!

They know you deserve to be down here. Pay for everything you've done.

"Oof, must've been a nasty bugger you released if it messed your sister up like this."

I barely feel like throwing a comment back at Rowena. I didn't feel any suicidal tendencies, but those words don't leave me. They soak into my brain.

"How did you find us?" Sam asks Rowena.

"Same way I just saved you—magic. Had a feeling you might be in over your head."

"Yeah, well you can't be here. If Dean sees you..." Sam and I look at each other and run out of the office, back into the living room, where we find Dean at a standstill.

"Dean!" I say. He doesn't acknowledge me, or Sam, or even Rowena. "Hey." I snap my fingers. Being even more obnoxious, I clap my hands loudly. "Wake up! Dean, whatever you're seeing, it's not real."

"Real enough to him," says Rowena, who's entered the living room.

"What are you doing?" The witch is moving herself around obnoxiously.

"He can't see me, Josette." She peeks into Dean's direct line of vision. "Yeah, he's too far gone."

"Can you wake him up?" asks Sam.

"I only brought enough dispelling magic for two. Maybe if you'd told me we'd have company..."

"There is no we," I snap.

"Fine, take this all on by yourself. But the odds are totally stacked against you."

"You're not real," says Dean. But he's stuck in his own world, because his eyes aren't focused on the present reality in front of him.

"Oh, the spell's got its hooks in deep. If you want him woken up...You're gonna have to rip this enchantment out by the root."

"The box!" I exclaim. "If we can figure out the fail-safe, we can break the spell and get the codex. Suzie's hallucinations drove her to suicide. Same thing happened to her family. Werther's illusions tried to do the same to us."

"And so?"

"So we can't leave Dean alone like this."

"Well then, we'll just have to tie up the bonny lad. Could be fun."

"I'll do it," I volunteer. "I'll catch up with you two soon."

Sam gives me a parting worried look before he shows Rowena downstairs. Dean's extremely compliant as I lead him to sit in a chair and get him secure in it. My head hurts, and I feel sweat on it. That wasn't real? It felt quite the opposite. I need to clear my head after this. I don't care how, I just need it. Bad.

Figuring that Dean's gonna be fine on his own, I join Rowena and Sam in the basement, through the hole that leads to the Werther box.

"Any luck?" I poke my head in.

"Apparently the box requires blood from Men of Letters," Rowena says as Sam pulls out a knife.

"Naturally." I frown. "Sam, let me do it."

"Jo, I got it," he insists.

"I can take it. I'll heal faster than you anyway." I reach for the knife.

"How about you go back and watch Dean?"

"Sam, I strapped him down. He's not gonna budge. Now, give me the damn knife."

"You gonna fight me for it?"

"Ladies, please," Rowena deadpans. "Josette, let Samuel do as he wishes."

"Look, Rowena—"

"How do you know this will work?" The witch ignores me and moves to my brother.

"I don't," says Sam. He slits his wrist, and the red pours into a bowl. I see the tumblers in the Werther begin to turn slowly.

"It's working," I whisper.

"Slow down," Rowena cautions my brother.

"Right, okay," Sam says. "No, no, no." The tumblers in the box stop.

"It wants more, Sam. It wants it all."

"Okay, now I say fork over the knife," I say.

"The codex...path to the cure. It's in there. If it wants more, it'll get more."

I swallow as Sam slits his other wrist and feeds the bowl more. I step into the room when Sam looks about ready to keel over from the blood loss. I'm supporting his side.

"It's opening, Sammy," I whisper, rubbing his scalp. "It's nearly there."

"Sam! Jo!" Dean shouts.

"Dean."

Our older brother thunders into the room, jumping through the hole. He gets to Sam's other side. "Hey, hey. Sammy, whatever you're seeing, it's—it's a trick. Okay? It's not real!"

"Dean?" Sam says feebly.

"Yeah. Hey, no." Dean slaps Sam. "No. Hey! Hey!"

"Get away from me!" Sam raises the knife, but Dean snatches it from him. "No, don't! Don't! It's the only way. It needs legacy blood. Enough to take a life."

"Jo, get the other wrist." Dean hands me wrappings, and I mend Sam's left wrist. "Yeah, well...it doesn't have to come from just one legacy, does it?"

"Wow, for once someone agrees with me," I say.

"Not now, Jo."

"Give me the knife, I'll do it." I look to see Rowena has disappeared. I shake my head in confusion. Was she really here at all?

"It better be me. You may be a legacy, but you're in a different body. The box might not take to it."

Huh. Didn't think about that loophole.

"It needs more blood, it can have mine."

I keep Sam steady as Dean contributes to the Werther's bowl. It doesn't take much, as the box finally opens.

"Finally," I sigh in relief. I sneak out the codex while I support Sam against me. "Come on, let me haul your asses out of here."

"Worry about Sam more, Jo," Dean says. "You might have to carry him out."

"Wouldn't be hard, I'm stronger than I look."

Dean is able to make it out of the basement on his own. I have Sam leaning against me, the codex tucked away so our brother can't see, stumbling as I help him out of the house. We break outside and breathe in the sunlight and air.

"There we go," I say as I help lower Sam into the Impala. I hear Dean rummaging around in the trunk of the Impala. "What are you doing?"

"That thing has to go so that it can't work ever again."

"What are you gonna do? Light it on fire?"

"Nope." Dean comes around the side, sledgehammer in hand. "I'm gonna bust it."

I sigh. "Hand it over. You two have done more than enough. My time to put some work in this."

"All right, make it scrap metal, sis."

Nodding, I take the sledgehammer from Dean and walk back into the house. I take my slow time before I confront the Werther box one last time. I move the sledgehammer in my hands.

"Adios, bitch," I murmur. With a grunt, I strike hard on the box. The impact bounces through my arms a bit, but I don't let it stop me. Strike after strike. I think of the words the hallucinations said to me. Each hit is proof that they're just words. They weren't real. I'm real.

I'll admit, I get somewhat carried away in destroying the box. But I feel a hell of a lot better once I exit that house for a final time.

"Overkill, don't you think?" Sam asks me. "I mean, we broke the spell. The box is just a box."

"Well, now it's scrap metal," I say. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great."

"You road ready?" asks Dean.

"I'll be fine."

"That says something, doesn't it? Werther splits us up in there. Within an hour, we're both on the brink of death. Sorry about yesterday, going rogue on you like that."

"You know what, Dean? Don't apologize. I...I think that makes us even."

"The universe is trying to tell us something we should already know. We're stronger together than apart."

"So I can assume you're riding back with Dean?" I ask Sam.

"Yeah." He smiles thinly. "Won't get jealous, will you?"

"Nah. I know I'm your favorite."