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Dean and Francesca were still hammering at the clay.
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Bolts of lightning shot down from the clouds and the lightning reached Kevin's room and struck him. He yelled as he was lifted off the ground.
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Dean lifted an inscribed stone tablet from the broken clay casing.
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Kevin was suspended into the air by the lightning as pieces of the roof swirled and fell around him. He dropped to the floor, which was covered in broken glass. White light flashed from behind his closed eyes.
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Dean turned the tablet over and Francesca looked at it with a frown.
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Kevin laid on the floor as the white light shone from behind his closed eyes. After a moment, his body jerked and went still.
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In the hospital, Castiel was lying in bed with his eyes closed as lightning flashed and thunder clapped. Meg, still pretending to be Nurse Masters, was sitting by his bed listening to music and reading a magazine. Meg raised her eyes from the magazine to see that Castiel was sitting up. He turned to look at her.
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Kevin laid on the floor amidst the broken glass. His phone rang. As he stirred, the call went to voicemail. His recorded message said, "This is Kevin Tran's voicemail. Please leave a message."
"Kevin, it's Mom. I know you're at school-" Kevin opened his eyes, "-already, about to take the test." He sat upright. "And I know all your hard work will net the results..."
Kevin's clock read 10:22. "22." He got to his feet.
"...we've discussed, but like Dr. Ender said..."
"Wait!"
"...don't obsess on the quote unquote perfect."
"No. No. No!"
Kevin grabbed a shirt and looked at his calendar on his computer. "That's just a nice feather in our cap, if we get it. Now, Kevin, we're about to finish up our last seminar." Kevin put his shirt in a bag. "My flight's confirmed for 7:00, so I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow. Love you, honey."
White light flashed and appeared in Kevin's eyes.
---
Dean, who was lying on the ground, woke up. Francesca woke up moments later.
The news was playing. "...At a loss to explain the continent-wide storm system that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, blanketing a good part of the nation in freak lightning displays."
Dean and Francesca stood. Sam was listening to the news on his laptop at the table.
"Here with Dr. Marlon Price of the US Meteorological Survey at a press conference earlier today."
Dr. Marlon Price spoke. "Baffled? No, I'm not baffled." Francesca got a cup of coffee and Dean washed his face at the sink. "Frankly, I'm offended. This is not the way weather behaves."
"Power outages and related damages to electronic equipment have been reported from as far east as Cape Cod..."
A metal cup near Dean moved. "Bobby? Bobby, is that you?"
"Think so," Sam said, holding up a flashing EMF meter. "But that whole adventure at Roman's seems to have drained his batteries."
Francesca frowned. "So, what? We start the storm heard 'round the world?"
YOU ARE READING
Standing Outside the Fire
Mystery / ThrillerThey averted the apocalypse, but, as usual, there are more issues and monsters to face. Sam, Dean and Frankie have been through a lot, and there's lots more to come. From a soulless friend to a demonic mark, the question of if they can face what's...
