The Price of Freedom

3

Gabriel turned when he started to hear whispers. They sounded a lot like his name. "Gabriel...Gabriel Samuel...Gabriel..." As they got closer he heard the full message, and instantly recognized the voice. "Gabriel Samuel Winchester, find me. Follow the wake." Frowning, he looked out in the direction of the wind.

"Dad!" He started laughing. 

"Gabriel?" Castiel looked over in confusion.

"It's Mary. She's okay."  He sighed, looking out over the field, a broad smile on his face. 

Castiel sagged in relief. "How do you know?" He tried to follow his son's gaze, but there was nothing to see. 

"I heard her voice. And the grass; she's bound, so she can't affect the physical world, but I can see it." He watched the grass blacken, except for a nearly perfect straight line a couple feet wide. It was a path.

"Her voice?" Dean said. "What'd she say?"

"She told me to find her by following the wake. I assume she meant the wind and the grass."

"Off we go then." Dean gestured to the car. Sam got in the passenger seat, but Dean stopped Gabriel on his way to sit. "Hey. You can see where we're going. You might see something else that we can't." He held out the keys, and Gabriel glanced toward the car now full of stunned people, stunned a bit himself. 

"Seriously?" 

"Seriously. Take the keys. Dad let me drive when I was your age. Time you learned. Just don't ride the brakes." 

Dean gestured to Sam, who rolled his eyes and got out of the front seat, squishing into the back beside Castiel, who had unfortunately gotten the middle seat.

Gabriel took a deep breath, but got in and turned the key. But when he looked up to see where they were going, he stopped. "Where'd it go?"

"Where'd what go?" Dean asked.

"I can't see the trail anymore. I remember the general direction, but I wouldn't be able to go the whole way." He turned it back off and stepped out, and as soon as he did, he saw it again. "Well," he sighed, "guess we're walking." He looked down at the ground, then smirked. Clay. He knew his sister had a fascination with it and how conductive it was for magic.

Sam groaned as he folded himself out of the car. "Works for me."

"I'm putting my hand on your shoulder," Castiel said before doing so. "Can you tell how far?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No. It goes over the hill there." 

"Let's get to it then. Lead the way, Gabe."

They were walking for miles, mostly uphill. Sam and Dean fell behind fairly often, but no one waited for them. They couldn't.

Crowley was watching their interactions; he had very limited contact with the youngest Winchesters. The most interesting part was how he noticed people telling Gabriel, or asking him, before even the simplest touches. He didn't know yet why, but he was watching, and he would find out.

"There!" Gabriel shouted finally. He was pointing at an empty lot another quarter mile ahead of them. "That's where it all meets."

"Finally," Dean sighed. "But what are we supposed to do with an empty lot?"

They walked up on it, and there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing. Gabriel closed his eyes. "Okay, Mary, where are you? I followed the wake. I did what you asked. Talk to me."

The ground felt as though it was pulsing. He crouched and put his hand down, digging into the dirt. It was cold, but he could feel the heat of energy in it. It was her. She was close. They were working together.

~ 

Mary and Farrah were sitting on the concrete floor, holding hands, eyes closed. They were trying to blow the ceiling off. It was obviously a cell, but for who and why? The warding was strange, something neither one had ever seen.

"They're coming," Farrah said after another failed attempt. 

Mary smirked. "Oh, I know. We're going to be fine. We have the legendary hunters that monsters have nightmares about on our side. Not to mention how pissed Gabe is. Whatever it is that took us, it won't survive."

"I'm fairly sure I know who it is," Farrah said. "The warding. It's nothing we've ever seen before, and what culture have we studied least?"

"Of course," Mary laughed. "It's the freaking Men of Letters." Spanish edition this time. She muttered under her breath, "Todos puedan ir directamente a infierno." If she knew cuss words in Spanish, she would've used those too. 

She just made her mom laugh, so there they sat, waiting, knowing that soon their family would be there to save them.