"Alright, thank you for your time." Sam hangs the payphone up, walking over to his siblings and niece with Libby in his arms.
"Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin' cold over here, Francis." Dean teases. Ophelia giggles and Natalie snorts.
"Bite me." Sam quips, sitting down with Libby on his lap.
"So, anything?" Dean asks and Sam shakes his head.
"I had 'em check the FBI's missing persons data bank. No John Does fitting dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations." Sam says.
"Sam, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think dad wants to be found." Dean says. "Check this out." He shows Sam the laptop. "It's a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about 100 from here."
Sam covers Libby's ears before reading out loud.
""The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road."" Sam reads.
"Keep reading." Dean says.
""Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitnesses, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible.""
"Could be something interesting."
"Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man." Sam says, uncovering Libby's ears.
"But what if it is?" Dean counters.
+++
Dean pulls up to the fraternity house.
"One more time, why are we here?" Sam asks, getting Libby out of her car seat.
"Victim lived here." Dean says, holding Ophelia's hand. "Nice wheels." He comments to the three guys working on a car. "We're your fraternity brothers, from Ohio. We're new in town -- transfers. Looking for a place to stay."
"What's with the chick and little girls?" One of the guys ask.
"Oh, uh... his girlfriend." Dean nudges Natalie to Sam who prevents her from falling.
"Dude." They both hiss.
"And, uh... these are her daughters. Early miracles and all that." Dean says.
~ ~ ~
"Dating? Really?" Natalie asks as they walk up to one of the rooms.
"It just popped into my head." Dean shrugs.
"How about me being one of your guys' fricking sister pops up next?" Natalie suggests.
Dean shushes her, knocking on the open door. A guy is standing in the room and using the body length mirror, only wearing shorts as he paints his skin purple.
"Who are you?" The guy asks.
"He and I are your new roommates. These three are visitors." Dean says, the group walking into the room.
"Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today." Dean says.
"He's the artists." Dean points at Sam. "Things he can do with a brush."
Sam glares at his brother who smirks. Sam looks at Natalie pleadingly and she shakes her head, following Dean to the armchair. Dean sits in the chair and pulls Ophelia onto his lap.
Natalie holds Libby and stands next to the chair.
"So..." Dean looks at the name on a magazine. "Murph. Is it true?"
"What?" Murph asks.
"We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week." Dean says.
"Yeah." He sadly says.
"What happened?" Sam asks, painting his back.
"They're saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy." Murph says.
"Rich, he was with somebody?" Sam asks.
"Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen." Murph says.
"Who's Lori Sorensen?" Dean asks. "You missed a spot. Just down there on the back." He tells Sam. His brother gives him an annoyed look and Dean tries to contain his grin.
"Lori's a freshman. She's a local, super hot. And get this -- she's a reverend's daughter."
"You wouldn't happen to know which church, would ya?" Dean asks.
+++
They got to the church in the middle of the service and now everybody is leaving and some are talking outside.
"Are you Lori?" Sam asks.
"Yeah." She nods.
"My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean, and sister, Natalie. Uh, niece, Ophelia, and-and daughter, Libby." Sam introduces. "We just transferred here to the university."
"I saw you inside." Lori says.
"We don't wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and..."
"We wanted to say how sorry we were." Dean says.
"I kind of know what you're going through. I-I saw someone... get hurt once. It's something you don't forget." Sam says and Lori slightly nods as the reverend walks up.
"Dad, um, this is Sam, Dean, and Natalie. They're new students. This is Ophelia and Libby, uh... his kid and his." Lori informs.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon." Dean says.
"Thank you very much. It's so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord's message." The reverend says.
"Listen, uh, we're new in town, actually. And, uh, we were looking for a, u, a church group." Dean says, him, Ophelia, and Natalie walking away with the reverend.
"Tell me, Lori. What are the police saying?" Sam asks as the two start walking.
"Well, they don't have a lot to go on. I think they blame me for that." Lori says.
"What do you mean?" Sam asks.
"My story. I was so scared, I guess I was "seeing things.""
"That doesn't mean it wasn't real."
+++
"So, you believe her?" Dean asks as they walk through the library.
"I do." Sam says.
"Yeah, I think she's hot too." Dean says.
"Dean." Natalie rolls her eyes.
"No, man, there's something in her eyes. And listen to this -- she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car." Sam says.
"Wait, the body suspended? That sounds like the--"
"Yeah, I know, the Hook Man legend."
"That's one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don't think that we're dealing with the Hook Man?"
"Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began."
"Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?"
"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn't a man at all. What if it's some kind of spirit?"
~ ~ ~
"Here you go. Arrest records going back to 1851." The librarian puts a few boxes on the table they're sitting at.
"Thanks." Dean says.
"Okay." She walks off.
Dean blows some dust off the box, coughing.
"So, this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?" Dean asks. Sam wipes some dust off the box, inspecting his hand.
"Yeah, and why I didn't go to college." Natalie mutters.
"Welcome to higher education." Sam says.
~ ~ ~
"Hey, check this out." Sam says. He glances at the chair Libby and Ophelia are in, both girls having fallen asleep from boredom and lack of sleep from nightmares.
"1862 -- a preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, "some of the deceased were found in their bed, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh.""
"Get this, the murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook." Dean says.
"Look where all this happened." Sam says.
"9 Mile Road."
"Same place where frat boy was killed."
"Nice job, Dr. Venkmen. Let's check it out."
+++
Natalie stayed with the girls at the motel while Sam and Dean went to 9 Mile Road last night, only to get caught by the police and they took Sam in.
After bailing Sam out, a bunch of police cars raced away, Dean following them to the sorority house. They drive by, seeing Lori sitting in the back of an ambulance truck.
Dean drives away, parking on the other side and they all get out, sneaking to the sorority house. They walk around the back of the house.
"Why would the Hook Man come here? This is a long way from 9 Mile Road." Sam says.
"Maybe he's not haunting the scene of his crime. Maybe it's about something else." Dean says. They duck behind the wall as two girls leave the house. Sam gets Libby to latch onto him as he climbs the house. "Dude, sorority girls! Think we'll see a naked pillow fight?" Natalie smacks him over the head.
"We don't do that, Dean." She tells him.
"Sorority girls might." Dean argues.
"No. I can pretty safely assure they don't. We don't do 98% of the shit you guys have in your imagination." Natalie says. "Now give me a boost."
"Wha-- oh." Dean turns and finally realizes Sam climbed up the wall. Dean lets go of Ophelia and crouches with his back against the wall, cupping his hands. "You gonna get up there without spraining something?"
"Dude, I'm not Urkel." Natalie says.
"I beg to differ." Dean shrugs. Natalie rolls her eyes and puts her foot in Dean's hands, pushing herself up. She makes sure to step on his head. "Ow." He whines.
"Whoops." Natalie deadpans.
Sam isn't holding Libby and leans down, holding a hand out towards Natalie.
"C'mon, c'mon." He mutters. Natalie grabs his hand and Sam pulls her up the rest of the way.
"Okay, Ophi, you good with climbing?" Dean asks.
"uh..." Ophelia nervously glances up at the height.
"Daddy's right behind you. I won't let you fall." Dean assures. He picks her up and holds her up, waiting for her to grip onto what she can grab onto. Dean gets up, staying a few inches below her in case she falls.
"There we go. You got it. Keep going." Dean encourages. Ophelia continues to climb until Sam grabs her arms, pulling her up.
"You okay?" Sam asks the girl and she nods.
Dean gets up and they go to the window of Lori and her roommate's walk in closet. Sam clambers in and then Dean goes in, landing on top of Sam.
"Oh, sorry." Dean says.
"Be quiet." Sam hisses.
"You be quiet." Dean hisses back.
"Okay, girlies." Natalie picks Libby up and Sam grabs his daughter, making sure to not hit her head on the window. Natalie helps Ophelia climb in before getting in herself.
They stay in the closet until Sam sees the cop in the bedroom walk out. He starts to open the door, but it creaks making him stop. The cop doesn't return so they walk out, seeing words written in blood on the wall.
""Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" That's right out of the legend." Sam says.
"Yeah, that's classic Hook Man, all right. It's definitely a spirit." Dean says, tapping his nose to signal the horrible smell.
"Yeah, I've never smelled ozone this strong before." Sam says. "Hey, come here." Sam points out the symbol drawn underneath the writing. "Does that look familiar to you?"
+++
"It's the same symbol. Seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns." Sam says.
"All right, let's find this dude's grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down." Dean says.
""After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave."" Sam reads.
"Super." Dean remarks.
"Great." Natalie sighs.
"Okay, so we know it's Jacob Karns. But we still don't know where he'll manifest next. Or why." Sam says.
"I'll take a wild guess about why. I think your little friend Lori has something to do with this."
+++
Natalie and Dean are at a college party. Sam is out researching and he has both of the girls.
Natalie got "accidentally" separated from Dean and she managed to make it to the drink table, downing a few shots quickly.
"Hey." Sam finds his brother. He's holding Libby and holding Ophelia's hand. Libby is covering her ears, not liking the loud noises of yelling and music.
"Man, you've been holding out on me. This college thing is awesome!" Dean exclaims.
"This wasn't really my experience." Sam says.
"Let me guess. Libraries, studying, straight A's? What a geek. Well, not a total geek. You did manage to reproduce." Dean says.
"Where's Natty?" Sam asks.
"I don't know." Dean shrugs.
"Great." Sam sighs, knowing she's probably drunk.
"All right, you do your homework?" Dean asks.
"Yeah. It was bugging me, right? So how is the Hook Man tied up with Lori? So I think I came up with something." Sam says as they walk outside of the house and he gives Dean a piece of paper.
"1932. Clergyman arrested for murder. 1967, Seminarian held in hippie rampage."
"There's a pattern here. In both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immortality. And then found himself wanted for killings he claimed were the work of an invisible force. Killings carried out -- get this -- with a sharp instrument."
"What's the connection to Lori?"
"A man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality? Except maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he's just trying to save his only daughter."
"Reverend Sorensen. You think he's summoning the spirit?"
"Maybe. Or, you know how a poltergeist can haunt a person instead of a place?"
"Yeah, the spirit latches onto the reverend's repressed emotions, feeds off them, yeah, okay."
"Without the reverend ever even knowing it."
"Either way, you should keep an eye on Lori tonight." Dean says and Sam nods.
"What about you?" Sam asks. Dean looks at an attractive blonde for a few moments.
"I'm gonna go see if I can find that unmarked grave." Dean says, despite wanting to do completely different stuff.
"Okay. Uh, I'll find Nat, keep her with me." Sam says.
"Yeah." Dean says.
"Here. I'll see you later, all right, baby?" Sam tells Libby. He kisses her cheek before handing her to Dean.
Dean sighs, reluctantly leaving with the two children.
+++
Dean gets to the hospital with his daughter and niece, but the police don't let him get to Sam.
"No, it's all right. We're with him. He's my brother. Her uncle, her dad." Dean points to where Sam is standing with the sheriff. "Hey, brother!" He smiles and waves.
"Daddy!" Libby cheers.
"Let 'em through." The sheriff says. The cops let them through.
"Thanks." Dean says, walking over to Sam. Libby holds her arms out for her dad and he takes her.
"It go okay?" Sam asks.
"Yeah. Yeah, they were both asleep in the car, so nobody say anything." Dean says. "Bodies, fire, tired Dean, all good. Where's Nat?"
"I called her, she should be on her way." Sam says.
"Okay. What the hell happened?" Dean asks.
"Hook Man." Sam informs.
"You saw him?" Dean asks.
"Damn right. Why didn't you torch his bones?"
"What are you talking about, I did. You sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?"
"It sure as hell looked like him. And that's not all... I don't think the spirit is latching on to the reverend."
"Well, yeah, the guy wouldn't send the Hook Man after himself."
"What's up?" Natalie walks up, her sunglasses on.
"Are you wearing sunglasses inside? What's wrong with you? Where have you been?" Dean asks.
"Um... you definitely don't wanna know." Natalie says.
"Please don't say you were out having adult fun." Dean says.
"I most definitely was. You know, I always promised myself that I wouldn't ever sleep with a frat dude. But I was too drunk to care... and he was really good."
"Oh. Okay, ugh! Ew." Dean gags in disgust.
"Good at what?" Ophelia asks.
"You'll get it when you're older." Natalie tells her.
"No, she won't." Dean argues.
"Okay." Natalie rolls her eyes behind her sunglasses.
"Look, I think it's latching onto Lori. Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman." Sam says
"So what?" Dean asks.
"So, she's upset about it. She's upset about the immorality of it. She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished." Sam says.
"Okay, so she's conflicted. And the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching on to repress the emotions and maybe he's doing the punishing for her, huh?" Dean asks.
"Right. Rich comes on too strong, Taylor tries to make her into a party girl, dad has an affair." Sam says.
"Remind me not to piss this girl off." Dean says.
"Hmm. I wouldn't tell her that these two were born out of wedlock, then." Natalie comments.
"But I burned those bones, I buried them in salt, why didn't that stop him?" Dean asks.
"You must have missed something." Sam says.
"No. I burned everything in that coffin." Dean says.
"Did you get the hook?" Sam asks.
"The hook?"
"Well, it was the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him."
"So, it's like the bones, the hook is a source of his power."
"So if we find the hook..."
"We stop the Hook Man." The siblings chorus.
"Whoa." Libby mumbles.
+++
After researching and finding out where the hook is -- which was melted down and made into something else -- the three siblings get to the church that Lori's dad preaches at. They dropped the girls off at the motel, figuring they were safer there than with them.
"All right, we can't take any chances. Anything silver goes in the fire." Dean says.
"I agree. So, Lori's still at the hospital. We'll have to break in." Sam says.
"All right, take your pick." Dean says.
"I'll take the house." Sam says.
"Okay." Dean grabs Natalie's wrist. "Hey." He calls to Sam. "Stay out of her underwear drawer." Dean drags Natalie to the church.
"You're disgusting." Natalie tells her brother.
~ ~ ~
Dean and Natalie are in the basement and throwing all the silver stuff they found into the fire. Sam rushes down the stairs with a bag of silver stuff.
"I got everything that even looked silver." Sam says.
"Better safe than sorry." Dean says, the three tossing everything into the fire. They stop when they hear footsteps above them. "Move, move." The three go upstairs quietly.
They open the door, finding Lori sitting in a pew alone and crying. Dean and Natalie go back downstairs, leaving Sam to talk to Lori.
After throwing stuff in for a few more minutes, they hear yelling and running upstairs. They rush upstairs, Lori on the floor, Sam standing in front of her, and the Hook Man standing in front of them.
"Sam, drop!" Dean shouts. Sam drops to the floor and Dean shoots the Hook Man making him disappear.
"I thought we got all the silver." Sam says.
"So did we." Natalie says.
"Then why is he still here?" Sam asks.
"Does it look like we know?" Natalie retorts.
"Maybe we missed something!" Dean exclaims.
"Lori, where did you get that chain?" Sam asks, noticing the necklace around her neck.
"My father gave it to me." She tells him.
"Where'd your dad get it?" Dean asks.
"He said it was a church heirloom, he gave it to me when I started school." Lori says.
"Is it silver?!" Sam asks.
"Yes!" She answers. Sam rips the necklace off. The Hook Man, who is currently invisible, makes a long scratch along the wall.
"Sam!" Dean tosses him his gun and Sam tosses the necklace. Natalie and Dean race downstairs, tossing the necklace into the fire.
They watch it melt, going upstairs when it's fully melted. Sam and Lori are still on the floor and the Hook Man is gone.