7. Supernatural: The Musical (Part 1)
Maeve has Sam and me in the sound and lights room, where we've got a good view of the stage from above. It's kind of an awesome perspective.
"Now, have you noticed anything strange during the production?" I ask her. "I mean, any odd noises, or, uh—"
"You mean, something like this?" Maeve pushes a button, and we hear a scream. "Or this?" There's another weird noise at the push of a button.
"Right. Of course."
"How about this?" Another weird noise.
"W-we got it," says Sam. "Thanks. You know, back when I did tech in school, we had two CD decks—"
"I'm sorry, I have to go sign the delivery," says Maeve. Someone must've got to her through the headset she's wearing. "Please, don't touch anything."
"Way to show our age, Sammy," I say, patting him on the shoulder as Maeve leaves.
I stand back and watch as Sam gives into the temptation of messing around up here. While two actresses are on stage, he messes with the lights.
"Sorry!" he says when they notice him. I can't help but laugh.
After we do our sweep of the school, we wait outside by Baby. Dean's probably still inside. Once he comes back, he explains to us about this whole thing of "Destiel" which apparently is pairing my older brother up with Cas.
Oh, yeah, because that's not awkward at all. Having girls pair your big brother up with the angel that you're currently in a relationship with.
"I don't understand," says Sam.
"Me either," says Dean.
"I mean, shouldn't it be...Deastiel?"
I snicker.
"Really? That's your issue with this?"
Sam smirks. "No, of course it's not my issue. You know...How about Sastiel? Samstiel?"
"Hmm, what about Jostiel?" I get in on the little game. "Cassette?"
"Those aren't half bad, Jo. Think Cassette sounds better though."
"Thanks for the approval, Sammy."
"Okay, all right," Dean says. "You know what? You're both gonna do that thing, where you just shut the hell up. Forever."
Sam laughs. "Look, man. No EMF. No hexbags. None of the props are even remotely hincky. Other than the Charlie Kaufman of it all, Jo and I got nothing. You?"
"In Ms. Chandler's office, there's just a pile of empty bottles and regret. She's just probably face down in a bar, somewhere. Or a ditch."
"Way to be grim, Dean," I comment.
"Alright, so what? This—this all...This whole musical thing, everything, it's...It's all a coincidence? There is no case?"
"Unless you're seeing something I'm not, no, Dean. There's no case here," says Sam.
Sam and I are on the right side of Baby while Dean goes to the driver side. I look at my brother.
"CasDean?" I tease.
"Shut your face! Get in the car!"
* * *
We find ourselves back at the high school, back in the auditorium, back in our Feds gear. A student has gone missing this time.
While Dean talks to Ms. Salazar, Sam and I have been talking to an officer. Sam and I finish up by the time Dean comes back.
"So, I checked with the principal. There's nothing on the surveillance tapes. What the—what the cops think?" he asks.
"You know, the only clue they found was by the dumpster," says Sam. "They found the same flower, near Ms. Chandler's cell phone." Sam shows the flower to Dean. "You recognize it?"
"No."
"We don't either," I say.
I look to find Marie and Maeve. Maeve, who looks more stable than the two right now. She's got Marie a coffee. I'm the first to approach the girls.
"Hey," I say softly.
"Let me guess," says Marie. "You guys came here to laugh at me too. Right?"
"Why don't you tell us what happened to your friend?"
"Maggie quit the show. She was trying to get it shut down, so, we were fighting. Then, she—she left, and I heard her scream. So, I ran outside to help. And...And I saw a scarecrow. It looked just like the one from our show. But...Alive."
"Then what?" I ask.
"It wrapped her in vines, and took her behind the dumpster. And then, they were both just...gone. So, I called the cops, and a bunch of adults just told me I have an overactive imagination. But, it's all real. Ghosts. Angels. Demons."
"I wanna believe," murmurs Maeve.
"You should believe," says Sam. I look at him. "You both should. Cause, it is all real. And so are we. I'm Sam Winchester. That's Dean. And this is our sister, Josette."
Marie and Maeve look at each other and then burst out into laughter.
"Okay!" says Marie. "Now, look. I'm willing to accept that monsters are real. But those books are works of fiction."
"And you guys are way too old to be Sam, or Dean," says Maeve. "And Josette wasn't that big of a character. She wasn't even mentioned enough to really play any part of the series."
I take offense to that, but then I realize how true Maeve's words are. I wasn't around for a long time.
"Oh, yeah!" Marie agrees.
"More of a Bobby-Rufus combo? Maybe."
"Okay," I say, a bit impatient. "All right. Little miss sunshine. We are what the books called hunters."
"FBI hunters?"
"Yeah."
Marie and Maeve look at each other.
"You guys are X-Files," says Maeve.
"Sure," says Sam. "Yeah, you can say that. So, this scarecrow, from your musical, is it based on the one from the books?"
"No, I changed it," says Marie. "I got scared of a local legend when I was a kid. There was this old creepy scarecrow, on an abandoned farm, outside of town. Kids used to say, if it caught you, it would take you away."
"Okay," I say. "If this scarecrow is based on your version, then Ms. Chandler and Maggie might still be alive."
"You think the scarecrow was created by the play?" asks Maeve.
"You think...It's a tulpa!" Marie exclaims.
We find ourselves in the school library. Sam finds the book we're looking for and opens to the page we need. He sets it down in front of Maeve and Marie.
"Tulpas are monsters that are created by an intense, focused energy on an idea, or—"
"Or a story," finishes Marie.
"Great," says Maeve. "How do you kill an idea?"
"Well, in Hell House, Sam and Dean burnt the house down, to take out the one tulpa they hunted."
"Yeah, yeah," says Dean, "you kill the symbol, you kill the tulpa. It's a—actually, a pretty good start. So, the scarecrow in your play. Is it a person, or a prop?"
"Prop," says Marie. "And it's terrifying. We keep it in the boiler room."
"That's uh, great," I say. "Can you guys read up? Just, give us a sec." I pull my brothers aside.
"Fine, so, this doesn't add up," says Sam. "Tulpas require a ton of psychic energy to juice up. Well, it's not like the Supernatural books are tearing up the New York Times best-seller list. And I seriously doubt this play has even sold out."
"I hope not," says Dean.
"Well, but, you know what? This flower." Sam shows us the picture. "I know I've seen it in the lore, somewhere. There's gotta be a connection."
"Alright. You get on that, I'm gonna take a shot at burning man."
I stay with Sam and Maeve while Dean and Marie go to the boiler room. Sam heads the research party, as we try to find the connection to the flower. It takes us a while, long enough for Dean and Marie to come back. But by that time, we've figured out where Sam has seen the flower.
"It's not a tulpa," I say, destroying Dean and Marie's victorious air around them.
"What?" asks Dean.
"It's not a tulpa," Sam parrots me.
"Say it one more time, but just a little bit more Arnold, like—it's not a tulpa."
"Dude, come on. It's Calliope."
"Who?"
"The goddess of epic poetry?" Maeve cuts in. "The muse."
"She's associated with this—the borage, or starflower," I say, showing the picture. "That's the picture."
"Okay, wait," Dean stops me. "If this is a god thing, then what's with the scarecrow?"
"According to the lore, Calliope manifests creatures from the story she's tuned into."
"So...The scarecrow is still alive, and we burned my prop for nothing?" asks Marie, who looks horrified.
"Oh, that thing needed to burn," comments Dean.
"The only way to destroy the scarecrow is to kill Calliope," says Maeve.
"Right," I agree. "She uses these manifestations, like the scarecrow, to inspire the author, and protect them, until their vision is realized."
"Then, what?" asks Dean.
"Then, she eats the author," says Sam awkwardly.
"Okay, that's bad!" Marie squeaks. "Um...Well! You get your wish. Let's cancel the show."
"That's what your teacher and your classmate did. They tried to shut you down, and the scarecrow took them. Protecting you, and the show."
"Okay, so, the scarecrow is the boogey man," says Dean. "We got to take our shot with this, uh..."
"Calliope," I remind my brother.
"Calliope. But she won't show herself until—your vision has realized."
"So...What are you saying?" Marie asks timidly.
"The show must go on."
Now, even Marie looks terrified.