EmilyWood691

CHAPTER 48: Sleeping the Sun Down The effect of the sunlight was quick. While the wood sprites of the group had plenty of energy just owed to finally being free, having the sun on their wings brought a notable difference. Jacob had barely settled himself next to the bed before two of the younger nestlings pulled the wraith sprite along with them onto the covers to bounce across the plush surface. Vel, by contrast, practiced his patience. He kept hold of Dean's hand even as his wings opened again to accept the sunlight. He reached out to tentatively tug at Sam's sleeve. "I tried to be brave, just like you an' Bowman when that big thing was in Wellwood. Me and Dean stayed brave and I only got scared a little bit. Sometimes." “I bet you did,” Sam said admiringly as he knelt down to give Vel a hug, brushing a hand over the little quivering wings as his arms enveloped the child. “You and Dean are some of the bravest people I know. Everyone’s allowed to get a little scared. Even me

CHAPTER 47: Cleaning Up Bowman wasn't ready. He balked and his wings flared, but even though he put his hand up in defense, most of the pie filling sailed right past it. He reeled back in surprise as Dean's aim hit its mark with a splat. Bowman's sputters were lost among the sudden laughter from the others. Some of the younger sprites already had some of the messy food on their faces, but now they looked positively tidy compared to Bowman. Even his wild green hair hadn't been spared. "Dean," Bowman complained, brushing at his face and eyes and making a mess of his hands. He sent a glare at Dean, but for once couldn't come up with a single snarky reprimand. Dean just arched his eyebrows innocently at Bowman, shifting a giggling Vel in his arms. “I think we all know who wins here,” he declared smugly, wiping off the last of the filling on the side of the take-out container and leaving a handprint in the mess. “I think everyone needs a good wash,” Sam interrupted, a grin plastered to

CHAPTER 45: A Feast for Sprites By the time the rumble of the Impala returned just outside the door, Vel had shifted so he could lean against Dean's side and Rischa dozed on Bowman's lap. The double knock at the door startled them both awake. Jacob gave everyone a second, and then the door opened to admit him and the bags of food he'd brought back. He grinned at the relaxed huddle of sprites and hunters on the bed where he'd left them. He lingered back while the sprites rubbed at their eyes sleepily. "Hey, guys. Did I miss anything?" Bowman stretched his wings out behind himself in a greeting. "We had a festival while you were gone. Pity you didn't make it back in time." “What’s a party without food?” Dean said. Despite his lingering fears that prodded at him over Jacob’s size and the size of the room around him, he brightened right up at the prospect of a real dinner. “Plenty for everyone,” Sam said, looking over the bags Jacob had. Even if Dean was his regular gargantuan self

CHAPTER 44: Bowman's Secret Off Switch Chiding them all out of the room, Sam plucked up the sleepy Vel to drop him on Dean’s shoulders, then wrapped an arm around his older brother’s side to give him support. The Winchesters lead the way out from under the seats, all three of them. Just as Sam had promised, Jacob was waiting outside the car when they first emerged from under the seat. He knelt near the open door, but he didn't have room to worry about whether he looked weird. As he counted up the tiny sprites appearing behind Sam and Dean (and the one taking a piggyback ride), he only felt more and more relieved. They were all there, right in front of him. And he'd seen to it himself that the man who made them vanish couldn't do that again. He offered a smile once they were all in view. "Ready to get going?" he asked, his deep voice a low rumble no matter how he tried to keep his volume down. He almost moved to stand and get into the car at last, but froze as a thought finally

CHAPTER 43: Back Home for Dean Even with the false bravado, it took Dean a stretch of time before he put his boot up on Jacob's skin. Every nightmare he'd had for the last few days plagued him, and it took all Sam's coaxing to bring him to the center of Jacob's palm-- where Dean would be in the least danger of spotting the heights-- and sit with room for Vel in his lap. Jacob thanked all his practice with sprites perching on his hands. A couple years ago, when he first met Bowman, the feel of tiny little feet walking across his palm tickled him. He had twitched more than one trusting sprite right off, sending them fluttering away in surprise. Now, even with Vel's tiny steps walking over his palm, Jacob didn't move. Vel craned his neck back to look up at him, and Jacob nodded encouragingly at him. Vel smiled back and then settled himself on Dean's lap so there would be plenty of room for everyone on the huge hand. He nearly threw his arms around the shrunken human in a relieved hug,

CHAPTER 42: Bridging the Gap Shocked at the sight of the colt in Dean's hands, shakily leveled at Jacob while the small hunter stood with his boots planted against the tabletop, Sam reacted like a whip. "Dean, no!" he snapped, smacking it out of Dean's weak grip, afraid of his older brother shooting the one person that was helping them. That hit was the last straw for Dean's strength. He weakly crumpled to the ground even as the gun skidded across the table from them. Sam dove, getting a hand under Dean’s shoulder in seconds to catch his weight. Dean slumped into his arms, his face pallid and eyes blinking at Sam like he was looking at someone he’d never seen before. That look from Dean sent a strange brush against his neck. Weaker than it was with any humans he’d ever met, but definitely there, distinctly different from when he was around people his size. None of them ever gave him the strange feeling of being watched. At least one part of Dean hadn’t changed. Jacob froze, along

Chapter 41: A Long-Awaited Rescue As the deafening sound died off in the room, Sam slowly picked himself up from where he was flattened over Rischa again in an attempt to protect her from any backlash of the gunshot. His ears were ringing but the room was open enough that he wasn’t completely deafened, and he hoped the same was true for all the children in the cages. Sam ran his hand through Rischa’s hair, smiling warmly at her. “I told you Jacob would take care of things,” he said, voice higher than normal to hear over the ringing. “He’s got it under control.” Standing, Sam surveyed the room. His mind was closed to any disgust over the corpse crumpled against the wall, blood puddling around it. He was far more concerned with Jacob, Rischa and all the other children. “Jacob!” Sam called to snap his friend out of his post-fight daze. “Can you give me a hand? I can’t get the bindings off Rischa!” Jacob looked up from the blood on his shaking hands. Blinking quickly, he came back to