Part 4

Sam was impressed with Joshua's knowledge of the New York City transit system. He wanted to ask how Joshua gained the knowledge, had Carolyn taught him? But that would go beyond the conversation of hunt; which had been the limit of their discussions since they had left Caleb's home for the library.

Dean's phone call sent Sam to find Joshua to tell him they were requested back with the information they had found. Sam's data had led to an interesting pattern, as had Joshua's research.

As they were waiting for the subway there was a lull in conversation, leaving Sam with an opportunity to make things less uncomfortable with Joshua.

"I'm sorry about Ruby, about everything else. I was wrong. There really aren't any excuses I can make." It wasn't sufficient; he knew redemption would be difficult, maybe impossible. He would take the hard road to make amends. Lucifer had promised him an easy out but Sam knew there would be little in his life that was easy for some time to come.

"Apology accepted," Joshua said.

The curt reply caught Sam off guard. "That's it?" The subway wound to a stop in front of them.

They boarded but Joshua stood by the opposite door, ignoring the empty seats. Sam stood next to him and repeated himself. "Really? That's it?"

He’d decided to take the path of AA, taking one step at a time. He was surprised; it was easier than he thought.

The train got on its way as Joshua replied. "I think I'm the least of your worries. You disappointed your brother." He gripped the bar and made some space between himself and Sam, seeming to be uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Dean? He's forgiven me." Sam had slightly raised his voice, then brought it back under control although it didn't matter. No one was paying attention to them.

"Like Pastor Jim forgave me? Or my father? Or wait- think how long it took Dean to accept me." Joshua shook his head. He shifted slightly as if realizing he had made a mistake. "I don’t mean to be cruel. It was the worst secret that Dean held you up as the best of The Winchesters. He was proud of the man he raised."

Dean had apologized to Sam for what he had done wrong and blamed himself, but at the time Sam had not disagreed with his brother’s self-criticism. Sam wanted Dean to be as proud of him as he was of Dean. He knew he still had to work on it, the thinly veiled comments and jokes were still there; however, Caleb and Dean wanted to sweep his major discretions under the proverbial rug.

"I think that you're the right choice as an Advisor," Sam said.

Joshua gestured it was their stop. They prepared for the doors to open. "I'll accept the compliment, but I believe you'll be a challenging Triad."

"I think we already are," Sam replied as they exited onto the concrete. At least Joshua thought he should be part of The Triad. "So you really haven't accepted my apology."

Joshua shook his head as he climbed the first steps. "You are a PR man's nightmare. There is no spin I can put on addicted to demon blood, forsook your family to gallivant with a demon trollop."

Sam nodded and followed behind Joshua into the sunlight at sidewalk level. At a loss of what to say, he prepared to repeat his apology.

"But, Sam, give me longer than a few months. It's amazing how, in time, there'll be another big thing to make what you did insignificant." Joshua kept his gaze straight ahead, adopting the New York habit of not making eye contact with passersby.

There was only one thing that came to Sam’s mind which would make what he did look insignificant. "Something big like the end of the world?"

Joshua leveled his gaze at Sam with raised eyebrows. "Or the accomplishments of a new Triad."

Sam could see himself having mutual respect with Joshua in the near future. Though sometimes difficult, Sam had tried to support Joshua as he got older and grew to appreciate the other hunter's talents. They did not have far to walk and Sam kept the large envelope of information in his grip. He had forgotten the key, but sensed Caleb and Dean inside. He winced at the unintentional use of his abilities.

Joshua rang the bell. Dean answered the door with a curt, "Your mom sent leftovers."

They followed Dean into the kitchen where a laptop was opened and playing the song the children had hummed.

"Pastor Jim used to play that," Sam said as soon as he recognized the tune.

"Requiem by Mozart," Joshua added. "That's the song the children hummed?"

Dean gestured to the food laid out on the kitchen table. "Mac told us. How come you guys didn't remember that when they were here?"

"It didn't sound the same," Sam replied with a confirming look by Joshua. "It's a hard song to hum."

Caleb was having a cup of coffee. The Mister Coffee seemed to be working overtime in the corner. "What did you two find out? ’cause the clock is ticking. She's going after a little girl next."

"She?" Sam asked. Certainty would add to the information they had gathered at the library.

"I had a vision, and that part was clear," Caleb explained, resting his hip on the granite counter.

With one hand, Sam pulled from the envelope the sheets of paper they had printed out, while his other hand reached for an appetizer. He loved the triangle ones stuffed with spinach. "Well, we got some info on the kids. They died of a sudden virus that had them spiking a high fever. Fine one day, dead the next. Spread all over the country so no one could see a pattern."

Sam held the triangle appetizer in his hand. He put it back on the plate, unable to eat it at the moment.

"Kind of sounds like the swine flu," Caleb remarked.

"It's not—this comes on too suddenly, unnaturally so in healthy children." Joshua helped himself to a cup of coffee.

"Anything else that's similar?" Dean asked.

"Music," Joshua answered, pulling out a few sheets of paper which had some obituaries on it.

"Music?" Caleb leaned forward and muted the computer’s volume.

Joshua pointed to the parts he had circled. "They were all taking music lessons. A lot of the obits mentioned child prodigies."

"Same instrument?" Dean asked, pulling one of the articles closer.

"No." Sam bounced with the thrill of the connection. "But they all mentioned having a private music teacher who was heartbroken over the loss of a gifted student." He pointed to several spots he had highlighted in yellow.

Dean whistled and Sam took that as a compliment of work done well. "Do we want to track down some of these parents and get a description?" Dean asked.

"I'll look into it," Joshua said, taking the papers, then taking a plate with some of the leftovers to the other room.

Sam noted that Joshua had left him the spanikopita.

Dean knocked on the wood kitchen table, garnering Caleb and Sam's attention. "So if I had a child prodigy where would I go around here to find the best music teachers?"

Caleb smiled. "In New York City, it would be Juilliard. I would want someone from Juilliard to teach my child prodigy."

"What about that school in Fame?" Sam recalled a late night when he was unable to sleep. His brother didn't respond, instead glaring at him. "What? I downloaded it from bit torrent."

Dean cleared his throat. "I think we should find out if Juilliard has any new music teachers."

"I'm on it,” Caleb volunteered. "A phone call from a friendly reporter doing a story."

Dean pushed the dish towards Sam. "Eat your snack, Dude." Dean went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Coke, putting it by Sam's dish.

Sam nodded his thanks as he ate the leftovers and washed them down with the soda.

"Fame, Sam? Really?" Dean shook his head, taking a seat across from Sam.

Sam did not rise to his brother's teasing. He especially did not want to admit that in the early days of them being back together when Dean returned from Hell, he felt lonely with Dean in the room. Downloading movies via bit torrent had been a good distraction.

He finished off the Coke and quickly washed the plate, placing it in the dish drainer to dry. "We could help Joshua," Sam suggested.

Dean shrugged his shoulders. "I'm delegating."

Caleb came back into the room, slipping his cellphone into his pocket. "We've got two new teachers. Female teachers." The laptop was still on the table. Sam watched Caleb open two windows and, within seconds, bring up a staff biography with photograph on each one.

Dean tilted his head. "Both are kinda plain."

Joshua came into the room, notes written on one of the sheets of paper he held.

"Both fit the description of a dark-haired, petite woman," Joshua stated. "I got through to parents of two of the most recently deceased kids. That was the best description."

"What do you want to do? We can follow them." Caleb suggested.

"I'm sticking around for Matty," Dean stated, looking away from Sam.

"We might not have to play stalker," Sam replied, before pointing to the computer screen. "See if Ethan can find out where these two were before New York City. If it matches up with where one of the kids was. . ."

"Then we have her," Caleb finished, giving Sam a clap on the back. "I'll call him and pass along the names."

Joshua put the papers back on the kitchen table next to the laptop. "I'll be heading out, dinner plans with Caroline. Do you need me to stay in the city? Because I was going to head to North Carolina before getting to the farm for the ceremony."

"You can go,” Dean said. "We'll call if we need anything. Thanks for the help." He stretched out his hand and Joshua grasped it. "We'll see you in a couple of days."

Caleb gave a half wave while the phone was to his ear. Sam put his hand up to wave to, but Joshua put his hand out. Sam accepted the handshake for the peace offering it was. "Thanks."

When Caleb finished he announced he was still going to track down the women to see if he could get a feeling from either one of them. Sam remained with his brother. They wanted to research exactly what type of creature they were dealing with, find a name for the hunt. Sam had some ideas and began researching in the strange quietness of Caleb's home. "Rats!"

Dean looked up from where he sat on the couch, leaning over the coffee table with another laptop. "Something wrong?"

Sam typed another search string into Google. "No, I wonder if the rat population has spiked."

"O-kay." Dean sighed. "I'll bite. What do rats have to do with a music teacher gone wrong?" With a gesture, he encouraged his brother to explain.

"It's like the Pied Piper, or in this case, the Pied Piperess," Sam revealed. “I’ve found different stories from more than a few western European cultures, but they’re all pretty much the same.”

Dean questioned his brother’s line of discovery. "There’ve been that many towns who hired a piper to deal with rat infestations before squelching on the deal so the piper took their kids?”

"Well, obviously not exactly that, but the same idea. An individual who claims to have been wronged clears the debt by taking a child or children.” Sam tapped the computer screen. “In each version of the story there’s a link to music and rats. We all know the Pied Piper of Hamlin, but there’s also the Mountain Man of Mulhouse, or the Sea Widow of Oslo… she turned her village’s children into rats and lured them into the ocean with flute music after fishermen refused to risk searching for her children who’d been swept off a rock during a violent storm.”

Dean’s look of doubt faded somewhat. “Are you sure it’s not flute related? I mean, think about it, that kind of evil would explain Jethro Tull.”

“C’mon, man, seriously, what do you think?"

"All right, so you may be onto something. But I'm not checking the sewers for rats, Sammy." Dean leaned back against the leather couch and stretched. "Maybe it's a job for The Knight?"

Sam did not think Caleb would appreciate being sent into the New York City sewer system. "We don't have to check the sewers. We can call the health department." Sam pulled out his cell phone; calling the number he had Googled after not finding an on-line list of complaints.

The lady at the health department was a bit surly but did confirm that rat complaints had increased in the last week. Even before he hung up, Sam’s smile gave away the fact that his theory was confirmed.

Dean stood. "Dude, that's cool and all, but how do we kill it… her…it, whatever? And what happens to the extra rats?"

"I don't know if, once we kill her, the rats will disappear," Sam replied.

"Guess exterminators will be busy," Dean quipped. "Maybe Bobby will have some information that can help us."

"You think he'd be able to get a hold of anything while at Cullen's?" Sam knew Dean wanted the distraction from waiting for Matty.

"Doesn't he always say that his mind is the biggest supernatural encyclopedia?" Dean said with false levity as he retrieved his phone from the coffee table to call Bobby.

Despite Dean wandering around the room and back and forth from the kitchen, Sam could overhear the entire overextended conversation. When two men talk about how lovely the bride looked and how good the canapés tasted--it is a reaching conversation. Sam didn't know his brother even knew the word canapés. But, Dean had been occupied for fifteen minutes.

Dean closed his phone. "He said he'd look into it, but off hand he's never heard of a Pied Piperess or how to kill one."

Sam just nodded.

Dean went back to the couch with a sigh. Sam went back to research, until interrupted a few minutes later by his brother.

"Text from Damien. He's coming back with some pizzas." With a cup of room-temperature coffee as his companion, Dean moved to take up a position in front of the window. It was starting to become dark out.

"Is Matty out there?" Sam asked, pushing aside his research.

"Yeah, he's coming up the street now." Dean moved to the door. Joshua had already put his special dust over the threshold before he left with strict instructions on how to care for the spell. Sam still wondered why Dean was the only one able to see the kids.

Dean opened the door, and once Matty was inside he was revealed to Sam again.

"I came back," the boy announced to them. They were not trapping him in a salt circle, but he still remained in a limited area.

Dean stood in front of him. "Any problems?"

"No, Billy's covering for me. The others stayed behind- we thought it would be better that way," Matty shrugged.

"Matty, do you know the story about the Pied Piper?" Sam asked, and when Matty nodded he continued. "We think the same thing happened to you kids. You were lured by the music."

The boy frowned. "That story did not have a good ending. The parents never saw their kids again."

"Matty, I promise we'll get you to a better place, but we have to ask- did you have a music teacher? Play an instrument?" Dean bent down, and got closer to Matty, unlike before when he was prevented by the protection circle.

"Yeah, I played the guitar. Billy and I went for private lessons with Miss Connie."

Dean looked up at Sam.

"What was Miss Connie like?" Sam asked.

"She had long dark hair. She had a really pretty voice. Sometimes she sang with us."

Sam nodded. This Pied Piperess was not only using music, but coming to them in the familiar form of their mothers after first making their acquaintance and gaining their trust.

His brother was about to reach out and ruffle Matty's hair, but stopped. "We have some ideas, and maybe by tomorrow we can finish it. Sounds good?"

Matty nodded. "I should go."

Dean put his hand up. "One more question—the angel that you talked to- was he wearing a trench coat?"

Matty tucked his head back like turtle. "A what? I don't know."

"Okay, what was he wearing?" Dean tried again.

"He had a white collar," Matty put a hand on his neck, "and silver hair. He said you would help."

Sam could not hide his startled look. He glanced at Dean who shook his head. "Okay, thanks, kid, get going."

Sam broke from his reverie and opened the door for Matty. Dean stayed by the door until Sam assumed he could no longer see the boy. Then Sam picked up the dust and placed it again in the Tupperware container.

Dean broke the silence. "You going to say anything?"

"Sounded like Pastor Jim." Sam leaned against the wall after picking up the dust.

"Yeah, I know." Dean headed into the kitchen and pulled two beers from the refrigerator, wordlessly passing one to his brother who had followed him..

Caleb found them nursing their beers as he entered, balancing three pizza boxes. "Thanks for the help." He put the boxes on the table, not noticing the awkwardness, and grabbed a bottle of Sam Adams from the refrigerator. "Well, I got nothing. What did Matty say?"

"He and his best bud took music lessons," Dean replied, then took a long pull, before putting the empty in the sink.

"Well, that's confirmation," Caleb answered as he opened the top box and retrieved a wide slice, folding its edges inward for easier eating.. "What else?"

"Are you going to tell him?" Sam asked, putting down his beer and stopping his brother from going into the pizza box. Sam met Dean's scrutiny.

Dean sighed. "Jim was the one who told the kids."

It took a moment for Caleb to catch up. He stopped chewing, then swallowed. "Jim? Pastor Jim? Our Jim?"

"Yeah." Dean ignored the pizza and uncomfortably crossed his arms.

"I wasn't expecting that," Caleb said. He looked thoughtful, then took a swig of beer. "Mac invited us over to hear about the hunt. Do you want to go?"

"No, man." Dean shook his head. "And I’d rather not tell him about Jim right now if that's okay with you."

Sam nodded. This was confirmation that Dean was being guided; they were all being guided, by Jim. It gave finality to the decision that had been set into motion. "Maybe some poker?"

Dean groaned. "I am never going to hear the end of that am I?"

Sam never had an affinity for poker until playing with the witch for Dean's life. Then he realized the importance of the skill. After polishing off the pizza and a few hands of poker intermingled with reminiscing about the farm, they called it a night at midnight to retire to their own rooms

A few hours later, Sam awoke with a thought he could not let go. Discovering a history of the creature was one problem solved, killing it was another. He was also worried about the rats. So he retrieved his laptop from downstairs and left the door slightly ajar when he returned to his room.

His attention got diverted when his brother walked past the door. Dean turned towards the open crack in the door. "Hey, what are you doing up?"

"Some research. What about you?"

"I had to take a leak." Dean rubbed a hand down his face.

There was something more to Dean being awake than just his bladder, but Sam did not know how to pry.

"What are you researching?"

"How to kill that thing." Sam tapped the pen he was holding against the edge of the laptop.

"Good job, but don't stay up too late." Dean backed into the hallway.

"Dean, I'm not apologizing," Sam took a deep breath, feeling as though Pastor Jim was watching over him. "But I want to say that I let you down, and you can count on me. I'm going to make it up to you or die trying." It had taken Joshua years to gain forgiveness and trust from Dean, Sam hoped that being Dean's brother put him at an advantage.

Dean gave a curt nod. "Get some sleep, Sammy."