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The sounds of thumps and crashes from one of the bunker’s storerooms brought Sam Winchester on the run. He found his brother Dean in the center of the room, surrounded by a litter of open boxes, chests and scattered manila folders, a befuddled look on his face. Sam automatically reached for his gun. Maybe they had a poltergeist. Wouldn’t be the first time. “You all right?”Dean whirled on him. “What the hell’s going on?”
He didn’t look hurt, so Sam took his hand off his gun and relaxed. “Are you drunk again?”
Dean snorted. “Hell if I know. I found this bottle of something and—” He held up an empty bottle, then stared at it as if surprised to find it in his hand. “The hell is this?”
“Here, let me see that.” Sam held out his hand. Dean handed the bottle over and went back to poking through the accumulated Men of Letters memorabilia still on the shelves. It was as if he’d forgotten Sam was there.
Sam examined the bottle. “There’s some kind of sigils on the label.” Dean didn’t answer. “Dean?”
Castiel came up behind him. “I heard noises. Is there a problem?”
Sam inclined his head toward Dean, who turned at the sound of Castiel’s voice. He stared at Cas. “Who the hell are you?”
Cas glanced at Sam. “Is he drunk again?”
“I don’t think so.” He passed the bottle on to Cas. “Can you read this label?”
“Let me see. Ah. It is, or was, water from the river Lethe. The river of forgetfulness in the Grecian underworld.” The two of them looked toward Dean. “I think I know what happened.”
Dean stared back. “The hell’s going on?”
“Yeah, me too.” Sam sighed. “Know anything about an antidote?”
“Not offhand. Why don’t we leave him this way?”
“What? Are you out of your—”
Castiel stepped forward. “You,” he said to Dean. “You want to know what’s going on?”
“Hell yeah.”
“I’m the master of this household. This is my colleague. You are the housekeeper. You have a habit of getting into things better left alone.”
Dean only looked a little contrite. “Uh … sorry?”
“Not good enough. You’ll have to be severely punished. Go to the room at the end of the hall, take off all your clothes, and wait for me.”
“Um … yeah, okay.”
Dean left the room and headed down the hall. Sam stared after him, uneasy. “Uh … Cas …”
“Don’t worry, Sam. I’m sure there’s an antidote somewhere. Try the Grecian section on that shelf over there. In the meantime, I’m going to have some fun. He owes me for several years of disrespect and verbal abuse.”
“Oh…kay.” Sam considered the matter. “Hey, when you’re done … clean him up and send him to the kitchen. Have him cook dinner. I could go for some chicken and rice.”
