She looked at him with something like compassion. “Have faith.”

“Faith, Maya,” he whispered and shook his head.

“Faith,” she repeated gently. “Go to the mountain. Follow the road. Don’t be afraid of what you hear in the dark.” A bell sounded in the kitchen and she looked up. “Gotta get back to work. Take care, Dean Winchester. Remember,” she said as she started to walk away, “there are angels on your side.” She went into the kitchen, saying, “Yeah, okay, Gus, I’m here.”

Dean looked after her, only slightly less confused, and was still frowning when Sam came back to the table. “What?” Sam asked and dumped some sugar in his coffee.

“Nothing,” Dean said. “I’ll tell you later. Eat up, Sammy — you’re a growing boy.” He cut off a bite from his pancakes with his fork and shoveled it into his mouth.

Sam looked at him for a moment, like he wanted to ask but didn’t know how, and then started on his pancakes.

***

They say there were thunderstorms in clear skies over Dayton, Ohio. They say people in the town reported strangers in black suits wandering the roads out of town — strangers, they say, who could only been seen out of the corner of your eye and disappeared as soon as you looked at them directly.

They say that at a funeral in Waco, Texas, mysterious figures stood by the gravestones, figures in old-fashioned clothes. They say the figures disappeared if you tried to approach them.