I had been feeling a lot better, knowing that I had half a bottle left of blood at my disposal. My mood was lighter, and I just all around felt better. I was hoping the next time I was out, I would just have to contact Crowley like I did before, and I wouldn't have any issues.

We were waiting at a rest area parking lot, near a phone booth. Frank insisted that he was being tracked, so we needed to wait for his call at the nearest payphone and that he would find us. Sam was leaning up against the jeep reading a newspaper when the phone rang.

Dean hurried over to it and answered, "Hello?" He rolled his eyes and sighed, "'I am the Eggman.'" Sam and I smirked at each other. Dean shook his head, "Seriously, Frank, payphones? I mean, come on. I— I'm getting the clap off this thing just touching it." (...) "Fred Savage? Really?" (...) "Yeah, no, I know, big mouths are everywhere." (...) "Uh, well, since you asked, some actual intel on the Dick Roman guy would be nice." (...) "Fine. Alright. Yeah, good looking out," He hung up and then scowled at his hand as he walked over to us, "I hope he finds something quick. This whole protocol du jour thing's really creeping my cheese."

Sam sighed, "So, we got dick on, Dick?"

Dean hesitated, "That's a vivid way of putting it," He nodded, "You find anything on Wonder Woman?"

Sam shook his head, "No. And there probably won't be. They are definitely gone. But..." He held up the newspaper, "Might have found something over in Kansas."

Dean nodded, "Alright, well, let's do it. But, uh, a few simple rules, okay? No babies. In fact, no baby mamas. No bars. No booze... No hot chicks of any kind."

"Wait, wait, wait," Sam chuckled, "Did you just say—"

"Hey. You spawn a monster baby, see how quick you want to dive back in the pool," Dean said and got into his car.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We went to the morgue to see the first vic. The doctor pulled back the sheet from a body of a middle-aged man. His body was covered in circular raised sores of various sizes. They honestly looked like they had been made by tentacles.

"Oh," Dean cringed, "Those are not the fun kind of hickeys."

"You're— You're saying an octopus did this?" Sam asked.

"Not just any octopus," The doctor picked up the clipboard, "Based on welt diameter, Enteroctopus dofleini."

"And for those of us who skipped the enteroctopus class?" Dean asked.

"Giant Pacific octopus," I said.

The doctor nodded and smiled, "That is... Exactly correct."

Sam and Dean furrowed their brows at me, and I shrugged back.

Dean turned his attention away from me, "How giant we talking, Doc?"

"Approximately thirty feet," The doctor said.

Sam laughed, "I mean, aren't... Giant octopi rare around here?"

The doctor nodded, "Yet here we are."

"Alright, so what happens?" Dean asked, "Guy comes home, cracks a beer, and gets... Suckered to death?"

"Obviously, this was some kind of freak fetish attack. Someone created those hickey marks, then bled the man out," The doctor turned the man's head to reveal a large bite mark in his neck.

Dean nodded, "Alright, thanks doc." The doctor nodded, and we walked out of the room down the hallway. He looked down at me, "How do you know such weird things? You know, it's like we've got a walking-talking encyclopedia over here," He gestured to Sam, "And we've got you, who apparently sponges every weird fact you've ever heard right up."

"I've told you before... I find random facts interesting," I shrugged, "I've had a lot of time on my hands, Dean," I shook my head, "Anyway, did that look like a vampire bite to you?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah, no question."

"So, what are we looking for?" Dean asked, "An octovamp? A vamptopus?"

"That's crazy, even for us, right?" Sam asked.

Dean nodded, "It does push the envelope. Let's go chat up the widow."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We sat in the victim's living room across from his wife.

"We're very sorry for your loss, ma'am," Sam said.

Dean nodded, "Mrs. Harper, we know this is, uh, bad timing. But we just have a few routine questions that we need to ask you. Is that okay?

Mrs. Harper nodded, "Yeah."

"Did the house feel any different lately?" Sam asked.

Mrs. Harper shook her head and shrugged, unsure, "Different...?"

"Anything strange. Cold spots," Dean shrugged, "Uh, did you smell anything weird? Maybe sulfury?"

Mrs. Harper shook her head, "No. Not that I can remember."

Dean nodded, "Okay, we're just ticking all the boxes here. Um, what about any skeletons in your husband's closet?"

Mrs. Harper chuckled, "Skeletons?" She shook her head, "What do you mean?"

"Can you think of anybody who would want to do him harm?" Dean asked, "A colleague, an old flame."

Mrs. Harper hesitated and looked down, not answering.

"The tiniest detail could really help," Sam said.

"You want to know what he was up to lately?" Mrs. Harper asked, "Ask Stacey. She was here the night he died."

"Um... Stacey?" Sam asked.

"Our nanny," Mrs. Harper smiled and then took a deep breath, "Any other questions?"

Dean shook his head, "No, that's— Thank you. You've been a big help."

We stood up and walked to the door.

"Really appreciate the hospitality, ma'am," Sam said.

She nodded, and then we walked out of the front door, closing it behind us.

"Mom, dad, nanny..." Dean shook his head, "Boy, that is a love triangle right out of Casa Erotica. 'Course, in those, the jealous wife tends to channel her feelings more productively."

Sam chuckled, "The only thing I can't wrap my mind around is—"

"What, how wife lady summoned an octovamp?" Dean asked.

Sam furrowed his brow, "More like 'why?' I mean, kind of impractical, right?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded, "Alright, one of us needs to go talk to the naughty nanny," He walked to the driver's side of the car, "And one of us needs to stay here, shake down the place when the wife leaves... See what we're dealing with."

Sam nodded, "Alright. I'm on the nanny. You and Maddi stay here."

"I'm on the nanny," Dean said.

"What happened to... 'No hot chicks'?" I mocked.

Dean shook his head, "We don't know that she's hot."

Sam and I gave him a look, and then we walked away and hopped into the jeep while Dean drove off in the other car.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We waited for a while outside of the Harper's house. After some time, a young girl walked out with chalk and started drawing on the sidewalk.

Finally, Dean called, and Sam put him on speaker, "Hey, we talked to the wrong person."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, forget the mom. Talk to the daughter," Dean said, "She's mad at her dad for ditching her birthday."

Sam shook his head, "So, what do you think? A birthday wish gone wrong, something like that?"

"I don't know. It could be," Dean said.

"We got a twenty on her right now," Sam said.

"Can you get to her without tripping the AMBER Alert?" Dean asked.

Sam chuckled, "I don't know about me, but Maddi probably can."

"Alright, see what you can find out," Dean said and then hung up.

I got out of the car and walked up to the little girl, "Whatcha drawing?"

The girl stopped and looked up at me, "I know who you are."

I raised my eyebrows, "You do?"

The girl nodded, "Mm-hmm. You're one of the people that talked to my mom."

I nodded, "You're right, I did."

"Kelly!" Mrs. Harper yelled from inside the house, "Where are you, honey?"

Kelly looked back at the house nervously.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"My mom will get mad if I talk to you," Kelly said.

I furrowed my brow and knelt down to her, "Why's that?"

"Because of what I told the police," Kelly said.

"Why? What did you tell them?" I asked.

Kelly looked at me with fear in her eyes, "I told them that I tried to warn my dad. That the monster would get him."

"What monster?" I asked.

Mrs. Harper opened the door, "Kelly. Come here! Now!" She scolded her, and Kelly got up and looked at me sadly. "Kelly!" She shouted again, and Kelly ran into the house. Mrs. Harper gave me a dirty look as she went into the house and closed the door.

I walked around to see what Kelly had been drawing. It was a giant octopus with sharp teeth and angry eyes. I snapped a picture of it with my phone and hurried back to Sam.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning, we got another call about a strange death. This time a man was found dead with a hole the size of a softball through his chest. Whatever killed him was able to go through a chain-link fence and wooden wall before piercing his chest. So, Dean went to check it out while Sam and I waited at the motel. He called us a little later.

"Hey," Sam answered.

"Hey," Dean said, "Do either of you remember a chain called Plucky Pennywhistle's?"

Sam and I paused and then shook our heads, "No."

"Really?" Dean asked, "Could have swore you loved those places."

"No, dude, I hated them," Sam said.

I nodded, "The only time you took me, I was like six, and we got kicked out because I decided to throw wrestle mania in the ball pit. Some kid broke his arm jumping off the rope walls, screaming, 'Hell in a Cell.'"

Dean chuckled, "I remember that. That was awesome. Hooked up with his mom later that night."

"And you've ruined that memory for me now," I said.

Sam laughed, "Yeah, I mean, when I was a kid, uh, you would dump me and go trolling for chicks."

"It's not like I left you in jail. I mean, those places are supposed to be fun," Dean said.

Sam furrowed his brow, "Fun? Uh, they're lame."

I nodded, "And they smell like puke."

Sam nodded, "And the ice cream is all grainy."

"Alright, don't have one of your episodes, okay," Dean said, "I'm just saying I hit a dead end with this whole wishes-gone-wild thing, but both kids were at Plucky's day of. Look, why don't you two go check out the local Plucky's and ask about this Billy kid?"

"Look, man, wh— why don't we just—" Sam said anxiously, "Why don't we just wait for you to get back?"

"No can do, Hermano. I'm on my way to talk to little Billy," Dean said.

"Why— Why— Why don't I talk to Billy right now?" Sam asked.

Dean laughed, "Wait, wait, wait. This isn't about your, uh, your clown thing, is it?"

"Uh... What about clowns?" I asked.

"Oh, come on. Not you too, I thought we worked on this," Dean said.

"Dean, you made me watch every possible clown horror movie you could think of to get over my fear," I said, "You didn't make me face my fear, you just confirmed that clowns are evil."

"Sam, this is your fault," Dean said.

"What?" Sam asked, pretending he didn't know what he was talking about, "No."

"Sammy?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head, "No."

"Yeah, what in the world did they do to you?" Dean asked, "Alright, you know what?" He sighed, "Never mind."

"Dean, clowns are creepy," I said, "They look at you with dead eyes and smile at you with a painted-on smile just to hide the fact that they secretly want to kill you and eat you."

Sam nodded at me, anxiously, "Yeah..." He gulped, "Right..."

"Maddison... Seriously?" Dean asked, "Not really helping," He sighed, "Just know that 99.99% of all clowns can't hurt you. Okay? And if it bleeds, you can kill it," He sighed, "And Maddi, no more IT for you, ever..." He hung up.

Sam took a deep breath, "'If it bleeds, you can kill it.'"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sam and I looked up at the Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie sign, in slight horror. It was way too brightly colored and had clown pictures all over the building.

Sam sighed, "I'm too old for this." Then we walked through the front door.

We were greeted by a huge clown head that played a recorded message, "Welcome to Plucky Pennywhistle's! Have fun!"

Sam flinched and exhaled sharply at all of the clowns walking around the room. Then we walked up to the ticket counter where a staff member, with the name tag, Howard, stood.

Howard smiled, "Welcome to Plucky's, where all your dreams are good."

Sam chuckled nervously, "Could you just, uh, maybe..." We held up our FBI badges, "Just get the manager for us?"

Howard nodded and walked off.

"Okay," Sam nodded and exhaled sharply.

We continued further into the room and walked past a mechanical clown with glowing red eyes and chattering teeth that laughed and said, "Welcome to Plucky Pennywhistles!" Then I grabbed his arm and slightly hid behind him when I saw a giant clown head mounted in the middle of the room, staring right at us.

"I know, I don't like it in here any more than you do, but we've gotta keep our cool," Sam said and walked over to a board with drawings all over it, "Look at this." I followed him over to the wall and saw that the drawings were on pieces of paper labeled, "Draw your worst fear... Plucky will make your fear disappear."

"Look," I pointed to a blank space with Kelly Harper's name placed under it.

"Real beauties, huh?" A woman in a Plucky's uniform asked, "We rotate them out once a week. Kids love having their art on the wall."

Sam furrowed his brow, "'Draw your worst fear'?"

"I know," She shrugged, "But we don't post the truly evil stuff... Just the standard crap like sharks and ghosts," She held out her hand to Sam, "Jean Holiday, shift manager."

Sam nodded and shook her hand, "Johnson," He gestured to me, "And Smith, FBI." She nodded and shook my hand, as well. Sam furrowed his brow, "So tell me... Why even ask the kids to draw creepy stuff, to begin with?"

Jean shrugged, "It's just an exercise... Some pop psychologist came up with. Plus, the owner's obsessed with 'aiding children's development.' So, the placemat is a safe way to get kids to talk about their fears. You know, we get them to sketch it in a little box, and— Voila!— Plucky magically transforms it into rainbows and candy," She scoffed, "Personally, I think it's a load of hooey, but they say that if these fears run wild, then it affects kids long into their adulthood."

A laughing clown walked past us and honked his horn in our faces.

Sam nodded uncomfortably, "Yeah, I've— I've— I've heard that. Um... So, I— I don't know if you'll remember, but there was a— a kid in here yesterday named Billy Pogue for a party?"

Jean nodded, "Oh, the conniption kid."

Sam raised his eyebrows, "Conniption? He— He had—"

Jean shook her head, "No, no, no, not him. He was fine. It was his dad. He pulls the kid away before cake and presents, and I guess the kid asked to stay for another five minutes. The dad pulls a full-frontal douchebag, starts screaming," She shrugged, "Just embarrassed for the kid."

Sam nodded, "Okay, thanks for your help."

Jean nodded, "Yeah, no problem." Then she walked away.

Sam pulled out his phone to call Dean when we heard tongue clicks and whistling behind us. Sam lowered his phone, and we both turned around, confused. The janitor was putting a bag in the garbage while staring and nodding at us to walk over.

"Hey," He whistled at us again, "Hey," He nodded and looked around to see if anyone was watching as we walked up to him, "You cops?"

Sam nodded, "Uh, yeah. We're Feds."

"Uh, what are you investigating?" The janitor asked anxiously.

"Couple of crazy deaths," Sam furrowed his brow, "Why, is there something you want to share?"

"Look... Not now," The janitor leaned in closer to us and lowered his voice, "Too many eyes. Come back after closing."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sam and I walked into the motel and found Dean pulling Chinese food out of paper bags.

"Hey. So, what's the lowdown with trauma town?" Dean asked.

"I can tell you this much. Neither vic was up for parent of the year. Kelly's dad skipped her birthday, and Billy's dad pulled one of those Dick Parent scenes that makes everyone cringe," Sam said and put some of the drawing placemats down in front of Dean.

"What the hell are these?" Dean asked

"Kid therapy," I said, "Apparently, all you have to do is draw your fear and poof... Plucky fixes it." I grabbed my food and sat down across from Dean.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, um, they hang them up on this big wall."

Dean flipped through some of the drawings and nodded, "Well, can't argue with this. Leprechauns are deadly," He shook his head, "Okay, so, Kelly draws a monster, and then that goes after her father? That's what we're saying?"

"Well, here's the thing," Sam said and grabbed his container, "They label those. And guess which two were missing. Well, name tag was there... No placemat."

"Little Miss Octovamp," Dean said.

I nodded, "Yup, and Billy."

Sam sat down and sighed, "So... Somehow, whatever he drew came to life and killed his dad, riding a horse."

"Close, but no Seabiscuit," Dean cleared his throat and pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket, "See, I went and had a little chat with Billy. And he drew me this," He unfolded a piece of paper with a drawing on it of a unicorn with a rainbow-tail impaling someone with its horn.

"Wait," Sam furrowed his brow, "So now unicorns are evil?"

Dean scoffed, "Yeah. Obviously."

"Great. Well, now the question is, how did a unicorn come off a sketch and kill Billy's dad?" Sam asked, "How's any of this happening?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later that night, after some research, we drove out to get some dinner, but as we passed by Plucky's, all we could see were cop cars and ambulances lined up outside. Dean parked, and we walked up to the scene. Sam spotted Jean wrapped in a blanket, talking to a police officer, so he went up to talk to her. Dean and I walked up to the EMTs as they rolled a bloody sheet covered out of the front of the building.

"Hold on one second there, guys," Dean said, and we flashed them our badges. Then he lifted the sheet to reveal that the janitor was covered in shark bites. He dropped the sheet when Sam walked up to us, "So?"

"The manager found the body in the ball pit," Sam said, "Blood everywhere."

"Cops have a theory?" I asked.

"Yeah, they think the ball washer did it," Sam said.

Dean furrowed his brow, "The what?"

"The... Ball washer," Sam said.

Dean smiled, "The what?"

Sam looked at him, not catching on, "The ball—" Then realization hit him, and he put his hands in the air in frustration.

"Are you twelve?" I asked Dean.

Dean chuckled, proud of himself, then nodded to the body, "Look at this," He lifted the sheet and Sam raised his eyebrows, "Thank you, gentlemen," Dean nodded at the EMTs, and they rolled the body away. Then he turned to us, "That's a shark bite."

Sam nodded, "Yeah."

"And, uh, judging from the radius, I'd say a twenty-footer, at least," Dean said. Sam looked at him skeptically, and Dean shook his head, "'Shark Week,' man. How do you not watch that?" Sam pursed his lips and walked away. Dean looked at me in disbelief, "Whole week of sharks."

I nodded, "I know, I totally get it."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the cops cleared out, we made our way into Plucky's with our flashlights and walked to the wall of placemats.

Sam pulled a name tag off of the wall under a blank space, "Omar Cooper. How much you want to bet little Omar here was scared of sharks?"

Dean shook his head, "Saul, the janitor, is connected how? I mean, he's not related to Omar."

I sighed, "No. But Saul said he wanted to tell us something earlier."

Dean furrowed his brow, "So, this isn't about ganking some dickweed parent."

"More like, uh, silencing a whistle-blower?" Sam asked.

Dean scoffed, "Great, so whatever we're looking for can literally fire off childhood fears at will. Wow. Watch out for evil lunch ladies."

Sam pulled out an EMF reader, "Alright. Let's comb this place."

Dean shook his head, "Seriously. Dractopus. Seabiscuit the Impaler. Land shark... What's next?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After having no luck with the EMF readers, we went back to the motel for the night. The next morning, we did some more research and looked through Dad's journal to see if we could figure out what was going on.

"Could it be a Tulpa?" I asked.

Dean shook his head, looking up at me from Dad's journal, "No, killings are too spread out."

Sam nodded, "True. Um... Angel?"

"It's a little imaginative for the God squad, don't you think?" Dean asked.

Sam sighed, "Alright. So... What?"

Dean shook his head, "Yeah, I don't know. I'm tapped out."

Sam took a sip of his coffee, "Well, whatever it is, at least we know where it is."

Dean nodded, "Plucky's!"

"That's where the victims are getting picked up," Sam said.

"Yeah, but we swept the place last night, and nada," Dean said.

Sam shrugged, "I can go back. Grill the employees, maybe dig up some dirt."

Dean shook his head, "What good's that gonna do? They think you're a Fed. The one guy who was gonna rat, he got Bruce'd. If anybody knows anything, they're not gonna tell you."

"Alright," Sam clapped his hands, "Yep. That's the plan," He stood up, "I'll go back, play bad cop, really lean into them." Then he walked toward the bathroom.

Dean furrowed his brow, "And...?"

"And... When I'm done, then you two watch them," Sam said.

Dean nodded, "So, if somebody freaks out, then that's our creep."

Sam shrugged, "Or he'll lead us closer, and you can track him."

"Well, what's our cover?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged, "I don't know. Just hang back. Act normal," Then he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Dean raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, yeah. Guy in his thirties hanging out at Plucky's with a teenage girl... That's normal. That's not pervy at all."

"Aw," I pouted my lips, "Poor you."

"Shut up," Dean pouted and went back to reading Dad's journal.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean and I sat at one of the tables in the restaurant area, watching as Sam talked to Jean, and then they walked away together into a back room. Then a young girl walked past us with a giant rainbow slinky, which caught Dean's eye.

"Oh, I want that," Dean said almost in child-like wonder and then got up.

I followed after him toward the prize counter.

Howard greeted us happily from behind the counter, "Howdy, friends."

Dean pointed toward the giant slinky on one of the shelves, "Giant slinky. Would have killed for one of those when I was a kid," He smiled excitedly, "How much?" He asked and pulled out his wallet.

Howard nodded with a smile, "1,000 tickets."

"American dinero," Dean said, "How much?"

"Oh, we don't take cash here at Plucky Pennywhistle's," Howard chuckled, "Only tickets won through hard work and determination."

Dean's happiness faded from his face, "You mainlined the kool-aid, huh?"

Howard laughed while Dean stared at him, unamused, "It's double-ticket Tuesday if you play skeeball." Dean glared at him, and he continued laughing happily.

I grabbed Dean's arm, "Come on, let's play some skeeball," I pulled him away from the counter, "We've gotta wait around anyway, might as well do something."

Dean and I walked over to a skeeball machine, "Okay, let's get these tickets."

"Let's?" I smirked and chuckled, "Nuh, uh. This is all you bud, you want the prize you've gotta work for it."

Dean shook his head, "What? But you..." He pointed to the prize counter in confusion.

"Got you to walk away from Howard, so his annoying laughing wouldn't piss you off more?" I asked, "Yeah, you're right, I did."

"Aw, come on," Dean pouted, "Don't be like that. Help your big bro out," He put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed, "Skeeballs fun and I need help getting 1,000 tickets."

I smirked, "Fine, but skeeball sucks."

"No, it doesn't," Dean put a few quarters in the game and grabbed one of the balls that rolled down, "Alright, I'll show you."

I chuckled to myself.

Dean furrowed his brow, "What's funny?"

"Oh, it's just funny," I shrugged, "You makin' fun of Sam for saying balls, only to find out its because you wanted to play with them," I smirked.

Dean stared at me, "Okay, well glad I asked," He turned back to the game, trying to hide a smirk, "Let's see," He rolled the ball up the ramp and shot it into the thirty hole and smiled proudly.

Then the tickets started spitting out, and I grabbed them, "Oh, look, you won three tickets," I smirked, "You better start hitting those hundreds, boy." His excitement turned to disappointment. I held out my hand for a ball, "Give me one," He handed me a ball, and I stepped in front of the machine, "I always liked the left 100," I rolled the ball up the ramp and shot it into the hole, and the machine went wild, "See?"

"I thought you don't like skeeball," Dean smiled and picked up the tickets as they continued to roll out of the machine.

"I don't. The rest is up to you, grasshopper," I chuckled, "Looks like 100s get you like fifty tickets, so you just gotta make nineteen more of them, and you're golden."

"Oh, oh," Dean nodded, "Is that all?"

Jean walked out of the room she had been in with Sam and pulled on her jacket. Dean tossed the skeeball in his hand and shot a 100, but didn't wait to collect the tickets before we followed after Jean. Which caused a swarm of kids to run past us to the machine. Jean walked out of the employees only door, and we followed after her. When we opened the door, she was standing outside, lighting up a joint. Dean texted Sam, "High Times, not our gal."

We walked back in toward the skeeball machine and watched as Howard walked into the back to talk to Sam. At the skeeball machine, a chubby boy was sitting on the ramp, dropping the balls directly into the 100 hole.

"Hey! Stop cheating!" Another boy yelled at him as he walked up to the machine. The chubby boy glared at him and then went back to what he was doing.

Then Dean and I walked up to them. "You heard him. Knock it off!" Dean shouted.

The chubby boy looked at Dean wide-eyed and then ran away.

"Jackass," The little boy and Dean said in unison and then looked at each other smirking.

"Tyler, soup's on," A woman in a Plucky's uniform walked up behind us and set a pizza down on a nearby table.

The little boy turned around and sighed, "But, Mom, I don't want it."

Dean spotted the tickets the chubby boy had won cheating and quickly snatched them up.

"Just eat it," The mother asked.

"But it sucks!" Tyler shouted. His mother sighed and walked away. Tyler moved the plate to the side and pulled out a placemat and started drawing a picture.

I followed Dean as he walked up to Tyler. "Hey, why don't you cut her some slack?" He asked.

Tyler looked up at us, "What do you care?"

"Because I've been where you are," Dean smiled and nodded.

"Your mom made you camp at a stupid Plucky's after school?" Tyler asked.

"Ye—" Dean shook his head, "No. No, but our dad, he... Hauled us places. Besides, she's working a tough gig," He gestured to Tyler's mom who was cleaning up a spill on the floor while holding a tray filled with garbage, "You know? She's exhausted. You should take pity on the old," He smiled, "And, hey, free grub."

Tyler looked down at his pizza, "That stuff tastes like butt."

"What?" Dean chuckled, "Come on, it can't be that bad," He picked up Tyler's plate, "Let's see here," He took a bite and chewed it for a minute, only to make a disgusted face and spit it out a moment later, "That is butt," He put the plate down, and Tyler smiled at him. Dean looked at his drawing, which was of a robot with red beams coming out of its eyes, "You scared of robots?"

Tyler pointed at his eyes, "They have laser eyes."

Dean nodded, "Yes."

Then Howard walked past us, and a young boy tugged on his shirt, "Excuse me?" The boy asked.

Howard stopped and turned around with a smile on his face, "Howdy, friend! What's your name?" He shook the kid's hand.

"I'm guessing he's not our guy either," I whispered to Dean.

Dean shook his head, "Nope," Then he pulled out his phone and texted Sam.

Then suddenly, the office door opened, and a man in a lion costume without the head on came running out past us.

Sam changed out of the door, "Guys!"

Then we all chased after the costumed man. The man ran out through the employee door and down the stairs. We chased to the front of the building and ran past some customers.

"Hey, hey, come here!" Dean reached for the guy but only managed to grab the tail of the costume, which just ripped off in his hand. Then Dean finally tackled him into a tower of tires in front of an auto shop, "Hey!" He shouted and pinned the man down on his back.

"If this is about the meth lab that fireballed up in Butte, it wasn't me," The man said out of breath, "Okay, it was my brother, but, um, we got the same fingerprints, and... Please. This is the best job I ever had."

Dean nodded, "Alright, look, uh..."

"Cliff," The man said nervously.

"Cliff," Dean said, "You're not using kids' nightmares to smoke people, are you, Cliff?"

"I don't... Think so," Cliff said, staring at Dean in fear.

Dean looked up at Sam and me and then hauled Cliff to his feet, "Get up."

"What's going on?" Cliff asked with a shaky voice.

"Alright, cards up," Dean said, "Yeah, we don't care that you, you know, broke bad or whatever. But there is something seriously weird going on in there."

"You mean the sub-basement," Cliff said.

"This place has a sub-basement?" Sam asked.

Cliff nodded, "Sure. Door's out back. Easy to miss if you don't know."

"What's in there?" Dean asked.

"Alls I know is... Me and Saul used to come in after-hours sometimes and..." Cliff laughed, "You ever shroom in a ball pit?" He looked back at me, and Sam still laughing and then immediately went straight-faced, "Not that I... Would, agents. It was Saul. Just Saul. All alone," He gulped, "Anyway... Sometimes we'd hear, like, spooky stuff, through the vents... Coming up from the boiler room."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The four of us walked back into Plucky's and watched as Tyler and his mom walked toward the exit, hand in hand.

"But somebody stole it!" Tyler shouted at her, trying to pull away.

His mom stopped, knelt down, and held Tyler's face in her hands, "So, draw another one," She said sharply, "Okay? We gotta go."

Tyler spotted Dean, and they exchanged a look, and then he nodded at his mom, "Okay. I'm sorry."

His mom paused and took a deep breath, "Thank you."

Tyler shrugged, "That placemat sucked anyway." Then he and his mom walked past us and out of the door.

Dean and I exchanged a look and charged over to the table that Tyler had been sitting at earlier. Dean sifted through a pile of empty placemats, but Tyler's robot drawing was nowhere to be found.

"Guys?" Sam asked, "What? What is it?"

"While you were out being Dirty Harry, uh, Tyler's mom got pissy with him, and now his placemat's missing," Dean said.

"So, what do you think?" Dean asked.

"I think the bitchy mom plus, uh, sad kid plus place mat with something nuts written on it..." Dean shrugged, "Equals wacky corpse."

"So, you think she's next on the list?" Sam asked, and Dean nodded, "Alright, I'll tail them just to be safe."

"I'll go with you," I said, "And Dean—"

Dean nodded, "Check the boiler room. I know."

"Any idea what he drew?" Sam asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, a robot."

Sam raised his eyebrows, "Robot?"

Dean nodded, "Yeah, about the size of a house. Shoots destructo beams out of its eyes."

"Which is why you might need back up," I said.

Sam raised his eyebrows and nodded, "At least we'll see it coming."

Dean nodded, "Yeah."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sam and I pulled up outside of Tyler's house and watched as they got out of their car and walked into the house. We stepped out of the jeep toward the house when we were cut off by a Pennywise level of creepy clown. He had bright green hair, a painted-on smile, nasty brown teeth, and black eyes. I grabbed Sam's arm as we jumped back, freaked out by the sudden appearance. Sam gasped as the clown stepped toward us, laughing.

Sam turned and grabbed me, "Run! Run!"

We took off toward an alley and ran through it until we came out to an old warehouse. Then we hid behind a broken-down car.

Sam took a few deep breaths, "It's okay. They can't hurt us. They can't hurt us. 'If it bleeds, you can kill it,'" He nodded, "Yeah," He looked at me and smiled nervously, "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

I nodded and peered over the car, only to see the creepy clown directly on the opposite side. The clown started laughing maniacally, so Sam and I took off running. We were stopped by a tall fence and ran the other direction, the whole time the clown was laughing and chasing after us. We reached a door to the warehouse, burst through it, and then bolted it shut. We shoved some metal shelves in front of the door and started walking toward the other end of the warehouse. Until we heard a huge crash behind us and more laughing. When we turned around, the clown had shoved its way through the door and was laughing as he walked toward us. We quickly picked up speed, only to be cut off by another clown, also laughing hysterically. Sam punched the clown in front of us, and I turned and punched the clown behind us.

Sam pulled out his gun and aimed it at the clown in front of him, "If it bleeds, you can kill it." Then he pulled the trigger twice, but glitter shot out and onto the clown's chest.

Sam and I looked at each other with slight fear and shock, and the clowns started laughing hysterically together. The second clown knocked the gun out of Sam's hand and punched him multiple times. The first clown grabbed me by the hair and then knocked Sam and my head together. Then the first clown sprayed us in our faces with seltzer from a flower on his jacket. The second clown grabbed on to Sam, and the first clown stepped up with a laugh and headbutted Sam in the face.

"Okay, I've had enough of you creepy weirdos!" I grabbed the first clown by his hair and bounced his face off a car next to us a few times, but he just kept laughing.

Then the second clown shoved Sam at me, sending us both to the ground. The clowns continued their crazy laughing. Then the first clown picked up Sam and sent him flying through the air until he landed on a pickup truck and shattered the windshield. They grabbed me by the hair as they laughed, opened the truck door, and shoved me in, slamming the door behind me.

As they dragged Sam off the hood of the truck, I moved to open the door, but as I did, they slammed Sam's back against the door, slamming it shut in my face again. They whooped and cackled like they were having the best time of their lives. The second clown then kicked Sam in the stomach. The first clown caught him, turned him around, and kicked him back toward the other one. I pushed the truck door open and slammed it into the back of the second clown and hopped out.

Sam slipped his grip and grabbed a tire iron out of the bed of the truck, and elbowed the clown with his other arm, causing him to fall down. Then he took a swing at the first clown and hit him in the face.

"Ow!" The clown yelled and then laughed and pointed at the other clown behind us.

We turned around to see the other clown juggling stakes, then he caught one in each hand and took a swing at us, but we both ducked out of the way. The second clown grabbed onto me and put me in a headlock, as Sam hit the other one with the tire iron. Sam turned around as the clown tossed a large wrench to the second clown. The second clown shoved me onto the floor and hit Sam in the stomach with it. I stood up and kicked the second clown in the groin, and then Sam turned and hit the other clown in the face with the tire iron. Glitter and teeth flew out of his mouth.

I picked up the wrench the clown dropped, and Sam and I stood back to back, ready for whatever was next. The clowns yelled out and charged at us, but when they were only inches from us, they exploded into glitter. Sam and I looked at each other, catching our breath and spitting out the glitter.

I looked down at us, it looked like something sprayed adhesive on us and poured a bucket of glitter over our heads, "This crap never washes off."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Before we met Dean back at Plucky's, he gave us a call and told us that Howard was the one behind all the madness. Apparently, he wanted to teach the parents a lesson about being neglectful. Before we met him out front, we made a quick stop inside. When we got out of the car, he was standing there waiting for us and started laughing.

"Let's roll," Sam said, but Dean continued laughing, so he raised his arms in the air, "Go ahead. Say it."

Dean laughed, "I'm sorry." Sam and I laughed with him. "You two look like you got attacked by some PCP-crazed strippers," He laughed.

Sam smiled, "Dude, one of them sprayed us with seltzer from his flower."

Dean laughed harder, and we just stood there waiting for him to collect himself, "I'm sor—" He put his hand out, "Whew. What?"

"Nothing," Sam shook his head, "Carry on."

"Oh. That's..." Dean tried to collect himself, "I'm sorry for..." He cleared his throat, "Psychologically scarring you."

"Which time?" Sam asked.

"Shut up. Seriously. You know, me— me ditching you when we were kids..." Dean shook his head, "That was a dick move. You know, the whole clown thing—"

"You know what, man?" Sam asked, "Honestly... Getting my ass kicked by those Juggalos tonight was, uh... It was therapeutic."

I nodded, "Yeah, seriously. I no longer fear clowns, they just got added to the 'things I like to kill' list."

Dean smirked, "You faced your fear."

"Exactly. And now, what else could a clown possibly ever do to me?" Sam asked, "I feel good."

"Well, congrats," Dean laughed.

"Well, to celebrate..." I walked to the car and reached through my window.

"What?" Dean asked.

I grabbed the giant rainbow slinky I had stolen from inside and walked it over to him with a smile.

"No!" Dean said with excitement.

I smiled, "Yes," I handed it to him, "Free of charge, hand-picked specially for you."

"Did you win this?" Dean asked as he snatched it from me.

I laughed, "Not necessarily."

"We earned that," Sam said as he walked to get in Dean's car.

Dean laughed and put his arm around my shoulders as we walked to the car, "Hey. I got you a little something, too, actually," He put the giant slinky down on the roof of the car and reached in, pulling out a clown doll. Which he then tossed to Sam. Sam caught it and shuddered at the sight of the clown. "What?" Dean smirked, "You said you were over it. You can think of it as a... Clown phobia sobriety chip."

Sam gave him a look and tossed the doll on the ground before we all climbed into the car and drove away.

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