Comes a time in every hunt when the fightin' starts.
And the difference between winning and losing
isn't whether you have the holy water,
the wooden stake, or the silver bullet.
It's whether you've got the grit to get the job done.
Nothing over here. You?
Uh, copy. Same thing here.
That tower doesn't look like much.
According to Carlos' research,
they've been bouncing signals from radio towers
all over the country, some outside of it even,
drawing in unicorn monsters from everywhere.
To here in Lawrence. We took out the monsters.
The Akrida took their essence.
You really think the answers to what the Akrida
could be doing with that essence are in there?
There's only one way to find out.
Any idea who crashed this party?
It's my dad.
His bag. It's covered in blood.
Maybe we should try jumper cables.
Oh, I've tried that.
I've done everything I could think of.
Potions, blood magic, shock treatments,
God, you name it.
Nothing will get that damn thing working.
Okay, well, something has to. All right? This box
is literally the only thing we have
that can kill the Akrida. - Carlos,
I have looked through every piece of lore we have.
I mean, clearly the Men of Letters wanted
to keep their workings a secret.
Every secret comes to light eventually.
Ada, what did you find?
The Men of Letters mother lode.
I thought you were helping Tony get settled
off the Akrida radar.
Yeah, I got him safe and sound.
Then we started looking into how to help Tony
with his Djinn side, which led into digging
into the Men of Letters lore, which then led to this.
Turns out my son has a nose for research.
I knew we were nerds of a feather.
Tony found a shell company listed as the owner
of two of the offices we've already investigated.
The company owns one more up in Michigan.
I went to go check it out.
It too was left for dead just like the others.
All of these abandoned offices.
And what do you think happened to the Men of Letters?
Like, wiped out by monsters? Retirement?
I-I don't know.
However they left, they made sure
to carefully guard everything they left behind in Ann Arbor.
They left a watchdog. This time a werewolf.
I took care of it, grabbed everything,
and came straight back to Lawrence.
The rest of it-- the rest of it is in my truck.
There has to be something in here
about out buggy little friends.
I'll got get the rest.
He can't be gone.
- We don't know. - He can't be.
- Mary-- - It's all my fault.
I told my dad I wanted to leave hunting,
and ever since he's been out here on his own.
If I'd just kept my stupid mouth shut...
Took you idiots long enough.
Hey!
Who the hell are you?
The body belongs to Hector Salazar,
but I'll give you three guesses
as to who the mind belongs to now.
Akrida.
Wow. Got it in one.
Guess you're the brains of the outfit.
Where's Samuel Campbell?
Oh, you mean Grumpy?
Sorry, the man who captured, tortured,
and was generally unpleasant in both manner and odor
was not exactly forthcoming with the name,
so I called him Grumpy.
Samuel works too, I guess.
What did you do with my dad?
I'm just a worker bee, hon. They don't tell us everything.
I was left here to give you a simple message.
Our work here at the tower is done.
We have everything we need.
All that sweet, sweet monster essence
is in our hands now.
What's all that for?
The queen, silly.
Stand down, go home, and enjoy
whatever life you have left to live.
Tell me what your plan is.
And tell me where my dad is right now.
I'm starting to see the resemblance.
I told you everything you need to know.
Nothing can stop what's coming.
We got a box that says different.
That's not gonna do a damn thing.
Yeah, we'll see.
Okay, you gave us the message.
Let Hector go. - No use now.
Me being in here has cooked through him.
You humans are so soft.
To be honest, given what's coming
for all of mankind, I'd say ol' Hector here got off easy.
Long live the queen.
- Where are we? - I'm still titrating
the different essences,
trying to find the optimal blend for each.
This magic is complex.
Hmm.
I thought we put you in this flesh sack
because he was good at this. - He is.
Now, I know this won't hurt you,
but I'm happy to go poke your real body
in all the right juicy places.
Move faster.
The dig has begun.
It'll be ready. I promise.
That's the spirit.
Well... if you're here that means
our little friends found Hector.
Do they now? Good.
Time to make a little trade then.
If Dad is still alive, he doesn't have much time.
There was a lot of blood, Losi, and not just on this bag.
Mary, you act like he hasn't lost
a pint or two in his day.
I found something.
Our box has a name.
They call it the Ostium.
Oh. Latin for an opening in the body.
What, didn't any of you guys ever go to Sunday School?
So is that thing organic?
Is it a mouth or... any other kind of hole?
Let's just stick with a mouth, please.
So this box eats monsters?
I don't know.
"Ostium" and a date are printed on it,
but the rest of the report is filled with a bunch of files,
and I can't make out the handwriting.
These notes were either written by a doctor or a five-year-old.
No, no, no, no. This can't be right.
- What is it? - It's my dad's handwriting.
- Can you read it? - I don't know. I mean--
Hey. Figure out what you can.
My dad was staying at a motel nearby,
so I'm gonna head over there and see what I can figure out.
Oh. I-I'll drive.
Let her go. She needs to kick that tire
and we need your eyes on these pages.
Okay, some of this I-I can make out,
but other parts, it's like they're not even real words.
That's because they're not.
It's shorthand. Like a court stenographer.
I read something about it in a Men of Letters book
here at the clubhouse.
A ledger that had an abbreviation key.
Your dad was an initiate.
Part of paying his dues was taking notes in meetings.
With your eyes and Lata having the key to the shorthand,
maybe we can piece together
what your dad was trying to write about.
I think I might know someone who can read this
faster than I can.
I know what you're thinking and you're wrong.
You always think I'm wrong.
And I'm usually right about that, so listen to me.
It's not your fault.
I was gonna be a rock star, Mare.
My mom and dad told me so.
You see, I know you know that ghouls killed my parents,
but I never told you
why they were in Phoenix to begin with.
I asked them for a new guitar.
I begged them for it for months.
And I was relentless. I mean, you can imagine.
So they took a gig.
It was a corporate party, and they hated them,
but the money was too good.
So I went back to the motel, and I waited.
And I waited.
But I never saw them again.
Carlos, that isn't...
Your fault.
Yeah. I know that now.
But it took me a little while to realize
that the only people responsible for killing
my parents were those ghouls.
So how did you let go of the guilt?
I didn't.
I'm sorry; I know I'm supposed to rally you here,
but we both know that I am a terrible liar.
How did you cope?
By getting revenge.
Tracked down the monsters that killed my parents
and erased all but two of them.
I'll eventually find them. But until then...
We're gonna find the Akrida and make them pay
for even laying a finger on your dad.
It's part stenographer shorthand and part...
Code.
Okay. This'll get us halfway there.
And we'll handle the other half.
I'll be damned.
For a so-called Man of Letters,
Henry never met a consonant or a vowel he couldn't butcher.
I could always read your dad's writing
because I knew the context--
shopping lists, bills paid...
Love letters.
I don't think we need to unpack--
Hey. You asked me here.
If I'm gonna help you, I need to know what's going on.
We're trying to save mankind.
What?
You're kidding, right?
Your father's chicken scratch is the key to saving the world?
If you can decipher it, then yes.
Great. No pressure.
Well, that was the cleanest motel Dad's ever left behind.
Probably wasn't there that long.
Thinking maybe we should double back to the radio tower,
see if there's an--
Oh, damn it.
The cops.
Okay. I need you to do me a favor.
I need you to reach under the seat
with an open mind and take the little baggie
that's under there and hide it.
I don't care where.
Just do it.
Afternoon, officer. Love the sunglasses.
What seems to be the problem?
Figured it was time we finally met.
Easy, Officer Mustache, that's fine polyester
you're laying your dirty fingers on.
Don't worry.
Your friend is just gonna have a little time-out
while us two girls have a chat.
Don't do anything stupid, kid.
What did you do to my father?
He's alive... for now.
If you want to kill the woman in this body,
knock yourself out.
I'll keep on rockin' with or without Roxy.
Be a shame to ruin such a beauty, though,
don't you think?
- What do you want? - The Ostium.
You want a box that can kill you?
That box can't kill me.
Nothing of this Earth can kill yours truly.
Then what do you want with it?
Not your concern.
Look, you're out of moves, and we both know it.
So listen carefully.
There is a phone booth on Halstead and Maple.
That phone is gonna ring
at 10:00 p.m. tonight on the dot.
You're gonna take that call and get instructions
on where to go for the exchange.
Your dad for the box.
You really think I'm gonna trust you?
Honey, I don't care if you trust me.
But if you want your daddy back in working order,
you're gonna do like I say.
I didn't mean what I said about your glasses.
Hey, you okay? - Mm-hmm.
- What does she want? - The box
in exchange for my dad if he's even still alive.
Well, good thing I put a hex bag
in the back of that cruiser.
We just need the right spell to track them.
You can cast that spell?
Of course not.
But our sweet little Samantha Stevens, Ada, can.
I mean, look, this is obviously some sort of trap.
But if we can trap them, we can get the drop
on Queen Roxy. - And get revenge.
Roxy has my dad.
But we have an insane idea on how to get him back.
How insane are we talking?
Certifiable with a side of sassy.
Do you know how to track a hex bag?
If I know the ingredients of the bag,
then yeah, I can track it.
Well, can you do it before 10:00 tonight?
That's when Roxy wants to trade my dad for the box.
That's gotta be a trap, right?
Which is why we gotta find Roxy before the drop
and get this Ostium working before we leave.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
I just needed a break from that handwriting
and those kids.
How do you put up with them?
I let them pretend to be in charge.
And I drink.
Henry never brought me for a tour.
I didn't even know this place existed.
Henry talked about you and John.
Anything good?
All of it good.
He did worry what his vocation was doing to his marriage.
Oh, here I thought
he didn't worry about that at all.
It's the only reason he wanted to separate.
Thought it'd be better for you and John.
Would have been nice to have heard that at the time.
I said as much.
I said, "If I had what you had, I would never let it go."
But, you know, Henry was-- - Stubborn.
I was going to use a bit more colorful wording.
Seeing John here, it's like history repeating.
I can't lose him the way I did Henry.
John isn't closed off the way Henry was.
Now, if he could just-- - Let go of his anger.
Yes.
John told me about your son.
Tony.
- How's he doing? - We're a work in progress.
I'm making up for mistakes,
and he is learning to let go of his anger.
Boys.
I'm still new to all this.
So how does this locator spell work?
Plants break the earth to reach for the Sun.
This one, though, will reach for the hex bag
Carlos put in the cop car.
Excresco.
Fascinating.
According to what Millie deciphered,
the Ostium doesn't kill monsters.
It transports them. - Where?
I'm not sure yet.
But there's good news here.
The Akrida are an invading force
that act as one.
They infiltrate, wipe out all signs of life,
and take over whole worlds as their own.
You and I have very different ideas
about good news. - The good news
is that the Akrida all share a connection to their queen.
It's similar to a colony of ants.
Using the box on the queen
will cut the connection to the colony.
They can't survive without their queen.
We take out the queen
we take them all out in one shot?
So we use the Ostium
to boot the queen to God knows where.
The rest of the Akrida are toast.
Mary's dad and the day are saved.
Carlos, what's wrong? That's good news.
Y-yeah.
It's just that, you know, once we do that,
uh, Mary's done with hunting
and our band is splitting up.
No more Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
♪ Come down on your own
♪ And leave your body alone
I'm gonna miss us.
Hey, guys, you gotta come see this.
♪ But I'm near the end
♪ And I just ain't got the time ♪
♪ Oh and I'm wasted and I can't find my way home ♪
Plant marks the spot.
- Wait, we were just there. - That's where we found
the last person the Akrida were targeting.
You know, where Mary got stung?
So what are the Akrida doing there?
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh
♪ And I can't find my way home ♪
♪ Ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh
♪ But I can't find my way home ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
♪ But I can't find my way home ♪
♪ Still I can't find my way home ♪
♪ And I ain't done nothing wrong ♪
♪ No, no
♪ But I can't find my way home ♪
If this is where the Akrida has my dad,
we can save him.
We just gotta get this box working first.
So where are we? - Nowhere, I'm afraid.
And by the time we get through all this,
Tricky Dick will be in his second term.
Well, when you put it like that,
the Akrida taking over doesn't seem half bad.
Unless Nixon's an Akrida.
Clock's ticking.
The meet with Roxy's in a couple hours.
Look, there is something useful here.
I know it. Okay? We just need to find it.
I think maybe we already have.
- What do you mean? - I came across this earlier.
I thought it was crazy.
But that was before I watched Ada transform
a plant into a compass. Here, see for yourself.
Okay.
It looks like instructions to some kind of spirit session.
Sounds like some kind of séance.
What if we don't have to keep looking
through Henry's notes?
What if we can just ask him?
You want to talk to Dad?
I told you it was crazy.
Ada, Lata, do you actually think this could work?
Yeah. According to Henry's notes,
we just need an object with an emotional connection
between the living and the dead.
The stronger the connection,
the more likely the contact.
So we just need an object connecting one of you to Henry.
Not to endorse an institution I abhor,
but have you thought about maybe your old wedding ring?
That'd be great. If only I hadn't sold it
to fix the hydraulic lift at the garage.
Sorry. - What about you?
Well, that depends.
Does it say that you have to have
good feelings connected to the object?
No.
Only that the feelings have to be strong.
Yeah.
Yeah, I have something.
I just need to go get it.
I'll get word to Roxy.
It won't be long now.
Dad got it for me when I was a kid.
I used to listen to the song it played
every night before bed.
"As Time Goes By." It was our song.
I didn't even know you still had that.
After he left, I used to play the song.
I thought that if I kept playing it,
then maybe he'd come back.
And when I realized he wouldn't,
I, um--I got angry, and I broke it.
It hasn't worked since.
John, I'm so sorry.
Don't be.
Okay? Not if it helps us find your dad.
So what do we do next?
Well, according to Henry's notes,
the object will act as a conduit
between you and him in the spirit realm.
The connection itself, however,
has to be created by your emotions.
You need to reach out and share them with him
openly and honestly.
That's the only way the divide between the two realms
can be connected.
Will the rest of him be able to talk to him too?
Once the connection is made.
But we don't know how long it's going to last.
So you need to get as much information
about the Ostium as quickly as possible.
Hey, it's not like we have 15 years
we'd like to catch up on.
Are you ready?
No.
Let's do this.
both: Amate spiritus obscure, te quaerimus.
Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere,
apud nos circita.
Amate spiritus obscure, te quaerimus.
Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere,
apud nos circita.
Amate spiritus obscure, te quaerimus.
Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere,
apud nos circita.
Amate spiritus obscure--
- What happened? - Did everyone see the candles?
I don't want to be a Debbie Downer,
but I think it was just a draft.
I'm afraid it didn't work.
Why not? Hmm?
I thought about my dad like you asked me to.
I'm so sorry. I-I don't know.
John...
Hey.
Guess I shouldn't be surprised he didn't show up.
He never came to my baseball games either.
John, I--
I can't imagine how hard it must have been,
you being so young when he left.
It's understandable that you're angry.
Truthfully?
I'm just surprised I didn't break
that music box sooner.
Why? What do you mean?
Well, before he left,
after he'd tuck me in,
I would hear him and my mom fight.
I could never--
I could never hear what about, but, um...
I could hear them say my name.
So I would, uh, crank the motor on that box
over and over and over just trying
to drown out the noise.
Most of the time it worked, except...
I still knew they were fighting about me.
You didn't just smash the music box
because you were angry at your dad.
You were also angry at yourself.
Maybe if I could have been, uh,
better or smarter, I don't know...
maybe he wouldn't have left.
You were just a kid.
Your dad leaving is not your fault.
Then tell me why it feels like it is?
You should listen to her, sport.
It wasn't your fault.
It was mine.
Look at you.
You got so big.
I-I can't believe I'm talking to you.
I-I am, right? I'm not imagining this?
You were honest with your feelings.
Must be why it finally worked.
So who's your friend?
Uh... Dad, this is Mary.
Hi, Mr. Winchester.
- Your mother, is she, uh-- - I'll go get her.
Listen, son, there's so much.
I need to explain why I left.
Look, Dad, we don't have time for that.
We need your help. - My help?
The Akrida.
They're back.
You need to get the Ostium.
It's the only thing-- - No, we-we already have it.
Okay, we know it's some kind of magical portal,
but it's broken. - Broken? That's unlikely.
But it may need to be recharged.
Are you telling me, this whole time,
all we had to do was plug it in?
It's not that simple.
The energy source doesn't simply give
the Ostium its power.
It also determines where the portal opens
so the Akrida will be sent back to their world
where the only ones they can hurt are themselves.
Okay, so this-- this energy source--
I mean, tell me the Men of Letters
still have some.
We were each given a piece to hide
in case of an emergency just like this.
- Where'd you hide it here? - Not here.
Back home.
There's a jasmine vine I planted years ago.
On the side of the garage.
It's still there.
I had a feeling it'd be safe there.
Your mom always hated going near that thing.
How is she?
Well, she's not too happy I got in the monster business.
But, um, she's coming around.
Well, I'm glad.
This is a dangerous world you've stepped into.
You watch out for yourself and your mom.
I'm proud of you, son.
Thank you.
Dad? - Son, I'm right here.
- Henry. - Millie.
Know that I love you.
Both of you.
Dad...
So the energy source is a rock?
Not just any rock.
Look at the density and the strange pits.
I think this is where the Akrida are from.
- Another world? - Another universe.
I don't know. But it's definitely not
from around here.
Maybe that's how it directs the portal like my dad said.
Tells it where to open.
Okay.
Let's save my dad.
I don't see any scuttling inside.
I mean, if this is really the Akrida's new roach motel,
they're doing a really good job of keeping it a secret.
They're in there somewhere. We just have to find them.
So what's the plan?
Split up. Cover more ground.
We have to find my dad and we have to find Roxy.
We take her out, the Akrida are toast.
Be careful not to use the box before you find her.
We don't know how many monsters that thing can handle
before it goes dead like it did last time.
This might be a stupid question,
but, um, how exactly are we supposed to know
the queen when we see her?
Look for a crown, I guess.
Right.
Perfect.
Remember, these are innocent people we're fighting,
so you have to use demon possession rules.
I got this, Campbell.
No.
Break 'em, shake 'em, and move on.
- Argh! - Ahh!
Okay.
- Hey, you okay? - Yeah.
Yeah.
Ahh!
No sign of Samuel anywhere.
What is this place?
Looks like some kind of lab.
Carlos, look.
Now, I've never seen monster essence before,
but if I had to guess, it probably looks like that.
We need something to break the glass.
Lata. Come on.
Come on. Move, move, move, move, move.
Go.
That can't be good, right?
Tomorrow's problem.
We need to get out of here and find Samuel.
Hello. Where's she going?
And what's in that case? - I don't know.
Maybe we should follow her.
We can't leave everyone.
I'm gonna need the two of you to get out of the van, please.
I hope he has dental insurance.
Excuse me, officer, would you mind repeating that?
I said--oh!
Ahh!
I warned you.
Stray from the plan and your father is dead.
And I always keep my promises.
So do I.
Why didn't that one fall?
Maybe your dad's notes were wrong.
Or maybe Roxy wasn't the queen.
Okay. Time to go. Time to go.
Go, go, go, go!
I don't think that door's gonna hold.
There's no way out.
This a normal night for you?
Since I was a kid, yeah.
Dad?
Hey, kiddo.
Dad.
Let's not make her wait any longer.
We're going to make you strong again.
And then you'll bring the others.
And we can make this world our own...
My queen.