Justin pulled into the driveway of his Orlando house, the gate automatically closing once his car was clear. It was the first time he'd been home since the PopOdyssey tour had ended nearly two weeks ago, having gone to Memphis to visit with his family first. And as wonderful as it had been to catch up with family, he was glad to be back at his own house. He barely got time to enjoy it because he and others were on the road or across the country recording.

After throwing the car into park and cutting the engine, Justin grabbed the mail he'd collected from the mailbox at the end of his driveway and his suitcase. As soon as he was inside, he dropped the suitcase next to the door and began leafing through the large pile of mail as he walked further into the entryway. He stopped just in front of a small table, dropping his keys onto it and hitting the play button on his answering machine.

The messages played through, Justin not really paying attention to them as he continued to sift through his stack of mail. "Stack of bills is more like it," he muttered, tossing another bill down onto the table.

It continued that way until finally one message caught his attention. What really made Justin take notice of it was the tone and how much quieter it was than the previous messages.

The voice whispered, "Justin."

Justin immediately froze, his fingers pausing in their task of opening an envelope. "JC?"

"Justin, please," JC said, still speaking in a quiet whisper. "You gotta help me."

Justin frowned, putting the rest of his mail down. All of his attention was focused on the small machine that held JC's recorded voice. There'd been a brief pause with JC panting lightly before his voice returned.

"Oh, God..."

The words had no sooner left his lips when there was a dull thump like the phone had been dropped, and there was a click as surely the phone had been hung up.

"JC!" Justin cried, unable to stop the reaction even though he knew it was a recording and was now in the past. But how far into the past?

Justin tried to quickly replay the message, but he was unable to figure out which button it was before the answering machine declared, "End of messages."

"No!"

Justin had hoped there would be another message from JC, saying it was some ridiculous joke or that he just freaked out over something stupid. But there was no other message. He couldn't even figure out how long ago the message had been left or what number JC had called from since he didn't know how to work his damn answering machine.

"Damn it, Lance. You should've gotten me a voice operated answering machine," Justin muttered to himself. He didn't even know if he made those, but Lance should've known better than to get him a complicated one. He was an idiot when it came to technology.

Not wanting to bother with the machine any further, Justin whipped out his cell phone and immediately hit the speed dial that would connect him with JC's cell. When it went to voice mail right away, Justin cursed and tried calling JC's house phone. It rang several times before the answering machine picked up with JC's greeting.

Justin hung up, resisting the urge to throw his phone and instead rubbed a hand over his face. "Shit," he mumbled, trying to think what he should do next.

Logically, he knew what the next step was - go to JC's house. Justin swiped his keys off the table and headed back out into the sunny Florida weather. He jumped back in his car and all but raced to JC's house, making it there in record time.

JC's car wasn't in the driveway, but Justin rationalized that it could be in the garage. He rushed up the walkway to the front door and rang the bell several times, praying that JC was home and able to open the door. After waiting a painstaking minute with no answer, Justin searched his key ring for the spare JC had given him for emergencies.

Justin flung the door open and punched in the code for JC's alarm system, ceasing the constant beeping. The alarm being set meant one of two things: either JC went out or he was still in the house somewhere. Stepping further into the house, Justin called out for his friend.

"JC!"

There was no answer and as Justin quickly checked the rooms on the first floor, he realized the house was completely silent. It wasn't that weird because JC liked to think and focus without having any distractions, but it unsettled Justin for some reason.

Having seen no sign of JC on the main floor, Justin opened the basement door and went down to see if JC had been working on some new songs and that's why he hadn't heard the doorbell. But the basement was just as empty, though messy with numerous music sheets scattered over the couch and the mixing board. Justin still needed to check the upstairs and he raced up the stairs to the second floor, ready to ream JC for being such a heavy sleeper.

JC's bedroom stood just as empty, and Justin knew in that instant for sure that JC wasn't here. He gave the other bedrooms a cursory glance, but it didn't surprise him that they looked undisturbed, usually only being used by him and the guys when they visited. Walking back downstairs, Justin pulled out his phone once more and called Lance.

Lance answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Lance, have you talked to JC lately?"

Lance chuckled. "Hello to you too, Justin."

"Lance, just answer the question please," Justin said. He was on the verge of having a panic attack, and he guessed it affected how he sounded because Lance's tone changed.

"No, not within the last week," Lance answered, his tone cautious. "What's going on?"

"You don't have any idea where he is?" Justin asked, feeling his stomach plummet. He'd figured Lance would know - he knew what all of them were doing at any given time. Except for the time Justin needed him to the most.

"No. The last time I talked to him he said something about maybe taking a trip, so maybe he went ahead with that."

Justin sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But where?"

"Justin," Lance said and Justin could picture him frowning on the other end. "What's all this about? Didn't you just get back from your mom's?"

Justin wanted to go off on Lance for knowing what he had been doing and not JC, but he forced himself to take a breath. What he said instead was, "Yeah, and I was checking my answering machine and I got this message from JC. He was asking for help."

"He probably wanted your opinion on a song or something," Lance said, and Justin nearly growled in frustration that he didn't get it.

"No. He sounded scared, Lance." Justin paused for a second, biting his lip. "I think something's happened to him."

"Justin..."

Justin immediately sensed Lance's tone and interrupted. "No! You didn't hear him, Lance. Something's wrong. I know it."

"If something was really wrong, wouldn't he have called your cell phone?"

Justin considered that. It was a good question, and he didn't have an answer. "He probably tried to, but I was in the air and my phone was off" was the best he could come up with.

"Your phone still would've logged it as a missed call though," Lance said, logically. "Did it you give a message when you landed?"

"No. Obviously my phone's a piece of shit."

Lance paused, and Justin could almost hear him trying to think of a logical reason for JC's unsettling message. "That still doesn't mean he's in trouble, Justin."

"But I tried his cell phone and it went straight to voicemail. And I'm standing in his house right now. He's not here."

"Well, did you check to see what number he called from?" Lance asked.

Justin snorted. "I barely know how to play the messages on my machine let alone find a way to bring up the call details."

"Okay, look. Head back to your place and I'll meet you there. We'll get the number off the machine and try calling it back."

Justin agreed and hung up the phone, already on his out of JC's house. He stopped long enough to reset the alarm because he knew JC would kick his ass if he didn't before he jumped back into his car.

It was a short drive back to his place, and he'd just turned off engine when Lance pulled up behind him. Justin got out and waited by the front of Lance's car. As Lance got out, he frowned at Justin.

"Are you okay? You look really freaked."

Justin didn't bother to answer, not sure if he even could. He just led the way into his house and Lance followed. They stopped in front of the answering machine, and Justin watched as Lance hit a few buttons. Then, JC's voice came through the speakers again.

As they listened to the message, Justin watched Lance's face and saw him become uneasy. Listening to it a second time just amplified Justin's worry because he was able to detect the slight tremor in JC's voice. When the message ended, Lance hit a different button and pulled out his phone to punch in the number.

"It's definitely a number I've never seen before," Lance told Justin as he put the phone to his ear. Only a few seconds passed before Lance hung up, looking at Justin. "It says the number has been disconnected."

Justin stared at Lance in disbelief. "What?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either. According to your machine, JC left the message around three. So it's really weird for it to be disconnected just a few hours later."

"So what do we do now?" Justin asked. He didn't bother asking if Lance believed him now because it was pretty obvious he was becoming just as concerned as Justin was.

"Joey and Justin were supposed to come to my house to grill some steaks." Lance glanced at his watch. "Actually, they're supposed to be showing up shortly so we can head over to my place and see if they've talked to JC."

"But what if they haven't?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions. We'll talk to them first and then go from there."

Justin sighed, but nodded. He got into Lance's car and the two of them drove over to Lance's place. It felt ridiculous to be driving all over Orlando just to find out what was going on with JC, but Justin didn't really mind. He'd only be able to relax when he knew that JC was okay and hopefully Joey or Chris could give him that.

Lance and Justin had only gotten to Lance's house about five minutes before Joey and Chris showed up. When Joey saw Justin, he hugged him and Justin felt some of his anxiety leave, if only for that moment. Things always seemed like they'd turn out okay with Joey around.

Chris, on the other hand, looked at him and asked, "What are you doing here?"

It wasn't an outrageous question, but the hostile tone was. Justin didn't know what was up with Chris, but he had more important things to worry about right now.

"Have you talked to JC recently?" Justin glanced at Joey. "Either of you."

Joey and Chris glanced at each other before Joey said, "I talked to him a few days ago."

"That's sooner than when you talked to him," Justin told Lance. He looked back at Joey, hoping he knew more that could help them. "What did he say? Anything about going on vacation?"

Joey paused like he was trying to remember. Finally, he said, "Actually, yeah, he did. Said he was getting ready to head out and catch a flight."

"To where?" Justin asked, nearly bouncing on his feet with impatience.

"New Orleans. He said it was a good place to get inspired."

Justin turned his attention to Lance, who'd been standing there quietly. "You think that's where he called from?"

"We can look up the area code," Lance said, already moving towards his office. Justin followed him, and Chris and Joey weren't too far behind.

"What's going on?" Joey asked, watching Lance pull up his Internet browser with a frown.

Justin turned around from where he was looking over Lance's shoulder and quickly explained the situation. When he finished, Joey looked concerned, the frown lines very out of place on him. But Chris just snorted.

"Give me a break," he said. "JC's not missing."

Justin stepped closer to him, challengingly. "How do you know?"

"Because JC's a recluse. He'd have to actually go out to get into trouble."

"Someone could've broke into his room and kidnapped him," Justin pointed out. "Besides, he went to New Orleans for the music so he probably wasn't in his room much."

"And we're supposed to just go off this feeling you have that something's wrong?" Chris asked with an attitude that was grating on Justin's nerves.

Justin crossed his arms over his chest. "How about the message he left on my machine? Isn't that enough to make you worried?"

"It could be a joke. For all we know, this whole thing could be a joke that you and him cooked up. Just one more way for you to get attention," Chris said nastily.

Justin stared at his friend for a second, not believing the words that had come out of his mouth or the tone. He would've laid into Chris and demanded to know what the hell his problem is if Lance hadn't stepped in then.

"I heard the message too, Chris," he said. "JC did sound scared. And anyway, you know JC wouldn't joke about something like this."

Chris didn't say anything, but he didn't argue either. Justin ignored his glare and looked at Lance. "So? Did the call come from New Orleans?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah, but there's no way to narrow it down further."

"That's okay. We'll figure it out when we get down there," Justin said. Absently, he thought how ironic it was that he'd be flying back out of the airport just hours after he'd flown in.

"Whoa, wait a minute." Joey held up his hands. "We're going down there?"

"Um, yeah," Justin said, giving him a look that said it should've been obvious. "How else are we supposed to find JC?"

"We could call the police," Lance suggested. "Give them the number and have them track down the address."

Justin considered that. Contacting the police down there would help with their search. "That's a good idea, but they're probably not going to take us seriously if we just go down there. They'll want proof that JC's missing."

"Proof that we don't have," Chris pointed out.

"Not to mention, even if JC's missing, we have no idea what the circumstances were. We'd have no idea what we're walking into," Lance added.

Justin sighed. "Look, you guys don't have to go. I'll do it myself."

"We're not going to let you go down there by yourself."

Joey nodded, agreeing with Lance. "We're going with you." He glanced to his left. "Right, Chris?"

"Fine," Chris relented. "But I'm going to say I told you so if we find where JC's staying and he's sitting in his room writing a song."

Justin narrowed his eyes at Chris. He almost didn't want him to come since he seemed to have such a bad attitude and was taking it out on him for some reason, but Justin knew he'd feel better if they all worked to find JC. And if they weren't on such a time crunch, he'd probably try to knock the attitude out of him.

Instead, he said, "You know, you can try to act like you care a little more. If the roles were reversed, JC would be doing whatever he could to find you."

Again, Chris said nothing, but the anger dulled to a slight indifference. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Joey broke it.

"Speaking of finding JC's hotel, how are we going to do that? We have no idea which one he decided to stay at."

"Leave that to me. I'll know," Justin said, confident that once they got down there and the memories of the previous times they'd been down there came flooding back, he'd have a pretty good idea where JC would've stayed.

"Okay, everyone go pack and meet back here in twenty minutes. I'll take care of getting our tickets booked," Lance said.

They split up, Justin following Joey and Chris out after he got Lance's keys from him since Lance had driven both of them there. Justin jumped into the unfamiliar vehicle and pulled out after Joey and Chris, praying that JC was okay and he'd hang in there until they could get to him.

**********

JC's left hand was cuffed to an old rusted metal headboard in a small room that was practically stifling. Besides an occasional breeze and the small rotating fan in the corner of the room, there was no relief from the hot, humid air. From the open window, he could see the afternoon sun and knew that it had be close to twelve hours since he was cuffed to the bed.

It seemed kind of odd that only one hand was cuffed, but it didn't seem to change his predicament. JC couldn't exactly pry the cuff open with his free hand, and he'd already tried to force his left hand through the cuff to no avail. He was at the point now where he was scanning the room for anything in reach that could help free him from the handcuff, having been unable to do so last night in the dark.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he let his head fall back on the pillow. He glanced to his right and saw something he hadn't before. There were two cords that went from the top of the old wooden nightstand to the wall behind it, and the one was significantly smaller than the other. A telephone maybe? JC felt his pulse quicken at the idea.

He wouldn't know for sure until he moved the large jewelry box that was closest to him on the nightstand. So JC reached out with his right arm, and it took a few seconds of moving his hand around before he got a solid grip on the box. It was surprisingly light, which made him think there wasn't anything in it. He set it down gently next to him on the bed and saw there was in fact a pale yellow phone sitting on the far side of the nightstand.

Once JC was sure the box wasn't going to topple off the bed and alert his captor, he stretched his right arm. The action caused pain in his left wrist that was chaffed from his escape attempt earlier, but he didn't let it stop him. He managed to grab onto the phone and pull it closer to him. Now, the question was: did it actually work?

His hands trembled slightly as he picked up the receiver and held it to his ear. He nearly cried out in relief when he heard a dial tone. JC forced himself to take a calming breath before he dialed the first person that came to his mind - Justin.

But as relieved as he had been, he became slightly agitated when Justin's cell phone went right to voicemail. Not deterred, JC quickly dialed Justin's home, glancing at the bedroom's doorway to ensure that his captor was still none the wiser. When Justin's answering machine kicked on after ringing several times, JC had to bite his tongue to keep himself from letting out an aggravated growl.

There was a beep in his ear, and JC tried one last thing, thinking maybe Justin was screening his calls. "Justin," he whispered quietly.

He glanced towards the door once more. "Justin, please," he continued. "You gotta help me."

A sudden creak drew JC's attention back to the doorway. His heart race, making his breathing quicken as he listened to see if there were other noises. Sure enough, there was another creak, followed by yet another. Footsteps. He was about to be discovered.

"Oh, God..." he breathed.

JC was barely able to register the woman stepping into the doorway as pain suddenly flared in his stomach. He dropped the phone and instinctively curled up on his side, grabbing at his stomach with his right hand. Through the haze, he was able to see her yank the phone out of the wall, effectively severing the connection.

"Why did you do that? I thought we were getting along so well," she said, the last part spoken seductively, but there was no denying the anger that was present.

"Please, Marlene," JC choked out, still clutching his stomach.

The woman, Marlene, removed the black needle from the stomach of the doll she held in her hand, and the pain was immediately gone. JC was left panting even harder and he tried to catch his breath as moved closer to the bed.

"There's no need to call for help, JC," she said as she picked up the jewelry box from the bed and place it back on the nightstand. "Things would be much better if you stopped fighting me so much."

"Marlene, I don't belong here with you."

She turned from where she'd picked up the phone and looked at him. "Of course you do, JC. Why else were you drawn to me in that bar? You like me; you're attracted to me."

She was a very pretty woman. She had long wavy brown hair and captivating hazel eyes. Those features are what initially attracted him to her. Then, as they got talking, he'd realized what a wonderful smile she had. He'd certainly enjoyed hanging out with her. At least he had until she'd brought him here, to her place, and had shown her true colors.

"That doesn't mean we're meant to be together," JC protested.

Marlene stared at him for a moment, JC feeling like those hazel eyes were peering straight into his soul. Finally, she smiled a slow smile that made JC very uneasy. "So you say, but I know you'll see things the way I do. In three days."

JC's brow furrowed, confused at what that meant exactly. But he prayed that he wouldn't have to spend the next three days with her. Hopefully someone would find him, though JC knew it relied on Justin and who knew how long it would be before Justin would actually get the message - realize something was wrong.

If Marlene noticed JC's confusion, she didn't say anything. Instead, she grabbed a magazine off a nearby dresser and flipped through it briefly before ripping out a page. JC rolled over to see what it was and his eyes widened slightly as he recognized it as a picture of him from one of their latest photo shoots.

She put the photo on the dresser and lit a black candle, letting it burn for a minute. Then she lifted the candle and tipped it so black wax dripped onto the photo of him below. As this happened, she chanted:

As I do this candle spell
Bring mine enemy 3 nights of hell
Candle black, black as night
Bring him pains of flesh tonight!

Dukes of darkness, Kings of hell
Smite mine enemy, bring him hell
When 3 nights of pain have passed
Make him well, well at last

Marlene then bowed her head for a few seconds before blowing out the candle. Almost immediately, JC began to feel his skin grow warm, the kind of warmth you feel with a fever. And somehow JC knew the worst was yet to come.

Seeing that she was about to leave the room, JC called out to her. "Enemy?" he said. "I thought you loved me." She'd told him so a few times since she'd brought him here.

Marlene looked back at him with a small smile, her cold eyes belaying the warmth he'd seen in them last night at the bar. "There's a fine line between love and hate, and right now, I don't like you very much."

She left the room, her long skirt billowing as she walked. When she was out of sight, JC sighed. He couldn't believe his rotten luck. His trip to enjoy some blues music had come to a crashing halt and was nothing short of a disaster.

At that moment, he would've given anything to be in Orlando, hanging out with the guys.

It had taken much longer than Justin wanted for them to get on a plane heading for New Orleans. While it'd taken them no longer than a half hour to get back to Lance's, the next flight out of Orlando to New Orleans wasn't for at least two hours. Part of Justin had wanted to throw a diva fit and demand a private jet, but that would've drawn attention they didn't want. Not yet anyway; not until they at least had an idea as to what was going on.

They were finally on their way, but they hadn't been able to get four seats near each other. Lance and Chris were sitting towards the front, while Joey and Justin were a couple rows from the back of the plane. Something that wasn't necessarily a bad thing since it gave Justin the opportunity to talk about Chris.

"What's up with Chris?" Justin asked Joey, keeping his voice low even though there were several rows separating them from Lance and Chris.

Joey glanced at him and shrugged. "Beats me."

Justin frowned. "That's all you got? I would've thought he'd talk to you."

"Nah." Joey paused and amended, "I mean, we've talked, but not about anything important or really serious. We've just been getting together to go clubbing and stuff."

"And you haven't noticed anything?"

"You mean besides him jumping down your throat?" Joey said, raising an eyebrow.

Justin nodded. He found it very hard to believe that he'd pissed off Chris enough to deserve the way he'd talked to him at Lance's and the way he'd been ignoring him since they left. Hell, Justin had barely talked to him in two weeks. To say he was beyond confused by his friend's behavior was an understatement.

Joey sighed, glancing around them before looking at Justin. He lowered his voice and said, "He got into a fight at Chillers the other night."

"What?" Justin sat up a bit, almost trying to peer over the seats in front of him to get a glimpse of Chris even though he knew he couldn't see him or Lance from where he was sitting.

Joey tugged on his shirt, forcing him to sit back completely in his seat. "It started off as just a few words said and then the wrong words were said. It just escalated from there."

"How bad?" Justin asked. He was curious how bad the fight had gotten and just how much Chris had hurt the other guy because Chris certainly didn't look like he'd gotten into a fight just a couple days ago. But then, there were other places to hit than the face.

Joey seemed to understand what Justin was asking and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Pretty bad. I mean, no one went to the hospital or got arrested or anything. But Chris definitely did a number on the guy."

"And Chris?"

"Just some bruising to his chest and stomach. The guy was too drunk to do any real damage."

"What made him do it? Why would he snap like that?" Justin asked. While it was true that Chris had a temper on him, he wasn't usually violent unless he or someone he knew was being threatened. And drunk assholes saying stupid stuff wasn't usually enough to push him into physical violence.

Joey shook his head and shrugged. "I have no idea."

"You didn't talk to him afterwards? Ask why he lost it like that?" Justin said, frowning.

"Of course!" Joey replied. "I tried to talk to him, but he didn't want any parts of it. All he said was that it was stupid and he wouldn't let his anger take over like that again."

Justin looked at Joey. "What's he angry about?"

"If I knew, don't you think I'd tell you?" Joey said, showing his slight agitation. "But based on what happened earlier, I'd say he's angry at you."

"But why? I didn't do anything!"

"Well, you had to have done something because he hasn't treated me or Lance like that," Joey pointed out.

Justin let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know what then."

"Don't worry about it. Ten to one, it's probably something stupid and he's just taking it out on you."

"You're probably right, but that doesn't make it okay for him to be an asshole," Justin said. "Especially considering we have no idea what happened to JC."

A long moment of silence fell over the two of them, allowing them to hear the murmurs of quiet conversations going on around them. It was broken by Joey speaking softly.

"Do you really think something is wrong?"

As Justin's thoughts immediately went to JC, his stomach clenched. "Yes," he said without any hesitation.

"But you could be wrong, right? There's no way you actually know he's not okay."

Justin realized that Joey wasn't saying that because he didn't believe him. It was his way of giving himself some hope to hang on to. So Justin turned his body slightly to face Joey and look him in the eye, which was kind of difficult in the cramped space.

"I wish to God I was wrong, but I just have a really bad feeling about this whole thing. And I know it's a feeling I can't ignore. JC's counting on me. On us."

"How can you be so sure we'll find him?" Joey asked. "And if he is in danger, what if we don't find him in time?"

Justin swallowed roughly, hating hearing his own fears being vocalized. But he forced those feelings aside. He wasn't going to accept failure on this.

"We'll find him, Joe," Justin said, his intense blue eyes staring into Joey's soulful brown ones. "I won't leave until I do."

**********

JC shifted on the bed uncomfortably, the combination of heat from his body and the weather making it unbearable to lie on the cotton sheets beneath him. He had never been so hot before in his life, and he swore that never again would he complain about the hot, muggy Florida summers. Even knowing it would be over in just under seventy-two hours didn't help.

The fever seemed to be messing with his head because he kept thinking about Marlene. A few thoughts were along the lines of the disbelief he had that she was doing this to him - had essentially kidnapped him and was now torturing him. But mostly, his mind kept going back to that moment he saw her in that bar and how they'd sat for hours talking. Something that had surely been her intention.

What JC hadn't intended on this impromptu vacation he took was to meet someone and even trust them enough to go back to their place. But in his defense, she had seemed very trustworthy. Nothing about her appearance had said "I know voodoo and will use it against you unless you agree to be with me."

The first two days of his vacation, JC had spent much of his evenings at Preservation Hall, which was a jazz place that was strictly about the music since it didn't even have a bar. During the day, he'd sleep late and then go out onto his balcony overlooking the French Quarter and allow the sights and sounds provide him a muse. Within the first day of arriving, the blues music that was carried on the wind as he sat outside with a croissant had broken his writer's block.

It was on the third day that he'd gone to a local place nearby on Bourbon street for lunch and was told to check out The Apple Barrel for some great local blues music. So that night JC had walked several blocks to the bar and he'd settled himself at a booth to listen to the local musicians. He'd been enjoying the music so much that he hadn't even realized right away that someone was standing nearby until they cleared their throat.

JC had torn his eyes away from the band that was currently on the small stage and his eyes had locked with a pretty young brunette. She had been wearing a light cotton dress that fell just above her knees. Her hair had gentle waves that framed her face, her eyes sparkling in the dim lighting.

"Do you mind if I sit here? All the other seats are taken," she'd told him.

JC hadn't, gesturing for her to take a seat. She'd smiled and introduced herself, and from there, they'd gotten to talking. They'd talked about how great the music was and how some of it was reminiscent of the original blues musicians. After spending the last few days keeping to himself, he'd enjoyed having the company and learning more about the culture from a local.

"If I didn't know who you were, I would've mistaken you for a local," she'd said.

JC had been impressed that she'd recognized him but had been very cool about it, treating him like he was any other guy. It was something they all enjoyed when it happened, and it'd made him like her even more. They'd talked and drank until the bar closed and that had been when she'd invited him back to her place.

There'd been a brief moment of hesitation, part of JC so exhausted that he just wanted to go back to his hotel and sleep. But she'd enticed him by saying she had some CDs of a new blues band one of her friends was in that he would love. It wasn't often that he was able to turn down a chance to hear new music and he'd really been having fun with her, so he'd finally agreed. And that had been his biggest mistake.

It had been a bit of a walk to her house, but it hadn't been too bad. She lived on a quiet street in a small building that looked as if it'd been there for at least the last hundred years. Once they were inside, she'd offered him a bottle of water before putting on one of the CDs she'd mentioned.

They'd relaxed on her couch, JC enjoying the music immensely. He'd actually gotten so wrapped up in it that he hadn't realized how close she was until she had leaned against his shoulder. She'd kissed the corner of his lips, and he'd turned his head, looking at her in surprise.

But turning his head had just given her easier access to his lips. She'd kissed him full on the lips, her right hand running through his hair at the back of his head. JC had gently tried to push her away, but she'd just pressed herself against him even more, her lean body forcing him to lie back against the arm of the couch.

JC had pushed against her again, but hard enough that he actually caused her to fall back. He'd gently rubbed at the back of his head where her grip had managed to pull out some hair and had looked at her.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this," he'd told her.

"Why not? You don't have a girlfriend. You told me so."

"No, but I'm not really ready for another relationship. I thought we could just be friends."

That had been the wrong thing to say, and JC had realized it as soon as the words had left his lips. She hadn't said anything, but her eyes had narrowed, seeming to darken. JC had taken that as his cue to leave and had risen from the couch, planning on doing just that.

"I think I better go. It's getting pretty late," he'd said. He hadn't taken more than a couple of steps when he suddenly felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his knee. It'd immediately made him buckle, dropping to the old wooden floor.

JC had tried to get to his feet, but it had been impossible with the excruciating pain in his knee. He'd heard footsteps walk around before they'd stopped just in front of him. Looking up, he had noticed with a sick feeling in his stomach that she was holding a cloth doll with a black needle sticking out of the area where the doll's knee would've been.

"You can't go, JC. We were just getting to know each other," she'd said, her tone soft and sweet, but her eyes hard and dark.

What happened after that had been too quick for JC to comprehend or try to stop it. She'd removed the pin from the doll's knee and the pain had instantly lifted in his own. But then it'd been quickly replaced by a blinding pain in his head. It had been so intense that all of the sudden, things had gone black. When JC had come to a while later, he'd discovered he was in an old bedroom and handcuffed to the bed.

JC sighed heavily, forcing himself back to the present. He was kicking himself for trusting someone after only spending a few hours with them. If he'd been more careful, he'd probably be sitting on his balcony outside his hotel room and listening to the music drift down from Bourbon Street. And he'd be blissfully unaware that voodoo was a very real thing.

Suddenly, there was a noise and JC looked towards the doorway. Marlene stood there, watching him with a small smile. He felt a shiver run down his spin, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the fever or the fact that he had no idea how long she'd been watching him.

"I brought you some water," she said as she walked into the room, acting as if he were a guest and not a prisoner.

JC watched as she set the glass on the nightstand, his dry throat swallowing reflexively. He wanted nothing more than to take a drink and relieve the dry, scratchy feeling of his throat. But after everything she'd done since he'd arrived at her place late last night, he didn't trust her.

"You don't have to be afraid," she told him, almost like she could sense his fear. "I'm not going to kill you."

JC stared at her through glassy eyes with distrust. She took a step back, like she was trying to assure him that it was okay. The very last thing he wanted was to give into something she was offering him, but he ached for the water - to provide him at least some kind of relief from the heat he was experiencing.

Slowly, JC reached out for the large glass of water and grabbed onto it with slightly shaking hands. He was unnerved by Marlene watching him, but he was too focused on not spilling all of the water that would provide him relief to really care. The water had barely touched his lips when there was a sudden sharp pain in his right arm, causing him to drop the glass. It shattered against the floor next to the bed.

Instantly, JC looked at Marlene expecting to see her holding the voodoo doll, but her hands were empty. Through the pain and fog that accompanied the fever, he rationalized that the pain in his arm must've been some kind of weird side effect of the spell she'd cast earlier. After all, it made sense that a curse wouldn't allow its victim any kind of reprieve.

"Do whatever you want, but nothing will make me want to be with you," JC said, glaring at her even though he found it hard to focus on her.

Marlene sighed and reached out to run a finger down JC's cheek. "Oh, JC," she started. JC weakly batted her hand away and tried to force himself not to back away from her even though he wanted nothing more than to put as much distance between them as possible. "What you don't realize is I always get what I want, and I want you."

She headed for the door and paused just inside the doorframe, looking back at him. "You're mine, and you're going to realize that. One way or another."

JC tried to keep a hard mask, but it was extremely difficult considering how terrible he felt and just how scared he was at the idea of just how far she would go to get what she wanted. She smiled as if she could sense his weakness before finally walking out, leaving him alone yet again.

It wasn't something he wanted, but it was at least better than knowing she was enjoying watching him suffer. JC prayed he would be strong enough to handle whatever else she threw at him.

**********

"Pull over here."

The four of them had hopped into a cab, throwing their carryon backpacks into the trunk. Since they didn't know where JC had decided to stay, they'd just told the cab driver to take them to the French Quarter and they'd figure it out from there. Justin had caught the anxious glances the others gave him since he'd said he'd know what hotel JC had chosen.

That was why he'd told the cabbie to pull over. They were in the middle of the French Quarter, halfway down Bourbon Street and there was no way he'd be able to figure out what hotel from the inside of a cab. It didn't help too that it was already dark even though it was only going on nine o'clock. But the others didn't seem to understand why they were getting out without any destination in mind as they frowned at each other.

Justin pulled a fifty out of his wallet and threw it at the cab driver, opening the back door and getting out. The others stumbled out behind him, grabbing their bags from the trunk before the cab drove away. They stood on the sidewalk for a moment, Justin looking around and trying to take everything in.

"You have no idea where we're going, do you?" Chris said, breaking the silence between them with a biting tone.

Justin narrowed his eyes. "You don't either."

"No, but I didn't say I was going to just know what hotel JC was staying at." Chris muttered, "Now we're gonna have to lug our bags all over the damn city."

Justin clenched his fist, wanting to lay into Chris then and there. He managed to control himself, remembering that while it was September and tourist season was over, there was still too many people on the streets to start screaming at each other. The last thing they needed was to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

"C'mon," he said, tugging his baseball cap lower so the shadows from the bill hid his face better. It was just a good thing he'd chopped off all his curls because he surely would've gotten recognized if he still had them.

Justin picked a direction and began walking down the street, looking at all of buildings as he passed. He prayed to have some kind of connection with JC that would give him a clue as to where his friend had been staying. They walked by several restaurants and had to weave through the throngs of people that were waiting for a late dinner or to be let into clubs early. For it being almost the end of September, there seemed to be a good bit of tourists.

A sudden thought occurred to Justin, almost making him stop on the spot. He glanced up and down the street, seeing the neon signs and lights spilling out of restaurants and somehow immediately knew JC wouldn't have stayed in the middle of all this. Going off instinct, Justin turned down the next street they came across.

"Where are you taking us?" Joey asked as they left the busy Bourbon Street behind them. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "All the action's back that way."

"JC wouldn't pick a hotel in the busiest part," Justin said.

Lance frowned, glancing at Joey before looking at Justin. "But I thought he came down to get inspired. Wouldn't he want to stay where all the clubs and everything are?"

"What you're forgetting about JC," Justin began, his steps not slowing as he walked along the quieter street, "is that he'd want a place where he could get away from it all. But be close enough that he could still experience it."

Justin stopped suddenly, causing Chris to slam into his back. Chris cursed and muttered something, but Justin wasn't paying attention to him. He stood still for a moment, closing his eyes as he felt a warm breeze blow across his face and carrying the soulful blues sounds with it.

"Here," Justin said, opening his eyes to look at the old building in front of them. "He's staying here."

He adjusted the backpack on his shoulder, lightly jogging up to the large grand looking front door. The hotel had the appearance of an old house from what Justin guessed to be somewhere around the Civil War era that'd been converted to accommodate more than a large family, but with its history preserved. It was exactly the kind of place JC would enjoy staying at.

Justin didn't even bother to check if the others were following him, knowing they would. A soft bell chimed above him as he opened the door and entered, drawing the attention of an older woman behind a large mahogany desk.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any vacancies," she said, noticing their backpacks.

"That's okay," Justin replied, stepping closer. "We're actually looking for someone, and we believe he's staying here."

The woman frowned. "I'm not supposed to give out that information."

"Please, ma'am." Justin pushed his hat up so he could see her better and allow her easy access to read his eyes. "We're friends of his. He kind of took off on us and we just want to make sure he's okay."

She stared at him for a long moment, trying to decide if he could be trusted. Finally she sighed slightly but smiled as she asked, "What's the name?"

"Michael Prince."

Justin glanced back at the guys and saw their confused looks. He shook his head, a very small smile tugging at his lips. It was a name JC used when he wanted to get away without being recognized, a combination of two artists that inspired him - Michael Jackson and Prince. Of course, JC had many musical influences, but that had been the combination he'd used when he'd first done it a couple years ago. And he was a creature of habit, so it wasn't surprising that he hadn't changed it.

"Room 310," the woman behind the desk told Justin, sliding him a spare key.

Justin smiled and thanked her before leading the way up stairs with a metal railing. They reached the third floor, which also happened to be the top floor. It was a small hallway and there were only a few rooms, so it was pretty easy to find JC's.

Because the building was so old, they'd been given an actual key and not just one of those plastic cards hotels said was a key. Justin turned it in the lock and opened the door, walking inside. It wasn't a large room, which made it easy to see that it was in fact empty.

Justin stepped further into the room and the others did the same, Lance closing the door behind him. The room had a lot of character without being obnoxious. It actually looked really homey with the thick checkered comforter with soft blues and browns, the dark cherry frame accented by the brick walls. There was a small TV screwed into the wall of one corner of the room and a small desk across from the bed that was littered with various papers, some with JC's scribbled handwriting.

Taking a shaky breath, Justin turned and looked at the other three. "We need to go to the police."

"Now don't go throwing a tantrum just yet," Chris said. "He could be out. Hell, he could've been standing in one of those lines to get into a bar or restaurant and we walked right by him."

It was probably the most Chris sounded like himself since Justin had told them about the message JC left on his machine, but it didn't make Justin feel any better. He was certain that JC wasn't just out having a good time, eating and enjoying some local music. And any amount of time they spent thinking that would be time wasted in actually finding him.

"No. He's in trouble. I can feel it," Justin said.

Chris rolled his eyes. "You and your feelings again." He gave Justin a hard look. "Is that what you're going to say to the cops when they ask what proof you have he's missing?"

Justin felt his blood boil, getting even more fed up with Chris's attitude before. But he refused to lose it. Not now when JC needed him so badly. All he said was, "I'm gonna tell them about the message he left and give them the phone number to trace. We're going to find him."

It looked like Chris was going to protest some more, but Lance cut him off. "We should get down there before it gets any later. That way they can get started on tracking down the owner of the number JC called from sooner."

Justin shot Lance a grateful look and the four of them left for the police station. It took them at least ten minutes to walk there and they were out the doors in just about the same amount of time. They began their walk back towards Bourbon Street, Justin fuming the whole way.

"What the hell do they mean they can't do anything?" he demanded.

Lance sighed. "Justin, they're looking into the phone number."

"But they refuse to do anything else!" Justin pointed out, angry that the police didn't seem to be as determined as him to find JC.

"Because, as I already pointed out, there's no way of knowing JC just chose not to return to his hotel. Or is in the middle of a bar somewhere," Chris said. "They need proof of kidnapping or knowing that he's been missing for at least twenty-four hours."

Justin shook his head. It was utter bullshit. Yeah, he guessed it made sense and the police were only doing their job, but Justin knew JC was in trouble. Why wasn't that good enough? Didn't they understand the connection he had to JC and how he never ever got feelings like this unless something was terribly wrong?

"Then, let's give them proof," Justin said. "We'll go search the bars and restaurants."

"We have no way of knowing which ones he went to," Joey pointed out.

"Then we'll just have to check them all."

Chris snorted. "Good luck with that."

Justin glared at Chris and Lance sighed heavily, reaching out to put a comforting hand on Justin's shoulder and blocking his view of Chris. "Justin, I know you want to find JC. We all do, but we can't just wander aimlessly checking every place in The Quarter. Besides, it's getting late. We should just get a room and turn in for the night."

"And grab some dinner," Joey said, nodding.

It was Justin's turn to sigh. He knew they were right - it'd be nearly impossible to find JC if they didn't have a clue or at least an idea of where he might've gone. They'd have to try talking to some locals and see if anyone recognized him or might have talked to him, given him recommendations of places to try. But Justin didn't want to give up; it wasn't even that late.

Still, he didn't object as Lance led them back onto Bourbon Street and into a place called The Maison Dupuy Hotel. It was a pretty high class hotel and looked nothing like the one JC had picked out. After a few moments of speaking with the front desk, Lance returned with four keys - one for each of them.

"I tried to get a couple rooms, but they were pretty much all booked. So they gave us this house that's right next door with two bedrooms," Lance explained.

He led them back outside and over to the house on the right. As they walked in and Lance flipped the lights, Justin was able to see that the house was as expensive looking as the lobby had been. And even though there was much more space and the furniture seemed to reflect a time period long forgotten, he found JC's room to be much cozier. It was no wonder JC had stayed away from the obscenely expensive places they normally frequented while on tour.

Justin slung the bag off his shoulder and let it fall to the floor by a large armchair. Chris was walking up the stairs and Joey had already picked up a menu that had been placed on the kitchen table, perusing it. None of them seemed overly worried at the moment and Justin wanted to scream. Was he the only one taking this whole thing seriously?

Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to sit around and do nothing while waiting for the police to get to them, he checked that his wallet was still in his back pocket. He then turned back towards the door, only to be stopped by Lance's voice.

"Where are you going?"

Justin exhaled and turned around. "Back to JC's. I want to see if maybe there's a bill or something from a restaurant so we can ask around tomorrow."

"We're about to order food," Joey said, holding up the menu. "We can check out JC's room after."

"You go ahead. I'm not hungry," Justin said. "I'll be back in a bit."

Justin walked out before Lance or Joey could say anything to stop him. He traveled a couple streets over until he was back at JC's hotel. Just like before, he went up to the third floor and entered the room again.

He went over to the desk and sifted through the mess of papers. A lot of it was scribbled lyrics in JC's sloppy handwriting, and Justin smiled slightly. It was good to see JC had been inspired enough to get past his writer's block.

Muted music drew his attention away from the pile of papers to the door on his right. Justin opened it and stepped out onto the balcony, the music growing a bit louder, but it was far enough away that it was still faint. It almost gave the blues music a bit of a haunting sound, especially as the wind gently blew.

There was a small circular table and chair out there, and Justin immediately knew this was where JC had done most of his writing. He could easily picture JC sitting there in the afternoon, lounging in the sun as he allowed the music and the people passing by act as his muse. If Justin closed his eyes, it was almost like JC was there, sitting in the small chair or leaning against the blue painted metal railing.

But it disappeared as soon as Justin opened his eyes, leaving him feeling empty. He had to find JC. Just as determined as ever, he walked back into the room and began to go through the papers again. He was so caught up in his task that he didn't hear the door open.

"Find anything?"

Justin spun around, his heart practically jumping into his throat. He relaxed as he recognized Joey. "Don't sneak up on people like that, man."

"Sorry," Joey said with an apologetic shrug. He came closer and repeated his question. "Did you find something?"

Justin glanced down at the piece of paper he was still clutching, having been in the middle of reading it when Joey had surprised him. It was a flyer for a jazz place a couple streets over.

"Want to check out some local jazz?"

Early the next morning, Justin was sitting at the kitchen table in the two bedroom house the hotel next door had given them for their stay. He doodled, his hand moving of its own free will as his thoughts swirled. It was an almost overwhelming sensation, and it'd certainly been enough to keep him from sleeping when he and Joey had gotten back. Not that Justin would've been able to anyway since it was the worry for JC that fed his chaotic thoughts.

The jazz club he and Joey had spent the night at, Preservation Hall, hadn't turned up the results Justin had been hoping for. Between the two of them, they'd talked to a great majority of people in the place. But besides the bouncer at the door who had taken money for their admission, no one seemed to remember JC being there. The only reason the bouncer had remembered JC was because apparently JC had gone two nights in a row, getting there before the line to get in got really long.

Justin had grumbled to Joey about JC's ability to blend in and not be bothered. It wasn't something that was all that surprising, but it made the task of finding someone who'd seen him nearly impossible. The club had several booths that were situated around perimeter, most sitting in the shadows and Justin had gotten the feeling JC had been in one of those booths.

That particular club wasn't even really a club since it didn't serve any food or alcohol, which had given them less regulars that might have remembered seeing JC. And since Joey had put off the late dinner to join Justin, he'd complained for much of the night that he was starving and dying of thirst whenever they'd run into each other. Something Justin had basically ignored since he'd realized it was meant as a distraction to keep him from freaking out as they searched the music hall.

They'd only given up when the last band's song had ended and the large crowd began to file out. In hindsight, Justin knew it hadn't been a good idea to spend the night in one club when they probably could've checked out at least another one or two. But he hadn't been able to make himself leave, especially when the bouncer had confirmed JC had been there. He'd counted on someone having seen JC and talked to him - something.

So he'd been more than a little discouraged as he'd follow Joey back to the house Lance had rented for them. They'd discovered a note on the fridge from Lance saying there was leftover pizza in the fridge, which Joey had wasted no time in heating up. Justin had pretended to nibble on a piece, not feeling very hungry while Joey had wolfed down several pieces before going up to bed.

Justin had changed shortly after and had tried to get some sleep, knowing he'd probably think better if he did. But sleep hadn't come easily and he'd run out of patience after an hour, giving up and going downstairs. That'd been over a couple hours ago, and the house was as silent then as it'd been at four-thirty when he'd given up on sleep.

Idly, Justin glanced down at the flyer he'd been doodling on and realized he'd nearly run out of room on the front. He turned it over so he could continue the mindless drawing as he thought about what their next move should be, only to stop when he saw a few lines already scribbled there.

I know you're mad
I'm feeling sad
‘Cause now I know
That you were the one

It was the only thing on the sheet, and Justin wondered if JC transitioned the song into his writing notebook to continue it there. He was intrigued by the snippet, wishing JC was there to tell him about it and sing the melody for it that'd no doubt been running through his head as he'd jotted the lyrics down. The words alone gave Justin a very bluesy/jazz vibe to it, and it was so JC.

Justin rubbed at the sudden dull ache in his chest, missing JC's presence more at that moment than he had the two weeks he'd been in Memphis. Silently he vowed he would never go so long without talking to JC, or any of the others, again.

"Morning, J," a voice called, snapping Justin out of his thoughts.

He looked up and saw Lance heading for the coffee machine to brew his first cup of the day. But even without the caffeine fix, he was more awake than anyone should be at...Justin squinted at the clock on the microwave. Seven o'clock. Sheesh.

"I'm kind of surprised you're up so early," Justin said.

Lance glanced over his shoulder from where he was searching for filters to give him a look. "Funny. I was going to say the same thing." He turned around completely and eyed him closely. "Couldn't sleep?"

Justin shook his head. "But even if I'd been able to, it doesn't feel right sleeping late when JC could be...well, who knows what the hell happened to him."

Lance nodded in understanding. "I just figured you and Joey would sleep late since you got in pretty late."

"You heard us?"

Lance just gave him a look, and Justin realized how stupid that question was. Of course Lance had heard them get in last night...or a few hours ago. He was a light sleeper and the two bedrooms weren't exactly all that far apart.

"Did you find out anything?" Lance asked.

"No, not really. We spent the night at this place JC had a flyer for, Preservation Hall. The bouncer remembered seeing him since he'd gone two nights in a row, but that's it," Justin said.

"Well, we'll look more after Joey and Chris wake up and we grab breakfast."

Justin's grip tightened on the pen he was still holding, his temper flaring. The way Lance said it made it seem like they were looking for a lost puppy and not their friend, who was in trouble. Lance probably hadn't meant it like that, but it was enough to push Justin to leave the kitchen.

"I'm gonna shower," he mumbled to Lance, leaving the pen and flyer on the table as he stood up. He knew if he'd stayed there and tried to make small talk with Lance for another second, he'd end up saying something he'd regret.

Once Justin was done in the shower, it was another hour before the four of them finally left the house to get some breakfast. They made a right out of the front door, Justin insisting that if they walked back towards the street where JC stayed maybe they'd end up at a place he'd been to. It hadn't taken them long to come across a café, its quaint atmosphere drawing them in.

Lance was standing in front and spoke to the hostess, requesting a table. Justin frowned as he overheard. He'd assumed that when Lance had said they would grab breakfast, that they'd be getting it to go.

"I thought we were taking it back to the house," Justin said when Lance turned away from the hostess and ushered them out of the way.

"Why? We'd just be sitting there and eating anyway. Might as well eat here." There was a slight pause and Lance added, "Besides, we'll be able to ask more people if they've spotted JC this way."

Justin didn't say anything, knowing Lance had said that to make him feel like they weren't wasting time. It was true that they'd be able to ask more people if they'd seen JC, but they would be in the restaurant much longer than they would've if they'd eaten in the rented house. He stepped forward to grab the hostess's attention as another person walked away from her.

"Excuse me, miss?" Justin said, stepping closer. He subconsciously pulled the hat on his head down lower. A few people had recognized him last night, but it'd only been him and Joey. With the four of them being out, Justin felt like there was a giant neon sign saying "Nsync's here."

The woman, girl really as she didn't look more than seventeen, smiled at him. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if you've seen a friend of mine recently. He's about 5'11" with curly dark brown hair, blue eyes. He might've been carrying a notebook with him..."

The girl looked at him frowning, like she was trying to remember. Her eyes darted behind him to the others and suddenly her eyes widened. Justin realized then that'd she been trying to place him and not remembering like he'd thought.

"You...you mean you're looking for," she glanced around at all the people standing around waiting for tables or their to-go bags and leaned in to whisper, "JC."

Justin nodded, grateful that she seemed to be one of their calmer fans and was trying not to draw attention to him. "Have you seen him?"

She shook her head slowly. "Sorry. I don't work the morning shift during the week because of school, and I didn't see him during any of my shifts."

"Thanks anyway...Carrie," Justin read her nametag, finding it easier to smile at her than he'd thought it would be. If she was curious as to why he was looking for JC, she didn't say. She probably assumed they were on vacation and trying to meet up with him.

Justin turned away from her and rolled his eyes as he saw Joey flirting with a long haired brunette that looked to be somewhere in her mid twenties. She was giving him a friendly smile, but she didn't appear to be all that into him. It made Justin smirk slightly because it wasn't often Joey's charm didn't captivate women. But oh how Joey was trying.

"What are you doing up so early on this fine Saturday morning?"

The woman laughed lightly. "Getting my caffeine fix, of course."

"So this place has good coffee?" Joey asked.

"The best," the woman said, nodding. "And their danishes are to die for."

"Looks like I came to the right place then." Joey smiled at her. "Would you like to join me and my friends?"

Justin wanted to object, knowing they'd be there even longer if they had to entertain someone while they were eating. And it wasn't like they could talk about JC being missing with her there. She spoke before he could even think about saying anything though.

"Thanks, but I have to get back. Got someone waiting for me."

Joey's face fell slightly at the implied mention of a boyfriend, but he kept smiling at her. "I understand. I'm sure he's looking forward to that coffee and danish as much as you."

"Oh no, this is for me. He's a little tied up at the moment," she said, winking at him.

Joey laughed. "Lucky guy."

Suddenly, one of the servers manning the to-go orders stepped forward and handed her a small bag and cup of coffee. "Here you go, Marlene."

"Thanks, Adam. Put it on my tab, okay?" She then turned back to Joey. "Nice talking to you."

"You too," Joey said, watching her walk away. He only looked away when Chris slapped his shoulder.

"Our table's ready."

Justin shook his head, following the others to their table and pulling out a seat next to Joey. It only took a minute for their waitress to come over and they all ordered coffee. She left to give them time to peruse the menu. Justin had it open in front of him, pretending to look, but he wasn't planning on ordering anything. He wasn't very hungry, but the caffeine would give him a needed boost.

When the waitress returned a few minutes later, she filled their coffee cups with the hot brew and took their orders. She got to Justin and he told her that he was fine with just the coffee, instantly feeling all eyes on him.

"All right," the waitress said. "Let me know if you change your mind."

She disappeared to put the orders in, and Lance spoke, "You should order something, J."

"I'm not hungry," Justin said.

"You should be. You didn't eat last night," Joey pointed out.

"And I'm sure you probably didn't eat lunch either since you were in the air," Lance added.

It was true. Justin hadn't eaten anything yesterday except for the huge breakfast his mom had made him before he'd left for the airport. But this whole situation was stressing him out, which was wreaking havoc on his stomach.

"I'm not hungry," he repeated, giving them all look that clearly said back off.

An awkward silence fell over them. It carried on until their food was served when it seemed to become too much for Joey.

"So what's the plan for today?" he asked.

It was a legitimate question, but the casual tone it was asked in made Justin's blood pressure rise. Joey surely hadn't meant it to sound like he was asking what they were doing on their vacation, but that was what it'd sounded like. And for the second time that morning, Justin felt like he was the only one that really seemed to understand JC was in danger.

"What the hell do you think we're doing?" Justin snapped. "We're looking for JC."

Joey looked surprised at Justin's behavior and opened his mouth, but Chris rose to his defense. "He was asking if you had any specific ideas on where we were going or if we were just gonna wander the city aimlessly. After all, this whole thing was your idea."

Justin glared at Chris. "My idea is figuring out what the hell happened to JC." He let out an exasperated sigh. "God, it's like I'm the only one who gives a damn."

"That's not true," Joey objected. "We're just not ready to assume that something's wrong."

Justin normally thought Joey's optimism was a good thing, but right then he just thought it was stupid. There were too many things that pointed to the fact that everything was not okay.

"You're not the only one who cares about JC. We're here, aren't we?" Chris said.

Justin stared at him. "Honestly, I don't know why the hell you're here. It's not like you're helping. Maybe you should just go back to Orlando."

Chris's eyes darkened and he opened his mouth, ready to unleash his anger when the waitress suddenly appeared to ask how they were enjoying their meal and refill their coffee mugs. The others forced a smile at the cheery woman, and just like that, the conversation was dropped. But by no means was that the end.

**********

After they'd finished eating, Lance had quietly asked where they were going and Justin had said they should go back to JC's hotel room. He'd found that flyer on the desk last night and maybe there were other papers or receipts that would give them a clue as to where to check next. So the four of them walked through the Quarter with much more ease than the night before since there was significantly less people out so early.

When they arrived at JC's hotel, they walked right inside and passed the front desk for the stairs. They reached the top floor and found themselves outside of JC's door just like the night before. Justin pulled the key out of his front pocket and unlocked the door, stepping inside only to stop dead.

Chris had been right behind and crashed into him - for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. "What the hell," he complained.

"All his stuff's gone!" Justin said with anger directed at his oldest friend and sweeping his arm out to gesture at the too tidy room.

The bed was made and the desk had been cleared of the numerous papers that'd been scattered all over it, leaving only a room service menu and a set of stationery. JC's duffle that'd been sitting in the corner by the bathroom was now missing, as was his guitar case that'd been nestled between the nightstand and the bed. All traces that JC had been there were gone.

"Maybe the maid took his stuff," Joey suggested. It wasn't that ludicrous because they'd used to have problems with coming back and finding some stuff missing after the maids had cleaned. But usually it was stuff that didn't have any real value, just something the young maids had swiped just to say they had something of theirs. That hadn't happened since Germany since they now refused maid service.

"Even if that was true, why the hell would they take his sheet music and scraps of paper?" Justin said.

Joey shrugged. "To sell on eBay?"

"Or maybe he just checked himself out," Chris said dryly, like that was the explanation they should've jumped to immediately.

Justin shook his head, not buying either scenarios for a second. He turned on his heel and rushed back down the stairs, headed straight for the front desk. There was a short pause before he heard footsteps chasing after him.

As soon as his feet hit the first floor, it was just a few quick strides to the front desk where a man in his thirties stood. He seemed startled as Justin all but threw himself against the desk.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

"Yes. Can you tell me if the guy in room 310 checked out?"

The others came up behind Justin, but he paid them no mind. All of his attention was on the man behind the desk, waiting for him to confirm his suspicions. But much to Justin's annoyance, the guy just raised an eyebrow at him.

"And how is that any of your business?"

"Just look it up," Justin snapped. Someone elbowed him in the back and he added a begrudging, "Please."

The man glowered slightly, but he began to hit a few keys on the computer. A few clicks later, he looked back at Justin and said, "Yes. He checked out earlier."

"Did you check him out?" Justin asked.

There was a choked laugh behind him, and Justin had to roll his eyes. Joey.

The man also seemed to hear the other way the sentence could be meant because he scowled. But he answered what Justin had been asking. "No. I came on about a half hour ago and he checked out nearly an hour ago."

"Well, who was on before you? Where can I find them?"

"Justin," Lance began protesting, but the man had it covered as he glared at Justin.

"I most certainly cannot give out that information," he said. "It'd be in your best interest to leave before I call the cops."

Justin would've argued with him if Joey and Lance hadn't grabbed onto his arms, pulling him out of the hotel and through a side door that spilled out into a courtyard. As soon as they were outside, he shook them off and turned his own glare on them.

"What the hell was that for?"

"You can't just harass hotel staff, Justin," Lance said.

Justin snorted. "Please. I wasn't harassing him. I was just trying to get information."

"Information he's not legally allowed to give you."

"Hey, I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened to JC. Because you better believe that whoever checked him out is behind it and probably knows exactly where he is," Justin said.

"Or he could've just checked out himself," Chris said, repeating the same thing he'd said in the hotel room just moments before.

Justin glared fiercely at him. "No, he couldn't."

"Yes, he could have." Chris stared at him with hard eyes. "I know you're having fun playing Where in the World is JC Chasez, but I bet anything he's at the airport by now ready to hop a flight back to Orlando."

"If he was really okay, how come we haven't seen him since we got in?"

"Because like I said last night, he was probably in one of the bars we passed," Chris said.

Justin crossed his arms over his chest. "What about the message on my machine?"

"Something probably just spooked him. New Orleans is full of ghost stories and you know how C gets."

Justin was momentarily speechless, unable to believe Chris had just explained away all of the things that had him believing something bad had happened to JC. What Chris said all made sense, but it didn't diminish the pit in Justin's stomach that'd appeared as soon as he'd heard JC's hushed voice on his answering machine. He didn't care what Chris said - that was all the reason he needed to keep looking.

"Maybe," Lance began, drawing Justin's attention to him, "maybe we should consider that what Chris is saying is true. That JC really did check himself out."

Justin glanced at Joey to see how he felt about that, but Joey refused to meet his eyes. He sighed. "You know what? Fine. You guys go back to Orlando. I'll find JC myself."

"Justin," Joey started to object, but Justin held up a hand, not wanting to hear it.

He was about to walk away when suddenly, his phone rang.

**********

JC had kicked all of the sheets to the foot of the bed, trying desperately to find some way to lessen the heat he was experiencing. He'd considered taking off his jeans several times in the last few hours, knowing that the heavy denim wasn't helping his predicament. The only thing that stopped him was knowing that Marlene would enjoy him stripping down to his boxers and it might even be something she was expecting to happen as a result of the spell. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

She'd come into his room briefly about a half hour ago, placing his duffle and guitar case by the dresser. He'd looked at her puzzled and all she'd said was, "You'll want your stuff later when we're together."

JC hadn't even bothered to object to that, not wanting to waste his breath since he knew she wouldn't believe him. She'd stepped out into the hall and muttered to herself, but he'd been able to pick up on it. She'd said, "Gotta make sure they can't find him."

JC's heart had stopped momentarily at that, but for once, it wasn't out of fear. There was only one group of people she had to have been talking about: the guys. Was it possible that Justin had gotten his message and he and the others had come down here, believing something was wrong? God, he hoped so.

Marlene walked in then, like she'd been able to sense his hope and wanted to crush it. He watched curiously as she walked over to the dresser where his cell phone was and picked it up, having stripped him of it sometime while he was unconscious from when he'd first arrived. She tossed it at him, and JC's heart stopped again, wondering just what kind of sick joke this was.

"Call your friends," she said. "Tell them that you're okay and not in New Orleans anymore."

JC stared at her for a moment, resisting the urge to lick his dry chapped lips. "Why?" he asked, really asking "Why now?"

"I just got a call. They were at your hotel, asking about you." She gave him a stern look. "You have to get them out of here. And I don't want to hear you say anything that's close to what's really going on. If you think what's happening to you is bad, I can do so much worse to you - and them."

JC didn't like the sound of that, but he wondered if she was bluffing about being able to hurt the guys. If they went back to Orlando, what could she really do to them?

As if she could read his thoughts, she said, "I saw them earlier, and Joey was very chatty with me." She ran a fingernail down his arm, causing a shiver to race down his spine.

"I won't say anything," JC said quietly. That brief interaction with Joey would have given her enough of an opening to get whatever she needed for a spell if she'd wanted.

"Good boy," she practically purred, running a hand through his sweaty hair. "Now call them."

JC struggled to sit up, using his free hand for leverage. When he was upright, he reached out for his cell phone and paused, trying to think of what he was going to say. Finally, he let out a shaky breath and hit the speed dial for Justin's cell phone.

As he held the phone up to his ear listening to it ring, Marlene sat down at the foot of his bed. Her gaze unnerved him, and he looked away, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince them nothing was wrong if he was staring at her.

"JC!" a voice in his ear cried. "Where the hell are you? Are you okay?"

JC forced himself to laugh and it came out kind of choked since what he really wanted to do was cry at the sound of Justin's voice. "I'm okay, Just."

"You sure? You sound kind of shaky."

JC bit his lip, fighting back the urge to say that he wasn't okay. "I think I'm coming down with something," he said, closing his eyes against a chill though it did nothing to stop the intense heat. "Other than that, I'm okay."

"Where the hell are you?" Justin repeated, his tone demanding, but JC could also hear the desperation behind it.

"At the airport. I'm catching a flight out to LA, so I can get some songs recorded," JC said. That'd been the plan anyway. He'd hope that he would leave New Orleans with some good material and book some studio time out in California to work on getting a rough sound for them.

"Really?" Justin asked, and JC could almost hear the frown in his voice.

"Yes, really." He forced another short laugh. "Is that so hard to believe? You guys make fun of me enough for being a workaholic. Might as well live up to it."

There was a pause and then Justin asked, "Where were you last night? We were at your hotel room, but you weren't there."

JC's heart nearly leapt out of his chest. Yes, Marlene had said she'd seen them and had talked to Joey, but hearing from Justin himself that they were in town...it sparked so much hope in him. Until he remembered a second later the purpose of the phone call was to get them to believe everything was okay so they'd leave.

"I was at Preservation Hall for a few hours," JC said.

"When? Joey and I were there for most of the night."

JC hadn't expected that and it took a great deal of effort not to stumble over his words...much. "Oh, well, I ended my night there. I was in a couple other places before that." He knew Justin was suspicious by nature and tried to change the subject, "Did you enjoy the music?"

"Yeah. It was definitely your kind of place." There was another pause before Justin spoke quieter. "You're really okay? ‘Cause I have no problem telling you how much you freaked me out with that message on my machine."

"Yeah, sorry about that," JC said, sincerely. He was sure Justin had nearly had a panic attack when he'd gotten that message. "I'd thought someone had followed me back from the bar and was trying to break into my room. I think it was from hearing one too many ghost stories. My mind just got away from me."

"So why didn't you call me sooner? You know, to let me know you were okay."

JC swallowed roughly, his mind frantically searching for an excuse that wouldn't sound completely lame. Because he would've called Justin back if he'd been able to get out of this situation, something Justin knew. And damn it, if Justin wasn't making this whole thing that much harder.

"I did," JC lied, praying that it wasn't as easy to tell he was lying through the phone. "I called a few hours later and left another message on your machine. Sorry I made you worry."

"Just don't do it again, okay?"

Suddenly, there was a tap on his leg and JC looked up at Marlene. "Listen, Just. I gotta go. Getting ready to board. I'll talk to you later, all right?"

JC had no idea if he was ever going to talk to Justin again, but he had a feeling it was pretty unlikely. That thought nearly propelled him to yell at Justin that he was being held hostage, and he had to bite down on his lip again.

"Sure, Jace. See you soon."

JC said a quiet "bye" and hung up the phone, feeling even worse - something that he hadn't thought was possible considering how much he'd been suffering. Marlene took the phone back and turned it off again, tossing it onto the dresser once more.

"It's okay, JC. You've got me," Marlene whispered in his ear. She then leaned down to kiss him, but as soon as her lips touched his, he pushed her away.

Marlene glared at him, but for once, she didn't say anything else. She walked out of the room, and JC fell back onto bed, lying down once more. Tears he'd been fighting off finally escaped, running down his cheeks as he mourned the fact that he likely wouldn't be seeing Justin, or the others, again.

Justin had refused to be the one to hang up, waiting for the inevitable click even as he hoped it didn't come. Because even though it'd been a pretty normal conversation with JC, he wasn't fooled for one second. He didn't believe JC was in any less danger now than he did before his phone went off.

When JC had said "bye" and there was that click that signaled they'd been disconnected, Justin slowly removed the phone from his ear. He hadn't expected to talk to JC until they found him, but it was good to hear from him even if it'd been forced on him. It just sucked he hadn't been able to even hint at what was going on. Still, Justin had been able to tell a lot from not only what JC said but what he didn't say.

"Well?" Chris demanded when Justin hadn't spoken. "What'd he say?"

Justin looked at them, the three of them standing close like they'd been hoping to overhear whatever had been said on the phone. "He said he was at the airport and was on his way to LA to record some stuff."

Instantly, there seemed to be an almost palpable relief. Chris reached out and shoved his shoulder. "See? I told you he was at the airport."

Justin shook his head. "That might be what he said, but it's not true."

"Of course not." Chris sighed. "Well, let's hear the reason this time."

Justin glared at him, and Lance stepped forward, purposely drawing his attention away from Chris. "What's make you think he was lying?" Lance asked.

"He's my best friend. I think I know when he's lying."

It was Lance's turn to sigh. "What I meant was what specifically tipped you off?"

"Everything. What he said, how he said it..." Justin paused. "He said all the right things and was trying to joke with me, trying to laugh. But it all sounded wrong. It sounded so fake."

"What all did he say?" Joey asked.

Lance glanced at him before looking back at Justin. "What'd he say when you asked about the message?"

"He said he'd thought someone followed him from a club and was trying to break into his room."

"Well, there you go," Chris said, gesturing with his hand. "I told you he probably just got spooked."

Justin stared at him, feeling anger rise in him, but he didn't force it away this time. "What the hell's wrong with you?" He gave all of them a hard look. "You're all willing to just take his word for it. Even when I said he was missing, none of you seemed overly concerned. And I want to know why. Why the hell won't you believe there's something really wrong here?"

"Because he's done this before."

Justin crossed his arms, his eyes flashing dangerously as they narrowed. "Done what? Got himself kidnapped?"

"Taken off without telling anyone," Chris said, unaffected by Justin's glare as he met it with one of his own.

Automatically, Justin's initial reaction was to point out that JC had told Joey, but then what Chris said actually registered. "What? When?" he demanded, unable to recall any time JC had just up and left, much less without telling anyone where he was going.

"Right after we found out about Lou. Before we got heavy into the lawsuit," Chris said.

Justin knew at once the time he was referring to. It'd been just a couple days after they'd found out Lou had been taking more than his fair share, and they'd just met with their lawyer, getting all the legal stuff in order. JC had left right after the meeting and he didn't come back for a couple days.

"You're lying," he snapped. "He was at his parents' place."

Lance put a hand on his shoulder. "That's what we told you, but we didn't know where he was for most of that weekend."

"And you didn't think that was something I should've known?" Justin seethed, completely livid. He couldn't believe JC had done something like that, let alone the four of them keeping it a secret from him.

"There was already enough to worry about. We didn't want to freak you out even more than you already were." Lance paused. "All we'd known was that he was going for a drive and had checked in with his parents briefly after he realized his phone had died. Then he was back the next day."

Chris nodded. "You see why I didn't think he was missing?"

"No." Justin then added with a bit of sarcasm, "Obviously I don't get the connection."

Chris sighed, seeming annoyed that he had to explain himself. "I figured he got some kind of news and took off to deal. And the message on your machine was just him reaching out, needing to talk to someone."

Justin shook his head. It kind of explained why the three of them had seemed so reluctant to believe JC was really in trouble, but he was pissed they'd let it affect their ability to see what was going on. Maybe JC had taken off once before, but Justin was sure he'd gotten chewed out when he'd returned and it was hard to believe he'd do it again. The guys should've realized that and paid more attention to the signs that something was wrong.

"This time is different." Before any of them could object, Justin continued. "His excuse about the message? Total lie. Because he called late afternoon and-"

"No club is open that early," Joey cut in, with sudden realization.

"Maybe he really meant bar," Lance offered. "You know how some have a restaurant side. Like it'd happened when he was out for lunch."

But Justin ignored him, spurred on by Joey's belief. "And he said he was at Preservation Hall last night, but we didn't see him."

Chris frowned. "So? Maybe he was and you guys just missed him."

"No, Justin's right," Joey said. "We were there all night and talked to practically everyone in there. Even if we'd missed him, the staff knew we were looking for him."

Justin would've been almost giddy that someone finally believed him if the situation wasn't so serious. "We still don't know where he is, but at least we know he's relatively okay. And we have an idea what's going on."

"You really think he was kidnapped?" Lance asked.

"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Justin said. "Someone checked him out of the hotel and took all his stuff. And the phone call...none of the stuff JC said adds up."

"Maybe lied to you because he didn't want to you to know where he'd really been," Chris said, his facial expression still hard, but Justin could see the doubt behind it. He was finally starting to get through to them.

"JC has no reason to lie about that. He was trying to make it seem like everything was okay so we'd leave."

Lines appeared on Joey's face. "He told you that? That we should leave?"

"He didn't have to. He wanted us to think he was heading to California so we would head back to Orlando. Something the kidnapper probably told him to do, so we must be getting close," Justin reasoned.

Lance and Chris exchanged looks before Lance said, "Okay, something doesn't seem right about all this, but kidnapping? Justin, c'mon."

"No, you guys c'mon," Joey said. "Everything Justin is saying makes sense. I mean, how else do you explain it if not kidnapping?"

Lance sighed, glancing down at his watch. "Let's go see what the police found out with that number and then we'll go from there. All right?"

Justin certainly had no objection to that, thinking it was about time they were getting back to the police station. They'd had plenty of time to look into the phone number JC had originally called from and surely knew who it belonged to. From there, they could get the police to bust the person who took JC, and this whole mess would be over.

When they got to the police station, it was busier than it'd been when they'd stopped in the night before, but not much. Justin recognized of the cops they'd talked to last night and walked over to his desk, the others right behind him. The cop looked up as they stopped in front of him.

"Ah, you're back," the man, Officer Mullen, said. His expression was a cross between amusement and annoyance.

"What'd you find out?" Justin asked.

Mullen went back to skimming the report in front of him and he said distractedly, "About what?"

"The phone number," Justin nearly cried in exasperation. He had absolutely no patience for this. "You said you were going to look into tracing it or something."

"You can only trace a location from a phone as a call is happening," Mullen said, giving them his attention with a reluctant sigh. "I did, however, punch it into our system to see who it's registered to."

Justin sighed in aggravation. "And?"

"And the number doesn't exist," Mullen said in an almost bored tone.

"What?"

Suddenly there was a hand on his back, and Justin knew without looking that it was Joey. He glanced back at the others and saw they looked as shocked as he felt.

"But how is that possible? It showed up on Justin's answering machine," Lance said.

"Maybe you wrote it down wrong."

Justin's fists clenched at the accusation. "We did not. The person that number belongs to has my friend."

Mullen gave him a no nonsense look. "And I'm telling you that number doesn't exist. You had to have gotten the digits wrong."

"Fine." Justin set his jaw. "I want to file a missing persons report."

Mullen sighed again, sounding a little aggravated himself. "We've already been through this. You can't file the report until your friend's been missing for at least twenty-four hours." He glanced at the clock on the wall to their right. "And it's only been fifteen since you guys were in here."

"I don't care. I want to file the report."

A tense moment passed as the two of them stared each other down, but Justin's gaze was unwavering. He wasn't going to let some cop bullying him into waiting to file an official report when he knew JC was missing and they were wasting time as it was. Finally, the eye contact was broken and Justin thought he'd won. But Mullen just leaned back in his chair, looking so casual.

"When did you last hear from him?"

Justin was silent. He knew if he said JC had just called him, the cop wouldn't take him seriously. So what he said was, "I already told you. The message on my machine was the last time."

"But he just called like a half hour ago," Joey said.

Justin immediately turned and smacked Joey. "Damn it, Joey," he hissed.

"I thought maybe if he knew the circumstances of everything..."

Mullen cleared his throat, bringing Justin's attention back to him. He was now sitting straighter in his chair. "If you just talked to him, then he's obviously fine."

"No, he's not!" Justin objected loudly. "You didn't hear him. He's scared and someone is keeping him against his will."

"And just how do you know that?" Mullen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I do!" Justin exclaimed. "Because someone checked him out of his hotel room and took all his stuff."

"Maybe he checked himself out."

Justin's face turned red in anger. He'd already been through this once before with Chris; he wasn't going to go through it again with the police. He had no patience left to deal with this and he didn't understand why they didn't get it. Why they weren't even taking anything he said seriously.

"He didn't," Justin said, his entire body tense.

"You have any proof to back up what you're claiming? Because kidnapping is a serious charge...not that you even have anyone to charge," Mullen said.

"Maybe I would if you got off your lazy ass and looked into what I'm telling you," Justin retorted.

The others exchanged uneasy glances. "Justin..." Lance began, but Justin continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"You're just so willing to write this off as me overreacting or making up some wild story. But I'm not. My friend is out there, afraid and probably hurt, and you're sitting here telling me that I'm wasting your time? What the hell kind of cop are you?"

Mullen jumped to his feet, glaring angrily at Justin. "Get out. I'll not have you disrespecting me or the other officers here."

"I give respect where it's earned," Justin shot back. "It's your job to protect the innocent and save them from crazy ass people. And considering how you won't even listen to a damn thing I tell you, you seem to be doing a pretty shitty job of it."

"That's it," Mullen said, his expression dark. "If you thought you could come in here and harass an officer of the law, you were sorely mistaken."

Before any of them could even react, Mullen latched onto Justin's forearm and yanked him forward. One cuff was slid onto Justin's right wrist with a resounding click.

"What are you doing?" Joey asked, his eyes wide.

"I'm showing him what happens when he harasses a police officer," Mullen said, his voice gruff.

The next several seconds were a flurry of chaotic activity. Justin jerked, trying to pull out of Mullen's hold and keep himself from being completely handcuffed - arrested. At the same time, Chris shoved past Joey and Lance and threw a punch at Mullen, hitting him square in the jaw and making him stumble backwards. Instantly, two other cops appeared. One grabbed onto Chris, while the other halted Justin's struggles.

Mullen took advantage of the help to twist Justin's arms behind his back and snap the second cuff on his other wrist. And the officer that was holding onto Chris pulled out his own set of handcuffs, snapping them over Chris's wrists.

"Interfering with arrest and assaulting a police officer," Mullen said, glaring at Chris. "That could get you some serious jail time."

"You're not really pressing charges are you?" Lance implored. "He's too impulsive for his own good."

Mullen looked at each of them, and none of them knew what he was thinking. Finally, he said, "No. I suppose won't. Clearly your young friend is suffering from delusions, and your other friend acted out because of the stress. But I'm going to hold them for a while. They need time to realize the seriousness of what they did."

Justin glared at him and opened his mouth to tell him off, but Lance seemed to realize this and quickly cut him off. "Thank you, sir," he said, offering Mullen a grateful look while throwing a warning one at Justin.

"Come back around eight and I'll release them," Mullen said.

"Eight?" Justin cried. Screw that. He couldn't afford to waste nine or ten hours in a cell because of some asshole cop. JC needed him.

Mullen looked down at him. "I could always arrest you for real. I think I'm being pretty lenient."

"Yes, that's fine. Thank you," Lance said.

Justin sighed, but he didn't argue. Being arrested would definitely make things a lot worse, and at least Lance and Joey hadn't gotten caught in the middle of this nightmare. "Don't waste time. You know what you have to do."

Lance looked like he was going to object, but Joey stepped in. "Don't worry. We'll work on it, all right?"

Justin and Chris were then led away from their friends into the back of the station where the holding cells were. They were thrown into one together, the door sliding closed with a loud bang that reverberated off the walls. He glanced at Chris, noticing the pissed expression on his face.

Great. It'd be a miracle if they didn't kill each other.

**********

The next time JC opened his eyes, he had no idea how much time had passed. A glance out the window showed the sun was still up, and from the shadows, seemed to be high in the sky meaning it had to be late afternoon. Over the last couple days, he'd gotten good at guessing what time it is based on the shadows outside from the sun.

JC let out a short humorless laugh, but it was choked as tears threatened to spill over again. Nothing about this was funny. He was losing his mind and the heat was only making it worse. But then he realized, the heat was gone. At least the intense body heat that'd been radiating off him for the last day. The weather was still hot and muggy, but that was much more tolerable now that the feverish heat had disappeared.

He felt much better than he had in what seemed like forever even though in reality he knew it'd only been about twenty-four hours. The only thing he really had to complain about, other than being held by some crazy chick against his will, was his left arm was completely numb. It was elevated behind his head, which allowed all the blood to drain from his arm hours ago.

JC tugged on the metal restraint, trying to move his arm so it wasn't as elevated even though he knew it was futile. So it was much to his surprise when the cuff popped open. He lowered his arm, groaning at the weight of it and began to rub it to try to get some feeling back.

Turning his head, he stared at the cuffs that were dangling from the rusted metal bed frame. He had no idea how or why they'd come off now. The first thing he'd tried to do when he woke up in that bed was get out of them, but to no avail. Perhaps Marlene had needed to move him for some reason and had forgotten to check that the cuff had latched. Whatever the reason, JC knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

At once, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. He immediately grew dizzy and his legs gave out on him, unable to hold his weight after being confined to the bed where he suffered from bizarre fever that'd significantly weakened him.

After giving himself a minute, JC shakily got to his feet. He paused to make sure he could walk and nearly sighed in relief when he didn't crumble to the floor as he took a tentative step. By the time he made it to the doorway, walking was already a bit easier.

He paused, straining his ears for any noise to indicate that Marlene was around, but there was nothing. Still, he quietly made his way out of the guest bedroom, sending a thanks heavenward that it was on the first floor. As quickly as he could, JC moved through the rest of his house, trying to keep his footsteps light and soft.

Finally, he made it through the front door and he nearly cried as he was met with the residential street Marlene lived on. Now he was outside, he threw all caution to the wind and took off running as fast as he could for Bourbon Street. He stumbled every couple feet and wasn't able to run very fast considering how weak and exhausted he was, but he didn't ever stop. The need to get to other people and away from that house was overwhelming.

After several minutes, he finally made it to the main street in the heart of the French Quarter. He leaned tiredly against an old brick building to catch his breath, unable to believe he'd gotten out. It was so good to be out of that house and around other people.

Suddenly, he spotted a group of people and his heart leapt to his throat. He'd know those forms anywhere, and without another thought, he took off running again. "Guys!" he called. "Justin!"

The four people in front of him turned, and their eyes widened in surprise. "JC! What are you doing here?"

JC skidded to a stop and shook his head, panting. "I got away."

"You should go back," Justin said.

"What?" JC stared at his best friend in confusion. "It doesn't matter if she finds out I'm gone. Not as long as we get the hell out of here."

"Stay with Marlene, JC."

JC's head whipped over to Chris, his eyes wide and disbelieving. "How...how did you know her name?" He knew for a fact he hadn't said it.

"You think we didn't know what was going on?" Chris said.

"We don't need you," Lance added. "And you obviously don't need us."

"That's not true!" JC objected. Where the hell was all this coming from? It made no sense.

Justin raised an eyebrow and there was something about his expression JC didn't like. "No? You keep taking off without telling anyone. You clearly don't trust us, so why should we trust you?"

"I told Joey!" JC cried.

Joey shook his head. "You mentioned it, but you didn't say you were definitely leaving. You just left like you did just before the lawsuit. Were you even planning on coming back this time?"

"Guys, please-"

"Goodbye, JC," Justin said, turning his back on JC. The others did the same and the four of them started to walk away from him - leaving him there.

JC tried to run after them, but he found his feet wouldn't move, like they were filled with lead. It seemed like something that would happen in a dream. "Guys!"

Suddenly, there was a voice in his ear. "See, JC. They don't care about you. You're better off without them."

JC spun on his heel to glare at Marlene. "You're wrong. They do care. They would never leave me if they thought something was wrong."

"And yet..." She motioned to the four guys who were walking away from JC.

"You did something to them," JC accused, but really he knew it was true. In his heart, he knew the guys would never behave so coldly and just turn their backs on him.

Marlene smiled wickedly. "Oh, JC. It could be so much worse."

She then began to say something in Latin as she focused on the four retreating forms. JC looked back at the guys, tense because he was sure she was about to prove just how bad it could get, but he had no idea what she was saying.

Justin was the first to drop to his knees and JC dashed forward, whatever invisible force that'd held him in place as they'd walked away now gone. When he finally reached Justin, Joey and Lance were on their knees too coughing along with Justin. He crouched down in front of him, reaching out for Justin.

"J, what's wrong? Talk to me."

JC tried to force Justin to sit up, thinking that would help squelch some of the coughing. But he froze when he saw a puddle of red in front of Justin. Blood. Justin was coughing up blood, and a quick glance at the other three showed they were doing the same.

"Shit," JC panted, his heart racing again. He glanced around wildly, seeing all the people around, eating in restaurants and walking along the sidewalks. But no one was moving to help them. "Help! Somebody, please help!"

Still nothing. JC's breathing became even more erratic and he tugged at his long hair, on the verge of full blown panic. He looked back at the guys and saw that all of them were lying on the ground, barely moving.

"Justin," JC called, trying to shake his friend to consciousness. Justin didn't stir and JC tried the others, but he got the same result. Whatever was happening to them, it was doing the job quick. It was like they were dying.

"No," JC whispered. He scrambled back over to Justin and felt for a pulse, but there was nothing there. One glance at the others showed they looked the same as Justin, and he knew instinctively they were dead too. "No!"

JC's body jerked violently, shouting as his eyes flew open. He was panting like he'd just run a marathon, and it took a minute for the image of the guys lying dead in the middle of Bourbon Street to vanish. When it did, he realized he was still in the bedroom, handcuffed to that damn bed.

Everything felt like it had when he'd woken up that first time, but it was significantly darker in the room as the sun was obviously on its way to fading behind the horizon. It'd all just been a dream - even his escape. But then, the feverish heat was gone.

"It's okay, JC."

JC jumped at the voice and touch on his thigh that accompanied it. Without thinking, he scrambled backwards, falling off the bed and landing at a weird angle. There was a sudden pop in his left shoulder and JC cried out in pain, tears still falling steadily down his face. In his confused panicked state, he'd forgotten about his left arm and its inability to move far, his tumble off the bed resulting in a dislocated shoulder.

"Don't touch me," he told Marlene, his voice quivering.

She ignored him, coming over to grab onto his right arm. JC didn't have the energy to fight her and let her help maneuver him back onto the bed. Once he was propped up against the wall, the metal frame pressed against his back, she then reached out for his left arm.

"No," JC moaned, protesting.

But once again, she didn't listen as she position her hand on his left shoulder. JC closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. That didn't make it hurt any less though because a second later, there was searing pain in his shoulder and a loud crack.

"That dream felt real, didn't it?" she asked. He opened his eyes to see her looking at him with a knowing expression.

JC said nothing, still trying to catch his breath from the nightmare and the intense amount of pain he'd just dealt with in less than a couple minutes. Marlene didn't seemed bothered by his lack of answer as she continued.

"I can do it, you know. I wasn't bluffing about that, and what you saw?" She leaned in closer, so close he could smell her jasmine perfume. "I can make that happen. That can be exactly how they die."

JC stared at her with baffled eyes. "How-"

"I gave you the nightmare," she said, seeming to know exactly what he was going to ask. "I just mix a potion, say a little spell, and you dream whatever I tell you to."

JC shivered at the thought that she controlled his dreams - or nightmares because that was certainly no dream. It explained a lot though. Like how she'd suddenly appeared and why no one on the street had tried to help when the guys were dying.

"Will I ever see them again?" he asked quietly. He was confident she wouldn't kill them because he'd done what she'd asked - he'd told Justin he'd left New Orleans and they surely were all gone by now. After all, that phone call had been hours ago.

"That's up to you," Marlene said. "I'm not trying to keep you from your family or your career. You just have to realize you belong to me and be committed to coming back. And with the help of the dreams, I think you'll agree to it when the spell has run its course."

JC's forehead wrinkled. "I'm not hot anymore."

"That's because it's moved onto a different torture. You wouldn't be able to last three nights with body heat that intense, and the purpose of this isn't to kill you."

JC almost wanted to ask what the next night would entail, but he was afraid of what the answer would be. Marlene smiled a twisted smile like she knew what he was thinking.

"Oh I believe, the next phase will start in a few minutes," she said. She got up from the bed and walked to the door. "Pleasant dreams, JC."

She winked at him before leaving him alone again. JC was terrified to sleep now, not wanting to have another nightmare like the one he'd just had. It had seemed way too real and the fact that she could make it reality...JC shivered again.

Just then, the muscles in his legs contracted tightly and it almost felt like needles were being stabbed into them. JC automatically reached to try to massage the muscles, only to stop when his left shoulder flared in pain. Finally, the pain in his legs subsided a bit, but how long would it stay that way?

The clock's big numbers stared at Justin, taunting him from its place on the wall outside of the cell. It was after four - he and Chris had spent over five hours there. And the time had passed painfully slow, both of them stubbornly refusing to say anything. They hadn't had anyone else to talk to either. A cop would come back every couple hours to check on them, but that was it.

Justin was already stir-crazy, having had little patience to begin with. He hated that he was locked up and left wondering if Joey and Lance were making any headway with finding JC. And Chris still had yet to say even two words to him, which just set Justin's nerves on edge even more. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, the silence and inability to do anything driving him insane.

"How can you just sit there?" Justin demanded with heat, glaring at Chris. Really, he was surprised Chris hadn't snapped first - he wasn't exactly known for his patience, especially when he was angry.

Chris was lying on his back, staring up at the dirty stucco ceiling from one of the cots. He didn't even look at Justin. "It's not like there's anything else to do. Unless you have some brilliant escape plan."

The last part was said with a touch of sarcasm, and Justin rolled his eyes. Leave it to Chris to be a smartass. "I can't believe they're seriously keeping us here until eight. I figured maybe he was joking and it'd be an hour at most."

Chris snorted. "Did it look like he was joking? He doesn't seem to like you very much."

"I wasn't the one who punched him," Justin pointed out.

"Which I did for you."

Justin shook his head and muttered, "Don't know why considering you hate me."

"I don't hate you."

"Could've fooled me."

Chris finally sat up and looked at him. "If I hated you, I would've just let your ass get thrown in jail. Not join you."

"Okay," Justin nodded, "but that doesn't explain why you've been such an asshole to me."

Chris sighed. "It's complicated."

"Uh huh," Justin said disbelieving, crossing his arms over his chest. "Want to try that again?"

"Hey, you can't use my tactics against me. As oldest, I'm the only one who's allowed to call bullshit," Chris said. There was a bit of annoyance, but he wasn't as angry as Justin might've expected him to be.

"Tough. I just did. Besides, I think I deserve to know why."

Chris stared at him, but Justin just stared right back, letting Chris know he was completely serious. They were going to talk about this because Justin wasn't going to let Chris's crappy attitude slow down their search after they were released; they were already losing too much time being stuck in here.

"Fine," Chris said, finally. "Sit down."

Justin sat on the edge of the cot across from Chris. "All right, I'm sitting. Now tell me why you've been treating me like shit."

There was a long pause before Chris said, "Dani broke up with me."

Justin frowned, feeling a little sympathetic. Chris and Dani had been together for four years, so this was pretty huge. But still, it didn't explain why Chris had been taking his anger out on him.

"It didn't end violent or anything like that. We just wanted different things." Chris's leg bounced, practically vibrating with nervous energy. He didn't look at Justin as he said, "She saw what you and Britney were doing in public and she was jealous. She wanted those things too, and I just couldn't give them to her. You know me."

Justin and Britney were always big on the PDAs, while Chris preferred to keep things low key. He usually always held Dani's hand in public, but it rarely went beyond that. They always had a lot of paparazzi follow them, so they all had to keep up their public images. It was something Justin and Britney were very used to and sometimes they would put on a show to mess with the reporters, but it sounded like Dani had grown tired of the charade.

"So she wanted attention like me and Britney get?" Justin asked.

"She wanted me to act like you do with Britney - to forget about the paparazzi and do the stuff a normal boyfriend would do in public. She said she wanted me to be as romantic in public as I was at home," Chris explained.

Chris wasn't into PDAs because he cared what the media thought; it was more because he didn't feel it was their business to record his personal moments. JC felt the same way. It was easier for Justin since Britney was a performer too and knew how things went, how you were still on even after you stepped off the stage or left the studio or talk show. They weren't bothered by the media because they'd grown up with them in their face all the time, capturing them at their best and worst moments so they didn't feel uncomfortable or worried about what might show up in the paper the next morning. But it was much harder on normal people and it seemed that after nearly four years of dealing with screaming girls and pushy reporters, Dani had finally reached the point where she couldn't handle it anymore.

"And you're pissed at me because I can give Britney the things you couldn't give Dani?"

Chris shrugged and nodded. "It's so much easier for you and it's like you flaunt it. Like you do it just for all the attention from the media."

Justin's frown deepened. "And this is why you thought I was lying about JC being missing?"

"I thought it was another attention ploy, just like all the stuff you do with Britney," Chris said.

Justin felt a bit of anger rise up at the insinuation that everything he and Britney did together was a ploy for the media, but he pushed the feeling away. Chris was trying to distract him from the real reason, and it might have worked if Justin didn't know him so well.

"Why do you insist on lying to me?" Justin asked.

Chris's head snapped up, and he glared at Justin. "Right. I couldn't possibly be telling the truth about the breakup and how I feel."

"I'm not saying you're lying about the breakup," Justin said. "I don't believe the crap about you thinking I'm an attention whore."

"Why not? Wouldn't be the first time you've done something to get attention. It's actually pretty annoying."

Justin fixed him with a look. "You may get annoyed, but you never get angry at me about it because you know most of the attention I get is unwanted. And you're not stupid enough to believe it's a reason I'd say JC's missing. There's something you're not telling me, something that explains why you've been so mad."

There was a tense moment of silence, but finally Chris spoke. "You should know what it is."

"Well, obviously I don't, so why don't you just tell me."

Chris's eyes narrowed like he didn't appreciate Justin's attitude and he jumped to his feet, nearly shouting, "You're going solo!"

"What?" Justin stepped back in surprise. "Where did you hear that?"

"It's all over the place. There've been nothing but rumors about it ever since the tour ended."

Justin nodded, giving Chris a knowing look. "Yeah, rumors. You're going to believe some tabloids over me? I haven't said two words-"

"Johnny told me you got some offers," Chris said.

Justin sighed, rubbing at his forehead. It'd been so easy to forget about since he'd returned from Memphis. That'd actually been part of the reason he'd gone home - to talk it out with his mom to see if he was really serious about it before he brought it up with the guys. But all thoughts of going solo had gone out the window as soon as he'd heard JC's message. He hadn't even considered that the guys might find out before he actually decided or got to talk to them about it.

"When did you talk to him?" Justin asked. It all made sense now.

"Last week. I went to the compound to grab something I left there and ran into him. He asked me if you'd made a decision yet, and I asked him what the hell he was talking about."

"It wasn't my idea," Justin was quick to assure, trying to diffuse Chris's anger. It was justified, but Justin hadn't meant for him to find out that way. "Johnny and some Jive execs were the ones who approached me and I told them I'd think about."

"And if Gone's any indication, they think you're gonna say yes," Chris said.

Justin frowned, genuinely confused. "How do those two things connect?"

"They chose Gone over The Two of Us for our next single. They picked the song where we're basically your glorified backup singers, so I'd say it's pretty obvious they want to test the waters with a song that's practically solo."

It was impossible to miss the bitterness in Chris's words. Justin took a step closer to his oldest friend, hoping to console him. "It's not like that, Chris. It's just a song; it doesn't mean anything. On our debut, JC had a few songs that were just him, like Sailing."

"Sailing was never a single," Chris pointed out. "And even though For the Girl was, we rerecorded it so it wasn't just him singing lead. Now they're trying to phase us out."

Justin shook his head firmly. "They're not. But even if they have ulterior motives behind the song, it's not going to affect my decision. I would never decide anything that big without talking to you guys first."

But Chris seemed skeptical, despite Justin's assurances. "Really?"

"Yes, really. You guys are my best friends and we're a group. Your opinions matter." Justin paused. "I'm sorry you found out the way you did. I was waiting for the right moment, letting everyone enjoy some downtime before I brought it up."

Chris was silent for a long moment. Finally, he said, "This was why I didn't believe JC was missing, that he'd taken off on his own. I thought he found out too and bolted to try to deal with it."

"And what do you think now?" Justin asked, mentally praying Chris was on his side now that he knew the truth - that he'd been angry prematurely.

"Now," Chris sighed, rubbing at his head briefly before looking up at Justin. "Now I believe you. Something's not right. I just wish I hadn't wasted all this time."

Justin briefly wondered at exactly what point Chris had started to believe he was telling the truth about JC's disappearance and possible kidnapping, but in the end, it didn't matter. Things would go much smoother now that Chris would be actively helping. Now they just had to get out of that cell, which wouldn't happen for at least a few more hours.

Sighing deeply, Justin leaned against the cold metal bars as he stared at the large numbers on the clock. "I hope Lance and Joey are making some progress."

**********

In an old two story house nearby, JC found himself dreaming again.

JC was in his LA home. It wasn't lived in nearly as much as his Orlando one, but there was a strange feeling he got that he was sure had nothing to do with how little he'd been there. He walked out of his upstairs bedroom and walked down to the living room, noticing some things he didn't remember being there before.

When he stepped into the living room, he saw some new pictures sitting on the mantle above the fireplace. He moved to get a closer look, but before he could lean in to see the subjects in the frame, there were footsteps behind him.

"It's about time you came down."

JC spun on his heel and saw Marlene standing there. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, looking more casual than he'd ever seen her. He closed his mind as memories came flooding back, realizing it hadn't been a bad dream after all.

Suddenly, a soft hand pressed against his cheek. JC opened his eyes to look at Marlene who was watching him with her bright hazel eyes. Inwardly, he felt chilled by the touch, but outwardly, he didn't even flinch.

"Are you all right, sweetie?"

JC swallowed and nodded, forcing a smile on his face. "I'm good. Just a little tired I guess."

"Well, we were busy last night," Marlene laughed, a playful glint in her eyes. She started to walk towards the kitchen, but turned back to look at him. "You want to help me finish lunch? Lance will be here soon."

"Lance?" JC repeated, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Yeah. He's in town to do some stuff for A Happy Place and wanted to get together. But," she stepped closer to him, moving so she was in his personal space, "if you want, I can call Lance and tell him to come by later." She ran her thumb down his bottom lip. "You know, if there was something else you wanted to do..."

As much as JC fought it inwardly, his body reacted to her. She pulled him closer and their lips met. They kissed passionately even though in the back of his mind, he could hear himself screaming. It didn't stop them from making out though, making JC almost feel as if he were under some sort of spell.

The doorbell rang, and they pulled apart. Marlene smiled at him. "Looks like we'll have to finish this later," she said. The bell chimed again. "You get the door and I'll tend to the food."

JC walked to the front door, glad to put some distance between them. He opened it and sure enough, Lance was on the other side. He was grinning and looked exactly the same.

"Hey, JC," Lance greeted. "Long time no see."

JC smiled, but it felt as forced as the one he'd given Marlene. "Yeah, it's been what, a few weeks?"

"A few weeks?" Lance repeated. "Try a few months. But I guess that's what happens when you move out here and the rest of us are stuck out in Orlando."

The smile instantly turned into a frown as JC wondered why he was living there when everyone else was still in Orlando. Then it hit him. Marlene. She was isolating him from his friends and family, probably to make it harder for him to reach out to them and tell them what was really going on.

Just then, Marlene came up behind JC. She smiled at Lance and said, "What are you guys doing standing around the door? C'mon in."

Lance surprised JC by stepping forward and hugging Marlene. "It's good to see you, M."

"You too, Lance." She pulled out of the hug and looked at JC. "Lunch won't be ready for another ten minutes. Why don't you show him around, honey?"

"Yeah, sure. We'll start with the studio and work our way up."

JC and Lance followed Marlene towards the back of the house, but they turned and went down a set of stairs before entering the kitchen. He let Lance go in front of him so he could make sure the basement door was closed before he descended the stairs. When he got to the bottom, Lance was looking around like he was admiring the small studio JC had set up when he first bought this house.

"Lance, there's something I have to tell you," JC said.

Lance looked away from the keyboard near the cedar desk and gave JC his full attention. "What's up?"

"It's about Marlene."

"Did you propose?" Lance asked.

JC's eyes widened as he quickly denied, "What? No, of course not."

"It's not that crazy. You guys have been together for eight months now."

Eight months. Eight months had passed without the guys being able to tell something was wrong? Eight months he had spent living with Marlene and going along with her every whim? JC felt sick.

"No," JC said vehemently, shaking his head. "She forced me into this relationship. I think she might've even put a spell on me."

Lance frowned at him. For a moment, JC thought it was because of what he told him. But that wasn't the case when Lance said, "I know this is always the point where you start to freak out in relationships, but you guys are good for each other. Ever since you brought her back from New Orleans after the PopOdyssey Tour, you've been inseparable."

"Because she's made it that way." JC reached out and grabbed onto Lance, clinging desperately to hope as he tried to convince his friend. "Please, you've got to believe me."

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but gasped instead, his eyes growing wide as a hand automatically went to his throat. There was nothing there. He dropped to his knees, choking against something invisible as he struggled to breathe.

"Oh, JC." JC spun around and saw Marlene standing on the stairs, shaking her head sadly. "Why'd you go and do that? We were doing so well."

"Let him go!" JC pleaded. He glanced back at Lance, who's lips were turning blue from the lack of air. "You're gonna kill him!"

Marlene walked down the rest of the stairs, looking at JC with a hard expression. "You knew what would happen if you told someone. If you'd just left well enough alone...well, your friend wouldn't have to die, now would he?"

Lance's breath hitched one last time before he fell limply to the floor, his lifeless eyes staring up at JC.

JC woke up screaming, tears flowing down his cheeks like two rivers. He'd been suffering from nightmares periodically for the past several hours and each time it ended with something terrible happening. But it affected him each and every time, unable to get used to the awful dreams Marlene kept giving him.

"Shh, JC," Marlene whispered in his ear. "It was just a dream."

JC jumped at having her so close, still disoriented from the nightmare he'd just awoken from. But he knew her words were empty. Yes, it'd been a dream, but it could very easily become reality. He wasn't stupid. Every nightmare she'd sent him was a warning of what could happen if he didn't do exactly what she wanted.

He rolled away from her, thankful he was able to put at least a few inches between them. For the moment he was pain free, but there was no telling how long that would last. The intense muscle pain came and went, but every time it happened, it left him breathless. There was still an entire night to go before the spell ran its course, and he had no idea how he was going to survive that long.

"Sit up, JC. I want you to eat this."

JC didn't bother to turn over to see what "this" was. He didn't care. Did she honestly think he was going to accept something from her after everything she'd put him through the last two days? For all he knew, it could be poison.

Marlene didn't seem to appreciate being ignored because she growled and wrapped a hand around his shoulder, letting her long nails dig into his flesh as she forced him onto his back. She glared down at him.

"I said, sit up," she said, her sugary sweet voice now rough and uncaring. "You have to eat this."

Somewhere inside himself he found the strength to glare at her defiantly. "Why? Trying to slip me another potion?" JC said nastily. "Maybe one that makes me submit to you completely."

"The point of this isn't to kill you," Marlene told him, repeating something she'd told him before. "And I don't need a potion to make you submit to me. You're going to do that anyway."

"You think so?"

Marlene looked at him, the corners of her lips upturned in a twisted smile. "Oh I know so. You'll do anything to keep those you care about from being hurt."

JC deflated, unable to argue with that. The last nightmare seemed to be a very real look into what the future with Marlene was going to be like. He'd hated every second of it, but he had stayed with her and did what she wanted. He'd let her take him away from all of his friends and family and found himself in LA where he was stuck in his own personal hell.

"You should really eat some of this. I make some pretty good gumbo."

There was a sharp stabbing pain in JC's stomach, causing him to grimace. He'd known it was only a matter of time before the pain reared its ugly head again. And to make matters worse, nausea accompanied it this time.

"I'm not hungry," JC mumbled, turning his head away from her.

"I'm sure part of the pain you're feeling is from hunger. You'll feel better after you eat something. Trust me," she said in that soft gentle voice she used with him when she wasn't angry.

JC looked back at her incredulously. "Trust you? You're kidding, right?"

"No. You're gonna trust me eventually."

"I don't think so. I'm never going to trust you, not with how you're manipulating me to be with you." Marlene's eyes narrowed, but JC didn't care. He continued, "And anyway, trust works both ways. You don't trust me, so why should I trust you?"

Marlene looked at his left wrist that was handcuffed to the metal headboard, seeming to understand what he was talking about. "That's just insurance until I know you won't try to escape. You won't be restrained forever."

JC moaned as the stabbing pain in his stomach was accompanied by one in his right arm. He began to breathe harder as he glanced at Marlene, pleading to her with his eyes. "Please, just let me go. This isn't right. I don't deserve this."

Marlene held his gaze for a moment before she stood up before kneeling on the bed, straddling him. She reached out for his left hand and for a second JC thought she was actually going to release him, but she just tugged on it to see how tight it was. Then she reached over and pulled open the drawer of the nightstand the phone had sat on and grabbed something shiny.

JC recognized the second set of handcuffs and knew what was coming, but before he could even put up any kind of resistance, she'd roughly grasped his right arm and cuffed his right arm to the bed. The action made JC's heart rate increase, feeling more panicked now that he was in a more helpless position. One that Marlene didn't hesitate to take advantage of.

**********

Justin and Chris followed Joey out of the police station, both thrilled to be out of there. It was almost quarter after eight and night was beginning to fall. After wasting so much time sitting in jail for most of the day, Justin couldn't wait to start actively investigating JC's disappearance again himself. So he was extremely disappointed when Joey informed him and Chris they were headed back to their rented house to meet Lance for dinner.

"Why didn't Lance come with you?" Chris asked.

"I have a better question." Justin glanced at Joey. "What did you guys find out today?"

"Nothing."

Justin looked at him incredulously. "What do you mean nothing? You've had all day."

"But we had no idea where to look," Joey pointed out. "We went into a couple of places with no luck and then we were spotted by paparazzi and that's not exactly something that makes looking for him easier, you know?"

"How did the paparazzi find you guys? Someone had to have tipped them off," Chris said.

Joey shrugged. "Lance and I were thinking maybe that girl J was talking to at that café."

"No way," Justin shook his head. "She was cool. She wouldn't rat us out."

Joey and Chris exchanged glances like they thought he liked her because he stuck up for her. But they let it drop as Chris said, "Well, regardless, that's making this whole thing much more complicated."

"So you're a part of this now?" Joey asked, looking at Chris with a bit of surprise.

"Yeah," Chris nodded. "J and I talked so we're good now."

Justin frowned slightly. They were far from good because he knew that Chris was still extremely hurt that Justin was considering going solo, but things were better. There'd be a time for the five of them to talk it all out later once they got JC back.

They reached the front of the house they were renting and Chris stepped on the first step of the front stoop, frowning as kicked a mound of dirt to the right and off the ledge. He glanced back at Justin and said, "I did that for you. I know what a diva you are about your sneakers getting dirty."

Justin rolled his eyes, but couldn't resist smiling slightly for a moment. It felt good having Chris on his side and talking to him without biting sarcasm again. He followed Joey and Chris into the house, feeling more confident that things were going to work out. But what Justin forgot was that things usually got worse before they got better.

Marlene bent her head, lowering herself so she was practically lying on top of JC. She moved to kiss him, but he quickly turned his head so she ended up kissing his cheek instead of his lips. His chin was suddenly grabbed, forcing him to look back at her.

"You'll enjoy it if you let yourself," she said.

She leaned in again, but this time JC wasn't able to avoid her kissing him full on the lips because her hand had moved from his chin to the back of his head, holding it still. He kept his lips clamped shut, refusing to allow her access to the inside of his mouth. But when she bit his bottom lip hard, he gasped in pain and she used that opening to put her tongue inside.

JC nearly gagged and felt a bit of panic rise in himself. He lashed out, bringing his leg up despite the stabbing pain and used his knee to shove her away from him. She was knocked off balance and fell backwards, over the edge of the bed. Her eyes were practically slits as she glared at him.

He watched her warily, still a little breathless from the kissing and the sudden surge of adrenaline. She went to step away from the bed and JC instantly knew whatever she had planned wasn't going to be pleasant. Desperately he kicked out again, though he knew it'd be much harder to hit her since she was nearly out of reach. But his leg didn't rise more than a few inches from the bed when the stabbing feeling doubled in both legs.

JC howled in pain. He'd almost thought he was coming to tolerate the random stabbing pain in his muscles, but the doubled intensity made it unbearable. All it took was one look at her holding that damned voodoo doll to know what had caused it. And since the pain was so crippling, all he could do was watch helplessly as she tied his ankles tightly to the posts at the bottom of the bed with two long silky scarves.

"You need to stop fighting this," she said. Her eyes were hard, but her voice was neutral. She took the two black pins out of the legs of the voodoo doll and JC practically slumped with relief.

JC wanted to glare at her, but he couldn't seem to summon the energy to do so. So he settled for saying in a harsh tone, "Don't you mean stop fighting you?"

"It's not just me you're fighting." She stepped closer and all he could do was watch since he was practically immobile now that all his limbs were tied down. "You're struggling with your attraction for me."

"I'm not attracted to you," JC said, trying to be firm. But it sounded weak even to his own ears.

Marlene reached out and ran a finger down his chest, the sensation causing a chill to run down his spine. "Oh I don't think that's true. You are and it's what brought you to me."

"You came up to me," JC objected.

"But you didn't turn me away. You even trusted me enough to follow me home." She smiled at him. "Listen to the instincts that brought you here."

JC frowned, realizing now how odd that was. He almost never went home with a girl that he'd just met. Even when he had one night stands, which wasn't that often, he always brought the girl back to his hotel room or house. And while he'd always had bodyguards to look out for him, he wasn't stupid. The fact that he'd trusted her so much when he barely knew her was almost a red flag.

"Did you put a spell on me? Or slip something in my drink that night?"

Marlene laughed. "Oh, JC. I did nothing. All I did was sit down and talk to you. It's not my fault you were attracted to me."

"But why me? You could've sat down with any guy and taken him home," JC said.

Marlene gave him a seductive look. "I didn't want just anyone. I wanted you."

"So you purposely sought me out?"

"Not at first. I didn't know you were there when I got there, but once I did, of course I wanted you. You've always been my favorite," she said with a wink.

JC glared. "And this is how you treat me? Tie me up and torture me?"

"It's necessary," Marlene said, almost flippantly. Like she didn't really grasp the severity of what she was doing to him. "And anyway, you're making this harder on yourself than it has to be."

"Why? Because I refuse to love you?"

"Because you insist on denying what I know you feel. This would all go so much easier if you would just admit you like me, that you want to be with me," she said.

"Why don't you just force me to drink a love potion? Wouldn't that get you what you want without all this hassle?"

JC felt kind of stupid asking, like he was giving her the idea. But he knew she was capable of it and probably would've come up with it herself. The question was, why hadn't she? It seemed like that would make things much simpler for her because she wouldn't have to worry about trying to bend his will.

"Love potions are messy business," Marlene said. "There are usually some nasty consequences, and after what happened to a friend...well, let's say I would never put someone I loved through that."

And yet you're willing to do this to me, JC thought immediately even though he had no idea how bad the consequences of the love potion had been. "What happened?" he asked.

"It was too strong. The guy was obsessed with my friend. She thought it was cute at first, but quickly became annoyed since he was at her side all hours of the day. When she rejected him, he didn't know how to live without her and killed himself."

"Why didn't she just reverse it?"

"Reversing spells or hexes is much harder than placing them. You have to remember what was said or put into the potion exactly and counter it with the right stuff," Marlene explained.

And it went without saying that her friend hadn't remembered how she'd done it. Obviously something had gone wrong with the way she'd done it anyway because JC was sure she hadn't meant to make the guy so obsessed with loving her that that was all he thought about. The thought of not having control of your own feelings and thoughts made JC shudder.

"I didn't want that to happen to you. I want you to love me in your own way." She gave him a meaningful look. "And you will."

JC felt a bit of anger rise up at that. He hated that she was so confident that he would do exactly what she wanted. "What makes you think you won't be caught before then?" he demanded.

"'Cause I have a spell in place that protects me from the police," she said simply. She then stared into his eyes. "They'll never find us."

"Maybe not here, but what happens when we leave?" JC asked, remembering the dream she'd given him where they lived in his LA house.

"You think they'll get me then?" Marlene laughed. "No one's reported you missing. As far as everyone knows, you're on vacation."

"My friends..." JC started, thinking that surely they would realize something was wrong eventually even if they'd believed that he was headed to LA.

Marlene cut him off and spoke almost like she knew what he was thinking. "Know nothing, and they never will. Will they, JC?"

The last part was said with that twisted smile because she knew how much his nightmares had been affecting him. She was counting on his need to protect them from her. And as much as JC may want to fight her forever, he knew he'd ultimately go along with what she wanted.

So he turned his head away from her and towards the window, refusing to admit anything out loud. Marlene laughed again and then suddenly she was right next to him, caressing his cheek.

"I'll be back to check on you in a bit. I need to go out for a bit."

JC said nothing as he continued to stare at the window. He couldn't see much from his bed. All he could really tell was that it was nearly dark.

Marlene kissed his cheek and walked out, leaving him alone yet again. He was stuck in a room where time seemed to stand still as the world outside the window moved forward. Suddenly, he gasped as the stabbing needle sharp pain returned to several of his muscles. It was going to be another long night.

**********

"Aren't you going to eat?"

Justin didn't even look up from the phonebook he was thumbing through as he answered Lance's question, "No."

Room service had arrived about ten minutes ago, just minutes after he and Chris had returned with Joey. The others had immediately dug in, but Justin wasn't interested. He'd grabbed the phonebook off one of the side tables next to the couch and began to go through the list of businesses hoping maybe something would jump out at him. But things seemed pretty bleak.

"Justin..."

There was that damn tone again. The same one he'd gotten at breakfast that morning when he'd said he wasn't hungry. Justin snapped, jerking his head up and glaring at the three of them sitting at the round table just off the living room.

"What?" he demanded. "What the hell gives you the right to get on my case? You're not my mother."

"You haven't eaten anything in a day and a half. I think that's a little alarming, don't you?" Lance said.

Justin shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

"Well, you should be."

"I feel like I'm getting an ulcer," Justin mumbled. It was a joke, but part of Justin wondered if it was possible. His stomach had been in knots ever since he'd played JC's message on the answering machine.

Lance narrowed his eyes. "That's not funny."

Justin opened his mouth to tell him to lay off, but Joey jumped in before he could. "Lance is right. You haven't eaten anything all day. You didn't even eat dinner last night." Joey sighed. "I know this is stressing you out, but it's bad enough JC's missing. We don't need you passing out on top of it."

"I'm not gonna pass out. I'm fine," Justin said.

"Curly, get your ass over here and eat your damn burger."

There was an unspoken "or else" with Chris's words, and his stern expression showed he meant business. With a heavy sigh, Justin slammed the phonebook shut and walked over to join the others at the kitchen table.

The four of them finished eating in silence, Justin managing to eat over half of his burger and a handful of fries before he pushed the plate away. He could tell they weren't happy he hadn't eaten everything, but it was better than nothing. And as soon as they were done, Justin lead them back to JC's hotel. He wanted to see if there was anyone new manning the desk that might've talked to JC.

They were about the enter the hotel and Chris said, "Let's hope that delightful guy isn't working tonight."

Joey and Lance chuckled lightly, but Justin completely agreed with Chris. He prayed that jerk wasn't there because they definitely wouldn't get anywhere and Justin may actually have to punch him. But as he opened the door, he nearly sighed in relief when he saw an older woman at the front desk. She wasn't the same as the first time they'd asked for JC's room number; she was much older than the one from before by probably twenty years. If anything, Justin would guess she was the owner.

"Can I help you, hon?" the woman asked, giving them a friendly smile as they approached. She reminded Justin of his grandma a bit.

"A friend of mine was staying here, and I think you might've given him some suggestions of places to go," Justin said.

"I could have. People are always asking what places are best around here." She paused. "What does your friend look like?"

Justin described JC and told her the day he'd probably checked in. Her brow was furrowed for a moment as she tried to remember, but then the lines in her face relaxed as she lit up.

"Oh yes. He was such a sweetheart."

"And did he ask for suggestions of places to see?" Justin asked.

She nodded. "I gave him a list of probably ten or so places, including the hottest nightclub in The Quarter." They all looked at her in surprise and her smile widened. "What? Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm not with it."

Joey, Lance, and Chris laughed, and Justin felt a bit of the tension in his shoulders ease. His grandma was a lot like her.

"Can you give me the same list please?" Justin asked, his smile not feeling quite as forced as it had since they'd arrived.

She was already reaching for a pen and paper when she said, "Sure thing, sweetie."

After jotting down the places she'd mentioned to JC, she handed the piece of paper to him. Justin thanked her and was ready to walk out when she stopped him, asking if they would sign a picture for her granddaughter. They agreed and she placed the picture and a sharpie on the smooth granite desk.

Justin was the first to sign and he noticed immediately that JC's signature was already on there. He must've signed it for her that first night after she'd given him the list. In that moment, Justin wished he had the ability to get visions when he touched stuff like those psychics on TV. It would make this whole process much faster. But unfortunately, they had to make do with what they had.

After the others had autographed the picture, they walked outside and Justin paused in the middle of the sidewalk to go over the list.

"So where to?" Joey asked. He stepped up on Justin's left to look over his shoulder, while Chris and Lance were to his right.

"Well, me and you already hit this one," Justin said, pointing to the first thing on the list. Preservation Hall.

Lance jabbed at the fifth one from the top. A restaurant. "Joey and I were there earlier."

"What about the other place?" Justin looked at Joey. "I thought you said you went to a couple places."

Joey nodded. "The other one's not on this list."

"Great," Justin groused. It wasn't their fault, but it'd been wasted effort. They were running out of time so whatever they picked, they had to make it count.

Chris yanked the list out of his grasp and skimmed it. "There's a couple museums, but we can't check those out until morning." He suddenly sighed and wiped at his brow with his forearm.

Lance frowned at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just kinda hot. It's a lot muggier here than home."

Lance didn't look that convinced, but Chris spoke again before he could. "Here, you and Joey go here," he said, pointing at the second thing on the list. "Me and J will take the next one down."

"We're gonna split up?" Joey asked, looking a bit concerned himself. "You think that's a good idea considering we're pretty sure Jace was kidnapped?"

"None of us are going to be alone. And we have a less chance of being recognized by the paparazzi if we split up. Four fifths of Nsync is way easier to spot than two," Chris said.

"Where are we meeting then? And when?" Lance asked.

"The next club on the list. We can't afford to waste anymore time," Justin said.

"There aren't any more clubs." Chris turned the piece of paper around so he could see. "Everything else on the list are restaurants and museums."

"We'll meet back at the house then," Lance said. "At two or earlier if we have no luck. But call if something happens."

Chris nodded once, his expression series. "You too."

Without any further discussion, they walked out to Bourbon Street before they split up. Justin had a decent idea of where he was going because he'd studied a map of The French Quarter while he ate, but they still managed to get turned around. He cursed letting Joey and Lance take the map.

Finally, they arrived at the club. Normally they would bypass the line and go in the VIP entrance, but that would automatically draw attention to them, which they were trying to avoid at all costs. So they wasted a half hour in line to get in the club, which annoyed Justin and made him that much more determined to make it worth their while.

Once inside the club, he and Chris grabbed a table so they'd have a place to meet after making the rounds. Because they'd be able to talk to more people and cover more ground faster if they split up.

The next two hours pass incredibly slow. It'd been hard to corner any of the staff long enough to ask about JC and then several girls refused to talk to him until he danced to a couple songs with them. He thought he'd seen a spark of recognition in their eyes, but no one had come right out and asked him who he was. Not yet anyway.

At the moment, Justin was talking to a young blonde girl. She was chattering away and Justin nodded distractedly as he fingered the bracelet the bouncer made him wear since he was underage. He could barely hear anything the girl was saying, but he was certain she wasn't saying anything he was interested in hearing.

Suddenly, there was a crash over by the bar and people crowded around. Justin pushed past the girl, barely muttering an "excuse me" as he went to see what was going on. As he got closer, he recognized the blue sneakers Chris had been wearing and cursed.

Justin hurried the rest of the way, pushing past the people crowded around. He'd just gotten to Chris's side and blinked in surprise when he saw Joey and Lance. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"We went to that place by the docks, but it was closed for a private party," Joey said.

"Shit." Justin ran a hand over his shaved head, wishing he had his curls to tug on. Today just kept getting better and better. "Did you see what happened to him?"

Joey shook his head. "We just got in here. That line was ridiculous."

Justin sighed, watching as Lance reached out to shake Chris and bring him back to consciousness. There was still a crowd of people around them, and a redhead girl who looked to be in her early thirties cleared her throat nervously.

Joey and Justin looked up at her and she said, "We were talking and he put a hand to his head like he was kind of dizzy. Then someone was trying to get by to get to the bar and he stepped back, only he stumbled and fell backwards. I tried to catch him, but it happened so fast..."

"It's okay," Joey assured, giving her a small smile. "Thanks."

There was a moan below them, and their eyes immediately went to their oldest friend. It seemed that he was coming around, thanks to Lance's prodding. Chris blinked a few times before he squinted up at them.

"What happened?" he asked, looking more out of it than Justin thought he would. It made his stomach clench with worry and a bit of fear.

"You okay?" Lance asked, ignoring Chris's question. They all wanted to know what happened, but this wasn't the place. Not when they were entertainment for a club full of people. "You think you can get up?"

Justin and Joey shifted so they could grab hold of Chris's arms and together, they slowly hauled him to his feet. As soon as he was standing, he swayed and leaned against Joey. Lance walked in front of them to clear a path and they all but dragged Chris out of the club, struggling with him being practically dead weight.

Getting out of the club was only half the battle though because as soon as they stepped outside, reporters were all over them. Justin groaned, not sure how they'd known where they were, but he suspected someone inside the club must've called someone. They made their way back to the house, reporters following them the whole way as they snapped a million pictures and shouted out questions. It made Justin's blood boil, but he bit his tongue.

Finally, after an agonizing fifteen minute walk, they reached the front door of their rented house. Lance held the door open for him and Joey to maneuver Chris through before he let it close loudly, turning the lock.

"Let's get him upstairs," Lance said.

Justin almost wanted to protest because his muscles were aching from practically carrying Chris through Bourbon Street, even with Joey's help. But he knew it would be better for Chris to be up there, so he and Joey carefully ascended the stairs with Chris between them.

It was several minutes before they finally had Chris settled in his bed, but lying on top of the covers since he was sweating. Lance put a hand to Chris's forehead and Chris didn't protest the action, which was pretty alarming. Chris hated when people pulled the mother hen act when he was sick and JC, being the one most prone to it, had often been subjected to Chris's anger before he learned leaving Chris be was for the best.

"He's got a fever," Lance confirmed, pulling his hand back.

"Chris, man, what happened?" Joey asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Chris groaned and shifted on the bed. "Dunno. Felt fine earlier. But then I got really hot and everything started to spin..."

That was basically all they got out of him before his eyes slid closed. Joey looked over at Lance. "You think he has food poisoning?"

"I don't know," Lance shook his head. "It would explain how he got sick so quickly, but we all basically had the same stuff for dinner."

Justin frowned. It was very strange. Chris had seemed fine earlier and then to be so bad so quickly...If this were a sci-fi movie, Justin would probably say he'd had a spell put on him or something. But that was just ridiculous. Stuff like that didn't exist, and even if it did, Chris hadn't been out of his sight all day. There was no way someone could've put one on him without Justin knowing about it.

"Someone should stay with him while the others go back to that club," Justin said. What happened to Chris was bad timing, but they couldn't waste this opportunity. There was a chance that someone in that club had a clue as to where JC was.

Lance nodded. "Good idea. You stay and me and Joey will-"

"No way," Justin interrupted. "I'm going."

"Justin," Lance sighed. "You should rest. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you could end up like Chris."

"You can't make me." Justin realized he sounded like a five year old, but he couldn't help it. He was tired of fighting with them about how he was handling this situation and how he took care of himself. The most important thing was finding JC and Justin wasn't going to rest until they did.

Lance looked at Joey for help, but Joey just held up his hands, wanting no parts of it. He didn't like getting in the middle, and Justin was thankful for it right then. Chris might've been able to force him, much like he had at dinner, but Chris wasn't awake to do so.

"C'mon, Joey," Justin said, grabbing onto Joey's arm and pulling him up from the bed. "We need to get back to that club before it gets much later."

"Be careful," Lance told them, giving them both a very serious look. He seemed to accept he wasn't going to win this.

They promised they would and would still be back by two at the latest. When they got back on the street it was less crowded, especially right around their building. But then, they were kind of on the outskirts of all the action of Bourbon Street.

As they walked down the sidewalk towards the club, Justin got a weird feeling. Like someone was watching them. He looked out of the corner of his eye, but saw no one. At least no one suspicious. He couldn't seem to shake the feeling though.

It persisted for a few more blocks. Justin had been continuing to glance at the side of buildings through his peripheral when he sensed more than saw it. Movement in the shadows. Just between two buildings.

Justin slowed his pace a bit, but continued heading towards the club. When they just passed the start of a gap between two small buildings, he suddenly spun around and reached out, latching onto something solid. He shoved the figure into the dark alley and up against the hard brick wall.

"Justin!" Joey exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"Who the hell are you?"

A car with a loud muffler drove by and sliver of light from the headlights filtered into the alley. The person Justin was holding against the wall was a man who looked around thirty with a camera hanging around his neck. Justin instantly cursed and released the man. He'd thought the person following them was the one who had taken JC, spying on them.

"You'll have to excuse him," Joey said, stepping forward like he was able to sense Justin had no idea what to do now. "He's been a little jumpy lately. Nightmares. You know how it goes."

"Are you kidding? He attacked me!" the man cried.

Justin rolled his eyes. "Please. I just pushed you."

"Yeah? Wanna see if the public believes that?"

"Well, you don't really have anything on tape, do you?" Joey said. "Besides that, stalking is illegal, isn't it?"

The man was silent for a minute, seeming to catch onto the thinly veiled threat. If the guy wanted to tell a story about Justin attacking him, they'd only be happy to return the favor by saying it wouldn't have happened if the guy hadn't been stalking them.

Finally, the guy said, "You celebrity types are all the same."

When he was gone, Joey rounded on Justin. "What the hell's wrong with you? You can't just go around jumping people like that."

"I know. It's not like I knew he was a reporter. I thought it was someone having to do with JC," Justin defended.

"What made you think that?" Joey asked, frowning.

Justin shrugged. "Just a feeling. It was creepy. Like we were being watched."

"We were. By a reporter." Joey sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, just be more careful next time, okay?"

Justin agreed and Joey led the way back out to the street, shaking his head and mumbling to himself, "Johnny's gonna have an anxiety attack."

Justin almost laughed at that. The press would definitely be a bitch to deal with when it was all over. But it wasn't, not yet.

As they walked away from the alley and into the crowds, Justin forced himself to shake off the feeling he was being watched. Joey was right; there were tons of reporters around watching them. That's all it had to be.

But Justin should've hung onto that suspicion because in the shadows just around the corner, someone smiled a twisted smile.

Justin rubbed at his eyes tiredly. It was early morning - so early that the sun was just starting its slow rise over the horizon. He and Joey got back from the club after two, unsuccessful in finding someone who'd spotted JC. To make matters worse, they'd been pestered by paparazzi the rest of the night, making it difficult to even talk to anyone. Justin could only imagine the phone calls Johnny would be getting.

But they had more pressing problems at the moment. Chris wasn't any better and was asleep when they'd returned, and Lance seemed content to just wait it out. Something that made it that much easier for him to suggest they all get some sleep. Justin had wanted to protest, but it'd been quickly pointed out to him that they couldn't do anything else since all the places on the list were now closed.

So they'd all gone to bed, Justin knowing there was no way he was going to win that argument. Once he'd laid down, he was surprised how quickly sleep came over him. He'd known he was tired, but he hadn't known just how much until he'd finally stopped and was allowing his body to rest. His mind had other plans though.

He'd been asleep for about an hour when he'd startled awake from a nightmare, his heart racing. It'd centered around JC, and he'd been in trouble. In the dream, things had started pretty normal. He and JC had been messing around on a catwalk for the stage when JC lost his footing, just managing to grab onto the metal structure. His grip had been weak and he'd looked terrified as he'd begged for Justin's help. Justin had tried to pull JC up, but his hands hadn't been able to get a good hold, like they'd been greased. As a result, JC's hand had slipped from his and he fell. It was just as JC's body hit the seating area below that Justin had jerked awake.

After the nightmare, Justin had lied in bed for over an hour, fearful of waking anyone if he got up. He especially hadn't wanted to wake Lance because he would give him the most grief about not trying to go back to sleep. But after that nightmare, there was no way he could. Not when he could still practically hear JC's pleading voice in his head.

Finally, Justin had grown tired of lying there and had decided to risk it. That was when he'd come downstairs and put on a pot of coffee. He wasn't usually much of a coffee person, but his body was definitely dragging now. He'd need to pump himself full of as much caffeine as possible to keep his body going because he was determined to find JC, not wanting to fail his friend like in his dream.

The coffee tasted terrible, but it'd done its job...at least for a while. As Justin sat in the recliner in the living room, he felt his eyelids growing heavy. He tried to fight it, but he was definitely losing steam. Before he knew it, he'd dozed off.

It felt like a second later that Justin's shoulder was being shaken. He jumped awake, JC's tortured screams ringing in his ears. After several blinks and rubbing at his eyes, he was able to make out Lance standing next to him looking concerned.

"You okay?" Lance asked.

Justin glanced at the small clock on the wall and saw that it was nearly six-thirty. He'd dozed for about forty-five minutes. Still, it was pretty early.

"What are you doing up?"

Lance just gave him a look. "Funny. I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Couldn't sleep," Justin mumbled, running a hand tiredly over his face. Lance's frowned deeply, but Justin changed the subject before he could say anything. "How's Chris?"

Lance sighed. "Not good. I think he's gotten worse."

"Worse how?"

"His fever for one. His skin was pretty warm when I felt his forehead just before coming down, and he didn't even flinch as I checking him over."

It was Justin's turn to frown. Chris wasn't a light sleeper by any sense of the word, except for when he was sick. He hated being touched and bothered, usually resulting in him locking himself in his room for a couple days.

"What else?" Justin asked.

"He hasn't puked," Lance said. "Normally, that's a good thing. But it's a huge indicator of food poisoning."

"So you don't think it's that anymore?" None of them had necessarily believed it was food poisoning, but there wasn't much else to explain how sudden Chris had become sick.

Lance nodded. "It doesn't seem likely. But then, I don't know how he came down with it so suddenly. Because even if it was just the flu, there are usually symptoms days before."

"So what now?" Justin asked.

"I want to get him checked out. Just to make sure it's nothing too serious."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "You sure that's a good idea?"

Lance's eyes narrowed. "Nothing opens until at least nine so we have time."

"I meant, do you think it's a good idea considering we're being watched by the paps. Geez," Justin said, feeling a bit offended at Lance's insinuation that he didn't care about Chris. He had a feeling they would need all four of them in order to get JC back, which wasn't really looking like much of a possibility at the moment.

Lance was silent for a moment before he offered to make breakfast - an apology of sorts. Because of the early hour, they weren't able to call a doctor until at least eight since it wasn't an emergency. That gave Lance plenty of time to make some scrambled eggs and bacon and put on a new pot of coffee, claiming that what Justin had made was terrible. He'd just finished cooking when Joey came down and joined them.

Justin ate much less than Joey and Lance and did his best to avoid the looks they kept giving him. He couldn't help that he didn't have much of an appetite. They finished eating and finally at eight o'clock they found a doctor out of the phonebook that would do a house call since Chris didn't seem in good enough shape to make it to a clinic.

The doctor showed up at eight-thirty and thought Justin was the one he'd been called to see. Lance corrected him that it was their other friend they'd called about, but he hadn't objected to the doctor looking Justin over anyway. Justin had protested, but it'd been wasted effort.

After the doctor had finished examining him, he declared that Justin was suffering from exhaustion and a mild case of dehydration. The doctor advised him to get some rest and replenish his fluids, but Justin had no plans of doing any such thing. He could rest once JC was back and safe.

They led the doctor to the bedroom Chris and Lance had been sharing and were able to rouse Chris enough to get him to sit up so the doctor could examine him. Chris looked at them with bleary eyes and tried to ask some questions, but the doctor hushed him each time he spoke. It annoyed Chris, but not nearly as much as it would have normally. He didn't seem to be able to summon enough energy to be as resisting as he usually would.

"You definitely seem to have a bug," the doctor told Chris as he finally pulled away, straightening his back.

"But it came on pretty sudden. You sure it's not anything worse?" Lance asked.

Joey nudged Lance. "Dude, I think he's sure. He's the expert."

The doctor gave a short laugh before turning his gaze on Lance. "It was a bit sudden, but from what I can tell, you all have been neglecting yourselves. That's enough for you to catch something suddenly, even when it's not the start of cold and flu season."

"Well, thanks for coming out and putting our minds at ease," Lance said.

"Not a problem," the doctor said. He then looked at them seriously. "I recommend you all get some rest."

Lance thanked the doctor again and showed him out, all the while Justin was thinking there was no way in hell they'd be resting. They all knew that wasn't an option with JC missing and held by someone that surely didn't want anything good. It wasn't a typical kidnapping though since they hadn't been contacted for ransom. Hell, the only contact they'd had was from JC himself telling them he was leaving town and they should do the same. But if the kidnapper didn't want money, Justin had no idea what they were expecting to get from JC.

"What time is it?" Chris asked from the bed, his voice quivering slightly.

Joey glanced at his large wristwatch. "Just after nine."

"Well, what are we still doing here? We should get going."

"I don't think you should be going anywhere," Lance said, coming back into the room then. "You heard what the doctor said. You should rest."

Chris snorted. "Yeah, okay. He also said all of us should rest, but that's not going to happen, is it?"

"Justin should rest with you."

Justin glared at Lance as he said, "But he's not going to. He's going to find JC."

"And I'm coming," Chris said, already getting out of bed, albeit slowly. He seemed a little shaky on his feet, still looking pretty weak, but he managed to stay on his feet. And if the determined look on his face was any indication, it would stay that way.

Lance stepped forward and put a hand on Chris's chest. "Chris, no. This is a bad idea for so many reasons."

"Name one."

"The paparazzi. Don't you think we've had enough problems with them already?"

Chris shrugged tiredly. "Can it really get any worse?"

"Yes!" Lance said, pretty exasperated.

"Well, so what?" Justin cut in. "Isn't it worth it to get JC back?"

Lance had no argument to that because of course he wanted JC back - they all did. And they would do whatever they had to in order to make that happen. Still, Justin could tell he was trying to keep things from getting worse, especially since Chris was pretty sick. But he didn't want to stay behind and honestly, Justin couldn't blame him. To hell with the paparazzi. The only way they'd get to JC was by figuring out what happened together.

"Just let it go, Lance," Joey advised. "I don't think you're going to win this one."

Lance sighed, but gave in. The four of them slowly made their way to the nearest museum that'd been listed by the woman at JC's hotel. It was still fairly early so there wasn't a ton of people, but Lance's eyes roamed the streets, presumably looking for reporters. Justin, on the other hand, was too busy helping Joey keep Chris upright. The further they walked down the street, the more Justin was beginning to think Lance had been right - that Chris should have stayed back at the house to rest because he clearly wasn't strong enough for this. If anything, he seemed to be growing even weaker.

They'd walked several blocks before Joey stopped, forcing them to stop too. "We're taking a break for a minute."

"I'm fine," Chris protested weakly.

"Well, I'm not," Joey said. "Lugging your ass around is hard work."

Justin had to agree. It hadn't been bad at first, but Chris's energy seemed to be quickly zapped, which left him and Joey to take on a lot of Chris's weight. He leaned back against a brick wall of a small shop, taking advantage of the short break even though he didn't want to stop for anything. It was getting harder to summon the energy he needed to keep going at the same intensity as he had when they'd first arrived.

There was a jingle to Justin's left, and a woman stepped out. "Come inside," she said.

Justin was a little startled at first, not thinking she was talking to them. But then he said, "Thanks, but we're not interested in buying anything."

The woman sighed in annoyance. "Get inside quick. Before those nosy reporters spot you."

Justin was about to ask what she was talking about when Lance hit his arm and pointed down the street. There were at least three reporters a couple blocks away and it looked like they were heading this way. Somehow they'd managed to avoid them since they'd left the house, and he knew Lance wanted to keep it that way, especially considering how bad Chris must look.

Lance led the way into the shop, and Justin let go of Chris, knowing the three of them wouldn't be able to make it through the narrow doorway at the same time. Joey took on most of the Chris's weight and managed to maneuver them inside. As Justin followed, he caught sight of the shop's sign. Madam Silvia's.

The shop had a strange aroma, but it wasn't unpleasant. There were a lot of strange things on the shelves - things Justin couldn't remember ever seeing before. But off to the side in the far corner, there was a small table with a crystal ball sitting on top of it. Justin rolled his eyes, wondering just who actually got their fortune told and believed it.

Behind him, the bell jingled as the woman came inside. She locked the door and flipped the sign to closed before drawing the shades. It should've made him uncomfortable, but for some reason it didn't.

Justin turned to face her and said, "You must be Madam Silvia."

"Yes, but just Silvia will do," she said, smiling kindly at them. She looked to be around fifty, her red hair graying. She was wearing a long sleeved white blouse and a flowing skirt that nearly touched the floor.

"What do you want from us?" Joey asked, looking at her a bit warily.

"Nothing. I want to help." She gestured to Chris, who was heavily leaning against Joey, his eyes mere slits as he fought to keep himself upright and conscious. "I can help your friend."

"How?" Lance asked.

"I can counter the curse that's been put on him."

"Curse?" Chris repeated. "Who the hell are you?"

The question would've been said with much more anger and intimidation, but Chris seemed to be lacking the energy to put any real emotion behind what he said. Still, Silvia didn't seem at all offended by the question.

"I'm an oracle. But more important, I'm someone that can help."

Lance and Joey looked over at Justin, and he was a little taken aback by it. "What?" Justin demanded.

"What do you think?" Lance asked.

What they were really asking was whether or not they should trust her. Justin had been the one leading them all around town and going off hunches he got, so they were obviously hoping he'd have a feeling about what they should do. It was risky, but Justin didn't feel threatened by her. He just hoped he wouldn't regret this.

"I think we should let her try," he said finally. "We'd be much better off with Chris at full strength."

Silvia had moved over to a shelf and was grabbing various things. She glanced at them, though her eyes lingered on Justin. "The same could be said about you."

"What? What does that mean?" Justin frowned.

"It means sit down before you fall down."

Joey laughed from the corner of the room where he lowered Chris into one of the chairs at the table with the crystal ball. "I like her."

Justin wanted to protest, but Lance ushered him to the seat opposite Chris and forced him to sit down. Silvia came over carrying a candle that looked to be black except that the red was visible beneath the black wax. She placed it on the table along with a bottle of oil and a small dagger.

Chris eyed the weapon warily. "What's that for?"

"I just need to prick your finger. The counter won't work unless it has part of you and the curse attached to the candle," Silvia explained. She smiled at him reassuringly. "Don't worry. It'll barely hurt."

"Let's just get it over with," Chris mumbled, looking like he could fall asleep any second.

Silvia picked up the dagger and gently grabbed a hold of Chris's hand before barely pressing the tip of the blade into one his fingers. Once there was blood on the blade, she carved "Chris's enemy" into the candle and then rubbed the oil over the candle.

"The oil is Uncrossing Oil," she explained as she worked. "It's used specifically in reversing curses. It'll also help the candle burn faster because once the candle has burnt out, the curse should be over."

"And how long will that take?" Justin asked.

She lit the candle and looked at them. "About two hours."

Joey blinked. "Wow. And Chris will be back to normal? Healthy I mean because God knows he's not anywhere close to normal."

Chris reached out and weakly pinched Joey, making him jump and rub at the inflicted area. Silvia smiled at them. "He'll be close. This is an easy solution, but it's not a permanent one. It'll rebound most of the curse, but it can't take it all away. Whoever cast it in the first place will have to remove the rest of it."

"You keep saying curse. You mean Chris is sick because of some curse?" Lance asked.

"A voodoo curse, yes." Silvia nodded. "Probably put on him in the last twelve hours or so."

"But we didn't run into anyone. We spent most of yesterday in jail," Justin said. When Chris had first gotten sick Justin had almost thought a spell had been put on him, but he'd dismissed it for the very reason he just vocalized. Plus, it'd sounded so ridiculous. But now it seemed less ridiculous.

Silvia was quiet for a moment. "It was probably goofer dust then. All he'd have to do is walk over it."

"The powder on the front step," Chris said with a spark of recognition. "I thought it'd seemed kind of weird, but I didn't really step over it. I brushed it off the edge with my sneaker."

"That was enough." She glanced at Joey and Justin. "But what you did saved them from suffering the same way you are."

Joey clapped Chris on the shoulder and Justin nodded at him. Chris might not have known what he'd been doing in the moment, but they were lucky he'd kicked it aside. If all three of them had gotten sick, Justin wasn't sure what they'd have done.

"Whoever took your friend was obviously anticipating taking you down."

They all glanced at each other. "How do you know about JC?" Lance asked.

"Because I saw it," she said simply.

"You saw it? But why didn't you report it?"

She shook her head. "You misunderstood me. I didn't see it happen. I've been receiving flashes of him in my dreams. Images of the future. Visions, if you will."

"Do you know who took him?" Justin asked, sitting on the edge of his chair. This was the closest they'd been yet.

"No, but I've had an image that keeps appearing. It must be some kind of clue."

Justin leaned forward. He was almost in danger of falling off his chair. "What is it?"

"A flower. Lilac." She glanced at each of them. "Does that mean anything to you?"

Justin shook his head, disappointed. He'd hoped it was something bigger - something that would lead them to JC.

"Well, it has to be a girl, right?" Lance said.

Chris snorted. "Figures Jace would attract a psycho woman."

Justin looked at his oldest friend, noticing that even though it hadn't been very long, his coloring had already gotten better. He'd been pretty pasty before, but now he had some rosy color to his cheeks. He was also sitting up a little straighter; he still looked tired but not nearly as exhausted as he had before.

"So what do we do now?" Joey asked.

"You could invoke the help of Marie Laveau," Silvia said.

"Who is she?" Lance asked.

"The best voodoo queen New Orleans has ever seen."

Joey leaned against the wall from where he was standing behind Chris's chair. "Why would we go to her? We don't want to make things worse getting more voodoo involved."

"Voodoo has gotten a bad reputation from Hollywood movies, but voodoo is first and foremost a religion. The spell work is typically used for good, like curing ailments. But there are a few people that twist the spells for evil and their own personal gain," she explained.

"And this Marie Laveau was one of the good guys?" Justin asked.

Silvia nodded. "She was a very powerful oracle who was known for helping the less fortunate."

"Was?" Chris repeated. "What happened? Did she die?"

"Yes, some time ago. In the year 1881 I believe."

Justin frowned. "How are we supposed to get help from someone who's dead?"

"You go to her grave and ask her," she said. "But you should take a pound cake for Saint Expedite who's across the street from her. He'll help ensure the favors Marie Laveau bestows on you happen quicker."

Justin glanced at the others. "Well, we should get over there then."

He was about to stand, but Silvia's hand on his shoulder stilled him. She didn't look at him though as she said, "Christopher shouldn't leave. We need to wait for the candle to burn out to make sure there were no side effects and that it did indeed work."

"That's fine. Lance and I will go," Justin said. He moved to stand up again, but Silvia wouldn't remove her hand from his shoulder and let him.

"How about some tea first?" she suggested. Justin was about to protest, but she added, "It has energizing qualities, and you'll need all energy you can get. You're practically dead on your feet as it is."

Justin didn't want to admit how terrible he felt, but he couldn't deny it was true. He didn't want to waste time - it'd pretty much become a mantra in his head since they'd arrived in New Orleans. But at the same time, it might be worth it to take a few minutes to drink some tea if it was going to help him in the long run.

"Okay," Justin finally relented.

Silvia invited them to follow her upstairs to her apartment and told them to take a seat the kitchen table as she went about making the tea. Just five minutes later, they all had steaming mugs in front of them. And it took about the same amount of time for Justin to realize that something wasn't right. His eyes were drooping and everything seemed hazy.

"What the hell?" he murmured.

Silvia came over to him and put a gentle hand on his back. "I'm sorry, hon. You boys can't expect to save your friend with how exhausted you all are, especially you. A few hours of sleep will do you good."

Justin shook his head, but he couldn't fight the pull of the drug induced sleep. The last thought he had was that they had to get to JC before something worse happened to him.

He didn't know how right that was.

**********

JC woke up screaming, coming out of yet another terrifying nightmare. He panted heavily and shifted uncomfortably on the bed. The stabbing pain in his muscles had disappeared earlier that morning only to be replaced with a rash that was quickly spreading over his body. The itching was already driving him crazy, and he was hot again with a fever, but at least it seemed to be a normal one. No doubt brought on by the mysterious rash.

"You need to accept what you're seeing. I'll take the nightmares away when you do."

Marlene wasn't next to him like she'd been the last few times he'd woken from nightmares but on the other side of the room, sitting in a desk chair. She was watching him with those intense hazel eyes, and JC unconsciously shivered. He hated that she came in while he was sleeping, trapped in a continuous loop of nightmares.

"Stop watching me," JC growled. He felt the anger rise up and was unable to control it. He was tired of being scared of her and was more than willing to express his anger.

Marlene's eyes narrowed. "You don't tell me what to do."

"But you get to tell me what to do, right?" JC snorted. "That's bullshit. You can't make me do anything."

"No?" Marlene raised an eyebrow. "I'd rethink that if I were you. I can make you do anything I want."

"But you don't. You're just using that as a threat so I'll agree to what you want, but I have news for you. I'll never accept that we're supposed to be together because it's not true."

Marlene got to her feet and slowly walked towards him. "You think I'm just bluffing? Maybe we should test that out. Are you forgetting my encounter with Joey yesterday?"

"You won't do anything to him. You can't. He's not even in New Orleans anymore," JC said. The fear he felt earlier when she'd threatened to hurt the guys was gone. It almost felt like he was outside of himself because he hadn't felt much beyond fear for the last couple days.

"You think that matters? All I need is something of his, like some of his hair. Just a little something for me to work a spell or create a voodoo doll, and you better believe he'd feel it wherever he is."

"You're not going to do anything," JC said, feeling more confident than he had in a long time. "Because if you did, you know I'd absolutely refuse to be with you."

Marlene stopped next to the dresser where various things she used for her spell work was. "You really want to bank on that? You could be wrong."

JC shook his head, clearing his throat. His voice was hoarse from all the screaming over the last couple days. "I'm not. If anyone's wrong here, it's you. You're not going to have me the way you want."

"I already have you the way I want. Everything else will come in time, your love will come in time," Marlene said.

"That's where you're wrong. You honestly think the second this spell's over and you untie me that I won't just kill myself?"

"No because you wouldn't want to live without your friends and family," Marlene said.

"I'm not going to live with them anyway. I'll be completely isolated from them. The life you keep feeding me in these screwed up dreams isn't one I want. Why wouldn't I kill myself?"

Marlene stared at him with cold eyes. "Because I have the power to make you do whatever I say. Or don't do something. You think I won't take precautions against that?"

JC heard what she said, but the words didn't seem to register. He felt empowered from finally challenging her and now he was on a roll. He continued even though a small voice in his head screamed at him to stop.

"I don't know you'd think I'd ever love you anyway. How could I love someone who had to kidnap and torture a guy to get him to be her boyfriend? That's just pathetic."

As soon as the words left his lips, JC wished he could take them back. He'd gone too far, and the wrathful look on Marlene's face wiped away all his anger and left him feeling extremely nervous. Something bad was about to happen. He could feel it.

"You just made a huge mistake," she said, her voice quiet but there was no denying the anger in it. "You forgot just what my spells and voodoo can do, and you're gonna pay for it."

JC wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he didn't have to wait long. His stomach dropped as he watched Marlene mess with her voodoo tools on the dresser. Panic began to wash over him as she lit another black candle, and he was afraid she would return him to that eternal, unbearable heat he'd suffered through the first day.

"Marlene, wait. Please, I'm sorry," JC said.

But Marlene ignored him. She tipped the candle and let it drip onto another cutout of him. As she did this, she recited:

Wax, wax drops on your lips
Sealing tight, your voice doesn't exist

JC had been in the middle of saying her name again when she'd blown out the candle and an invisible force closed his lips, cutting him off. He tried to open his mouth, feeling his jaw move, but his lips remained closed. Almost like they'd been glued shut.

A scream rose up in his throat, but it had no way out and was just muffled behind his closed lips. His eyes were wide and his heart raced as he stared at her in horror, watching as she came closer. When she was next to him, she reached out and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"You made things worse for yourself, but I'm letting you off easy. Don't want to damage my boyfriend." She pressed a kiss against his lips. "But now this is only a hint of what I could do. Not only to you but everyone you care about. You might want to think about that before you try speaking to me like that again."

Marlene pulled away and crossed the room, stopping to look back at him just before the door. "Not that you'll speaking much for a while," she said with a wicked gleam in her eye and laughed.

She left him alone and he deflated, any fight remaining dying out immediately. What he'd done had been stupid, but he hadn't been able to help himself. He'd been hanging onto what he'd been feeling for too long and couldn't take it anymore - he'd just snapped. But with a scary cost.

It wasn't permanent because if it was, he'd never be able to eat again and like she kept saying, she didn't want to kill him. It was just meant to teach him a lesson, but it did more than that. It killed any bit of hope left in him that he'd find a way out of this mess. A tear ran down his cheek as he resigned himself to that fact.

JC was doomed to spend his life with her. Doing whatever she wanted. Forever.

"I can't believe she drugged us," Justin complained.

"How could she do such a thing?" Chris continued, his voice whiny as he imitated Justin. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we heard you the first hundred times."

"Well, I can't help it. Who the hell does she think she is?"

They stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change and Lance glanced at him. "The one who gave us our only lead?"

"Hey, we had a lead," Justin pointed out, even though he knew the list of places from the woman at JC's hotel hadn't been a very good one. "And anyway, she didn't give us a lead. She told us to ask for help from some dead oracle."

Chris snorted. "Keep referring to her as that and I'm sure she'll feel less inclined to help you."

They just entered the cemetery Silvia told them had Marie Laveau's grave. At her insistence, they'd taken the pound cake she'd provided and left it across the street at the base of a large statue of Saint Expedite. Now they just had to find Marie Laveau's grave and pray that asking for her help worked. It almost seemed ludicrous, but Justin wasn't above doing it if it meant getting JC back.

The grave wasn't as hard to spot as Justin feared it might be. It was towards the back of the cemetery, but they'd been able to spot it from several rows away. There was a large headstone that was covered in vines and had tons of flowers and presents sitting at the bottom of it. Leaves blew around the silent cemetery as the wind picked up, the darkening clouds promising rain.

When they were standing directly in front of it, they all fell silent. Justin glanced at each of the guys and he could tell that they were wondering the same thing as him: how could a dead woman help them find JC?

They all seemed to be waiting for someone else to speak and ask Marie Laveau for a favor, but Joey was the one who grew tired of the silence first. "Aren't you going to say something?" he asked, his eyes on Justin.

"Why me? Why can't you say something?" Justin asked.

"Because you're the one who seems to most willing to believe all this," Lance said for Joey.

"We all have to believe on some level. I mean, Silvia healed Chris," Joey pointed out.

"Mostly," Chris reminded. "So if you don't mind, I'd like to get whatever help we can get to find the psycho who kidnapped JC and put a curse on me." He clapped Justin on the back. "Get to it, J."

Justin sighed, but looked back at the marble headstone. He didn't know what he was going to say; he just started speaking. But the words came from his heart and he had a feeling that was the most important thing.

"Marie Laveau, we've come to you for help," Justin started. "Our friend has been taken by someone who has used voodoo against us. I'm pretty sure they've used it against our friend too."

Justin paused, that thought not sitting well with him. If the person who took JC had been able to make Chris so sick so fast, he shuddered to think what they'd done to JC.

"I feel silly talking to a dead person like this. But I hear if anyone can help, it's you." Justin licked his dry lips, noticing for the first time just how truly dehydrated he was. "If anyone deserves that, it's JC. Please help us save him."

Justin took a step back, his eyes still fixed on the grave in front of him. They stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen. He didn't really know what they were expecting, but they wanted at least some sign their plea had been answered.

"You think you did it right?" Joey asked, once again the one to break the silence.

Justin shrugged. "We did everything Silvia said."

"She didn't say how long this stuff usually takes though," Chris pointed out.

"It has to be kind of quick, or at the very least a possibility Marie Laveau would grant our favor quickly. Otherwise, why would she have suggested this?" Justin said.

"Maybe it didn't work," Lance offered.

Justin shook his head, unable to accept that. It had to work - they were running out of options. Options that could ensure a quicker rescue for JC anyway. He hated to think of JC being held hostage longer than absolutely necessary.

A couple more minutes passed before Chris said, "C'mon, let's go check out that museum now."

Justin didn't really want to leave, trying to hang onto the belief that something was going to happen. But maybe the help was on a delay and wouldn't happen for a while. If that were the case, they couldn't waste any time. They had to try to come up with another lead in case this thing with invoking Marie Laveau's help didn't work.

He sighed, but he allowed Chris to start leading them towards the entrance they'd come in. They got about halfway when suddenly, a black bird flew just over their heads. Instinctively, they all ducked and Justin was glad he did because otherwise, the bird probably would've crashed into the top of his head.

"Damn bird," Chris muttered, standing up straight.

"That was weird," Lance said. "Most birds don't act like that. He doesn't even seem to be scared of us."

Justin was about to ask Lance what he was talking about, but Lance pointed to the same bird who was sitting on top of a grave marker, just a foot away from them. Without really knowing why, Justin took a step forward. He thought for sure the bird would fly away as he closed the distance between them, but it didn't. It just stared at him, not seeming scared at all.

"Maybe the people that come here to see Marie Laveau feed him and he thinks we're gonna do the same," Joey suggested. "It would explain why he's not afraid of us."

As Justin stepped closer and saw what was written on the grave the bird was standing on, he got a feeling that wasn't the reason at all.

"Or maybe this is the work of Marie Laveau after all," he said. "Like a sign."

"A sign?" Chris repeated. "Where? I don't see anything."

Justin gestured at the bird. "Lance is right. Birds don't act like that. I think he's trying to draw our attention to this grave."

"Birds are smart, but they're not that smart," Lance said. "But even if they were, why this grave?"

"Isn't it obvious? They have something to do with JC being taken."

The others glanced worriedly at each other. "This person's dead, Justin," Joey said. The tone wasn't condescending, but it still made Justin snap.

"I know that," Justin practically growled. "It could be someone related to," he looked at the grave, "Jarod Preston. Son or daughter maybe."

"And you think Marie Laveau is behind this? That she somehow made the bird get our attention and sit on the grave of a relative of JC's kidnapper?"

Justin crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Lance. "Makes sense, doesn't it?"

Lance shook his head. "Actually, no. Nothing about this makes sense. Kidnapping is one thing, but voodoo?"

"You said it yourself. There was no explanation for Chris getting sick so quick," Justin pointed out, remembering what Lance had said to him just that morning.

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing," Chris cut him off. "Justin's right. It all might sound ridiculous, but considering everything we've gone through so far, it's not that hard to believe."

Joey nodded, turning to look at Justin. "You've led us this far. So where do we go next?"

Justin allowed himself a small smile, revealing in the fact they were trusting him, the baby of the group, to lead. Lance looked like he wanted to apologize, but Justin waved him off. He didn't blame Lance for not wanting to believe. He didn't want to believe in all this either, but they didn't really have a choice. Weird things were happening and JC seemed to be caught in it. There was no denying that.

"We need to find a library. That way we can look into who this guy was and who's connected to him," Justin said.

Lance glanced down at the watch on his wrist. "It's almost five on a Saturday. Most places like that are probably about to close."

"We'll just have to hurry then."

Justin all but sprinted the rest of the way out of the cemetery and into the streets. He stopped the first person he saw and asked them where the nearest library was. When he had directions, he took off running again, not even bothering to look behind him to make sure the guys were following. He knew they were, especially since it was much easier with Chris being returned to almost full health.

But all that effort didn't make a difference. They'd reached the doors of the library just as an old man was locking up. Justin cursed their luck.

"Wait, please!" Justin said as he slowed to a stop next to the man. "We need in there."

The old man turned away from the door and pocketed the keys. "Sorry, son. The library's closed. It'll be open again tomorrow morning."

"But we need to look something up now. It can't wait," Justin said. Tomorrow wasn't even an option, not when they'd come this far and knew they were so close.

The man looked at them. "Don't you kids use the computer for research nowadays?"

"Yeah, but we don't have one." Justin had only allowed the guys enough time to throw some clothes together before they left for the airport. He continued, "Besides, it's local research so I think the library would have more of what we're looking for."

"Local?" The man looked at him curiously. "What do you want to know? I might be able to help. I've lived here for the last fifty years."

"We want to know about Jarod Preston," Lance spoke up, stepping closer with Joey and Chris.

The man frowned. "What do you want to know about him for?"

"It's complicated," Justin said. No way did he want to get into the whole story and their suspicions with this guy.

"Did you know him?" Chris asked the old man.

"Yeah," the man nodded. "He was a good man, did a lot for the community."

Lance nodded like he'd expected that. "What happened to him?"

"Cancer. It spread real quick. Took everyone by surprise because he was only thirty-five." The man shook his head sadly. "His poor little girl was devastated."

Justin felt his heart stop. "He had a daughter?"

"She was a beautiful young lady when he passed. He'd done a real good job raising her by himself. His wife had died during childbirth." The man paused. "But after he died, she changed. She was very angry and started to get into all sorts of bad things."

"Do you know where she lives?" Joey asked.

"Sorry," the old man apologized. He tapped the side of his head. "The old mind isn't as sharp as it used to be."

"Do you remember what the girl's name was?" Chris asked.

The old man's gaze unfocused for a moment, like he was trying to remember. "Marlene," he said finally.

That name sounded familiar for some reason, and it quickly came to Justin. He looked over at Joey. "Was that-"

"The name of that girl I talked to at that café?" Joey finished. "Yep."

Justin turned back to the man. "Thank you very much, sir. You've been very helpful."

"Glad I could help," the man said, giving him a smile. "Now you best get out of here before the sky decides to open up."

Justin thanked him once again and he took off running again. One of the guys yelled his name in surprise, but he didn't slow because he knew they would catch up. Because it was dinner time, the streets were crowded, which forced Justin to slow to a walk and gave the guys the opportunity to fall in step behind him.

"Where are we going?" Lance asked.

"The café," Justin said.

Justin could hear the frown in Joey's voice as he said, "Dude, Marlene's not gonna be there."

"I know. I'm going there to see someone else."

The only thing Justin really remembered from Joey's encounter with Marlene was that she'd seemed like a regular to the small café they'd gone to for breakfast yesterday. And if she was a regular, maybe the young hostess he'd talked to, Carrie, would be able to tell them more about her. He just prayed that she was working.

When they arrived at the café, Justin stood off to the side as he tried to see who was working. The café was busy, but it wasn't nearly as crowded as the restaurants that surrounded it. Probably because they had a limited menu. But after a moment, he was forced to step forward and talk to the hostess that was at the podium.

"Do you know if Carrie is working tonight?" Justin asked.

The redhead blew a pink bubble with her gum and it popped against her lips. "Sorry, no," she said. "You guys want a table though?"

Justin was about to decline, but Lance spoke up, "Yes, that'd be great. Thanks."

The girl led them to a table, and Justin was surprised they hadn't been mobbed already. But the woman, despite her bubble gum chewing habit, looked to be at least near thirty so maybe she didn't really recognize them. When they sat down and their waiter came, they all ordered drinks and some croissants to snack on. Justin did have to admit that he was thirsty.

"Why don't you ask someone else about Marlene? I'm sure most of the people here could tell us about her," Chris said. They'd all clearly caught on as to why he'd wanted to talk to Carrie.

"And turn around and tell the paparazzi too. The last thing we did is a bunch of reporters hanging around as we're trying to rescue JC, especially if we get an address. It'd be practically impossible to get him out," Justin explained.

"Okay, but we might not have any other choice," Chris said. "We can't exactly wait around all night for your girl to show up."

Justin sighed. "I know. I don't want to wait anymore than you guys do." He tapped his fingers on the table. "Okay, how about give it an hour? If we don't see her, we'll figure out what our next move is."

The guys agreed and they waited, drinking water and coffee as they ate their croissants. Time moved slowly with Justin constantly scanning the restaurant and the street for any sign of the young girl he'd talked to yesterday. Nearly an hour later, he was about to cave when he spotted her. Without thinking, he jumped to his feet.

"Carrie!" he called. He rushed over to where she was in the corner of the restaurant, just outside of the kitchen. She looked at him amused as he stopped in front of her. "Can we talk? It's kind of important."

She looked at him for a moment and then her eyes went to something behind him. Justin glanced over his shoulder and nearly groaned when he saw he'd grabbed the attention of most of the small café...and a couple reporters. Naturally.

"Sure." She reached out and took his hand. "Follow me."

Justin let her lead him through the kitchen and off to a side room that turned out to be a really small office. She dropped his hand so she could close and lock the door. Once there was no chance of them being disturbed, she turned back to him.

"What did you want to talk about? Is this about JC?"

"Sort of." Justin rubbed the back of his neck. "I was wondering what you could tell me about Marlene. She seems to be a regular here."

Carrie nodded. "She is, but I don't recommend you get involved with her. She's bad news."

"Why? What do you mean?" Justin asked.

"She only looks out for herself and do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Usually, bad things happen with her around."

Justin could sense her unease, like she was holding something back. He had a feeling what it was and he prompted, "Like magic?"

She looked at him surprised but quickly nodded. "Voodoo, actually. I don't know her personally, but I heard that her dad believed in voodoo except he used it for good. When it didn't save him from cancer, that's when everyone says she turned to the dark side of it."

Justin wasn't surprised by that. As soon as Marlene's name had come up, he'd had a feeling she was the one behind JC's kidnapping and Chris's sudden illness. But now he was certain of it.

"Do you know where she lives?" Justin asked.

"The corner of Saint Ann and Chartres. 683." She paused, biting her lip. "You think she has JC?"

Justin sighed, knowing that everything they'd been coached on for how much truth to give the public told him he shouldn't say anything. But she seemed pretty mature for her age and it wasn't likely she'd run off to tell the paparazzi. If anything, she might be able to help.

"Yeah, I do. But if he is, it's gonna be hard to get him out of there with all those reporters following us around." Justin took a breath, knowing he was about to ask a lot of a high school girl. "Do you think you could distract them while we get him out?"

She didn't even hesitate. "Of course. I'll do my best. When are you going to need them distracted?"

Justin ran a hand over his head, hating in moments like these where he didn't have hair to tug on. "I don't know. I think we'll need some time to prepare first. Can I call you?"

She nodded and gave him the private line to her bedroom at her parents' house. "You can call whenever, and I'll do my best to help any way I can."

"Thanks. You're awesome," Justin said, giving her a smile.

Then, without thinking, he stepped forward and kissed her cheek. It was a friendly thank you, and though she blushed, she still played it cool as they said goodbye. With that done, Justin raced back out to the table the guys had been sitting at.

"Let's go. We need to go back to Silvia's," he said, ignoring their curious looks. Explanations could wait until later, when they were somewhere more private.

**********

When they got back to Silvia's shop, they found her waiting for them. She said she'd had a feeling they would return. Justin then explained to her and the rest of the guys what he'd learned from Carrie and how certain he was that Marlene was the one who had JC.

"Yes, of course," Silvia murmured. "How could I have not seen it before?"

"You're not surprised that Marlene is behind this?" Lance asked.

Silvia shook her head. "I knew her father well and I tried to keep her on the right path, using voodoo the way it was intended. But she turned away from it because it hadn't been enough to save her father."

"So she went to someone who could teach her the evil ways to use voodoo?" Joey asked.

"Yes, she went to a very powerful witch doctor that practiced the ways of dark voodoo."

"How do we go against that?" Chris glanced at each of them before looking back at Silvia. "She had no trouble making me sick. I'm sure she'll do much worse if she catches us trying to save JC."

"She'll also likely have spells in place to protect her," Silvia added.

Justin grunted. "Great. So how do we get passed it? Is there some spell you can give us or something?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," she began. "Yes, I can give you some tools that'll help protect you, but there's not much you can do to take the offensive. Beginners never have much luck with voodoo; spells usually backfire on them."

Joey frowned. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"Can we just not believe?" Lance asked. "I thought I'd heard somewhere that believing is what gives it the power in the first place."

"That's more of a myth than anything. People who don't want to believe in magic find a logical way to explain the things that happen," Silvia said.

Justin stood up from the small table he'd been sitting at. "We'll just have to outsmart her."

"You really think that'll work?" Chris asked, an eyebrow raised.

Justin shrugged and nodded. "Why not? She probably thinks we're freaking out over you being sick."

"But he's been out since he was healed," Lance pointed out. "She could've seen us, or someone could've been spying for her."

"She does have a pull over certain people in the community," Silvia said.

Joey looked at her. "Like they're under a voodoo spell?"

"Maybe. I think it's mostly out of fear of what she'll do to them. Or else, they're friends of hers."

"And even if we can outsmart her, that'll only get us so far," Chris said. "She'll catch on eventually and could make things ten times worse."

"Would Marie Laveau be of any more help?" Joey asked the room, but his eyes were on Silvia.

"If that thing with the grave was her favor to us, I doubt it," Lance said before Silvia could reply.

Silvia smiled at him gently and patted his hand, like she was humoring his opinion. "My dear, Marie Laveau doesn't always bestow one favor when asked. She does whatever she deems is necessary to help."

"But we probably shouldn't assume she'll step in somehow," Chris said.

Justin nodded. It would be foolish to just rely on the possibility of some dead oracle helping them somehow. They needed to do everything they could to make sure they had a fighting chance against Marlene because failure wasn't an option. They had to get JC back.

"Teach us whatever you can," Justin told Silvia. "At the very least, we need ways to distract her so the others can get to JC."

"I'll do my best, but it won't be easy."

"We don't need easy. We just need possible," Justin said.

He glanced at the guys and wasn't surprised to see that they had determined looks on their faces, no doubt reflecting his own expression. There was no telling how long it would take to catch on to the stuff Silvia would be teaching them, but hopefully it wouldn't take too long. The one thing Justin knew for sure was that they'd make their move to save JC before sunrise when they still had the cover of dark.

It was two-thirty in the morning and they were finishing up, preparing to leave in a half hour to finally go after JC. Silvia had taught them as much as she could in the time they'd had. She'd started by giving them a general history of voodoo and what kind of things they could possibly expect. There wasn't too much she could warn them about because she didn't know much about the bad things voodoo could do.

She also provided them with potions they could use as a way to distract Marlene or help them in general depending on the situation they found themselves in. Currently, Joey and Lance were finishing up a potion, following Silvia's directions very carefully so she could talk to Justin and Chris. Joey and Lance were nervous about creating something powerful, but the four of them would be leaving soon and they needed to learn as much as they could from her.

"Now, pay attention. This part is very important," Silvia said, her voice immediately drawing Justin's eyes back to her. "If you guys are successful in saving your friend-"

Chris interrupted, putting a hand up to signal her to stop. "Whoa, wait a minute. What do you mean if we're successful? Shouldn't you know, being an oracle and all?"

"I see only what I'm meant to," Silvia said, smiling kindly like she wasn't at all insulted by Chris's words. "I'm giving you the tools you need to get him back, but how it turns out is on you four."

Chris and Justin glanced at each other before Justin cleared his throat, knowing they needed to get back to whatever Silvia was trying to tell them. "Okay, so when we save JC, what do we need to do?"

"Marlene likely has been using a voodoo doll on him. If that is the case, you must place it in this cloth." Silvia pushed a small white cloth towards them. It almost looked like a napkin from a fancy restaurant. "Then you have to dig a hole and place the doll inside to be burned. You have to let it burn completely and then you must cover the hole."

"Why? What does all that do?" Chris asked.

Silvia looked at him. "It negates all of the curses she may have put on it, or him since it's an extension of him."

Justin frowned. "What do you mean extension?"

"For voodoo dolls to work, they need a piece of the person they're to be used on. In most cases it's hair. Having an essence of the person is how they're able to experience whatever the doll is," Silvia explained.

Justin nodded slowly. It was still such a foreign idea and a little hard to comprehend, but he supposed it made sense. If Marlene had been using a voodoo doll on JC - and Justin was sure she had - and used his hair for the doll, it seemed logical that any curses wouldn't be lifted on JC until any cursed objects that were bound to him were taken care of.

"Does it matter where we do that?" Chris asked. "Because I doubt we'll have time to do it as we're trying to get him out of her house."

Silvia shook her head. "You can do it wherever. But there is something else you must do to ensure that he's been completely cleansed of any curses."

"What?"

"He must bathe in holy water when he returns home."

"Where are we supposed to get holy water?" Justin asked.

"You just have to bless it," Lance spoke up from behind them. "Silvia showed me and Joey how for the potion."

"Is it done?" Chris asked, glancing from Lance and Joey to Silvia.

Joey shrugged and nodded. "We think so, but we're waiting for the say so."

Silvia rose from the table she had been sitting at with Justin and Chris to the small counter where Joey and Lance had been working on the potion. She stirred it with a wooden spoon and looked at it closely before nodding.

Lance glanced at his watch. "It's nearly time." He turned to Justin. "You should call your friend."

Justin nodded, getting to his feet. He'd called Carrie after the dinner Silvia had forced upon them after they'd arrived and told her that they wouldn't be heading out until at least three in the morning. If it was up to Justin, they would've gone much sooner. But Lance had pointed out that even if Carrie could distract the paparazzi for them, they couldn't afford having anyone else stumble on them. So they had to wait until after the bars let out for the night and the stragglers were in their homes or hotel rooms.

Justin made the call and Carrie answered by the second ring. Part of him felt bad for bothering her so late, but she'd told him last time he'd called that she would be up regardless. She sounded as awake as she had last time and she told him she was ready to distract the paparazzi. He told her to go ahead and do what she planned because they'd be heading out in the next few minutes.

When Justin hung up, the others were pocketing the various potions Silvia had made for them and a few other things they could need. He stepped back over to the table to pocket the white cloth, feeling pretty certain they would need that. Finally, after how many hours, they were finally ready to get JC back.

They thanked Silvia profusely, and she just smiled. "You boys be careful," she told them. "I prepared you as much as I could in the time given, but there's still much you don't know."

"Don't worry. We'll be fine," Chris said.

After thanking her once more, the four of them stepped outside. They paused just outside the door, feeling the cool wind bite at their exposed skin as it howled. The rain had let up a bit, but it was still raining pretty steadily.

"C'mon, let's go get Jace."

Justin was the first one to step away from the safety of the shop, glancing around cautiously. He had no idea what Carrie planned to do to get the paparazzi to stop following them, but the streets seemed clear so he was going to trust she knew what she was doing. And after a brief moment of hesitation, the others followed him.

They quickly made their way to the address Carrie had given Justin to Marlene's place, but they made sure they didn't go so fast that they ended up passing a street they had to turn on. Chris was navigating them, having studied a local map. It was even harder with it being so dark from the late hour and the storm, but they finally made it to the corner of Saint Ann and Chartres.

It hadn't been far from Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, which seemed to fuel Justin's anger. He couldn't stand the thought that JC had been so close and yet it taken them so long to figure out where he was. Even though he knew they'd had nothing to go on, he felt frustrated they hadn't been able to find him sooner.

There was a dim light in one of the windows on the second floor and a couple brighter ones burning on the first. But there was no way of knowing where Marlene was in the house. For as prepared as they were for Marlene and what she might do, they were quickly realizing they hadn't thought much about how they'd get in there in the first place.

"We should split up," Justin began, but he was immediately cut off by Joey.

"Are you nuts? How is that even a good idea?"

"There are two ways into the house. We can split up and come in both ways - have a better chance of catching her off guard."

"And a good chance of someone seeing us trying to break in," Lance pointed out.

Justin opened his mouth to argue, but Chris spoke before he could. "Lance is right. We're gonna stick together and go to the back door. We don't want to risk getting caught doing a B&E."

"Fine," Justin sighed. "Let's go."

They entered the small side yard and walked around to the back. There was a small porch that looked pretty unstable even though it was hidden in the shadows, like the rotten wood would give out at any moment. Slowly, they approached the old porch and climbed the few steps. As soon as their feet were on the deck and Justin moved towards the door, there was a noise to the right.

"What was that?" Lance asked, his voice hushed.

They all exchanged nervous glances, but there was a possibility they were just imagining the noise because they were all on edge. Justin took another step forward, knowing they had to keep moving. But he was quickly knocked off his feet and there was a sudden weight on his chest.

"Justin!" Joey cried in surprise.

There was low growling and a burst of wind rushed past Justin. Something collided with Lance a second later and he yelped in pain. Chris kicked out blindly and it seemed to hit its target because there was a pain filled bark. Justin felt a pit in his stomach as he realized Marlene had a couple of guard dogs - a couple invisible ones at that. And one was currently sitting on his chest.

Justin roughly shoved the dog and hissed in pain as the dog chomped down on his arm. He threw more of his weight into the movement and felt the dog fall off his chest. Without wasting any time, he jumped to his feet, knowing being on his back was making him much too vulnerable.

He spared a glance at Lance and saw Joey was standing next to him, a steadying hand on his arm. Chris kicked the other dog once again, but the action just seemed to piss the dog off even more. He launched himself at Chris, but that was all Justin saw because then suddenly he was thrown backwards again.

A scream nearly escaped his lips as he felt the dog tear into his side, but he managed to clamp down on it. They still needed to get to JC and they couldn't alert anyone that they were there. Spurred on by the need to reach JC, Justin started swinging and kicking at the dog, but this one didn't seem as deterred as the other. Pelting the invisible monster didn't keep it from attack him, nor did it seem to slow it down at all.

"Lance!" Chris yelled. "Hit one of the dogs with a potion!"

"How am I supposed to do that? They're invisible!" Lance sounded on the verge of panic but also a bit annoyed.

Justin managed to land a hard blow on what he assumed to be the dogs nose because it yelped loudly and he quickly scrambled to his feet. There was pain, but he did his best to ignore it as his eyes quickly scanned the area around them. It was hard enough to see with it being as dark as it was, but it was impossible with the animals being invisible.

Joey cried out in pain, but the dog didn't seem to attack him relentlessly like the one had done to Justin. The dogs were playing with them now, attacking them at random. And they could easily get away with it because they couldn't see the dogs.

"This would be so much easier if we could see them," Justin muttered.

Suddenly, two small figures became much more defined in the dark night. Justin knew somehow the dogs had been made visible. He had his suspicions on how, but it didn't really matter at this point. They had to take care of these dogs before one of them killed them.

Lance threw a potion at the dog closest to him and Joey. There was a puff of smoke and the dog collapsed on the rotted wood. But the other dog became almost feral and launched itself at Joey.

Justin and Lance both scrambled to pull another potion out of their pockets, trying to tell in the pitch dark which potion was the right one. But it almost didn't even matter because any potion they'd throw would hit Joey too, which wasn't what they wanted. Panic was starting to take over them, neither knowing what to do. Then suddenly, Chris swung a rotted piece of wood at the dog, knocking it back a step and away from Joey. He didn't let it get far before bringing the wood down on the dogs head, rendering it unconscious. It all happened in a matter of seconds, but it felt like much longer to them.

"Everyone okay?" Lance watched as Chris helped Joey to his feet. "Joey?"

Joey groaned as he stood, but he nodded. "Yeah, just a few scratches. Doesn't feel like anything serious."

"Okay, let's keep moving. Before those beasts wake up," Justin said.

He led them past the unconscious animals and across the threshold, ignoring his own injuries. Physical pain could be dealt with later. Emotional pain of losing JC wasn't an option and he was prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep that from happening.

**********

JC was staring up at the ceiling when Marlene walked in, unable to do much else considering he could barely move and couldn't talk. He'd been expecting her because the itchiness of his full body rash had disappeared suddenly what he guessed to be about a half hour ago. It wasn't necessary for him to see his body to know the rash was gone. The spell had run its course and was finally over.

He glanced at Marlene and had to do a double take. She was wearing a very skimpy nightgown that just covered her. It took him by surprise because it was the most revealing thing he'd seen her wear.

Marlene caught his eyes and a smile slowly spread across her face. "You like it? I wore it just for you."

JC looked away and couldn't help swallowing nervously. There was no denying what she wanted and what was truly inevitable. After all, there was nothing he could do to stop her. He was completely helpless.

"I'm sure you're feeling better now." Marlene sat down next to him on the edge of the bed. She reached out a hand, turning his head so he was looking at her. "Aren't you?"

JC just stared at her, unwilling to answer her - even nonverbally. Yes, he wasn't experiencing intense fever-inducing body heat, stabbing pain in his muscles, or maddening itchiness. But that didn't mean he was feeling better. He was so weak from the tortures she'd put him through, in addition to the lack of sleep from nightmares and having been starved for the last three days. Not that JC remembered ever really being hungry since he'd arrived.

Marlene seemed to sense his disagreement and said, "Don't worry. You will."

She stood up only to climb onto the bed, straddling his legs so she was hovering above him. Without any hesitation, she quickly unbuttoned the plaid t-shirt and pushed up his black undershirt to expose his chest and stomach. JC's skin tingled from where she'd run her fingers down his torso.

JC screamed behind his sealed lips, trying to get her attention. When she looked up, he stared at her with pleading eyes, trying to convey what he wanted. It only took a few seconds before a light of understanding reached her eyes.

"You want me to take the curse off your lips."

JC nodded. This whole thing was bad enough without him being mute. He knew there was nothing he could say to her to make her stop this. All he wanted was to feel like he had control over something since he couldn't even move his body. And breathing through his nose would become much more difficult when his heart began to race during sex.

"Aw, JC," she mock cooed. "I'm afraid I can't. Not yet. I can tell you've finally submitted to me, but I have to be sure. Besides, what I have planned doesn't involve kissing at all."

She gave him a wicked smile, and JC felt his heart drop. He shouldn't have been so surprised by her hesitation to lift the curse, but he had given in to her. Surely, she could give him something in return.

How he felt must've showed on his face because she leaned over him and whispered in his ear, "It's okay, baby. As soon as we're finished, I'll take it off and we can have breakfast in bed. Now you just lie there and enjoy yourself."

Marlene pulled away slightly, but just enough so she could position her mouth where his bare skin was exposed just underneath the pushed up undershirt. She glanced at him with a playful gleam in her eye before she flicked her tongue out, letting it run all the way down his chest and stomach. His body involuntarily arched at the sensation. It was only when she reached his pants that she stopped and straightened up.

"That felt good, didn't it?" she said to him. "Just wait. It gets better."

JC could only watch as she unbuttoned his jeans before slowly unzipping them. With the zipper down, she pushed his jeans until they were past his knees. Already he could feel his heart speed up and his body react to her touch. He cursed himself for being attracted to her still and letting her get to him like this.

Her fingers reached up for his boxers. They had just slipped between the band and his skin when there was a sudden noise from somewhere in the house. Both of them froze. JC had no idea what it was. It could be a mouse for all he cared if it got her away from him.

He'd expected her to just brush it off considering she was finally getting what she wanted from him. But much to his surprise, she got off the bed. She glanced back at him and said, "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

She laughed and disappeared out the door once more. JC closed his eyes, praying whatever it was kept her busy. At least busy enough that she wouldn't come back right away.

**********

Justin crossed the threshold from the small outdated to the living room and was immediately overwhelmed by the strong smell of jasmine and lilac. It caused his head to spin and he stumbled, crashing into a small table. Cursing, he blindly put a hand against the wall and waited for the world to stop moving.

He nearly jumped when a hand rested on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" Joey's voice was hushed next to his ear.

"Yeah," Justin said, blinking as his vision cleared and everything began to still.

"Justin!" Lance exclaimed in a quiet voice, trying not to alert Marlene wherever she was. "Your side!"

Justin glanced down at his left side and saw his t-shirt was stained red. It was obviously from one of the dogs. The blood loss must have combined with his exhaustion to cause that little dizzy spell. But he was fine now - it could all be taken care of later. After they got JC back.

"It's fine," Justin said dismissively. "C'mon, we gotta find Jace before Marlene figures out what we're up to."

"Too late."

Their eyes went to the other side of the room where Marlene stood at the base of the stairs. She was wearing a short silk robe that came to just above her knees. It looked like they'd woke her up...or else she'd already been up and was otherwise occupied. Justin felt his blood boil at the thought of her fooling around, taking advantage of JC.

"Did we interrupt something?" Justin asked snidely.

Marlene wasn't affected by his biting tone. She just smiled and shrugged casually. "Doesn't matter. He can wait for me."

Chris took a step forward, giving her a look most people found intimidating. "You think you'll get rid of us that easily?"

"Actually, I do." Marlene slowly walked towards them, still managing to look intimidating despite how she was dressed. "Because while you may be protected from the spells around my doors, there's something you're forgetting."

Justin crossed his arms. "Yeah? What's that?"

"You can't protect Chris from me. The curse remains intact and ties him to me." She stopped right in front of Chris. "Time for you to get caught up on what you'd be experiencing if there hadn't been an interruption."

Before any of them could stop her, she slipped a hand into the silk pocket on her robe. A fine gray powder came out in her hand and she blew it in Chris's face. The effect was immediate.

Chris coughed and gagged on the powder, but it quickly became an all out coughing fit. It went on for nearly thirty seconds, his face turned red. When it finally ended, he was breathless and immediately crashed to his knees.

"Chris!" Joey and Lance cried, both of them dropping down next to him.

Chris didn't act like he even knew they were there. His eyes were glassy and unfocused as he struggled to take in shallow breaths. In a matter of seconds, he'd reverted back to how sick he'd been before they ran into Silvia. Only now it was much worse.

"You bitch," Justin practically growled. His anger propelled him forward, but he didn't make it more than a few steps when he met resistance. But there was nothing there. "What the hell...?"

"Something the protection spell can't save you from," Marlene said.

"What the hell does that mean?" Joey said, taking a page out of Chris's book as his frustration mounted.

"It means he can't leave the circle. Not as long as it remains intact."

"What circle?" Lance asked. His eyes went to the rug under Justin's feet. "You mean the sun?"

The large throw rug Justin was standing on was circular with a large yellow sun in the middle. It had a red band around the yellow and just before the orange flames. Justin cursed himself for not watching where he stepped. Not that he would've known to avoid that, but Silvia had warned them to be extra cautious since her protection spell and potions wouldn't keep them safe from everything. They'd needed to keep their eyes open and expect the unexpected. Though, he wasn't sure any amount of vigilance would've kept him from falling into this trap.

"It's not just for decoration," Marlene said.

"You scared of me?" Justin asked Marlene, trying to misdirect her as he frantically scanned his brain for a possible way out of the circle.

She scoffed. "Hardly. I just need you out of the way."

"Oh yeah?" Justin suddenly got an idea and pulled out the book of matches. He'd put them in his pocket in case they had to get rid of a cursed voodoo doll. "I'll just break the circle."

Marlene didn't seem worried. She just smirked. "The only thing you'll do with that match is set the rug on fire where you're standing. Only someone from outside the circle can break it."

Justin glanced at the guys. Chris was no help, but Lance and Joey had a chance. Lance shared a look with Joey before nodding subtly at Justin. He jumped to his feet, but as soon as he took a step in Justin's direction, he crumbled to the ground.

Brows furrowed, Justin looked back at Marlene who was muttering under her breath. She stopped a second later, but Lance was still on the ground, clutching his stomach.

"Oh yes," she said, glancing over at Justin. "I don't need a voodoo doll to cause pain. Though, I have to admit it's not nearly as fun."

Justin felt his face flush as his anger grew, spurred on by Lance's moaning and Chris's wheezing breaths. And it seemed he wasn't the only one. Joey had remained kneeling next to Chris, but as soon as Lance collapsed, he got to his feet. Only instead of trying what Lance had, he charged straight ahead to take out Marlene.

Unlucky for him, she'd anticipated the move and roughly shoved him aside, which was a quite a feat considering how much bigger Joey was than her. Joey stumbled and fell forward, his head colliding with the nearby wall. He slumped against the wall unconscious.

Marlene pulled something else out of her pocket and threw it on the floor near Joey. Justin wanted to laugh when he saw it - a rubber snake. But the laughter in his throat died when it grew ten times its size after Marlene sprinkled some kind of powder over it and mumbled a few words in Latin. It had become a life size boa constrictor and it slowly began wrapping itself around Joey.

"Snakes are common in voodoo. Though they're usually used as a source of good." Marlene gave a nasty smile then. "Of course, anything can be turned with just the right combination of spells and herbs."

She whistled then and a second later the two dogs they'd encountered outside were standing next to her. Absently, she patted them on the head. "I don't know how you made them visible. Some kind of potion I suspect, but it doesn't matter. Seeing them makes it less terrifying, but it doesn't change the outcome."

Then she gave the order for them to attack Justin. He quickly backpedaled until he reached the boundary of the other side of the circle, having forgot for a second he was trapped inside. There was nowhere to go as the two dogs advanced on him. Frantically, Justin kicked out at the dogs, trying to keep them away.

Marlene watched for a few seconds with a satisfied look before she started to move back towards the stairs. "I'd love to stay and watch you all die, but I have someone else waiting for me."

Justin's eyes bounced around the room, even as he tried unsuccessfully to fight off the dogs that were biting and clawing at him. Chris was now lying face down and looked to be barely breathing, and Joey already seemed to be joining Chris in that department. The snake was halfway up his chest and from the way Joey was struggling to draw in a breath, it was surely beginning to crush the air out of his lungs. Lance was conscious, lying on his side in a fetal position as he grimaced in pain. Things were seeming hopeless, but Justin knew he couldn't let Marlene go back to JC.

With a sudden surge of energy, Justin threw off the one dog and managed to give a hard kick to the other one. The dogs yelped and backed away for a second, which gave him the opportunity to grab a potion out of his pocket. He glanced back at Lance and saw with surprise that he was watching him. Lance nodded to him as he tried to pull himself into a more upright position.

"Hey, Marlene!" Justin yelled. She was at the bottom of the stairs and turned around. That was when he hit her with the potion in his hand.

It broke at her feet, but it was little more than the equivalent of a smoke bomb.

Marlene laughed at him. "Oh, Justin." She shook her head slowly. "You honestly thought that was going to hurt me?"

Justin kicked out as a dog came closer, his foot connecting with his head. He would've felt bad if the damn things hadn't been trying to kill him. With dark eyes, he met Marlene's laughing gaze.

"No," he said. "But that will."

Marlene turned her head, but it was too late to stop the potion Lance had thrown from breaking against her. He fought against the agonizing pain in his stomach to quickly recite the spell Silvia had given them, and the effect was almost instantaneous. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body dropped to the floor. Best of all, the snake disappeared, allowing Joey to take in a deep breath. Chris did the same, the spell Lance recited having rebounded the curse onto Marlene. And the dogs stopped, seeming confused without any direction.

"Get me out of this damn circle," Justin said. "We need to get JC before she wakes up."

Joey rushed over to him, grabbing a book of matches off Chris. He lit one and let it drop onto the red band around the sun on the rug. The fabric caught fire and it only took a few seconds for it to be singed and the circle broken.

"C'mon, let's go," Justin said, jumping out of the circle and avoiding the small fire that continued to burn the rug. He could feel blood running down his legs and arms, but it didn't matter. Not when they were so close.

The four of them rushed upstairs, and there were only two rooms so it didn't take long for them to find JC. They hurried into the room and nearly gasped when they saw their friend. He was tied down to a large bed and his skin was sallow, but there seemed to be no major wounds as far as Justin could see.

JC's eyes flew open as they stepped further into the room, like he'd thought they were Marlene. The relief on his face was clearly evident when he saw it was them and tears pooled in his eyes. Justin and Lance raced to JC's side, while Joey and Chris set about untying the scarves that bound his feet to the end of bed frame.

"JC, are you okay?" Lance asked.

There was no answer and Justin looked up from the drawer he'd pulled out of the nightstand to look for the keys to the handcuffs. "C'mon, man. Talk to us."

"He can't."

They all spun around at Marlene's voice, and Justin's eyes narrowed. "Why not? What the hell did you do to him?"

"I glued his lips shut." She leaned against the doorframe, looking tired and sickly but not near as bad as Chris had. The spell obviously hadn't had as much of an effect on her as they'd hoped. "Not literally of course. But same principle."

"I'm gonna kill you," Justin growled. Part of him wanted to lunge at her, but he wasn't going to leave JC's side. Now that they'd found him, they had to protect him.

Chris seemed to agree because as soon as Marlene took a step closer, he glared at her as he held up another potion threateningly. "Back off. Or we'll make you take a little nap again. Or maybe we'll just blow you up. I really can't keep these potions straight."

"Aw, feeling better, Chris?" Marlene mocked. "You won't stay that way for long."

Marlene began to chant something in Latin, and JC's eyes widened. Joey and Chris rushed to tackle her, trying to stop her from completing her spell. They were only successful for a moment before she threw powder in Chris's eyes and bit down on the hand Joey had clamped on her mouth. She was able to finish the spell in a couple more words and Justin felt his chest seize, falling to his knees as he began to cough. On the other side of the bed, Lance did the same and their coughing added to Joey and Chris's.

The pain was unlike anything Justin had ever experienced before. It felt like he was truly coughing up a lung, or that his rib cage was collapsing in on itself. He definitely knew it wasn't good when he began to see dark red spots land on the hardwood floor beneath him. And hearing all the other guys told Justin they were dealing with the same thing.

"Didn't I warn you this could happen, JC?" Marlene's voice said from above Justin, just to the right. "If only you'd done a better job of convincing them to leave."

There was muffled yelling above Justin and he could practically sense JC thrashing about on the bed, kicking out blindly with his recently unbound feet. Justin couldn't believe that after everything this was what was it coming down to. This was how it was gonna end because it their death seemed truly inevitable.

Suddenly, a caw sounded and Justin managed to raise his head enough to see a jet black bird fly into the room - right at Marlene. The bird flew straight for her eyes, and Justin looked away, sensing what was about to happen. Marlene screamed and he could picture her flinging her arms about as she tried to disengage the bird. She sounded so terrified; Justin might've felt bad for her if she hadn't tortured them and JC and tried to kill them.

Finally, a long minute later, the screaming stopped and her body fell to the floor. Something in the air seemed to change and a foreign voice spoke to them.

"It's okay. The threat is gone."

Almost as if a switch had been flipped, the pain vanished along with the feeling his chest had been caving in. Justin cautiously looked up and gaped at the scene before him. Marlene was lying dead on the floor just a couple feet from him. But standing at the foot of the bed was the ghost of an older African-American woman.

She was wearing a long blue dress that flowed gently around her body, enhancing her figure. Her hair was hidden, wrapped in a light colored turban. Large gold hoops dangled from her ears. She was beautiful and looked at them with an easy expression, but there was an air about her that told them she was powerful.

"Are you..." Lance hesitated, "Marie Laveau?"

"Yes," Marie Laveau nodded. "I've come to answer your plea and save you all from a great injustice."

"And you healed us?" Chris asked.

The powerful oracle shook her head as she stroked the bird that was now resting on the bedpost. "Marlene's curse reversed itself after she drew her last breath. I just put an end to her evil ways."

Justin looked back at JC, who looked to be almost in shock. It didn't seem as if whatever curses Marlene had placed on him had disappeared because while his jaw moved slightly, his lips stayed firmly closed.

"What about JC?" Joey asked as if he noticed the same thing.

"Follow what Madame Silvia told you and everything will be righted." Marie Laveau looked at each of them. "A great bit of healing will be needed, but you five have a good foundation for it."

Justin knew she was referring to their friendship and how close they were. There was no doubt they were all going to have some issues after this, JC especially. But they would get through it because they had each other.

"Thank you," Lance said sincerely.

Justin nodded. "Yeah, thanks. You came just in the nick of time."

Marie Laveau smiled kindly. "You best get going before the sun comes over the horizon."

They thanked her once again and she disappeared, the bird vanishing with her. As soon as she was gone, they turned their attention to JC. Chris quickly spotted the keys to the handcuffs on the dresser next to a voodoo doll. Justin swiped the doll, knowing it'd been used on JC while Chris worked on getting JC's hands free, which only took a matter of seconds. JC's arms fell to his side and they tried to rub some feeling back into them, knowing they had to be completely dead weight after being suspended above his head for so long.

Justin and Chris carefully moved him to the edge of the bed and helped him stand up, holding him steady as his knees quaked and his legs threatened to give out on him. Joey helped pulled JC's jeans back up and buttoned them, and Justin had to force himself to push down his anger at how close she'd been to forcing JC to have sex with her.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Lance said, leading the way out of Marlene's house. They carefully navigated around her dead body, trying not to look at it. It was only when they were out the front door, they all breathed a little easier. The hard part was over, but there was still one more thing they had to do before they could go home.

The rain was still falling as steadily as it was when they'd gone into Marlene's house, and the street was still quiet and dark. But it wouldn't stay that way for long; sunrise was about an hour away. It was only at that moment that Justin realized he'd been so focused on getting JC away from Marlene and out of the house, he hadn't planned for how they were going to get away. The five of them walking down the street, especially with JC supported between two of them would definitely draw attention, even in spite of the early hour.

But that was what they would have to do. Justin glanced to his left at JC and cursed himself for not considering that problem before. Even in the dark, he could tell that JC was fighting to keep his eyes open, clearly exhausted. The only reason he was still on his feet was because Justin and Chris were supporting his weight.

Lance looked back at them, checking to see if they were okay to keep walking. Justin just nodded and they slowly began to make their way down the street, Joey bringing up the rear. They moved much slower now that they were out of the house. Partly to accommodate JC in his weakened state and also because the rest of them were fighting off their own exhaustion.

They were about to cross a street when a car pulled up in front of them, blocking their path. Justin tightened his grip on JC as the window rolled down, and the driver leaned forward slightly.

"Need a ride?"

Justin instantly relaxed, and he sensed Chris do the same from the other side of JC, apparently at ease that Justin didn't feel threatened by the person. And why would he? It was Carrie.

"God, yes," Justin said.

The car she was driving was an old Oldsmobile. It had bench seats in the front and back, which allowed for two of them to sit up front with her and the others on the back bench comfortably. Chris got into the back seat first, and Joey helped Justin get JC in, sliding him to the middle seat. When they'd accomplished that, Justin got in beside JC while Joey sat in the passenger seat.

"Where do you guys want me to take you?" She glanced at them through the rearview mirror. "Hospital?"

Justin imagined they probably did look like hell, but he shook his head. What was going to help JC most at this point was getting rid of that damn voodoo doll, and then he should be able to rest. That was basically all they needed. Going to the hospital would draw more attention they didn't need.

"Our hotel," Justin told her. He tried giving her address, but when he couldn't remember it, Lance jumped in and recited it from his near flawless memory.

It was a short but tense ride back to their hotel. Even though they were all exhausted, they couldn't relax just yet. They wouldn't be able to relax until they were back in Orlando and they could put this whole terrible thing behind them.

By the time they made it back to the house they'd been staying in, the rain had finally let up. There was no parking on the street in front of the house, so Carrie told them she would drop them and find a place to park.

They all glanced at each other before Chris cleared his throat. "We appreciate everything you've done to help, but you don't have to come in."

"Yeah, we've taken up enough of your time," Joey added.

Carrie snorted. "Please. I'm happy to help, and I'm not done yet. Not when there's more I can do. Now get inside and I'll come in after I find a parking space."

The guys looked like they were going to object, insisting she'd done enough, but Justin shot them a glance that told them to just get out of the car. If Carrie thought she could provide them with more help, Justin wasn't going to refuse it. There could be something they'd overlooked or something Silvia hadn't told them. Besides, she'd been so helpful, she deserved more than a quick thank you.

Joey and Lance jumped out of the front bench, while Chris opened his door and Justin gently pushed JC towards the open door. JC moved his arms like he was trying to help, but he was clearly too exhausted to provide any real assistance. But that was fine because it didn't take long for Justin and Chris to help him out of the car.

The five of them shuffled to the front door, Lance pulling the key out of his pocket. It felt strange to be back there because it suddenly seemed a bit homey - something it hadn't been when they'd first arrived. Justin wasn't sure if it was because they were so exhausted that everything seemed much more inviting or if it was because the feeling was brought on by having JC with them - the five of them reunited at last. He had a hunch it was the last one.

Together, he and Chris lowered JC onto the couch. Chris had already disengaged himself from JC even though he still hovered close by, but as soon as Justin went to step away, JC latched onto his arm. Even though JC still couldn't talk, it was clear what he wanted. He wanted Justin to stay.

"It's okay, C," Justin began. "I'll be right back. I just have to-"

"Give it to me," Chris interrupted. "I'll do it."

Chris obviously hadn't forgotten what still needed to be done, and all it took was one look at his face for Justin to know he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Sighing, Justin pulled the voodoo doll out of his pocket with the hand JC wasn't clinging to and handed it to Chris.

"You remember what to do?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got it covered," Chris said. "You sit down. You look almost as bad as him."

Justin glanced at JC and how pale his older friend still looked, doubting what Chris said. He did sit down though, and JC seemed to relax a bit, leaning into Justin's shoulder. Joey sat down on the other side of JC, the motion causing Justin to snap out of the daze he'd started to fall into.

"Where's Lance?"

"He went outside with Chris," Joey said. He rubbed JC's shoulder. "Just hang in there, Jace. Everything will be fine in no time."

The sound of the door opening startled them, JC especially. His body jerked and his head whipped over to the door. It was just Carrie, and he relaxed slightly. But Justin could still feel his heart race as JC's weight fell back into him, seeming unable to even sit up straight.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you guys," Carrie apologized. "So who's first?"

Justin was about to ask "For what?" when she held up a first aid kit. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Let me guess. Girl scout?"

She shook her head, looking amused. "My mother's a doctor."

"Lucky us," Justin said, giving her a small smile.

"All right, Joey. You're closest so you're up first," Carrie said.

Joey stood up and followed her into the kitchen, both of them disappearing from view. There was a sudden exhale of breath and Justin turned his head to catch JC say, "Justin."

The voice was barely above a whisper, but it had a raw quality to it that made Justin's heart ache for his friend. Then, JC broke down, sobbing into Justin's shoulder and his heart wrenched painfully. But at least whatever curses Marlene had put on JC had been finally lifted.

Justin wrapped comforting arms around JC. He barely heard the back door slide open, and Chris and Lance stepping back inside. All he was focused on was trying to make JC feel safe as he held on tight, no words needed. Not right now anyway.

Time passed, but Justin wasn't sure how much. JC had finally settled when someone tapped Justin on the shoulder. He turned his head and saw Chris standing there.

"C'mon, dude. Let Carrie look you over." When Justin made no move to untangle himself from JC, Chris said, "It's okay. I got him."

Justin slowly got to his feet, feeling the weight of his exhaustion deep in his bones. JC quietly protested his departure, but Chris sat down in Justin's now vacant seat and gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders. As Justin moved away from them and towards Carrie in the kitchen, he saw JC curl into Chris, who said quiet reassuring words to him.

"He's gonna be okay," Carrie said quietly, her eyes going to the couch. "You all will."

Justin sighed heavily as he sat down in the empty seat facing her. "I hope so."

There was a brief moment of silence before she said, "Let's start with that side, huh? Take your shirt off."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say this was all a part of your plan to see me undress."

It wasn't said with the same flirtatious tone Justin might have used, but he did manage a half smile. He was trying to make things a little easier on her because he could tell she was a little uncomfortable. It wasn't something he saw so much as it was something he sensed, and he couldn't blame her. He didn't know if he'd be so cool about everything if he was in her shoes.

But she still managed to banter playfully saying in return, "Who says it's not?" She winked at him, still trying to play it cool, but her cheeks were tinged with pink.

"So how bad is it?" he asked, watching her clean the long scratch on his side. He winced as the hydrogen peroxide burned the tender skin.

"It's not too bad. Deep, but not enough for stitches so consider yourself lucky."

"I think all the good luck has come from you." She blushed more, even as she went about taping gauze to his side. He persisted, "Seriously. I don't know what we would've done without your help. Thank you."

She actually looked up and met his gaze. "I'm just glad I could help, and that nothing serious happened to any of you."

Carrie moved onto cleaning the numerous cuts on his arms, silence falling over them. Then, Justin remembered there was something he still didn't know.

"How did you distract the paparazzi?" he asked her. He hadn't given her any suggestions, but she'd sounded like she had it covered. He hadn't bothered to ask because he hadn't cared at that point, focused solely on getting to JC. But now he was curious.

"My friend was having a party and I called a couple of the reporters, telling them I was at such party and who just walked in but Nsync," she said. "They hightailed over to my friend's house pretty quick."

"And your friend didn't mind?"

Carrie gave him a look. "Are you kidding? She was totally cool with being part of a rouse to get the paparazzi of your backs."

Justin let out a short laugh. "Well, you and her got backstage passes when we come to town on our next tour, okay?"

He was going to say more, but he stopped short when he heard Lance talking to Joey and Chris.

"We might have to go to the airport after this to get a rental. I doubt any places are open around here this late...or early depending on how you look at it," Lance said.

"No," Justin told him, careful not to turn towards him since Carrie was still working on disinfecting the last of the scratches the dogs had left behind. "You really think Jace is up for a drive like that. It's probably like ten hours or so."

Their eyes immediately fell to JC, who'd managed to fall asleep leaning against Chris. Lance looked back at Justin. "It'll be easier than trying to get him through airport security and onto a plane."

"Not if it's a private plane."

The guys all glanced at each other. "J, you know we can't draw attention to ourselves like that," Lance said.

"All eyes are already on us!" Justin cried, exasperated. He sighed then, trying to regain his composure. "We're already going to have to deal with the press. What's one more thing?"

They were silent for a second before Joey nodded. "You're right." His eyes went to JC. "The sooner we get home, the better. For all of us."

There was no further argument and Lance pulled out his cell phone, making the call to Johnny to have him set it up. Pain in his arm snapped Justin back to Carrie as she put a band-aid over a deeper cut on his arm that had begun bleeding again after her ministrations. She smiled at him, telling him he was done.

"Thanks," he said. He stood up and stretched, wincing as he felt some bones pop. He looked over into the living room. "C'mon, Joey. Let's round up our bags."

Joey stood easily and followed Justin into the bedrooms. There weren't many bags since they'd just thrown together carry-ons before they left Orlando, so it didn't take long at all to pile them by the door. When they'd done a final sweep to make sure they got everything, Lance was off the phone with Johnny and said there would be a private jet waiting for them at a local airstrip.

So they threw all their bags into the trunk of Carrie's car before piling in themselves, ready to get the hell out of New Orleans. Finally.

**********

An hour later, the five of them were 30,000 feet in the air on their way home at last. When Carrie had dropped them at the airstrip, they all had thanked her profusely for all her help. Justin kissed her cheek once again - something he knew the guys would give him hell for when things got back to normal. He wasn't attracted to her romantically, but he considered them friends, being genuine when he told her they'd have to get together when the next time they were in town.

It was quiet onboard, all of them sprawled out in the small jet. JC was curled up on a small bench, a blanket thrown over him and his head resting in Justin's lap. He seemed much more at ease now, especially in sleep. Justin's eyes were closed, practically on the verge of sleep when the guys started to speak in low tones.

"Thank God that whole thing is finally over," Joey said.

"Yeah, I'm fine with not going back to New Orleans for a while," Chris added.

"Somehow I don't think any of us are as happy to leave as JC," Lance said.

"And he wouldn't be if Justin hadn't insisted something was wrong," Joey pointed out. His tone wasn't accusing but matter-of-fact.

The thought of JC being stuck with Marlene made Justin tense a bit, especially since they now knew just what she'd put him through. Not once had he been able to explain the feeling he'd gotten after hearing JC's message. His gut had just told him something was really wrong, and he was beyond glad he hadn't questioned it.

"Don't we feel like the biggest assholes now?" Chris said. "All we did was doubt him."

"We had no idea what was really going on."

"Neither did he, Lance. But he was the one that kept insisting we look." There was a pause before Chris continued, "If JC had called me, I probably wouldn't have believed him. I would've left."

Justin could hear the guilt in Chris's voice. Chris had been ready to leave, willing to believe JC was on his way to LA like he said. But he'd also confessed later his anger at Justin had kept him from seeing the truth sooner. It was all water under the bridge as far as Justin was concerned anyway because Chris had been all in it in the end, which was when it really mattered.

"No you wouldn't. You would've picked up on the same things Justin had," Lance assured Chris. Justin had to agree. None of them would've argued with him if they'd heard the barely masked fear in JC's voice that he had.

There was a moment of silence before there was a quiet squeak as one of them probably shifted in their seat. Then Chris spoke again. "I don't think I'm gonna let Jace out of my sight anytime soon. Especially in cities with crazy religions that use magic."

Joey laughed, but it was dry and humorless. "Yeah. Felt like we were in a horror movie, especially at the end there."

"Well, in JC's defense, I'm sure he didn't know what he was getting into either," Lance said.

"Maybe in more ways than one." Justin felt a bit of confusion and he figured Lance and Joey must've looked it because Chris clarified, "She could've put a spell on him. You know, to get him to go back to her place."

"Or maybe he was attracted to her," Joey offered. "I mean, she was kind of hot."

Justin mentally rolled his eyes, even as he considered what Joey and Chris said. The idea of JC being under a spell was easier to believe given everything that'd happened the last couple days. And while JC wasn't extremely trusting, he tended to believe in people if he got a good vibe from them. So either way was possible, and the only person that could tell them which was right was JC.

"Something else I've been wondering," Chris began, seeming to ignore Joey's last comment. "How did those dogs become visible? Marlene thought we used a potion, but none of them could that, could they?"

"No," Joey said, and Justin could picture him shaking his head. "There were a couple smoke bombs and some sleeping ones, but that was basically it."

After a moment, Lance said, "It was probably Marie Laveau."

"Makes sense I guess. You know, being that she saved our asses," Chris replied.

"That also means the bird from the cemetery was her doing."

"Well, Lance," Joey started with a slight teasing tone, "I think we kind of figured that. You were the one that said birds aren't smart enough to do that."

"I was trying to be logical."

Chris snorted. "There wasn't much that was logical about this whole thing."

"Doesn't seem like one pound cake was enough, does it?" Joey asked. The comment was so Joey, but rarely were his comments followed by a heavy silence. They all knew they owed a lot to Marie Laveau because they wouldn't have made it out of there without her help. Hell, they probably wouldn't have even found JC.

"At least it's over," Chris said, his voice quiet. "And they can finally rest."

"Until we see Johnny anyway," Lance pointed out.

Joey groaned, and Justin wanted to echo it. Johnny was going to flip out when he saw them. "Let's not think about that now, okay?" Joey said.

There was no disagreement as a comfortable silence fell over them. Justin must have fallen asleep shortly after because the next thing he knew he was being shaken awaken. He opened his eyes and blearily looked up at Lance, who was removing his hand.

"C'mon, J. We're here."

Justin immediately looked to his right and saw that JC was no longer asleep next to him but standing next to Joey, leaning tiredly into him. Somehow he'd managed to sleep through everyone else getting up and ready to deplane. Really, it was a testament to how exhausted he was that he'd slept through landing.

He stood up and Chris slung an arm around his shoulder. "All right, guys. Let's go home."

Lance led the way out of the plane, and as soon as they stepped out, Justin sighed as he spotted Johnny standing next to Lonnie. He'd hoped they'd at least be able to get some sleep before they were hounded by their manager. But Johnny lost his scolding look once the five of them had stepped off the plane and he took in their appearances.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked, still looking at them with a critical eye. He zeroed in on Justin and his concerned expression deepened as he cried, "Justin, what happened?"

Justin looked down and immediately saw the reason Johnny looked a bit panicked. He hadn't changed his bloody t-shirt. Something he was definitely cursing himself for not doing and having the foresight that Johnny would assume the worst when he saw blood.

"I'm fine, Johnny," Justin said, bringing his eyes up to meet Johnny's. "It's just a scratch."

But Johnny wasn't reassured. "Maybe we should get you checked out to be safe. Get you all checked out."

"We already were," Joey said.

Johnny looked doubtful, but he let it go. "Well, you want to explain to me how you guys got in this state to begin with?"

Chris sighed. "We'll tell you everything later, all right? We just want to go home and get some sleep first."

It was obvious Johnny was anxious for answers, but he wouldn't deny what he knew was best for them. And if they truly looked as bad as Justin expected, it really wasn't a hard decision for Johnny to back off and allow them to pile in the SUV Lonnie was going to drive them home in.

Johnny told them to call him as soon as they were feeling better and were able to talk about what'd gone on the last couple days. Lance promised they would and Lonnie drove away, taking them to JC's house at their request. They figured that'd be the best place for JC to recover and they certainly weren't going to leave him alone - and probably wouldn't for a while.

**********

It took them about a half hour to get to JC's house, and it'd taken them a few tries to rouse JC. None of them had been surprised that he'd fallen asleep because he was always soothed to sleep when he rode in something that moved, but it was especially understandable considering everything he'd been through. So he was pretty out of it as they led him through the front door and up the stairs to the master bathroom. They had to get him to bathe in holy water to make sure every last bit of the curses that'd been on him were gone.

Chris held JC upright as Justin and Joey worked together to remove JC's jeans and his two shirts, leaving his boxers on figuring JC might be uncomfortable about being naked. As they undressed him, he barely moved and his eyes had a glazed over look to them. Except for when the voodoo doll was first burned and the curses lifted, he'd pretty much been like this. It made Justin think maybe there were a few lingering effects from all the voodoo he'd been subjected to.

Joey started the water and Lance pulled out a rosary Silvia had given him to bless the water with. When the tub was half full, Chris and Justin gently eased JC into it. They stepped back to allow him to soak and the four of them glanced at each other.

"How long do you think he needs to be in there?" Joey asked.

They all shrugged. That was the one thing Silvia hadn't mentioned, so they stood there unsure what to do. It wasn't necessary for all of them to be in the bathroom with JC, but none of them wanted to leave him and get some sleep until they knew he was one hundred percent okay.

A couple minutes later, JC blinked like he was trying to clear his vision and for the first time since they'd rescued him, he actually looked okay. Extremely tired and thinner than they'd last saw him, but it was much better than he'd been looking.

"What is this? A peep show?" JC said softly, squinting against the harsh florescent light as he looked up at them.

They all laughed quietly at his small joke. "Please, dude. You're not even naked," Chris said.

JC groaned and shivered, the cooling water no doubt giving him a chill. "Can I get out now?"

"Yeah, of course," Justin said, stepping forward and extending a hand to his friend. He helped JC get to his feet and glanced back at the guys. "Go make yourselves useful and order some food or something."

The guys didn't object, leaving the two of them alone in the bathroom. Justin looked back at JC, who's cheeks were tinged pink. JC didn't normally embarrass easily, but it was a bit of an awkward situation.

"Can you get me some dry clothes?" JC asked.

"No problem," Justin said, already moving towards the bedroom. He went to the dresser across from the large bed and pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, walking back into the bathroom to hand them to JC.

JC thanked him and Justin stepped back out into the bedroom, closing the bathroom door to give JC some privacy. He was nearby just in case JC had problems, but there were none. When JC came out of the bathroom a minute later, Justin already turned down the bed for him. But JC eyed it uncomfortably before he looked at Justin.

"I'd rather be on the couch...if that's all right."

Justin hated how hesitant and scared JC sounded. He cursed Marlene for affecting his friend like this, whether directly or indirectly. "Yeah, man. It's your house. C'mon let's see what the guys ordered."

JC was steadier on his feet than he'd been the past few hours, but Justin still threw an arm around his shoulders, trying to take on some of the weight to make things easier for him. They got downstairs and found the Joey and Chris sprawled out among JC's furniture in the living room. Chris scooted to the end of the couch to make room for them.

Lance was in the kitchen making pancakes since it wasn't exactly late enough for pizza shops or other places to be open. They all filled up on the fluffy pancakes and sat around watching TV, things feeling like normal for the first time in days. But Justin knew things wouldn't truly get back to the way they were before until he talked to JC and helped him deal with his disastrous trip to New Orleans. Something he was content to wait on as they got some much needed rest. For now anyway.

Hushed voices pulled JC to the edge of consciousness. Hushed arguing voices. But he wasn't scared. In fact, it was oddly comforting because it was so normal and it was something he was afraid he'd never hear again.

He opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, yawning. The movement immediately made the voices stop and the guys turned their eyes on him. Blinking away the sleep, he was able to see them looking at him with barely veiled concerned.

"How you doing?" Joey asked.

"Okay," JC said, his voice rough with sleep. He glanced out the window and saw that the sun wasn't really any brighter than when he'd fallen asleep. "What time is it?"

Lance glanced down at his watch. "A little after six."

"I'm gonna heat you up some pizza," Justin said, rising from the end of the couch.

"But I'm not hungry," JC protested.

Justin stopped just long enough to give him a look and say, "Well, you should be."

Justin disappeared into the kitchen and JC leaned back against the cushions with a sigh. He caught the amused look on Chris's face. "What?" he asked.

"It's annoying, isn't it?" JC continued to look at Chris with a blank expression, still too tired to even comprehend what he was hinting at. "The mother hen routine."

JC rolled his eyes even as he fought to keep a small smile off his lips. That was a crack at him and his protective nature that caused him to hover whenever one of them was hurt or sick. It wasn't too often it was turned back on him, so they were probably enjoying him getting a taste of his own medicine for once.

Justin was back at his side a moment later, holding out a plate of pizza and a bottle of water out to JC. Reluctantly, JC took them, setting the plate on his lap and staring down at the three pieces of pizza Justin had give him. He doubt he could eat that much, but he knew he had to eat at least half. Justin would probably give him hell otherwise.

Joey lamented about the drink Justin had given him. "Water? With pizza?" He glanced at Justin. "You couldn't have given him a beer or something?"

"He's still dehydrated. Beer and soda would just make it worse," Justin defended.

"He's sitting right here you know," JC said, without any attitude as he took a bite of the pizza. He couldn't bring himself to be annoyed when he thought he'd never see them again. "So you want to tell me what you were arguing about?"

"How did you hear us? We were being quiet," Joey said.

JC spoke around another mouthful of pizza. "That's almost worse than if you just make noise."

"We'll remember that next time you complain about the TV keeping you awake," Chris said.

"When do I ever complain about that?"

"Yeah, Narcolepsy Boy falls asleep wherever he is," Joey joked.

They all laughed, but JC wasn't going to let the good humor distract him from getting an answer. No matter how much he enjoyed joking around with them and hanging out.

"You still didn't answer my question. What were you talking about?" JC repeated his earlier question, opening the bottle of water to gulp a couple large swallows.

They glanced at each other before Lance spoke up. "We were trying to figure out what we were going to tell Johnny."

"Has he called?" JC asked.

"No, but he probably will," Lance said. JC was surprised to hear Johnny hadn't reached out to them considering it'd been nearly twelve hours since they'd gotten back.

"And when he does, we can't exactly tell him that you were kidnapped by some psycho voodoo chick," Justin said.

"What else are you supposed to tell him?"

Justin looked at JC incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

"No," JC shook his head. "This is Johnny we're talking about. He's not going to accept some story. He'll want the truth."

"But won't the truth sound like a whacked out story?" Joey asked.

"I still have trouble believing it, and we experienced it," Chris said.

Justin leaned back against the side of the couch, crossing his arms. "Johnny's going to think we're absolutely crazy."

"Yeah, but I don't know if we have a choice," Lance said. "JC's right. Johnny knows when we're lying."

"You think he's really going to believe that JC was kidnapped? We didn't act like he was. The police weren't involved and we didn't call anyone," Justin said.

"The police weren't involved because they didn't believe we were serious," Joey pointed out.

"I know that," Justin snapped. "I'm telling you what Johnny's reaction is going to be when we try to explain that JC had been kidnapped."

JC forced himself to start on his second piece of pizza, listening as the guys went back and forth. He understood now why things had gotten heated earlier because they all had valid points. But they were getting nowhere and going in circles.

"I can tell him if you want," JC offered. He didn't really want to talk about it, but he knew there was a better chance of Johnny believing them if JC told him what'd happened.

The frustration Justin displayed just seconds ago melted away as he gave JC a sympathetic look. "No, we're not going to make you do that. You've been through enough."

"Besides, we have other stuff to talk to him about too," Lance said.

JC put the plate with the last piece of pizza and remaining crust on the table, completely stuffed. He frowned at them. "What stuff?"

"Where do we start?" Chris said. "A lot happened in a couple days."

JC's forehead wrinkled in confusion, and the four of them gave him a quick overview of some of the things that'd happened. There was a bit of hesitation like they didn't really want him to know. But they seemed to realize they couldn't leave him out of the loop, especially when they revealed that they'd been followed by paparazzi that'd snapped pictures of them around town. The thing that surprised JC the most was hearing that Justin had jumped one of the reporters.

"It was his fault for being so sneaky, creeping about behind me and Joey," Justin defended.

JC looked over at the others, and Joey put a hand up as he whispered loudly, "He was a little on edge."

The "we all were" was unspoken, and JC knew then just how hard it'd been for them. He could only imagine how he would've reacted if he'd been in their position, and he was all the more grateful they hadn't given up on finding him.

"I'm sorry," JC said quietly.

There were four identical bewildered looks. "For what?" Lance asked.

"You guys wouldn't have to worry about all this if you hadn't needed to save me."

"Hey," Chris started, scooting forward so he was on the edge of the armchair he was sitting on. "None of this is your fault. Everything that happened is because of Marlene."

"And don't worry about the paparazzi. I don't think it'll really be that bad," Lance said.

JC glanced at each of them. "What are you going to say though? They'll still expect a response to the things they saw."

"Well, we can say Chris was sick," Lance started.

"Which is true," Joey said. "And I really don't think that guy Justin jumped will be a problem."

Justin let out a short laugh - the first one JC had heard from him in a while. "Yeah because you threatened to have him arrested for stalking."

"Took care of the problem, didn't it?"

"Yeah, well, we'll see what Johnny says," Lance said.

"So we're telling him the truth?" Justin asked, still looking a bit apprehensive about it.

Chris nodded. "We have to. Besides, I don't think it'll be that hard for him to believe. We didn't exactly look our best when we stepped off that plane, so I'm sure he knows it was something big."

JC could hear Justin respond, but it didn't really register as he felt his eyes grow heavy and fatigue set in again. Even though he'd just woken up a half hour ago and had slept at least ten hours, he was still making up for all the energy he'd lost the last few days. He fell asleep feeling even better knowing that things were only going to get better from here.

**********

The next time JC woke up, the house was silent. He slowly sat up, wincing as he pulled on some muscles that'd stiffened as he slept. As he stretched, he glanced around the room. It was empty, except for Justin who was sprawled out on the loveseat, his long legs hanging over the edge. The quiet snores told JC he was still asleep, and he was glad for it. He wasn't the only one that'd needed sleep.

JC got to his feet, careful not to make too much noise and wake Justin. Normally, he wouldn't be too worried about it because Justin was a fairly heavy sleeper, but he had a feeling Justin hadn't let himself fall into a deep sleep so he could be awake if JC needed him. But thankfully, he seemed to be out of it because he didn't even move and JC left him as he made his way to his bedroom upstairs.

As he moved about the house, he found the silence oddly comforting. It should've made him uncomfortable because he'd basically suffered through long periods of silence in Marlene's house, but this silence was different. Knowing the guys were there and they were all safe made it better.

He reached the top of his landing and made a right to go down the hall instead of turning into his bedroom, wanting to check on the guys. Because he had no doubt they were all still there, knowing none of them were ready to leave him alone. After all, they'd only been back about twenty-four hours.

JC peeked into three of the guestrooms, seeing the rest of his friends sleeping soundly. Not that he was surprised considering the early hour. He was only awake because he'd basically slept ever since they'd arrived, and he already felt much better. But what would top it off was a shower.

With that thought in mind, JC headed for his bedroom. He just stepped through the doorway and stopped, startled at the sight of his bags and guitar. It unsettled him because all of that had been left behind at Marlene's. So how had it gotten there?

"We think it was Marie Laveau's last favor to us."

JC jumped, his heart racing as he turned towards the open door. He felt immediate relief when he saw Justin and reached out to slap him. "What are you doing sneaking up on me like that? I thought you were sleeping."

Justin shrugged one shoulder, smiling a bit. "Well, now I'm not."

JC nodded, his eyes going back to the corner of the room where his stuff was sitting. He glanced back at Justin and said, "Marie Laveau?"

"You saw her. She came to our rescue."

Yes, that was true. JC had a vague memory of that, but he couldn't really recall what she looked like or what was said. He'd been too busy freaking out at the guys' impending death.

Justin seemed to realize this because he added, "She was a powerful oracle and grants favors to people who ask her for help."

"And you went to her?" JC asked, a little disbelieving. It was hard to imagine because Justin didn't believe in ghosts and magic. Or at least, he didn't used to.

"We didn't exactly have many options," Justin said. "We were in over our heads with voodoo stuff."

JC felt a bit of guilt even though he knew he wasn't supposed to. "I'm sorry."

Justin frowned, stepping closer. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"I know. I just..."

"What?" Justin prompted when JC hesitated. "C'mon, Jace. Talk to me."

JC shook his head, looking down at the plush carpet beneath his feet. "Forget it."

"Hey," Justin reached out and grabbed his arm, forcing JC to look at him. "Tell me what she did to you."

"No." Justin opened his mouth to object and JC cut him off. "I don't want to, so just leave it, okay?"

But Justin wasn't able to do that because he said, "I can't. How do you expect to get over what happened if you don't talk about it?"

"I just want to forget about it."

"JC..."

JC held up a hand. "You guys seeing me like that was bad enough. It's embarrassing and I don't want to get into all the details. It's over now and that's the only thing that matters."

Justin sighed, not happy that he didn't want to talk. But he did let it drop, which JC was thankful for. The relief was quickly replaced by confusion as he watched Justin walk over to his dresser and grab a piece of folded up paper.

"Maybe you'll want to talk about this then," Justin said, unfolding the paper and handing it to him. JC glanced down and recognized the scribbled handwriting as his own. "I want to hear where you were going with this."

It was the beginning of a song that JC had begun to play with before he'd gone out for the evening to get food and listen to some live music. That was the very night he'd run into Marlene, so he hadn't gotten a chance to get back to it. And that almost tainted it in a way.

"It's nothing," JC said. "I was just messing with some stuff."

"I know, but I think you have something here. I want to hear the rest," Justin replied.

JC shrugged. "I don't know if I'm going to finish it."

"What? Why not? JC-"

"Stop," JC snapped, feeling irritated at the constant pestering. "Just stop."

Justin looked kind of surprised and hurt, but he quickly forced those emotions away, nodding. "I'll leave you alone then." He started to leave just stopped at the doorway, glancing back at JC. "Don't let what she did ruin anything you want to do."

JC watched as Justin walked out of the bedroom, pulling the door shut behind. It was Justin's way of guaranteeing he'd have the privacy he wanted. He felt kind of bad about it, but he couldn't deny that he needed it.

And that was what he did as he showered. He thought a lot about the past couple of days and especially what Justin had said, his insistence not to let what'd happened keep him from doing what he wanted. JC knew that while that was intended more for the song, it applied to everything else too. Marlene would continue to have power over him if he let her, so it was time to shake off what she did and move on.

As he stepped out of the shower, he felt so much better. A day's worth of sleep and a healing shower did wonders for his body, but he still had to deal with all the emotions relating to what'd happened. And the best way he was able to come to terms with things in his life was through music.

So after he was dressed, JC walked over to the corner of the room and removed his guitar from its black case. He sat down on his bed with the instrument and let himself begin to heal as he strummed out a quiet melody.

**********

"So how much trouble are we in?"

It was late afternoon, and Lance, Joey, and Chris had just returned from talking with Johnny. Justin had just finished lunch and was sitting across from Lance at the small breakfast nook in JC's large kitchen. Joey and Chris had volunteered to go back out for food to stock up JC's fridge, and JC had returned to his room a while ago after a quick lunch.

"Actually, not much. We explained everything to him and he understands we did what we had to," Lance said.

"Really?" Justin couldn't hide his surprise. They might have agreed telling Johnny the truth was for the best, but he'd been anticipating a major freak out on their manager's part.

Lance nodded. "He didn't really believe it at first, but the more we told him, the more he had to, you know? And he said it explained our behavior because the paparazzi snapped some pretty bad pictures of us."

"Press conference?"

"No. It's really not that bad," Lance said. "They claimed we were down there to party and things got out of control. That we were throwing our name and money around, but that's pretty typical. Most celebrities get accused of that at some point - even if it's not true."

"Yeah, but it's still not exactly making us look great," Justin replied.

Lance shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. We're giving the press a small version of the truth."

"Which is?"

"We were down there on vacation, and Chris got food poisoning when we were out the one night. The private jet no one actually knew about. Probably because it was so early."

"And that guy that was following me and Joey? Did he end up saying anything?" Justin asked.

"Nope. Not that Johnny's heard anyway, so you can relax," Lance said. "Things could've been much worse."

"Yeah, sounds like we got off pretty easy," Justin agreed.

"With the press maybe, but Johnny's a different story. He says none of us going anywhere alone for quite a while regardless if we're on vacation or not. We'll likely be put on lockdown the next tour."

Justin wasn't too worried about that. It might actually be kind of reassuring knowing nothing like this was going to happen again. "Like that hasn't been done before."

"True," Lance laughed. "He wants to talk to you, by the way."

"About..."

"About your solo stuff," Lance said. "I think everyone is anxious to know if you made your decision."

Justin knew that by "everyone" the guys were included in that. He hadn't said a word to them about it yet, having only just made up his mind that morning. He was going to tell them all at once, but since Lance was asking...

"I'm going to turn it down."

It was Lance's turn to look surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah, it's become obvious to me the last few days that you guys would fall apart without me," Justin said with a grin. It was a joking answer, but that didn't mean the sentiment wasn't true. He felt like he was truly where he belonged. When it was time for them to call it quits, they would be the ones to decide that. Together.

Lance laughed at his lighthearted answer. But he sobered after a moment and asked, "How's JC?"

Justin sighed heavily, one that seemed to come from the depths of his soul. He let his head fall into his hands and mumbled, "I screwed everything up. I pushed him too hard."

"Have you tried talking to him again?"

Justin shook his head. "He's been in his room most of the day and I haven't wanted to bother him. I feel like I owe him that much, you know?"

"I'm sure it's not as bad you think it is," Lance said.

"He probably hates me," Justin lamented, like Lance hadn't said anything.

A quiet voice behind him said, "I don't hate you."

Justin quickly raised his head and spun in his chair, caught off guard by JC's sudden appearance. "Jace, it's okay. I know I was out of line and-"

"No, you were right," JC interrupted. He paused. "And there's something I kind of want to show you."

Justin glanced back at Lance, but rose from the table and followed JC into his den. JC took a seat at one end of the couch, pulling the guitar into his lap as he gestured for Justin to sit. He looked into JC's blue eyes, searching for a sign as to what this was all about. He was happy to see JC's eyes were clear and focused, looking much more like himself than the past day and especially when they'd first found him in Marlene's house.

"I finished the song," JC said, breaking the silence that'd fallen over them. "Because you're right, I can't let her ruin anything for me. Especially not music."

Justin's brow furrowed in confusion, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to push JC too hard, too fast again. Things were already leaps and bounds better than they were when they'd escaped Marlene and New Orleans.

But JC took a breath and continued, his arms draped over the guitar in his lap. "I was working on that song the night I met her and followed her back to her place. It was stupid, but I felt like we'd really connected."

"That's not stupid," Justin said, knowing JC was beating himself up over that decision and trying to take some of the weight off.

JC shook his head. "No, it was. She played me, took advantage of me..." His eyes went out of focus for a second like he was remembering that first night, but then they came back and locked on Justin's. "I still stand by what I said before. I don't want you to know the details. She did some terrible things to me, but I was more afraid of what she'd do to you. To all of you."

"She didn't do much."

JC laughed, but it almost sounded more like a sob. "She nearly killed you guys, and it was the exact same way she'd done it in one of the many dreams she forced on me. Nightmares really."

"Why?" Justin asked.

"Because she was trying to show me what would happen if I tried to tell anyone about what she was doing." JC paused, averting his eyes as he plucked a random string on the guitar. "She had this whole plan. We were going to live together, and I'd basically be cut off from everyone. She tried to convince me that no one would even care, that you guys wouldn't care."

Justin felt his blood boil, and he realized maybe JC had a point about it being better that he didn't know the details of how he'd been tortured. Just hearing this stuff was bad enough. But to hear what other horrible things she'd done to him like sealing JC's lips shut would send him over the edge.

JC was silent, obviously done sharing for now. He wasn't looking at Justin, but he kept glancing at him anxiously out of the corner of his eye. For a moment Justin wasn't sure what to say to his friend in response to what he'd told him, but then it came to him.

"She was stupid, JC. Because there was one thing she'd underestimated about you."

"About me?" JC looked surprised. "What's that?"

Justin felt his lips curl as he said, "What a shitty liar you are." JC laughed and Justin continued, "If she knew anything about you, she would've known you telling us to leave wouldn't work."

"I guess it's a good thing you know me so well then."

"Damn straight," Justin nodded. "But there's one more important thing you're forgetting." JC had a curious expression and Justin leaned forward to touch JC's arm as he said, "We never would give up you. Ever."

JC smiled softly, and Justin smiled back. When the moment had passed, he withdrew his arm and gestured to the guitar. "Well, do I get to hear it or what?"

In response, JC wrapped his left hand around the frets, pressing down on the strings while his right hand began to strum. After a few familiar sounding notes, JC began to sing. The guitar gave the song a definite blues sound to it, and as it went on, Justin knew at once they would have to put this on the next tour.

And it would be a couple months later, drawing an immediate positive reaction from the fans. Every night JC would preface the song with a short little story about their trip to New Orleans and all the music they'd been exposed to, never once flinching or showing any sign that he was hanging onto bad memories. The trip had been nothing short of a disaster. But then, overcoming adversity often makes the best stories. Blues or otherwise.

There was still a lot left to their story, and it wouldn't end badly. Not if Justin had anything to say about it.