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.

 

Chapter End Notes:

A/N: This story is completed, and I wil post a new chapter at least once a week. Maybe twice if I'm feeling extra generous. ;) Hope you enjoy!



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