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.