A/N: hey people! You know me master-of-toast! This is the next installment of my story. Which will have a new title when I think of one! I used and old idea as a spring-board.

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Abigail rolled over sleepily and nudged Ben awake.

"Ben?" She said tiredly.

"Whaaaattt?" he moaned. Abigail placed her hand on his shoulder and mumbled,

"Look at me honey." Ben rolled over to face her and sighed.

"What's wrong?" he groaned.

"Riley's having a nightmare." She stated sleepily. Ben sighed. Last time he had a nightmare was after Ian… His thoughts were interrupted as Abigail shook his arm slightly. "Did you hear me? I said Riley is talking in his sleep." Ben grabbed his cell phone and stood.

"I'm going to check on him." Ben said as he walked out. Damm, Riley! I know you only get these nightmares when you're really scared or upset! Why don't you ever just tell us what's wrong? Last time this happened was after Ian beat you to a freaking pulp! Ben was soon at Riley's door. Soft moans were easily heard and Ben was not pleased by this fact. He pushed open the door and was shocked by what he saw. Riley was tossing and turning on his bed still in the grip of some horrible nightmare. Riley tossed to his side and Ben saw, much to his horror that Riley was crying in his sleep.

"He's back…no…not Abi… don't hurt them..." Riley moaned. He was drenched in a cold sweat and look as though he was in turmoil. Ben flipped his phone open and pressed a button. The word recording flashed across it screen. Ben turned his attention to his best friend who was murmuring fearfully in his sleep.

"Eight days…can't let him… Ben…Abi…no" He sobbed. Ben watched with concerned eyes. What happened to cause this? He was fine at breakfast but now…

"No Ian… Eight days… time is running out…I gotta" Ben sat down and rested his head against the wall. He let his mind wander and found himself thinking about last time. Ian had to almost kill you last time… You're not hurt so why…

Ben walked into his apartment expecting to find Ian and Riley at work on the computer. Instead he found Riley unconscious and bruised on the floor.

"No… stop Ian… Abi… Ben… I'm so worthless… why can't I…"

"Riley! Riley! Are you ok!" Ben dropped his stuff and kneeled next to Riley. A long gash ran from Riley's temple to his cheek.

"No… no… no… please spare them… take me instead…"

Ben turned to the door as he heard footsteps. It was Ian.

"Whoa! What happened to the kid!" Ian said. There was a cruel sadistic edge to his tone that Ben immediately picked up on.

"You, you did this!"

"Do you really think so low of me?"

"Yes"

"Help me…"

"How do you know the kid here didn't stumble home just now? I mean what makes you think I did it?"

"There's blood on your pants and your hands."

"You can't stop me. If you lose me you have no money and you'll never find Charlotte."

Ben looked at his best friend and wondered numbly what could have caused this.

"If you hurt them I'll kill you Ian…" Riley growled in his sleep. Ben suddenly realized that he hadn't been paying attention. Riley was having a nightmare about Ian! But that made more questions than it answered. Why would he be dreaming about that?

That night Riley had nightmare. He cried and trembled in his sleep. But the thing that scared Ben most was that Riley had lied about what had happened. He had said,

"I ticked off a thug." Ben had heard Riley talking in his sleep that night. It sacred Ben but, apparently Riley had no idea he sleep talked.

Ben spent the rest of his night thinking about what caused Riley to act this way and come to a disturbing conclusion. Riley was hiding something.

Riley awoke to find that Ben was asleep on his bedroom floor. Not good. He immediately leapt from his bed and rushed to the bathroom to get dressed. He pulled a random t-shirt and sweatshirt from his closet and jeans from his dresser. He dragged a comb through his messy hair and brushed his teeth as fast as possible. He pulled at his sneakers until the knot he managed to make tightened. I really should get Velcro. He thought numbly. As he dashed from the bedroom he observed that Abigail was using the other bathroom. Riley ran into the kitchen and snatched a post-it from the table. He scribbled down a quick message and darted out the back door. In ten minutes he was at the safest place he could think of, the library of congress.

Abigail walked into the kitchen fully dressed and ready for the day. She walked to the table and saw, to her surprise, a note.

Ben-

Went out. Go to library of congress at 9:30. Bring Abi. I'll be there.

Abigail took it and ran to find Ben. She darted into Riley's room and upon finding Ben shook him vigorously until he moaned, "ok I'm up, I'm up."

"Ben look! Riley wants us to meet him at the library of congress in 10 minutes!" she waved the note in front of his face. One second… two seconds… three seconds later it clicked.

"Dangit!" Ben stood and rushed off to go get dressed. Abigail looked at the note sadly.

"Oh Riley what happened…"

A few minutes later the trio was sitting on the stairs to the library of congress. Riley took a deep breath and began.

"Ben we've got problems." He fiddled nervously with the sleeve of his jacket. Ben looked him over apprehensively. Riley looked down and refused to meet Ben's eyes. "Here" He mumbled as he handed over a small piece of paper. Ben and Abigail read it then look up with expressions of horror. Abigail opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Ben's cell phone ringing. Ben looked down in surprise and flipped it open. Sadusky's voice issued from the speaker.

"Ben, Ian escaped from jail last night. We don't know what he's doing but we think he's after you." Sadusky sounded almost…nervous. There was shouting on his end of the phone and then, "Ben I have to go. Be safe."

"W-wait!" Ben shouted into the phone but the line was dead before he finished. He looked down at the note in his hands. It read,

I'm back. This is about more then treasure now. Someone is going to get hurt. Eight days.

-An old friend

"What does it mean?"

"Someone wants revenge"

A/N: Squee!!! Well that's it. (At least for chapter one) I hope it's good enough.