So, here's the seventeenth chapter! I am not quite sure how many more chapters there will be, I will just have to see how many it takes to finish this off:)

'No, no, no, no!' Mandie said to herself. 'Don't move. Be quiet.'
Mandie felt warm sweat pouring down her cheeks, and she took in labored breaths and blew them out quietly.
'What time I am afraid I will put my trust in Thee,' Mandie repeated over and over in her mind.
Suddenly Mandie heard something get knocked over. She turned her head slowly to the side and watched in horror as a man in
a dark cloak began to slowly creep toward her bed. All Mandie could see were his eyes. And she remembered them. It was the
man that kidnapped her. The man with the scar.
Mandie looked away and squeezed her eyes shut. 'This can't be real. This can't be happening.'
Suddenly Mandie felt a cold hand creep over her mouth and clamp down tight. Mandie's eyes shot open wide and she tried to
scream but was stifled.
"Shut it girl," he growled. "I told you I'd find you, didn't I?"
Mandie's eyes opened wider as the man pulled out a knife and pressed it to her throat. 'Not again.'
"You tell me where that clue is," he said.
Mandie tried to say something, but as his hand still covered her mouth, she pointed over to her vanity.
The man with the scar looked in the direction she pointed and then said, "If you so much as move a muscle or make a sound
I'll kill you." He moved his hand away from her mouth, stood up, and walked over to the vanity.
"Where in here?" He asked, opening drawers and rifling through papers.
Mandie swallowed and tried not to cry, "In the top drawer on the left," her voice cracked.
The man with the scar opened the drawer and looked through the papers and other things inside it.
Mandie slowly began to sit up. 'I can jump off the bed and run out the door,' she thought, but then she remembered her leg.
'Oh no,' she said to herself. She laid back down and looked back over at the man with the scar. He was looking closely at
a paper he was holding in his hand. He suddenly walked back over to Mandie and held it in front of her face, "Is this it?"
Mandie looked at it. It was. 'At least he didn't find the paper with the hymn,' Mandie said to herself. For some reason she
felt that the hymn was of great importance. "Yes, that's it," Mandie replied quietly.
The man bent down into her face and said, "I won't take you with me tonight, but I'll be back." He backed away and began to
walk to her door, but he stopped midway and turned back around, "Don't breath a word of this to anyone." He made a motion
with his hand like a knife across his neck. Mandie cringed and nodded her head. Then the man with the scar opened the door
quietly, peered out, and then walked out and closed the door behind himself.
Mandie covered her face with her hands and began to sob convulsively. 'How did he get in our house without being seen? It
has to be Jason Bond. It must be,' Mandie thought to herself.
Mandie couldn't fall asleep again that night, and she didn't want to.
She was constantly on gaurd. Tensing up at every little sound and jerking her blonde head in the direction it came from.
'We have to find that next clue before he does. We have to.'

The next morning Mandie's eyes were heavy at the breakfast table.
Mandie's mother looked at her with a concered demeanor on her face. "Mandie, is something wrong? You have barely touched
your food?" She asked.
Mandie looked up at her mother and replied softly, "I just... didn't get very much sleep last night. That's all."
Joe looked questioningly into her face from across the table. Mandie didn't seem herself.
After breakfast Mandie's mother asked if Celia and Mandie would like to go into town with her today.
She was going to go shopping.
Mandie declined, for she had no intention of going back to town for a while. Bad memories.
But Celia accepted, for she didn't want it to seem too suspicious if both of them rejected the offer.
"Are you sure you do not want to come, Amanda?" Mandie's mother asked one last time as her and Celia were just about to leave.
"Yes, Mother. I just don't feel like going out today," Mandie replied, leaning on her crutch and brushing her hair out of her face.
"Well, alright. Goodbye dear," Mandie's mother said, kissing Mandie's cheek and walking out the door.
Celia smiled at Mandie and then walked out the door after Mandie's mother and closed it behind herself.
Mandie sighed and walked into the parlor. She sat down on a nearby settee and leaned her crutch against the settee.
Mandie rested her chin on her folded hands and closed her eyes, remembering her dream.
'Why have I had that dream twice?' She asked herself.
Mandie felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked up. It was Joe.
Mandie smiled and moved over, making room for Joe to sit down next to her.
Joe took the offered seat and looked into Mandie's big, blue eyes.
"Something's wrong, Mandie. Can you tell me what it is?" He asked gently.
Mandie looked at him and cleared her throat, "Nothing's wrong. What makes you think that?"
Joe reached out and took her hand, squeezing it tightly in between both of his, "Because I know you, Mandie. I can tell when
something is wrong with you, or when you are acting strange. Please, tell me?"
Mandie swallowed and suddenly tears filled her eyes, "I can't. I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone."
Joe squeezed her hand tighter and asked, "Why can you not tell me? Why can you not tell anyone?" He persisted.
Mandie began to cry harder, "Because... because... I'll die."
Joe's eyes opened wide, "What?"
Mandie bent her head and sobbed convulsively. Joe wrapped one of his arms around her, while still holding her hand in his other one.
"Shhhh. Shhhh. It's alright.. Shhhh," Joe comforted.
Mandie laid her head against Joe's shoulder and wiped her tears.
Joe let go of her hand and placed his hand under her chin, turning her face up to meet his gaze, "Now can you tell me?"
Mandie shook her head and laid her head back on his shoulder.
Joe frowned and wrapped both his arms around her. He laid his head on top of hers and Mandie sighed.
'I won't tell. I can't,' She told herself. 'I'll figure this out on my own.'

Sorry, no clue in this one. I thought I would make this chapter focus more on all that happened, you know?

Hope y'all still liked it, I made sure to do plenty of Jomanda moments without just stuffing it too full:)