"BONE!"

Charlie jumped and turned to look at Manfred, expecting a steaming, red, furious figure looming above him. He actually got ready to let out a stream of excuses that he prepared in case of emergencies just like this.

Only, it wasn't 'just like this'. Manfred, whom Charlie expected to be a raging tank, looked bewildered, desperate, and even tearful.

"I need your help!" he said quickly, keeping his voice as steady as possible. The urgency was there. The pleading was obvious. "I need your help and I need your friends' help! Please, I beg of you!"

"Uh...what's wrong?" Charlie blinked. Was he dreaming? He discreetly pinched his arm underneath the table and hoped he'd wake up. If he thought a screaming Manfred was scary, he was wrong. A Manfred whom begged and pleaded and looked like he was on the verge of tears was even scarier.

"Jade's gone!" Manfred hissed, grabbing onto Charlie's shoulders. He shook Charlie so vigorously that Charlie had to close his eyes to keep his head from spinning in a vertigo.

"Who?" Charlie murmured, holding his head.

"Jade! My Jade! She's gone!"

It took a few moments for Charlie to remember who he was talking about. "Your fiancee is gone?" he asked. He automatically pushed Manfred's arms away (at which he suddenly stopped in horror because he was afraid Manfred would find that disrespectful and punish him but Manfred did no such thing) and leaned his head on the table.

Charlie could imagine the librarian tracking the source of Manfred's wails from the desks. Manfred wasn't composed in an arrogant way anymore. That Jade must have softened him, and right now he was distraught. Would the librarian excuse Manfred or would she have the nerve to kick the son of the school's headmaster out?

Or what if she kicked Charlie out?

"Manfred, sir?" Charlie whispered, shooting bewildered looks around the bookcases. He hastily gathered his belongings and tugged at Manfred's arm. "Let's take this outsi-whoa!"

Manfred leaned on Charlie's shoulders and used him as a support. Okay, this was the very LAST thing Charlie had on mind. Never did he ever expect to find himself patting Manfred (who was crying like a little boy who had dropped his ice cream) on the back and telling him comforting words.

They shimmied past the bookcases and past the librarian who sent a death glare at Charlie. By the time they got to the hall, several students had gotten up to get a good look at the sound of crying in the library, and even more people in the hall stopped in their tracks. Charlie could imagine all of their jaws dropping to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Shut up," Charlie whispered urgently. "Sir." he added tentatively.

Manfred responded with a stream of unintelligible sobs.

Geez, what has that woman done to him to make him react like this? Charlie thought. She must be a total angel.

"Have you, er, told your father?" Charlie asked, dragging Manfred away from the halls. He needed to find a place to talk in private where no student could stare at them. He even saw a few pinch themselves just like Charlie had done earlier.

"N-n-n-n-..." Manfred shook.

"I'm guessing that's a no." Charlie sighed. "Come on! At least walk like a decent man."

Manfred sniffed and attempted to walk. His knees buckled, he tripped over his own feet, and pulled Charlie to the ground with him.

"You...you've gotten soft, sir." Charlie groaned, rubbing his head where it hit the ground.

Charlie spent a while to get Manfred to his office. Luckily he passed by Emma, Olivia, and Tancred on the way and they agreed to help him.

"On the count of three..." Tancred called, grabbing a hold of Manfred's left arm. "One,"

Emma reached down to grab Manfred's ankle.

"Two..."

Olivia had Manfred's other ankle.

"Three!"

Charlie had already gotten a grip on Manfred's right arm. When Tancred called out 'three', the four of them hoisted Manfred up like a rag doll and made their way up the stairs.

"Goodness," Olivia blew a strand of her vibrant red hair out of her face. "To think that someone like Manfred could just break down like this."

Emma bit her lip. "I don't like Manfred, but I can't stand to see him like this."

Tancred sighed as they all continued to ascend the stairs, their biggest enemy so far. "I don't either. But it's his fault for not keepin an eye on her. I mean who'd let their fiancee walk around by herself like that?"

Charlie frowned. "Did she run away? Did she get kidnapped? Maybe she really sin't gone but just lost?" He thought of the attics and thought of a young woman, scared, worried, sitting in the filth waiting to be rescued.

Olivia clicked her tongue as they finally made it to the next floor. "The way she looked at him at the ball, she clearly loves him. She wouldn't run. I mean I know good acting when I see it, but that was no act."

"So then someone took her?" Tancred asked. The four shuffled down the hall. Luckily, there wasn't anyone around here who could slow them down. They moved quickly, and Manfred was quiet now, sniffing here and there. He swung as they carried him to the office. Charlie had to slowly fish his key out of his pocket so they could open his office door.

Once they got Manfred in his seat (he slumped over his desk immediately but Tancred told them to leave him like that, since it would be no use to sit him up again just to have him lean over again), Emma said, "Why would anyone take her?"

They were quiet. When no one came up with an idea, Charlie decided to tell them what Manfred had requested.

"He wants us to help him?" Tancred said incredulously. "I don't know about you, but isn't he that one guy who tried to-hm, I dunno, kill me?"

"Um, Tanc," Charlie said. "Dagbert killed you. Now you're not killed."

"That makes sense," Tancred sighed.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Tancred said. Charlie slumped his shoulders. Again with the 'nothing'.

Olivia and Emma went to Manfred's sides and examined him. "Well, maybe we can look at the advantages and the disadvantages." Emma suggested. "If we don't help him, what would that benefit us?"

"No more detentions for nothing." Tancred said.

"No more burnings." Charlie said.

"No more hypnotizing, well, if he still has it. I don't know, I don't keep track of stuff like that." Tancred shrugged.

"No more life and death situ-well, there's always his dad and granddad." Olivia murmured.

Surprisingly, their list slowly faded. They frowned. Surely there were other things that Manfred did that didn't agree with their terms. Was the list of things he did really that short?

"Maybe we summed up a lot of stuff into a couple of sentences." Emma said. "I mena, well, those reasons are very vague."

"Yes, yes." Tancred agreed at once. "You're really smart Em,"

Emma looked away but she whispered a quiet, "Thank you,"

Olivia and Charlie exchanged knowing looks before continuing on.

"What are the disadvantages?" Olivia asked.

Everything what they had say, only without the 'no'. More detentions for nothing, more burnings, more hypnotizings...

"We are so creative." Charlie huffed when they couldn't think of anymore.

"Indeed," Tancred sighed.