Jade felt dazed. Her head hurt, her arms were bounded together and so were her legs. Her eyes adjusted and she could see a dim light shining in as if lights streamed in from a window. She saw dust particles floating around, and wherever she was, she must have been in an old place.

She raised her head to look around, but it pounded painfully so she lowered her head and rested it on the ground. My head...it hurts so much. What happened? she thought. Maybe she should have been more panicked, but right now, she didn't feel so alarmed. All that mattered at the moment was to calm down, and wait until her head clears before making decisions. Who knows what she'd be doing if she trued to think up of ideas in that state. It would usually lead to mistakes and more danger.

Sighing, she closed her eyes, and waited.

"Endowed?" Olivia exclaimed. "Okay, now I know why you didn't go to the police. But endowed...wow. How do you know?"

Manfred pulled open his top right drawer and took out a folded up piece of paper. Handing it to the nearest person, Manfred sat back with a cloudy, unreadable face.

Gabriel was the closest, and he skimmed through the paper. He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "That's horrible!"

"What? What? I want to see." Tancred said hurriedly, striding across the circle they made. He grabbed the note and bent his head over eagerly to read it. He frowned, reread it, and then leaned his head back up to show everyone his bemusement. "This guy is mad." he declared. "This guy demands a large fortune for the return of Jade."

"How much?" Charlie asked.

When Charlie read the note, his eyes popped open at the price. "O-oh." he said weakly. "That much...and he wants you to put the money in a mailbox...on Frog Street?" That's practically where I live!

There was a silence. Charlie glanced around the circle to see if he could pick up signs of whether or not they were willing to help Manfred. Lysander had a troubled look in his eyes, and if Lysander had a troubled look in his eyes, there was a pretty good chance that he'd end up helping Manfred. And if Sander, one of the most level headed one of the group decided to help Manfred, then it would be a matter of time once everyone will follow.

And of course, Lysander spoke up. "I'll help."

Tancred looked at Lysander skeptically. "Well...what if it's a trap?"

Charlie murmured, "Tanc, you saw how Manfred was when we carried him here. No one in the history of mankind can be that pathetic without showing some actual sadness."

Tancred sighed. "I agree about the pathetic part Charlie, but trust me, some people are pretty damn good at acting."

Olivia piped up. "But Manfred isn't acting Tancred! I would know."

"Guys, if you don't want to help, that's fine, but I'll do anything I can to help find Jade." Lysander said quietly. "Everybody should get a chance at being happy. Manfred was happy with Jade. If we don't help, then we're as bad as him before Jade showed up."

Silence. Charlie took a good look around to examine everyone's expressions. All of them, excluding a solemn Manfred, had a look of guilt. Leave it to Sander to make us all feel guilty. Charlie thought.

"I'll help." Tancred said. He pointed to Manfred. "As long as he doesn't give me detention for the rest of the year!"

"The year's almost over. It's December." Fidelio said.

"Yeah, but detention during the holidays sucks, so for the time being I am content." Tancred said.

Charlie grinned. "Your vocabulary is growing."

Tancred groaned. "I know! It's been doing that for a while! It's even affected my writing too!"

"How?" asked Gabriel.

"Well in my jour-well, um, I can just tell." Tancred finished uncertainly.

Emma looked at Tancred, and then she said, "I'll...I'll help too."

She reddened deeply as everyone looked her way. Charlie could have sworn she'd faint on the spot when Tancred gave her an encouraging smile.

Olivia stepped up to Emma, linked arms with her, and proudly declared, "Me too! This will be fun!"

Within a minute, everyone eventually agreed to help Manfred. "Yes!" Charlie clapped his hands together. "We'll help Manfred. So when did you notice she was gone Manfred?"

Manfred surprised the group by wiping away tears. "I can't believe you lot will help me." he croaked.

"It's your fiancee we're talking about, sir." Olivia said, rolling her eyes. "Whether we like you or not, we'll do anything we can for the sake of love."

"That sounded cheesy." Charlie remarked.

Olivia swiftly swatted him in the back of his head, causing him to inch away from her. "Anyway, like this impolite boy said, when did you notice Jade was gone?"

Manfred frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. Clasping his hands together and using them as a support for his chin, he said, "Yesterday night. Every night before we go to bed, we'd wish each other a good night. I waited for her for an hour and she never came. I went to her room to tell her to have a good night but she wasn't there."

For the next hour, Manfred related all the information to them as detailed as possible. As the hour passed, Charlie could tell Manfred was getting desperate.

"And as I speak right now, my Jade is still missing and I don't know if she's dead or alive and we need to find her!" Manfred finished with a near shout.

Getting worked up like this was not a very Manfred-y thing to do, and so he took a few moments to regain his composition. "All I'm saying is, the kidnapper wants money in exchange for Jade. I don't know where he or she is, but the kidnapper said to leave the money in the mailbox at the corner of Frog Street and within a day Jade will return to me at the gates of the academy."

"But sir, do you have that kind of money?" Gabriel asked.

Manfred was quiet for a moment. "My bank account." he muttered. "Father deposited at least that much money in my bank account so I can use it for future uses. But...I can't withdraw any money unless I have his approval or when he dies. And I can't kill my own father."

"Oh so it's alright to try to kill us?" Tancred murmured.

Lysander gave him a warning look, as to which Tancred hastily said, "Sorry, I'm still not used to working with you Manfred."

"It's fine." Manfred murmured. "The problem is, I can't tell Father that Jade is gone. What would he do? I may have gotten a heart because of Jade, but Father doesn't have a very good heart. He might forget Jade and pick a new bride. I can't stand to marry anyone else but Jade."

Olivia whistled. "Wow, even you can sound romantic, can't you Manfred?"

Manfred ignored Olivia.

Lysander looked up at the ceiling. "Well..." he said slowly. "How does the bank know that you have your dad's approval? Does he sign a paper? Does he call? Does he make an appearance with you?"

Olivia perked. "If he has to show up, I can make an illusion of him!"

Tancred grinned. "And if it's a signature, Em can forge it! Besides, writing is an art that no one really thinks about and if writing is an art, Emma's the one you can count on!"

Emma looked somewhat bewildered. "But, isn't forging a signature wrong? I can't possibly do that."

"Isn't keeping you hypnotized for almost your whole life wrong too?" Tancred asked gently. "Besides, compared to what he's done to you, this is nothing! And we're solving some kind of crime here Em! It's perfectly fine. Like the cops on T.V say, to solve a mystery, you must yourself break a rule or two."

"I think you watch too much T.V Tanc." Gabriel said.

But Manfred was standing now, his eyes wide. "Father just has to sign papers and stamp his seal on it. I can get the seal, but Tolly, can you really forge his signature?"

Emma bit her lip and fiddled her fingers. "Erm...if it's a step to getting Jade back...then, okay..."

"But what if the kidnapper breaks his promise and doesn't return Jade?" Billy asked in a small voice.

The older kids looked at him, considering what he said.

"Sir, when is the money due?" asked Charlie.

"One week from today, but it says that he'll check the mailbox everyday in case I turn it in early."

"Then leave a message." Charlie said at once. "Today, ask the kidnapper how you can trust him or her. Maybe he or she can put Jade on the phone every day so we know she's still here."

Manfred's eyes flickered to Charlie, and Charlie had an urge to look away, but he knew Manfred wouldn't hypnotize him; it just became a habit to look away.

"The kidnapper wouldn't do that unless he or she knows a way to avoid being tracked down." Gabriel said.

The group thought for a while, and by the time the classes were over for the day (Manfred would go out and talk to their teachers where they were for the past couple of hours so they wouldn't get in trouble), they decided that Manfred would leave a note later that night asking for proof that Jade will be returned to them and that she will still be alive by the time she returned.

"Well, now I've done everything." Tancred sighed as they walked down to dinner. Manfred remained in his office, busy writing the message. As Emma closed the door, Tancred added, "I never thought I'd team up with Manfred one day. I've done everything, I even died once, although it was pleasant; I ate hotdogs for all the days I've been dead."

"You haven't gotten Jade back though." Fidelio said pointedly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Charlie stuffed his hands into his pockets. Gazing out the windows, he wondered who could have kidnapped Jade and why. Wherever she is, Charlie thought. She can't be far.

Jade blinked. The room was still dark, but a door opened and light streamed in. She made out a figure coming towards her. Alarmed, she struggled to sit up but the figure knelt down to hold her still.

Jade recognized the figure's face and paled. "You...why?"