When Ben came to he felt himself laying on the cold, hard, metal ground of the cage. As he blinked away the last remnants of the knockout gas he could see Tetalia and Abigail lying on the bed with one arm chained to the head of the bed. Ben looked up so he could see the top of the wall behind him. The cage was now under the window. Bars had been placed over the window but the glass had not been repaired. "Great! He's teaching us a lesson by exposing us to whatever comes through that window." Ben said under his breath. He noticed too that bars had been placed on all the other windows. Out of curiosity he looked at the lock on the cage. It too had been changed. Now it was a magnetic lock like the rest of them. "Short of filing the bars away, I couldn't get out of here no matter what I did." Ben sat lost in thought for about five more minutes. That's when the rest of the group began to stir. Tetalia, Abigail, and then Riley woke up one right after the other. Before anyone had a chance to say anything to anyone else guards came in and freed the women from their chains. Then they left as quickly as they had come.

"What happened?" Tetalia asked. She knew they had been knocked out but she didn't know for how long they had been out nor why the cage had been moved.

"Your boyfriend jumped out the window and we went beddy bye." Riley joked.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"When Will jumped out of the window we were knocked out so that this cage could be moved over here and bars could be put on the windows with out them having to worry about us getting away too."

"Why is the cage under the broken window?"

"If I know Elton as well as I think I do it's because he wants you to learn a lesson from this. He hopes that by exposing Riley and I to the elements you will be more likely to cooperate. Save us from our fate so to speak."

"Do you think he's ok?"

"He's probably back at the palace luring guards away to search for you and making the perfect chance for us to break into the palace."

"That's not good." Riley stated.

"No, because if the guards are out then we're less likely to get caught which increases his chances of finding the treasure."

"Oh that's just great!" Tetalia said with mock excitement. Ben smiled inwardly. At least no one had given up hope.

"Tell me about it." Ben said.

"So now what?" Abigail asked.

"We wait for him to tell us to break into the palace." Ben sighed. "And with any luck the weather will be fine between now and then."

"But in the mean time we get to hang out here in this dump." Riley said while looking around.

"You're going to be ok, right?" Tetalia asked. She looked straight at Ben. He didn't answer. He knew better than to believe that if he did get sick from the open window that Elton would be right there with some medicine.

"Look on the bright side... Never mind, there is no bright side." Riley stated.

"We're alive." Abigail offered. "We always have when we won't be captured here to look forward to."

"Only if that future includes Elton behind bars." Ben added.

That night the temperature got down to 36 degrees Fahrenheit and there weren't enough blankets to go around. "I've got my jacket. You take it Riley." Ben told his friend. Abigail had brought them the light cover that was folded at the end of the bed.

"Ben, my jacket is just as heavy as yours and I'm still cold. C'mon. We can share." Ben knew that if he took it they would both be cold and if he didn't Riley would be fine.

"I'm fine, really."

"I'm not using it either, then."

"Riley, don't be so difficult. Just take it."

"We can share." Riley didn't want his friend to be sick on top of everything else.

"Fine." Ben said as the cold was getting to him. Abigail and Tetalia were nice and warm on the bed. In time, everyone drifted off to sleep. What they didn't know was that Elton had seen the weather forecast and was planning on holding them there for the stormy week. The fact that the temperatures were supposed to drop down below freezing made it all the more interesting to him. He knew that if Ben was sick he'd be absolutely certain to come out on top. He was no fool and it didn't take much to see how loyal Ben's friends were. If Ben was down they weren't going anywhere.

The next morning rain was in the air. You could smell it even without knowing what it smelled like. And if that weren't enough to convince you, the ominous appearance of the clouds should have.

"Please don't tell me it's going to rain. Tetalia commented when she looked out the window.

"It certainly looks that way." Abigail replied.

"From the looks of it, I'd say we're in for a big one." Ben noted.

"What can we do?" Tetalia asked. Fear was in her eyes. She knew that if Ben or Riley were to get sick it would make matters that much worse for them.

"Look around. There's nothing we can do." Ben stated. "Everything that we could use for cover won't provide any protection and anything that would provide protection is locked down. He even changed the top of the cage last night." It was true. Now, instead of being one solid piece of iron, the top of the cage was nothing more than metal bars going across the top. "If we were going to leave between now and the rain he wouldn't have gone to all that trouble last night."

"There must be something we can do. Besides, how can you help to find the treasure if you're sick?"

"If anything, that's the perfect position for me to be in as far as Elton is concerned. If I'm sick I can still use my head but I won't have the energy to escape."

"And how right you are." Elton said as he walked through the doors.

"Did anyone ever tell you, you walk quietly?" Ben said.

"Once or twice." He turned to Tetalia. "Now, you can save your friends..." He motioned towards Ben and then turned her attention to Will. He was standing between two guards with his feet and hands chained. "But only if you can make your father agree to give the treasure to me and pardon me for the inconvenience of borrowing you for a couple of days." He paused here to let his words sink in. "But if you will not agree to try, that storm outside is coming. And I can't control the weather." Before she could answer, Will was put into a smaller cage all to himself right under the window. The cage that Ben and Riley shared was moved over just a little. Ben made eye contact with her and shook his head no. She didn't want him to get hurt.

"So, you'll let me go if I promise to convince my father?"

"You must also agree to help me get the treasure." His evil smile scared her.

"And if I do this, no harm will come to any of my friends?"

"Correct." She couldn't bring herself to look at Ben.

"What if I can't convince my father?"

"Then I'll step in and he'll wish he had listened to you." This appealed to her. She didn't think her father would listen to her and the idea of him wishing he had was nice. "So, what'll it be? On the one hand, we both win. On the other,... Well, I'm sure you can figure that out."

"We have to do something." Emily said to Patrick. "We haven't heard from them."

"I don't like waiting for news any more than you do, but Abigail's right. She and Riley should have taken her own advice. That's probably why we haven't heard from them." He wanted to be optimistic, but he didn't want to get his hopes up either.

"Surely their must be something we can do." Emily said as she turned towards her husband. Patrick looked at his wife hopefully. An idea taking shape in his mind as they heard thunder in the background.