Remus Plyth awoke with a start. 

He heard a boat pulling away from the pier and looked out of his third story window towards the bay.  His room overlooked the bay and it was the sound of the boat’s engine that woke him up. 

The boy stretched and wondered where his older brother was going.  He knew it was Pharaoh because he had heard him telling someone to make sure the boat was ready for him in the morning. 

Remus didn’t want to ask him where he was going, or who he had spoken to, because he was sure that they were answers he was already supposed to know. 

This is hard, he thought.  If it isn’t bad enough that I’m betraying my family, I can’t even remember anything beyond the last couple of months!

His mom had been very understanding and great about his amnesia. His brother though, just seemed very distant and cold. 

When they found out he had lost his memory in the car wreck, his mother had called in her finest doctors, but no one was able to help.

Remus was kind of glad though, because he was afraid that if he did remember, then maybe he would lose his nerve. 

The Gray Man had explained over and over again about the slavery ring, and how someone must have found out that Remus wanted to help stop it, and tried to kill him.  Remus had to be very careful.  But this amnesia thing was horrible!

The Gray Man had given him a phone with his number preprogrammed into it to contact him when he had information or was in trouble – the only problem was that Remus had been here for almost two months and he still had diddly-squat….

As he peered into the mirror he took a good hard look at himself.  18 years old, blond hair, blue eyes; he decided that nature had been kind.  But as he stared at himself he kept wondering why his eyes looked so haunted – what had they seen that he didn’t remember? 

Just then he heard a light knocking at the door., “Come in,” he hollered before grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist.  It was his mom.

Blond haired herself, Andreya Plyth was constantly being nominated as one of the most beautiful people in the world, and she prided herself on it.  Unlike her younger son, though, her eyes were chocolate brown, and right now they were taking in the sight of her towel-clad son.

“Remus – you’re looking very well.  I can’t say I’ve ever seen you looking so fit…. I have a job for you,” Andreya said as she ran a manicured finger across his chest. 

He shivered involuntarily; he hated the way his mom seemed to always have jobs for him but none of them ever had to do with the slavery ring, and he hated the way his mother looked at him – it made him feel very uncomfortable.

Andreya seemed to have sensed her son’s hesitation and smiled at him warmly.  “Darling this is different.  I don’t need you to woo or entertain some rich little prissy socialite.  Pharaoh is going to be busy today so I need you to do a job for me.” 

Now we’re getting somewhere, he thought.

* * *

24 hours later, Frank and his father were ready to get on a plane with the Gray Man.  Their job was simple: find Joe and get him out.  The Gray Man figured that whoever had killed the real Remus might be behind the grave robbery, and it was too risky to keep him there.  They needed to get him out and then they would try and find some other way to stop Andreya.

As the Hardys were heading to the door, the phone rang. 

Frank grabbed it. “Hello?”

He heard a very distraught voice on the phone.  “Frank, please can you help?  Biff is still missing!”

Frank felt the blood drain out of his face.  He didn’t have time for this right now – he had to find Joe.  He put his hand over the receiver and relayed the message to his father. 

Fenton furrowed his brow but quickly motioned for the phone.  Taking it, he avoided looking at Frank and spoke to Mrs. Hooper.  “This is Fenton.  Don’t worry, I’ll have Frank look into it.”  He hung up and spoke before Frank could protest, “Frank, this is Joe’s best friend.  He’s always been there for both of you whenever you needed it…without even asking.  Find him, and then you can help us.  Don’t worry, we’ll get Joe out and get him out safely.”  And then they were gone.

Frank felt as if someone had hit him in the chest with a dumbbell.  He took his suitcase upstairs as he seethed, “So help me Biff – you had better be in real trouble!”

* * *

Remus sat in the van and waited.  His brow furrowed as his watch slowly ticked away the time.  The flight was supposed to have arrived at 12:15 p.m., but his watch said 1:02 p.m. – where was the plane?  He wasn’t sure how long his mom expected him to wait here, and he was just picking up his cell phone to call her when he saw a big red-haired man walking towards him. 

This guy he did recognize – it was his mom’s ‘personal assistant,’ Terry.  He wondered ironically what kind of personal assisting Terry actually did as he watched his face briefly look suspicious before breaking out in a wide grin and pumping Remus’s arm generously when the boy opened the van door.

“Remus!  How ya feeling?”

“Fine,” mumbled Remus.  Terry motioned for him to get back in the van and drive towards a small plane on one of the private runways at the back of the airport.

“Glad to hear that – you gave us all quite a scare with your ‘accident’.  Anyway, I was expecting Pharaoh though…” he trailed off and waited for Remus to make some sort of explanation.

“Mom sent me.”  Remus didn’t feel like telling Terry that Pharaoh had been sent to do something else – he felt like being a bit difficult.  If Terry was bothered by it he didn’t show it, but just chuckled.

“Sounds like a woman – always changing her mind!  Well if you can open the back of the van I will get our guests.”  He raised an eyebrow slyly as he jumped out of the van and boarded the small Plyth Industries plane. 

Two more visibly armed men came out of the plane first, and waited at the bottom of the ramp with their guns cocked.  Slowly a group of 6 young people came off the plane, followed by Terry. 

Remus’s heart leapt as he looked them over and knew immediately they weren’t guests.  The six boys looked like they ranged in age from 15 to 20, and they were all in good, and in one case, great, shape.  Their hands were bound and they were all tied to one single rope. 

Unexpectedly, Remus had a flash of seeing a line of small children, preschoolers, being led on an outing with such a rope.  However, they weren’t tied to it – they had to hold onto it.  He shook his head, puzzled – where did that come from?  In that flash, he saw the children walking in the snow – actually more then saw it – he was one of the children – but that didn’t make sense…he and his brother had both attended school in Barbados, why would he be walking in snow…?

Frowning, he shook his head and turned his attention back to the prisoners.  At first he thought they must be drugged because they seemed so lifeless, but as they stepped in front of him to get into the back of the van, one of the boys suddenly looked him right in the face.  The eyes didn’t look drugged, in fact they looked extremely lucid and for the one brief second that they stared into Remus’ own vivid blues, they looked shocked!