Yugi looked back and forth from his friends to the ghostly apparitions, hoping to all the stars in the sky that they could see what he could see: the translucent corpses standing before them, glaring as if daring them to try and pass. However, to Yugi's disappointment, Joey Tea and Tristan seemed unaware of the specters that blocked their path, and the reason, Yugi realized, why the horses wouldn't go any further.

"Well at least the horses know that they're there," Yugi thought. "But wait…"

It was then that Yugi realized that Yami could sense them. Maybe not see them with the naked eye, like how Yugi somehow could all of a sudden, but he definitely knew that they were there. He was definitely looking at them, that much was certain.

"You're crazy Yami," Tristan said urging his horse forward. It now suddenly seemed to obey him. "There's nothing there."

"Tristan, wait!" Yugi yelled realizing he was going straight towards the ghosts. He watched in horror as the group got angry and started to pull various weapons out from their various sized pockets and wounds. One pulled out a dagger, another an axe. Yugi was also pretty sure that another pulled out a fork.

Yami seemed to sense that something was wrong thankfully. "Tristan, come back!"

But it was too late, Yugi realized. The ghosts got to Tristan's horse faster than he could have thought possible for something that didn't have a living vessel. When the ghosts got to Tristan's horse, they used any weapon that they had and started to hack and slash at the poor animal. The horse completely freaked out turned and bolted so suddenly that Tristan fell back off of its back and hit the ground. The ghosts bolted after it, and if Yugi wasn't so worried for Tristan, he would have felt sorry for the horse.

"Tristan!" Joey was off his horse in a second and helped his friend up. "Are you ok?"

Tristan winced as Joey helped him to his feet. Everyone else got off their horses and gathered around him. "I think so…What was that all about?"

"Wow, you must have a hard head." Tea said. "That didn't hurt you?"

"Of course it hurt, but I didn't break anything…"

"Are you sure?" Yami said. Yugi noticed him looking down at the ground and followed his gaze. Large drops of blood were scattered around their feet and left a trail going back the way they just came from.

Tristan looked. "Oh man…that must be from the horse."

"It's not yours, right?" Tea said worriedly. She looked around Tristan as if to visually inspect him. "Guess not."

"No, it's not." Tristan scratched his head. "I'm so confused, what just happened?"

Tea started giving Tristan a list of possible scenarios of what could have spooked the horse such as hitting a thorn bush or being hit by a branch that fell from a tree. None of it made sense to Yugi but probably because he had seen what really happened.

Yugi wasn't sure why, but suddenly he could see these ghosts, and the others could not. What's more, is that he wasn't sure if he could tell the others yet. He wasn't sure if he could handle their questions and quizzical stares if he hadn't had a chance to soak it all in yet. So, when Tea had pacified everyone and Tristan got behind Joey on his horse, they continued up the trail as if nothing had stopped their progress. There wasn't much they could do for Tristan's horse. The sun was showing signs of setting and they had to find the house before it got to be too dark to see.

As they were walking up the trail, Yugi finally noticed how strange he felt. It never occurred to him until he had a chance to gather his bearings but something about the way he felt just seemed off. He thought back to the pair of eyes in the bushes, and knew it had something to do with it. Maybe that's why he could suddenly see the ghosts now. But why would a ghost give him the power to see the dead? Nothing seemed to make sense at the moment, and Yugi hoped that things would clarify themselves before the day ended. He didn't want any more surprises.

"Hey Yugi," Tea said suddenly. "Where are you going?"

Yugi looked up to realize that he had steered his horse completely off course from where his friends were walking. They were twenty yards to his right, and he was starting to go through a dark trail that led away from where they were supposed to be going. He pulled the reins on his horse and quickly looked down the dark path, hoping to never have to go down that foreboding trail. Yugi got a strange feeling as he looked down the path…as if it was beckoning him to come in. As evil as it looked, the it was almost as if the path was trying to be inviting. It kind of freaked Yugi out.

"S-sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Yugi said and quickly turned around and brought his horse back with the rest of the group.

"Better be careful Yugi," Tristan smirked at him. "You might get lost."

Yugi had to hand it to him. For being thrown off his horse earlier, Tristan still seemed to be pretty confident and upbeat. Yugi wished he felt the same way.

"Nah, I'm paying attention now." he said and tried to leave it at that. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yami staring at him, waiting to be noticed and as he came to join everyone else, Yugi couldn't help but look at him. He had a look in his eyes that said, "Something's wrong. What is it?" Yugi tried to give the "I'll tell you later" look, which seemed to make Yami look more worried. Yugi didn't mean to, but if he was going to tell anyone about his experience today in a certain order, Yami would be first on the list.

For the next half hour, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and even Joey seemed to be a little more relaxed, even if it was obviously forced. Joey constantly looked behind him for fear of being snuck up on, and Tristan, having just been thrown off his horse, did not even argue with him for constantly doing so.

"Is this it?" Yami said suddenly.

In the light of the setting sun, they came up to what looked like a small mansion. It was made up of stone and looked to be three times the size of your regular sized house. The trees parted in the front walkway, yet curved inward as if they were waiting to grab anyone who walked down it. In front of it was a small courtyard that looked like it used to hold a large garden. Maybe once it would have looked grand and luxurious, but now layers and layers of vines and weeds covered the front lawn and travelled up to the roof of the mansion. A barn stood out back that seemed perfect for the horses, and it seemed that the old Ranger knew what he was doing in lending them their steeds. The three-storied mansion stood tall with the trees, yet far away from them so as not to be damaged if any one of them fell. Yet for some reason, all of the windows on the top floor were broken. A part of the roof looked like it started to cave in on the far right side and pieces of the stone looked like it was chipped in multiple places as if someone took a hammer to it. All in all, the place didn't look very safe to live in.

"I guess this is it?" Yami said looking at everyone for confirmation.

"I think so," Yugi said. "It matches Grandpa's description anyway…minus…"

"How bad it looks?" Joey said.

"Yeah."

"…Well should we go inside?" Tristan said getting off of Joey's horse. Everyone followed his example but didn't walk forward.

"I don't know… the place looks like it's going to cave in at any moment." Tea said. "Is it really safe?"

"Well I didn't go all this way and get scared out of my wits just to turn around." Joey said walking through the courtyard. "I'm goin' in!"

That's all it took for everyone to follow him. If the house was new, they could have just walked up to the front door. However, since it was not, they had to elude sticker bushes and walk around excessively large weeds that sprayed pollen every time it was disturbed, causing them all to sneeze vigorously.

As they neared the place, movement out of the corner of his eye caused Yugi to look to his right. When he looked he stopped abruptly. There, right next to the house, were two young girls playing together. They looked to be at the age of ten each, and their style of dress was way out of date. But what truly made Yugi do a double take was the look in their eyes. They danced and played as if they were having a great day, but when he looked at them, their eyes oozed of hatred and malice. The pupils were completely black, as if they weren't truly seeing what was in front of them. But that wasn't even the worst of it. When the girls turned their heads a certain way, Yugi could see that parts of their faces were burnt so badly, that the muscle and bone protruded from their faces. It was almost as if they were two faced-one side normal, and the other side, grotesque skull face. Yugi stared at them in revulsion, and eventually they started to imitate the dance of "Ring around the Rosy," spun around a few times and then disappeared into the side of the wall of the mansion.

"Yugi?"

Yugi snapped out of his daze to find Yami staring at him with a worried look. It was the look that made Yugi's stomach bubble with guilt when knowing that he couldn't say anything to make it go away. He couldn't say anything about it yet…he wasn't ready.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Yugi just avoided his eyes.

"It's nothing…" And he rushed to catch up with Joey, Tea and Tristan who were now near the front door. By the time he and Yami caught up with them Joey had just opened the door, and they all carefully went inside.

They walked in to a large foyer, with stairs leading up at the far end, and a doorway on each of the left and right. The walls looked like your stereotypical haunted house with its spider web encrusted candle chandelier, grimy mirrors, and old pictures whose eyes seemed to follow you as you walked by. It did nothing to quell Yugi's fear of sleeping in a house for five days with spirits that he could now see.

"Wow, your Grandpa sure knows how to live good Yugi." Joey said looking at the room in awe. "I wonder why he didn't wanna live here?"

"I'm wondering why he sent us here to check it out and stay here for a while when he didn't want to live in it himself." Yugi said.

"Only one way to find out!" Tristan said walking towards the doorway on the left. "Let's check out this place."

Everyone followed him and it led into what looked like a living room. The couches and tables were still there, albeit they were covered in dust and cobwebs. There was no lighting or anything that could give off a light, so Tea went into her backpack and grabbed a flashlight. Although there was light pouring in from the windows from the dying sun, it didn't seem to be enough light to see everything. At the end of the room, there was a fireplace which Joey was looking at eagerly.

"Did anyone bring a match or something? We should have a fire!"

"Yeah, I'm good with that!" Tristan said, already looking in his backpack for his lighter. Tea shined the flashlight on them which made them shield their eyes. "Oi!"

"Guys, wait until we've checked the whole place out first." she said. "What if the chimney is broken at the top or something and you catch us all on fire?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "C'mon Tea, that's not gonna happen."

"It could!"

"Guys, how about Yugi and I go upstairs and check it out?" Yami said pointing to a closed door that no one else noticed before. "You three can stay down here and check out the kitchen."

"Kitchen?" Joey perked up like a dog that's caught on to a scent. "Yeah! Let's go look for it!"

"You know there won't be any food in there, right?" Tristan said, following Joey and Tea through the doorway. After the door closed, Yugi could hear Joey say, "Canned food lasts a long time!"

"Are you ready?" Yami asked.

Yugi looked at him and knew the real reason why Yami wanted some alone time with him but followed him all the same. They both exited the room and climbed the stairs in the foyer, which was surprisingly stable despite how old and under kempt it was. As they climbed it, Yami brushed his hands off the side of his shirt after touching the railing.

"This place is very dusty."

"Yeah, it's been abandoned for a really long time." Yugi said, trying to keep his voice light, but it seemed harder to do when he was actually trying. "I guess that Ranger wasn't taking care of it like Grandpa hoped…"

When they got to the top, the hallway curved towards around the building. They followed it and found multiple doors that looked like they could be bedrooms. There were five doors on each side of the hallway, and at the very end, were more stairs that no doubt, led to the third level. There wasn't much light due to the lack of windows in the hallway, so Yami lit another flashlight so that they could properly explore.

Yugi opened one of the doors and found a bathroom, which was good to know that the place had at least one. Out of curiosity, he turned the faucet handle and was surprised to see water come out like a recently used one. Yugi then turned off the faucet and closed the door behind him. Upon turning towards the end of the hallway did he see something that shocked him:

An old man was standing in front of the door that led to the third floor. He was dressed in an old farmer's outfit, complete with the wicker hat and the piece of straw hanging out of his mouth. But like the small children that Yugi saw outside, this man had a look in his eyes that wasn't alive, and wasn't nice. Yugi stared at him, and the man stared back, yet didn't do anything for which Yugi was grateful. But he was sure not to take his eyes off of the man for too long, in case he turned around and found the farmer closer than when he looked before.

Yami must have noticed his nervousness because he started the conversation that Yugi was expecting and dreading at the same time.

"Alright Yugi, what's going on? Something's wrong…"

Yugi positioned himself so that he could look at Yami and still see the man, which made him feel a little better. "I'm sorry but…"

He hesitated, wondering how to go about telling him this, but then decided to be blunt.

"There are ghosts all over the place."

Yami stared at him for a second in surprise at his blunt attitude. So then Yugi told him of what happened earlier and how he could suddenly see the apparitions and what actually happened to Tristan's horse. When Yugi was done, Yami looked nervous.

"You're sure they're not friendly?"

"Yeah…they're…" Yugi shuddered at the remembrance at the ghosts he saw earlier. "They're not nice. But none of them tried to hurt us yet."

"Except for Tristan's horse." Yami reminded him.

"And the one that's at the end of the hallway. By the looks of him, he wants to kill something."

Yami whirled around to face the end of the hallway, stared for a second, and then looked at Yugi with an eyebrow raised.

"Are you sure?"

Yugi looked at the man, who looked angrier now that he alerted Yami of his presence. "Positive. Why don't you use the Puzzle to try and see them? "

Yami looked down at the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. Since he and Yugi gained their own bodies, the item had become something that neither of them really needed, yet kept around for nostalgia sake. It still had its powers, but the two of them decided that the world was better off when the power was left undisturbed. Now however, since they arrived at this mansion, Yugi felt that the need for its power was growing.

"I'm not sure," Yami said uncertainly. "I don't use the Puzzle for things like this often, and that time with Tristan's horse was an accident…"

"Just try," Yugi urged. He wanted to see how the Puzzle worked and maybe Yami would be able to see what he sees. It was worth a shot anyway.

"Alright," Yami closed his eyes and the Puzzle gave a soft but faint yellow glow that shined easier with the darkness that covered the hallway. After thirty seconds, the glow stopped and Yami opened his eyes again. "I think I see now. There definitely is something at the end of the hallway, and some things downstairs too…"

Yugi blinked. "Oh, you saw other things too?"

Yami looked at him uncertainly. "Well it's more like sensing, unlike you who can see these things with the naked eye. Despite what a lot of people think, there's a big difference between the two. And it's a lot easier with the Puzzle. Without it, it takes me a lot longer to tell where they are."

Yugi looked at the man at the end of the hallway and disconcerted to see that he was, if possible, angrier than he was before. His jaw was clenched, fists shaking, and looked like he was debating on coming up to them. There would be points where he would look like he was about to stride over, but then think twice and stay where he was. During those periods, the man turned in such a way that Yugi could see what looked like a knife sticking out of his side, oozing transparent blood. Yugi shuddered and backed up.

"Let's go back downstairs." he said, "I don't want to stay with him any more…"

Yami looked at him sadly. "Alright."

They turned around and Yugi made sure to keep an eye on the guy for as long as possible before turning away to go back downstairs.

"When do you plan on telling the others about this?" Yami said quietly. "They would want to know…"

"…Soon." Yugi said and Yami said no more.

They retraced their steps and found where Tea, Joey and Tristan were before, but they weren't there now.

"Hmm, I guess we'll just have to explore until we find them," Yami said. The room that he sent them into was not the kitchen, but a pantry, with lots of cabinets. It was obvious that they were looked through, but they were all empty. In the next room over, they could see the shining of a flashlight so they followed it.

Joey, Tea and Tristan had found the kitchen, and were attempting to raid everything that could have food in it. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any food, anywhere.

"I told you Joey," Tristan said. "Good thing we brought our own food."

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for keeping his hopes up," Joey said closing one of the food closets.

Yugi had to admit, the kitchen was nice. The countertops looked like they had once been nice with floral decoration, and a once shiny sink and fridge. While everything was old fashioned, they could have once been top of the line. Tea must have been thinking the same thing because she asked the question that was in Yugi's mind.

"So, if Grandpa was willing to put this much money into the place, why did he leave?"

"Yeah, this is a nice place!" Tristan said. "I wouldn't mind living here, once it's fixed up a bit."

The three of them suddenly noticed Yugi and Yami's arrival and walked towards them.

"Hey, so how was it upstairs? Is it safe?" Tea asked.

"Well, we found the bedrooms, and there is a bathroom up there as well," Yami said. "But we decided not to go on to the third floor without more light."

He held up his flashlight that didn't seem to give off much light.

"Hey, I have another flashlight we can use," Tristan said and he pulled out his flashlight which seemed to have better battery power. "See?"

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that Yami understood that he wasn't ready to broadcast his new ability to everyone just yet, and was even more grateful that Yami remembered to make up a good cover story as to why they didn't explore the third floor like they originally said they were going to, because he forgot.

"Alright so I'll go with ya Yami," Tristan said, holding up his superior flashlight. "Maybe we can find some matches to light these candles or something."

As Yami and Tristan went to walk out of the room, Yugi said, "Be careful." Yami gave him a meaningful look and the two of them walked out to go back upstairs.

"Alright, so how about we explore the other side of the house?" Joey said rubbing his hands together.

So Yugi, Joey and Tea made their way back to the foyer to check out the room that was on the other side. When they entered, they had to use all of their flashlights because there was absolutely no light coming in from outside due to the lack of windows. When the lights were on, the three of them gasped in wonder at the room.

It looked like someone's private study, with plush couches, bookshelves that were still packed with books, and a fireplace at the end. Even under all of the dust, it was easy to tell that the wood that made up everything was made from expensive dark wood. The walls were also different from the rest of the house. While the rest of the mansion was made of stone, this part was made up of brick and granite. This definitely looked to be the most expensive room in the house.

"Oh wow," Tea said. "If we could just put some lights in here, and clean up a bit, this would be a real nice room!"

"Yeah, and we could add a mini fridge here," Joey said pointing at a bare spot in between two of the bookshelves. "And the TV can go here…"

As Joey was picturing how he would remodel the room, Yugi looked to the fireplace and saw the old man again, staring at him. Yugi figured he should have been expecting something to be in the room, but somehow it still surprised him, and it surprised him even more that it was the same man from upstairs. He still looked livid and that he wanted nothing more than to take the knife sticking out from his side and run Yugi through with it. But something was holding him back, and Yugi wasn't quite sure what that was. Nonetheless, Yugi wanted to get as far away from this man as possible.

"Oh, hey, I think I hear Yami calling us," Yugi said quickly fabricating the lie and inching towards the door. "We should go and see what they want."

Joey and Tea luckily found nothing unusual about this so they followed Yugi out the door, only to find the foyer completely quiet.

"Are you sure you heard him Yugi?" Tea asked looking up the stairs. "I don't see them…"

"Maybe I was just imagining things…" Yugi said. He still felt nervous, like the man was still staring at him, waiting to make his move. Joey suddenly looked at him strangely as if he was just starting to think something was up. Yugi tried hard to pretend that he didn't notice him staring and focused on the room that they just left. Although the study was dark, Yugi was sure he could feel the old man staring at him, much like he was before. Joey looked like he was going to say something but then Yami and Tristan came down the stairs at that moment turning their flashlights off as they came into the foyer.

"Hey, good news," Tristan said. "The chimney is in one piece, so we can make a fire if we can find the wood."

"Awesome!" Joey said. "But maybe we should think about food too. I'm starved."

Tea rolled her eyes. "If you guys get the wood and start a fire, we can cook some of those hot dogs we brought."

That's all it took to get Joey and Tristan out the door in search of firewood. Tea went into the living room to tidy up around the fireplace. Yugi was about to follow her when Yami put a hand on his shoulder. When Yugi turned to look at him, he had a worried look on his face.

"Look," he said. "When we went upstairs, I felt something…odd."

"Like what?" Yugi asked.

"I'm not sure, but it was definitely powerful, and really dangerous. I just want you to promise me that you'll never go up there…okay?"

That caught Yugi by surprise. Whatever was dangerous enough to make Yami feel uncomfortable was never good news.

"Alright, I promise."

Yami seemed to sigh in relief. "Thank you…" And with that he followed Tea into the living room.

Yugi stood alone in the foyer thinking about Yami's warning. What was it that had Yami so spooked? And if was so dangerous and powerful, why didn't it do anything when Yami and Tristan went to the third floor? There were so many questions that Yugi had that it also brought up a new one that seemed to come up a lot:

Why can't they ever have a normal vacation?