Chapter Two: The Manor
The next day, once the six heroes had met up at the warehouse, they transformed into their pure magic forms and soared off in the direction of England. A few reports came the next day about people in Asia and Europe supposedly seeing streams of blue, green, orange, pink, grey, and white light flying throughout the sky, but most people brushed it off as either a figment of imagination or just some UFOs.
Finally, at eight o'clock at night in England, the six found themselves flying over a wooded area. The other five showers of magic followed the grey one as it flew around the top of the forest for a few minutes, appearing to be searching for something, and then finally swooped down into the trees.
The six showers soared down to the ground and landed in a small, well-hidden clearing. They stood behind an old, forlorn manor. Once the two-story home must have been enchantingly elegant, but after having been abandoned long ago, the place just looked eerie. It was made of grey, weathered stone which was slowly crumbling onto the ground. The windows with black shutters had all long ago been shattered by pranksters, and the black shingles were slowly falling off of the roof. The creepiness of the place was enhanced by the darkness of the forest surrounding it, with only a few rays of moonlight shining through the thick trees.
The showers transformed back into the human teens that they really were. They stared up at the former Marsden Manor.
"Well, dis place is…creepy," Joey said.
"If there are ghosts in this world, they're definitely going to hang out here," Tristan added.
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "There aren't, and they're not. Now can we please just get this over with?"
The six walked around to the front of the house. Sitting on the grey stone stairs that led up to the large, black doors was a pretty curly-haired brunette with blue eyes. She wore a sleeveless black turtleneck, a red mini-skirt, and knee-high black boots. A black backpack was slung over her shoulder.
She had been gazing down at a black scrapbook in her hands, but now she looked up as the six came around the side of the house. Her blue eyes lit up with delight. She snapped the book shut, jumped up, and ran over to Bakura. "You're here!" she said happily with a thick British accent. "So lovely that you could make it!" She looked around at the others. "And I see you've brought some company along."
Bakura looked back at the others. "Guys, this is Rose," Bakura said, "one of my former friends from around here. Rose, this is Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, and Kaiba."
"It's nice to meet all of you," Rose nodded to them. "You're all ready to perhaps meet up with a few spirits, I hope."
Kaiba snorted. "Yeah, right."
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, so you don't believe in the paranormal, huh?" She waved a finger at him. "You might want to be care-ful. The spirits especially like to come at those who don't believe in them."
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I'm not all that worried about some ghost jumping out at me."
Rose shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said. She looked back at Bakura. "Now then, I've been doing intense research on this place for the past year, trying to find out why we saw what we saw on that night. Why don't we all come inside and I'll show you guys around and tell you about what I found."
She and the six heroes walked up to the house. Rose slowly pushed the door open. She looked back at Bakura and smiled. "No one greeting us at the door today, I'm afraid," she laughed.
"What a shame," he said, trying to keep a smile on his face.
The teens walked in and gazed around the place. The inside was just as badly mangled as the outside. Furniture in a room on the side had been covered up with white cloths, making them look as though they were ghosts themselves. A fireplace stood in the back with an old clock on its mantel that had stopped working a long time ago, and hung above it was an antique sword with a rusted silver handle. A stairway in front of them looked as though it would collapse if someone stepped on it, and cobwebs were strung along the banister and railings. The entirety of the floor was covered with a thick layer of dust.
Téa gave a small shiver. "It's so cold in here…" she said.
Rose grinned. "That's usually what happens when a ghost is around. I do believe this means we're definitely going to see some spirits tonight."
"Oh, uh…how wonderful…" Téa said. She gave another shiver; this one, however, wasn't from the chill in the house.
"First things first," Rose said. She showed the others her scrapbook. "In here is all of the information which I've collected about this place over the year. Now then, let me tell you about the people who originally lived here."
Before she could open it, however, Bakura suddenly let out a cry.
The others turned and saw that he was clutching at his head in agony. "Bakura, what's wrong?" Yugi asked.
Bakura slowly opened his eyes. He gazed around the room at the side and slowly stepped into it. "I…I don't know why, but I suddenly saw an image of this place when it was new…it was as though I was sitting in…this chair right here." He indicated one of the white-sheeted items on the left. "And there were these two other people in the room…a man standing right here…" He pointed in front of the fireplace. "…and a girl sitting right here." He pointed at the white-sheeted item on the right.
Rose stared at him in shock. "Bakura…did they look like this?" She opened up her scrapbook and pointed at an old portrait of a man standing by two girls, one in her twenties and the other in her teens, all of whom were dressed in elegant clothing of the early nineteenth century.
"Yes! That's them!" he cried out, pointing at the man and younger girl.
"Hmm…interesting…" Rose murmured. "The man in this painting is Lord Marsden, the original owner of this place, and these are his two girls Scarlett and Violet. He'd moved here because he was hoping that Scarlett, the elder daughter, would marry another wealthy man who lived nearby in a long-gone manor named Edward Carrington." She pointed at another portrait of a wealthy-looking young man who would have been handsome except for the rather sly and smug look in his eyes. "He wasn't exactly a very charming young man unless he acted like it. Scarlett saw through the act, however, and took an almost immediate disliking for him. Instead, she apparently fell for one of his servants."
Bakura suddenly cried out again, and his hands clutched at his head. He winced a little in pain.
The others stared at him. "Bakura, are you all right?" Yugi asked.
Bakura slowly lowered his hands and opened his eyes again. "Yes…it's just…I saw a girl's hand holding two sketches in my head…one looked like that older girl in the painting, and the other of a rose."
Rose stared at him with wide eyes. She turned the page of her scrapbook and showed it to the others, revealing two copies of ancient sketches which had been placed inside-one evidently of Scarlett, and the other of a rose.
"The servant, whoever he was, drew these sketches for Scarlett…they were tokens of his affection…" she breathed out.
Bakura stared in shock at the sketches. "They're the ones I saw…" he said.
Rose stared at the drawings for a moment, deep in thought. Finally she snapped the scrapbook shut. "C'mon, Bakura, let's go back here into this room," she said, taking his hand and pulling him past the stairway towards a door in the back. The others followed behind them, a bit perplexed by what was happening
"Which room is that?" he asked.
Rose smiled at him. "I'm actually not going to tell you," she replied.
"What? Why?"
"I think something quite special is going on here," Rose said, "and I want to test you just to make sure my guess is right…"
