Téa had given Duke and Bakura the necessary keys as they searched the top floor. Each office looked the same: posters of old productions covered the walls, old programs filled the shelves, along with music and scripts, and the desks themselves were neatly maintained.
"I don't see anything out of the ordinary here…" said Bakura, aiming his flashlight around the desk.
Duke picked up the nearest file.
"Yeah, I think we got cheated out of all of the action again," he said. "Everything's in order here; I doubt anyone involved in the theater would be a part of it. And I think Téa might be the only one here who's even aware of what's going on… hey! Speaking of Téa, listen to this!"
"What is it?" asked Bakura, looking up.
"It's the cast list for this summer's production of The Sound of Music; Téa's been cast as Maria!"
"Good for her! Goodness knows she could use a bit of good news for a change!"
"You know, you would've been a shoo-in for a role; you should have auditioned!" said Duke.
Bakura glared at him.
"What? It was a compliment…"
Anyway," said Bakura, moving on. "I think you're right about nothing being here; we've already searched through--"
He was cut off as a snow globe fell from the desk. Duke managed to save it before it hit the ground.
"Watch it, will you?" he asked, annoyed.
"I didn't touch it!" Bakura protested.
"Oh, so it jumped off of the desk on its own?" asked Duke. "I bet Kaiba would have something to say about that--"
"It was him!" Bakura exclaimed, pointing to a large tarantula crawling across the desk. "I think it's the same goliath bird-eater that the others found last night! …You know, my father, after one of his travels, once mentioned that these spiders, if prepared properly, can be roasted and eaten…"
Duke stared at Bakura.
"Please tell me he wasn't speaking from experience…" He glanced back at the arachnid. Without taking his eyes off of the creature, he grabbed a large book on stage movement and took careful aim.
"Hold on!" said Bakura, stopping him. "You'll smash the fiber optics, too; Kaiba will be furious."
"So what do you want me to do?" asked Duke, with an air of sarcasm. "Distract it with a chicken wing while we get the fiber optics off of it? Or maybe we should try your dad's idea and try to barbeque the thing?"
"Look, all I said--"
"Hold that thought," ordered Duke, as the spider leaped off of the desk and scuttled out the door. Book in hand, he went after it.
"Duke, wait!" Bakura said. "I told you, you'll smash the--"
THUD.
"Why do I even bother…?" Bakura asked, with a sigh.
"I'm sure Kaiba can figure out what's what," Duke said, coming back into view with a small network of wiring.
"For your sake, I hope so…"
"Never mind," Duke went on. "Anyway, after searching up here for hours, all we found was this. Think you can take me back to where you found that water source yesterday?"
"Through the air vent, you mean?" asked Bakura.
"No, by the pier," he replied, sarcastically.
"I'm sure the auditorium wouldn't have anything on normal days," said Mai, as she searched the aisles. "But the next production isn't for a while, so this might be a place to hide something…"
"Nothing in the upper seats!" called Tristan, his voice coming from above. "Think that chandelier would hide something?"
"Doubt it… judging by the way things have been going, I'd have expected the thieves to send it crashing," said Mokuba, who was inspecting backstage. "Hey, I think I found something!"
In a matter of minutes, the others joined him as he tried to pry a panel loose from the wall.
"I think it's hollow behind this," he said. Sure enough, the panel finally slid open, revealing a cobweb-laden passageway.
"I wouldn't get my hopes up," said Tristan. "This is backstage, after all; I bet it's just a passageway to allow for entrances and exits from the green room or something."
"Then why has it clearly been unused?" asked Mai, indicating the layer of dust on the floor.
"That means that the thieves don't know about it, either!" said Mokuba, intrigued. "What are we waiting for?"
"Wait, I don't think that it's a good--" Mai began, but the boy had already run into the passageway. She exchanged glances with Tristan, shrugged her shoulders once, and headed into the passageway herself. "Just watch your head when you come in, Tristan; the ceiling's a little--"
"Ow!"
Mai flinched at the sound.
"You OK back there, Tristan?" she asked.
"Oh, sure…" he said, massaging his head.
"Hey, Téa, just how old is this place, anyway?" asked Joey, after another cloud of dust made him sneeze. "It certainly seems ancient…"
"Well, I know that the theater has been in operation since the '50s," recalled Téa. "But the building itself is actually a lot older. It was originally used by a metal smith's family for a few generations, where they made swords, armor, household objects, and all sorts of things; in fact, some of the props you saw yesterday were made by them! I guess his family built all of these passageways and rooms. But as the demand for products lessened and lessened, the last owner got more and more bitter. He was forced to sell the building to the theater company, who renovated it to what we see here today… I guess they never knew about everything here. But I'm not surprised; the previous owner hated himself and everyone involved for being driven to sell. He wouldn't have wanted to tell anyone his family secrets…"
"And let me guess…" said Seto, sarcastically. "His restless spirit is somewhere in this theater, haunting it, and sending tarantulas after us?"
"If that's true, Kaiba, he might be ready to blame you for putting him out of business," said Joey. "Think about it… if he made all of those swords and armor, he'd blame your stepfather's machines for the decrease in demand. And that mean's he's going to be after you."
"And does it look like I care, let alone believe in restless spirits anyway?" Seto asked.
"Madame Mystíca sure does…" Téa said. "I wonder if that was the spirit she saw haunting you…"
"There is no spirit haunting me!" Seto retorted.
"Hold everything!" ordered Yugi. "Kaiba, can you aim the flashlight a little bit forward? I think I see something…"
"Yeah, it looks like… footprints?" asked Joey, a bewildered look on his face, as the footprints were clearly visible in the deep dust. "Téa, I thought you said nobody knew about this place…"
"Obviously, Wheeler, someone does," said Seto. "And by the looks of it, it's not a ghost."
"Sarcastic, but true…" said Téa. "But have you noticed that there are other passageways coming off of this one? I don't see footprints there… which makes me wonder--"
Joey sneezed again.
"Why is there so much mildew!?" he blurted out, scowling at the reeking smell. "I thought you needed water for mildew; there's only dust here! So where's the water coming from?"
"Remember what Bakura said yesterday about hearing water and oars?" asked Yugi. "I bet we'll find out answers soon enough."
"Or… not…" said Joey, as the footsteps led them to an empty room. But that wasn't the oddest thing; the footsteps were clearly marked until the middle of the room, and then they vanished. "Well, Kaiba, what does the skeptic's mind have to say about this?"
Wordlessly, Seto reached into the dust and pulled up a trapdoor. A thick rope was attached to a metal ring just beneath the door.
"Why am I not surprised…?" he commented, as he glanced at the dust on his fingertips. "This dust isn't what it seems to be… It looks like flour mixed with powdered concrete…"
"You mean the dust is fake!?" asked Yugi, kneeling down to inspect it. "But everything looks so old here… and there was only one set of footprints… are you sure of this, Kaiba?"
"And what exactly would be the benefit of my making it up?" Seto asked. "They used flour to give it the same thickness as ordinary dust and concrete to give it the gray look."
"Why would anyone bother trying to cover their trail with fake dust!?" asked Téa, bewildered. "And especially when they left this trail of footprints?"
"I hate to say it," said Seto. "But between their obvious noise and this set of footprints, it's clear that they want us to go through this trapdoor."
"So… are we?" asked Téa.
Seto glared at the open doorway, as it seemingly taunted him. He knew that the remainder of his lost equipment would be there waiting for him… and so was a more-than-likely trap. But he wasn't helpless; he could hold his own, just as he had on several occasions in the past.
"I'm going to take a look down there alone," he declared. "But I suppose it's pointless to tell you all to stay behind."
"Completely pointless," agreed Yugi.
Seto rolled his eyes, and, one by one, they descended down the trapdoor.
"Well, Joey, there's your water source…" said Téa, her eyes wide, as some sort of deep, lake came into view before them, its water flowing slightly. "Oh, and look! It's our carriage from Hello, Dolly—the one that we couldn't find yesterday! It's on the other side of the lake!"
"I guess this does account for the severe case of mildew…" said Yugi. "But how is this possible? How can water get down here?"
"Actually, it's not impossible when you consider that this is a seaside town, with most of it situated below sea level," said Seto. "It'd be too easy for groundwater to find its way in here. And, as evidenced here, it has. Every time the tide comes in, it feeds this lake. I expect that it gets larger every day. And our thieving friends decided to take that carriage to use as a boat."
"Seto!" a voice exclaimed. A panel had opened, and Mokuba, Mai, and Tristan appeared.
"We've got to stop meeting like this…" said Duke, as he and Bakura arrived via the air vent.
"Now that's interesting…" commented Yugi. "Three different groups, and yet we all ended up in the same place."
"Oh, and we saw that goliath from yesterday," added Bakura. "Duke made short work of him, though."
"That's right," he said, tossing the smashed electronics to Seto. "Hope that helps in some way…"
"This would have been far more useful intact…" Seto informed him, staring derisively at the useless equipment.
Bakura gave Duke a glance that clearly said, "I told you so…"
"Well, then!" said Joey. "Since we're all here, why not forge into the waters and find out what they're hiding down here?"
He was answered with a hoard of flashlights appearing from the other side of the water. The lights were too bright and too numerous to discern who was on the other side, and it didn't help that the eyes were shining right in their eyes, reducing their vision.
"Back the way you came!" called Yugi.
Bakura tried to jump up to reach the air vent, but decided against it, and followed Duke, who was already following Mai, Mokuba, and Tristan back through the sliding panel. Seto, Téa, Yugi, and Joey clambered up the trapdoor rope.
The sound of oars told them that the thieves were, in fact, pursuing them.
"I knew they were waiting for us…" Seto thought, furiously. "I should never have let Yugi and his crew to follow me. The only possible consolation is that I now know where to go tomorrow. And this time, I'm going in alone. And I have to bank on the fact that the thieves won't be expecting anyone to return so soon."
Both teams made it out of the theater. Téa didn't even bother trying to lock the doors this time; there was no telling how close behind the thieves were.
"Where do we go now?" asked Téa. "We can't afford to have them following us and finding out where we live!"
"The psychic's shop!" exclaimed Mai. "We can hide there until it's safe."
Seto wasn't too keen on the idea; not only was he a nonbeliever, but he was convinced that the psychic was somehow connected to the very thieves that they were trying to escape from. How else had she known about the contents in the letter he had seen on the Gazette editor's desk? The only way would be if she was the one who had sent the letter in the first place. Given the fact that she was located so close to the paper, it was possible. Or maybe she was even the absent editor, and had received the letter instead.
On the other hand, Seto had to agree that infiltrating the realm of the enemy might prove to be useful. Rationalizing this, as well as realizing that Mokuba was going with the others, he reluctantly joined them after all.
Upon their arrival, they noticed that the sign upon the door claimed that shop was closed, and yet the door had been left ever so slightly ajar.
"Do you think she was expecting us?" asked Téa.
No one stopped to answer, still concerned that they were still being pursued. They merely entered the shop, with Seto wondering if they had stumbled into yet another trap.
There wasn't a single person in the lobby, except for a small capuchin monkey sitting at the front desk. The monkey was dressed in a little silk robe, and was carrying a miniature crystal ball. The monkey chattered happily, handing Yugi a visitors' sign-in sheet.
Seto took one look at the creature.
"That's it; I'm gone," he declared, turning to leave. Mokuba literally had to block his escape.
"Seto, you can't go out there; what if they're still looking for us?" he asked.
"I'm more willing to take my chances with them than with that thing," he said, casting a derisive glare at the monkey.
"Ah, welcome, my young friends," said Mystíca, coming into view herself. "I was worried that you might not make it; there are spirits about tonight; and several of them mean ill." She glanced out the window. "Perhaps it would be best if you all came into my reading room? I could try to see if I can sort out these perplexing auras, if you so choose."
The friends all exchanged glances and entered the room she was indicating. Even Seto entered, though not before giving a warning glare to the monkey. It was going to be a long visit.