Chapter Two

Lector and Evangeline both looked to the childhood picture in shock.

"Why, Yugi's right," Evangeline said in amazement. "You got the dark teeth, and the claws, and the horns, and even the whitish mane! You were so talented, Démas!"

"That isn't what Yugi meant," Lector said. "The card game didn't even exist when I was growing up. How in the world did I know to draw a Berserk Dragon?!"

Crump was looking at the back of the picture. "Somebody wrote something here," he announced. "'Démas drew his imaginary friend.' And there's quotation marks around imaginary."

"That makes it sound like whoever wrote that knew it wasn't imaginary," Johnson remarked.

"Okay, that's just weird," Téa frowned.

"It's also kind of weird that when I got corrupted by Dr. Raven's amulet, I immediately opened a portal and a Berserk Dragon came out," Evangeline said. "I don't remember specifically trying to summon that monster, so why did it come?"

"In the game, you can't even get Berserk Dragon without that annoying Deal with Dark Ruler Trap card," Joey frowned. "So I mean, it's pretty rare."

"That's in the game, though," Yugi said. "What about real-life?"

Evangeline paused, looking thoughtful. "You don't suppose . . ." She turned to Lector. "What if Berserk Dragon has always kind of been in the family?"

"You mean like how Blue-Eyes White Dragon is so special to our family?" Mokuba chirped.

Seto grunted. He still didn't like accepting that he was related to the priest who had served Atem . . . although he did have to admit it was a marked improvement over Ishizu and Yami Bakura thinking he actually was that priest re-born.

"Yeah," Evangeline said. "Something like that." She smiled. "It's a nice thought anyway."

"I don't know how we'd go about finding out," Lector said. "It was our mother who wrote this caption on my drawing, but I hardly feel like asking her about it."

Evangeline made a face. "Father probably forbade her from telling you if Berserk Dragon was real, so she had to pretend he was imaginary instead," she said.

". . . Although she didn't seem to recognize Berserk Dragon when you summoned it," Lector remembered. "She was highly upset on the phone talking about you riding off on some creature."

"Are you sure your mother wrote the caption?" Gansley asked. "Perhaps it was your grandmother or your great-grandmother, if their handwriting was similar."

Lector looked at it again. ". . . I suppose it could have been Grandmother," he conceded. "Before her mind went, putting those quotation marks around imaginary sounds like something she would have done."

"We should visit her while you're here, Démas," Evangeline said. "Maybe we can ask her about Berserk Dragon too."

"We'll see," Lector said, not sure that asking about the dragon would be a good idea.

"Maybe there's even some old journals or something around here that'd talk about it," Joey suggested.

"It's worth a try," Yugi smiled.

"I think we've been through all the journals and logs and letters in this house," Evangeline said. "But you're right; it wouldn't hurt to look some more."

The front door opened and Angelique came in with several bags filled with take-out from her family's restaurant. "Hello, everyone," she greeted them with a smile. "I hope I brought enough for all of you!"

"Ohhh man, somethin' smells good!" Joey exclaimed.

"Hi, Angelique," Yugi smiled. "It's great to see you again."

"Let's just hope we can have a nice, quiet visit this time," Angelique said. "I'd love to see all of you when there aren't horrible things happening to us."

"Wouldn't we all," Tristan sighed.

The group had a nice, quiet dinner, at least, discussing happier things for the most part. Crump talked a lot about Penguin World and the penguins that inhabited it. Everyone was amused by the tales of George and Sammy.

"Sometime we're going to have to visit you and see these cute penguins for ourselves," Evangeline smiled.

"That'd be great," Téa said. "We'd love to show you Domino City!"

"How's it been running your businesses out here?" Crump wondered. "Everything going okay?"

"Things have been pretty quiet with Dr. Raven in prison," Angelique said. "Thankfully."

Evangeline nodded. "And with the ghosts at the hotel behaving, there haven't been any problems there either. The stock prices for our family business have finally been rising again, Démas!" She looked to Lector, unable to hide the pride in her eyes.

Lector smiled. "I'm so proud of you, Evangeline. You're correcting everything our father ruined."

Evangeline's eyes flickered. "Well . . . I do what I can," she said softly, "but I can't fix how the family feels about you. And I'm not sure I can ever see any of them in the same light or even forgive them for what they've done to you."

"And I can't blame you," Lector sighed. "Normally I'd be feeling that hateful too. I don't know why I haven't."

"Maybe it was just one blow too many," Bakura said softly. "After a while, if you get beat down too much, it just becomes too impossible to stand and the fight goes out of you."

"I have definitely never been crushed as thoroughly and as completely as I was then," Lector said quietly. "It hurt desperately when I was shunned by the family before, but I still never once dreamed that Father would betray me to Dr. Raven or anyone else to save the rest of the family."

"Who would?!" Crump exclaimed. "Nobody does stuff like that!"

"I really wonder what the history is between the families," Angelique said. "I'm ashamed that Dr. Raven is even related to me!"

"Well, the important thing is that we're putting all that rivalry nonsense behind us and forging a new future as friends," Evangeline said. "Our families will be united from now on, starting with this generation!"

"But it might not be a bad idea to find out what happened in the past," Atem said. "Just in case Dr. Raven has other relatives out there who might try to cause trouble for you."

"The only other relative is Marcel Germaine," Evangeline protested, "and he's on our side!"

"Let's hope he's the only one," Atem said.

Worry flickered in Angelique's eyes. Now she would be wondering what the truth was for sure. She hadn't known about Marcel Germaine until recently. What if there were others?

". . . Well," Evangeline said, deciding a new subject was in order, "you'll all need to pick rooms again and decide how you want to pair up. . . ."

"Somebody'll still be out in the cold again," Crump said in concern.

"Eh. I'll bunk alone," Gansley said. "Without Gozaburo around, I doubt there will be anything worse than a possibly voyeuristic ghost, and I highly doubt it will have much fun watching an old man sleep."

"Are you serious?!" Joey exclaimed. "I'd never bunk alone in a ghost-infested place!"

Nesbitt grunted. "After Vivian Wong, even the thought of a voyeuristic ghost is too much."

"I don't really have a great deal of choice in the matter," Gansley said.

"At least there hasn't been as much trouble like that since we hired some servants," Evangeline said with a weak smile. "There's a maid, a gardener, and a butler. Maybe having servants around makes the ghosts feel like things are more the way they're supposed to be and they don't feel restless enough to come out as much."

"In any case, we left the cot down, just as it was before," Angelique said, "so technically three people could go in one room."

"I don't mind using the cot," Crump said.

Gansley looked at him and finally shook his head with a fond smile. "Heh. Well, if it will put your mind at ease, Crump. But I'm sure there's not any more danger and I'm not afraid of the ghost that silently watches."

"I sure think it's freaky!" Crump declared. "Why the heck would the ghost get a kick out of that?!"

"I would rather not know," Lector said emphatically.

After dinner everyone separated to scope out their various rooms and ponder on what to do next. Evangeline had told them they were all free to wander around the house as much as they wanted, but most didn't really care to do so.

Nesbitt wasn't sure what to think either way. He sank down on the edge of one of the beds and looked away, staring off at the window. "The last time we were in this house, I spent a lot of the time not knowing who you are," he said. Though his voice was gruff, the regret and sorrow in it was obvious.

"That was through no fault of your own," Lector told him.

"I know," Nesbitt growled. "It's just that being here again digs up all those painful memories. I wanted to put them behind us."

"We'll never forget them entirely," Lector said. "Nor would I want to. What Gozaburo did was extremely horrendous and unforgivable. But . . . it also showed just how much you care about me. You couldn't really forget me even with that strong spell trying to force you to. I would never want to forget about that."

Nesbitt sighed. Lector did have a point, he had to admit. If it came right down to it, he wouldn't want to forget that either.

". . . I wonder if there is any truth to what they were saying about Berserk Dragon," he said instead.

"I don't know," Lector said. "I was so young when I drew that picture that now I don't remember if I drew it because I saw the real dragon."

"Even if Berserk Dragon has always kind of been your family's dragon, why?" Nesbitt frowned. "I mean, why it as opposed to some other Duel Monster?"

"I can't imagine," Lector said. "As an adult, my reason for liking it is because of its power and usefulness. If I were to go on design alone, it's actually rather unsettling. The original name Pegasus came up with for it was Berserk Dead Dragon. He got away with that in Japan, but I guess parents here in America thought that was too demented and he had to change it."

Nesbitt stared at him. "So it's a zombie or something?"

". . . I suppose that fits for a family that practiced vodun, doesn't it," Lector said with a wry smirk of realization.

Nesbitt grunted and laid back on the bed. "Maybe you really do need to find out more about your family's past," he said. "Your father can't have locked everything up altogether."

"Maybe I need to talk to Mr. Devlin's friend Snakes Tolliver some more," Lector said. "He knows about my ancestors, and they may have told him some things about even further back in the family line."

"That sounds logical to me. Why don't you get his number from Duke?" Nesbitt sat up again.

"Maybe I will." Lector headed to the door. Just as he opened it, Crump was raising his hand to knock from the other side.

"Hey," Crump greeted him. "I was just going through your pictures and stuff and I found these that I thought you and Nesbitt would both like to have."

Surprised, Lector took and leafed through them. Nesbitt got off the bed to come look as well.

". . . It's pictures I drew of us," Lector said in amazement. Indeed, the drawings depicted a child Lector and his friend Robbie in various situations around the city—playing in the hotel, exploring a cemetery, watching a Mardi Gras parade. . . .

"It really made an impact on you when you met Nesbitt back then," Crump said.

"It sure did," Lector said. He had to smile.

"I wish we could have stayed in touch," Nesbitt grunted. But he also gave a smile—gruff but sincere—as he studied the drawings. The child Lector had taken great care with each one, despite his tender age. He had clearly thought a lot about all the locations and scenarios.

"Why the heck did you draw a cemetery?!" Crump exclaimed.

"I honestly don't know," Lector said. "Maybe because the family cemetery seemed so fascinating to a young child and a good place to explore. I was too young to really understand what it was for."

"I guess!" Crump snorted. "So are you guys planning to explore the house and see what kinda secrets we haven't found yet?"

Lector looked to Nesbitt, who shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "I suppose it might be a good thing to do, but I'm not sure where to look."

"Probably the attic or the basement for starters," Crump said. "I dunno if I'd have the courage to check them out, though. Especially the attic, after the trouble we had last time! Was it really just Gozaburo who made everything go skewampus and caused us to feel like the whole floor plan on the third floor changed?!"

"One would hope the ghosts who live here didn't cause such a thing," Lector said. "I almost feel like going up and making sure it doesn't happen, to try to gauge whether Evangeline is really safe here."

Crump sighed. "Makes sense to me. If you wanna do it, Pal, I'll come with ya."

"And I won't be staying behind," Nesbitt grunted.

"I'm sure Gansley and Johnson will come too," Crump said. "Probably everybody would! You'd figure there might be safety in numbers."

"Hopefully," Lector said. "I'd hate for all of us to get caught up in a changing floor plan illusion."

"That's true," Nesbitt said. "Some people should stay behind in case they need to get us out of it."

"Good point," Crump shivered.

Soon some of the group was heading upstairs, while the others decided to try the basement. The first group paused at the third floor, studying its quietly unnatural feeling. There was definitely something there that didn't care to identify itself.

"I don't know how Evangeline stayed up here long enough to fix anything," Téa said with a shiver. "It feels so freaky."

"It's plenty weird enough even without Gozaburo!" Joey chimed in. He was shaking all over.

"Evangeline is very stubborn," Lector said. "She told me she straightened all the rooms, including the one we used to play in as children. She hasn't let Gabriel play here unattended, though; whatever is here seems to especially like the play room."

"Go figure," Crump gulped.

"It's not dangerous, but she figures it would be too traumatizing for a child to sense something watching him," Lector said. "The feeling is always stronger when someone's alone."

"It's traumatizing enough right now!" Joey exclaimed. "No way would I ever come up here alone!"

Most everyone else concurred, really—even if they wouldn't say so aloud. They quickly went up the rest of the stairs to the attic.

"Well, this place looks about the same as it did when we were here last," Crump said, surveying the stacks of boxes and furniture in every direction and corner of the huge space.

"This is pretty cool," Mokuba breathed.

"So we just open box after box until we find something dealin' with Lector's family's past?" Joey blinked.

Johnson squeezed between a long table and several more stacks of boxes. "That's good enough to start with, Joseph."

"And we havta deal with knowin' that ghost is watching us the whole time!" Joey whimpered. "I can feel it!"

"Then don't wander off," Tristan retorted.

For a while they opened boxes with contents ranging from antique toys to old silverware and knick-knacks. All the while, the feeling of them being observed by the mysterious ghost persisted and even grew stronger.

"You know, as long as you're here, you could do something constructive and help us find what we want," Gansley commented to it after a while.

"Don't talk to it!" Joey exclaimed in horror.

"Hey. . . ." Téa dug deeper into the knick-knack box. "Here's something . . . maybe?" She held up a small oval object. "I'm not sure if this is a brooch or a pendant, but it's got a Berserk Dragon on it!"

"It's beautiful," Ishizu said in some surprise.

Lector quickly came over and took it. "I wonder if it's hand-crafted. . . ." He turned it over. "I don't see any manufacturer's name or a date when it was made. . . ."

"It looks quite old," Atem said. "Maybe it's from the era Snakes would remember."

"I got his number from Mr. Devlin," Lector said. "Maybe I should call him now."

"Let's look some more first." Nesbitt pawed through the box he had started on. "What the . . . . what's this?" He took out a leather-bound booklet held together by a tied string along the binding. When he opened it, the yellowed and crackly pages turned and fell open to a specific section. "This thing looks like it might disintegrate on the spot. And I can't read the language it's in, but it looks handwritten."

Lector came over to look. "It's Haitian Creole," he said in surprise.

"Can you read it?" Nesbitt asked.

"Not very well," Lector replied. "It's French-based, but it's not like standard French. Mother wanted to teach me, but Father forbade it, since he knew she only wanted to teach me in connection with vodun. I wouldn't be surprised if Evangeline has started to learn the language, though. And in all honesty, this looks like it could be a book of spells."

"What?!" Joey shrieked.

"Is that really that big of a surprise?" Tristan sighed. "We know Lector's family was into that kind of thing."

Lector turned a page and then froze. An inked drawing of a Berserk Dragon appeared at the top of the next page, followed by a text that went on for the length on it.

"Seriously?!" Crump exclaimed as he looked over.

"What is this?" Nesbitt stared at the page.

"I'm guessing it's not poetry about Berserk Dragon," Tristan sighed.

"No. . . . It looks more like it could be a spell to open a dimensional portal and call it forth," Lector said in disbelief.

"Well, so now we know your family really does have some weird connection with it," Tristan said. "Although we still don't know why."

"That's kind of neat, though," Mokuba spoke up. "It's a really good clue!"

"It is," Lector agreed, as Nesbitt handed him the book.

"So, what now?" Joey wondered. "Should we go downstairs and show this to Evangeline?"

"Yes, let's." Lector started for the door. "We can come back and search more later, but this is an important clue right now."

Joey was all too happy to chase after him.

"Should we remind Joey there are ghosts in the basement too?" Marik whispered to Mokuba.

"Let's not," Mokuba whispered back.

xxxx

Evangeline had led her group deep into the basement, but aside from the feeling that they were being watched, they weren't having a very productive experience.

"What's with the kid-sized door?" Duke wondered, looking to a wall with a half-size door.

"It leads into a child's room," Evangeline said. "I loved going in there when I was little. There's stuffed animals and books and all kinds of lovely things."

"But didn't it belong to someone specific?" Serenity wondered.

"I'm sure it did, but I've never known who," Evangeline said. "It's always been empty when I've seen it. And the ghosts we're sensing down here won't go in there. I'm not sure why."

"A haven from the ghosts?" David mused. "That's nice in a way . . . although it does make you wonder why. Not to mention it might be kind of unsettling to know the ghosts are hovering right outside the room."

"No kidding," Duke grunted, twirling a piece of hair around his finger.

"Something seems rather sad about it, in a way," Bakura remarked. "I hope the child who originally had the room didn't die young. . . ."

Yami Bakura grunted. Bakura was still hurting about having lost the chance to restore his mother and sister with the life-giving Chinese tiara they had recently encountered. He had sat up with the boy on quite a few subsequent nights, letting him talk and offering advice and commentary. Bakura was trying to be strong, but it was obvious to the old thief that his descendant's heart was broken. He wished he really knew something he could do, but there was nothing.

"He probably just grew up and left," Duke said.

"Or she," Mai countered.

Evangeline's phone rang and she pulled it out in surprise. "It's Phillipe," she announced with disgust. "I can't imagine why he would call. . . ." She quickly answered. "Hello, Phillipe. . . ."

The angry and bewildered voice on the other end of the line spoke so loudly that everyone with Evangeline could hear. "What did you do to Mom?"

Evangeline's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think I did anything to our dear mother?" she shot back. "I haven't even seen her in months!"

Serenity looked away. She certainly understood why, and couldn't blame her friend in the slightest, but it was still sad to her that the family was in such a state.

"Our dear mother came over here babbling about how horrible we've all been to Démas, including her," Phillipe said. "She's been on Father's side. We all know that. She never would have started acting differently unless someone got to her, and who would that be except you or Démas?"

Evangeline's lip curled. "Or just maybe her conscience finally started bothering her?" she countered. "Good for her! Although it's too little, too late, as far as I'm concerned."

"No, it's not good," Phillipe insisted. "She's not in a normal state of mind! She's saying now that if Michel and I won't agree peaceably to reconcile with Démas, she's going to cast a spell to mesmerize us into it! You know that would only hurt Démas even more because it wouldn't be real!" He held out the phone. "You hear that? She's chanting right now!"

Evangeline stiffened. ". . . Alright, Phillipe," she said. "You've convinced me something is wrong. I'll come out. Try to hold her off." She hung up.

"Okay, now that is bizarre," David frowned.

Angelique was staring. "What do you think could have happened?!"

"I don't know," Evangeline frowned. "Nothing good. Either Mother really has cracked up . . . or someone's put a spell on her. Either way, I'm going out there to see her. I don't want Démas to know about this until I get back, alright? It might make him too sad thinking Mother really wants to make things right with him when she probably doesn't."

"You're not going alone," Serenity insisted.

"I'll have to agree," Mai said. "You don't know what you'll find there, Hon."

Duke nodded. "We're all coming with you."

"Well, then I guess none of us will be here to tell Lector about it," David mused.

"Let's just hope we make it back at all," Duke retorted. With them, there was never a dull moment, and especially when they were in such a hotbed of the supernatural, he could easily imagine that something might go wrong.

No one could counter Duke's comment.