Seto froze. He knew he'd have to think of a way out of this, but first he wanted some idea of what he was up against. "What do you want with me?" he demanded.

"I don't like snoops," the man replied. "Especially know-it-all brats like you, Seto Kaiba!"

Now Seto knew who his assailant was—the snake who had tried to attack Tea! They had told the police about him earlier, but he had managed to get away.

Seto already had a plan in mind to get the upper hand. Without the man realizing it, Seto kicked an old baseball across the roof, where it clanged into an old bucket.

The man started, drawing the knife away from Seto's throat. "What was that?!"

Before the creep knew what had happened, Seto had taken his knife arm and wrenched it further away, and then flipped him over onto the roof. The knife flew out of his hand, landing harmlessly in a nearby crate. Before the man could attempt to get up, Seto placed a foot firmly on his back. "You're not getting away this time," the boy growled, pulling out his cell phone and calling the police.
****
Yugi hung up the phone, his violet eyes wide.

"What is it, Yug? More bad news?" Joey sighed.

Yugi shook his head. "No, good news, actually," he replied. "That was the police. They said that Kaiba caught that guy who went after you, Tea," he announced, turning to the girl, who was standing in the doorway.

Tea blinked in surprise. "Really? But . . . how did Kaiba meet up with him again?"

Yugi shrugged. "The police officer I spoke to didn't know. Apparently Kaiba didn't tell him much, only that the guy threatened him with a knife."

"Well, I'm glad he managed to catch that creep," Tea declared with a shudder.

"Hey, I bet I know what Kaiba did," Joey grinned mischievously. "He probably went back to that alley lookin' for that scarecrow all by himself."

"That sounds like Kaiba, alright," Yugi admitted.

"Man, how does that guy stay among the living?" Joey wondered, shaking his head. "He has more lives than a cat!"

Tristan snickered.

The phone rang again. Yugi picked it up. "Hello, Muto residence."

"Yugi, the conniving snake I caught is mixed up in the mystery," Seto announced without bothering to say hello.

"Kaiba!" Yugi exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Seto sounded a bit annoyed. "You might want to come down here and hear what he has to say." He hung up.

"Short conversation," Joey remarked.

"That was Kaiba," Yugi told him. "He says to come down to the police station!"
****
When they arrived at the precinct, an officer offered to lead them to the man's cell. "We've been trying to catch this mug for months," he told him as they walked down the hall. "He's notorious for hiding in alleys and robbing people."

Tea shuddered.

"Seto Kaiba said something about him being mixed up in a mystery we're trying to solve," Yugi spoke up.

The officer squinted at him. "Oh, so you're that group of kids I heard about! You've been looking into that crazy scarecrow invasion, right?"

Yugi nodded. "That's right, officer."

"Well, I don't know if this guy has anything to do with that, but he did say something weird about zombies being turned loose," the officer stated. He shrugged. "Another stupid Halloween prank, I guess."

The five teens all exchanged Looks.

The officer stopped in front of a cell near the end of the hall. "Here we are," he announced.

Seto Kaiba was sitting in a chair next to the cell, apparently in the middle of interrogating the criminal. He looked up. "Fifteen minutes," he commented, checking his watch. "Not bad."

"Alright, man, whaddya know about the zombies??" Joey demanded, grabbing the jail bars and glaring at the man in the cell. "They almost made me kill my best buddy with their stupid spell!"

The man glared right back. He had dark hair and cold green eyes, a goatee, and a long scar across his right cheek. "So you're the one who broke free of the spell?" he sneered. "You're the only one who ever has, you know. Well, you and that kid." He shrugged. "Sure, I'll talk. That way I'll get a lighter sentence and be out of here faster. The zombies were set loose by the ringleader of a cult devoted to ruling the world," he explained.

"What kinda cult? Who're the other members? And where do they meet?" Joey wanted to know.

The man didn't look fazed by Joey's rapid-fire questioning. "They're called the Cobra Colony. I don't know who the other members are or where they meet. I wasn't a member, just a guy hired to get rid of anybody snooping around. I only communicated with them through a member who would visit me at my place, and he always wore dark robes, so I couldn't see what he looked like." He looked past Joey, spotted Tea, and leered at her. She glared at him and stepped closer to Yugi.

"So you don't know anything about the members at all, except that they wear dark robes?" Yugi asked.

The man nodded. "That's right."

"Well, this is a fine kettle of fish," Joey muttered a little while later as they left the police station.

"At least we have a new clue," Yugi replied.

"The Cobra Colony," Bakura mused. "I don't believe I've ever heard of such a thing."

"The police haven't either," Tea sighed. "There was nothing about them in their records."

"I wonder how we'll go about finding them?" Bakura remarked.

"That's a good question, Bakura," Yugi said thoughtfully. "And right now I don't have any good answers."

Joey stifled a yawn. "Maybe we should all go home and sleep on it," he suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Tea agreed. "It must be almost midnight by now!"

"Actually, it's nearly 1am," Seto grumbled.
****
The next day, Yugi and the others still didn't know how to go about finding the Cobra Colony.

"Who in the world would know where to find a secret, creepy cult?" Joey sighed.

"Bob Fielding, perhaps?"

Everyone turned to look at Seto Kaiba, who had just appeared and was standing next to Bakura's desk, his briefcase in hand.

"Seto Kaiba! Have you been hacking into his computer again?!" Tea scolded.

"Right now, Tea, I don't care if he was—if it helps solve this freaky mystery," Joey sighed.

"What did you find, Kaiba?" Yugi asked.

Seto smirked. "I haven't been hacking into his computer again, for your information. I remembered something unusual I saw when I did hack into it—his desktop wallpaper is the silhouette of a cobra."

Everyone gasped.

"In that case, we'll havta go snoop around his office, and maybe his house, too!" Joey declared. "Man, I knew there was somethin' weird about that guy from the moment we first met him!"

"It could just be a coincidence," Tristan shrugged.

Yugi nodded. "You're right, Tristan, but in such a serious case as this, we have to follow up every possible lead." He opened his desk and gasped. "What's this?" He held up an envelope with his name written on it in newspaper letters.

"Newspaper letters? Oh man, that can't be good," Joey groaned.

Yugi nodded grimly, lifting the flap. A single sheet of paper fell out. Joey picked it up and read it aloud, "'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall—but not as great as yours will be!' . . . What is this??!" he demanded.

"Obviously a death threat, Wheeler," Seto replied.

"I know that, wiseguy," Joey snapped. "But who the heck would come barging right into the school like this and put this thing in Yugi's desk??!"

"Yugi, I don't like this," Tea declared. "Maybe you should give the case up and let the police handle it."

Yugi shook his head firmly. "No, Tea, I'm not going to be scared off the case! We've come this far and we're going to solve it!"

Tea sighed in defeat. "I knew it would probably be impossible to convince you, Yugi, but I'm just so worried that something will happen that . . . that you, or Joey, or Tristan or Bakura, or even Kaiba . . . won't recover from." She brushed aside a tear. "And I don't want to loose you . . . any of you," she whispered, looking at each of the five boys around her.

Yugi smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry, Tea. We'll all get out of this alive."
****
"Oh man, here we are again," Joey moaned as they arrived at the funeral home after school. "Let's hope we get some good clues this time."

"If nothing else, hopefully we'll find out where Bob lives," Yugi replied, summoning his Yami. "He's unlisted in the phone book." He opened the door and they all went in.

This time there was a pretty young receptionist at the desk. "Hello," she chirped. "And how may I help you today?"

"Is Mr. Graves here?" Yugi asked.

"He should be in his office," the receptionist replied with a smile. "Who shall I say is calling?"

"Yugi Muto and friends," Yugi told her.

Within a few minutes, Mr. Graves came out to talk to them. He looked frazzled and upset. "Well, what information do you have for me today?" he demanded.

"Mr. Graves, have you ever heard of something called the Cobra Colony?" Yugi asked.

"Cobra Colony? What nonsense is that?" Mr. Graves cried.

"It's important, Mr. Graves," Tea insisted. "Please, can you think of any time you might have heard about them?"

Mr. Graves paused, thinking. "Now I think of it, it seems that I saw something about cobras on Bob's desk just a few minutes ago," he said. "He's gone home for the day, so why don't you all come with me and I'll see if I can find it."

"That would be great, Mr. Graves," Yugi smiled.

Soon they were at Bob's desk and Joey, Tristan, and Seto immediately went to look for anything about cobras. "He must've taken it home with him," Seto muttered.

"Wait . . . what's this?" Yugi held up a piece of paper, on which Bob had lightly scribbled, "F calling CC meeting, 12am, Halloween night."

"Oh man!" Joey moaned. "He must mean Fiona! She's the leader!"

"Now let's not jump to conclusions, Joey," Yugi scolded gently. "We don't want to get an innocent person in trouble."

"Yeah, well, I also don't wanna let a cult leader bent on rulin' the world run free!" Joey retorted.

"Would someone kindly explain what's going on here?!" Mr. Graves yelled.

"It looks very possible that Bob is mixed up in a secret cult that's responsible for turning the zombies loose in the city," Yugi said grimly.

"What??! Good heavens!! Why me?" Mr. Graves moaned.

"Of course we can't know for sure," Yugi hastened to add. "Mr. Graves, do you know where Bob lives?"

Mr. Graves sighed. "He lives at a boarding house. Come with me and I'll get you the address." He paused, giving the boy a suspicious look. "Just what are you planning to do when you get there?"

Yugi sighed. "Good question."
****
Within the hour, the six teens had arrived at the boarding house.

"Eh, guys, am I the only one who finds this place kinda . . . freaky?" Joey gawked at the crumbling old mansion, which looked as though it could be the disappearing one in the field's twin.

"No, Joey, you're not," Yugi said grimly.

"Do we dare knock on the door?" Bakura said softly.

"We'll have to," Yugi replied.

They walked up an eerie path with tombstones on either side and up on the porch, where several coffins had been set up.

"Oh man, I'm gettin' the willies . . .!" Joey gulped, shuddering.

Before Yugi could knock, the door was abruptly flung open by what looked like a screaming ghoul with blood streaming down its face. Everyone freaked out, except for Seto, who just looked repulsed. "Stop with your childish pranks," he ordered.

With a sigh, the creature pulled the realistic mask off, revealing an ordinary twelve-year-old boy with red hair and freckles, reminding Tea of Tom Sawyer. He flashed a toothy grin. "Did I scare ya?"

"Scare me? Of course not!" Joey bluffed, crossing his arms and looking defiant.

"Oh come on, Joey," Tristan returned, raising an eyebrow. "You were screaming louder than any of us."

Yugi chuckled and turned to the young boy. "I'm Yugi Muto and these are my friends," he said, and everyone else introduced themselves as well.

"I'm Billy," the kid replied. "My grandma runs the place. Can I help you with anything?"

Yugi smiled. "Perhaps you can, Billy. Does a Bob Fielding live here?" he asked.

The boy's eyes went wide. "You're the second ones to come here lookin' for him," he declared.

"Who else came, Billy?" Yugi wanted to know.

"I don't know," Billy shrugged. "Just a couple of weird people. I told them about Mr. Fielding and then they went away."

"And what did you tell them about Mr. Fielding?" Yugi asked.

"That he up and cleared out!" Billy replied.