Marik kept his arm protectively around his sister while the bullets whizzed all around them. At last the noise died down and the two Egyptian siblings cautiously looked up.
"The shooter has vanished," Ishizu said quietly.
Slowly Marik got to his feet and helped Ishizu stand as well. "Why in Heaven's name would someone shoot at us here in the pasture of all places?!" the boy cried angrily. "Is it just a general warning or is there specifically something here we aren't supposed to find?!"
"Perhaps we should investigate and discover the truth for ourselves," Ishizu said evenly.
Marik nodded firmly and the two of them immediately set out to search the area.
****
As Yugi hurried to get into dry clothes, an old paper fell out of a bureau drawer and the boy stared at it in confusion.
"What's this?" he exclaimed, bending down to pick it up.
"What is it, Yugi?" Yami Yugi asked, coming over.
Yugi blinked at it. "It's an old newspaper article," he replied, "telling about some lady's death!"
Instantly Yami Yugi perked up and took the paper, reading it over seriously. "Yugi, I believe there is more to this death than meets the eye," he said grimly.
Yugi pulled a shirt on and turned to look at the ancient spirit curiously. "What do you mean, Yami?" he asked, his thoughts preoccupied with thoughts of finding Rishid.
Yami Yugi shook his head. "We'll talk about it later, Yugi," he replied, folding the paper and placing it in his pocket.
Yugi blinked at him and then hurried out the door. "Okay," he called back as the ancient Pharaoh followed him. Please help us find Rishid! Yugi prayed fervently.
****
"I don't know, hon," Mai mused as Bakura poked through a room in search of secret tunnels. "I doubt you're going to find Rishid in here."
Bakura shook his head and continued to explore about.
A soft breeze swept by and blew the group members' hair around, causing Ms. Myrvyn to complain loudly about the draft.
"There is no draft, woman," Yami Bakura growled, instantly alert. "There is a spirit among us!"
Oreo pinned her ears back and stared ahead, a low warning rumble in her throat.
"Bakura," a feminine voice whispered.
The boy shot to his feet, his heart pounding.
"What is it, kiddo?" Mai asked in confusion.
"Don't you hear that voice?!" Bakura cried.
Mai blinked. "What voice?!"
Bakura might have decided he was crazy, except when he saw his Yami and Oreo he knew that they had both heard something as well.
"Murder," the voice hissed now.
"What?!" Bakura yelped. "What murder?! What are you talking about?!"
"Is this boy quite alright?" Ms. Myrvyn demanded. "He acts ill!"
"Murder," the voice repeated, and then the presence was gone.
Bakura was pale. "What on earth did she mean?!" he burst out. "She was talking about murder!"
"Murder!!" Ms. Myrvyn shrieked in horror.
Bakura gasped, a new thought occurring to him. "Oh my! What if . . . what if someone has . . ." He took a deep breath and started over. "What if . . . if Rishid is . . ."
"Hush," Yami Bakura snapped.
"Rishid's okay, Bakura," Mai tried to assure the distraught boy. "He's okay, and we'll find him."
Bakura smiled weakly. "I suppose I'm just being silly, but I can't help worrying. . . ."
Mai laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we're all worried," she said gently.
Yami Bakura grunted.
"Okay, so maybe *he's* not," Mai conceded. "But the rest of us are. You're not acting silly, hon."
Bakura looked up at her. "I just can't get that voice out of my head," he whispered. "What on earth could it have meant?"
Mai shook her head. "I don't know, but no one would have a reason to murder Rishid," she said at last.
Bakura knew that an evil mind could find a reason easy enough, but he didn't say anything more about it. "Well," he said instead, "let's go find him!"
Mai smiled. "You got it."
****
Tea's group was searching outdoors by the creek. They were also keeping an keeping an eye out for the infamous double, just incase he might know where Rishid was.
"I don't see any sign of anyone over here," Mokuba called.
Seto grunted. He was finding the whole search quite pointless, truth be told—and he was also certain that they weren't going to recover their friend . . . at least not anytime soon.
Mako looked grim. He felt almost partially responsible for this, since the plane that had crashed had been on its way to Boston, where everyone had been going to help him in the search for his father.
Tea, sensing his feelings, touched his arm gently. "This was no one's fault, Mako, unless someone hurt him," she said softly. "Then it would be their fault, but no one else's, and certainly not yours."
Mako nodded slowly and parted the nearby bushes, again looking for any possible clues.
"Rishid!!" Mokuba called loudly. "Rishid, are you here?! Where are you?! Are you okay?! Come on, answer me!!"
"I don't think he's here," Tea told him sadly.
"No, but maybe he *was* here," Seto said, bending down to retrieve another cloak. "This probably belongs to him."
****
Tristan sighed in frustration as he and Joey searched through the house, waiting for Yugi and also hoping to find some clue to Rishid's whereabouts.
"Man, where could he be?!" Tristan cried now.
"It's like he just vanished off the face of the earth!" Joey added, messing up his hair in complete vexation.
"Hey guys," Yugi said as he came down the stairs with Yami Yugi.
Both discouraged boys looked up and waved to their friend.
"Hey Yug," Joey sighed.
"Rishid's just nowhere around," Tristan said with a shake of his head.
"Well, he has to be here somewhere!" Yugi replied defensively. "I . . . I mean, he couldn't just disappear . . ."
"Hey, what the heck . . ." Quickly Joey knelt down and picked something small and shiny off the floor. "What is this thing?!"
Tristan took it from him and blinked. "It looks like some kinda cross or something," he replied.
Yugi hurried forward. "An ankh?" he exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Joey said, snapping his fingers. "That's what it is! An earring shaped like an ankh! . . . Like the kind Rishid wears," he realized, his eyes widening.
"Rishid was here?!" Tristan gasped.
"It looks like it!" Yugi replied. "And maybe he's still nearby! Come on, we've gotta check all around!!"
And so the teens and Yami Yugi continued their search, but to no avail. If Rishid truly had been there, he seemed to be gone now.
"Man, won't we ever catch a break?!" Joey cried at last.
Abruptly and without warning, the lights went out, plunging them into total darkness—as night had come on by this time and there was no light to shine through the windows.
"Whoa! What the . . ." Tristan burst out in surprise.
Yugi cried out as he tripped over a nearby ottoman.
"Are you alright, Yugi?" Yami Yugi asked, appearing next to him.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Yugi told him with an embarrassed smile, slowly getting to his feet.
As suddenly as the lights had gone out, they now came back on, bathing the room in a soft glow.
Tristan blinked rapidly and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light again. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "Joey's gone!!"
"What?!" Yugi gasped, looking up.
Sure enough, the Brooklyn boy had completely vanished.
****
Tea, Mokuba, and Mako stared at the cloak in disbelief and shock as Seto held it up.
"If this does belong to Rishid, then that could either mean that he really was here or that someone planted it here for some reason," Tea said slowly.
"Planted it?!" Mokuba spoke up. "Why would someone do that?!"
"Perhaps another trick of the imposter," Mako suggested.
"Either way, it doesn't look good for Rishid, considering what's been going on," Seto muttered. Carefully he folded the cloak up and began to carry it in his hand.
"Maybe he's somewhere nearby," Mokuba suggested hopefully.
"I hope he didn't fall in the water and hit his head on a rock," Mako could be heard to mutter.
The trees swayed dangerously as a strong wind suddenly whipped past.
"What's happening?!" Tea shrieked.
Mokuba wrapped his arms around Seto's waist frantically, his blue-gray eyes wide. "Big brother!!" he screamed, not wanting to be blown away by the strong winds—which actually didn't seem like that absurd of a possibility at the moment.
Seto held him close with one arm while grabbing on to a nearby tree trunk with the other as his hair blew all over his face and into his eyes. "Don't worry, kid," he yelled, trying to be heard over the wail of the wind, "I won't let anything happen to you!"
Mako grabbed for Tea just before she would have been blown backwards into the creek. "This is bad," the fisherman said grimly. "It may be an approaching tornado!"
****
Marik and Ishizu were quite far away from where the tornado scene was taking place. After wandering through the pasture and being unable to find anything of remote interest, the siblings wandered on ahead into a deserted part of the ranch, calling for Rishid desperately.
Ishizu glanced up at the sky, which was clouded over and dark. "A storm is coming," she said quietly.
"Then we must find Rishid before it arrives!" Marik replied, running on ahead again.
"Marik, wait!" the older woman called, dashing after him as the boy disappeared from her view. Frantically she stopped and glanced about, hoping that Marik wouldn't become lost as well. "Marik!!" she called again, turning to her right and looking over the edge of a steep ravine.
Seeing what looked like a body crumpled at the bottom, Ishizu gasped and carefully picked her way down the slope until she was on level ground again. Glancing about, she hurried over to the fallen form and dropped to her knees, then clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. "Rishid!!" she cried.
"The shooter has vanished," Ishizu said quietly.
Slowly Marik got to his feet and helped Ishizu stand as well. "Why in Heaven's name would someone shoot at us here in the pasture of all places?!" the boy cried angrily. "Is it just a general warning or is there specifically something here we aren't supposed to find?!"
"Perhaps we should investigate and discover the truth for ourselves," Ishizu said evenly.
Marik nodded firmly and the two of them immediately set out to search the area.
****
As Yugi hurried to get into dry clothes, an old paper fell out of a bureau drawer and the boy stared at it in confusion.
"What's this?" he exclaimed, bending down to pick it up.
"What is it, Yugi?" Yami Yugi asked, coming over.
Yugi blinked at it. "It's an old newspaper article," he replied, "telling about some lady's death!"
Instantly Yami Yugi perked up and took the paper, reading it over seriously. "Yugi, I believe there is more to this death than meets the eye," he said grimly.
Yugi pulled a shirt on and turned to look at the ancient spirit curiously. "What do you mean, Yami?" he asked, his thoughts preoccupied with thoughts of finding Rishid.
Yami Yugi shook his head. "We'll talk about it later, Yugi," he replied, folding the paper and placing it in his pocket.
Yugi blinked at him and then hurried out the door. "Okay," he called back as the ancient Pharaoh followed him. Please help us find Rishid! Yugi prayed fervently.
****
"I don't know, hon," Mai mused as Bakura poked through a room in search of secret tunnels. "I doubt you're going to find Rishid in here."
Bakura shook his head and continued to explore about.
A soft breeze swept by and blew the group members' hair around, causing Ms. Myrvyn to complain loudly about the draft.
"There is no draft, woman," Yami Bakura growled, instantly alert. "There is a spirit among us!"
Oreo pinned her ears back and stared ahead, a low warning rumble in her throat.
"Bakura," a feminine voice whispered.
The boy shot to his feet, his heart pounding.
"What is it, kiddo?" Mai asked in confusion.
"Don't you hear that voice?!" Bakura cried.
Mai blinked. "What voice?!"
Bakura might have decided he was crazy, except when he saw his Yami and Oreo he knew that they had both heard something as well.
"Murder," the voice hissed now.
"What?!" Bakura yelped. "What murder?! What are you talking about?!"
"Is this boy quite alright?" Ms. Myrvyn demanded. "He acts ill!"
"Murder," the voice repeated, and then the presence was gone.
Bakura was pale. "What on earth did she mean?!" he burst out. "She was talking about murder!"
"Murder!!" Ms. Myrvyn shrieked in horror.
Bakura gasped, a new thought occurring to him. "Oh my! What if . . . what if someone has . . ." He took a deep breath and started over. "What if . . . if Rishid is . . ."
"Hush," Yami Bakura snapped.
"Rishid's okay, Bakura," Mai tried to assure the distraught boy. "He's okay, and we'll find him."
Bakura smiled weakly. "I suppose I'm just being silly, but I can't help worrying. . . ."
Mai laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we're all worried," she said gently.
Yami Bakura grunted.
"Okay, so maybe *he's* not," Mai conceded. "But the rest of us are. You're not acting silly, hon."
Bakura looked up at her. "I just can't get that voice out of my head," he whispered. "What on earth could it have meant?"
Mai shook her head. "I don't know, but no one would have a reason to murder Rishid," she said at last.
Bakura knew that an evil mind could find a reason easy enough, but he didn't say anything more about it. "Well," he said instead, "let's go find him!"
Mai smiled. "You got it."
****
Tea's group was searching outdoors by the creek. They were also keeping an keeping an eye out for the infamous double, just incase he might know where Rishid was.
"I don't see any sign of anyone over here," Mokuba called.
Seto grunted. He was finding the whole search quite pointless, truth be told—and he was also certain that they weren't going to recover their friend . . . at least not anytime soon.
Mako looked grim. He felt almost partially responsible for this, since the plane that had crashed had been on its way to Boston, where everyone had been going to help him in the search for his father.
Tea, sensing his feelings, touched his arm gently. "This was no one's fault, Mako, unless someone hurt him," she said softly. "Then it would be their fault, but no one else's, and certainly not yours."
Mako nodded slowly and parted the nearby bushes, again looking for any possible clues.
"Rishid!!" Mokuba called loudly. "Rishid, are you here?! Where are you?! Are you okay?! Come on, answer me!!"
"I don't think he's here," Tea told him sadly.
"No, but maybe he *was* here," Seto said, bending down to retrieve another cloak. "This probably belongs to him."
****
Tristan sighed in frustration as he and Joey searched through the house, waiting for Yugi and also hoping to find some clue to Rishid's whereabouts.
"Man, where could he be?!" Tristan cried now.
"It's like he just vanished off the face of the earth!" Joey added, messing up his hair in complete vexation.
"Hey guys," Yugi said as he came down the stairs with Yami Yugi.
Both discouraged boys looked up and waved to their friend.
"Hey Yug," Joey sighed.
"Rishid's just nowhere around," Tristan said with a shake of his head.
"Well, he has to be here somewhere!" Yugi replied defensively. "I . . . I mean, he couldn't just disappear . . ."
"Hey, what the heck . . ." Quickly Joey knelt down and picked something small and shiny off the floor. "What is this thing?!"
Tristan took it from him and blinked. "It looks like some kinda cross or something," he replied.
Yugi hurried forward. "An ankh?" he exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Joey said, snapping his fingers. "That's what it is! An earring shaped like an ankh! . . . Like the kind Rishid wears," he realized, his eyes widening.
"Rishid was here?!" Tristan gasped.
"It looks like it!" Yugi replied. "And maybe he's still nearby! Come on, we've gotta check all around!!"
And so the teens and Yami Yugi continued their search, but to no avail. If Rishid truly had been there, he seemed to be gone now.
"Man, won't we ever catch a break?!" Joey cried at last.
Abruptly and without warning, the lights went out, plunging them into total darkness—as night had come on by this time and there was no light to shine through the windows.
"Whoa! What the . . ." Tristan burst out in surprise.
Yugi cried out as he tripped over a nearby ottoman.
"Are you alright, Yugi?" Yami Yugi asked, appearing next to him.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Yugi told him with an embarrassed smile, slowly getting to his feet.
As suddenly as the lights had gone out, they now came back on, bathing the room in a soft glow.
Tristan blinked rapidly and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light again. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "Joey's gone!!"
"What?!" Yugi gasped, looking up.
Sure enough, the Brooklyn boy had completely vanished.
****
Tea, Mokuba, and Mako stared at the cloak in disbelief and shock as Seto held it up.
"If this does belong to Rishid, then that could either mean that he really was here or that someone planted it here for some reason," Tea said slowly.
"Planted it?!" Mokuba spoke up. "Why would someone do that?!"
"Perhaps another trick of the imposter," Mako suggested.
"Either way, it doesn't look good for Rishid, considering what's been going on," Seto muttered. Carefully he folded the cloak up and began to carry it in his hand.
"Maybe he's somewhere nearby," Mokuba suggested hopefully.
"I hope he didn't fall in the water and hit his head on a rock," Mako could be heard to mutter.
The trees swayed dangerously as a strong wind suddenly whipped past.
"What's happening?!" Tea shrieked.
Mokuba wrapped his arms around Seto's waist frantically, his blue-gray eyes wide. "Big brother!!" he screamed, not wanting to be blown away by the strong winds—which actually didn't seem like that absurd of a possibility at the moment.
Seto held him close with one arm while grabbing on to a nearby tree trunk with the other as his hair blew all over his face and into his eyes. "Don't worry, kid," he yelled, trying to be heard over the wail of the wind, "I won't let anything happen to you!"
Mako grabbed for Tea just before she would have been blown backwards into the creek. "This is bad," the fisherman said grimly. "It may be an approaching tornado!"
****
Marik and Ishizu were quite far away from where the tornado scene was taking place. After wandering through the pasture and being unable to find anything of remote interest, the siblings wandered on ahead into a deserted part of the ranch, calling for Rishid desperately.
Ishizu glanced up at the sky, which was clouded over and dark. "A storm is coming," she said quietly.
"Then we must find Rishid before it arrives!" Marik replied, running on ahead again.
"Marik, wait!" the older woman called, dashing after him as the boy disappeared from her view. Frantically she stopped and glanced about, hoping that Marik wouldn't become lost as well. "Marik!!" she called again, turning to her right and looking over the edge of a steep ravine.
Seeing what looked like a body crumpled at the bottom, Ishizu gasped and carefully picked her way down the slope until she was on level ground again. Glancing about, she hurried over to the fallen form and dropped to her knees, then clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. "Rishid!!" she cried.