Chapter 2
Seto's eyes widened with fear. His head was spinning, and he was falling. 'How could it have come back?' He thought to himself before he hit the floor. Seto landed almost on top of the stain, and he tenderly reached out to touch the spot. The blood was wet. Fresh. Seto's vision swam and his chest burned with pain. 'Not this again...this can't be happening to me...' He jerked his hand away from the accursed spot and brought it to his chest. A knife was firmly planted in his chest and was the source of his pain. He grasped the knife with shaking hands and struggled to pull it out. Seto's hands were covered in his blood and they kept slipping off the hilt. More blood rushed into his mouth with each ragged gasp he struggled to inhale. He was choking. Seto gave a finale heave on the knife, and it at last came loose from his chest. He lacked to the strength to do anything more than draw his knees to his chest and spit the blood out of his mouth. He still held the blade in one of his hands, but he was beginning to loose control of his fingers. As the knife fell from his hand, Seto felt hot tears rushing down his face.
'This...is all just an...illusion...I won't give in...none of this is real.' As he thought this, the knife next to his hand flickered and vanished along with his pain. The blood on his face, chest, and hands vanished. All that remained was the stain. Seto still felt week from his vision, so he continued to lie on the floor and stare at the stain. After most of his strength had returned to him, he set about the task of removing the stain. 'I don't care how important this stain is to this damn town...I can't stand to look at it...I have to get rid of it...' He gingerly placed two fingers on the stain and lifted them to his nose.
"Paint." He said to himself defiantly. 'Just as I thought. The Umnys must be trying to scare me out of this place...and I may be falling for their pathetic tricks...' "From now on, I'll keep this door locked at night."
After the stain was completely removed, Seto located Mr. Umny who was rambling about the garden. Seto strode up to him and asked with a false air of disinterestedness, "Mr. Umny, I was wondering if I could have the key to the library?"
"Yes, of course sir, but why would you want that?" Mr. Umny asked carefully.
"When I went in to the library, the stain was back."
"It was!?!" Mr. Umny gasped with honest shock.
"Yes. And it smelled like oil paint."
"You aren't suggesting that-"
"Yes. I want the key so that I can lock the door and be absolutely sure that no one goes in that room but me." Seto said firmly, holding out his hand.
"Of-of course, sir." Mr. Umny reached for the ring of keys that was attached to his belt and fished out a long skeleton key. He carefully placed it in Seto's waiting hand and Seto's fingers wrapped around it tightly.
"Is this the only key to the library?"
"Yes, sir, the only one I know of at least. But Mr. Kaiba, you should know that a locked door means nothing to a ghost..."
"I thought you said that you don't believe in superstitions like that."
"Oh no, no of course not sir." Mr. Umny stuttered, his eyes widening.
"I thought so." Seto said turning on his heal and heading back to the house. He walked strait through the center of the garden and past a large statue of an angel holding a heart. 'Must be the Canterville family crest, or something...I see that same angel every where...' Seto trampled through three beds of flowers on his way back to the house, leaving Mr. Umny to sprint along behind him trying to repair the damaged flowers. 'Why does he care? They're not even alive. I hate this place...' As Seto entered the castle, Mrs. Umny came running up to him.
"I have an important letter for you, Mr. Kaiba!" she gasped, stopping in front of him.
"Not now. It can wait." Seto said impatiently as he nearly pushed her over in his haste to reach the library. As Seto disappeared down the hall, Mrs. Umny stood in the center of the hall and quietly laughed to herself.
"You've really outdone yourself this time, I think he's more terrified of you than he admits..." Mrs. Umny murmured turning to look up at the ceiling.
When Seto arrived at the door to the library, he reached for the doorknob, intending to lock the door and then return to his room, but before he could lock the door, he had a sudden urge to double check that the blood stain was still gone. He replaced the key in his pocket and shut the door behind him. Seto then briskly walked over to the fireplace and looked down at the spot. Nothing. He sighed with relief and slumped back into the armchair that had saved both him and Mrs. Umny from collapsing onto the floor earlier. 'Why does that happen whenever I see it? It's not like I'm skittish about blood, or anything...and it even happened when it wasn't even real blood...what's wrong with me!?!' As Seto thought to himself, his eyes fell on the writing carved next to the angel on the mantle of the fireplace.
" 'When a gentile man can win, Prayer from out the lips of sin...When a child gives up tears, And the barren almond bares...When the silent chapel bell Sounds the ghostly sinner's knell...Then shall all the house be still, And peace shall come to Canterville' " He read out loud to himself. "So that's the prophecy, is it? How lame." Seto turned his attention to the angel next to the prophecy and found himself again wondering why there was an indent where the heart should be in the angel's arms.
'There has to be something that goes there...' He looked over to the table where the book that contained the history of the Cantervilles sat. Seto walked over and picked up the book, examining the cover of it carefully. The rhinestone heart set into the cover seemed like it should be the perfect size for the space in the mantle. 'It has to just be a coincidence...someone else must have noticed this before me...' Seto opened the book and turned to the first page. He held the book in such a way that his left hand rested over the rhinestone heart. To his amazement, the first page of the book contained the same prophecy as the mantle. 'This is too much of a coincidence...' Seto felt something cool and smooth drop into his hand. Shutting the book, he looked to see what it was. The carved heart rested gently in his hands. 'This is way too much to be a coincidence...' Seto walked over to the fireplace, and carefully put the heart in the space. It fit perfectly. As he took his hand away from the stone, he heard the scraping of wood on wood. A shelf of books to the left of the fireplace slid open to reveal a passageway blocked only by cobwebs. Pushing the cobwebs aside, Seto entered the dank hall. It smelled strongly of death, and the stench nauseated him.
The passage was like a maze, and it appeared to be some sort of dungeon. Disfigured skeletons hung from shackles, their bodies twisted by years of pain. As he walked further into the dank hall, he could faintly hear some one speaking.
'Impossible. No one could be down here...' despite his disbelief, Seto continued to go further into the passageway. The deeper he went the louder the speaking became, and eventually he could make out the words.
"...toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee, I have thee not yet I see thee still. Art thou not fatal vision sensible to feeling as to a sight? Or art though but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding the heat oppressed brain? I see thee yet in form as palpable as that which I now draw."
Seto came to a door where the speaking seamed to be coming from, and pressed his ear up to it to confirm his belief. Sure enough, the voice was indeed coming from inside. He made to push the door open, but hesitated. Something about the voice seemed familiar and comforting. Seto sighed and paused to listen once again.
"...such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools of the other senses, or else worth all the rest. I see thee still. And on blade and dungeon gouts of blood which was not so-"
Seto could wait no longer. He had to know who was talking. Seto threw open the door and a heavy padlock fell loudly into the dust that covered the floor of the small cell. Seto glanced around the cell quickly, and his eyes fell onto the man from the portrait, Yami de Canterville, who broke of from his speech and turned to stare back at him. Their eyes met briefly, and Seto couldn't help but notice the look of longing that was hidden in Yami's deep maroon eyes. As he continued to look into his eyes, Seto felt his eyes begin to water from all the dust that hung in the air. Or was it from the dust? Seto's heart beat faster and faster and he felt giddy. What was happening to him?
Yami's mouth opened slightly as if he was about to say something, but a crow cut him off when it squawked loudly from it's perch in the corner of the room. Yami's expression changed completely and his face flushed with anger.
"How dear you!" Yami yelled.
"I-I'm sorry-" for the first time in his life, Seto was speechless.
"Be gone! Leave me!" Yami threw his arms up into the air and the door to the cell in front of Seto slammed shut. Seto heard the scrap of wood on wood and knew that the secret door to the dungeon must also be closing. He took off in the direction that he had come from earlier and just barely managed to squeeze out before the door had completely shut. Seto fell to the floor in front of the bookcase, panting. He was exhausted both physically and emotionally. Seto couldn't understand why he felt so strange every time he looked at Yami. What was happening to him? As he lay on the floor contemplating his new feelings, the door burst open.
"Big brother!" Mokuba cried with glee when he spotted his brother lying on the floor. "Mrs. Umny told me you'd be in here, I almost didn't believe her because I didn't think you'd want to be in a library with so many outdated books, but I guess I was wrong!" Mokuba said walking over to where his brother had sat up. "By the way, why were you on the floor?"
"Never mind that. Why are you here?" Seto snapped.
"Aren't you glade I came?"
"Yes, but I wish you would have told me you were coming, instead of just showing up."
"Yes, but-" before Mokuba could defend him self he was interrupted by Mrs. Umny who had just entered the room.
"He did. I tried to tell you, sir, but you pushed me out of the way." Seto glanced at her coldly and she seemed to shiver. "Y-yes, sorry to interrupt sir. Dinner will be ready shortly." Mrs. Umny turned, shut the door behind her, and headed down the hall.
"I sent you a letter a few days ago, but Mr. Umny told me it only got here this afternoon. I'm sorry Seto, I thought that you'd be happy if I came." As he said this Mokuba felt his big brother pull him into a hug.
"I did miss you, and I'm glad you're here." Seto squeezed Mokuba tightly.
"Seto? What's wrong with you? You're not sick are you?" Mokuba pulled away and put one hand on Seto's forehead and the other on his own.
"Maybe I am." Seto pulled himself up and left the room with Mokuba at his heals. Seto shut and locked the doors to the library and the two headed down stars for dinner. On their way, Mokuba eagerly recited for his older brother all that had happened back home during his absence. Seto pretended to listen to his little brother's story, but he couldn't keep his mind off of his encounter with Yami. When hey reached the dining hall, they both took seats near the head of the table next to each other, and Mokuba continued his story, which Seto still wasn't listening to. Mokuba perceived this, and decided to change subjects.
"So, why were you in the library?" Mokuba asked his brother curiously as Mr. Umny entered the room.
"Your older brother seems to believe that someone is trying to trick him." At Mr. Umny's remark, Seto snapped to attention.
"Trick you? How so big brother?" Mokuba turned back to face Seto who was glaring at Mr. Umny.
"Well Mokuba, it appears that someone may have tampered with the blood stain." Seto answered his little brother's question, but did not remove his gaze from Mr. Umny.
"Blood stain?!? I want to see that! Where is it?" Mokuba exclaimed eagerly.
"I'm afraid that there may not be very much to see, Mr. Kaiba saw to that." Mrs. Umnys said carefully, trying to conceal spite. She had just entered the room carrying a large tray that held roast that she had prepared for dinner. Seto caught the malice in her voice and spat back at her.
"Well, only today, I noticed that the blood spot had returned, only the blood was fashioned out of paint. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"You're blaming me for that? How can you not see it! You've angered him!" Mrs. Umny shrieked and glanced up at the ceiling quickly before she turned and left the room.
"Paint? Him?" Mokuba tugged on his brother's sleeve. "Tell me!"
"I'm so sorry for Mrs. Umny's out burst, sir. I'll talk to her right away." Mr. Umny gave a quick little bow, and turned on his heel and followed Mrs. Umny.
"What going on, Seto?" Mokuba urged his big brother. Seto decided that it would just be easier to explain what had happened then to try and put up with Mokuba's constant badgering.
"It seems that all the people around here believe that this place is haunted. Apparently, back in Shakespearean England, the lord of this castle Sir Yami de Canterville, murdered his lover, Sir Seth Edmonton, and the blood spot has been there ever since before I got here. I cleaned it up." Seto explained, leaving out the small detail about him hallucinating every time he saw the stain. "Then just today, I went to check on it, and the blood spot was back. It smelled like paint. I think that the Umnys are trying to scare me out so that they can rent it to somebody else and keep my rent as well. They're using the suppressions of people to earn some extra money." Seto finished, also deciding that it would be better if he didn't tell Mokuba that he had actually seen the ghost.
"Really? Wow! I wanna see where the blood spot was!" Mokuba sprang to his feet and grabbed his brother's hand. "Come on, I'm not hungry! Lets go now!"
"Fine. I'm not exactly hungry either..." Seto didn't like the idea of eating so soon after he had been "stabbed".
"Alright! Come on Seto lets go!" Mokuba practically dragged Seto all the way back to the library and only stopped when his way was blocked by the locked doors of the library. Seto stepped forward, pulled the key out of his pocket, and unlocked the door. Immediately, Mokuba threw open the door and rushed into the room. "Where is it big broth..." Mokuba's voice trailed off as his eyes fell upon a spot on the floor. Seto jumped when he noticed what it was that Mokuba was staring at. He fell backward onto the floor and stuttered.
"I-I don't believe it...how did it come back...?"
"What is it? It's green!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Is this the blood spot that you cleaned up?"
"Y-yes..." Seto was in shock. 'How could this have happened? The door was locked...unless it really was the ghost...'
"They're making fun of you. We need to put a stop to this. Tonight I'm going to sleep in the library and make sure no one tampers with the stain." Mokuba declared. Seto wasn't listening. He had already gotten up and set about scrubbing the floor. "When did you start being so concerned about cleanliness?" Mokuba asked.
"There's something strange about this stain. I can't stand to look at it. And now it's become a matter of pride." Seto finished cleaning the stain and turned to Mokuba. "What were you saying? You're going to spend the night in here?"
"Yup!" Mokuba smiled. "Then I'll be able to catch the culprits and figure out how they're getting in."
"Suit you self. I feel terrible. I think I'm going to go to bed early." Seto turned and walked toward the door. He stopped before he left. "I'm leaving the key in the door if you need to go out."
"Ok, good night big brother!" Mokuba had already settled him self on the couch.
"I'll tell the Umny's to bring you some comforters. It gets pretty cold here at night." Seto said as he stepped out of the room and shut the doors behind him.
After telling the Umnys, Seto went to bed early and fell instantly asleep. Mokuba, however, was kept awake long into the night be the ticking of the enormous clock in the library. Mokuba sat awake staring off into space and thinking about his brother. 'Something about him has changed. There must be something else going on that he hasn't told me about. This can't all be about one stain that seems to have gotten the best of him.'
As the large clock chimed the first bell that signaled midnight, the temperature in the room dropped and the hairs of the back of Mokuba's neck stood on end. Mokuba sat up on the couch and stared intently at the clock. Then his attention shifted to what sounded like the muffled squawk of a crow that came from with in the bookshelf next to the fireplace.
As Mokuba's fear increased, Yami sat placidly in his cell and plotted what ghastly things he would do to his company tonight. A crow flew in through the bared window of his cell and made its presence known.
"Ah Gabriel," Yami spoke quietly, indicating the crow. "They've retired to their beds?" the Crow cawed its answer. "Splendid. Before another dawn, we shale bid farewell to are unwanted guests. I was denigrated by that fool of a boy, and indignantly upon indignantly...well I will tonight a special effort make. First that young boy's room, where I will gibber and stab myself thrice in the throat...Then turn I to him. For him I will do such things...what they are, I know not yet. But they shall be terrors of all the earth and hell..."
The tenth bell pealed its hollow sound and the pit of Mokuba's stomach sank. His breathing became faster, and his palms felt clammy. The eleventh bell sounded and Mokuba's heart was somewhere in his throat. 'Why am I so nervous? Its only midnight...I've stayed up much later before...'
Yami listened and waited for the eleventh. As it sounded, he turned to Gabriel and spoke quietly. "The bell invites me." His shackles unclasped and he stood up. "Gabriel, thou hast the storm forgot? Call the winds to crack you cheeks." The crow flew off into the night, and thunder reverberated in the crisp night air. "Thanks, my trusted familiar." He breathed in deeply and said to himself, "Now to work. Perchance, a grand entrance!"
As the twelfth bell chimed, all thoughts vanished from Mokuba's head and his body was clenched by the tingling sensation of terror. From the fireplace that stood directly across from him, a form emerged. Hunched over and cackling madly, Yami stepped out of the fireplace. Mokuba shrank back in fear, and stared horrified at the ghost. Yami looked down at the place where the blood once was.
"You dare mock me for the last time! How dare you befoul my sacred spot!" Mokuba shrieked, and Yami thrust his hand out before him and clenched it into a fist. Mokuba, as if grabbed by some invisible force fell from the couch and onto the floor before Yami. "Now by the bones of my beloved I swear, when twice the cock has called the sun, deeds of blood shale be done upon you and your brother's heads." Conveniently, a roster crowed just then. "Yet crow again, and cry havoc...murderer to walk abroad." Yami turned his attention to the door to the library where he thought he heard something. Mokuba seized his chance and scurried away from Yami, who hesitated, waiting for the next crow. "Yet crow again and cry havoc!" Yami yelled to no avail. "Pain shall overcome that naughty fowl. I have seen the day that a good strong spirit might call for me..." As Yami uttered this, the door to the library gave in and Seto stumbled into the room.
"Seto!" Mokuba screamed, and ran over to him.
"You!" Seto glared at the ghost. "What have you done to my brother?" Yami momentarily starred back at Seto and tears welled up into his eyes before he turned away.
"Why must I be afflicted so?" Yami flickered and disappeared.
"Big brother..." Mokuba sobbed into Seto's chest. "I-I was so scared...what was that?" Mokuba looked up at his big brother who was starring blankly at the place where Yami had stood seconds earlier. "Seto?"
"What?"
"What was that?" Mokuba asked again as he wiped away his tears.
"...Yami de Canterville..."Seto mumbled and finally managed to tear his gaze away from the spot. "Apparently, he's the ghost that haunts the house..." It appeared to Mokuba that Seto was beginning to act normally again.
"Do you believe it's real?" Mokuba asked carefully. It was impossible to read Seto's reactions. Mokuba had to be careful about what he said.
"Of course not. It's probably some elaborate hoax." That was what Seto would like to think. Something about the way the ghost looked at him made it seem realer then anything Seto had experienced before. 'I can't possibly explain it to Mokuba...and I don't want him to think that ghost are actually real...' "Look, I think that we should both go back to sleep now. I also don't think that you should sleep in here any more. There's a room across the hall from mine that you can use." Seto turned toward the door.
"Yeah. You're probably right. Besides, we don't need to know who has been painting the stain any more!" Mokuba still didn't understand why his brother was acting so strangely, but he decided that it would be best to ignore it for the time being.
"Why not?" Seto responded out of habit, he wasn't really paying attention. Seto was thinking about his pervious encounter with Yami.
"Because it's obvious that the ghost was the one who was repainting it after you cleaned it up!" Mokuba waited for the wave of his brother's anger that would soon break over him. Seto paused to think about what it was that Mokuba had just said. After a moment, he continued walking.
"Obviously." Seto said simply. "No one else could have." This was not the reaction that Mokuba had anticipated. He had expected Seto to be angry with him for even suggesting the idea that the ghost could be real. He would have never thought that Seto would have agreed with him.
"Seto...is something wrong?" Mokuba asked slowly.
"Maybe."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Ok. If you ever need to talk, just come to me!" By this time they were standing in front of Seto's door. Seto turned and opened the door to the room across from his. The room was pitch black, but it was set up almost exactly the same as Seto's room had been. He found the small oil lamp and matches quickly and lit them. This room had obviously not been as thoroughly cleaned as Seto's had been. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, and cobwebs hung in every corner.
"It's not the best, but it will do for right now. In the morning, we'll have the Umnys clean it out." Seto walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers. "Come on." After Mokuba had crawled in, Seto wrapped the covers around his little brother's neck carefully.
"Something must really be wrong..." Mokuba muttered to himself through a yawn.
"No, I just don't want you to be cold." He turned and headed towards the door.
"Seto, do you think the ghost will come back tonight? I'm 'kinda scared." Mokuba called after his brother.
"If he does, I'm right across the hall. Besides, I came last time didn't I?" Seto paused in the door.
"How did you know to come anyways?"
"I don't know...I woke in the middle of the night and thought I should come check on you." Seto paused. When I got to the door, I remember that I had left the key with you. I was just going to go back to bed when I heard you scream."
"Thank you."
"Good night, Mokuba." As Seto shut the door behind him, Mokuba couldn't help but wonder why Seto was being so nice to him.
"Something must have happened to him, before I got here, that he isn't telling me about..." Mokuba thought out loud to himself. Mokuba blew out the light and slid deeper under the covers.
The rest of the night pasted in silence, and Yami did not return to torment them further. This made Seto both relieved, and somehow, disappointed. Though Seto did not understand why, part of him wanted Yami to come back just so that he could see him again.