It was a boy.

He looked about sixteen or so, standing a mere ten feet or so, looking at another painting in the hallway.

And he was a translucent blue.

Rick recognized this boy…was it…

" Tyler?"

The boy turned to him, and his eyes widened.

"Oh my god. You're…you're not dead, are you?"

"No."

"How do you know my name?"

"I'm a detective…working on…" Rick hesitated. He really didn't know how to say it.

"What?" Tyler asked, looking at him with see-through eyes.

"…your murder case."

"…oh."

"I'm sorry," Rick said, looking away.

"It's not your fault," Tyler said, turning back to the painting. He slowly reached up to the painting he was in front of – the ship. Tyler touched the painting, and then put his hand through it. Rick watched as the artwork slowly transformed into the cursed, dark painting.

"I never should've come in here. I shouldn't have listened to Nick," Tyler said with a sigh, taking his hand away. The painting returned to normal.

"Do you want to know how I died?"

"What?" Rick asked, snapping his gaze away from the painting.

"You came to investigate my murder. I'm going to tell you what happened. Before it's too late."

Tyler turned to look out the dark windows, the moonlight shining in the windows and through the ghost boy.

"When the panel slid shut, the room started to stretch. This mysterious voice started talking, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. He said something like…'This room has no windows and no doors, so try to find a way out. Of course, there's always my way.'

"The ceiling suddenly vanished, and I saw these rafters, and a hanging corpse. He was looking right at me, and I freaked out. The next thing I know, lightning starts flashing, he ripped off a huge chunk of rafter, and threw it at me. And minutes later, I'm floating over my body, and then I got pulled into this room.

"It was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. And it's going to haunt me forever. Look."

Tyler slowly unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing, and showed Rick his chest. There was a hole through it, just like on his body.

"Oh my god."

Tyler shrugged, and buttoned his shirt. He then looked at Rick with pure sadness in his eyes.

"I need you to do something for me. When you go back…please tell my family that I never meant for this to happen. I'm sorry. And…tell Mariah…

"Who's that?"

"Mariah's my girlfriend. Tell her that I'm okay. And tell her to move on, if she hasn't."

"I will. But… Tyler…soon you'll be-"

"I know. It's too late. Please, go. I don't want to hurt you. And take this – I found it behind one of these paintings."

Tyler pulled a ghostly key out of his jeans pocket. As he tossed it to Rick, the key shimmered, and became solid. It had a beautiful ruby inset in it, and was a dark red color.

"Thank you," Rick breathed, staring at the key. All of a sudden, Tyler screamed. Rick looked at the boy – he had fallen to the ground, and looked as if he was in sheer agony.

"Go! It's happening! I don't…want to…-" But he couldn't get the words out. The curse of the mansion was finally affecting him.

His eyes became black, and the carpet suddenly ripped apart and the floorboards vanished. Fire shot out of the floor, surrounding Tyler. As it ensnared the screaming kid, Rick got a safe distance away and watched, tears forming in his eyes. The fire slowly pulled Tyler into the ground, writhing and screeching. The fire extinguished, and the floor returned to normal.

Tyler had been taken by the mansion.

Rick ran through the halls of the mansion, trying to find Leota's room. He had to rescue the souls of the mansion – not just for Tyler, but for every soul trapped there and experiencing the agonizing pain of the curse.

But within the maze of the house, he came to a room with a large white door, with the word "Study" emblazoned above it.

It was William's room. But he didn't have all of the keys yet!

Frustrated, Rick looked at the door.

There was a purple keyhole…a silver keyhole…a red keyhole…a green keyhole…

And then, something Rick didn't expect.

Next to the keyholes was a small blue indent on the line of locks. It had a very distinct shape, and reminded Rick of something.

Then, he suddenly knew.

The ring he had found in the attic. It was a key.

Breathing with excitement, he slowly put each key in its appropriate place. Then, one by one, he turned them. Turning the purple key, the white door suddenly changed color to a deep purple, matching the stone. He turned the silver one, the door became silver. Upon turning the red, the door was flooded with red color. And when he turned the key, the red slowly transformed into green.

He then turned the blue ring all the way around in its lock. Doing this caused the door to suddenly rattle, and then it creaked open.

There was…another door. It was black, and looked like it had a little piano sticking out of it.

"Oh, for the love of-…" Rick started, but then looked at the door more closely.

Could it be?

"A musical lock…" Rick said, and knew exactly what the combination of notes was.

GG AA E EE D# D# B.

Upon entering this, the second door suddenly slid into the wall, revealing the study. It was warmly lit, and there was a crackling fire going in the room's fireplace. The room wasn't dusty at all, unlike the rest of the house, and looked well lived in. There was a desk, and behind it a large bookshelf all along the wall. Stepping further into the room, Rick examined the desk a little more – there were curios, paperwork dated from the 1800's, and other normal office stuff. It surprised Rick – he certainly didn't think he'd find a typical study in here.

Suddenly, something tapped him on the shoulder.

Rick swiveled around, and found him face to face with a corpse.

William.

The dead body was standing inches away from him, wearing a tattered suit and with his skin almost completely peeled off of him. All that was left of his head was a skull, save a few patches of yellowed skin near the top.

"Welcome, foolish mortal," William said in a deep throaty voice.