Chapter Ten:

Nadia made a noise of dismay. "Oh, Daisy, I'm sorry."

Daisy shrugged her shoulders, but she looked dishearted. "I guess someone has to be, right?"

"Right," Sota said. "But, hey, look at it this way. You'll be the first one to give the audience a good scream. That first death that gives them chills and makes them sit on the edge of their seat, biting their nails, wondering what's going to happen next."

Daisy smiled at Sota a little, clearly appreciating his attempt at making her feel better. "Yeah, maybe so."

"We were just sitting here discussing who we thought was going to go first," Sota continued. "Now that we know it's you, now we can decide just how you're going to get it."

Daisy laughed. "Okay, that sounds like fun."

"Okay, gang," Marie said, making them all start. She was just climbing onto the bus, talking as she went. "This is Joanna, my assistant." Climbing up behind her was a dainty-looking woman with very short blonde hair and eerily pale green eyes. She smiled at them, but said nothing. "She and I are in charge of all the make up and wardrobe when we get starting on shooting the film. Erica and Kevin went on ahead and are going to meet us at the Inn. They had some crisis with one of the film crew breaking an expensive piece of equipment." Marie rolled her eyes. "Sorry about your wait, Erica was on the phone getting the story. Joanna and I are going to be following the bus in our car. Your driver is walking up as we speak. Anybody need anything before we head off? It's about an hour drive. There's plenty of soda in the fridge and some chips and cookies in the cabinets, but that's all we have right now. There'll be a formal breakfast at the shoot if you're hungry enough then. Any questions?"

No one, not even Ishio, had anything to say, so Marie waved and disembarked with Joanna. Not a minute later, a man climbed on. He was a big, beefy man with tattoos covering both of his bulging bare arms and a nasty scar on the side of his face at the jawline. His black hair was short and spiky and he had a ring in his left ear. His jeans were ratty and stained, but despite his rough-and-tumble appearance, he gave the group a friendly grin. He was missing one of his front teeth.

"Hey, I'm Max, I'm your driver, and one of your security for when you all's famous and what."

"Security? Looking like that?" Sota said. "I think you want to go for looking a bit more fearsome, people won't take you seriously. I mean, I only had a heart attack, I haven't crapped myself yet."

Max laughed, shaking his head, and swung into the driver's seat out of sight. The bus rumbled to life a moment later and pulled away from the sidewalk. Joey, who had perked up at the mention of snacks, quickly raided both the fridge and the cabinets with Sota and unloaded a double armful on the table. An expensive machine, the bus rode as smooth as glass and the group settled in for the drive. Bags of pretzels, potato chips, cheese crackers, chocolate candy, and marshmallows, cans of soda and ginger ale, and a round tin of cookies were opened and strewn about for people to grab what they wanted. As they ate, the group returned to the topic before they'd been interrupted.

"Okay, Daisy, first guess," Sota said, popping pretzels into his mouth. "What's it going to be?"

Daisy laughed, swallowing a marshmallow. "Um, butcher knife in the heart."

"Classic." Sota grinned, turning to Rin, who was seated next to him on the end, across from Daisy. "What about you?"

"Nail gun."

"Good, good. Um, I'm going to go with falling from a high place, like being thrown off the inn's roof or out a window. Splat."

The group laughed. Nadia was next, rounding out the women. "Something more lasting. Garrotte."

Sota whistled. "Nice."

Yugi was next, and he faltered. Out of everyone, he had seen the least amount of horror movies, but he went with the first thing that popped into his head. "Spike through the eye."

Joey looked down at him with surprise, impressed. "Nice, Yug'."

Daisy shuddered. "No."

Joey thought for a minute, munching on potato chips. "Beheading. Quick, splash blood at the camera, make the audience jump."

Mark shook his head. "Drowning. Real slow and angsty, blue tint on the film, no sound."

Sota raised his eyebrows. "Detailed, I like it." Then he leaned around the edge of the booth seat and looked at Ishio. "What about you?"

Ishio turned away from the window long enough to give him a withering look, then turned his attention back. Sota shrugged, straightening up. "Hey, I tried."

"More than I would have done," Nadia said.

As the conversation finally left gore and centered on the best movies of all time of all genres, Yugi turned his thoughts inward and opened his half of the link. /Yami?/

Yami answered instantly.

/We're just now starting our way there,/ Yugi said apologetically. /Sorry we'll be late./

/We just arrived ourselves, Aibou. I believe we are at the right place?/

He gave the address and Yugi affirmed it. /Did Kaiba come with you?/

/No. Tristan and Tea drove me./

Yugi hadn't thought Kaiba would attend. /What does it look like, the Inn?/

/Quaint, I suppose is the term. It is a two-floor cottage house, with a large porch and pale pink shutters./

Yugi smiled. That didn't sound so bad. It sounded like one of the Inns based off of the traditional American style. It probably had gables and gingerbread eaves and maybe even a widow's walk on top, even though the ocean would be miles away from the location. /We'll be there about in an hour,/ he said.

/I will let Tea and Tristan know. They are checking out the view. There is a small cliff at the back of the property overlooking the forest. I doubt we'll even notice the hour- it is very pretty here./

Pleased that they wouldn't be sitting bored in the car, Yugi said, /Good. You won't be in the crew's way, will you?/

/There are people setting up inside the house and around the yard, but this is some distance back. They have not said anything to us yet. Tea told one of the men that we were your friends and he gave us little cards to wear around our necks that say we're with you./

/Okay. See you soon./

Yugi felt Joey's thigh briefly press against his. He turned his head to look up at him and Joey nodded toward Mark. He realized that the other man had asked him a question while he'd been talking to Yami. Joey, who had guessed what he was doing, had tried to get his attention surreptitiously.

"I'm sorry. What?"

"Nervous?" Daisy asked sympathetically.

"Yes, sorry." It wasn't a lie.

"I just asked what the future is for the King of Games," Mark said. "I used to play, as an amateur. Does Pegasus have any plans for the game and would you continue to play if he did?"

"Oh. I don't know if there is any future Duel Monsters plans." The game had begun to fade from popularity, although not by much yet. "I'm not really in touch with Pegasus, and I guess if he really had any plans, he'd announce it publicly. But, yeah, if anything happens, I'll still play."

"How'd you get so good at it?" Nadia asked.

"Um, just practice, really."

"And a whole lot of natural talent," Joey said with a grin. "Don't sell yourself short, Yug', you pick up any game you come across."

That was stretching the truth a bit, but Yugi smiled warmly at the praise. "Maybe a little bit," he admitted.

"Have you ever played poker?" Mark asked. "I always have a deck of cards on me." He pulled said deck out of his coat pocket. The thin cardboard box was worn and faded. "It's my good luck charm," he said. "Long story. Do you play?"

"No, I've never tried it."

"Just don't bet anything," Joey advised. "Yug' will pick this game up like he's been playing it since birth."

"We'll see about that," Mark said good-naturedly, sliding the deck from the box. Like the box, the cards were worn and old-looking, the pictures as faded as if they'd spent years in the sun, though still visible. "Anyone else in?"

They all were, so Mark explained the rules, shuffled and cut the deck, and they played to pass the time heading to the Inn. In the end, Yugi did not win any hand, although he did quickly pick up the game and the strategy and finished second over all. Sota and Nadia had both played poker a few times and were impressed with Yugi's knack. Joey, who had never played before either nevertheless finished fourth behind Nadia. Daisy was abysmal at it and got the least amount of points over all.

"Told you," Joey said when they'd played a half dozen times and finally had enough.

"I didn't win at all," Yugi said.

"No, but you came close."

"Close isn't the same as winning."

"He's so modest," Daisy said with a smile. "You're not conceited at all and you're a big star."

Yugi blushed and looked down at his hands. "Not really. Just in the game, and that's over."

"I always liked your stuff best, though," Daisy said to Joey, surprising him. "A gamble deck. You always took huge risks and it almost always paid off. I have Panther Warrior and Lady Panther as my best cards in my cat-based deck. I got them because you had them and they seemed perfect for me."

Joey grinned, flattered. "Thanks. I always liked taking risks. It's the best way to duel."

"Hey, all! We're here, you know," Max shouted from the front seat.

Everyone turned to look out the huge window behind Yugi, Joey, and Nadia. Craning to look ahead, Yugi watched as the tour bus turned onto a wide, well-kept dirt road, that led through the thick trees of a forest. The road was fairly short and after a few twists that probably covered no more than five or six miles, the road opened up onto the Inn's property. A huge front lot contained a barn and two paddocks on the right side, inside which were seven or eight horses, which made Rin and Nadia exclaim happily. A sign proclaimed that the Inn offered morning and evening horseback rides for twenty-five bucks an adult and fifteen for kids. On the left side of the road was a orchard of cherry trees, apple trees, peach trees, and a pretty fountain with benches surrounding it in the center. Beyond both lay the Inn, which sat at the end of the road. Yami was right, it was a cottage-style two-story house with all the gingerbreading and gables Yugi had imagined. Snow-white with pale pink shutters and porch beams, it looked brand-new. A sign out front called it the Cherrywood Inn, though its colors were more of the cherry blossom than the cherry wood.

"Wow," Rin breathed. "It's beautiful."

"All of ya out," Max said cheerfully after he had pulled up parallel to the Inn and cut the engine. He opened the doors and got up, leading the group off the bus.

As the group disembarked, Yugi did not see Yami, Tristan, or Tea anywhere, but he did see Tea's shiny Volvo parked under a towering tree in a parking lot a little off to the left of the Inn. The parking lot was crammed with cars, vans, and a big truck.

Max did not wait for them to find out where they were going. As soon as they had all disembarked the bus, he headed off towards a group of people standing the shade of a copse of trees at the edge of the parking lot. Judging by the general beefiness and rough appearance of the group, they were all security. Why they all needed to be here, Yugi didn't know, and he wasn't sure if it was standard procedure.

/Yami, we're here,/ he announced. /We just pulled up./

/We are still here at the cliff,/ Yami responded. /Tea packed a picnic lunch./

/That's fine. There's no rush- we haven't seen Erica yet./

/Will you join us?/

/Joey and I will find you when we're clear to go,/ Yugi assured him. /First, though, I think we need to check in with Erica./

"So... do we just go to the Inn?" Sota said uncertainly.

"Guess so," Joey said. "Come on, let's go check it out. We can ask some of those guys what we're supposed to do."

A group of people were on the porch of the house, setting up two tall cameras, a bunch of lights, and a few boom mikes. Joey started that way and everyone else followed. The parking lot was only a short distance from the property and everything here seemed so fresh and cheerful. The sun was bright and warm, the grass and leaves green, and the Inn itself welcoming. It looked like the kind of place a vacationing couple could spend a lovely weekend retreat.

Joey climbed up the porch steps and approached the group setting up. One middle-aged man looked up from where he was wrestling a boom mike into a brace as they came up.

"Hi," Joey said cheerfully. "We're the cast, I guess. Do you know what we're supposed to do?"

"No. Ask Erica."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah. Kitchen."

"Thanks."

The man did not seemed necessarily rude, but he was definitely harried. No one else even looked up. Yugi thanked him as well and the group turned to the doors, which were propped open to facilitate bringing in equipment. Spools of cable were strewn everywhere that they were careful not to step on as they walked inside the front foyer. It was a large room with a staircase against one wall leading upstairs, a front desk for registration and signing in with an old-fashioned summoning bell on the hardwood surface. Three doors opened up from the entrance hall. The one to the left opened onto a parlor, the one on the right to what looked like a conference or hosting room, and the one in the back into a large dining room. Assuming the kitchen would be closest to the dining room, they all crossed the empty foyer and went through those doors. The girls gasped in awe at the dining room, which looked straight out of a Victorian house. The walls were covered with a paper that was silver ivy with green leaves on a pale gold background, a large crystal chandelier over the enormous mahogany table, and eight or ten chairs upholstered with silver and dark grey cloth. There were two side boards on either side of the table for holding serving dishes, and three enormous watercolor paintings of scenery.

"It's beautiful!" Nadia exclaimed.

"Erica, they're here!"

Kevin had peeked out of the kitchen at Nadia's voice. He stepped aside as Erica came out. She looked a little frazzled, her hair hanging in her face. She pushed it back and let out a breath.

"Welcome, guys. Nothing to worry about, just a little problem with one of the special effects. It's all about taken care of, so let's get to work, huh?"

"Yeah!" Sota and Joey exclaimed together.

"First thing's first. I told you I film my movies linearly. So we need to get you main six set up for the car crash scene-"

"Car crash?" Rin asked, sounding nervous.

"Not to worry. You're not going to be in one. Here's how it works. Follow me, please. Daisy, Mark, you too." She went around them and back out. They followed her, listening to her as she went. "Rin and Ishio will be in one car, while Yugi, Joey, Nadia, and Sota will be in the other. We have two of each car. Two black Camaros and two maroon Ford Fusions. We'll film some short scenes of the two groups driving along the road out front, then park you and get your dialogue while you're stationary. We'll use special effects to keep the scenery going through the windows with some green screen shots and CGI. Then two of my stunt people will suit up, get in the two other cars, and crash out front. We'll film that, then get you guys in makeup-"

"Makeup?" Sota asked, frowning.

"That's the movie term. And, yes, some of it is actual make-up. Powder to make the lights shine less off your skin and keep any dark circles from appearing. Set lights are harsh. But it's also the fake blood, the fake scratches and bruises and such."

Sota didn't look too happy, but he didn't protest. Yugi decided to contact Yami again, since it seemed they wouldn't be meeting them at the cliff anytime soon. When he told him what was going on, there was a slight pause, before Yami said that Tristan eagerly wanted to see the car crash.

/I don't know if Erica will care if you watch. But you could come up and see, anyway. Are you coming now?/

/Yes. We did not start the lunch yet, we were waiting for you. We will just pack up and be there shortly./

Yugi turned his attention back to Erica as she led them out of the Inn. She gave them a brief verbal tour as they walked down the front walk to the long driveway. "Out front here is the road access you guys came down. On beyond the road leads to a logging company. So, we'll have to hope there aren't too many days of logging sounds getting in the way of our taping, but I'm not too worried. Kevin and I drove out there the other day, and it looked pretty abandoned, so maybe it's not even in business anymore. Out back is our little camp. We've got our makeup trailers, equipment trailers, an office trailer for paperwork and being contacted by my employees at the studio and my liaisons. There's a soundproof trailer back there for reviewing some of our footage or for me or Kevin to watch via a computer link hooked up to a small webcam attached to our two main video cameras to help us see ahead of time if there's any problems with what our cameraman and soundman are getting. We've also got a mobile food kitchen back there to get you guys fed during the day. We're using this Inn here for shooting purposes, but we're not using any appliances or anything in there, so, when you guys are hungry and you're not on set or in makeup, go ahead back there and get something from Candy. She's our on-set cook and she makes the best American junk food you ever tasted. Right now she's reading up on making some Japanese treats, too, and she'll be delighted if you ask to test her skills. Okay, that's most of it."

Yugi tried to keep a mental map of what she'd told them. "Are we staying overnight during any of these shoots?" he asked.

"I don't know. Probably not. I'll sure try not to. Not because I don't want to pay to put you guys up, but because the Inn isn't open to guests at the moment. One of the reasons we're doing our shoots here is because the Cherrywood is undergoing a lot of renovation on the upper floor, the parlor, and the Innkeeper's quarters. And there's no hotels anywhere close enough to bother with when we can bring you with the bus in the mornings and take you back in the evenings."

"When are we going to get our second Acts?" Sota asked.

Erica laughed. "Don't jump the gun. We haven't even started filming yet. We're going to finish the first Act before you guys even see the second one. I hope you all know your lines?"

They nodded, some with conviction, some without.

"What happens if we're horrible?" Daisy asked in a tiny voice, asking the question Yugi wondered himself.

Erica smiled at her kindly. "Don't you worry about that, honey. I've never booted someone off a project who didn't deserve it for being a jackass. I know you all are amateurs. That was the reason I chose you. You'll all do fine. If I have to work with you all one-on-one, more fun for me. But you'll be surprised how easy it is, especially when it's horror. This is no great thespian production. But, if you want some off-set coaching, don't hesitate to ask. But first, I'm going to get a feel for all of your innate skills with this first day of shooting first. See how that goes before you start doubting yourself, okay?"

Daisy offered a shy smile of gratitude. Erica grinned back, then stopped and turned around, hands on her hips, causing them all to stop jerkily. Surveying them with back and forth sweeps of her gaze, she smiled.

"All right, guys, are you ready? Let's get started."

tbc...