Vampy: Hey peeps! How ya doing? Did you enjoy the first chapter of Race Against Time? And guess what?! I GOT MY FIRST REVIEW! A special thank you to InSaNiTyIsNoRmAl. Everyone else, leave some reviews please! Also, there may be a little bit of swearing in this chapter. I apologize to those of you who don't like swearing! Just bleep out the word! I don't own anything from Ghost Hunt.

This is a rewritten/edited version.

Gene/Ayumu/Mai in dreams

dreams

thoughts/killer P.O.V.

Regular P.O.V.

Typed information


Mai stood in the familiar blackness of her dream realm, little white orbs floating here and there in a leisurely fashion. She sighed. " Great. I get kidnapped and then start dreaming. Where's a spirit guide when you need one?"

"How about right behind you?" Said a rather unexpected voice.

Mai whirled around in surprise. "Gene!"

Said boy grinned as she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around him in a big hug. "Hey Mai! Miss me?"

"Of course, silly! But what are you doing here? I thought you moved on after Naru and Lin took your body back to England," Mai asked in confusion.

Gene pulled back from the hug, his grin turning to a serious frown. "I'll explain all that later."

The little girl Mai had seen at the park suddenly walked up to them. She looked at Mai.

"I told you to run."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. What's your name?" Mai bent down so she was eye level with the girl.

The girl hesitated for a moment. "Ayumu."

"It's nice to meet you, Ayumu. Thank you for trying to warn me!"

Gene tapped Mai's shoulder. "Mai, you have to wake up. Ayumu and I will help you as best we can."

"Why? What's going on?" She started to ask, but Gene and Ayumu were already fading away as Mai woke up.


Mai groaned as pain threatened to make her head burst right open. She pressed her hands to her temples in hopes of making the pain go away. But the pain was quickly forgotten when she remembered the events prior to her regaining consciousness.

"Well, well. Looks like the Queen of Hearts has awakened."

Mai whipped her head to the right and met the malevolent, coal black eyes of her kidnapper. She suppressed a shudder when she felt the pure evil that seemed to roll off him in waves.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She asked.

The man smiled. Mai would have thought his smile was attractive if it hadn't belied his wicked intent. "The last person you're ever going to see while you're alive. You may call me Shi."

Mai didn't bother to hide her shudder when she heard his name, for it meant 'Death'.

Shi grinned at her shudder as he carried on. "As to where you are, I'd prefer to keep that to myself for the time being."

Suddenly the temperature dropped and a ghost appeared by his side; a woman. 'Snow like' was the only way one could describe the woman's beauty, for she had a cold demeanor and she seemed to almost shimmer (though the shimmering could be attributed to the fact that she was a ghost).

"Is this her? The one who will be the thirteenth ghost?"

Shi smiled at the ghost. "Indeed, Mara. With her, the ritual will be complete and I'll have beaten Mother's game. "

"Naru won't let you kill me!" Mai shouted, making a mental note about both the ritual and the game's origins. Monk won't either, I'm sure of it! She flinched slightly when the two started laughing; it was a terrible sound, like that of breaking glass.

Mara floated over to Mai until she hovered right in front of her, her face inches away from Mai's. "Mai. . . It's nice to know that you have so much faith in those little friends of yours. But they won't win. They don't know where to look for you, they don't know who Shi is, they have nothing to go on. Would you like to see my true form, Mai? Perhaps that will help you put things in perspective."

Something told Mai that she reeeeeeeally didn't want to see Mara's true form. This instinct was proven correct when the ghostly flesh of the woman began to peel away and decay, her hair became stringy and wild, and her eyes started to glow a bright red. Mai was frozen in terror, unable to move or scream.

"Aren't I beautiful, Mai?" Mara's voice was a hoarse hiss. She held up a decayed hand and gently brushed it against Mai's cheek. "Isn't my skin soft?"

As Mai felt the chill of the ghostly touch, she descended into the pitch black of unconsciousness.


Mai opened her eyes again. She face palmed when she realized she was once more in a dream.

"Seriously, why do I keep falling asleep? Although, technically, I didn't fall asleep, I fainted. But still! Gah!" Mai was interrupted from her mumbling by the realization that she was in the SPR office. It took her another minute to realize that Gene was no where to be seen, which meant that she was astral projecting.

Mai watched as Monk paced, his agitation obvious. She felt bad about making him and the others worry. But since she was here, she'd try to give them what precious little information she had about Shi. Mai thought about how to get everyone's attention since she knew that no one would hear her if she spoke. As Monk and Naru fought, she got an idea. A beautifully wicked idea. She giggled as she set to work on her plan.


Monk was pacing in the office of SPR, as he had been for the past three hours after bursting in with his phone still to his ear after Naru had called him. The others had also been contacted and were now watching as the monk paced. Ayako was a little surprised he hadn't fallen over from dizziness yet.

"Where did that bastard take her?!" He shouted for the umpteenth time.

Naru glared at Monk. "Takigawa, I understand that you are worried about Mai. However, shouting will do nothing other than annoy everyone else in the room."

Monk glared back at Naru. "Why aren't you doing anything? The guy openly challenged you to this 'game' of his."

"I've already called the police. They will handle the situation." Naru said as he turned back to his little black notebook.

"But you said that the police never found the bodies of the previous victims! Aren't you worried about her at all? She could be dead already for all we know!" Monk ran a hand through his hair and slumped onto the couch, scowling at the wall.

Naru said nothing. Of course he was worried, Mai was his employee after all. But he would never admit just how worried he really was.

John patted Monk's shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry, mate, I'm sure that she'll be just fine."

"John's right, old man. Mai will be back in no time!" Ayako said, trying to get a rise out of him. She was disappointed and somewhat worried when Monk simply nodded.

No one was prepared for what happened next. A magic marker seemed to fly right at Naru, drawing something on his face before the stoic teen could react. Everyone started laughing as he turned; on his face was a mustache and glasses along with the words 'Idiot Scientist' on his forehead.

Yes, this was Mai's 'wicked' idea. While it was effective, she would most definitely pay for it later.

"Mai!" Naru shouted, losing his cool for a moment when he saw what she had done to his beautiful face.

Monk was the first to recover from his laughter. His expression grew grim. "Mai, are you alright? Were you hurt at all? Do you know where you are and who took you?"

Mai quickly walked over to the computer at her desk and started typing.

One question at a time, Monk! I'm fine, I haven't been hurt at all. My captor's name is Shi. The ghost of his wife, Mara, has been helping him in a game that his mother created. They also said something about a ritual with thirteen ghosts.

"Do you know where he's keeping you?" Naru asked as he wrote down information in the little black note book he kept with him at all times. Mai found it hard to take him serious with all the doodles on his face, causing the chair to shake with her laughter.

Naru glared at the chair since he couldn't actually see Mai. " This is no time to be laughing, idiot. We're trying to get you back."

This immediately caused Mai to sober and she typed one single word.

No.

She started to fade, alerting her to the fact that she didn't have much longer to stay in her astral state. Mai quickly typed another two words before waking up.

Be careful.