Sorry for the late update! Thank you guys for being so patient!

Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited in the past two weeks. You guys are awesome!

We are finally to the DD chapter! I've been so excited to write this one!

I put a lot into this one. Hopefully it makes up for my absence...:)

Disclaimer: As always, I do not own YGO, only my OCs.

Chapter 9

I checked my costume one last time in the mirror, making sure everything was in place. Over the last two days, I had spent time at Yugi's and then Tea's working on my costume alongside everyone else. Atem and I had switched between each others' costumes often, since they both required some of the same materials. I knew he was going to look amazing in his (how else could he look?), but I hadn't been too sure about mine. He assured me I would look great, as did Tea and Yugi. Still, I was self-conscious.

Satisfied for the moment, I gathered my hair into a braid and threw it back over my shoulder, then placed the hat that Tea and I had designed on my head. Tonight was going to be interesting, to say the least.

I grabbed my car keys and adjusted an arm band, then made my way downstairs. It was only seven, and the gang had decided to meet up at eight thirty. However, I had something else to do. Miri had come home the day before, an excited glitter in her eyes, and told me that Mokuba had invited her to a Halloween party at his house at the other end of town. I had promised to take her there, since Mom was working late again.

I still had half a mind to strangle her boss.

Miri was leaning against the counter in the kitchen, staring blankly out the window above the sink. She had obviously put a lot of effort into her appearance. Beneath an asymmetrical-hemmed blue and black shirt dress, she was wearing black, glittered leggings and a pair of Mom's silver-buckled black boots. Her lucky necklace, which was really just a collection of items representing our family, with a ring from Dad, a flower charm from Mom, and a decorative clay bead from me, glittered on a longer, newer chain. She usually wore it on a short leather cord that reached her collarbone, but I guessed the occasion had called for something fancier that ended just beneath her petite chest. The hoop earrings I wore on occasion dangled from her ears. Her hair was curled and swept to the side, decorated with two rhinestone-studded pins that I had given her in her bangs. Though she didn't need makeup, I noticed she had used some of my abandoned eyeliner and mascara with shimmery silver eyeshadow, and had dabbed her lips with pearl-tinted lip gloss.

She hadn't noticed me yet. I smiled, my chest filling with a sisterly sense of pride. Miri looked just like Mom, elegant and soft and beautiful. She would be a little heart-breaker when she got older.

"Wow...when you said your costume would be unusual, I didn't realize that by unusual, you meant *that*." She had broken out of her stupor, probably feeling my gaze on her. Her blue eyes, intensified by the black liner around them, studied my ensemble with raised eyebrows.

I shrugged and glanced down at the costume Atem had chosen for me. "None of the other Duel Monsters were appealing as real-life outfits."

She gave me a crooked smile.

"You look cute." I told her.

"Thanks."

A grin pulled at my lips. "Did you dress up for Mokuba?"

Her pale cheeks immediately darkened to a deep shade of pink. "No..."

I giggled. "You did so."

"Did not! Is it not okay to dress nice for a party?" Her cheeks were burning red now.

I poked her in the shoulder. "A party that a boy invited you to."

"Eriiin!" She squeaked, giving me a playful shove. Small fits of giggles escaped her mouth.

"Miri's got a boyfriend..." I sang.

She covered her face with her hands to hide her smile and her blush, feigning annoyance. "Stop!"

With one last snort, I sobered up. "You're right. I shouldn't be laughing - your love life is more active than mine as of now."

"Oh my god." She said, her voice muffled by her hands. "Can we just go?"

I sighed dramatically. "I guess."

She practically ran for my car to escape my teasing. I shook my head, still smirking, and followed her.

The drive to Mokuba's house was quiet for the most part. Miri had found a station on the radio that was playing scary story readings, and settled in her seat, eyes out her window. She was probably afraid that if she said something, she might bring about another wave of my teasing.

Which wasn't a wrong assumption.

"Alright," I said, turning down the radio as we stopped at a four-way, "which street do I take from here?" We had left the city a few minutes ago, following a paved back road through the woods that stood on the edge of it. Miri had told me that Mokuba and his brother lived outside the city, but I had figured they were just in a small neighborhood like we were. However, the absence of space for homes in the dense foliage made me a little suspicious.

"Kaiba street. That one." She pointed to a green sign that indicated the road to the right.

My eyebrows knit together. "Kaiba street?"

Miri nodded. "Yeah. That's Mokuba's last name."

"Are you sure?" In my head, small pieces of my conversations with Atem, Tea, and Yugi, and Miri's occasional mentions of Mokuba's family, fit together in my head. Was it possible that the young, stoic CEO of Kaiba Corp was the mysterious boy's older brother?

Miri raised her eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure. Are you gonna go, or...?"

I shook my head. "Uh. Yeah. Right." I hit the gas and turned onto Kaiba Street. After a few seconds of quiet, I asked, "Does Mokuba talk about his brother a lot?"

Miri raised an eyebrow at my sudden inquisitiveness. "Yeah. All the time. He says he's pretty cool."

"Really?" This confused me. When I thought of the two brief exchanges I had ever had with him (the latter being an awkward teacher-chosen partner reading activity in Lit class that ended up just being the two of us reading to ourselves in the same general vicinity as each other), the word "cool" didn't register in my mind for anything other than his personality. Then again, I acted differently towards Miri than I did to people at school. Maybe he did the same, just a little more extreme.

"He idolizes Seto." Miri continued. "He says he's a great guy. Mokuba told me I might even get to meet him tonight, if he's not working, of course."

My earlier pokes of fun at Miri's relationship with Mokuba came back, pushing my thoughts about the guy I barely knew to the back of my mind. "Ooh, if you're meeting his family, then he's gotta meet yours. Common courtesy."

"Erin, I swear to god!"

"Just saying."

Miri groaned, knowing she wouldn't win this charade, and went back to staring out her window.

The road dead-ended at a pair of large, intricate black gates, on either side of which stood tall, rough stone pillars that extended out into two stone walls, which ran as far as the eye could see before they disappeared into the trees.

"You would think that someone who lives so far away from civilization and has a wall like this wouldn't want to be bothered." I muttered, thoughts of Seto Kaiba again running through my mind. The guy really broadcast a "don't-even-look-at-me" persona for himself.

Miri held her hands up in an "I don't know" gesture. "Mokuba said something about his brother not liking unwanted visitors."

Yeah, I kind of deduced that. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. "Okay...so what do we do now? Wait for him to see us on his security camera?"

"Erin, sometimes I wonder about your lack of observatory skills." She pointed outside my window, and I followed her finger to find that I had pulled up next to a black speaker that I had previously dismissed as a small tree.

"Oooh." I said, rolling down my window. "Fancy that."

An extremely proper and intimidating voice came on over the speaker. "What is your business on Mr. Kaiba's property?"

I exchanged a nervous look with Miri, then turned back to the small black box. "Um, I'm here to drop off someone for Mokuba's party."

"State your names."

Miri and I glanced at each other dubiously before I replied, "Erin and Miri Stephenson."

There was a pause and the static-y sound of papers rustling. "Miri Rose Stephenson, grade seven?"

What overkill. "Yup." I answered.

I heard something click in front of the car, and I looked at the gates to find that they were opening for us.

"Proceed." The voice told us before the feed cut out altogether.

I rolled my window up, shivering from the chill outside, and shifted the car into drive again. "Well, that was unnecessary."

"I guess you can never be too careful nowadays." Miri said with a shrug.

"I think it's possible." I muttered under my breath.

The road was smoothly paved and lined with exotic-looking trees that I had never seen before. The yard behind them on either side was clean, green, and perfectly-trimmed, with the occasional patches of wildflowers glowing in the light of the newly-risen moon. It seemed like we were on that drive for hours, and that it would never end.

Soon enough, however, I turned a corner to find that the concrete smoothly transitioned to dark cobblestones, and the road widened out to circle around a huge, intricate fountain. We were entering what resembled a courtyard, skirted with pristine hedges and bush sculptures positioned in key points behind them. My eyebrows almost shot up into my hair as we passed the fountain (which featured a beast that looked suspiciously like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon spewing "flames" from its nostrils) and came into full view of the house.

"Holy crap," I breathed. This wasn't a house – it was a mansion. Stark white and standing at a very impressive three stories high, the two wings spread far out, widening the structure. I counted sixteen large, picture windows on the right side of the first floor alone. My eyes bulged as I took in the ornate crowning beneath the windows and the roof. Lights were on in most of the windows. Two flights of stairs began at the courtyard and twisted to meet again on a landing, which was dominated by a wider set of steps that lead up to the front porch.

Miri and I were so focused on gawking at the mansion that we didn't notice the suited man who had been standing sentry-like in between the two lower flights of stairs. He promptly strode over to Miri's window and knocked on it, scaring both of us.

After the initial shock, Miri composed herself and rolled her window down. "Good evening, sir." She said, her voice small.

"Good evening, miss. You're here for Mokuba's party, I assume?"

Miri swallowed and nodded. "Uh huh."

The man's eyes darted to me, studying my costume with an impassive, professional expression that barely masked the distaste he had for it. "You as well?"

I shook my head. "No. Not me. I'm just dropping her off."

He seemed visibly relieved at this, then looked back to Miri. "I will escort you inside."

"O-okay." Her voice was almost a whisper now, a sign that she was about to crumple her easygoing, friendly personality back into a ball now that she was entering a social situation.

Uh-oh. As my sister moved to open her door, I put a hand on her shoulder. Her head whipped to me. "Hey. You'll be fine." I told her softly.

She gave me a small, nervous smile and got out of the car. When she shut the door, she glanced back at me one more time.

"Have fun." I said, my words carrying more meaning than the escort knew.

She nodded, then turned and allowed him to walk her up the steps. In the bright lights that shone from the porch, her light hair turned to a golden halo. I smiled after her, praying she would be alright.

When the overly-decorated front door closed behind them, I sighed and pulled out of the circle.

Now it was my turn.

"It's about time ya showed up!" Joey said, throwing an arm around my shoulders. I had found him standing in the parking lot, at the entrance to the haunted house. His Flame Swordsman costume had turned out better than expected – besides the obvious padding in his midsection to mimic abs and on his arms to create the illusion of thick biceps, he definitely looked the part. He didn't have the sword that Tea and Yugi had made for him out of cardboard because, as Tea had pointed out, it would become a liability in the haunted house, much to Joey's despair (he had wanted it in case he got freaked out and decided to hit the workers that were scaring him; however, Tea didn't want an assault charge coming out of it).

None of the others were in sight, and the line to get in was already almost to the lot.

"Hey." I said when he released me. "Where is everybody?"

"Waitin' for us. I came down here to see if ya'd gotten lost." He grinned. "The costume looks great, by the way."

I grinned back. "Thanks."

Joey lead me up the sidewalk, past the line of impatient and sometimes drunk and/or drinking teenagers and younger adults. Up the walk, I could see a rectangular, nondescript brick building with only pair of metal doors as an outlet, through which the line disappeared.

"This place is only used for Death Dungeon on Halloween." Joey told me as we walked. "The rest of the year, it's locked up so vandals don't get in. It's the only known entrance to the city's first subway system, which was discontinued because of a bunch of cave-ins."

"So I guess the tunnels will be our dungeon of doom?" I asked, surprised that Joey knew so much about this seemingly-random building.

"You betcha." He said, winking at me.

Not quite inside the doors, I spotted Atem's hair, and then the rest of the gang. They were all laughing and joking about Tristan's costume and how cold he was. I mean, how could he not? All he was wearing to fend off the cool night air was a pair of camouflage parachute pants and a strap across his torso that held a fake machine gun to his back. He had taken off his faux metal face mask so he could speak more clearly.

As Joey and I approached, I heard him shout, "Lay off, guys! I didn't think it would be this cold!"

I snorted. "It wouldn't have killed you to bring a jacket, though."

Everyone's heads whipped to me. "Erin! Hey!" Tea said, examining my costume. Her own fit her perfectly – she had trimmed it and sewn it until it was almost identical to the monster on the card – and I suddenly felt self-conscious again. "You look great!"

I smiled sheepishly. "Thanks. You do, too."

Yugi was grinning at me under his Dark Magician hat, bright purple eyes brought out by the purple garments and armor he wore. "I wouldn't have thought a girl could pull off Magician of Black Chaos, but it turns out I was wrong." He told me with a small laugh.

"You look pretty cool, too, Yugi." I said. As always, his friendly face and gentle voice made me feel more at ease. My shoulders relaxed for a moment.

At last, I turned to Atem. He was watching me with a strange gleam in his eyes, probably mentally patting himself on the back for all the hard work he had put into my costume. Despite my remarks on how difficult it would be to make a Black Luster Soldier costume, he and I had really hit it home. Beneath the gold-painted cardboard plates that we had molded into armor, he wore tight-fitting royal blue pants and a matching long-sleeved Under Armour shirt that clung to his lean, muscled torso. Half of a red wig protruded from the back of his helmet. Like Joey, he had elected to ditch the sword in favor of the haunted house, and I could still see tufts of his natural spiky hair, and of course his bangs, sticking out from beneath his headgear.

"We're freaking miracle workers." I mused, grinning at Atem.

He smirked back. "Yes we are. That costume suits you."

A warm feeling spread in my chest at his compliment, but I ignored it. Ever since I had read too deep into Astrid's reasons for taunting me, talking to him had been awkward. It was all I could do to not watch his actions out of the corner of my eye to make sure he really wasn't sending the wrong signal to everyone.

The line moved forward, bringing us closer to the gaping doors of the building, beyond which I could only see darkness. Joey was teasing Yugi about his hair poking out from his helmet. Tea kept trying to tuck it in, but it just kept sticking back out. They finally gave up, letting his unnatural mane flow free. Tristan continued to shiver from the cold, and Joey continued to poke fun at him for it.

Fifteen minutes later, we were able to just duck inside the doors. A worker disguised as a masked killer passed us, giving Joey a creepy look in an attempt to scare him early. It didn't work, and instead, Joey laughed out loud. People around us looked at him like he was insane.

I had decided who I was going to stay next to while we were in the dungeon.

"Welcome to your doom!" A dark voice thundered over the speakers in the corners of the room. "There is no turning back now!" In the background, sound effects meant to resemble the clinking of prisoners' chains and their desperate shouts echoed.

"Overkill." I muttered for the second time that night.

Still, the feeling of being in an actual, professional haunted house was putting excited butterflies in my stomach. I could already feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

The line moved forward again, and we found ourselves at the top of a steep concrete staircase that lead down to a pitch-black room. It looked like we had found the dungeon.

"Tickets, please." A woman to our right said, holding out her hand. The six of us retrieved said tickets from our pockets and placed them in her upturned palm. She checked them over with a flashlight because the room was so dim, then looked up at us, grinning sadistically. In the low-toned lights, her angled face was sharp and had big splotches of darkness where her eyes and cheekbones would be. This was the first thing I had seen that had actually sent chills down my spine. "Enjoy. Pray you survive the night."

Joey and Tristan exchanged glances, then practically flew down the steps. The rest of us followed, yelling for them to slow down so we wouldn't be separated in the dark. Behind us, I heard the squeal of protesting hinges, and looked over my shoulder to find that a trap door had been closed over the entrance to the stairs.

"Yugi!" Tea called frantically from somewhere to my left.

"I'm over here, Tea!" Yugi replied, his voice just as terrified as hers was.

"Is that your hand?"

"Yeah."

I could feel myself blinking, but I couldn't tell the difference between what was in front of me and the darkness behind my eyelids. Since my sight was blocked for the moment, my hearing became the sense I depended on.

"Erin? Atem?" Yugi asked. He sounded a little farther away. "Are you guys still here?"

I nodded, but then remembered that he couldn't see me. "I'm here." The silence around us was disorienting. I felt my heart pounding against my chest in anticipation.

"Me too." Atem answered from behind me.

A hand grasped mine. "Erin, that's your hand, right?" Tea asked.

"Yeah. Holding hands is probably a good idea. We won't get separated this way." I reached out my free hand blindly. "Atem? Where are you?"

The backs of my fingers brushed against a smooth fabric. Immediately, new fingers closed around mine. "That's me." Atem's deep voice said, so close I could feel his breath on the side of my face.

I was glad for the lack of light, because I knew my face had gone pale from his touch. The fireworks that I remembered from the last time I had made contact with his skin were less noticeable now, but they were still there.

"Okay. Now we just need to find Joey and Tristan." Yugi said. Presumably because Yugi had begun walking, Tea's hand tugged at mine, leading me forward, and I pulled Atem behind me.

"Leave it to those two to run off into god-knows-where without a second thought." Tea said, trying to make herself sound brave. However, since she was grasping my hand so tightly, I could feel her trembling.

Not that I wasn't as nervous as she was. I knew that in places like this, sixty percent of the scare factor was the feeling of being lost and helpless.

I heard someone run into something. "Okay, found the wall." Yugi mumbled.

We all laughed uneasily, doing our best to stay directly behind the person in front of us to avoid having the same happen to us. I breathed shaky breaths, trying to keep calm. In the deafening silence, my breathing sounded overly loud.

It seemed like we were wandering around in the blackness for hours, taking sharp turns as Yugi felt out walls and pulled us along next to them. We were too afraid to talk. We all knew too well that it was only a matter of time before the real scares began.

But later was better than sooner.

"I think we're in a maze of some sort." Atem whispered.

"Me, too." I whispered back, trying to keep my voice as quiet as possible. "They usually throw these in haunted houses to make it extra difficult to find your way out."

Something clicked behind us, the sound resembling that of a heeled boot striking the ground. My head whipped in the direction of the sound, though I wouldn't be able to see anything.

"What was that?" Tea asked. Her death grip on my hand grew stronger.

Atem's other hand clasped onto mine, enclosing it in its own protective little case. He must have noticed that my fingers had involuntarily tightened around his.

Another click, this time next to me. My breath hitched in my throat.

Everything happened so quickly. Something tugged at my hair, causing me to cry out in surprise. Then, a hand that couldn't have belonged to any of my three friends wrapped itself around my upper arm and yanked me forwards, knocking me off balance.

"Erin!" Atem said in alarm. He still held onto my hand with both of his, and I leaned on his to recompose myself. Unfortunately, I had lost Tea's hand.

"Erin!" She was a little farther away, her voice terrified. "Are you okay?"

I clutched at the armor on my shoulder. "Yeah. I'm fine." My thoughts said otherwise. Weren't the scarers forbidden from touching you?

Then again, the rules to get tickets for this place had been very strict. Maybe this was why.

The swish of cloth over the stone came from nearby. There was a moment of quiet, and then a loud shout and a bang echoed around us. Tea's scream almost split my eardrums.

"Tea!" Atem and I called in unison.

"This way!" Yugi shouted, more distant than only seconds ago. "Follow my voice!"

Atem and I half-ran, half-dragged each other towards the sound of our friend's voice. "Where are you?" I yelled.

"Over here!" No matter how far we ran, it seemed Yugi grew farther away. "There's a corner, watch out – "

I ran smack into a wall before his warning had time to produce an effect in my mind. "Ouch!"

"Are you alright?" Atem asked.

"I'm terrific." I murmured, using my elbow to graze the wall as we speed-walked next to it.

"Guys?" Tea exclaimed. Dang, how far had those two gotten in the two seconds it had taken me to recover from my collision?

Atem and I quickened our pace. "Slow down!" I shouted. "We need to catch up – "

Two hands pried themselves between my arms and my torso from behind, trying to lift me into the air.

"Atem!" I shrieked.

His reaction was almost instant. Using the grip he already had on my hand, he pulled me into him and turned me away, pressing me into his chest. We moved a few steps in the opposite direction. I inhaled a peculiar perfume on his clothes, something that smelled familiar, even though I had no idea who else I knew would wear that kind of dark, musky cologne.

His hands had released mine when I stumbled into him to hold onto me. It seemed I had hit him with greater force than he had expected, and he had to wrap his arms around my back to keep us from falling.

At least, that was the reasoning I made up in my head.

Neither of us felt comfortable enough to speak. His arms slowly loosened their protective hold on me and dropped down to allow me to find his hands again.

"Thank you." I said to relieve the silence.

He gave my hand a light squeeze in assurance. "You're welcome."

We could no longer hear the shuffling of Tea's and Yugi's feet on the floor ahead of us. They must have been scared into running away while we were occupied.

Atem and I made our way through the maze cautiously, clinging onto each other in fear of being alone in this place. We weren't even sure if we were going the right way anymore. All we wanted to do was find the others and get out.

Sinister laughter carried around us. I couldn't decide where it had come from, and quite frankly, I didn't want to find out. My hand had gone numb because Atem was holding it so tightly.

My pulse pounded in my ears. I could hear Atem's quick breathing next to me. We picked up the pace.

The laughter rang out again, this time from behind us. We moved faster, frantically trying to get away from it.

"All dressed up and nowhere to go!" A voice exclaimed.

Oh, we're going somewhere, all right. And that would be the exit.

Footsteps ran at our backs. "But wait, your majesties," the voice said, coming from everywhere at once, "you've got a party to attend!"

Lights flashed, scaring the both of us, as the sound of several more footsteps approaching bounced off the walls. For a moment, I was able to see Atem's face. Horrified. Angry. Worried. Another illumination, accompanied by the crack of thunder and a woman's agonized wail, gave me the view of half a dozen figures dressed head-to-toe in black with night-vision goggled around their heads rushing towards us. I screamed. Atem may have shouted in alarm.

Hands again wrapped around my arms, but this time, they pulled me with so much force that I lost my grip on Atem. I cried out for him, and he did the same for me. I was being dragged backwards.

They were taking me away from him!

That was definitely not allowed at haunted houses!

"Atem!" I yelled, struggling against them. It was almost like I was being kidnapped.

"Erin!" He called back. I heard him fighting against the people holding him in place. "Run!"

He must have realized, as I had, that there was something seriously wrong here. I tried to yank my arms away from my captors, but they were too strong. One of them clapped a gloved hand over my mouth. I bit down hard, but they didn't remove it.

I thrashed and kicked and emitted muffled cries, trying to call for help from someone, anyone, but I knew no one would hear me. Atem's shouts grew fainter.

I managed to pry one of my arms free, and I swung it around wildly, hoping to hit someone. I never made contact, and my wrist was again grabbed and held behind my back.

Tears formed in my eyes. I had heard of physical and even sexual assault happening in haunted houses, but never kidnappings. What were these workers, if they were even that, planning on doing with me? I threw my body back and forth, trying to free myself from their vise-like grips.

They dragged me through the maze for a good amount of time, with me struggling and thrashing and biting. Adrenaline kept me from tiring for now, but I knew the supply of energy was limited.

Finally, after taking way too many turns and leaving Atem's voice far behind us, they stopped.

"Keep her under control." The same voice from before said, annoyed.

I growled and twisted again to defy him. The hands on my arms and shoulders tightened.

"Damn. You would think that after all these years, she would be old and tired." Another male said to my left.

My struggle stopped for a moment as I mulled their words over. What was that supposed to mean? This was crazy talk. Had they possibly gotten me confused with someone else?

The first voice scoffed. "Three hundred centuries don't mean a thing when you have a dangerous secret to protect."

I flailed again. The sound of small metal objects jingling together reached my ears. Metal rubbed against metal, and there was a distinct click.

They were unlocking a door. They were taking me into a previously locked room! I cried out in desperation and fought more.

Bright light blinded me for a moment, temporarily freezing my actions, and then I was shoved into the room. I stumbled and fell, only just managing to catch myself with my newly-freed hands.

"Enjoy the party, Perdidit Regina." The first voice purred before I heard the door slam and lock behind me.

I didn't have time to register the Latin words in my mind. I jumped up from the floor, blinking the dots away from my vision, and threw myself against the door. "No!" I screamed, fists banging against the metal. "Let me out!"

No answer came from the other side.

Tears streamed down my cheeks. "Help!" I cried. My fists throbbed from their constant impact with the door, but I persisted. "Please! Let me go!"

Again, no answer.

With one final beat against the cold surface, I pulled my hands away and stared at them, shaking.

"No." I whispered to myself. "No, this can't be happening." Things like this only happened in movies. No in real life. Not to real people. Not to me.

I hugged my arms to my sides, allowing a small sob to escape my mouth. If they had thrown me in here, what had they done to Atem?

Once another sob and more tears had made it out, I clenched my teeth and breathed heavily, my fear turning to anger. I wouldn't cry anymore. That was probably what they wanted.

I took a deep breath and turned so I could see the rest of the room in full view. It was small, only about ten feet by ten feet, and bare. Concrete walls, damp and lit by standard yellow fluorescents in caged sconces, leered back at me from all sides. There was nothing remarkable about this place. It reminded me a bit of a jail cell that I had seen once on a visit to Alcatraz, minus the bars on the door.

My eyes scanned the room for a window, a weapon, anything, and found nothing.

That is, until they dropped to ground level.

Laying on top of a scrap of cloth against the far wall was a leather-corded necklace with a small pendant glittering on the string. Acting on an impulse, I moved closer to inspect it, and when I wasn't satisfied with my view standing up, I knelt down in front of it.

The trinket that was attached to the cord looked more like an amulet than a casual necklace. It was made of gold – real or fake, I couldn't tell – and molded into the shape of an eye, Egyptian style. Not the eye of Horus, but similar. The pupil of the eye was inlaid with what appeared to be lapis lazuli, giving it an almost lifelike quality.

And it looked so familiar.

My thoughts grew hazy. I forgot about my current predicament, instead focusing all of my energy on the sight before me. I knew this amulet from somewhere. Like with the smell that lingered on Atem's clothing in the darkness, I couldn't place where I knew it from, but it seemed hugely significant.

Hesitantly, I reached out a hand to touch the shiny gold surface. The second my fingertips brushed against the precious metal, I felt the world tilt beneath me.

As I fell to the floor, feeling the cold stone through my clothes, the yellow-tinted light faded to black.

Whew, this chapter tired me out!

I hope you guys thought I did the haunted house justice. I'm not very experienced at writing scary scenes, so hopefully it gave you some kind of thrill.

Ahh! Erin got captured! What's going to happen now? What happened to Atem?

And no, I am NOT introducing an eighth Millennium item. That has been done too many times before, and while some people mange to pull it off, I feel like it's a bit of a cliché at this point. Besides, Sagira wasn't really considered a part of the court (at least, not the Item-wielding one). So no, this necklace is not an item. But it is significant, as you will find out later on.

Again, I apologize for the lack of an update last week! With any luck, I won't be missing another deadline for a long time.

Thanks for being so patient, guys. It means the world to me :)

Don't forget to review!

-creativelybored