Chapter Fourteen
The outlandish event was over in the next moment, leaving Gansley and Nesbitt floored and their worried friends running up the stairs to the roof.
"What the heck's going on?!" Crump exclaimed. "Are you guys alright?!"
"Yes," Gansley growled, sitting up and grabbing for his cane.
"You felt it too?" Nesbitt grunted. He got up and stood by, waiting to see if Gansley needed assistance standing.
"We sure did," Lector frowned.
Gansley pushed himself up without help. "I wonder if that's the spirits' way of telling us they're very displeased with the attempt to exorcize them," he said dryly, not even sure he was kidding. "Either that or it's the reason Evangeline didn't want anyone to go on the roof."
"The exorcist is here," Nesbitt said. "I saw him pull up several minutes ago."
Gansley sighed. "Well, let's go downstairs and see what's happening with everyone else."
The others agreed, and they quickly departed from both the roof and the attic. To their relief, the third floor was not warped to any of their eyes this time and they managed to get to the ground floor without incident.
"What's going on?" Lector asked of Seto, who was standing near the open doors to the North wing.
"Evangeline's priest is trying to get rid of all the ghosts," Seto grunted, clearly not looking impressed. "They refuse to go."
"How is Mr. Ishtar?" Lector asked, disturbed by the news yet not wanting to dwell on it.
"He's awake. Mokuba's still in with him," Seto said. "Joey wanted to leave before the exorcism got underway, but none of them made it out yet." He gripped his arms. "I found a strongbox in the secret room behind Marik and Rishid's wardrobe. Evangeline has no idea what it is or how to open it."
"And we discovered the stairs up to the roof are not rickety as she claimed," Gansley said.
Seto shrugged. "You're welcome to ask her about it, but she's with the priest."
Lector jerked. "She's in the North wing?!"
"Yeah," Seto said.
Nesbitt growled. "You want to go in after her, don't you?"
"Of course I do," Lector retorted.
"I'm sure she's safe with the priest," Gansley said.
"When the ghosts won't leave, can you guarantee that?" Lector shot back.
". . . No," Gansley admitted. What really could he guarantee in this place?
Lector didn't wait for anyone else to protest. He ran through the doors into the cursed wing.
"Lector!" Gansley called. He growled. Naturally Lector would go in after his sister. He would feel just the same if it was one of them. And either way, they of course had to go in after him.
Seto grunted as they all ran past. Then he turned away. He had no intention of watching an exorcism. This would be a perfect time to instead investigate the space behind Nesbitt and Johnson's wardrobe. But since he didn't know how far the drop was, he would go find a few others to be on hand.
xxxx
Lector didn't have to run far to find his sister. Evangeline was standing near the bottom of the stairs, watching as the priest performed the ritual. The anger of the spirits was all around them, pulsating, almost tangible in the air.
"This is just freaky," Crump gulped, gripping Gansley's arm.
This time Gansley didn't shoo him off. He was disturbed himself.
"Maybe you shouldn't be here, Nesbitt," Johnson worried. "They hurt you once; they could easily do it again!"
"As if I'd leave all of you here to deal with it without me," Nesbitt retorted.
"It doesn't look like it's gonna work this time anyway," Crump said.
"That's right," Lector agreed. "Evangeline, you shouldn't be here. The priest is used to evil spirits, but you're not. Please, come out of here with us."
Evangeline looked over at him. "I'm sorry, Démas. I refuse to let myself be bullied by these spirits any longer." She clenched a fist. "They're ruining my home and hurting you and everyone else. And I'm going to stand right here while they're banished forever!"
"But sometimes it takes months of exorcisms before it even works," Lector said.
"And why did you say the stairs to the roof were rickety when they're not?" Crump demanded.
Evangeline looked away. "There's a ghost story rumor about the roof. When we were on the tour, I didn't know if it was true and I didn't want to chance anyone seeing the ghosts. But maybe that story really isn't true; I haven't caught any glimpse of them."
"Where in this house isn't there a ghost rumor?" Nesbitt muttered sarcastically.
Gansley frowned at Evangeline. "Since we've been trying to draw out the ghosts, why wouldn't you have mentioned it?"
Evangeline still wasn't looking at him. "I'd rather not talk about it here, with the priest and all. . . ."
Lector sighed. "Alright then. It can wait."
They all stood by, watching as the ritual continued.
xxxx
Yami Bakura watched as Seto shined his flashlight into the space behind Nesbitt and Johnson's wardrobe. "Well?" he asked, somewhat boredly.
"It definitely goes down farther," Seto said. "I think the bottom is on the basement level." He straightened, beaming the light on the pipe. "As for this thing, it snakes along until it curves up near the wall."
"And you're going to try going down there?" Bakura said in concern. In his arms, Oreo meowed.
"We need to know if there's anything of significance down there, and I don't know how to access it from the bottom," Seto pointed out. "This may be the only entrance."
"Be careful," Bakura implored.
"I'm surprised you're not watching the priest," Seto grunted.
Yami Bakura shrugged. "Bakura was afraid I'd have too much of a mocking attitude and break the mood, even if I didn't actually say anything."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Seto said dryly. He secured the rope on one end and wrapped the other around his waist. "I'm going in."
They watched as Seto descended into the hole. The rope uncoiled more and more, and was more than halfway into the space by the time Seto hit the bottom.
"Anything down there?" Bakura called.
"Dust and cobwebs," Seto grunted. He started walking, shining the flashlight in front of him. It was quite bare aside from the pipes. He could hear them groaning and creaking all around him, and he didn't try to suppress a smirk. Joey would probably think all the sounds were most certainly more ghosts.
He was still down there when he heard footsteps in the room above him.
"Well, the priest is gone," Evangeline sighed. "He said he'll come back tomorrow and try some more. Has Mr. Kaiba found anything?"
"Not that we're aware of," Yami Bakura grunted.
"I guess I'll try to open this strongbox he found and see if there's anything interesting in it," Evangeline said.
Seto had decided there was nothing of value in the hole and was preparing to come back up as Evangeline started to work on opening the strongbox. He only noticed the very old and yellowed piece of paper fallen near the wall when he turned to start back up. Frowning, he picked it up and shined the light on it. It seemed to be part of a letter. He stuffed it in his pocket and grasped the rope. He would give it to Evangeline at the top.
When he arrived, the Bakuras and the Big Five were all gathered around Evangeline as she fought with the lock on the strongbox. "None of these keys work," she frowned, "and I don't know how to pick locks. . . ."
"Allow me," Yami Bakura smirked. He came forward and studied the lock. "That should be simple enough. Do you have a bobby pin?"
"A safety pin," Evangeline said slowly, taking it out of her bandanna.
Yami Bakura took it and set to work on the lock. Before long it clicked and he lifted the lid. "There."
Curious, Evangeline peered into the box. "There's some old papers in here," she announced. "Maybe letters. . . ."
"Maybe this also belonged in there," Seto said, taking the paper out of his pocket. "It was on the floor down there."
Surprised, Evangeline took and unfolded it. "It looks like part of a letter our grandmother was writing," she exclaimed.
"To whom?" Lector asked, also surprised.
"To her brother," Evangeline said. "In fact, she's describing what happens on the roof. She sounds terrified."
By now everyone else was starting to trickle into the room, realizing that the priest had left and wondering how things had gone. When they realized they were stumbling in on something interesting and potentially important, they stayed quiet to listen.
"The reason why I didn't like to talk about it when the priest was here is because . . . well . . ." Evangeline sighed and looked away. "The ghosts on the roof, when they show up, are supposed to re-enact a murder that took place there."
"WHAT?!" Joey screamed. "What hasn't happened here?!"
Nesbitt frowned. "You've certainly kept a lot of secrets. I thought you'd finally come clean when you told about the North wing and the watching ghost."
Evangeline suddenly fell back in horror. "Everything's my fault," she gasped. "If I'd been honest with all of you from the start, you wouldn't have come here. Then all of these horrible things wouldn't have happened!"
"Evangeline, no," Lector immediately said. "It's true that maybe some of us wouldn't have come if we'd known beforehand, but I still would have, and then the others would have come as well. You can't blame yourself!"
Evangeline managed a weak smile. "You've always been such a good brother, Démas. It's tragic that the rest of the family refuses to see that you never abandoned them."
Nesbitt grunted. "What about this murder on the roof? Didn't you know about it too?" He looked to Lector. "And if you didn't, why not?"
"Nobody was supposed to know about it," Evangeline said. "I only know because Grandmother was talking about it one time when I visited her. Mother insisted it was all nonsense and that I was forbidden to talk about it with anyone. I actually forgot about it until we moved in here. . . ."
"Did you actually see the ghosts?!" Téa asked in alarm.
"No," Evangeline said. "If I had, I'm sure I would have warned everyone to stay away. I was just desperately hoping Grandmother was having a delusion."
"So what does the letter say?!" Crump demanded.
"We're probably better off not knowing," Tristan said.
"We should know," Yami Bakura retorted. "There might be a clue as to what all the madness in the house is about."
"That's a good point," Lector said with a nod.
"The letter talks about Grandmother sneaking up to the roof one night when she couldn't sleep," Evangeline said, looking down at it again. "She saw two transparent people apparently arguing. She could see their mouths moving, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Then the woman pushed the man hard against the railing. It broke and he fell. Grandmother ran downstairs screaming and had nightmares for weeks."
"I'm gonna have nightmares right now!" Joey exclaimed.
"Did she really mean to kill him?!" Téa gasped. "Maybe she was horrified when the railing broke."
"Grandmother didn't stay to see her expression," Evangeline said. "She was five."
"Whoa. Tough," Tristan frowned. He looked to Yami Bakura. "I feel real educated now."
Yami Bakura ignored his sarcasm. "We should try to see them arguing ourselves," he determined. "We might be able to discern clues that a child could not."
"They don't come out every night," Evangeline said. "I'm not sure what does make them come out. If they always showed up on a certain day, you could figure it was when he got killed." She looked down at the stack of papers in her hands. "I'd like to look at these letters from the strongbox. I'll let you know if there's anything important or helpful in them."
"Good luck," Nesbitt grunted as she hurried out of the room.
". . . You know," Tristan said when she left, "it really is her fault, at least a little bit. She should have told us all of this stuff, even if she didn't believe in it."
Lector frowned at him. "She would have if she'd had any inkling that we were in danger. In fact, if she'd realized that, she would have begged us not to come and to find a hotel instead."
"Maybe we should," Joey shuddered. "Every few minutes, this place gets more and more creepy!"
"We can't leave our friends!" Téa protested. "You know the Big Five would stay here, and some of the others would stay with them, like Mokuba."
"Mokuba would leave if I insisted," Seto said flatly.
Mokuba looked down. He didn't want Seto hurt, that was for sure. Marik had already been hurt; none of them were safe unless they could find how their assailant kept getting in.
"Actually, I'm thinking we should try to convince Evangeline to leave," Gansley said. "She and Angelique can come to a hotel with us until all of this is straightened out."
"And what if it's not fixed by the time we have to leave?" Lector said, an edge creeping into his voice. "Evangeline doesn't want to leave New Orleans, and Angelique has to stay here with her restaurant business. I was afraid bringing in an exorcist would only make things worse!"
"Well, people don't always get what they want, now, do they," Nesbitt growled. "Maybe Evangeline will just have to suck it up and come to Domino City with us. Angelique can move back into her old house."
"If it was big enough for two people, they could both go there," Lector sighed, "but it was barely big enough for one."
"Everyone, we mustn't argue!" Atem suddenly cried. "If we can't stay united, our enemies—both living and dead—will have won!" When everyone stopped yelling and looked to him, he continued, "I would say that the ghosts aren't the most concerning problem here. As long as the North wing is kept closed, the dangerous ghosts don't bother anyone. The other ghosts may be disconcerting, but they haven't done anything to harm anyone."
"Or help anyone," Joey muttered.
"What we need to worry about the most is how the living people are entering this house," Atem said. "We all got distracted by the arrival of the exorcist, but we should get back to scouring this house for any and all secret passages. If we can find and block the way that the living people are getting in, we should be safe."
"The Pharaoh is right," Yami Bakura grunted.
"Maybe Evangeline will find something about the other passageways in those letters," Serenity hoped.
"Maybe," Lector agreed. "But we should be looking on our own anyway. It could take her an hour or two to go through all those letters."
Everyone consented, albeit some reluctantly, to resume the search for secret passageways. Duke, Serenity, and David found themselves searching downstairs in the entryway and living room.
"Would anyone really put a secret panel here?" David said skeptically.
"You wouldn't think so, and that's why there might be one," Duke retorted.
". . . I guess that logic makes sense," David mused.
They jumped a mile when the doorbell suddenly rang.
"Should we answer it or find Evangeline or Angelique?" David wondered.
Duke was looking through the peephole. "We should answer it." He unlocked the door and hauled it open. "Snakes!"
Serenity immediately ran over. "You really made it!" she beamed, truly happy to see him despite being worried about the possible dangers he might encounter.
"I went right to work asking Mr. Marcus if I could take my vacation now," Snakes drawled. He came in carrying a heavy suitcase and just stood in the entryway, staring around at the furniture, walls, and ceiling. "I'll be. . . . It looks almost exactly like it did back then. . . ."
"That must be a surreal experience," David said.
"To say the least," Snakes said.
Some of the others were wandering over, drawn by the sound of the doorbell. As Lector approached, Snakes took one look at him and paled. "Ismael?" he whispered. He shook his head in the next instant. "Forgive me; you look so much like him. . . ."
Lector stared at him. "You really are my great-great-grandfather's business partner?" he gasped.
"I sure am, or was, or whatever you want to call it," Snakes said.
"We're really happy you came, Snakes," Serenity said.
Duke nodded. "It's been too long." He hesitated. "I just hope you won't regret coming here. There was another incident today with someone getting hurt and we're desperately trying to locate all the secret passageways to keep it from happening again."
"Not to mention we learned about some ghosts re-enacting a murder scene on the roof," David intoned as he adjusted his glasses.
Snakes cringed. "I'll make a note of that."
"So does this mean Gansley's going back to his room?" Crump wondered. "Now he'll have someone to share it with. . . ."
Gansley looked Snakes up and down, while Snakes was likewise scrutinizing him. "I suppose we can make it work," Gansley said. "I'm not difficult to share a room with."
"Me either, Sir," Snakes stammered. "I just flop down and go to sleep, pretty much. . . ." He gestured to demonstrate, then turned to look awkwardly at Duke. "Well . . . if you're all looking for secret panels, I could help. Maybe being back here will help me remember something about where more of them are."
"That'd be great," Duke said. He smiled. He was worried on the one hand for Snakes to be there, but maybe nothing would go wrong. He certainly hoped not; he was glad for his other friend to have come.
xxxx
One of those who hadn't heard the doorbell and gone up was Atem, who was searching the basement as promised. He went over the area Marik and Mokuba had explored before and then continued by examining the rest. He wasn't afraid to be down there alone after all he had seen through the millennia, but he did feel tense and on guard. The hammock was rocking again, just as Marik and Mokuba had reported, and Atem decided to be congenial and see if the occupant would help.
"Hello," he greeted. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to be down here for a while, checking for a secret passageway or two."
The hammock just continued to rock.
"I'll try not to disturb you," Atem said.
He checked all of the old shelves, hoping desperately that something would open up. When that failed, he went back the other direction and veered to the right to look in the bedrooms and the bathroom that Marik and Mokuba hadn't tried to examine.
There was definitely a presence; Atem could feel it watching him as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. This was a newer part of the house, having been built on later, but the ghosts seemed to like it just as much as the older parts. Ignoring the feeling, Atem went in and rummaged through the cupboards for clues or levers. One cupboard next to the tub featured a mermaid carved on the door. How oddly appropriate, considering the siren in the pool, he thought.
Finding nothing of consequence, he moved on to one of the bedrooms. It, too, was filled with a presence, silently watching as he roamed through the space and checked for things of interest.
As he worked, he pondered on the mystery. Could Noa be involved, somehow? It was true that he was the only person besides Johnson who knew what Johnson had said. But maybe Evangeline was right and that man had seen into the past via some magical object. Either way, Atem doubted he would be forthcoming with answers if asked.
He pulled open a drawer in a nightstand, and a picture at the back of the drawer jerked into view from the motion. Lector's father, standing with his wife and children—including Lector—and another, older woman. The great-grandmother, perhaps?
Atem's gaze bored into the image of Mr. Leichter for a long moment as his thoughts wandered. Such a corrupt, uncaring father. . . .
"Oh no!" he gasped. "It can't be!" He threw the picture down and immediately turned to the door. "I have to get back upstairs and warn the others!"
The door slammed shut.
"Hey!" Atem ran over, rattling the knob in desperation. It was stuck and he was trapped.