Notes: Joey and Tristan's little adventure is thoroughly based on a wonderfully creepy scene from the Hardy Boys episode Voodoo Doll!

Chapter Seven

Joey was still fuming as he drove in the procession back to the hotel. Lector's father had got him out here on false pretenses. A nice girl had lost her memories. Two people had almost been killed in a freezer.

"This Dr. Raven creep has gotta be stopped," he snarled.

"Dude, we all know that," Tristan retorted. "But how will going off blowing your top help anything? Look, the police have already been out there trying to talk to him and to find that creepy woman Crump and Johnson told about. Apparently they didn't have any luck."

"So they weren't at the shop," Joey scowled. "Let's find out where he lives and try there! Or . . . he's a priest, right? Maybe we could catch him out doing some kind of voodoo ritual or something."

"Like that would work?" Tristan countered. "Joey, you know how you get about anything involving ghosts. If we really caught him in the middle of some ritual, you'd freak!"

"Yeah, well, under the circumstances I'd be willing to try it anyway," Joey said. "But I think we'd have a much better chance if just some of us go. I don't want Serenity or Mai going anyway. How about just you and me, Tristan?"

"I figured you were leading up to something like that," Tristan sighed. "But we don't even know where to look! Raven's probably not the guy's real name, so I doubt he's in the phone book."

"We could try Germaine," Joey said. "The girl's name, you know?"

"Oh yeah, like there wouldn't be a thousand Germaines in the book," Tristan countered. "We don't know the guy's first name either."

"Then let's go out to the docks," Joey argued. "We'll try to find out exactly what was in the crates and maybe his name will be on the order slip or something."

"So basically we'd be breaking and entering into the office," Tristan frowned.

"Have you got any better ideas?" Joey shot back.

"Actually, no," Tristan said. "But I'm still not crazy about yours."

"Well, whether you are or not, will you do it?" Joey demanded.

Tristan heaved a sigh. "You're probably going to do it whether I say Yes or not," he said. "And what kind of a friend would I be if I just let you go off alone?"

Joey beamed. "Alright!" He had been bringing up the rear of the procession. At the next corner, he turned right and slipped away from them.

"They're going to worry," Tristan pointed out.

"They can call," Joey retorted.

"And you'll answer?" Tristan pointedly asked.

"Of course I'll answer! . . . I just might not tell the whole truth about what we're going to do," Joey muttered.

Tristan slumped back against the seat. "I might have known."

xxxx

The rest of the vehicles made it back to the hotel without incident and were soon taking Seto and Crump up to the floor where most of their rooms were. It was only as they began to separate, with Crump and the rest of the Big Five disappearing into the Grand Suite and Seto and Mokuba and others heading for the suite Seto had picked for himself and Mokuba that they realized people were missing.

"Uh, guys?" Mai spoke up. "Has anyone seen Joey and Tristan?"

"Oh no," Atem exclaimed in horror.

"They're not here?!" Serenity shrieked. Frantically she looked around.

"And Joey wanted to go off to confront Dr. Raven!" Téa moaned.

"Well, he won't have any luck at the shop," Seto grunted. "The police already went there and it was empty."

"What about the docks?" Duke suggested. "Maybe they're going to try Téa's and Mai's idea."

"That's always possible," Mai mused.

"I'll try calling him," Yugi said, pulling out his phone.

"You know he'll just make things up to avoid discussing the subject, if it's something he doesn't want to talk about," Atem pointed out.

Yugi frowned. That was probably true. In any case, Joey wasn't answering.

"And even if we drag it out of him, he'll just insist," Atem was continuing. "Frankly, I think the only way to handle this situation is to go after him. Since I'm sure he'll go to the docks, why don't you and I head him off there, Yugi?"

Yugi started. "Let's!" he declared.

"I'm sure going," Serenity spoke up.

"And if you're going, I'm going," Duke said.

"Not to mention me," David added.

"Hold on, boys," Mai said. "It was my idea to begin with. I'd like to be involved too." She looked to Téa. "What do you say, Téa?"

Téa also started. Her mind had started to wander. "Huh? Oh. . . ." She bit her lip, conflicted. She did want to go with them, and yet . . .

Yugi gave her an understanding smile. "Maybe Mokuba could use you here, Téa," he suggested.

Téa slowly smiled back, relieved. "Yeah, maybe he can. Thanks, Yugi."

"Well, suit yourself." Mai half-saluted, half-waved. "See you later, hon."

"Bye, Mai. Yugi, Atem. . . . Be careful," Téa implored.

"We will," Yugi promised.

"I think I should go too," Bakura announced. "But Oreo shouldn't. Is it alright if she stays here?"

"Fine. Whatever," Seto grunted.

Bakura set the cat on a chair and petted her head. "I just don't want you to get into any danger," he said as she meowed in protest.

Yami Bakura took out the keys for the van. "Let's go then. Who knows what those dolts are going to get into," he growled.

"Bye, everyone. . . ." Téa watched as they all hurried out the door. Her stomach twisted; maybe she should be going with them. Ordinarily there wouldn't be any doubt. But when there were friends in two different locations that she wanted to be with, she was torn.

She looked back as Seto sank onto the couch in the electric blanket. Mokuba was calling for a portable heater and some hot chocolate and soup for room service. Biting her lip, she went over to the couch. "You're not going to lay down, Kaiba?"

"Not yet. I doubt I'd sleep." Seto sank back into the couch. "I'm surprised you're not going to go track Wheeler down."

Téa sighed. "Maybe I should. But it's hard to know where I should be in a situation like this. I want to go with Yugi and the others, but I also want to be here in case I can help. . . ."

"I don't need a whole army waiting on me," Seto grunted. "I'm going to be fine." Averting his gaze, he muttered, "It's bizarre to realize that's probably partially because of Crump. He kept me focusing on something other than the cold for as long as he possibly could, and when that finally failed, he still did what he could to keep me from slipping away. The latter could have been to try to keep himself warm longer, but what he did at first didn't really have anything to do with him. He didn't have to do it."

Téa was stunned that Seto was telling her any of this. Was it because he figured she would best understand his bewildered feelings about Crump? Probably.

She sat down on the other side of the couch. "It always does feel kind of strange to realize that people who once were your enemies aren't any longer," she said. "I've felt like that about Pegasus . . . Marik . . . the bikers . . . Dartz . . . Yami Bakura. . . . Now the Big Five too. . . ." She hesitated. "And you. . . ."

Seto looked to her. ". . . It's completely opposite everything I learned to believe," he said. "It was drilled into me by both Gozaburo and others that people don't change, unless it's for the worse."

"And with some people, that's true," Téa said. "But sometimes it isn't. There really are still good people in the world, Seto Kaiba. And sometimes . . . there are people who were good and they just . . . lost their way, whether that's because they got infused with some creepy corrupting power or they let their anger and hatred take over . . . or because they were taught to be ruthless and cold. And there's always a way back for those people, if they want to take it."

Seto was still unwilling to discuss any references to himself. "Does it ever stop feeling strange?"

"Yeah." Téa smiled. "Once you realize it's really for real, it feels incredible."

Seto looked away and didn't reply.

xxxx

Crump had burrowed into his bed, but was still wide awake. Lector had lingered, wanting to make sure he was really alright before going to have it out with his father. A phone call wasn't good enough; his outrage required a face-to-face confrontation. Seto had sent him a copy of the recording he had made from Evangeline's visit and he intended to play it for the man and get his reaction firsthand.

"You shouldn't go alone, Pal," Crump told him. "I don't need everybody here. Take someone with you. You might be too upset to drive and you'd hit a tree or something."

"I'll go," Gansley said. "But we still might not get an answer."

"I would like to quit right now and get home before anyone else gets hurt," Lector snarled. "That might be better for my mother and my siblings as well. Evangeline wouldn't have been hurt if she hadn't tried to talk to Seto Kaiba."

"That might be true," Gansley said. "In a case like this, it's hard to say. If we hadn't come, Dr. Raven might have started attacking your siblings one by one to get at your father."

"Oh. . . ." Lector ran a hand over his face. "I don't want anyone I care about to be hurt. Do I have to make a choice of who gets hurt because there's no way to keep everyone safe?!"

". . . I don't know," Gansley said quietly.

Nesbitt paced the floor, angry, as he watched them leave. "I'd like to give that man a piece of my mind too," he snarled.

"That'd be great," Crump said sarcastically. "Two hotheads running in together. No wonder Gansley stepped in before you could volunteer."

"Gansley always tries to hold the rest of us together," Johnson said quietly from across the room. "He was always the best at it. That's how he ended up our leader."

"Yeah, I guess." Nesbitt looked to Crump. "Do you need anything else?"

"Right now I'm good," Crump said.

"Then I'm going in the living room for a while." Nesbitt headed out of the room.

"Just don't leave the suite," Crump called after him.

"I won't," Nesbitt insisted.

Johnson sighed, coming back from the window and over to the other bed in the room. He sank down on the edge, clearly overwhelmed.

Crump rolled over and watched him, concerned. "Come on, Buddy, you're fine," he said. "You're not poisoned! You'd be showing some signs of it by now. Something!"

"What if it's a slow-acting poison?" Johnson retorted. "I've heard that a lot of voodoo is done with the power of suggestion. What if . . ." He reached up, shakily loosening his tie.

"Then you'd be reacting to the suggestion by now," Crump said. "I wish you'd let me tell everyone else. . . ."

"Lector and Nesbitt are on fire enough as it is," Johnson objected. "How can you think of adding more to their rage? And Gansley, he just quietly takes everything that's piled on him, but it has to hurt. He's the one person among us that you can't convince to open up to you. He just bears his burdens alone."

"Okay, think about this. Johnson, just suppose something really is wrong with you," Crump persisted. "What if you get really bad off and I don't know what to do and I can't get the others back in time and . . ." He looked haunted. "What if they come back and you're gone?"

Johnson looked away. "If nothing is wrong with me, I don't want to make everyone else worry. I feel terrible that you know and you can't just focus on getting better because you're worrying about me. And if something is wrong with me . . ." He drew a ragged breath. "There are things I'd like to say . . . and then other things I never wanted to say . . . things I never wanted you to know. . . . And I might end up blurting them out if the poison gets too strong a hold on me. . . ."

Crump frowned. "What kind of things?"

Johnson took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Times when I really wasn't a good friend. . . . Nesbitt wasn't the only one who didn't act like a team player sometimes."

"None of us have been model friends all the time," Crump retorted. "We've all had moments where we were self-serving or nasty or our spats got heated. And we've stayed together in spite of it all. I was talking to Lector about that once."

"Yes, but . . . all of those times were to each other's faces," Johnson said. "This is . . . going behind everyone's backs."

"Oh." Crump frowned a bit. "But it's over now, isn't it? You don't do anything like that anymore?"

"No, I haven't," Johnson said. "I couldn't. Not anymore."

Crump sighed. "Then if you did blurt something out, we'd try to think of it like that, that it's the past."

"I just don't want one of your last memories of me to be something negative," Johnson said. "I lived my whole life being self-serving and looking for inventive ways to cheat and not get caught. I lied left and right and I didn't care. But I've come to care so much about all of you. I don't want to do anything that will hurt you. . . ."

"I know," Crump said quietly. "Buddy, I know. And so will they."

Johnson didn't know what else to say, so he finally just looked down and nodded.

xxxx

Mr. Leichter jumped a mile when the doors to his study banged open and Lector stormed in, followed closely by Gansley. "See here," the man snapped. "What is the meaning of this? I taught you better manners than this."

"Right now, Father, I don't care a great deal about manners," Lector spat. "We found Crump and Mr. Kaiba locked in a freezer, half-frozen to death!"

Mr. Leichter flinched. "What?"

"They're going to be alright, but that might not have been the case. And Mr. Kaiba made this recording of his meeting with Evangeline." Lector held up his phone and pressed the Playback button on the recording.

Both Lector and Gansley closely watched Mr. Leichter's reactions to the contents of the recording. Shock at first, then anger. Never any guilt. He didn't even turn pale.

"Evangeline had no right to tell any of that information," he snarled.

"Don't you dare punish Evangeline, Father," Lector snapped. "I had every right to know every bit of what she told."

"Seto Kaiba didn't!" Mr. Leichter boomed.

"Regardless of that, what is your explanation?" Gansley demanded, glowering at the man who was hurting his friend so deeply. "Why didn't you tell about owning the building or trying to evict Dr. Raven?"

"Because I didn't want that to come out," Mr. Leichter growled. "It makes me look bad. And I swear I have not been stealing those crates!"

"If Dr. Raven has really been causing so much trouble, why should it make you look bad to try to evict him, Father?" Lector replaced the phone in his pocket and folded his arms. "I would have understood, had you been up-front with me in the first place. Right now I just feel used. And that would be bad enough, but people all around me are getting hurt because of this!"

"Then you shouldn't have brought them all with you!" Mr. Leichter screamed. "I wasn't planning on a battalion! I only asked for you!"

Gansley's temper cracked. "We chose to come out here because we didn't want him to deal with whatever it was alone!" he belted.

"Then it's your own fault and it isn't my problem that any of you have been hurt!" Mr. Leichter retorted. "I only care that Evangeline was hurt!"

Lector stared at him. "Father, you taught me better than this. You taught me respect and etiquette in the business world. You taught me to be gracious."

"And you turned your back on all my teachings when you took up with this riff-raff," Mr. Leichter answered. "I owe them no respect."

Gansley's eyes burned. "We're not going to learn any more from him. We should leave."

Lector drew a shaking breath. "You're right." He stepped back. "I would pack up and go home right now if it wasn't that I'm also worried about Evangeline and my other siblings and my mother. Right now, Father, I'm not so sure I'm worried about you at all."

Mr. Leichter was completely unaffected by that comment. "Then you'll stay in it for the others?" he demanded.

"Maybe," Lector said. "The police are in it now. Maybe we should just let them take over."

"That's another thing," Mr. Leichter pounced. "What right did you have to bring them into it? I didn't want the bad publicity!"

That was the last straw. "One of my best friends almost died!" Lector screamed. "All you can think about is how everything's going to look for you! This is it, Father. I'm leaving and I'm not coming back!"

"Then good riddance!" Mr. Leichter screamed after him. "I don't want you back! You haven't been my son since you changed the family name, and you're still not my son now! Go back to your riff-raff!"

Lector stormed out of the study, enraged and hurting. Gansley, lingering behind, stared at Mr. Leichter with burning eyes, his hand trembling as he gripped his cane. There was so much he wanted to say. But none of it was good enough. He turned, following Lector out of the room.

xxxx

Dark warehouses at night were hardly one of Joey's favorite places. But he steadfastly pressed on, driving up to the warehouse where Mr. Leichter's crates were stored. No one was around.

"Okay," Tristan said. "We should get into the office and see what we can find in there. Maybe there's some kind of important records that will give us a clue."

"Yeah!" Joey parked and leaped out, running up to the warehouse. "Hey, there's a window open!" He ran over and lifted it. "We can just slip in through here."

"That seems a little too convenient," Tristan frowned. "Maybe we'd better not."

"Come on, Tristan! We've gotta catch these slimeballs!" Joey went through the window before Tristan could protest again.

"Oh man, Joey," Tristan groaned. "I know I'm going to regret this. . . ." But he followed his friend inside.

At first everything was completely quiet in the eerie room. When a torch was suddenly lit up ahead, Joey could barely refrain from a yelp. "What is that?!" he choked instead.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's supposed to be here," Tristan frowned. A torch in a warehouse?

The flames danced and twisted in the darkness, casting bizarre shadows on the walls and floor. Then it illuminated the sight of an oblong crate being pried open by several people.

"What's that?! What's in there?!" Joey gasped.

Both he and Tristan stared in utter shock and horror as a coffin was lifted out of the wooden box. Another was being removed right next to it.

"What are they doing?! What are they doing?!" Joey freaked.

"Joey, calm down!" Tristan snapped, although he was turning pale himself.

Another figure came forward, raising the lids on both at the same time. Joey was about ready to flee in alarm when he saw that they were both empty. "What the heck?!"

"Hey, that's Dr. Raven," Tristan realized. "And some weird lady's coming out now. She must be the one from the diner!"

Dr. Raven raised his hands, chanting something in another language.

"What'd he say?!" Joey hissed.

"Don't look at me!" Tristan shot back.

Two of the men reached down, placing something in each coffin. The woman then loudly cried in English, "Where are the children? Where are the children?!"

"What children?!" Joey exclaimed.

Tristan gasped. "I don't know, but . . . Joey, do you smell that?" He coughed, his eyes watering.

"Yeah!" Joey covered his nose and mouth. "What is it?!"

Dr. Raven gestured to two of the workers. They raised knives, gleaming red from the light of the torch, and plunged them into what was now clearly two photographs, one in each coffin.

Tristan's heart clenched. "Joey . . . !"

"Where are the children?" the woman called again.

Joey's eyes watered. "Those pictures they just stabbed . . . that's us!" he choked out.

He collapsed to the floor. Tristan quickly followed suit.

The chanting stopped. Dr. Raven walked through the group and over to where the boys were sprawled. The torch's glow perfectly captured his cruel smile as he towered over their lifeless forms.