Chapter Thirteen

Marcel Germaine was a friendly and accommodating host, to the group's relief. But somewhat to their surprise, he didn't seem to have much good to say about his wayward relative.

"Dr. Raven?" he sighed. "Yes, you were informed correctly; he's my second cousin twice removed."

"You don't sound pleased about it," Atem noted.

"I hate to speak ill of a relative, but he always was a wild card—fascinated by the occult and dark magic and in trying to find ways to defy reality and logic at every turn. Then when he decided to adopt a corny stage name like Dr. Raven, I just threw up my hands and sighed. I couldn't imagine what he wanted with those coffins, but he claimed it was just for a stage act and he wanted them to be authentic."

"You would sell someone coffins for that purpose?" Atem frowned.

A shrug. "Companies do make coffins for movies and television," Marcel said. "There's nothing wrong with that. But for my cousin to do what you're describing with the coffins . . . !" He shook his head in sickened horror. "I am so sorry that my company had anything to do with it."

"You couldn't have known," Lector said.

"Tell us, what is his real name?" Gansley asked. "We're trying to locate him and don't know how to go about it. He hasn't been at the shop."

"Oh, I think you should go back and look again," Marcel said. "Several times he laughed and told me that he had several special exits and secret rooms in there. When the police came to talk to him, he was probably hiding away in one."

"Oh great," Mokuba sighed.

"As for his real name, it's Baptiste Germaine. I don't know where he lives, but he may be listed in the phone book."

"Thank you, Sir," Lector said with a slight bow. "We'll look into it."

Mokuba looked up at him as they left the Eternal Rest Coffin Company. "So are we gonna check out the shop ourselves or have someone else do it?"

"I'm sure Mr. Wheeler would like to do it," Lector said, "but I think it would be better if he didn't."

"Yeah," Mokuba sighed. "We don't need him blundering into something again."

"However, I don't know that you should be along either, Mokuba," Lector continued. "Maybe Mr. Ishtar should take you somewhere else."

"Aww, come on," Mokuba protested.

"He has a point, Mokuba," Marik spoke up, feeling a bit strange to be called "Mister." "Your brother only agreed to let you come because he didn't think we'd be going anyplace where you might be in danger. But if we went to look at Dr. Raven's shop, there could very easily be the possibility of danger."

"Maybe you could just do a little sight-seeing," Yugi suggested. "There's another parade today, I think. You could just enjoy the city for a while instead of worrying about the mystery."

"It's hard not to worry about it," Mokuba said. "And now Seto's got this extra pressure on him of using that ring. . . ."

"There's plenty of people to work on the mystery," Marik said. "We can get away for a couple of hours without disrupting anything." He paused. "And I'm sure your brother will do just fine with his new task."

Mokuba smiled a bit. "Yeah. . . ."

"We'll let you know if anything happens," Lector added.

"Okay," Mokuba finally said.

Marik smiled in relief.

xxxx

Baptiste Germaine was not listed in the phone book, so it was back to the shop for the Big Five, Yugi, and Atem. It still looked as abandoned as it had the previous day; the door was even still unlocked.

"If he's really still kicking around, why the heck would he leave this open?" Crump wondered.

"To keep up the illusion of not being here," Gansley said. "He wouldn't want to let the police—or us—know he was still on the premises."

Yugi shivered as they all wandered inside. "It really does feel eerie in here," he said. "I'll bet the place Ishizu and Rishid went to was a lot nicer."

"Yeah, because it's not being run by some nutcase bent on killing us all," Crump retorted.

"Alright. Spread out and try to find a secret panel," Atem directed. "They must be here somewhere."

"I wonder if that weird barrier is still here preventing people from going into the back room," Crump said. He wandered over near the black curtain. "Nope, it's gone." Immediately he pulled the curtain back. ". . . Okay, now that's creepy."

Lector came over to look. "What is it?"

"Everything!" Crump said with a wild gesture.

Lector frowned. It did look unsettling; skulls were decorating the room on all sides. At the back was some sort of altar with unlit candles at both ends and another skull behind one.

"We should check inside all the skulls, just in case he hid something inside one," Nesbitt said flatly.

Yugi swallowed hard. "Um . . . yeah, I guess we should," he said. His hand shook as he reached for the nearest one.

"Are you serious?!" Crump exclaimed. "I'm not gonna open any of those things' jaws!"

"Even if it means finding a valuable clue?" Gansley retorted while opening the mouth of another.

"There's other places to look!" Crump walked into the back room and over to the altar. "I'd even rather check here!" He tried lifting part of the ceremonial cloth.

Lector stayed in the main room and helped Johnson look through the drawers and cupboards behind the check-out counter.

"It just looks like more voodoo paraphernalia back here," Johnson frowned. "Complete with dolls." He shuddered. "I know you said they're not supposed to be used for evil, Lector, but it's hard to forget that portrayal."

"Anyway, they look creepy regardless," Crump called from the back room. "They either have no faces or these weird kind of faces."

Lector reached into the cupboard and took out two dolls. "I wonder what these are doing back here instead of on a shelf. That's strange."

Atem looked over. "Do you think there's some significance in that?"

"There could be," Lector said. He straightened, turning them around to examine from all angles.

"On the other hand, would Dr. Raven have left them here if there was?" Atem wondered.

"That depends," Lector said. "We still don't know if he really came back here. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he's not here now." He laid them on the counter and began feeling across them.

"What the heck are you doing?" Crump demanded as he came back into the main room. "You got a doll fetish or something?"

Lector rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to figure out if there's anything inside them besides stuffing," he retorted.

"Oh." Crump watched him for a moment. "Does it feel like there is?"

"No." Lector frowned at the dolls.

Yugi had wandered into the back room by now. "There has to be something we're missing," he called over his shoulder. "We haven't found one secret panel!" Then he stopped, staring at the altar. "I wonder . . ."

Nesbitt was still putting his hands into skulls. At the doorway to the back room, he stopped and stared as Yugi knelt on the floor and began tapping the altar from all sides. "If that's a doorway to another room, I doubt anyone but you would fit," he commented.

"It might just be a small compartment," Yugi replied. His eyes widened as something clicked. "Yeah! There's definitely something here!" He opened a door in the side of the altar, revealing that the entire structure was hollow.

Nesbitt came over to him. "Is there anything inside that chamber?"

"I think . . . yeah, there is!" Yugi reached inside and pulled out a heavy book. ". . . Um . . . uh oh. . . ." He held it up. "It's an encyclopedia of magic objects."

Atem heard and hurried over. "That's wonderful, Yugi! It may have the amulet we're looking for in there. We could see what it looks like and hopefully learn more about its supposed powers!"

Yugi set it on the altar with a hard thump and opened it. "The Millennium Items are in here," he gasped.

"What about the Infinity Items?" Atem wondered.

Yugi flipped back several dozen pages. "The Puzzle and the Ring are mentioned," he said. "And the Star. The Ankh isn't listed, and neither is anything else. But . . . oh wow." He stared at the blurb. "It says here that while the Millennium Puzzle was the . . . well, the leader of the Millennium Items, the Infinity Ring is generally thought to be the leader of the Infinity Items."

Atem gawked at the page. "So not only was Yami Bakura given a powerful Infinity Item, he was apparently given the most powerful one!?"

"Well," Yugi said with a helpless shrug, "at least he hasn't misused it. . . ."

"It's not just that," Atem said. "With the way it malfunctions so seriously at times, I wouldn't have thought it was anywhere near the most powerful Item."

Crump shrugged. "I guess the guy still hasn't unlocked the thing's true power. The book doesn't say how to do that, does it?"

"No," Yugi said. He went back to the beginning and started turning pages. "This is going to take forever when we don't have a name for the amulet. . . ."

"Stop at a listing for any artifact that talks about world domination," Atem instructed. "We don't know for sure it's an amulet."

Yugi cringed. That would take even longer, and who knew whether Dr. Raven might suddenly walk in on them? "Okay." He tried to quickly skim the blurbs before turning pages.

Atem shifted and watched him. "By the way," he said awkwardly, "did it say where the Infinity Puzzle fit on the scale of most powerful to least powerful?"

"No, it didn't," Yugi said. His mouth dropped open. "But oh gosh, those rings are in here!"

"What?!" Atem and the Big Five all rushed over to look. Indeed, the current pages in the book showed detailed paintings of every one of the six rings, collectively called the Elemental Rings.

"Boy, it's a good thing the box isn't shown," Yugi said. "Then Dr. Raven probably really would know about you guys and Kaiba having connections to the ancient past!"

"But how'd the rings get shown at all?" Crump exclaimed. "They were supposed to be under lock and key in that box thing!"

"Maybe at one time they were in a museum," Lector suggested.

"No, they couldn't have been," Atem remembered. "They were sealed in that box in ancient Egypt and only their descendants—all of you and Kaiba—could open it." He shook his head. "Since these are only paintings, perhaps someone was just imagining what they looked like from descriptions in ancient records or illustrations on ancient paintings."

"Or maybe they were shown the things in a dream," Crump muttered, not even sure if he was being sarcastic.

"In any case, I sure hope Dr. Raven won't realize you guys are the ones meant to wield the rings," Yugi said in concern.

"He might, if he has security cameras in this place and is monitoring them," Lector remarked matter-of-factly.

"Oh!" Guilt-stricken, Yugi looked back to the book. ". . . And I just realized. Dr. Raven must have known about the Infinity Items because of this book! He was probably only pretending not to know what they were when he talked to you and Yami Bakura, Atem."

"That's true," Atem said in surprise. "But he didn't show any interest in having them. . . ."

"Maybe because he knows they have to be used only for good and he didn't fit the bill," Yugi said.

"Anything's possible, I suppose," Atem said.

Everyone drifted off to other parts of the shop again until Yugi cried out. "I think I've got something!"

They rushed back. "The amulet?" Atem said hopefully.

"Yeah! It looks just like that one in the photograph Kaiba got!" Yugi pointed to a jade-green, diamond-shaped amulet with a skull in the center. "It's called the Amulet of Emotions. It reacts to extreme emotions while someone is holding or wearing it and transforms the person into a powerful being who can act on their emotions."

"So . . . that means if somebody, say, has extreme emotions about taking over the world, they can do that with it?" Crump said uneasily.

"It sounds like it," Yugi said. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of it. "This has to be what Dr. Raven's after! It was definitely in that box!"

"Unless the one in the box was just a replica," Atem mused.

"I don't think so," Yugi said. "It doesn't seem to be very well-known. I'm sure it's the real thing!" He flipped back through the pages until he came to the spread on the Infinity Items. "We should show this to the Bakuras," he said as he activated the phone's camera again.

"Oh yeah, no pressure there," Crump grunted. "Tell the thief guy he's got the most powerful item in the set and he's gotta be the leader!" He gestured wildly with both hands.

Atem cringed.

Yugi closed the book and lifted it to replace inside the altar. "We should get this information back to the others!" he declared.

"Hold on," Johnson spoke up. "Maybe we should take the volume with us. There might be something else in there we can use."

Yugi blinked in surprise. "Well . . . what if there aren't security cameras and Dr. Raven comes and finds the book gone? He'll know we got to it first. . . ."

"He already knows that's a possibility," Atem said. "Johnson may have a point, Yugi. The book may list something we can use to counter the amulet."

"I'm sure two Infinity Items and six magic rings are enough," Yugi replied. "I'd really rather not take the book with us."

Atem sighed and backed off. "Very well, Yugi. It's your decision to make."

"Objection," Johnson countered. "The boy may be the newly appointed leader of your group, Pharaoh, but he isn't our leader. That honor still belongs to Mr. Gansley." He gestured to his friend.

Gansley nodded. "We don't even know for certain how to use these magic rings yet. Let's take the book." He pointed at it with his cane.

Yugi bit his lip, but finally backed down. "Okay then," he said. "It's your responsibility."

Pleased, Johnson scooped up the heavy tome. "This really shouldn't be left in the hands of a man who tried to murder some of us anyway," he said. "He might decide that if he can't have the amulet, he'll try to get a different artifact instead."

That thought hadn't occurred to Yugi. He looked down, chagrined. "Oh. . . . I guess he might. . . ."

"It's better off with us," Gansley agreed.

As they headed back through the shop, Yugi looked to Atem with a weak chuckle. "You know, I never thought the day would come when I'd actually believe him on something like this."

Atem stared off into the distance. "So many things are different now."

Yugi's expression shifted to surprise. "Hey, are you okay?"

Atem started. "Oh. . . . Yes, Yugi, I'm just fine."

Yugi gave him a bit of a sad smile. "It probably feels kind of strange not to be the one in charge, doesn't it?"

"I promised I wouldn't interfere with you being the leader, Yugi, and I won't," Atem insisted.

"Somehow I don't think that's what you're thinking about as much as you're thinking about what we learned about the Infinity Items," Yugi said. "You apparently don't have the most powerful item in this set. Not only that, your former archenemy has it. That can't be easy to take."

Atem looked down, but he was smiling a bit now as well. "You always were able to read me so well, Yugi. Yes, I have to admit it may take me a while to be able to handle this news. I trust Bakura to do the right thing after all he's been through over the past year and everything he's learned, but . . ." He clenched his fists. "He can't even fully tap into the power of the Ring! How will he ever wield it properly?!" A heavy sigh. "And . . . while I've supported him, I honestly never thought he had been given the strongest Item. I didn't know . . . I would have to be subservient to him. . . ." His voice lowered.

Yugi laid a hand on his shoulder. "You don't fully know how to use the Infinity Puzzle, either," he said softly. "Maybe you can help each other."

"Perhaps so," Atem said, and tried to smile a bit again.

xxxx

Mokuba was restless. He wanted to relax and fully enjoy the exploration of the city, but it was difficult when thoughts of the mystery kept intruding on his mind. Even as he and Marik watched the parade and he became fascinated by the intricate costumes and floats, an attempt to sort through the baffling mystery was never far from his mind. Then, as he rushed to grab some flying doubloons thrown by one of the men on the current float, his hand brushed against that of someone familiar.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "You were watching us yesterday!"

The other boy went stiff, his eyes taking on a deer in the headlights look. He turned, clutching his prize as he tried to squeeze through the crowd.

Mokuba looked up at Marik. "You believe me, don't you?! That's the kid! I know it!"

Marik narrowed his eyes. "Then let's try to catch him." He took Mokuba's hand, pushing their way through the heavy throngs. Catching anyone in this crowd seemed highly unlikely. Catching a small boy seemed almost impossible. But he wasn't about to give up.

When they finally broke through the gathering and looked around, at first there was nothing. But then Mokuba cried out. "There he goes! He's climbing that ladder and getting on that building's balcony!" He pulled away from Marik and ran over to the ladder. "Come back!"

"Mokuba!" Marik exclaimed. He chased after his friend, quickly ascending the ladder behind him. By the time he reached the balcony, Mokuba had vanished through the sliding glass doors. "Oh . . . I hope no one's in there," the Egyptian muttered to himself. He did not look forward to explaining why they were intruding into the apartment.

Mokuba was running through the residence's bedroom and into the living room, still calling for the kid. He stopped in the middle of the living room, frowning as he looked around for the strange spy. "I know you came in here!" he called. "All we wanna know is why you've been watching us!" He hesitated, then added, "Are you working for Dr. Raven?"

Silence. Then, finally, the boy came out from behind a chair. "No," he said. "I'm not working for anyone."

"But you have been watching us," Marik said as he caught up to Mokuba.

The boy shifted. ". . . I was just trying to figure out what kind of people you are," he said at last.

Mokuba stared at him. "Huh? Why?"

". . . Because I'm worried about Uncle Démas!" he blurted.

Marik stared at him in surprise. "You're his oldest sister's child?"

A nod. "Well . . . one of them. I'm Gabriel. My older brothers, they don't care about him. They always made life miserable for him whenever he tried to baby-sit them. Uncle Démas doesn't even know me real well; he left for Domino City before I was born. But Mom's always talked about him and she still loves him, and . . . I guess she's passed that on to me. I love him even without really knowing him, because he's family."

Marik smiled a bit. "He'll be very happy to hear this. He thinks everyone other than Evangeline has turned against him."

Mokuba nodded in agreement. "Does your mom know you've been out?"

"She has to work a lot," was the sighed reply. "Dad left years ago. So I help around the house and go exploring on my own and stuff. When I heard you were all coming out here, I wanted to try to figure out if you'd be good for Uncle Démas and help him." He looked down. "Mom loves him and all, but she doesn't wanna go against Grandpa."

That brought a scowl from Mokuba. "Even if your grandpa is doing something wrong? I mean, come on here! He tricked Lector into coming out to try to fix a problem of his! He didn't even care if Lector got hurt, just as long as he took the heat off the rest of the family!"

"I know!" Gabriel exclaimed. "That's why I've been going against Mom's wishes and stalking you guys!"

Marik folded his arms. "Do you know anything that might help us solve this mystery faster? Anything at all?"

A long hesitation. ". . . I think Grandpa's the one you really have to watch out for, not Dr. Raven."

"Why do you think that?" Marik asked in surprise. "Dr. Raven has been trying to kill some of us, including your uncle."

Gabriel looked away, blinking back forming tears. "Yeah, but he's a stranger. Grandpa is family, and even though you should be able to trust him, you can't because he's been treating Uncle Démas really rotten. He's already lied about a bunch of things. How do you know what else he might have lied about?"

"You know something else, don't you?" Mokuba said. "You want to help your uncle, and you hope we'll help him, so you've been watching us. Maybe you really want to tell us something too, but you're afraid to go that far because your grandpa's family too and you don't want to betray him either."

Gabriel drew a shaking breath. ". . . You're right. But . . ."

"If you know something that could protect your uncle, you need to tell us, even if it gets your grandfather in trouble," Marik said. "If he's been doing something wrong, he needs to be stopped."

"Okay." Gabriel finally turned back to face them. "I think my grandpa really did steal the missing crates."

Mokuba stared. "Why?!"

Before Gabriel could answer, the front door opened and a woman walked in, loaded down with grocery bags. When she caught sight of the three boys, she stopped and stared in utter disbelief. "What are all of you doing in my apartment?!" she cried.