Since I have nothing to say, except this has SPOILERS, just review. And for those that are wondering why I am not explaining the SPOILERS, they will be explained as Mai learns the secrets! Enjoy!
Chapter 4 – Secrets and Doors
"What were you two thinking?!" Madoka growled at them and Mai glanced at Naru out of the corner of her eye and saw from the downward turn of his mouth that he was not happy about being scolded.
"I was thinking that Mai shouldn't be wolf food. But by all means if you would rather have her dead I won't push her out of the way next time." Naru said coolly and Mai shot him a glare that was meant to kill but he didn't even look in her direction.
"Oh, no, you don't, Naru. Don't you dare turn this on me, Ol-" Madoka was about to say something else, Mai just knew it until Naru interrupted the older woman from her ramblings.
"Madoka!" he snapped and Mai didn't see the glance he shot at her. "The fact is the wolf tried to attack Mai and I pushed her out of the way and we landed in a…compromising position. It is not my fault," he stopped when Mai cleared her throat loudly. "Or Mai's fault, that we landed as such. Now would you please quit yelling at us so that we can attempt to find Mrs. Lunar?"
"Naru…I swear to everything that's good and green, one of these days you are going to mess up so badly that you won't be able to talk your way out of it and I want to be there when it happens." Madoka said before leaving the room, Lin raised an eyebrow at Naru before following the distressed curly haired woman out of the room, once again leaving Naru and Mai alone.
"Um…I'm sorry that you got balled out by her…and thank you for saving my life." Mai whispered and Naru sighed before he sat down at the computer and began to type and Mai realized that she had been dismissed. She turned and began to walk towards the still damaged door.
"She's angry at me. And you're welcome." he replied and she turned to look at him stunned before she smiled at his back and running out the door in search of Kim, deciding it was time to hunt for the other secret passageway that Madeline had told her about in her dream.
They searched for almost five hours. And had no luck in finding any sort of door. They pulled and tugged on anything that might have been a lever but nothing happened. Mai landed on her bed that night sore and exhausted. She wasn't going to go to Naru and tell him that she hadn't found anything.
She wondered where on earth the other secret door was. She knew Madeline hadn't been lying about it. But they had looked everywhere that was possibly feasible and there was nowhere else to look. Mai sat up as she realized that the one place they hadn't looked was in the library.
She ran out of her room and down the steps before stopping as all the lights went out and she was thrown into darkness. She could feel something watching her and she looked around desperately, wanting to see whatever was watching her. She could feel her heartbeat accelerating as she continued to look before she screamed as something wrapped around her throat.
She tried to pull the hands off before she realized quiet suddenly that there was nothing around her throat and yet she felt hands there. She struggled as hard as she could before finally it released her and she stumbled forward. She saw a beam of light and was relieved when Naru walked towards her with a flashlight.
"Mai, what are you doing?" he asked and she just shook her head before glancing over her shoulder and saw that was nothing there. She frowned, she hadn't imagined it. She knew that she hadn't imagined it. She turned to look at Naru and he saw the pale color of her skin.
"Something attacked me! I don't know what." Mai cried. She gasped as Naru grabbed her arm and dragged her into the library and closed the door that he and Lin had obviously hung after it had been knocked down by the werewolf, more commonly known as Rena as Kim's aunt was still missing from the house.
"What did it do, Mai?" Naru asked and Mai breathed before telling him how something had grabbed her throat and wouldn't let go of her no matter how hard she struggled until Naru had shown up with a flashlight and possibly scared it away.
"You'll be bruised by the morning." Naru said after he had examined her throat. Mai only managed a nod as she was still shaken up after having encountered what she suspected was a very unhappy ghost. And the ghost wanted her hurt. "Why are you up at this hour?"
"Oh, that's right!" Mai jumped up from the couch and went to the bookshelf that was a slightly darker shade of wood than the others. She examined the shelf as she felt Naru's eyes on her back. She pulled on one of the books and gasped as the shelf swung open and she turned to look at the man staring at her with a raised eyebrow.
"So, it seems you've found the other secret passageway." he said and Mai frowned before she nodded as she realized something else that had been bothering her since she had spoken with Madeline.
"Yeah, but Madeline said that there was some sort of puzzle about the doors at the end of each passage but what could she mean?" Mai said softly before looking up as Naru was suddenly beside her and very close. She could feel her heart beginning to do a little tap dance and she kept telling it to stop but it didn't want to listen to her.
"The only way we are going to find out is if we go down the passage and see what's waiting for us." he replied before he walked inside and she hurriedly followed him because she knew how much Naru loved hospitals and she had no desire to sit by Naru in an English hospital.
"Mai, I don't think you should come." Naru said as he stopped at the bottom of the steps and shone the light in the direction so that he could see her face and she made sure to give him a disbelieving look.
"This coming from the guy that seems to be put in the hospital after almost every case? You are not going anywhere alone." she snapped at him and she gasped as she found herself pinned against the wall with Naru's hands holding her there.
"May I remind you that most of time it's because I'm protecting you?" he growled and Mai glared up at him.
"And shouldn't I be allowed to return the favor?" she snapped and he growled before his hands tightened on her shoulders before he pushed himself away and she saw him pick the flashlight up that he had dropped when he pinned her against the wall.
"Naru?" she questioned softly as she had never seen him act so upset before and she wondered what was wrong.
"Forget it. I shouldn't have done that. Let's see what's at the end of this tunnel." they walked in a strained silence and Mai wondered if Naru's odd behavior had anything to do with the fact that Naru's parents had obviously given him a shock.
Mai gasped as they reached the door. It was an exact duplicate of the passageway that was opened up by the turning gargoyle. She looked at Naru and saw that he looked slightly surprised as well. She was glad that she wasn't the only surprised by the duplication.
"Naru…" Mai trailed off as Naru raised his hand to stop her and she watched as he reached out and pressed against the gargoyle and it gave way beneath the pressure of his hand. She squeaked as gears started sounding and she felt the ground shaking beneath her before she squeaked as it gave beneath her feet and she fell.
"Mai?" Naru called and Mai looked up as he shone the light on her and she saw with wide eyes that the floor had turned into a set of steps that she had landed on. With Naru's help she climbed back to her feet and they slowly descended the steps and Naru made sure his hand was underneath Mai's elbow the whole time. He wasn't going to let her fall and kill herself.
"We must be at least a hundred feet under the house." Mai said after they had walked for nearly fifteen minutes and were still not at the bottom of the steps. Naru was beginning to wonder if there was even an end to the stairs. Just as he was about to send Mai back up he felt his foot make contact with the bottom of the stairs. Mai looked at him and he could see the hint of fear in her eyes.
"Naru, where on earth is this going?" she asked. Naru made no response as he didn't want her to hear him admit that he really didn't know what was going on. He wasn't to sure where the passageway was going but if had something to do with the case then they had no choice but to investigate.
Mai jerked to a stop when she felt the same ominous presence pushing down on her from the main hallway. She didn't notice how Naru had turned to look at her as suddenly her lungs constricted and she found it was getting very hard to breath. She struggled until she began to feel dizzy and she began to fall before something caught her and the suffocation went away, again.
"Mai?" Naru questioned the girl that he held as she attempted to regain her breath for some reason that he could not see. He had known something was wrong when she stopped for no reason and when she had started to pitch forward he knew that something was hurting her. And he couldn't stop the damn thing because he couldn't see it!
"That…thing…" she whispered and he frowned as he knew what she was talking about. He had a feeling that he knew who the ghost was that was trying to hurt Mai and he had no way of stopping it. He blinked as Mai suddenly giggled before she pushed away from him and straightened her skirt.
"I wish I knew why girls love these skirts." Mai said and Naru's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion.
"Madeline." he stated and the girl looked at him with a raised eyebrow before she smiled as though pleased by his realization that she wasn't actually Mai.
"Good, but it seems that as much as you deny it…you still protect Mai. So much worry over someone that you deny caring for." Mai said and Naru frowned before grabbing her collar of Mai's shirt and pulling the possessed girl towards him with a hard tug.
"My relationship with anyone, especially Mai, is none of your concern. So quit implying something that isn't there and will never be there." Naru growled at her and Mai giggled before she pulled his hand off of her shirt and she moved back slightly.
"Something that isn't there? So that heated look that I, and the other ghosts of this house, see you use to look at Mai is our imaginations? I hate to say this…but as ghosts we no longer have an imagination." Madeline told him and Naru growled, not even Lin noticed how he looked at Mai and the man wouldn't have said anything at any rate.
"This is none of your concern, Madeline. Why are you so interested in my life?" he demanded and Madeline laughed at the expression on the man's face, a ghost's eyesight was excellent in the dark.
"Because, dear Naru, you are like my youngest son. To stubborn to admit that you love someone and yet you protect them with your very life and you tend to be very jealous when it comes to your loved ones." Madeline said and Naru frowned before grabbing Mai's arm and pulling her close to him and he felt Madeline's laughter.
"See? You're upset because I've possessed her. You're upset with me because of that. Your precious Mai has to channel a ghost. How long?" she whispered before pressing her lips back to his and Naru pushed her away hard and was thankful for the cover of the darkness as he knew that his pale skin was flushed red.
"N-Naru?" came Mai's soft voice and he let out a breath of air when he realized that Madeline had left the teenage girl alone for the moment. He was slightly pleased to realize that Mai was back. He certainly didn't need a possessed Mai throwing herself at him and he wondered briefly if Madeline had some sort of creepy crush on him. He hoped not, it was not doing good things for him to have Mai's lips pressed against his all the time.
"What happened?" Mai felt funny, her lips felt all tingly and she couldn't figure it out. She pressed her fingers against her lips but felt nothing odd about her lips. She saw Naru pick up the flashlight and frowned when she realized he had dropped it and she couldn't seem to remember why.
"Nothing. You fainted. Come on, we should see where this goes before I send Lin down her with cameras." Naru said in his coolest voice and Mai wondered briefly what she had done to make him angry at her.
"Cameras? Naru, you didn't bring any cameras!" Mai said as she struggled to stay beside Naru. What was wrong with him? If she didn't know better she would have said that he was trying to get away from her for some reason that she obviously didn't know.
"My father is sending us cameras. I know that Madoka told you he was also paranormal researcher." he said and Mai frowned before it clicked into place and she couldn't help but smile.
"You asked your father for help!" she squealed and Naru looked over his shoulder and was slightly surprised at the cheerful look on her face, why was she so happy that his father had forced his help on them?
"Why are you so happy about that?" he demanded as he decided the only way he'd find out was to ask. He was to tired and upset to try and read her at the moment and the fact that it was pitch black.
"Because…it's nice to see other people getting along with their parents. Even when mine were alive…I rarely ever got to see them. They were always so busy, nearly working themselves to death because they wanted me to have a good life. And I do…but…it's a life without them. You're lucky Naru…you have parents that love you very much. I might have only met them for a moment but I could tell that they really love you." Mai said and Naru felt his eyes widen a slight fraction and he made sure that she couldn't see his face.
Mai hadn't expected a reply from Naru. It had been the first time she had talked about her family openly. And it had to be to Naru of all people that she told and she knew he wouldn't have said anything. She ran into him and looked over his shoulder and groaned. The new passageway was a dead end.
"Something's wrong." Naru said and Mai felt like saying 'duh!' but instead she gently pulled on his sleeve and he turned to look down at her and saw that she was struggling to stay awake. He frowned before both of their attentions were caught by a low growling coming from the wall. Naru's head snapped around and they both took a step back as a dog's head pushed through the wall and Naru recognized it as the wolf that had tried to eat them in the library.
"Mai…" Naru trailed off as he saw that Mai's eyes had gone dull. She moved away from him and towards the dog. She reached her hand out to touch the dog and Naru stood slightly frozen as he watched her.
A sudden image of Gene getting hit by a car flashed through his mind. He reached out and grabbed Mai's wrist and he ducked the fist that she threw at him and she struggled against him as he pulled her away from the dog as it began to move even more through the wall. He picked her up, kicking and screaming, and ran. It wasn't easy running down the hallway, blindly as he had dropped the flashlight, and carrying a kicking and screaming girl.
He managed to get up the steps and slam the bookshelf shut and he put Mai down and she tried to get at the bookshelf angrily while scratching at him and actually hitting skin on his neck. He did the only thing he could to hope to calm her. He backhanded her extremely hard and she collapsed in his arms.
He picked her up and put her on the couch. He watched as her eyes slowly began to open and he saw tears in her eyes. Acting completely out of character he wiped her tears away and she turned towards his hand and he watched as she went to sleep. Something was in the house that wanted her dead and he had a feeling it was because she had agreed to help Kim's aunt. He shook his head before going back to his computer.
"The last thing I remember was tugging on Naru's shirt sleeve before I woke up on the couch this morning." Mai told Naru and Lin. Lin was the one asking her what had happened and Mai wondered briefly why Naru wasn't the one interviewing her about what had happened. He actually looked strained, he had told her how she had gone crazy and the only way he could calm her was to slap her.
She had used Kim's make-up and she thought she had hidden the bruise rather well. Madoka had told her that Naru didn't know he had left a bruise. And Mai had begged the blonde-brown haired woman not to tell him. She needed Naru to be at his best on this case. Her friend's aunt was missing and no one could figure out where the woman was and everyone was beginning to fear the worst.
"Naru, you said that Mai started acting odd when she tried to touch the dog." Lin looked at Naru and the man nodded. He was still shaken up at the fact that he had seen Gene's death replay in his mind so vividly when Mai had tried to pet the dog. There had been nothing to warrant the vision and the only reason he could come up with that he had the vision was because if Mai had touched the dog she would have been killed.
"Hey, Naru, you have some visitors!" Madoka walked into the library with two people trailing behind her that Mai recognized as Naru's parents. She jumped up and saw with a small amount of surprise that Naru looked startled at the appearance of his parents.
"Oh, you must be Mai. Madoka has told us so much about you." Mai blinked as the brown headed woman, with streaks of grey, that was Naru's mother took her hand gently in her own. "Not many could put up with someone like our son, Oliver Davis."
Mai's hands went cold and she looked at Naru with wide eyes and if she had been paying attention she would have seen the pale color on his face. She could feel her breathing grow short and she turned to meet his mother's eyes.
"Oliver Davis?" she whispered with what little breath that had been knocked out of her.
