Chapter Nine:
Joey glanced over at Yami. After being with Yami for so long, he was pretty in tune with his body language and Yami now looked tense. He suddenly started moving, hurrying across the graveyard. Startled, Joey went with him, adrenaline suddenly pumping, hoping that Yugi wasn't hurt. Nothing else would upset Yami like that.
Relief flooded through him as he saw Yugi standing half-in-view from behind a tree. He seemed all right, so he must have seen something.
"Aibou?"
Yugi looked around at them. His eyes were wide. "I saw one!"
"Saw what, Yugi?"
Kaiba had joined them. He'd been standing by the fence, but not because he'd been his usual stand-offish self. He'd been following Yugi around and wandered off himself to inspect a gravestone. Now he had come up to see what was the matter.
"A ghost. A real one!"
Kaiba looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure?"
"Of course he's sure," Joey said. "He said so, didn't he? What did it look like, Yug'?" He hesitated before asking tentatively, "Was it gross?"
"No. It was...the little girl, Giselle."
"Giselle?"
Abigail had joined them, perhaps drawn by their gathering. She looked at Yugi eagerly, seeming hopeful.
"Giselle. Could you describe her? Photography was invented for real use in 1820 and Mr. and Mrs. De Vere had all their children photographed."
"Oh. Uh, she was young, like eight. Her hair was blond and in a couple of braids, her eyes were brown, and she was wearing a pink dress."
"That is Giselle! Oh, I'm glad she appeared." She looked at Kaiba and smiled. "So, it's not such a crock, is it?"
Kaiba merely looked at her. Abigail turned away and called to the rest of the group in order to head back to the house.
"We've stayed much longer than I intended and we came straight here, instead of returning to the house. We never had lunch. We'll have an early dinner before the seance. Hopefully we'll have more hauntings."
"Aw, we missed the ghost?" Mr. Johnston said. "I wouldn't mind seeing the little girl."
They returned to the van and headed back to the mansion. On the way, Joey grilled Yugi about the ghost.
"There isn't that much to tell," Yugi insisted. "I was just walking around with Seto and glanced over at the tree and there she was. She didn't do anything except look at me before she disappeared."
"Hm. Hope some ghosts pop up at the seance tonight. Don't be afraid to climb into my lap if you're scared, Yami."
Joey grinned as Yami gave him that look he gave him. Oddly enough, it was same look Kaiba gave him when he was being dumb, but it was more loving coming from Yami.
"I'd probably be more in trouble in your lap than with the ghosts, Joey."
"Yeah, probably."
Kaiba snorted and looked out the window. He and Yugi were in the seats in front of Yami and Joey, with the Narendras and the Johnstons in front of them. Abigail was in the front passenger and Oscar driving. Joey glanced up at the others not part of their group, then grinned at Yami. He wrapped his arm around Yami's waist and teasingly dropped his other hand on his leg.
"You don't have to wait for the ghost," he purred in his ear.
Yami turned his head towards him. "I believe it is Aibou and Kaiba who like to do it in public."
"Yami!" Yugi glared around the edge of his seat.
"Like we didn't hear you in the bathroom," Joey said.
Yugi's face went red and Kaiba stiffened without looking back at them. Looking between them, Joey snorted.
"I thought that was the point."
"We like public places, not an audience," Yugi muttered. "And you didn't have to listen."
Joey laughed. "We didn't listen, Yug'. Soon as we heard what was going on, Yami suggested going downstairs and that's what we did. We hung out in the conservancy for a little while 'til we thought you were done and went back. After that, just went to sleep. No ghostly sightings or anything."
He kept his arm around Yami's waist but removed his hand from his leg. They arrived back at the house and piled out. Though Joey hadn't seen it, one of the caretakers must have called ahead, because the delicious smells of cooked food filled the main hall, coming from the dining room.
"Mm. Glad we don't have to wait on dinner," he said as he reluctantly followed the others upstairs to wash up.
They headed downstairs and Yugi noticed that the Maxwells still hadn't come down. Abigail glanced up at him as she served herself some mashed potatoes.
"The Maxwells have left, according to the cook. Mrs. Maxwell was afraid the aura of the house was causing her migraines. She suffered two today, which has never happened before according to her. The husband raised a stink--real knight in shining armor--but agreed to cut loose and head back."
"Good riddance," Mr. Johnston said. "What an ass. Ah, excuse me, ladies."
Abigail smiled and turned back to her food. Joey lost interest and focused entirely on his dinner. It was as good as any of the other meals. Whoever cooked this food really knew their way around the kitchen. They all finished their dinner and headed off to do their own thing until the seance was set up.
Finally Oscar sought them all out to usher them back into the dining room. Devoid of all food dishes now, the table held only five black candles standing together in the center. Abigail was sitting at the head of the table. She was dressed all in black now, smiling at them as they came into the room.
"Thank you for coming. Please, sit around this side of the table, so that we can all be close together."
They did so and Oscar lit the candles, spread them out and arranged them in an oval, then turned out the rest of the lights. The fire light played off of everyone, creating shadows everywhere. Mrs. Johnston put her hand on her husband's arm and leaned against him, clearly already spooked. Mrs. Narendra kept looking around like she expected something to pop out at her and Mr. Narendra was staring down at the table as if he didn't want to look.
"Well, let's get started," Abigail said. "Please, everyone be quiet, so that we may hear if any of the ghosts are trying to talk with us."
They all sat there in obedient silence. Abigail placed her hands a few inches from the candle nearest to her, staring into the flame of it.
"If any of the ghostly residents of the Marvell House would like to contact us, now is the time," she said softly. "We are hear and we are listening... Does anyone have anything they wish to say?"
There was utter silence. Abigail asked for a sign from the ghosts a couple more times, each attempt met by silence. Kaiba finally shifted in impatience, but he didn't say anything. Joey suddenly noticed that Yami was looking over his shoulder towards the door to the front hall. Joey leaned closer to him.
"What?" he whispered in sotto.
"I think--"
He was interrupted by a tremendous crash that made them all jump. Mrs. Narendra and Mrs. Johnston both screamed and Mr. Johnston let out a startled curse. Kaiba and Mr. Narendra both rose, but Abigail waved them to sit again.
"Not yet. They are making an effort." As the two reluctantly sat down again, Abigail spoke to the room in general. "Was that one of the children? Are one of you attempting to talk with us?"
A sudden breeze ripped through the room, making the candles sputter. Another crash came again, this time from upstairs. Mrs. Narendra leapt to her feet.
"Enough, enough! You bring evil here! We should not disturb the dead!" Mr. Narendra stood and took her arm. She turned and clung to him, whimpering. "Please, stop it."
The wind disappeared. They all looked up at the ceiling as the sound of heavy running footsteps went from one end of the house to the other. Joey jumped to his feet.
"Come on, let's go catch that ghost!"
He turned and ran from the dining room, heading up the stairs. Yami and Yugi came after him, both calling at him to slow down, but he was going to see a ghost or catch a fake in the act. He stopped up in the hallway, allowing the others to catch up with him. The hallway was silent and deserted, dark except for two night lights situated at either end to help guests see where they were going. At almost eight, it was dark outside.
"Should we look in the rooms?" Yugi asked.
"You may," Abigail said as she joined the group. Mr. and Mrs Narendra were the only ones who hadn't come up to the second floor.
"Let's split up, then," Joey said. "If this is someone playing a joke on us, they can't hide from us all."
"If there is an actor in here, they may have gone up to the third floor," Kaiba said. "But the only way to get from there downstairs is through this center stairway. If one of us stays in the hall, they can't sneak down."
"There could be a secret passage," Yugi pointed out. "In a house this old?"
"Let's just look around," Joey said.
They searched the second floor, but found no trace of the ghost, except for what had crashed earlier. In the children's playroom, which was empty now that the Millers had left, an antique shelf on which had sat old books and toys now lay toppled in the center of the room, leaning drunkenly against the bed. Mr. Johnston stepped inside and tried to lift the shelf up, grunting with the effort and finally giving up.
"Damn, that's heavy. I bet that'd take two men to knock over."
"Doesn't mean there can't be more than one actor in here," Kaiba said. "There was that crash downstairs. They wouldn't have had time to get up here from there after the first one."
"I think it was a real ghost," Yugi said. "Remember, I saw Giselle there in the graveyard. They couldn't fake her standing there like that, see-through. That would take hologram technology as powerful as yours, Seto, and what tourist trap is going to bother with something that expensive?"
"Shall we continue our seance?" Abigail asked.
They went back downstairs to find the Narendras still in the dining room, looking fairly traumatized. But Joey guessed they must be tougher than they looked, because they agreed to try for another manifestation. However, there were no other noises for the next hour and they finally decided to call it a night.
"This is getting so exciting!" Mrs. Johnston squealed as they blew out the candles and turned the lights back on. "Too bad we haven't been to see one yet ourselves."
"Maybe we'll get one visiting us tonight," Mr. Johnston said as he and his wife headed upstairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Narendra went up to their room, seeming reluctant about it. Joey saw Abigail and Oscar talking amongst themselves over in the corner of the main hall, but they turned and headed upstairs before Joey got close enough to see what they were saying. Maybe it was all a show and they were deciding what to do next to scare them. Either way, this place was turning out to be worth the money.
Yugi and Kaiba headed upstairs not long after everyone else, but Joey was too wired to sleep. He made his way into the kitchen and filched a glass of soda from the refrigerator. Yami followed him in; no surprise he wasn't interested in going to bed yet. Joey got him a drink as well and they stood in the kitchen for a while, both quiet. Joey knew Yami was just as curious about whether they would see or hear anything else themselves, but nothing happened.
"Hey, Yami, let's go check out the third floor again," Joey said to him.
"Abigail and Oscar are staying there. I don't think it would be appropriate to enter their rooms without their knowledge."
"We don't have to go in their rooms. Let's walk along the hallway and look into that empty room that's up there, the morning room or whatever it was. And there has to be an attic. You can see from outside the way the house's roof makes that big point above the third floor windows. The ceilings of those rooms up there weren't that high."
"Should we get Aibou and Kaiba?"
"I don't know. They already left to go up to their room. Maybe they want to be alone. I don't think we'll be able to get Moneybags to do some anything else today. I'll bet Yug'd come with us, but he won't leave Kaiba."
"True. Very well, let's go."
Joey grinned and headed up stairs with him. They continued straight up to the third floor, entering the hallway. Though it was as long as the one downstairs that had eight rooms, it only had the three, plus a bathroom and a linen closet. He remembered that the rooms, particularly the parents' old room, were huge. He saw a door far off to the side on the other end of the hallway.
"That must be the attic door. Let's go up there first."
"We must be quiet," Yami cautioned him, gesturing towards the closed doors that were Abigail and Oscar's rooms.
They were both speaking in whispers and Joey nodded in agreement, the two of them walking softly down the hallway. Just as they were passing Abigail's door, they both froze at the sound of a noise inside the room. They looked at each other.
"Should we look?" Joey murmured almost silently.
Yami debated for a second. "If the activity is really of ghosts, they appear violent. Let's look quietly, though, in case she was merely moving something."
Joey took the knob in his hand and very carefully turned it. He hoped they weren't about to just open the door on her while she was undressing, but he had to be sure she was all right. Yami was right, the ghosts were kind of violent tonight, if it was real. Best to make sure a woman was okay and risk embarrassing her than to leave it up to chance that she might be hurt.
He pushed the door open just enough for the two of them to peek inside. Joey had to bite his tongue to keep from making a startled noise.
Abigail was not alone in the room. Her back was to the door, and she was naked, sitting astride Oscar. He was running his hand up her back, his eyes on her face, so thankfully neither of them noticed the door opening. Joey hastily pulled back and shut the door, doing his utmost not to make a sound, but he didn't succeed.
"Is someone there?" Abigail suddenly called from inside the room.
Joey grabbed Yami's arm and pulled him down the hallway, yanking open the door to the attic stairs and pushing him inside, shutting the door softly as Abigail's bedroom door opened. The two of them stood together on the lower landing, both holding their breath. Abigail and Oscar's voices came from down the hall, but too soft to make out. The bedroom door shut again and Joey let out his breath.
"Damn. Now I feel like an idiot."
"We didn't know," Yami said. "We'll just wait here a couple of minutes and return to our room. We shouldn't have been roaming around up here anyway."
Joey hesitated on the verge of agreeing. But he was innately curious. "Come on, we're already at the bottom of the stairs. Besides, they're already on the alert. Let's wait until they're, uh, done and asleep before we go back. All we need now is to have a floor board creak. They don't seem to be scared of ghosts. They'll come looking."
"Did you think about creaking a floorboard on the third floor?"
Joey hesitated. He hadn't, and if they really were unafraid of investigating, they'd be screwed. Sighing reluctantly, he gave in and nodded. "All right."
Yami reached for the handle of the stairs door. They slipped out of the stairwell, Joey glancing up once, a bit disappointed. The attic, what could that have in there? Could anyone have died in there, still be there?
He swallowed, realizing that was horribly morbid and instantly felt guilty for it. He turned and went after Yami, slinking down the hallway, both of them on cat's paws. Luckily none of the floorboards creaked. The house was as old as dirt, but it was extremely well cared for.
They made it down to the second floor hallway and Joey let out a breath. Yami smiled crookedly.
"I feel terrible for seeing them."
"Like you said, we didn't know. So they're involved, so what. Not a surprise. We'll just forget about it." He smiled and nodded his head towards the stairs. "Come on, I want some more dessert. That cherry pie was delicious. Want some?"
"No, but I'll come with you."
Yami went with him down to the ground floor. Quite suddenly something overcame Joey. His body felt like ice and he couldn't seem to catch his breath. He was drowing in icy water and he hadn't left the stairwell. He was gone before he could even cry out.