Chapter 46
Kaiba's plan had worked; his holographic Fairy Dragon had ripped through the swarm, allowing enough of an opening for him and the Paladin to guide their Blue Eyes safely through. But now the race was really back on and somehow the Paladin had managed to get a jump on him. Gritting his teeth, Kaiba leaned closer into his dragon compelling it to fly faster, but the distance between him and his competitor widened.
The Paladin was almost impossibly far ahead now. If he didn't do something soon there was just no way he was going to win. The thought of losing caused a sick feeling to move through his entire body; Kaiba hated to lose at the best of times and this was definitely not the best of times. The sharp sound of a commotion up ahead of him caused his head to jolt upwards. The Paladin's original white dragon had come out of nowhere and was rebelling against its master. As it did the distance between Kaiba and his opponent narrowed.
There was something about the timing of it which made Kaiba laugh almost involuntarily; like someone wanted him to win this race or something. As his Blue Eyes flew past the Paladin, he ordered it to fire several warning shots at the smaller white dragon. Kaiba liked winning, but he liked winning fairly; anything else just felt like a hollow victory.
'Thanks,' the Paladin gave a nod of appreciation as his white dragon backed off.
'Whatever,' he shrugged as he pulled ahead, 'I have a race to win.'
A strange, sulky silence had descended upon the group as they continued to wait for Kaiba's return. It had started with Mokuba, who'd remained unhappy with Joey's attitude towards his brother. From him it had spread to Duke, although no one was quite sure why. Seeing him like this had set Catilin off. Yugi was next to fall victim to the gloom and it had simply escalated from there.
The atmosphere was so heavy with bad feeling that Jay barely even blinked when he spotted the returning Blue Eyes on the horizon. It didn't seem to matter anymore who'd won the race or even that it was over. He just wanted to get this whole maddening situation over and done with.
'So rich boy, you win, or not?' Joey's voice drawled with boredom as the dragon landed and Tristan the Blue Eyes Knight jumped swiftly off.
'What do you think?' Tristan was cool and calm as he removed the soul card from his dueldisk and returned to his normal form.
'I think it took you way too long.'
'Whatever.'
'You still didn't answer my question.'
'I won,' he rolled his eyes, 'obviously.'
As he said this, the gate they'd been waiting by slowly began to open.
'Great,' Jay's own voice toned with sarcasm, 'wonder what exciting challenge they have in store for us next.'
'Who cares?' Mokuba shrugged as the group made its way through the gate. 'The sooner we get out of this place, the better.'
'No arguments here.'
On the other side of the gate was a large room filled with row upon row of dull, dust covered mirrors. The sight was almost creepy enough as it was before you took into account the fact not one of the mirrors reflected a single member of their group. This disturbing feature was made even worse as the gate slammed shut behind them and a deathly coldness descended upon the room.
'Welcome to Carnival Town,' Jay rolled his eyes, 'anyone up for the House of Mirrors?'
'That's not funny Jay,' Duke swallowed hard, 'this place is creepy enough as it is.'
'I know what you mean,' he shuddered as his tongue skated across his lips. 'Anyone else suddenly feeling like a ghost?'
'Two lame jokes in less than a minute, that has to be a new record for you,' Ahna shot him a look.
'You know what I mean,' he pointed towards the mirrors, 'it's like we don't exist.'
His words caused an uneasy silence to weigh down around the group. For a few long moments everyone made edgy little movements as they tried to individually figure out just what the hell they were supposed to do next.
'This place is just too creepy,' Mai shuddered, 'I don't think I want to be here anymore.'
'Oh come on,' Tristan rolled his eyes, 'one room full of mirrors and you all become…'
He cut himself off as all the colour drained from his face. For a few long moments he just stood there, his wide eyes focused intensely on a single mirror. Then, without saying a word, he took off into the maze of reflectionless glass. It was just about the last thing any of them needed in that moment and the uncertain glances the group shot around at each other just made it feel that much worse.
'Okay…' Joey gave an awkward half laugh, 'anyone know what that was about?'
'It was almost like he saw a ghost,' Jay's tongue skated across his lips again.
'Jay, you're dead, you're not allowed to keep saying things like that,' Ahna shook her head, 'it's just disturbing.'
'Oh shut up,' he licked his lips for a third time, 'do you always have to be so negative?'
'I'm not being negative,' she folded her arms.
'Well it sure seems that way to me,' his tongue once again made its way across his lips.
'Will you stop that already,' she glared at him, 'the constant lip licking is annoying enough when SK does it and you're nowhere near as neurotic as he is. Seriously, what are you trying to say about him here? That lip licking is part of his physicality or something? That his body does it just because it can?'
'I don't know, it's not like I can control it,' Jay rolled his eyes, 'I'm not even aware that I am doing it half the time. So, yeah, maybe it is something his body does automatically without him even thinking about it. Maybe it's not a neurotic habit, maybe it's some kind of uncontrollable physical tick.'
'Right and next you'll be telling me SK's not actually neurotic, just misunderstood.'
'Stop fighting,' Catilin suddenly placed herself between the two of them, 'please stop fighting; I don't like it. I don't like it and I don't want you two to fight. Please stop fighting.'
'Shut up Cat,' Ahna and Jay's voices sounded almost in unison.
'I just want you to stop fighting,' Catilin's lower lip quivered, 'there's no need to shout at me like that.'
'Everybody calm down right now,' Joey interjected himself into their argument, 'there's no need for everyone to be getting this worked up. The fate of my children are at stake here or had you all forgotten?'
'Sorry,' guilt filtered its way through Jay's whole body, 'but it's hard to stay calm when this place is designed to get under your skin. And I mean that literally, we're all under someone else's skin right now, aren't we?'
'If that's how you choose to look at it,' Joey half turned his head away.
'I don't think we have a choice,' he gave a heavy sigh, 'because I think the people we really are, are trying their hardest to reassert themselves.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'I think I get what he means,' Mai tilted her head to one side, 'I've noticed it personally a few times now, when I'll say or think something which I know I wouldn't say or think normally. It's like I can feel my real self starting to poke through, but my brain is constantly trying to override it.'
'Can't say I've noticed it myself,' Joey gritted his teeth and turned his head away.
'You're lying and I know you're lying,' she narrowed her gaze on him, 'I've seen little bits of myself in the way you act and I know the reverse is true. Jay is right; this whole place has been designed to get under our skins. The real question here is; are we supposed to let it?'