Returning back to the cavern beneath the mansion, James found no trace of either Boona or the mysterious mother.  He could almost imagine hearing her song faintly resonate from the stones within.  The cave was somehow less cold than it had been before, possibly due to the spirits having left it for now.  The mask was certainly gone, having not seen hide nor stare of it since his awakening.
He silently pondered on how many nights he had been in this place now, searching all the more.  Reaching the end of the passageway yet again, seeing nothing through the other side but the ominous cavern beyond, he tried to think on his next move.  Then he remembered the note that had been left for him.
	"OH, the key!" he whispered frantically as he brought it out once more.
The apple-marked key was still a mystery to him, having not seen any padlocked door since his collecting it, and certainly never seeing any padlocks that had an apple on it.  He cast his mind back as far as possible to think of any locks he had not dealt with.  He looked over the map, scanning for any rooms he had not been to.  Most of the second floor had been left unexplored, especially upon realising that he had not even gone up the stairs in the hallway before the water room.
The second floor of said hallway, making his way back up from the cavern, was not particularly interesting.  A small rectangular window glanced over the stairs with the light of the moon, leading up to two doors.  One door to the northeast was locked, but much to James' displeasure, it had a different sort of lock upon it, marked with a grape.  The other door to the south, was a small crawlspace, one he immediately recognised.

Crawling through swiftly, he found himself back in the small room where he first met the Boos, looking at both dressers and into the small mirror.  Still no reflection.  He started to wonder what had happened to it, and what terrible spirit had taken it away from him, or if it even MEANT anything.  Regardless, he left the room back to the upstairs living room, claws gently thudding on dusty tatami matting.
Then a small light came on in his head.  The library had another door directly opposite of it.  And sure enough, was a padlock with an apple.
	"How the hell did I miss this?" thought James as he unlocked it with the key.
The room was tiny, but it had several fascinating items within.  A gramophone which James had never seen before, a long board with strings along its length known as a koto, and several polariod photographs lying on the floor and small table.  All the photographs revealed something strange in them, spiritual wisps and hidden faces barely seen among the walls of Himuro Mansion.
Among all the photographs however was a notebook.  Grinning at the sight of it, he picked it up and read through more of the traveller's records.

Month ~%, Day OO
I discovered some fascinating photographs that were able to capture the essence of spirits themselves!  They were latent with the aftertaste of exorcismal powers, and I surmise that whoever had cleared out this place previously, must have used some sort of spiritually-charged camera!  The pieces of information I've gleamed from both the photos and various notes around the mansion have lead me to believe it was a very old camera design, possibly a traditional box camera.  I must research this further.

	"Camera?" thought James aloud.  "...hah, a camera that can see ghosts, pretty cool...wonder if it's still here in this place."
He turned the page to find more information.

It appears the camera in question was called a Camera Obscura, a powerful box camera which had the ability to both harness and exorcise spirits of an aggressive nature.  It seems to be quite the nifty little thing from what I heard in these old notes, but there does seem to be one terrible side effect.  Anyone using it for a long enough time will eventually start to see the spiritual realm everywhere.
The dead are numerous in any realm, so the very exposure of the spiritual realm to one mortal mind is quite dangerously taxing, and can drive one to madness or even worse!  It seems to be a result of some sort of ectoplasmic bleed due to the old design, an effect not unlike radioactive exposure.  If I want to defend myself, I'll have to make something safer.

	"Shit I hope he's okay."
He suddenly worried about his unseen friend, feeling as lost as he was, maybe moreso.  He still had to wonder what the nature of the seals were, and who exactly was this mysterious mother.  Then he realised something.
	"...that ghost bitch didn't tell me anything about her!  ...god dammit.  So now what?  She wanted me to use this key but for what?"
The gramophone did not seem to work, and he had little idea on how to use it, so he decided to look at the koto, a strange long musical instrument if he ever saw one.  He tenderly plucked at the strings, careful not to damage them with his claws and rubbing his head in puzzlement.  Just when he was about to turn and leave however, he heard the music play.  He turned back towards the koto, seeing the strings move on their own.
A soft eerie little tune rose from the strings, plucked by some invisible player.  He wanted to ask who it was, but he felt rude to disturb it while playing.  He watched and waited, clearly seeing something pull at each string, until the song was over half a minute later.  He wanted to say something, but then he heard a door slide open.  A wall beside the koto slid back to reveal a narrow stairway leading up further into the mansion.
	"...really?"
He rolled his eyes, wondering who had opened the way for him.
	"Hey, Boo guys?  ...Boona?  You there?  ...spirit girl?"
No answer came, and he decided to just roll with the punches and go upstairs.  The attic of the mansion was extremely wide in area, but his only path was a narrow corridor that stretched out before him, turning sharply at least twice towards the other end of the manor.  The only thing of interest in the attic were some small holes placed in the walls and floor after a small dip in the corridor flooring.

He looked through one hole to see the room he first met the Boos in.  But somehow it was different.  Now he was seeing the whole room in a sepia tone, a flicker of the past.  Sitting in the centre of the room were four small creatures, looking up at a larger version of themselves, possibly an adult.  They gently talked to each other, the raptor trying to understand their language as it came out rather muffled.
Their heads were obscured and faded, the raptor seeing they had white heads and brown bodies, knowing it had to be this mysterious mother with her children.  As they continued to talk, the mother apparently teaching something to her children judging by the way she moved her hands, a rushing of footsteps came from one direction, darker voices that frightened them.  The mother beckoned her children behind her, and readied for a battle, wielding something in one hand.
The figures came closer, seeming to want something as the children clasped their heads tightly to their bodies, shaking with a rising fear as the mother slammed her club down and barked the strangers to step away.  They didn't listen, but she remained strong and smacked them away hard with her weapon, making them roar and shout back at her.  She looked all around herself, ready for a fight as she quickly told her children something.  Immediately they ran, screaming with fear.
She didn't get the chance to hold them off the moment the bullets hit her.  Tiny shattering blasts of blood and sinew burst from her body as she struggled to stand and support herself with her club.  The dark shadowy figures hurried after them, chasing them through walls as if they were on open ground.  The mother cried out and tried to stop one, but she was immediately shot execution-style in the head.  The shadow murmured something before taking the white bleached head and walking off.  James could soon hear the gunshots and screams from farther away.

He sat down on the attic floor and shivered with both shock and fury at what he saw.
Is this...what happened to her?  ...was she here when this happened?  What IS she?  ...oh jesus those poor kids, who the fuck would do such a thing?!
Fury rose up in him before he forced himself to swallow it back down, needing a clear head as he headed onwards to see another hole in the wall, seeing another of the children hide away in what appeared to be a large wooden cage.  The little one cried and tried to make itself as small as possible, a little tail softly waving behind it.  Nothing more was shown other than its orphaned tears, crying out for its mother.  Soon it faded away, leaving behind something that glimmered in the light.
Knowing it would be his next target, he headed on to the very end of the attic space, finding a small crawldoor, as well as another traveller.  One of the lost children, who saw the raptor and immediately ran away in fear through the door.
	"H-HEY, COME BACK, I WON'T HURT YOU!"
He rushed after the creature, swiftly ducking through the crawldoor before he had to swiftly check his balance.  The door had opened up onto a series of rafters high above the Buddha room.  He was surprised that he had never looked up to see them before.  A small shrine was even here, for some reason upon the rafters.  But its light was red.  He knew a spirit was here, soon hearing the shivering whimpers.
	"Hello?  Uh...listen, I'm not gonna hurt you okay?  I wanna help you.  Do you need help?"
James cautiously walked across the rafters, his natural sense of balance aiding him immensely as he took them with slow stride.  Soon he could see the creature, huddled and lying down on one of the wooden beams, cowering.  The raptor stepped closer, finally seeing what it was for the first time.  It was a tiny little brown reptile, smooth-skinned and only a foot tall at least, wearing a skull upon its head just a little too big.
Despite the rather macabre but cute appearance, he tried to console it and gently touch it.
	"Hey, it's okay, lemme-"
	"WRAAAAAAA!"

It leapt from its position and ran hard, panicking as it ran across the air itself as if it were solid ground.  But soon it stopped, looking around and panicking with a rising fear in its little heart.  Somehow it was trapped, even if James did not know why.
	"No, wait, look it's okay I'm not gonna hurt you!"
It didn't believe him, turning and wielding a small bone for a club, eyes clearly terrified with shaking arm as it charged straight towards FG, screaming as it swung blindly.  James brought out his scissors, but not to attack.  He couldn't bear the thought of having to fight such a little thing, and despite its size, its otherworldly power made its swings all the more stronger than he anticipated.  The bone clanged against his scissors, trying to let the child tire itself out before it ran off and swiftly dodged around him.  It moved with absurd speed, a furious rush of wind following behind it as it tried to swing back and strike James once again.
The raptor did not expect such speed, and almost felt himself fall off the rafters as he struggled to maintain balance, backing off and quickly jumping back to regain his footing.  The child whimpered and ran away once more, hiding in the walls despite James hearing its panicked whimper.  He kept an ear out for it, hearing it rush closer to his left and swiftly guarding himself, the bone club striking off of his blades as it cried and ran off once more.
James waited for a third time.  If this was all it could in its terrified state, this was going to be easy, but he had to find a way to make it stop without hurting it.  He reasoned that water was possibly the least damaging of his elements, and waited for the next charge.  Coming from behind, he dodged to one side, minding his footing, which wasn't good enough when the little one screamed a furious blast of wind in his direction, slamming him straight off of the rafters.

He grabbed swiftly for the beam as he fell, panicking at the height he was at and not wanting to take chances as he swung back up carefully.  He was getting a little angry, but he resisted the urge for once, trying to sustain himself.  He wanted to help this little one, not hurt it.  Waiting for another opportunity to strike, he gauged on which direction the ghost was coming from next, and shot an arc of water straight across its path as it came towards him.  With one swift sidestep, he made it trip and fall across his watery trap, before smacking its skull hard into one of the vertical beams that suspended the entire series of rafters.
Seeing the little one was stunned, he gently walked up to it as close as possible, seeing it had given up and started crying in accepting its fate.  It did not try to escape anymore, sniffling beneath its animal skull.  James did not know if it even understood him, trying to think of something as a way to show he meant peace.  He then remembered one thing from his satchel.
	"Hey, look what I got."
He gently pulled out the small doll of white cloak and black hair, smiling softly as he offered it to the child.  The little one sniffled less, looking up with a confused expression as it gasped at seeing the doll.
	"You dropped this didntcha?"
It reached out with its tiny hands, gently grabbing the doll with one then the other as it sat up against the beam.  James allowed it to take the doll, as the creature gently hugged it with a whimper of tiny joy.  The raptor's heart swelled slightly at the sight, seeing the little one was no longer afraid of him.  He smiled plainly, not showing his teeth as it said something he did not understand.
	"C-cuuuuu..."
He took it as a thank you and nodded.
	"Heh, no problem...hey...do you know where your mum is?"
Somehow it understood him, and it looked around fearfully, shaking gently as it clutched the doll tightly while rocking back and forth.
	"I need to see her.  I think...I think she's not well, and I wanna help her.  Can you help me?"
It was uncertain, holding the doll tighter and whimpering longfully as if indecisive.
	"I wouldn't ask but...I think something bad is about to happen, and I need to make sure your mum's okay.  Can you help me find her?"
Eventually it decided to listen to its heart, and nodded.  The ghostly child gently removed its skull before fading away into the air like dust.  He did not get to see what laid beneath the skull, and soon nothing remained of the strange creature, taking even the doll with it.  But it had left something behind for him.  A small silver badge, imprinted with some sort of large winged pale creature.
	"Huh?  ...what do I do with this?  ...well...thanks li'l guy."

His gratitude was sincere as he pocketed it away, walking across the rafters towards another small crawldoor and finding a rather familiar-looking room.  The large wooden cage, which had apparently been lived in judging from the small personal items and dresser within.  He also remembered it was where one of the skull-headed children had dropped something shiny.  A mirror was adjacent of the cage, staring straight into it with a door to the west of both on the other side of the room from James.
He was nervous about entering the large cage, seeing it had a little door that while unlocked, he did not trust it to remain unlocked should he go in.  He looked around for something to keep the door open with, deciding instead to just pull out the crystal he had kept from his time with the Kremlings, and placed it firmly into the door frame like a doorstop.
	"Don't fail me now shiny crystal."
Once it was securely wedged, he walked inside the wedged-open door and looked for the item.  Another key, this time one of a grape on the handle.
	"Aaaaaaaaah this is where you are."
He also saw some pieces of paper that had been left on the dresser, intriguing him to look further, along with a sprig of lavender wrapped within a warm handkerchief.  More notes from the mysterious traveller of the mansion before him.

The skull-children and their mother are EXTREMELY powerful.  I can only imagine the tragedy that has befallen that macabre little family of creatures.  They all have an affinity with different elements, fire, water, earth and wind, very standard stuff.  Except the mother.  She seems to be hunting for someone to prove herself too.  I am not sure why, but it is very rare to see a ghost to want to seek an opponent rather than a helpless sap.  Certainly explains why she never came close to me, I'm not really much of a fighter!
The children however all seem to be lost, somehow unable to actually find each other through some tragic fate.  Sometimes the trauma of a whole family dying together can rend them asunder, unable to meet again.  The afterlife can be terribly cruel sometimes.  The mother seems to be looking for them, but beware if she dares to fight you.  I have detected that her weapon is powerfully latent with untold depths of immense suffering.  She might just want to show you the same should she choose to strike.

The warning was well-noted as he slipped the paper into his satchel just in case, before examining the carefully-wrapped lavender.  It smelt incredibly soothing, easing his tension for a few moments before he noted another slip of paper underneath it.

When the child is in tears, dry his eyes
When his brother is angry, soothe his mind

Somewhat confused by the message, he decided it was important enough to take, pocketing the wrapped lavender and swiftly leaving the cage before claustrophobia started to kick in, taking the crystal out of the door frame with him.  Heading past the cage and the mirror, seeing his reflection still had not returned to him, he found with a curious sense of luck that the door was locked with the mark of the grape.
	"Huh?  ...but...what about the other door?"
He felt a little worried about having to use the key, before he consulted his map to find that it was a rather useless key in the end.  It was the same door as before.
	"...really?  ...all this just to...no, no I helped that kid that was worth it."
James sighed as he tenderly unlocked the door, passing through and back into the upper floor of the hallway from before.  The moment he passed through the door however, a violent tremble of the earth came from the depths.
He shuddered and shook, struggling to hold his balance against the wall as the very foundations seemed to shiver with a most terrible fury.  A deepening roar followed after the rumble, one that was deep enough to just remain on the edge of James' hearing.  But it was enough for him to hear, and enough for him to feel a deep dark vibration in the very pit of his stomach.  Something far deeper and far more terrible than anything he had encountered, was going to be the source of that violent fury.
As he made his way down the stairs, he heard the frantic rush of footsteps from below, before the door to the north suddenly slammed shut.  He knew it was the way to the water room and the backyard, which he was admittedly rather nervous about.  But he knew he had to follow it nevertheless, as he made his way down towards the backyard.  The water room was just as dark as it had been before, its very depths tempting him with the prospect of drowning should his step ever falter.  Carefully navigating the boardwalks like before, he reached the back area of the mansion.

The light of the small shrine remained blue, which soothed him somewhat as a small breeze came through the bamboo trees.  It was a refreshing breeze, a bit too cold but soothing nevertheless.  He looked all around the garden for where his next target could be, hoping personally that it was Boona or at the very least one of the Boos if they were still around.  Then James heard something.  The light turned red.
A sniffling sound, coming from the well.  His heart sank at hearing it coming from it, knowing it had to come into play somehow.  The childish whimpers however reached out to him, and he was unable to ignore it as he gently walked towards the well.  He noticed the cover had been placed back onto it, no longer pushed to the side like he had done so before.  It wasn't as arduous as before to push the lid away once more, the tearful sounds echoing from within.
He dared to look inside, calling out softly.
	"Hello?"
The sounds continued mournfully.
	"You need help?  ...are you one of the...skull children?"
The tears stopped, and he could feel eyes looking at him from inside the well.  Silence passed for an eternity as the wind fell silent without James knowing.  He tried to look further in, but the moment he did, he was pulled hard by something grabbing at his arms.  In reflex, he violently pulled back, roaring out in surprise as he struggled to keep himself out of the well, feeling his footing stumble as he forced his body against the stone for leverage.  The tears soon turned into howling screams against his ear, knowing now the spirit was trying to claim him in its sorrow.
He decided he had enough fooling around, and pushed the invisible force away with a fire blast, making it shriek and let go of him.  Then it emitted a howl of sorrow.  A cry so powerful that the very mansion shook with its anguish, deafening James as he stumbled back away from the well.  He wasn't sure what to do, not wanting to actually fight the child spirit, but he needed to defend himself.

Just as he was about to reach for his scissors, he felt something rush up from behind him, the whistling shivers of a vengeful spirit fast upon his heels.  He ducked and dodged to one side, feeling something swing past his head from above as he saw something land before him.  It was another of the skull-headed children, covered in a burning firey aura.  Its eyes blazed with a psychotic fury that James could clearly recognise, as it screamed a vile rage at him.
Clambering up from the well was another of the children, its hands covering its eyes as the tearful sobs continued once more.  It cried in turn with its sibling, replacing fury with sorrow as tears dripped upon its bony cheeks.  Both of them wielded bones like clubs.
	"Ohhh dammit."
He knew from the way they tensed their little arms that they wanted to fight, and the one with the firey aura was going to attack first.  It charged straight for James, roaring as it swung its club with all its might, yet surprisingly not unbalancing itself.  The raptor dodged however before shooting out an ice blast to deter it, shoving it away from him as he tried to buy time in how to handle them.
The tearful child screamed in counterance for its sibling, swinging its club blindly with tearstruck eyes as it tried to assault James repeatedly with violent uncoordinated swings.  They were easy to dodge, but the mournful child was deterring James from attacking it purely for its sorrowful aura.  He resorted to blocking the hard club with his scissors, clanging steel against bone repeatedly, hoping that if they saw him not purposefully attack, then they would cease fighting him.
So far it wasn't working, when he was blindsided by the furious one with a brutal flaming punch to the gut, knocking him to the side and bruising his stomach.  He summoned a water blast to smack both of them away, making them smack against a sturdy bamboo wall of the backyard.  The two children charged forwards once more, shrieking with two emotions now forming into one.

James tried to think quickly how best to handle this without actual assault, even if they were already dead.  Seeing the ground before him, he summoned a great wind from his arms and swung it hard across the ground in front of them, sending a hail of stone-filled dust to blind them before dodging away from them and to the side.  The creatures panicked briefly from the sudden hail of dirt before them, stumbling through to find their target had moved straight behind them to deliver a blast of water to push them back.
But the fire spirit had learnt a new tactic now in the face of James' water blast, as it sent up a furious volley of fire from its bone club to turn the raptor's water into harmless steam.  The spectral creature soon became even more dangerous when it swung its burning club like a boomerang, spinning through the air as a ghostly white blur that doubled back towards James' head.
Quickly dodging twice, he retorted with a another water blast now seeing that the firey one had temporarily disarmed itself, but its mournful brother also had another trick up its sleeve.  In return for the raptor's aqua assault, the creature's tears turned strong with a howl of anguish, before shooting out a terrifying jet of water straight towards FG, forcing him to dodge away from the shot.
Struggling to find any solution to end the fight without his brutality, he continued to dodge the furious water spouts aimed towards his face, the sorrowful spirit somehow not blinded by its tears.  James however did not count on its sibling in doubling its attack with a boomerang bone club, spinning a violent arc of fire straight for his head with a mighty crack.  His senses were dulled and shaken as he stumbled from the burning blow, clutching his head hard.

The two creatures rushed for him, united in pain as he struggled to focus.  Then he realised something he could do.  He dodged inbetween until he had both of them on either side of him.  He hoped they would fall for it as they were far away enough to try it.  The tearful one readied a howling jet of water.  The furious one readied its burning club.  When he felt both of their attacks let loose, James dodged back as far as he could to watch the end result.
The fire-scorched bone spun insanely through the water blast, searing with a jet of steam right towards the crying spirit, knocking it backwards hard on the head.  In return, the water blast had managed to push through and slam into the enraged sibling, pounding it back against a wall.  With both of them now wounded and weakened, James could focus on his true intentions, walking up to the crying ghost.  It all made sense to him now.
	"Hey...shhhh...it's okay."
He gently took out the handkerchief and offered it to the spirit, who looked up from its blinding pain and burning headwound with bleary eyes.  It sniffed the handkerchief, somewhat soothed by its scent before taking it and wiping its eyes.  Tiny brown hands gently rubbed the tears away, the sniffling turning less and less.  james kept his voice low and soft.
	"That's it...just calm down.  Now let me help your bro over there okay?"
The little one nodded, understanding him well as he walked to the other side of the garden and offered the lavender to the angry one.  Before it could rise up and attack with tired fury, it caught the whiff of lavender.  Its eyes softened from piercing rage to confused reminiscence.  The scent carried it away from this place, soothing its soul and making the spirit relax with a warm heavy sigh.
	"Cuuuu...hhhh..."
	"There ya go...just needed a li'l time out huh?  I'm looking for your mum, I need to help her because she's lost like you.  Do you know where she is?"
The creature nodded softly, motioning its brother to come over.  The once-mournful apparition waddled towards them, eyes now dry with a tired look upon its young face.  The once-vengeful spirit in turn now had a placid expression, completely calm as both children removed its skull-shaped head, disappearing before James could see what was underneath.  Left in their place were two badges, of red and blue.  The red one had the image of a dragon embossed upon it, reptilian wings spread with firey tail.  The blue one had some sort of large turtle.
	"Two more huh?" said James as he picked them up.  "Wonder where these things go?"
With no other way to go for now, he headed back into the mansion, deciding to avoid going back to the shrine.  He needed to find this mother as soon as he could, hoping that his freedom from this cursed mansion would soon come.  It wasn't even that he tried to teleport himself away.  Somehow he knew that wouldn't work.  He was trapped here, by someone or something, until he could free the others trapped with him.
As he passed through the water room however, a shadow appeared before him.  A red light gently floating across the dark water.  James kept himself wary before he heard a voice faint inside his head.

	to...abyss...grave...alone...water...

	"Abyss?  ...w-wait, wait!"
The red soon faded away into the murky depths, with James left alone once more.  He remembered how the Boos had mentioned about a red shadow that had spoken to them.  Now he had to wonder who it actually was, and why it wanted to guide him through this place.  Taking the spirit's directions, he headed back towards the cherry atrium, to the abyss of the lake back yonder.
When he turned the corner to exit back out onto the mansion grounds, he heard a violent pounding from outside.  Something on the other side was trying to break in.