A/N: *slowly rises from behind desk* Uh...hi there! *ducks anything you guys try to through at me*

Stephanie: Well, it's been a while since you updated.

*slowly rising again* Not my fault. Anyway, I don't own the Professor Layton series.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

~Frederick Douglass

The boy felt the corners of his lips twitch as the door lock clicked open. The masked man keeping him would be gone to search for clues of the Gardens, and the other man was nice to him-maybe even nice enough to ignore his escape.

Only one way to find out...

Bracing his broken hand against his chest, the boy slowly reached for the door handle.

'Here goes nothing,' he thought to himself while pushing the door open. After checking that the hallway was clear, the boy opened the door the rest of the way and exited the room he had been imprisoned in for...he didn't even know how long.

Too long-that he knew was certain. But if he could avoid the butler, he would-

CREEK!

At the sound of the floor, the boy accidentally put too much weight on his left ankle-one his captor had broken the first night and never let heal right-and nearly collapsed.

Bloody Hell.

How could he have forgotten about those? The floor always creaked, and his ankle made it nearly impossible to move quickly.

Despite these obstacles, the boy took in a deep breath and started creeping across the hallway floor.

Freedom...

When the boy walked out of the building, he remembered something his captor always told him.

"If your parents really wanted you back, they'd be quite a bit more cooperative."

His captor had been interacting with his parents. If he went back home, he would be caught again.

'Where else can I go?' he thought to himself as he sat on the edge of one of the town's many canals. 'Obviously I can't go back where I was...Maybe...no...She hasn't talked to me in over a year...but do I have any other options?'

"What are you doing out here?"

The boy gasped and turned at the female voice to see a woman in a yellow jacket running up to him while a man in a top hat followed.

"Do you know anything about the specter?"

The boy attempted to get up, but he put too much weight on his bad ankle.

"Be careful!" the woman called as she gripped the boy's upper arm to keep him balanced. "Are you alright?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer, but immediately shut it again. Was he really alright? In what context was she meaning? As in was he alright from just having nearly fallen into the canal, or just in general?

Deciding the former was most likely, the boy gave a small nod and pulled away from the woman.

"I didn't mean to startle you, kid," the woman said as the man came up to them. "We're trying to investigate the specter that's been attacking the town. Do you know anything about it?"

The specter? What specter? Like...like the one from the legend? Why would it be attacking?

The boy backed away from the adults as his breathing quickened. The specter was meant to protect Misthallery. Why would it attack?

Did someone do something to anger it?

Suddenly the boy felt a light pressure on his wrists and he opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) to see the man kneeling in front of him with a firm but gentle grip on his wrists.

"Luke, please calm down. My name is Professor Layton; I'm a friend of your parents."

A/N: So, what did you guys think? More reviews will cause for a quicker update!