Here's the next chapter. I know this story is not as popular as the other one, so I appreciate those who read this. Thanks.
Djinn -Thank you for your support.
Chapter 2: The Boy Who Foretold Disaster
Edgar guessed, judging by what he could see of the interior and the position of the stairwell, that Luke's room was above the garage.
Using his acrobatic skills, he scaled the cottage's walls and climbed onto the roof of the garage.
Edgar peeked into the window. Luckily, the curtains were partially open so he could see in easily.
Luke, a boy about nine years old with brown hair covered by a blue cap, was turned away from the window and looking down at his hands.
'What is he doing?' Edgar internally questioned as he stared at the boy. He seemed to be talking into his hands, but he was too quiet for him to hear.
Suddenly, a knock at the door surprised the two boys.
"Luke," called out the voice of the professor from the other side of the door "my name is Hershel Layton I'm a friend of your father's. Could we talk for a moment?"
Luke scrambled across the room and out of Edgar's view much to his annoyance. Luke then turned to the door.
"Certainly. But first, you'll have to solve my door puzzle!" he called back.
'Door puzzle?' Edgar questioned again.
"Your... door puzzle?" The professor replied equally as surprised by Luke's declaration.
Edgar assumed that Luke wanted to test them to see if they are as good as they say they are. He might as well try and solve the puzzle himself seeing as he might be here for a while.
"If you are truly the esteemed Hershel Layton, then this puzzle should be no problem," Luke called out through the door.
'Seriously, am I only person who's never heard of him,' Edgar dryly thought.
"You will have 15 seconds to perform a specific action in front of the door," Luke challenged the professor and his assistant.
"Just a second, young one!" called out the voice of Emmy "How are we to know exactly what it is we're supposed to do?
Edgar rolled his eyes. It wouldn't be much of a puzzle if he told them how to solve it.
"I will tell you now, you can't do anything to solve this puzzle," Luke said cryptically.
After a couple of seconds the professor told Luke that they were ready to solve his puzzle.
The countdown began and Edgar got to work.
I assume he would of given them clues just outside the door, maybe there was a clue there. However, Luke doesn't seem to be making any effort to see what they are doing. Looking at the door, there is no peephole for Luke to use. He's not even listening through the door. How would he know if they are doing the right thing. Could the 'clues' be a red herring? Also there was something in the way he said '...you can't do anything to solve this puzzle' that seemed odd. Then it struck him. If you switch the phrase around you get 'to solve the puzzle, you can't do anything'.
Not seeing what they are doing + no peephole + 'you can't do anything' = do nothing and you'll solve the puzzle.
Puzzle solved.
Quite simple if you think about.
The countdown ended and the professor solved the puzzle as well.
Luke was convinced about their identity and let them in.
Edgar had to pull away as Luke walked towards the window.
The professor and Emmy walked in and looked around his dimly lit room.
Luke turned his head around to look at them.
"A clever puzzle, Luke," the professor complimented, the boy merely grunted in reply.
The professor took a letter out of his jacket pocket and held it out for Luke to see.
"Your letter, I thought you might want it back," he stated calmly causing Luke to give a shock gasp.
"Professor!" Emmy exclaimed in shock, "You think Luke wrote the latter!?"
'Well, that might explains why Clark was surprised to see him,' Edgar thought.
The professor continued, "Clark was... never a fan of typed correspondence. He always wrote his letters out in longhand. Moreover, only someone very close to Clark would know about our past together. That someone would know I could never ignore a friend in need."
Luke fully turned around, "Are you really... Professor Layton?" he questioned.
Edgar turned away from the window and stared at the woods next to the cottage.
This professor was good, too good.
Unlike all the other officers on the force, he seems to have at least more than one brain cell. If he gets found out by this professor, it could mean a very long time in prison for him.
However, from what he can gather from their interactions, the prof seemed to be decent. Maybe if he can explain his situation to him or trust him.
He remembered the last time he trusted somebody, it didn't end well.
Edgar was taken out of his thoughts by the professor asking Luke a question.
"Luke, I must ask you a very important question: Do you know where the Spectre will appear next?"
Another voice answered him, Edgar peeked through the window to see Doland in the room now. He should really concentrate to what was going on.
"Master Luke will not stand for such balderdash. Please leave at once," Doland said insulted at the professor's accusation.
"Tonight," Luke replied "the Spectre will appear tonight."
'So that means that Luke was the oracle,' Edgar thought surprised by the reveal.
Edgar had heard of rumours about an oracle predicting when the Spectre appears and helping people evacuate. However at the time Edgar simply dismissed as just rumours.
'How does he know though?' he questioned.
He listened into the conversation once again, finding out that Luke has been passing the information to Doland which he takes to warn the residents to evacuate.
Now Edgar only needs to know where the Spectre will strike next.
"But... then where will the Spectre appear tonight?" Emmy asked a nervous looking Luke.
"Great Ely Street..." he replied simply.
'Great Ely Street... that's near Paddy's place and where that hotel is,' Edgar thought smirking.
He has a plan now.
He skilfully scaled down the cottage's wall and headed to the Middle Town.
"Come on Joe, what do you fifty quid for the night!" Edgar exclaimed at an elderly man with a large bead and green hat.
"Fifty quid is fifty quid, look out there, you see any people, the whole place is evacuated because of this bloody Spectre. So do you want a room or don't cha?" grumbled out the hotel owner in reply.
Edgar had managed to slip away undetected by the cottage's attendants and headed towards the Middle Town.
The police had already evacuated the residents of Great Ely Street so the street was almost completely deserted, with at least two people here and there.
He managed to avoid a particular salmon shirted, moustache man who Edgar has taken a dislike to, because of his obsession with finding Hint Coins. Whatever the hell they were.
He checked in on Paddy, whose restaurant was on the next street and saw he was still here.
He thanked Edgar for buying the vegetables he sent him out for, but asked why he gave it to Bucky.
Edgar told him he had to run an errand and didn't want to impede on his delivery, which Paddy believed.
Edgar was often doing odd jobs for the village's residents.
Edgar then made his way towards to the hotel so he can buy a room using the money Paddy gave him for the delivery.
He plans to stake out the Spectre from the hotel room and see this Spectre with his own eyes.
Sees the Spectre, solves the mystery and move onto the next creepy village.
Although, there was one problem with the plan.
"Alright mate, look," Edgar straightened himself up with an easy smile and letting his natural accent out. This an act he called 'Rustic Charm' which works on the working class population.
"You run a business, I get that. So why don't we compromise. I can do an odd job like fixing any plumbing, cleaning the windows... setting up any Spectre sized traps." Edgar smirked at that last one.
"I'll do that if you knock twenty-" Edgar felt the wallet in his pocket "thirty quid of the room. What do you say."
Joe leaned forward "Fifty quid or get out," he said gruffly.
However, Edgar kept his smile.
"Is Molly here? I haven't seen her in a while," Edgar questioned asking for the female employee of the hotel. A woman in her late twenties with blue hair in a curl. She had a soft spot for Edgar as he always complimented her doll collection.
"She ran away like the rest of them, so you can't flirt with her yer bloody womaniser," Joe mumbled.
'Bugger,' Edgar thought.
"Fine, you win," Edgar mumbled out deciding to give up. Maybe he can slip through an open window or something.
As he headed out of the hotel lobby, he sighed to himself.
'Why am I doing this? What happened to keeping your head down? This is getting ridiculous, I need to-' his train of thought came to a halt as he saw the group in front of him.
The last people he wanted to see right now.
The professor was given him a curious look, Emmy was scowling at him and the ever innocent Luke was just confused.
"Oh it's you," Luke acknowledge politely.
"Oh it's you," Emmy acknowledge not so politely.
Edgar maintained a smile, despite how much he didn't want to bump into them.
Although, he was a little confused as to how Luke knew him.
"Hello again. Sorry, must be off. I've got a lot of not-being-killed-by-giant-monsters business to attend to. Enjoy your stay," Edgar greeted trying to get by them.
He almost made it out the door when the prof called out to him.
"Actually, do you mind if we talk for a moment, my dear boy," the professor asked politely.
With his face turned away from them, Edgar gave a frustrated sigh before turning around with a tight smile.
"Of course," Edgar reluctantly agreed.
The group were sat on the hotel lobby's sofas. The professor and Luke on one, while Emmy and Edgar on the other.
They were all silently drinking tea given by a grumbling Joe.
Edgar seemed cool on the outside, but internally he was coming up with a plan.
'You are a normal resident of Misthallery, who recently moved from London. Your parents sent you ahead, because they were busy with work and they should be coming next week. You know nothing, but the usual rumours of the Spectre.' Edgar thought coming up with a believable back story.
The prof put his teacup down on to the coffee table and addressed Edgar.
"Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" The prof questioned with a small smile.
"Not at all, but I must be on my way soon," Edgar replied with a smile of his own.
"You can leave after you answer the professor questions," Emmy ordered sternly.
"Emmy," The professor warned in a kind but stern tone.
He then turned to Edgar "Well... I'm sorry I don't believe I ever caught your name," the professor admitted.
"That's quite alright. It's Edgar, Edgar Cipher," the boy answered politely.
"Well, Edgar. How long have you been living in Misthallery?" the prof continued.
"Only a week. My parents and I are moving here from London, but they have some business to attend to, so they sent me ahead. They should be here next week," Edgar confidently told the group.
"I haven't heard of anybody moving in recently- Oh I'm sorry, the name Luke Triton by the way," the young boy piped up beside the professor.
"Hello, Luke and I'm not surprised you haven't heard of anybody moving here. I reckon everybody's been a tad occupied with the monster and everything," Edgar calmly explained.
"And why is your family moving here," Emmy questioned from beside him.
"Mainly for the welcoming hospitality," he sarcastically answered loud enough for Joe to hear his quip behind the hotel desk.
Joe just grunted in annoyance.
"But we also felt like a change of scenery," Edgar replied honestly, taking another sip of his tea.
"Yes I see, this town does has a rustic charm to it," The professor stated, "but may I ask why you were trying to book a room if you already have taken residence in Misthallery?"
Edgar assumed that they were listening in on his attempt to buy a room and answered accordingly.
"Oh that. Well you see, the house we are moving in to received some minor damage from the attack last night. Therefore I decided to book a room. That why's I was delivering those vegetables this morning. I was trying to earn another for tonight, but it seems my efforts were in vain," Edgar explained without a single stutter.
It's always useful to be always on your feet.
The professor took a sip of his tea before putting it down on the coffee table.
"Hmm, I see. That's quite unfortunate, Mr Cipher," the professor told the young man.
Edgar finished his tea and stood up from his sofa.
"Don't worry about it, I'm must be off. As I said, I still have things to do to earn my room money, thanks for the tea and chat," Edgar said preparing to leave.
"Just one more thing, Mr Cipher," the professor called out before he could escape.
Something about the way he said that last sentence filled him with dread.
Edgar turned with a small smile on his face, trying to not show his impatience.
"Sure, what is it?" he asked politely.
The professor sipped his tea before calmly asking:
"Why were you spying on our conversation at the Triton's cottage?"
...
...
...
...
"Eh?" Luke and Emmy cried out in confusion.
'Well, that's just great," Edgar bitterly thought.
Sorry for the short chapter. The original in the game was mostly filler puzzles and only a little bit of story.
Next time we will discover how the professor knew of Edgar's spying and the gang will finally see the Spectre.
