Chapter 2-A birthday surprise

Flora Reinhold awoke with a start. Her breathing was irregular as her chest rose and fell at a swift pace and sweat was dripping from her forehead as she immediately sat upright with the covers drawn around her. She wrapped them around her limbs and chest tightly as if trying to clothe herself in a comforting blanket of protection. Repeatedly blinking her large glittering eyes, she rubbed them in agitation as a stinging pain seemed to spread through her whole eyeball, which Flora soon realised were tears of fear mixed in with endless worries and paranoid thoughts, as they flowed down her face smoothly like a calm stream.

She wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her silk nightgown and swivelled her head around her comfortable room both clockwise then anticlockwise, to check that she was completely safe and there were no dark beings that lurked in the shadows surrounding her, which were now melting around her like ice. Warm arrows of sunlight shot through her translucent curtains and danced gracefully on her pale peach carpet.

The girl threw herself back down onto her soft pillow and rubbed her bare face against it for some form of reassurance that everything was fine, smiling as the cotton covering tickled her cheek gently. Upon seeing the rays of sunlight now entering her bedroom a dozen at a time, Flora squinted and tried to make out the main features of her room: her cream wooden door hadn't moved a millimetre, still being firmly attached and positioned in the leftmost corner of her room. The cream wallpaper covered in marine blue stripes was still plastered over her walls. The pink curtains were still drawn and showed no visible signs of any other creature hiding behind them and the mirror and her dressing table were spotless with not a speck of dust covering the varnished desk. A small collection of teddy bears, which Luke had generously given to Flora, watched her from underneath her soft chair with glossy bead eyes. Cool breezes, coming out from one of her open windows, made the rainbow ribbons around their necks sway in perfect rhythm to nature's breath of life. Her favourite item of all, the gigantic box of the Professor's puzzles, remained next to her large pale closet, which Flora considered was the pride of places in her room.

Flora couldn't help smiling when she saw the state of her hair in the mirror; it was all out of place with each chestnut strand erupting from her ruby ribbon that usually secured her silky mass of hair into a neat ponytail, but so far today that wasn't the case. She stretched her arms in a wide arc motion and yawned loudly to keep her from going back to sleep for a few more minutes, which would then turn out to be a few more hours.

Still half asleep, Flora reached her hand slowly over to her mini table that sat next to her bed and peered at her alarm clock. The red flashing numbers sent a panic alert through Flora's brain-she had slept two hours later than she normally did.

Now in a state of panic, Flora ran over to her closet and drew out her favourite comfortable peach coloured dress with white trimmed lace at the bottom and a scarlet ribbon, to match the one in her hair, tied tightly around the waistline. She quickly stumbled into it, before tying the ribbon and attacking her hair with her large bristly brush so that it no longer looked like she'd been struck by a lightning bolt in the middle of the night. Opening her curtains to allow more sunlight to bathe her room in a bath of brightness, she slipped on her dark boots, straightened out the covers on her bed and scanned her room once more to make sure that everything was spotless. Nodding with satisfaction, she turned on her heel and quietly closed the door behind her, before skipping joyfully down the stairs in a pleasant mood, all memory of the previous night forgotten.

Voices filled the room nearest to her, talking in gentle quiet tones with traces of excitement mixed into them too. A warm welcoming aroma of sweetness wafted up her nose, making her mouth water hungrily. There was no mistaking that smell: Someone else was cooking breakfast this morning, when it was usually Flora (as she had improved greatly in the kitchen) but Flora couldn't help feeling like she had let the others down by sleeping late. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she placed her hand on the knob and pushed the door open.

She gasped as she shuffled nervously into the room: she could've sworn she'd heard voices, but there was no one there. All of the furniture was in its usual place, birdsong filled the air from the open windows and the same sweet aroma wafted in from the kitchen. The only thing that was different was a large bulging bag, which Flora presumed held the Layton Mobile judging by the size of it, as well as two peach and pink balloons that were situated near the main entrance to the sitting room which she had just entered.

The stunned teenager looked around in confusion.

"Hel…Hello?" she asked softly, "Is…is there anyone here? Professor? Luke?"

"SURPIRSE!"

Flora squealed slightly and immediately spun around on her heel, shaking as the continuous rings of 'surprise' bounced painfully against her brain. Collapsing onto the sofa, Flora faced the door to the kitchen to see the professor smiling warmly at her, his top hat decorated with party ribbons and wearing his usual brown jacket and orange polo-neck. Behind him was not only Luke, but Emmy, Clive, Clark and Brenda too, all grinning vastly at seeing Flora's look of immense surprise.

Luke and Clive were wearing their usual outfits, still looking identical to each other, with party ribbons covering their blue caps, flowers and streamers littered Emmy's hair so that it was now unrecognisable and Luke's parents were supporting a large bouquet of flowers and roses, decorated in all of the colours of the rainbow with divine scents emitting from their soft petals.

The girl's look of immense shock was immediately replaced with a smile of pride and happiness at seeing all of her closest friends and the effort that they had put into making the place pretty, all for…herself? Why though?

The professor smiled again as Flora threw herself into his arms.

"Oh, Professor! Oh, Luke!" she exclaimed, beaming with pleasure, "Emmy, Clive and Luke's parents are here too! Thank you so much! How come you're all here? Did you really put in all of this effort…for me?"

Flora's mouth was carved into a perfect circle as Emmy nudged Clive who smiled back at her playfully.

"See, Professor!" said Emmy with a light smirk, "they forget as they get older!"

Flora looked up at Layton with a puzzled expression. Clive smiled at her reaction.

"Don't say that you've forgotten, Flora!" he chuckled in his usual friendly tone.

"It's your birthday!" declared Luke who announced it with a blow from his popper, which sent a shower of streamers into the air, "You're sixteen today! Remember?"

Flora gasped as the realisation hit her. How on earth could she forget her own birthday?

Layton ruffled her hair and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"You look beautiful, my girl," he said softly, "Happy birthday!"

"You're turning into a true young lady now, Flora," said Clark in his usual caring tone as Flora hugged him gratefully.

He smiled and nodded at Brenda, who stepped forward confidently with the large bouquet.

"A birthday bouquet for the birthday girl!" Brenda laughed as she handed it carefully over to Flora, "Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"Happy birthday, Flora!" sang Emmy, Clive and Luke simultaneously with that same grin refusing to leave Emmy's youthful face.

She clapped her hands together loudly and winked at the professor.

"Would you like to take a seat, Flora?" he asked politely, gesturing towards the sofa as Flora quickly placed her bouquet onto the table nearest to her so that she didn't drop it.

Clive skipped over to where Flora currently stood and helped support her over to the scarlet sofa as she was still staggering from shock and joy. She fell gently onto the smooth fabric and sat up straight in a ladylike manner, with her hands firmly clasped together as a smile very similar to Emmy's appeared on her face. The professor straightened his top hat before perching himself on the edge of a large wooden chair, that didn't look very comfortable in Flora's opinion. Luke sat down on the cream rug in the centre of the room whilst Clive pulled out two more chairs for Clark and Brenda. Emmy grinned widely and jumped enthusiastically onto one of the soft luxurious cushions.

Layton raised his eyebrows slightly but remained silent. Flora looked up at him with wide eyes as she shuffled over politely. The professor shook his head.

"No, Flora. It's perfectly alright. The birthday lady gets the best seat and a true gentleman always puts the comforts of a lady before his own-especially when that young lady is his adopted daughter…"

Emmy rubbed her hands together gleefully.

"Well, Flora," she started in an excited tone, "What first? Presents? Cards? Breakfast?"

She was acting as if she was the birthday girl by how excited she sounded and Flora was reminded of Emmy's childish personality, which showed itself at times like this.

After receiving several thanks from Clark and Brenda, Clive curled up on the floor next to Luke, smiling warmly at Flora. She smiled back before swivelling her head around the room as if something was missing that was usually there.

"Where's Rosa?" she asked curiously, seeing no sign of the cheerful lady, "Is she having the day off?"

Layton smiled as a cheerful croaky voice called out from the kitchen.

"Happy birthday, Flora dear!" shouted Rosa over the sound that the oven was making, "I'm just finishing off the extra touches to your birthday breakfast! Pancakes and strawberries-your favourite!"

Flora giggled loudly and licked her lips. She was looking forward to breakfast already. Today would certainly be a long day and with her friends surrounding her, it would certainly be a good one. Brenda looked at Flora with what looked like concern etched into her face.

"Are you alright, Flora?" she asked in a worried tone, "You looked ever so pale when you came in here and it isn't like you to forget your own birthday! Is something worrying you? Don't you feel very well?"

Clark nodded in approval to his wife's comment as the professor looked at Flora closely. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I'm okay, I just…I just had a nightmare, but it seemed so real!"

Luke gave Flora's hand an encouraging squeeze as she smiled weakly at him through the thoughts that still clouded her mind.

"What was it about?" asked Emmy, her smile now replaced by a look identical to the professor's.

"It was…it looked like St Mystere, but I couldn't exactly be sure and…and it was dark and the only sound was people screaming…"

She trailed off timidly and quickly managed a forced smile as she felt her eyes fill up with tears again.

"It's okay, Flora," said Clark gently as the professor closed his eyes in thought, "It was only a nightmare after all."

"Yes! Plus, it is your birthday, remember young lady?" Emmy asked, smirking again, "I thought that you're supposed to be a pensioner when you forget things!"

"You're one to talk, 'Old Emmy'!" interrupted Clive, who was grinning broadly.

Emmy scowled at him in a playful manner.

"Why don't we just continue with the birthday celebrations, 'Illegal'!" she answered in response.

Those were the two nicknames that they had come up for the other and they used them so much that it made them have a brother and sister type relationship; fighting occasionally, but loving each other deep down.

Layton coughed as Clive nudged Luke, who scampered over to the bulging bag and pulled it, with great difficulty, over to where Flora sat, her round eyes blinking as she studied it from all angles as if it was a dangerous type of object.

"Professor," Flora started in an uncomfortable tone, "You haven't taken the Layton Mobile and put it inside this bag, have you?"

Emmy chortled loudly as she prodded it gently with her foot.

"No, Flora. Don't worry- it's not the Layton Mobile. It's Mount Everest!" she joked as Clive laughed at her comment.

"She doesn't mean it, Flora!" he whispered to her, seeing her instant look of panic and confusion, "It's full of birthday presents of course-for you!"

He grinned and brushed a lock of hair out of her face before slumping back down on the mat next to Luke. Flora squealed, hardly able to contain her delight as Layton gave the girl a reassuring smile.

"Go ahead then, dear," he urged softly, "Open them up."

Flora's eyes scanned the contents of the bag, unsure of which present to open first. After a lot of hesitation, she eventually drew out a large rectangular shaped one that was wrapped in a pale pink paper with purple stripes. Gently, Flora picked up the tag and read the elegant writing scrawled on the front; it was from Clark and Brenda, as well as the bouquet that they had bought for her as well. With trembling fingers, she removed the wrapping and pulled out the present: It was a large cook book containing two hundred recipes, all of which were Flora's favourite dishes.

She stroked the front cover lovingly and pulled out a folded piece of material that had been hiding underneath the book and upon unfolding it, Flora saw that it was another dress, with neat stitching and secured with a pale blue ribbon that made it obvious that it was handmade. It was identical to the one she currently wore, except that her new dress wasn't a peachy orange, but a marine blue. Flora stared speechless at it and held both presents close to her chest whilst glancing at Clark and Brenda, who were wearing smiles of happiness.

"Oh, thank you!" Flora cried as she gently placed them down, "Thank you so much!"

Layton peered at Brenda, a question in his eyes. Brenda smiled in response.

"I used to get good grades in textiles and sewing!" she explained, blushing modestly, "It's been a while since I made something like that, but I just saw Flora in that before I even started!"

Clark patted Brenda proudly on the shoulder. Flora placed her presents gently down and dived even deeper into the bag. Flora soon found what was making the bag so bulky- a large potted plant, which had been from the staff at Gressenheller University, in an elegant purple pot the shape of a flower itself. The true flower that it contained was a dahlia, already blooming in all of its beauty, which almost made Flora start crying again as she was reminded of the Dahlia that she left behind two years ago...

Present after present was pulled from the bag, as if it was never ending: there was a huge stationary set containing every type of pen and pencil in existence, an artist's canvas with its own easel and a set of different coloured hair ribbons all from Clive, who had forked out what remained of his inheritance to treat her for her special day. A customised apron and chef hat from Rosa, as well as a large birthday cake that would be ready later. A highly technical digital camera with special features from Emmy, who had insisted that she wanted to treat Flora, after several comments about money from the professor. The largest Sudoku book in the world and a book about flowers and their properties from Luke, as well as a satchel identical to his own to carry around when on adventures (With a hidden poem inside it that brought tears to her eyes).

Then there were just two presents left. Flora scooped out the smallest, tore at it feverishly and gasped in shock. The Professor had given her a golden watch decorated with many various charms: there were silver and gold letters spelling out 'FLORA' along the golden chain, a golden apple charm, a flower charm, a Rubik's cube charm, a friendship charm, a heart and the main clock in the centre, ticking with a beautiful tinkling sound. There was also a large puzzle book and a top hat identical to the one Layton wore on his head, decorated in a pink ribbon instead of a red.

Flora peered around at all of her presents and all of her friends for the hundredth time, before enveloping each of them in a warm grateful hug as tears of happiness ran down her rosy cheeks. The Professor smiled and gestured towards the bag.

"There is still one present left, Flora," he said softly, "Would you like to open it?"

Flora nodded, an interested expression painted on her face. She had opened all of her friends' presents. Who was this from? Cautiously, she pulled out the large present that remained from the bottom of the bag and examined it. A small letter on a pink page was attached to the present with a peach coloured ribbon as Flora tugged it free gently and glanced at the professor. He smiled at her.

"It came a few days ago, my girl," he explained helping her undo the wrapping paper, "I'm sure that you'll love it!"

Now immensely intrigued, Flora pulled at the paper and removed it to find a large model made out of plastic, metal and many other materials with detail in every single part of it-from the shape of the bricks to the realistic features of the river. It was about the size of a small coffee table and showed many houses, a large manor and the famous clock tower right in the centre of the model. Her eyes welled up with tears at the sight of it: It was a realistic model of St Mystere.

Knowing instantly who the letter was from, she opened the envelope and cleared her throat nervously as she began to read it aloud after a look of encouragement from the room's inhabitants:


"' My dear Flora, my little Golden Apple,

I was extremely touched by your lovely letter. I'm so glad to hear that you're well and happy. I'm also really happy that you've settled in and your friends are looking after you. Please give my thanks to Professor Layton for his letter and all of his support in looking after you. I haven't forgotten your birthday, my dear. I hope that you have a wonderful day! I've helped Bruno construct a model of our village for your bedroom. I do hope that you'll like it! You always liked models and making things when you were younger. Everyone at St Mystere sends their regards and I'm glad to know that you're safe. Please don't worry about me. Claudia is missing you too! I solved your puzzle! I must say that I was greatly shocked and impressed! Well done to you! I've started planting some real flowers-violets on your mother's grave in memory of her. Bruno told us the truth so it's a lot easier to understand. Again, do enjoy your birthday and just the thought of seeing you warms my heart. I can't wait to see you soon, Flora. Take care and send my regards to all of your friends too!

With love and wishes now and always, Dahlia'"


There was a heavy silence after Flora had finished reading the letter, her mind throbbing with questions and her heart beating swiftly as her love for Lady Dahlia filled her until she felt light and bouncy with joy inside, like helium in a balloon. Layton winked at Luke as he coughed to get Flora's attention. She turned around in surprise and then smiled in relief.

"That's where your birthday surprise comes in, Flora!" he announced as Emmy, Clark, Brenda, Luke and Clive all grinned at him, obviously excited to see Flora's reaction when she received her surprise, "We've decided—"

"To go to St Mystere and visit Lady Dahlia and the residents, seeing as it's your birthday as well as the fact that you've both been missing each other, straight after breakfast!" finished Luke, grinning from ear to ear.

Flora sat there silently with her mouth gaping open in shock, as her cheeks flushed with pleasure and she ran over and gave Luke and the professor a hug that almost squeezed the life out of them.

"Oh, Professor! Luke! Thank you so much! Having all of my friends, receiving so many wonderful presents that I hadn't expected at all and now receiving news that I can visit Lady Dahlia once again?! This is the best birthday surprise ever! Thank you!"

Luke managed a weak reply as he struggled to breathe. Layton smiled gently but showed no signs that Flora was suffocating him, even though he felt like he would explode if she pressed on any harder. Brenda, Clark, Emmy and Clive smiled in unison at the emotional scene. Emmy pulled out her camera and couldn't resist the temptation to take a picture.

"Okay, Professor! Emotional time is over! It's now time for breakfast!" declared Rosa as Emmy's flash went off at the incorrect time, causing her to take a completely wrong photo that resulted in her sulking over her strawberries as Layton raised his eyebrows.

The group made their way into the kitchen where Rosa had just laid out a generous helping of strawberries, jam, pancakes and a large triangular shaped cake with a flower imprinted in the middle of it and a large '16' written in pink and peach icing. Jam and syrup oozed out of the sides and even Layton couldn't resist the temptation to reach over and bite off a piece.

They sat down carefully and Luke, Clive and Emmy immediately started gulping theirs down their throats, forgetting to pause to swallow as Luke kept spreading on large dollops of juicy jam onto his second pancake. Emmy poured the whole bowl of chocolate over her strawberries and Clive just took a small portion of everything and arranged it neatly onto his plate so that it formed a decorative pattern. Flora was decorating her plate in the exact same way except she wasn't eating hers like she'd never seen food before in her life. Brenda nibbled the edge of her pancake slowly to savour the flavour and Clark picked up his strawberries gently with his fork and washed them down with a large gulp of tea, resisting the urge to laugh at his son's never ending appetite with much difficulty.

The professor himself hadn't touched any of his breakfast as he peered at Emmy and his young assistants in an amused manner, not knowing whether to be stern with them or laugh with them.

"Now you three," he started trying not to laugh, "A true gentleman and lady always eat politely and don't rush. Are you quite sure that you ate dinner last night?"

Rosa chuckled.

"Why don't you get a dictionary and look up 'swallow'-to gulp something down after CHEWING IT! Then look up the word 'chew' and then look up the word 'indigestion' I warn you-you'll pay later!"

Flora giggled and looked hungrily at her cake, as Luke sneakily tried to help himself to another pancake and Emmy took another handful of strawberries when the professor wasn't looking.

"Thank you so much!" she squealed, wiping off the strawberry juice from her chin, "This is a very nice cake, Rosa and a very nice breakfast! You must have worked ever so hard on it! Oh! Is it sponge cake by any chance?"

Rosa smiled as she stroked the top of it adoringly as if it was a fluffy pet of hers. She looked incredibly tired: black rings were visible underneath her aged eyes and marks creased her aged face. She tugged at the frilly white apron around her waist and straightened out her hair in its usual white bonnet. She smiled widely at the professor, as he took a sip of his tea before sitting up and straightening his top hat.

"All of this talk about cakes reminds me of a puzzle!" he announced as everyone stopped eating to look at him, "Perhaps you'd like to hear it whilst we eat. This is just for you, Flora. Would you care to have a go?"

Flora instantly sat up and straightened out her dress in a similar manner to the professor.

"Of course, Professor! I'll give it a go!"

Layton chuckled as he leant over so that she could hear him better.

"Very well then, here's the puzzle…"


Puzzle 2-Cake catastrophe (30 picarats)

For your birthday, we planned on baking you a special pancake in the shape of a triangle, with a perpendicular height of 16cm and a base of 4cm. What we wanted to do is cut this pancake so that it will feed a number of people with the exact same amount each. In other words, the pancake must be cut so that each person gets the same amount.

Knowing this, how many people must you feed if you want everyone to have the same amount of pancake? The visitors like pancake, so each slice must be more than 5cm wide, but they don't have a huge sweet tooth so it must also be below 9cm wide. Can you do it?

(This one is to do with the triangle area. As the pancake is flat, you don't need to worry about thickness. Just treat it as a 2D shape. I'm sure you know the formula, but if you don't, it's base x height divided by 2. You should be able to work out the rest from there. If you want to solve it, cover the bottom of the screen so you don't see the answer! Get this right and you will have 70 picarats)


Flora pondered over the answer for several minutes, by which time Luke, Clive and Emmy had slyly helped themselves to another two pancakes, before looking at the professor with determined eyes.

"I think I have the answer, Professor!" she squealed excitedly as he sipped his tea and smiled at her.

"Go ahead then, my girl. You know what to do," he said softly as he finished off the last of his tea.

"You must feed four people. You need to find out the triangle area which is base multiplied by height divided by two. So sixteen multiplied by four divided by two is thirty two. Having four people is the only way that works because they would each get a slice which is eight centimetres wide and that is the only way that fits the requirements," she explained triumphantly, "That was a very good puzzle, Professor! Thank you!"

Layton beamed proudly at his daughter. She smiled modestly and began to eat her pancakes quickly. Emmy moaned loudly-Rosa had just smacked her hand to stop her from taking any more pancakes. Clive groaned at the same time, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Aw, man!" he groaned as it emitted several gurgling noises, "My stomach hurts! I think I have indigestion!"

Rosa smirked, trying her hardest not to laugh as Luke simply licked the jam off of his lips and sat back in his seat, sighing contentedly, even though he'd eaten the same amount as Clive.

"I told you, didn't I?" Rosa chuckled, "I told you you'd get indigestion, but no, no, no-you knew best! Maybe that will be a lesson to you for future thought!"

Clive blushed a deep red as Rosa leaned forward to cut Flora's cake, which Clive refused since he was so full, handing out equal sized pieces to all of the group. Flora took a large bite out of her slice and her senses overpowered her-it really was a delicious cake and Flora knew that Rosa had been working very hard on it. The icing made the tip of her tongue tingle as she licked it off like it was an ice lolly and savoured the flavour as the jam ran down her chin. Layton chuckled slightly.

Luke consumed his, this time remembering to chew it, in a matter of minutes whilst Brenda wrapped up her own and Clark's securely in silver foil and placed it into her handbag to save for later. Emmy was taking the tiniest bite out of her slice that she could manage so that the professor didn't nag her again. Layton couldn't stop himself from dipping his slice into his tea, so that the icing ran down like rain and his tea tasted the sweetest he had ever tasted in his life.

"That was so delicious!" grinned Flora, hiccoughing slightly, "Thank you so much, Rosa!"

"You must have a secret recipe for that sponge cake of yours," Brenda joked, smiling warmly.

Rosa winked at her and Flora simultaneously and a crafty look appeared on her face.

"That secret," she stated clearly, "is for old Rosa and old Rosa only to know and the professor to find out! I expect that this is a puzzle even he can't solve—"

"Actually, Rosa," he interrupted with a smirk, "the answer is that you are a good cook, you have been working for almost ten years now and you add double the amount of recommended sugar, jam and syrup. Am I right?"

Rosa's mouth fell open in shock as she wringed her hands and turned scarlet.

"Well…err…," she stammered, "Wonderful as always, Professor! I bet that it's your intuition!"

"Not really, no," he confessed with a guilty tone, "I saw the recipe sheet…"

Rosa looked as if she'd swallowed a whole bottle of lemon juice.

"That explains it!" she said coolly, "No one should ever look at my recipes! That's not how a true gentleman behaves!"

She tittered at the professor before replacing her frown with a beaming smile as Layton turned to Flora again.

"Now then, dear," the professor said softly, "we'll be ready to leave in about ten minutes, so if you'd just like to gather some things and smarten yourself up then we can be ready to go."

Flora smiled widely and jumped down gracefully from the table. Clive, Emmy and Luke's parents exchanged excited glances around the table. Luke looked at the professor, feeling quite excited himself.

"We can get to see Flora's village!" declared Emmy triumphantly, "I wonder what it will be like?"

"Yes, Luke was saying that it is very nice, but very curious. It will be nice to see where young Flora was raised," said Clark happily as he turned towards his son.

Luke smiled gently.

"You'd better be ready for it, Dad!" he exclaimed loudly, "It's one curious village alright!"

"St Mystere," pronounced Clive with a hint of interest in his voice, "even the name sounds 'Laytonesque'! It's like there's a 'Laytonesque' mystery waiting for us!"

Layton smiled.

"Oh, I hope not!" said Flora, suddenly anxious as memories of her dream plagued her mind, "We can never go anywhere without a mystery cropping up!"

Layton ruffled her hair and held her hand tightly as if reading her thoughts.

"Of course, my dear. That is normally the case, isn't it?" he asked as the rest of the table nodded in response, "We shall just go there, visit the village and your friends and come back a few days later. It is your birthday surprise after all, so just try to enjoy it. Okay?"

Flora nodded, feeling much more reassured as she skipped off to her room with renewed confidence, as the remaining members of the group smiled after her and made their way towards their own rooms.

'I can finally see them again!' Flora thought excitedly, 'I can finally go back to my curious village!'

What Flora did not know, even though she had told herself that it was going to be a normal day, was that one of their most baffling cases awaited them up the cobbled path to St Mystere-the curious village which was about to become even more curious…and dangerous…

There's chapter 2. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this story so far! I really appreciate your support! Is there anything I could've improved on for this chapter? I'll update soon, where the 'Laytonesque mystery' can finally start! Anyway, plant peace for the planet and see you around! Abitat Eco :) :) :) :) :) :) :)