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Flora and I tried to sleep off the rest of the night as best we could, but it was difficult. Our minds were plagued with worry. That girl made it seem like the Professor was in trouble, deep trouble. The questions about the Professor weren't the only ones swirling around in my head that night. I had many others. I was obvious that the ghost girl wasn't a ghost at all, so why had nobody noticed this yet? It's awfully strange for a mysterious girl to wander the streets at night and nobody has gotten a good look at her. At least, not a good enough to look to know that she isn't a ghost. I've also been wandering about her. What is she doing, roaming the town in the dead of night? There are so many mysteries to be solved, but right now, we had to focus on the Professor. My questions could wait for later.

The first thing I wanted to do in the morning was talk to that old lady again. We had been in such a frenzy yesterday that we hadn't even gotten her name. I had a couple questions I wanted to ask her after last night. Flora and I woke up early, and decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the cafe. When we walked it, it was crowded. I guess an early breakfast was common in town. We took a seat at an open table and waited for someone to come. To our merriment, Ailsa was our waitress for the morning.

"Nice to see ya two again," she smiled, as she set two menus in front of us. "Did you have any luck with Gran? I hope she didn't cause any trouble."

"She was very helpful," I answered. "She was able to answer a lot of our questions."

"She's very nice," Flora added. "I wish I had a grandmother like her." Ailsa gave a tiny smile. "She's great... sometimes." The three of us laughed and then Ailsa said she'd give us a minute to figure out what we wanted to eat. She'd come back later for our order. I had decided on some eggs and toast, while Flora wanted pancakes with juice.

The breakfast was delicious, and once we finished, I left the money for our meal on the table. Before we left, I told Ailsa that we were planning on visiting her grandmother once again, since we had a few more questions. "Fine by me," she shrugged. "Don't be afraid to tell her to 'shut her trap' if she talks too much."

Flora and I walked to the old lady's house and I knocked on the door. Just like yesterday, she came to the door and today, she was happy to see us. "Hello, you two!" she said, sounding a bit surprised. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon, but please come in." She led us back into her living room and we all took a seat.

"I suppose you must have a few more questions. You wouldn't spend time with an old thing like me without good reason."

"That's not true!" Flora injected. "I think you're great, Mrs..."

"Just call me Millie. That's what all the neighbors call me at least. I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself to ya'll yesterday. How rude of me."

"It's no problem," I told her. "Anyways, we wanted to ask you about that ghost again." Millie leaned forward, showing that she was listening. "Has anyone ever seen the ghost up close?"

"I don't think so," Millie replied. "That's mighty dangerous. Rumour has it, you look that ghost dead in the eye and you're a goner."

"W-what do you mean?" Flora asked in a shaky voice. She sounded nervous. "It's like a death wish," Millie explained. "You don't just see a ghost and come back to tell the tale." No wonder nobody thought the ghost was suspicious. No one had dared see her themselves. Superstition held them back. "The two of you should be careful," Millie cautioned. "I don't want anyone getting hurt chasing after that phantom." Flora and I were both silent. Neither of us felt like it was a good idea to admit we had seen the ghost, nonetheless chased her down the street.

"We'll be careful," I lied. "We'll try to steer clear of her." Millie smiled and stood up for her chair. "That's a burden of my heart. Would you both like a cup of tea? I was about to put the kettle on when you came."

"That would be great, thanks." Millie hobbled off to the kitchen to make some tea, leaving Flora and I behind. "Luke, what do we do now?" Flora asked. She seemed to be a bit scared after hearing Millie's tale. "Everything will be fine" I reassured her. "We know that there is no ghost, so how could she possibly hurt us?" Flora seemed to calm down a bit, but I noticed she kept pulling on her hair, a sign of her nervousness.

Millie returned in a few minutes with a tray of tea. She handed us our cups and I took a sip. It was a bit too bitter for my tastes, but I didn't say anything. A gentleman must always be polite. "Have you both gotten a good look at the town?" Millie asked. "There's many stores on the main street you might enjoy, not to mention the beach. I always thought this town would be a good vacation spot, but it never really took off."

"We've looked around a bit," I told her. "But we haven't strayed too far from the main road. We did see that huge house up in hills just aways from here. Someone told us that's where the mayor lives."

"That old place? That's where the mayor lives, though none of us can be too sure anymore. No one has seen him in years. That mansion is as old as the town itself and it probably fallen to pieces by now if no one has taken care of it. It was such a beautiful home back in the day."

"Why has nobody seen the mayor?"

"He's become a bit of recluse. His wife died many years ago, nobody knows of what or why. He was such a happy man. It makes me sad to think he's withered away in that house, all alone."

"Hasn't anyone tried to reach out to him?"

"After his wife died, lots people offered their support, but he shut them out. The poor man was depressed. Eventually, everyone just gave up. All his mayoral duties seem to get done, so no one seems to mind anymore." I made a mental note in my head to further investigate the mayor. There was something about his that seemed wrong. I felt like he would be a key piece of the puzzle.

"All this talk is so depressing," Millie sighed. "How about we lighten things up with a good puzzle?" She stood up from her chair and grabbed a box from a nearby shelf. "You see this mechanism at the top?" She pointed at the lid of the box. It was made of multiple pieces that seemed to move around. In the top corner of the box was a red piece, while the rest were golden. "See if you can get that red piece into the opposite corner, where that open space is, and you can keep what's in the box." I took the box from her hands and was starting to work on the puzzle when Flora tapped on my shoulder.

"Can I try?" she asked. I handed her the box and she set it on her lap. I watched her move the pieces around as she tried to puzzle out a solution. Within only a few minutes, she had solved it and the top of the box opened with a click. Inside was a variety of hard candy. "That was so fun!" Flora exclaimed, grabbing a piece of candy. I reached over and grabbed one too. "It's always a fan with the younger folk," Millie chuckled, grabbing a piece of candy for herself. "Now why don't you two scoot on out of here and enjoy the town. I know a couple romantic spots if you're interested." Flora and I turned red and Millie gave a little laugh. We thanked her for answering our questions and then we left.

"I'd like to investigate the mayor a bit," I told Flora. "There's something about him that doesn't fit right with me."

"I was thinking the same thing," Flora agreed. We walked down the main street of town until we arrived at the same spot as yesterday. The gravel path seemed to disappear into oblivion once it got close to the mountains, but I could barely make it out at its end by the mansion. Flora and I started to walk down the path, and I prayed that it wouldn't be a long trip. I was still tired from last night and my legs weren't feeling amazing. The path ran down along the beach, close enough to feel the sea air. It was refreshing.

"After we find the Professor, we should come back here again," Flora told me. "It's such a lovely little place. Think of how much fun we could have at the beach!" Flora's daydreams of sandcastles and waves were a good distraction from our nerves. Unfortunately, the path veered away from the beach and up towards the mountains.

We continued to walk until we came to a point where the path was only a few feet wide, just along the edge of a cliff. The cliff wasn't too huge. It was only a 15 metre drop to the bottom, but that was enough to cause some serious damage.

"Be careful," I warned. "I don't want to tell the Professor that you were the one that got in trouble before we found him." Flora nodded, and grabbed my hand for some extra security. The two of us walked carefully along the path. As long as neither of us did anything crazy, we would be perfectly safe.

Suddenly, I heard what sounded like an explosion and it was close. A cloud of dust and debris flew over us. I blocked my eyes with my hands, temporarily letting go of Flora. She let out a yell. That's when the ground underneath us felt unsteady. I looked down and saw multiple cracks form and then start to grow. "Hurry up and get to safer ground!" I hollered to Flora. The two of us ran as fast as we could to the area where the path was on solid ground. It was only a couple hundred metres away.

I reached safe ground no problem, but Flora was a bit further behind. I turned around and yelled to her to move along. "Come on! Almost there!" Flora was almost there, when the ground disappeared beneath her. For a moment, it looked almost like she was flying. I lunged forward for her and was able to grab her arms. She grabbed onto my arms as her body fell down against the side of the cliff. If I hadn't grabbed her, she would have fallen to the bottom. "L-Luke!" Flora cried. I could see small tears in her eyes. "Don't worry," I told her, though my heart was racing. "I'm pulling you up." I pulled her up and helped her wipe some of the dirt of her clothes. "Thank you!" Flora said as she gave me a giant hug. "I would've fallen." I hugged her back and was thankful that I managed to catch her in time. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost her. "We're both safe now," I calmly said. "Everything should be fine."

But in the back of my head, I was worried. The cliff shouldn't have given out like that. That explosion had destroyed it and explosions just don't happen on their own. Someone was trying to get rid of us. Was this what Millie was talking about? Was the "ghost" trying to kill us? I couldn't believe that the scared girl from last night was a murderer, but someone out there was. Flora and I were getting close to something, and somebody knew that, and I knew this somebody was the one who had caused the Professor to disappear.


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