Chapter 3-Present time/twenty two

Hershel Layton opened his eyes. It was 11:00 a.m and he was late for work,or was he. It seemed He couldn't remember what day of the week it was. He slid out of bed and walked over to the calendar. It was a Sunday. Hershel opened the door and started to walk to the kitchen when the house phone rang.

"Hello?"Flora said to the person on the phone.

"Hello this is Inspector Chemely. Is Layton home?"Inspector Chemely said on the other line of the phone.

"He is home but I'm not sure if he's awake yet."Flora answered.

"Flora who is that?"Layton asked as he entered the room?"

"Never mind he's awake,"Flora said to Inspector. Then she handed the phone to him."It's Inspector Chemely."

"Hello Inspector. How are you this morning?"

"Enough with this chit-chat. I want to get down with the real reason why I called you. You see I was called about a murder case in America early this week,but I was also contacted by a young lady about her brothers. I would love to help her but I can't,so I was wondering Layton if you would like to give it a shot?"Chemely asked.

Hershel was silent for a moment. "I would be honored. Where shall I meet her?"

"She will come to you."With that Inspector hung up the phone without another word.

"Alright Flora go wake up Luke. We are going to have company."

"Who is coming over professor?"Flora asked.

"We will find out soon enough."Professor said as he went up stairs to get ready.

About two hours later there was a knock on the door. Luke and Flora were sitting on the couches in the living room waiting for their guest to come. Professor Layton opened the door to someone he recognized immediately. It was his sister,but of course she didn't know that was her brother. "Hello miss."Hershel said as he answered the door.

"Hello Professor Hershel Layton. My name is Caroline. I'm sorry to bother you .It's just that my brothers ran away along time ago and I decided to take up the responsibility to find them. When I heard about you I knew your smarts could help me find them."Caroline had a look in her that was sincere. Hershel knew this was a risk to help but they were family and he hadn't seen or heard about his family in so long.

"No need to apologize miss, I would be honored to help you find your brothers. What are these young lads name?"Hershel asked as he played along with his act.

"My brothers names are John Layton and Alex Layton we lived in the queens kingdom."Caroline said with a smile on her face.

"Ahhh...I see your highness."Hershel bowed in front of his sister. Luke and Floras mouth dropped at the word highness.

"Wait your the princess."Luke and Flora said at the same time.

"Yes but I don't want any special treatment. I just want to focus on finding my brother. Is that alright with all of you?"

"If that is what you wish." Hershel Layton asked her a few questions. "Do you believe that your brothers might change their names to prevent being found?"

"I do believe my brother John might have changed his name, but I don't think Alex would do so. Alex only left to go find John but he's been gone for so long that I'm very worried. If they don't come home soon our kingdom is going to be in danger."

Hershel stared down at the piece of paper that layed in front of him with the list of questions he had wrote down. He sighed. "What did John look like before he left?"

"John had blond hair like his father. Ocean blue eyes. Mm...he was wearing a white shirt and black shorts."Caroline answered.

"Do you know any reason that would have made him leave?"Professor asked.

"His father. The night he disappeared was the day our father left. The king disappeared just like that in our kingdom,but everyone was realeaved because we still had two princes left to take the thrown. But after John was reported missing Alex left to go find him. No one has hope anymore. It's like our faith is gone."

"Do you know where John could have gone?" Professor had worried about the worst for his kingdom when he left, but he was sure Alex would love to take the thrown. He guessed not.

"He said that he didn't want to become the king, and he preferred to go to college or travel the world. He was always reading or coming up with a prank for a special celebration that would hopefully get him kicked out of the kingdom. He was always talking about a special mask that could give you one wish. He might have gone out to search for it, but I highly doubt it."Caroline sighed with much enthusiasm.

"How old was he when he left?"Hershel asked her.

"Sixteen. He was into girls a lot. The day he left he found his first true love."Caroline gave professor a picture of two people surfing the waves. It was him and Jessica.

"I believe I have a lead. We will be headed to America."Hershel said as he got up from his chair that he was sitting in.

"America?"