The principal, like many adults in their town, was dignified. He stood proud and tall on the stage with an envelope in his hands.
"It took a lot of consideration for this year's Spring Queen." the principal told the students in a gruff and authoritative voice. "But the winner tonight well deserves it."
Luke and Nat flinched at the same time, both knowing that the elections had been rigged by the Targent so they could get the tiara.
"And the winner is..." the principal said as he opened the envelope, "Natalie!"
For a moment, everyone was in a murmur. Even the principal looked back at the card as if he had read it wrong. He didn't though, and Nat slowly walked up to the stage. Regardless of the odd circumstances, the principal placed the tiara on her head.
"A tradition made since the beginning of our town's history, the Tiara of Spring reminds of the history we thought we lost, but is only stored in memory." the principal said, reciting a well rehearsed speech. Then he let Nat intermingle with the rest of her fellow classmates again for the obligatory first dance of the queen. The problem, however, with this is that hardly any of her schoolmates knew who she was. She wasn't their first choice (if she was their choice at all) for the Spring Queen title, and a few were beginning to hate her for her unearned status. If Luke hadn't stepped up to lead her in the first dance, someone would have started throwing food from the buffet table at her.
"When you're ready, Miss Foley is waiting to swap the diadem with a replica tiara." Luke told her as they danced. Nat nodded, but refused to say anything.
"Be careful." Luke told her. Nat looked him in the eye, then slowly nodded.
Eventually, Nat gathered up her courage and walked over to the Targent woman.
"Oh, you look lovely." Miss Foley said in her dull voice as she gently stroked Nat's cheek. "Can I see the diadem?"
Slowly and carefully, Nat took the headdress off and handed it to her.
"It's a beauty, isn't it?" Miss Foley said, almost to herself. With the diadem in one hand, the woman reached into the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a headdress nearly identical to the diadem with her other hand.
"Beauty can be replicated though." Miss Foley continued carelessly before placing the false tiara on Nat and putting the real one in the bag. "But its true value hides in the core. Remember that dear."
Nat nodded, refusing to look the Targent woman in the eye, and started to walk away as if nothing happened.
. . .
"The Targent have already found the location of where the diadem must be used." Miss Foley said the next day. "But it's up to you two to unlock it."
"Why us?" Luke asked her.
"The Targent expect a lot out of you Triton." the woman said bluntly. "Do you expect them to believe that Hershel Layton was able to solve all of his precious riddles alone?"
"Touche." Luke said after a short pause.
"Where are we going?" Nat asked.
"The graveyard." Miss Foley said casually. Luke and Nat looked at each other with the same expression. Fear.
Why any one would walk across a graveyard where your loved ones are not buried is one riddle Luke didn't want to solve. Another was that why this had to be done in the near dead of night. He knew for a full fact that Nat was heavily discomforted, but he questioned how Miss Foley took the ordeal. She wore those clunky sunglasses no matter what time of day, apparently. But why...?
With some form of unnatural grace and superiority a woman in heels should have in slightly muddy ground, Luke watched as Miss Foley dashed to the graveyard's mausoleum. He took a quick note of the name engraved on the front side of the above ground tomb as Miss Foley bent down in front of the name plate and withdrew the diadem from her bag. She admired the headdress for a little, then wiped off a specific part above the name plate.
"A diadem for the memories of you..." Miss Foley recited before jamming the diadem into a slot she had uncovered. Luke and Nat could not see the slot from where they are, so they had flinched when she quickly shoved the diadem into the stone mausoleum wall, expecting the worse. But the diadem fit quite well into the slot Miss Foley had uncovered and slowly, the mausoleum wall began to roll into the ground. When the wall had rolled away enough so Miss Foley could reach her hand inside whatever was behind it, she drew back out an old piece of paper. Luke realized it was the same type of paper they had found a few months ago when they returned a certain stolen key to its original keyhole.
"Let's go." Miss Foley said briskly as she walked away, the mausoleum wall beginning to roll back up behind her.
"Why did she need us again?" Nat whispered to Luke as the followed to Targent woman back home.
"I'm not sure." Luke admitted. "But I have an odd feeling about all of this."
Nat studied Luke as the walked, her face growing more stern and curious.
"You have that look in your eye again." she said, almost in a warning tone.
"Do I?" he asked curiously, but gave her a smile to show that he was only being smart. He then added, in a satisfied sort of way; "Good."