AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am so sorry that this chapter took so long! My trip ended up lasting a week and a half, and I had no laptop to update on! I have finally returned and possess and update! :)

-Chapter 10: Tick Tock, Survive the Clock-

"So you're telling me that a rabbit tried to eat you?" Emmy looked at the woman in front of her as if she had grown a third eye.

"Yes. It was terrifying! I have always been afraid of rabbits, ever since my childhood, but I never dreamed that one would attack me!" The woman exclaimed, thrashing her arms around for emphasis.

"Alright...Thank you, I believe that's all of the information I need," Emmy mumbled.

"Of course, just...let me know when you solve this case, please!" The woman begged with a ragged breath.

"I promise, I will let you know once we figure everything out," Emmy smiled, waving at the woman as she ran back to the Professor and Luke.

"Are you sure the Nightmare doesn't make people go completely bonkers as well as scare them?" Emmy asked the Professor.

"Why would you ask that?" Layton questioned.

"I don't recall bunnies being vicious..." Emmy muttered.

Layton raised an eyebrow at Emmy's strange comment, being interrupted by Luke before he could ask any further.

"Professor? Haven't we finished yet? We have already asked half of the town what they have seen!" Luke stated, clearly running low on patience.

The trio had returned to the center of town, asking anyone they could find about the Nightmare. So far they had several witnesses, each claiming that they were attacked by something they feared. Snakes, birds, watering cans, bricks, garden gnomes- these were the normal claims from the witnesses.

"Where to next, Professor?" Emmy questioned.

Layton glanced to his right, noticing a young blonde emerge from a store nearby. Luke followed the Professor's gaze, gasping as he realized who it was. "Isn't that Lacy?"

"Why is she coming out of a clock shop?" Emmy questioned.

"Let's find out!" Luke exclaimed.

"Now Luke, you cannot barge into a person's business- Luke!" Layton sighed as the excited boy ran towards the blonde.

"Lacy!"

The girl jumped in surprise at the boy's shouts, nearly dropping a paper bad she was holding. "Jeez, shorty! Are you trying to make me drop this?"

Luke crossed his arms, "I'm not that short!"

Lacy laughed, "You look pretty small to me! You must have an awful time trying to ride big kid rides at the fair."

Luke scowled. "Humph! I don't have problems riding big rides! Most of the time..."

Lacy chucked as Luke bowed his head in embarrassment. Emmy and Layton walked up behind the boy, the Professor shaking his head in disapproval. "Luke, what did I just tell you?"

Luke stared up at the Professor with innocent eyes, "But I wasn't prying into her business!"

Lacy laughed again, "So you're trying to ask me for information now? I've heard that you were asking around. Go ahead, ask me whatever."

"Have you seen the Nightmare?" Luke blurted out.

"The Nightmare? Yeah, I've seen him. Tried to scare the life out of my brother Marcus!" Lacy shook her head in distress.

"Do you know why the Nightmare is attacking the town?" Emmy questioned.

"Who knows. It just showed up one day, know one really knows why," Lacy explained.

Luke looked curiously at the bag Lacy held. "May I ask, why were you coming out of a clock shop?"

Lacy chuckled slightly. "Oh that? My mom found one of our clocks shattered earlier this morning. Someone must have bumped it last night, though I personally think it was Marcus."

Luke gave an awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. He vaguely remembered bumping into a wall and hearing something break last night, but he was too busy running from a ghost to notice.

"Anyways, is that all? I need to pick up a few groceries before I get back to hotel," Lacy stated.

"Yes, thank you. You were most helpful," Layton nodded.

Lacy smiled, giving a slight nod in return before she turned to leave.

"So I guess no one knows why the Nightmare showed up," Emmy mumbled.

"It's very curious..." Layton added.

"Shall we ask the owner of the clock shop about it?" Luke questioned.

"I don't see why not," Layton replied, turning and walking to the door. Emmy and Luke followed close behind as the Professor opened the door and entered.

The trio stood in the doorway, staring at several clocks hanging on the walls of the one room store. The entire place was completely silent, none of the clocks would create even the smallest tick. Luke held back a shiver as Emmy walked inside the eerie room.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Emmy called out.

A young man jumped up from behind the counter near the back left wall. He pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose so he could see the visitors. His red hair was in a mess, and he looked like he had just been woken up from a nap.

"Er, hello there. My name is Jonathan. May I help you?" He asked awkwardly.

"Yes, we were wondering if you could answer a few questions for us," Layton began.

"Is this about the Nightmare?" Jonathan asked.

"Do you know anything about it?" Emmy asked.

"Most people around these parts do. It enjoys torturing the lot of us. He even has this shop rigged to- Hold on what time is it?" Jonathan looked around nervously.

"You work at a clock shop, yet you don't know the time?" Emmy asked.

"Well, these clocks have a mind of their own..." Jonathan muttered.

Jonathan jumped as one clock began to chime, letting anyone in earshot know that it was one in the afternoon. His eyes widened as he fell to the floor, yelling "Duck!"

Suddenly, all of the clocks began to ring in unison, each shaking violently. A bird flew out of a coo coo clock, knocking Luke's hat off of his head. As he bent over to retrieve it, another clock flew off the wall, barely missing his head. Layton and Emmy both dropped down as two matching clocks flew towards them. The trio hovered on their knees, ducking as clocks flew all around the store. Several clocks slammed against the walls, shattering and sending glass and clockwork towards the room's inhabitants.

The Professor covered Luke's head as the clocks continued to fly around. He couldn't quite believe that a room so quiet a few seconds ago was now thrown into pure chaos. He guessed that this must be the Nightmare's handiwork.

Jonathan hid behind the desk, shaking and whimpering in fear. He yelped and backed away quickly as a clock fell next to him, sending a spring towards him. Another clock fell, landing in between his legs. The terrified man jumped and crawled backwards until he ran into Emmy. He slunk in between Emmy and Layton, grabbing their arms and jerking them around as he yelled, "Please, Please make it stop!"

As if on cue, the clocks froze, then one by one fell to the floor. As a defending crash sounded, glass, springs, clock hands, and other pieces of clockwork exploaded in all directions, leaving the group huddled on the floor to cover their heads and faces so they wouldn't get cut. After a moment, the room returned to silence. The floor was a complete mess, covered in the remains of the many clocks.

"Not again..." Jonathan muttered.

"Again? This has happened before?" Layton asked, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Y-Yes...It's happened the past three days at one in the afternoon...I'm running out of clocks to put on display! If this doesn't stop soon, I'm going to go out of business and be forced to move!" Jonathan exclaimed, thrashing his arms around in anger.

"Why don't you just tie the clocks down?" Emmy asked, brushing glass out of her hair.

"I've tried that already. One of the clock hands tried to turn me into a shish kabob," Jonathan explained as he rolled up his sleeve to show a bandaged arm.

"Is there anyway to make the clocks stop?" Luke questioned in a shaky tone.

"I don't know. Unless the Nightmare is stopped, I don't believe this will end. It may be best if I go ahead and leave this town while I still can," Jonathan murmured sadly.

Jonathan stood up, brushing off his clothes and readjusting his glasses. He walked over to the desk, picking up a handful of keys. "Sorry folks, the store is closed. I need to clean this mess again..."

"I'm very sorry about your store," Layton apologized. "Thank you for your time."

Jonathan nodded, but said no more. He lead the trio to the door, then locked it behind them after they exited.

"Well, that was interesting," Emmy commented.

"I feel bad for Jonathan..." Luke muttered.

Emmy brushed a clock hand off of Luke's hat. "At least we didn't get injured by the clocks."

"Why is the Nightmare doing all of this?" Luke questioned.

"It seems like he is trying to scare everyone away from town," Layton stated.

"But why?" Emmy asked.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps we can shed some light on the Nightmares intentions soon," Layton answered.

Emmy noticed someone running quickly towards them. "Uh, Professor-"

"Professor Layton!"

Layton turned to see the mayor running towards him. The man stopped abruptly in front of him, pausing to catch his breath. "Professor, I'm begging you, please help me! It's Carrie, she's missing!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you enjoyed chapter 10! Also, just to let you know, I begin school Monday, so I can't promise that updates will be as frequent as I would like them to be. I will at least have an update once or twice a week, depending on how busy I am. I will update soon though! :)