The Disappearance of Emily: Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic Series Book 2 by Elizabeth Pantley (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📕

I felt my eyes fill with tears, and my entire body went weak as I sank down onto the floor. My sadness was so incredibly deep, I could feel it flow over me like a sorrowful wave. I sat for a while, my mind empty except for thoughts of Luna, which led to thoughts of Nana and Granana. My hope was fading.

I pulled myself up off the floor, grabbed a sweater, and headed outside.

I found myself on the bench beside the koi pond in the front garden. I watched the waterfall cascading serenely over the terraced rocks and plantings. I saw, but couldn’t enjoy, the enchanting flowers, brilliantly colored fish, and the small bridge gracefully arching over the water. This time, when I felt the tears come, I let them flow. I loved it here, I really did. But I missed my family and friend so much, it hurt.

At that moment, I realized how deeply painful it must have been for my father, ripped away from his wife and newborn daughter. As a child, I’d never given it a thought. Growing up, Nana and Gran never talked about it, so it wasn’t a part of my life. But now, being here, and not knowing if I would ever be with them again, the pain was so deep, I could feel the heavy weight of it pressing on my chest and my throat tightening with grief.

I was crying now like I haven’t cried since I lost my cat when I was six. Deep sorrow was escaping me in gasping breaths. I was sniffing like the child I had been then when my cat disappeared through the mirror. I didn’t know it then, but she had landed in little Axel’s room. He had kept the pet until her old age took her from him.

I felt someone sit next to me on the bench. A tissue box was being gently placed on my lap. I looked over to see Cleobella beside me. She was dressed in a relatively normal pair of silk pajamas, and on her feet were, I swear, the same style of feathered, high-heeled slippers that I had seen my grandmother wear the day of their pajama party.

Cleobella tenderly put her arm around my shoulders, and I sank into her and let the tears flow.

18

Yesterday had been a whirlwind. It started with breakfast at Vessie’s café with Axel and Jaxson, then my delightful camera work in the park with Han. After that, I’d met my father at the Observer office, and then the family dinner cat party. Phew. Oh, and let’s not forget seeing Luna and my award-winning meltdown at the koi pond with Cleobella.

I hoped that today wouldn’t be so extreme, but I was about to do something that just about guaranteed I’d be opening a whole new installment of extreme. I dragged out the mystery box, intending to start unraveling its secrets. I had a sneaking suspicion it might be the proverbial pulling of one sweater thread that unravels the whole thing, but I couldn’t just ignore the elephant in my closet.

Cleaning out drawers, closets, and junk is one of my least favorite things to do, and I avoid it if possible. That’s why my kitchen junk drawer usually contains year-old receipts, bread bag ties, old ketchup packets, plastic sporks, and takeout menus. But this box was about more than old menus. It possibly contained clues to the ferry captain’s death, the secret she was going to tell me, or the reason she had warned me of danger.

I took stock of the box of items and decided that my original plan of sorting by like-items and putting things right-side-up made the most sense. I started pulling out items and making stacks of file folders, loose papers, envelopes, and small pieces of notepaper and index cards. I grabbed a small box from my desk to gather the paper clips, pens, stamps, and other insignificant items.

Now that I was in the process, it really wasn’t so bad. I was making good time, spreading things in piles around me on the floor, when I heard a familiar shuffling coming from the closet. It was the telltale sign of cats arriving.

Two seconds later, Lola came bounding through the room—directly through the middle of my piles, knocking everything into one big mess.

“Lola, stop that right now!” Wow, my voice came out sounding just like Nana, when I was younger and letting loose too much energy in the house. The difference being, of course, that as a human child I would stop. Since Lola didn’t understand English, she continued to pounce and then began batting at the loosely flying papers. It just took me just a minute to stand up and scoop her into my arms. I surveyed the mess. She had done a lot of damage in that short blink of time.

“Aww, look at Hayden cuddling our little dumpling,” Latifa said, as she and Chanel walked into the room.

I gestured to the floor. “Do you see all the papers here?”

“Yeppers. What cha’ up to, Miss Messy-Pants?”

I growled in her direction. Lola reached up and batted at my chin with her tiny, black paw. She looked up at me with wide eyes, no doubt wondering why a human was growling. Eh. How could you stay angry at such an innocent baby? I stroked her soft fur and took a deep breath, then puffed it out with a loud sigh.

Latifa took stock of the room and noticed the FedEx box and its contents strewn all over the floor.

“Ohhh. Hurricane Lola touched down in here, did she?”

“She did. No worries. I’ll just start over,” I grumbled. “Can you keep her occupied with something else while I work?”

Chanel meowed, and Latifa translated, “It’s naptime now, anyway.” She looked up at Lola, “Come on, Nugget, time for a nap.”

I gently put the kitten down and stroked her tiny head. “I know you meant no harm, sweetie. Papers are fun to play with, aren’t they?”