by Ayla Hashway
Olivia stared at the woman.
"What's with the look?" Max asked.
"I just feel weird about that woman," Olivia whispered as they got into the taxi.
"Why though?"
"Max!" Olivia said in a loud whisper. "Keep it down. She's right there." She tilted her head at the woman in the driver's seat.
Olivia stared out the window as they drove to the hotel. Suddenly, she saw the sand and the sun reflecting on the turquoise water. "Wow!" Olivia said, dragging out the word.
"We're here," the lady said, pulling up to the hotel.
As they got out of the taxi, they saw palm trees by the doorway to the main lobby. The building was tall, and it looked like every room had a balcony. It had a red roof and was next to another hotel. The one they were staying in was the smaller of the two. It seemed like a very short walk to the beach. Olivia stood there in amazement, staring at the tall building. They were staying in the top floor penthouse.
"Well, we better go check in at the other building," Grandma said. "See you at dinner. Remember we are meeting at Scala's."
Max shoved Olivia out of the way, pushed open the doors, and ran inside.
"Max, wait up!" Olivia said, chasing after him.
"Kids, am I right?" Olivia's father said.
"I don't know. I kind of wish I could go back to being a kid," Olivia's mother said, running to catch up with Olivia and Max.
Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart went to check in while Olivia and Max waited in the lobby. Olivia sat on a red chair while Max looked at the brochure stand next to his seat. He picked up a brochure on a fishing trip. He walked over and tapped on his dad's shoulder to show him the brochure.
"Hold on, Max," Mr. Lockhart said. "We can do that later. We need the key for the room first."
Olivia got up and went over by her parents and Max. "Mom, what are we going to do while Max and Dad go fishing?"
"We could go shopping," her mom said, taking the room key from the woman at the check-in counter.
"Okay. That sounds like a great idea," Olivia said.
They walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse suite. When they got there, they saw a two-floor suite with plants on the sides of the doors, red velvet carpeting, black couches, and a glass table. A chandelier hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room.
"All right, Max," their father said, "we'll unpack and head on down to the dock to start fishing while your sister and your mom go shopping on the boardwalk."
Olivia went to the room she was sharing with Max. Olivia opened her suitcase and found a piece of paper inside saying that her luggage was inspected by the airline. She looked all around in the suitcase, unfolding everything, but she couldn't find her invention bag with her notebook in it.
"Oh no!" Olivia said, starting to pace. "It can't be gone!"
"What can't be gone?" Max asked.
"My invention bag. It's not here!"
"I'm sure it's just in another suitcase," Max said. "Now stop pacing before you bump into a wall."
Olivia spread out her invention sheets she didn't lose and put them into separate drawers.
"Olivia, please don't tell me you're hogging up all those drawers with your dumb inventions," Max said.
"First of all, they aren't dumb, and you have your own set of drawers." Olivia pointed to the second dresser.
"Well, I want more room for my stuff."
"How much stuff did you bring?"
"Why do you need to know?" Max said, stepping back.
"Because I'm your older sister, and we tell each other most things. Including our thoughts about Amanda," Olivia whispered so Mom and Dad wouldn't hear.
"How can you think about her when we're in paradise?" Max asked.
"So you're going to spend your time in paradise fishing?"
"Not the whole time," Max said, stretching out the word "whole."
Olivia didn't care what Max said. She had to figure out what was going on with Amanda and why she was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
A Mysterious Disappearance
On the boardwalk, Olivia's mom stopped to look at a bracelet through the glass window of a store. It was gold with a turquoise stone in the middle.
"No way. This looks just like the one I had when I was younger. It went missing one day and I never found it."
"Do you want to go in and check it out?" Olivia asked.
"Sure. Why not?"
Olivia saw a hot pretzel stand along the boardwalk. "Oh, can I get a soft pretzel from the stand over there?"
"Sure. Just don't take too long." Olivia's mom handed her a five dollar bill. Olivia walked over to the stand while her mom went into the store.
A woman with short blond hair with blue and purple streaks came up to Olivia and handed her a card. "This is to a tour at the waterfall. It's for children your age."
"Does the waterfall look purple at night from the sunset's reflection on it?" Olivia asked, hoping it was the same one from the flyer on Abura.
"Why, yes. I think you'll really enjoy it. The tour will begin at seven. I hope you can make it." The woman leaned closer and whispered, "Just don't tell anybody about it."
"But why?" Olivia asked.
"Because it's only for ages eleven to thirteen."
"Why can't parents come?" Olivia asked.
"The waterfall protects an island secret that's only visible to children your age." The woman winked and started to walk away. "Trust me. You don't want to miss it," she called back over her shoulder.
Olivia put the card in the back pocket of her shorts with her phone. She didn't know how she would sneak out with her mom and dad there, but she would have to in order to discover the secret behind the waterfall.
After Olivia got her soft pretzel, she went into the store, looking for her mom. She checked the whole store but couldn't find her. So Olivia decided to check with the store manager. The manager had black hair and an eyebrow piercing.
"Have you seen a woman with a turquoise pocketbook, blond hair, and green eyes, wearing black and white flip-flops and a sundress?" Olivia asked the woman.
"No, I haven't seen her. Sorry," the woman said.
"But she was just looking at the bracelet in the window."
The woman shrugged her shoulders. "I was busy helping a customer. She must have left because we are the only ones in the store now."
"Thank you," Olivia said and ran through the door. She took her cell phone from her back pocket and dialed her mom's number. After the phone rang six times it went to voice mail. "Hi, Mom. It's Olivia. Where are you? You weren't in the store, so I'm going to try to find Grandma and Grandpa. Call me back as soon as possible."
Olivia hung up and headed to her grandparent's apartment, but no one was there. "Oh, they must be at lunch since they didn't eat anything on the plane," Olivia said to herself. She decided to go to the dock to see if the boat Max and Dad had rented was back yet.
Max and Dad were still out on the water, so Olivia went back to the hotel. In the lobby, she asked the person at the main desk if her mom had returned.
"No. I'm afraid not," the woman said.
"Can I have another room key?" Olivia asked.
"Sure thing. Hold on." The woman handed Olivia a key to the room.
Olivia headed upstairs. She sat on the couch, waiting for Max and her dad to get back. And all the time she wondered where her mother was.
Chapter Fifteen
Time For Dinner?
Max and Dad got back to the hotel around 5:30. Olivia paced around the room in circles.
"What are you doing?" Dad asked. "And where's your mother?"
"She's missing. When I went to get a soft pretzel, I came back and searched the whole store Mom was in looking at a bracelet. I checked with the store manager, too. I even tried calling her."
"Did she answer?" Max asked.
Olivia threw her hands in the air. "Would I be pacing around the room if she answered?"
"So no
?" Max asked.
"Of course not!"
"I'll try calling your mother," Dad said. "Calm down." He went into the bedroom.
Olivia waited and waited. After what felt like an hour, her dad came back into the room and said, "She didn't answer and your grandparents said they haven't seen her either. I'm going to call the police."
A couple minutes later, the main lobby called up to their room to tell them that the police were there.
"Olivia, you're in charge while I go talk to the police in the main lobby," Dad said.
"Again?" Max yelled.
"Max, we don't have time for this," Olivia said as Dad rushed out the door.
A half hour later, Olivia was still pacing around the room while Max was complaining over and over again "I'm hungry! I'm hungry!" while jumping on the bed.
"Would you stop that before I get a serious headache?" Olivia said.
Max kept jumping. "Should Dad really be gone this long?" he asked.
"No. He should be back by now. I better go check on him." Olivia pulled her phone out of her pocket to try calling Mom again. The card for the waterfall tour fell out onto the floor, but she was too busy dialing to notice.
Olivia got Mom's voice mail again, although this time she didn't bother to leave another message.
When she got down to the main lobby, her dad was gone too, and so were all the police officers. Olivia walked up to the woman at the front desk.
"Did you see what happened to my father? He was just down here with the police."
"He talked to them for a while, and then they all left together," the woman said.
"Thank you," Olivia said, rushing back to the penthouse suite. "Max!" Olivia screamed as soon as she opened the door.
"What happened?" Max asked, searching the kitchen for food.
"Dad left with the police, and I don't know what happened."
"Oh no!" Max yelled.
"I know, right?"
"There's no food. Who's going to buy me dinner?"
"Max! Dad is gone too and you're worried about dinner?" Olivia exclaimed.
"You're right. Grandma and Grandpa will buy dinner for me."
"We aren't going out to eat at all, Max! Snap out of it," Olivia yelled.
"I'm thirsty! I'm thirsty! I'm thirsty!" Max repeated over and over again.
"Okay, I'll go get some ice from down the hall," Olivia said, rubbing her temples.
But Olivia didn't mean it. Instead, she planned to go to the secret tour of the waterfall. She knew she couldn't bring Max because he was too young, and it was obvious no matter what she did she wouldn't be able to find her mom and dad and still be able to go to the waterfall tour. Dad was with the police so he'd be fine, and Max would be safe in the hotel. Knowing him, he'd call their grandparents and try to convince them to take him out for dinner.
Olivia walked down the hall and made a right to get to the elevator. When she got to the main lobby, she checked her pocket for her phone. It wasn't there. She looked for the card for the secret tour, but that wasn't there either. She knew she would have to find the waterfall herself since she couldn't go back to the room without Max suspecting something, especially since she wouldn't have any ice for his drink.
Olivia didn't know how she would find the waterfall now.
Chapter Sixteen
The Purple Waterfall
Olivia hid behind a fake plant to make sure no one in the lobby saw her sneak out since they knew her parents were gone. When the woman working at the front desk went back into the room behind the check-in station, Olivia snuck out of the hotel.
When she got outside, she headed for the boardwalk. She saw a man selling some things at a stand on the side of the boardwalk. He looked like he lived in Abura, so she decided to ask him for directions.
"Excuse me," Olivia said. "Do you know where any waterfalls are around here?"
"Oh yes," he said. "You're going to go straight down the boardwalk. Once you pass the fishing shop, make a left and then go straight until you reach a three-way path at the edge of a forest. You'll make a right and then head straight until you reach the waterfall."
"That's a lot to remember," Olivia said.
"If you would like, I could write the directions down for you."
"Yes, thank you. That would be nice."
When the man was finished writing, he handed the sheet of paper to Olivia and she started on her way.
"Be warned," the man said. "The forest is rumored to be haunted. People hear a lot of weird noises in those woods."
"What kind of noises?" Olivia asked.
"I don't know and I don't want to find out." He raised one eyebrow. "You aren't going there alone, are you?"
"No, definitely not." Olivia couldn't mention the secret tour. She hurried along.
She was anxious to get to the waterfall. She couldn't wait to see what kind of stuff would happen on the tour. Would she get more ideas for inventions to make?
Although she was kind of worried about the rumor the man told her about, she was excited to find the waterfall. After all, it was a secret tour. But the woman who had given her the card seemed too nice to be trying to trick her.
As Olivia got closer and closer, she started to hear those noises the man had warned her about. She kind of wished the kids on the tour were allowed to bring their parents, but it wasn't like Olivia could have brought her mom or her dad.
Olivia began to think about her parents more than the noises, and she got worried. Were the police and her dad able to find her mom? Was Dad missing too? And was Max okay? Was he really responsible enough to handle being on his own? Would he starve to death?
"Everything's going to be okay. Max is probably with Grandma and Grandpa. Dad is fine with the police, and I bet they found Mom by now. They're probably on their way back to the hotel," Olivia said, trying to calm herself down.
When Olivia reached the three-way path, a family of iguanas was blocking the path she needed to take to get to the waterfall. It looked like some of them were sleeping. Olivia would have to go another way. She figured there must be another way to get to the waterfall, even if it was longer.
Suddenly, she saw a whole group of gnarly trees with an opening that was just big enough for her to squeeze through. She ducked into it and came out on the other side of the iguanas.
"Well, at least something isn't going wrong today," Olivia said, happy to be back on the right path.
Up ahead, she saw a purple glow through the trees on the path. "That must be the waterfall!" Olivia exclaimed, jumping up and down. She started to run.
As she got closer, she ran faster and faster. Finally, she was there. The wind blew her long blond hair to the side as she stood before the waterfall and stared at its... She couldn't think of a word to describe it. It was almost magical.
All of a sudden, Olivia saw footprints that led toward the waterfall. They looked like Max's footprints with the skull imprints. Olivia got worried.
"This is all my imagination. That is not Max's footprint," she told herself, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that Max could be in danger.
Chapter Seventeen
The Secret of the Waterfall
Before Olivia could inspect the footprints, someone who looked exactly like Aunt Amanda appeared from behind the waterfall.
"Olivia!" Aunt Amanda said, walking over to her with her arms held up in the air. "I'm so glad you showed up."
"Huh?" Olivia took a step back.
"Your mother hasn't told you about me? My name is Amanda, and I'm your aunt."
Why would Aunt Amanda be here? Olivia wondered, thinking back to when she and Max were at Amanda's house. Olivia decided she should be very careful around Amanda, knowing what she found out about her. The longer she was around Amanda, the more uncomfortable Olivia got. But she couldn't let Aunt Amanda know that she knew so much about her.
"You know, I've always wanted an aunt," Olivia said, pretending to be joyful and putting a smile on her face.
>
Aunt Amanda put her arm around Olivia's shoulders. "I think we're going to get along just fine," she said, stretching out the word "fine."
"I'm sure you're right," Olivia said, playing along.
"I hear you are an inventor. I am too. Maybe we can make some inventions together."
"Absolutely," Olivia said.
"Come on in. I'll show you my inventions."
"Come in where?" Olivia asked, looking around.
"I made my own laboratory behind the waterfall. There's a door hidden on the other side of it. Come on. I'll show you." Aunt Amanda gestured for Olivia to follow her.
Aunt Amanda led Olivia around the sparkling waterfall. In between the palm trees they went. They walked between the waterfall and the mountain. Aunt Amanda went over to a keypad on the side of the rock mountain.
Olivia was confused. "Where is the door?"
"Just wait and you'll see." She typed in the pass code, but Olivia couldn't see what it was. Then all of a sudden, the rocks moved like the door to an elevator. Inside was a seating area with a table and a desk.
"Wow! This is a-amazing," Olivia stammered. "Am I really inside a mountain?"
"You haven't even seen the best part-my invention room. Right this way and I'll show you."
Olivia followed Aunt Amanda into the back of the room. Aunt Amanda put her thumb up against a touchpad that was hidden behind a large potted palm tree, and another door slid open.
Aunt Amanda told Olivia to go in first. She took Olivia into a room filled with all her inventions. The tallest one stood in the middle all the way at the other end of the room. Olivia ran toward it.
"What is it?" Olivia asked, eager to know what it was.
"That? That's the one I'm working on. It's not even done yet. Do you want to help me with it?"
"Of course! Yes! I mean...that's cool," Olivia said, feeling like the cat got her tongue.
"Great! Let's get started," Aunt Amanda said, gathering tools to work on the invention. "Where's your brother?"
Olivia was so caught up in all the inventions that she forgot she left Max in the hotel room so she could go on the tour of the waterfall. "Oh yeah, is there a tour around here by the way? I'm supposed to be at it."
"A tour? Oh yes, I was going to hold one, but no one showed up except you."
"But who was the woman who handed me the card for the tour? Does she work with you?"
"Something like that. She's just a friend." Aunt Amanda waved her hand in the air like it didn't matter.
