The Disappearance of Emily: Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic Series Book 2

by Elizabeth Pantley

  “Buh bye, toots!” Latifa said.

  Axel had given me keys to one of the family cars, with the code and instructions for garage number six. (There were eight stalls now since the house added a place for every car brought into the family. I was told this was a three-car garage many years ago.) When I opened the garage door, I was delighted to see a smart, red Fiat Spider convertible. It wasn’t a long drive to Sapphire’s house, but it would be a fun one!

  The drive was exhilarating. And I easily wound my way through town. Sapphire’s home was a total surprise (not that I’ve had many of those this past month.) With her sweet, Southern-girl aura, I expected a farm-style house with a wraparound deck housing a porch swing. Instead, here she flew her tech wizard flag. Her home was a big, white, modern-looking square, with an angular design that must have been created by a talented architect, because it was more art than a house. It had large windows that allowed the best views of the waterfront of Caldwell Harbor. I pulled into the driveway just as a flurry of flowered sundresses came bursting out of the front door. My sisters. They looked just as excited to see me as I was to see them. Their warm smiles instantly made me feel welcome.

  “Hayden, hello!” Sapphire called. I walked up the front steps and she welcomed me with hugs and affectionate greetings.

  “I’ve been so looking forward to this,” said Indigo. “Girl’s night rocks!”

  Indigo took me by the arm and guided me inside. I loved the modern, artsy feel of the home. With sleek lines and open spaces, it was decorated in white, gray, and chrome, but with vivid splashes of modern art and accents in bold colors. Colorful pillows filled up the soft, white sofa, which centered the living space in a giant horseshoe. Plenty of houseplants and a wall filled with family photos brought a homey warmth to the décor.

  With all the fancy, glistening white, I was charmed to see two steaming pizza boxes on the kitchen counter. Indigo asked if I like margaritas (I do!) and she went into the kitchen and began preparing a pitcher.

  Within minutes, I was swept up into their warm hospitality. In truth, it was so much more than that. It was that feeling of sisterhood that I had talked to Han about. A connection that was deeper than friendship, but lighter too. I felt free to be me and to accept them for who they were.

  The conversation was easy, the topics fun, and as free-flowing as the margaritas. As the pizza disappeared and the pitcher emptied, the chatter became more open and honest. The conversation turned to family. They told stories about Axel and Cobalt that I’m sure the guys would have found too embarrassing to share. But it just highlighted the light, sometimes goofy, relationship between the guys, which always brought me so much joy to witness.

  “So, tell me about Jade,” I said. Jade is their mother, but apparently, she never grasped the idea of motherhood. Our father raised the girls. It didn’t seem like they had a very good relationship with her, but even so, she was always around at family events, which was a little odd.

  Sapphire blew out a big breath. “Not sure what’s to tell. She had three kids, then divorced our dad. They never got along.” She shrugged. “I suspect it was immaculate conception.” She and Indigo doubled over with laughter at that comment.

  “That’s not even what that means!” Indigo said through her sputters. “You mean they probably never had sex!”

  “Ewww! Stop!” Sapphire fell backwards on the sofa and covered her face with her hands. I could still hear her chortling.

  When they finally settled down and began sipping their margaritas again (not that they needed any more), they continued talking about Jade and our father.

  “Grandmother said Dad only got married to have kids. He wanted siblings for Axel. Once that was done, ptttt.” Sapphire tried to snap her fingers, but didn’t quite succeed.

  “She never said that,” corrected Indigo.

  “Well, she implied it,” said Sapphire, using finger quotes around the word implied. “She also implied (again with finger quotes) that Dad never got over the heartbreak of his first love, so he never gave Jade a chance. It was doomed from the start. She implied (finger quotes) that’s also why he never remarried. Truuuue love, forever lost.”

  “You’re not even using the finger quotes properly,” said Indigo, using finger quotes around the words.

  They both started chortling again, then suddenly Indigo straightened up in her seat and looked shocked into being serious.

  “Oh, my God.” She looked at me with wide eyes and covered her mouth with both hands. Then she shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Hayden! Dad’s first love was your mother! Emily was your mother! Sapphire, did you hear me? Emily was Hayden’s mother! So, we shouldn’t be talking about this.”

  “Oooh no. I’m sooo sorry,” said Sapphire, trying hard to be sober, but slurring her words.

  “No, guys, it’s okay,” I said. “Really. It’s more than okay. My nana and gran never talked about my mother. I mean, like never. This is the first time anyone has ever talked about her. Please. Keep talking. I never knew any of this. What else do you know?”

  Indigo seemed to gain a bit of soberness. “Let’s switch to coffee, then we can make more sense.”

  Indigo and Sapphire bungled around the kitchen for a bit, laughing and bumping into each other as they made a pot of coffee. Watching them together created a tightness in my chest and a lump formed in my throat. I blinked back my tears and took a deep breath. Sisters were better than I could have imagined.

  We took our coffee outside and sat in the comfortable lounge chairs and quietly sipped our drinks. The seating area on the deck had a picture-perfect view of the harbor and the starry night sky. It was peaceful here.

  After a while, I broke the silence. “So, what do you know about my mother?” I asked.

  “Well, no one ever sat down and talked about her,” said Indigo. “It’s more the bits and pieces we picked up over time. I know she was beautiful and that she sang like an angel. Dad let that slip once when I was about seven and sang in the school play.”

  “I know he could never understand why she left the baby. That would be little baby you, Hayden!” said Sapphire, still a bit tipsy and surprised at the connection. “He said she was made to be a mother, and she took to it from the moment she knew she was pregnant with Axel. I heard him telling Grandmother that once when he complained that Jade had no mothering instincts at all.”

  Indigo chimed in, “I heard that she was devoted to Axel and didn’t put him down for the first three months of his life. She even slept with him right beside her. And if anyone tried to tell her that it was extreme, she shut them down like an angry mother lion.”

  Sapphire nodded. “And apparently, she was a kind, patient mother. The exact opposite of Jade. One time I heard Jade and Dad fighting. She was yelling and blamed his lack of love for her on Emily and said she refused to be compared to an invisible saint. Those were her exact words. An invisible saint.”

  “Wow,” I said. “If she was such a devoted mother, how could she leave a newborn baby and never look back?”

  Indigo shook her head. “Dad said it made no sense that she’d leave, but he’d never elaborate. He shut down any questions we had. He said it was ancient history and not to be dug up.”

  After all those revelations, we chatted quietly about less intense topics until we all started to yawn. We cleaned up our dishes and I thanked them profusely for such a wonderful evening.

  “No thanks necessary, sweetheart,” said Indigo “That’s what sisters are for.”

  10

  The Witch

  High at the top of a mountain, overlooking Destiny Falls, was a cave. It was no ordinary cave. Well, it once was an ordinary cave, but that was many years ago. Now, it was home to an angry, exiled witch.

  The witch was in a terrible mood. And because of that, hikers who made their way near would often hear the howl of a disturbing wild animal. Some thought it was a coyote, some swore it was a bizarre owl. The truth was that it was the witch’s nightly cry. She had suffered
through the second of her near successful attempts at escape. Twice in forty years! And both times, she’d been so close, yet failed because of the ineptitude of the minions she had chosen to aid her.

  She had finally created the perfect potion, but those fools did not complete the steps necessary for it to work. Now, it would not perform as planned. It had become too weak. Within the potion, she promised them she had hidden a special jolt that would have broken her free of this dungeon-like cave.

  In her despair following this failure, she had used up some unused potion to remodel part of her cave. She’d created a replica of the genie’s bottle from her favorite show, I Dream of Jeanie. She had already grown tired of the ridiculous purple velvet, the gazillion fancy throw pillows, and the freakin’ shiny sequins everywhere.

  While she loved looking young and beautiful again, she’d grown bored with dressing in the harem outfit and braiding her long, now-blond hair. She’d take her usual low-maintenance, white hairdo any day. Yet she was saving up the leftover potion for something bigger. That meant she was stuck in her Jeanie world for a while longer. She was angry at herself for using some of the magic so frivolously.

  It wasn’t even her fault she was stuck here. It was all because of her two wretched sisters and her horribly cruel father. The anger that festered inside her was deep and powerful.

  Now, at last, one of her sisters was being sloppy. And, in her blunder, she had left an opening. An opening that turned this angry witch positively giddy with possibilities. It was time to try something different.

  11

  The glow from last evening with my sisters remained with me and it carried me through my morning. My run felt shorter and lighter. The day seemed sunnier. My oatmeal was even tastier, if you can believe that.

  “Oy with the poetry, already. I get it. You had fun at girl’s night.”

  “It was more than just fun, Latifa. It was transcendent. Having sisters is life-changing.”

  “Speaking of life-changing, your grandmother’s going to call you down to her office this morning.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked her.

  She just stared at me, as if I should know that answer.

  “Oh. Chanel.”

  Just then my phone pinged. A text message from Cleobella. This was momentous. It was the first time she’d ever texted me. It felt oddly exhilarating. As if a sign that I was now a real member of this family.

  Your grandmother requests your

  presence in her office in one hour.

  Thank you, Cleobella.

  I’ll be there.

  Of course, you will.

  You would think that might be offensive, but she was just being honest.

  “Looks like you’re right, I’ve been summoned. And if Grandmother beckons, you go. There isn’t any other option.”

  “Well, I suppose if you were dead you wouldn’t show up,” said Latifa. “But that would the only excuse the grande dame would accept.” She giggled, then spoke with an English accent for some reason, “Oh, sorry, Madam. Can’t make it today, I’m dead.”

  “Can you please shelve the death references? I’m still shell-shocked from the ferry captain’s demise.”

  “Ah! I can’t say dead, but I can say demise? Hmm. How about departed? Expired? Kaput?”

  “None of those, please.” I shuddered with the memory. “I have time to squeeze in a bit of yoga, and then, if you’re a good cat, you can help me pick an outfit.”

  “You know you’d let me help, even if I wasn’t a good cat. You can’t manage to dress properly without me, Doll. And let’s be honest, you’re going to peek in the teardrop mirror again, aren’t you? I’ve been watching you sneak in there.”

  “Can you blame me?” I said as I opened the door to my yoga room and walked directly over to the teardrop mirror. Ever since I saw Granana’s little white head as she did her step aerobics, it had only been acting like a normal mirror. But I knew it couldn’t be a one-time thing, right?

  My body tensed up, and I gritted my teeth, ready for another disappointment. I looked in the mirror, ready to see my own reflection. I let out a little shriek of delight. I knew it would happen again!

  I could see Nana and Gran in the kitchen. By the sheer number of leftovers on the counter, I knew they were making what Gran called ‘her concoction.’ That basically meant eggs with all the leftovers she could toss in, scrambled together and overcooked, as always. She liked to beat the eggs into submission until they were little bits of egg rice.

  The two of them were so engaged and too far away to see me in the mirror, but I still felt joy just to see them. And now I felt hope. Sorry, Latifa, I’ll be sneaking in here all the time now.

  My heart felt even fuller, and my yoga seemed like a message of gratefulness out to the universe. I took a deep breath in and out, then heard another deep breath behind me. I turned around and saw Latifa and Chanel stretched out into somewhat yoga-ish poses.

  “Good morning, Chanel,” I said.

  “She says, good day to you, Miss Hayden,” Latifa translated the meow.

  The cats and I finished up our yoga session. (I was thankful no one was videotaping.) And oh joy! I had two fashion critics helping me select a meeting-with-the-grandmother outfit. At least Chanel’s comments were on point and helpful. Latifa was still on her Project Runway kick, which basically meant mixing odd colors and fabrics and trying to overload me with accessories, none of which I would wear this morning.

  “Good morning, Grandmother.” I gave her a quick hug. It felt like hugging a tree, but a tree with a slight smile on her face. My father was sitting across from the desk. I gave him a quick hug, too. I left off a name for him whenever we spoke. Father felt too stiff, but I barely knew him, so Dad was totally out of the question. It was just a touch awkward for me, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or perhaps he was just allowing me time to adjust. We were slowly getting to know each other, and it was clear he was trying hard to build our connection. I appreciated that and felt my affection growing for this man, but something like that takes time.

  I’d always been told my father had abandoned us, left when I was just hours old, taking my toddler brother with him. We never knew why, and no one talked about it. We were unaware that he hadn’t left by choice. Destiny Falls snatched him and little Axel back here. The strange control of the family or the community, or perhaps both, held them here against my father’s will. Now that I was also someone who was snatched and held, I understood.

  “I have a job for you, Hayden,” Grandmother said. As was her way, there was no small talk or introduction. But since my long-time best friend Luna was the same way (gosh, I missed her!), I was okay with this abrupt start to our conversation.

  “A job? Really?” I asked. Well, this made sense. I was going to live here now, and although I was continuing to run Natural Living Magazine with Luna, it wasn’t a full-time endeavor. And a job would help me feel I was contributing.

  “I have gathered that you are a talented journalist, and your magazine has a healthy following.”

  “Thank you. And yes, it does.”

  “I have been contemplating rekindling the Destiny Falls newspaper since our old editor retired. Nowadays most people get their news online, so I would like you to create and run an updated online version of The Destiny Falls Observer. With your skills and your tendency toward gossip, this should be a perfect fit for you.”

  I cringed at the word gossip, but she was entirely correct. The idea excited me! It would provide exactly the credibility I needed to investigate all the secrets of Destiny Falls and its people. My wheels were already turning.

  My father stood up at that moment and set a camera down on Grandmother’s desk.

  “This is the official Observer camera,” he said. “It is the only one you should use for photos in the paper.”

  “I’m going to be taking the photos also?” I asked. “I’m not really a photographer.”

  “You will be with this camera,” my father said.


  “Leonard was the Observer’s photographer while he attended college. He’s quite talented, and can teach you all you need to know,” my grandmother said. “He can also provide you with past issues and other information to get you started. Please begin immediately.”

  Grandmother stood up and nodded at both of us. “Good day,” she said. Then she walked out of the room. I felt like she should change her exit statement to, “That’s all.” She reminded me so much of Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada.

  “It’s a great honor to get to run the Observer,” my father told me. “You’ll get the inside scoop on just about everything, and it opens many doors.”

  “It sounds right up my alley.” It so was! It had been two seconds and already I had a list of articles planned.

  “And I’ll have the perfect excuse to spend some extra time with my daughter.” He gave me a big smile and a thumbs-up. “Do you have time now for me to show you the camera?”

  “I have time,” I said, “but I’ve always used my phone. I’ve got the upgraded camera feature and it takes great shots.”

  “That may be true,” my father said, “but this is a very special camera, used only for the Observer.”

  I’ve learned that people around here rarely use the word ‘magic,’ but they often hint at it in other ways. I had a feeling this might be one of those times.

  “By ‘very special’ do you mean it’s enchanted in some way?” I asked him.

  “Perhaps. The camera works differently with each person who uses it, and there is only one user at a time. If someone else tries to use it, they’ll find it pretty much functions as an empty box. Here. Let me show you the basic functions. It’s user friendly and will adapt to your needs and habits.”

  Just like many things around here, I found that to be intriguing, but also a little creepy. Creepy or not, having a camera that functioned as a thinking partner would be handy.

  My father was correct. It was easy to use, almost as intuitive as using my phone. Strangely, it was already synced to my phone, so my trial photos appeared in my photos in a brand-new folder labeled ‘Observer.’ If only all electronics would be that easy!