The Disappearance of Emily: Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic Series Book 2 by Elizabeth Pantley (best books under 200 pages .txt) 📗

the group of us and I could almost feel the collective intake of breath. And then she smiled at us. It was a rare and beautiful sight, and I knew every one of us felt its glow.

“Hello, children,” she said. That might offend some people in their twenties, but the way she said it enveloped all of us in a bubble of affection that made us feel loved and cared for. It was nice.

“Oh, look,” Grandmother said. “Our little guest of honor has arrived.”

We all turned toward the door to see Lola, Chanel, and Latifa enter the room. All of them held their heads high and their tails in the air. It was like a little parade of fluff. I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from laughing. They were so freaking adorable.

The three cats walked over to the fireplace. I heard Chanel meow, and then Lola climbed up onto the cat pillow. I saw that the color perfectly matched the emerald green of her eyes. The maternal adult cats sat on either side of her, looking proud and happy.

Ian and Tiana squealed with delight and ran over to pet the cats and play with the kitten. Everyone commented on how precious Lola was, and then the adults sat at the table for dinner. I noticed that no one forced the children to abandon their post at the cat pillow, and I thought that was super nice.

Wine glasses were already set up and we toasted the new family member and enjoyed a few minutes of casual conversation. Then one of my favorite people to see entered the room with a cart of appetizers. Cleobella had arrived.

Today she was a vision in emerald green, in a nod to Lola’s splendid eye color, I assumed. Her dress was a smooth, silk sheath that looked like it has been sewn on her. She was wearing sparkly, white opera gloves that came all the way up past her elbows. Her fingers were adorned with brilliant emerald rings.

She had painted her eyes in shades of green eye shadow in an exaggerated cats-eye design with an explosion of false eyelashes in black and silver that came up and over her expertly tweezed eyebrows. Her shoes were black with towering, thin metallic heels. How on earth she walked on those, let alone served a meal, was a mystery to me. Of course, her gorgeous, white-blond hair was twisted into an elegant chignon. A green and black hat, adorned with feathers and glitter, tilted fashionably on the top of her head.

Cleobella was like a fascinating storybook every time she entered a room, and she never ceased to keep me enthralled. The rest of the family never batted an eye at her wardrobe. Though, I suppose, they’d seen her so many times over the years they had become accustomed to the sight. I hoped I never would.

She caught my eye, and I knew she saw me examining her outfit, so I gave her a big smile and a thumbs-up. She blushed prettily and smiled back. We’d come a long way in our odd friendship, and I enjoyed her presence. Since she neither spoke nor could hear, we had developed a very rudimentary form of sign language, and she was excellent at interpreting my oddly childish motions. When I had time, I was going to look for some YouTube videos and learn some basic sign language. Or maybe I’d ask Grandmother to teach me since I now knew she was an expert at it. I chuckled at that thought, but who knows? Maybe she would tutor me.

Whoever cooked our dinner (Cleobella or the mystery chef I’d never seen?) wanted to uphold the cat theme. We had a generous salad of fresh greens. Some looked shockingly like grass but tasted like sweet lettuce, and she served a pile of it to the cats. The main course was grilled salmon, wild rice, and vegetables. The cats all received a healthy serving of salmon on small silver plates. After the main course, Cleobella brought out large trays of cheese, fruit, and chocolates; they provided small portions of cheese to the furry partygoers.

Back in my room after dinner, I replayed the memories of the evening. Thinking back to Axel carrying in the big, green cat pillow made me laugh all over again.

I changed into yoga pants and a loose T-shirt. My plan was to spend the rest of the night catching up on my Natural Living Magazine work. I’d been slacking in that department, and Luna has been picking up the pieces while I’d been away in ‘Denmark.’ She never complained and was kindly grateful whenever I did my actual job. She was a genuine friend and a great business partner.

After I finished up my work, I planned to read through some of the old newspapers. I was looking forward to learning more about the community.

With those thoughts in mind, I went into my yoga room (MY yoga room!) and peeked into the oval mirror. Expecting no surprises, I just did a quick glance, ready to turn away and get to work. My head snapped back and I sucked in a breath. I was looking into my old apartment kitchen, now Luna’s home, apparently being reflected off the mirrored surface of the microwave control panel. And there was Luna, my dear friend. She was in the kitchen making tea, her ever-present energy obvious in her bouncing, happy movements.

I shouted her name by reflex. The mirrors never worked that way, though. It was visual only. I stepped up close to the mirror and jumped up and down and waved my arms wildly. But Luna wasn’t looking in my direction. She was taking a cup and the sugar out of the cabinet and busily focused on her tea-making. I grabbed a yoga towel and waved it like a flag, hoping the movement would catch her eye.

Luna poured the water into her cup, added the tea bag and sugar, and strolled out