The Vanishing Act!

Painting by Emmanuel Garant

The hour was growing late, but she couldn’t draw herself away from the book. Sleep was the last thing on her mind right now.

Earlier in the day when Emily had gone to the library, this was not the book she was expecting to find!

She had needed to check out more books for the research project she was doing. They were in her hand and then she noticed the sea green book on the shelf.

The title,”Moonlight Love”, jumped out at her. She was in a hurry so grabbed it quick and checked it out. Thought it would be good to have something light to read after spending hours on her research project. Thought it was some fun, romance novel, but oh, had she been wrong.

Emily had taken a break after luncb and decided to read the first chapter. But … here she was, still reading. How could sbe stop? This wasn’t some sappy, light hearted romance. It was a mystery.

The name, ” Moonlight Love” hadn’t been referring to a couple’s romance, but it was the name of a cruise ship.

Emily had at first thought it was like “The Love Boat”, that long ago tv show that her mom used to watch. But she was wrong! People were disappearing and noone knew why. The ship had become a living nightmare for people. They were so far out to sea that they couldn’t contact anyone. No cell phone connection.

Emily was so drawn into the story, she felt like she was there. She had been sitting down for awhile and was fighting sleep, though she wanted to keep reading. Before she knew it, her eyes had closed, and she heard the waves of the sea.

“Emily! Emily, oh, so glad I found you!” Her friend Gina, had a panic stricken face.

“What is wrong?” Her friend didn’t say a word, but looked like a scared rabbit. Emily had been sun bathing on the top deck. The green book that she had been reading was lying on top of her. She must have dozed off.

“I saw Mrs Van Cleeve in the hall, she is frantic, her husband has disappeared!”

“No! Not that sweet old man!” Now Emily’s face was as pale as Gina’s. They had dined with the Van Cleeve’s at lunch. Such a cute couple, celebrating their 60th anniversary.

Gina and Emily had come on this cruise together for a vacation from the stresses of college life. But this was turning out to be anything but a stress free vacation. In the beginning it had been fun. Eating amazing food and meeting others, including charming guys, but things had changed rather quickly. From one day to the next you didn’t know who would be the next person to suddenly vanish.

The guests on board tried to pretend all was fine, but more and more people had a haunting look in their eyes. Especially as more and more empty seats were appearing in the dining room.

Every little thing was being seen as a potential clue. People couldn’t avoid the facts anymore. Something was desdly wrong and Emily and Gina felt like the clock was ticking. Who would be next?

To be continued… and you get to help! Put on your detective’s hat and think of some clues. Emily and Gina need your help. Leave them in the comments and they will appear in part 2 on Thursday night. Have fun!