CHAPTER 1

When my parents told me that we were going on a family vacation to a hotel on an island, I was a little disappointed. I had been hoping we would go on a real adventure like rock climbing or skydiving, not sitting in a beach chair and drinking smoothies. What was I going to do stuck at a hotel for four days?

After a long, boring plane ride, we finally arrived and Mom checked us in while Dad and I walked around a little. “Isn’t this place great, Jeremy?” he asked.

I looked around at the palm trees and swimming pools. “It’s nice, I guess.”

“Look at that!” he pointed. “The beach is huge!” There were people swimming in the ocean and sunbathing on the sand.

We walked by a restaurant and I noticed a huge painting of tropical birds and exotic animals on one of the walls. It was beautiful.

“I’m going to help mom bring our luggage upstairs. Why don’t you hang out by the pool?” Dad said.

I decided to sit on the edge of the largest pool and dip my feet in. It was hot and I needed to cool off.

Suddenly, someone jumped into the pool and splashed me. I was kind of annoyed. Could this day get any worse?

I wiped water off of my face and said, “Hey! Watch it!”

A dark-haired girl around my age wearing a pink swimsuit popped her head out of the water and laughed. She had a wide smile.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “I’m Lisa.”

“I’m Jeremy. It’s my first day here. Are you on vacation too?” I asked. My mood was brightening already; at least I had someone to talk to.

She shook her head, “No, I live here.”

“Gosh, that must get pretty boring. Do you ever get to leave this place?”

“Not really. I live with my grandmother, but most of the time I’m by myself,” Lisa said.

There was a sad look on her face. She pulled herself out of the pool to sit next to me on the edge. She pointed to a large painting of a tiger stalking through a jungle on the wall of a nearby cafe.

“See that big painting? It’s a mural. I made it.”

“Really? Wow, you’re talented!” I was surprised. I could never have made something so beautiful.

“Thanks! So, are you just here with your parents or your whole family?” she asked.

“No. It’s just my mom, dad and me. How about you?”

Lisa looked down. “Um, like I said, I live with my grandmother. Have you ever been here before?” She quickly changed the topic.

“No,” I said, wondering why she didn’t talk more about her family. “We went to a theme park last year, for my 16th birthday, but that’s pretty much the only other vacation I’ve been on.”

“Oh, that’s cool! I turned 16 last week. I had a cake and stuff, but there’s not much to do around here,” Lisa said.

“We could do something fun together. I know it’s not your birthday anymore, but we could still celebrate, if you want,” I suggested.

She smiled. “I like that idea. Do you want to hang out tomorrow?” she asked, “We could go snorkeling or something.”

“Yeah, let’s meet by that mural,” I said excitedly. Maybe this vacation wouldn't be as lame as I thought.

That evening, my parents and I went to dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants. I ordered fish tacos - not a great choice, it turned out. I didn’t care though; I was too distracted. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the fun things Lisa and I could do that week: jet-skiing, parasailing, even just lounging around on the beach. I told my parents about her and how much I was looking forward to seeing her the next day.

Mom smiled. “That’s awesome, Jeremy,” she said.

By the time we left the restaurant and headed back towards the room, it was dark. The resort looked magical at night. Strings of sparkling lights hung above the pools and torches with flickering, orange flames lined every path.

We took the elevator up to the fourth floor. The long hallway was empty. When we passed one of the rooms, I could hear muffled shouting and the sound of glass breaking, like something had been thrown against the wall. Without warning, the door flew open and Lisa stormed out, slamming it behind her. She looked furious and I thought I could see tears streaming down her face.

I stumbled back, shocked.

“Lisa?” I asked, but she was already too far away to hear me.

I wanted to run after her, but I didn’t even know her that well.

“What was that about?” Mom asked as we continued walking to our room.

Dad shrugged, “I have no idea. It sounded pretty intense, though.”

That night I couldn’t sleep. I was too worried about Lisa and curious about what had happened to make her run off like that. She said she lived with her grandmother, so I figured they must’ve gotten into a pretty bad argument.

I sat on the small balcony that was attached to our room and stared out at the beach. The moon was full and the stars were out, so I could see everything clearly. I rubbed my eyes. Just as I was starting to get tired, something caught my attention.

A dark, hooded figure was walking along the beach. It looked small, but maybe that was just because it was so far away. It was carrying what looked like a suitcase.

When it reached the dock on one side of the beach, it stopped and placed the suitcase down like it was waiting for a boat. There was no sign of any boat on the horizon.

I looked at the figure for a few minutes, confused and curious. It didn’t move an inch. Eventually, I got too tired to sit there any longer and had to go to bed.

The next morning I woke up early and hurried outside to wait for Lisa. I stood by the tiger mural for a full hour. Countless people passed by, laughing and talking to each other.

I got more anxious by the second. Where was Lisa? What happened to her last night? What if she was in trouble? She had seemed excited about hanging out today, so I didn’t think she would just ditch me.

After a while, I sighed and hurried back into the hotel. I was going to get to the bottom of this, and I knew exactly where to start.

CHAPTER 2

I knocked on the door to the room where I had last seen Lisa. After a few minutes of waiting, I got impatient and knocked again. This time, the door flew open immediately.

An old woman with white hair and long, red nails stood in front of me. She was dressed all in black and was hunched over the cane in her left hand.

My first thought was that she looked like a witch. She glared at me like I had interrupted something important.

“What do you want?” she asked in a hoarse voice.

“I’m looking for Lisa,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed. “Who?”

“Lisa. I think she’s your granddaughter.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the old woman grumbled.

I shook my head. “I saw her leaving this room last night.”

“I said I don’t know anything about this girl,” she snapped. “Now leave me alone, and stop sticking your nose into other people’s business.”

“Wait—” I started to say, but she slammed the door in my face.

I was upset by my conversation with the strange old woman. She hadn’t given me any new information about Lisa and her warning had scared me!

My next stop was the lobby. I talked to the woman at the front desk who insisted that there was no Lisa listed as a guest. After that I stopped one of the maids in the hallway.

“Did you see a girl around here late last night?” I asked.

The maid glanced around. “I saw a girl running through the lobby. She left through the front door, but I don’t know where she went after that.”

“Which direction did she go?” I asked, excited to finally get some answers.

“I can’t tell you any more,” the maid said and hurried into a closet..

I decided to stop by the resort’s main restaurant. It was practically empty this early in the morning. I walked up to a waitress who was leaving the kitchen.

“Did you see a girl with dark hair leave the resort last night?” I asked.

She looked surprised. “No, but I heard that security had to go after someone on the beach at around midnight. Guests aren’t allowed there after 11 pm.”

Thinking my parents would be wondering what I was doing, I spent the rest of the day with them by the pool. I had a plan for tonight, so the only thing I could do until then was wait. I looked at the tiger mural and felt sick with worry.

Once it got dark, I snuck down to the beach where I had seen the mysterious figure the night before. It was cooler at night and I shivered as my feet touched the sand. The sound of the waves was calming, despite the scene being so mysterious. This was quite possibly the last place Lisa had been seen.

I walked down to the dock.

The ocean looked dark and endless from here. I turned around to look up at the hotel, to try and figure out if she could’ve seen me watching her from the balcony.

As I was staring at the hotel, I saw that one of the top floor windows was lit up and I noticed the silhouette of a person in it. I took a chance and waved. The shadow waved back but then disappeared... My heart skipped a beat.

Then, the light in the same window began to blink on and off in a strange pattern. I stared at it until it finally stopped. Things just kept getting more and more confusing.

The next morning I got up early again to ask the woman at the front desk about the top floor.

“It’s the owner’s private room,” she said. “Guests aren’t allowed. In fact, hardly anyone goes up there. The owner doesn’t visit often.”

I thanked her and hurried to the elevator. Luckily, there was no one inside. I pressed the button with the highest number. The doors opened into a windowless hallway. It was dark and had almost no furniture in it.

There was one door opposite the elevator and another to one side. I walked slowly to the first door and pressed my ear to it. I could hear faint hints of music. I stayed leaning against it for a few minutes and then finally I knocked.

The music stopped. That’s when the other door burst open and a huge security guard stormed over to me. He grabbed my arm and dragged me back towards the elevator.

He practically pushed me inside and said angrily, “I don’t want to see you up here again, understand?”

I nodded, my eyes wide and frightened, as the doors began to close. The ride down felt longer somehow. My hands shook at my sides and I felt nauseous. In my mind, there were only three explanations for what had happened.

:

Lisa had been kidnapped, and her kidnapper was living on the top floor.

The hotel’s mysterious owner was a crazy person who enjoys terrifying guests, which would explain the strange shadow and lights I saw in the window.

The hotel was haunted by a ghost that had some connection with the old woman I had talked to the day before.

Everything that had happened over the last few days had been so weird and unexplainable, I was ready to believe anything.

CHAPTER 3

I was determined not to let anything stop me from continuing to search for Lisa. So early the next morning, I managed to get up to the top floor again without anyone noticing.

My heart was beating fast as I knocked on the same door as the day before — but much more quietly this time. I looked around but there were no security guards to be seen.

When there was no reply I turned the handle. It was locked. I took a paperclip out of my pocket and knelt down in front of the lock. I had seen tons of people pick locks with pins or paperclips on TV, and I had even tried it with my friends a few times. After a few minutes of turning the paperclip to get it in the right spot, the lock finally clicked and I was able to open the door.

I closed it gently behind me and gazed around the room. It was like the other hotel rooms, but it seemed as if it hadn’t been used in years.

The furniture was covered in white sheets and most of the windows were boarded up. Boxes were stacked everywhere and there was a layer of dust on everything.

I shivered. It certainly looked like a place where a ghost would hang out.

I walked around, lifting some of the sheets and looking out the only window that wasn’t boarded up. I jumped when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. It was one of the sheets on the bed. Tip-toeing carefully over to it, I took a deep breath,and lifted it up.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!” I yelled.

There was someone there. But as I looked closer, I saw that it was Lisa, under the sheet, fast asleep.

Her eyes opened and she looked confused.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” I said. “I tried to get in here yesterday, but there was a guard. What happened to him?”

She sat up and tossed the sheet to the side. I sat down next to her on the couch.

“I asked him to go down to my grandmother's room and get my things. I figured I would be up here for a while. I can’t believe you found me,” she said.

“What are you doing up here? It’s kind of...creepy.”

She smiled, “It wasn’t my choice. My father owns this hotel and it’s his private room. I got caught trying to catch the boat back to the mainland a few nights ago, so they put me up here and haven’t let me leave since.”

“So it was you that I saw on the beach,” I said.

She nodded. “I tried to tell you it was me using Morse code. It’s a way to use lights to send secret messages.”

“That’s why I saw all that weird flickering in the window the other night! That really creeped me out. I had no idea what that was and who was up there.”

Lisa shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

“It was all I could think of,” she said.

“Why were you trying to run away?” I asked

“I hate living here. Sure, it was nice for a while, but I miss my friends. My parents want me to go into business like they did, and like my brothers and sister have, but I don’t want that. I want to be an artist.”

“Well, you’d be great at that,” I offered.

“Yeah. Well they don’t agree. They’re always pressuring me to go to college and be just like them, but that’s not me. When I told them I wanted to go to art school instead, they weren’t too happy.”

She looked like she might cry and I put my hand on her shoulder.

“They think my friends are all deadbeats who will never amount to anything, and they’re worried I’ll turn out the same way. They tried sending me to boarding school so many times, but I always managed to run away. Boarding school was terrible. Imagine living with strangers and being away from home for most of the year. I guess they figured an island would be the only place I couldn’t escape from, and it looks like they were right.”

I stared at her. I had never heard a story like this. Her parents sounded awful. I had seen her murals and they were brilliant. How could her family not support their own daughter?

“What about your grandmother? Does she support you?” I asked.

Lisa smiled. “Yeah, she’s the one who encouraged me to paint the murals around the resort. She says that everyone has different talents, and the world needs all different kinds of people. If only my mom and dad thought the same way.”

“Maybe if you showed them the murals and they talked to you and your grandmother, they’d change their minds,” I suggested.

She shrugged, “Maybe, but I doubt it. They don’t even want anyone here to know I’m their daughter. My grandmother and I are under strict orders not to reveal my true identity to anyone.”

I looked at her, “But you told me.”

“I thought that might’ve been a mistake, but obviously I was right to tell you. You’re the only one who came looking for me. You’re the first person I’ve really liked in a long time, Jeremy.”

“I like you too,” I said.

She grinned. “It’s too bad we never got to hang out like we planned to.”

“Yeah, I was looking forward to it.”

“Me too.”

All of the sudden a loud knock at the door caused us both to jump.

CHAPTER 4

Lisa and I looked at each other and walked to the door.

“Who is it?” she asked.

A muffled voice from the other side answered, “It’s us, honey.”

Lisa looked shocked. She turned the handle and the door opened to reveal her grandmother along with a man and a woman, both dressed in fancy clothes.

I glanced at her grandmother, who glared back at me. It was hard to believe Lisa was related to someone so strange and frightening.

“Mom? Dad?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”

Her mom smiled. She looked a lot like Lisa.

“Gran contacted us a few days ago, when you tried to run away. I’ve been worried sick ever since. I knew we had to come down to make sure you were okay.”

Lisa crossed her arms. “I’m fine. I suppose you’re going to tell me that I’ll be stuck on this island until I become the daughter you wish you had?”

Her mom looked down and her dad stepped forward. He was a tall man with dark hair and shadows under his eyes. He was wearing a suit and looked very serious, even a bit frightening. But surprisingly, when he spoke, his voice was gentle.

“Lisa, we never should have sent you away. We made a mistake. I walked around the resort just now and saw all of your murals. Each one was more beautiful than the last.”

“Really?” Lisa said. She looked like she might cry.

“Really,” her dad nodded, “And the staff told me that guests have been asking who the artist is. People love your art! I know we said some things in the past that we shouldn’t have, but your mom and I love it too.”

Lisa’s mom pulled her daughter into a hug. “We love you, and we love whatever it is you want to do with your life. I’m sorry we put so much pressure on you to go into the family business.”

Her dad smiled, “We want you to come home.”

“If you can forgive us,” her mom added.

Lisa was grinning. “Of course I forgive you. All I ever wanted was for you guys to support me.”

“Now, there’s one last thing,” said her dad, “We’re leaving tomorrow.”

Lisa looked back at me with a worried expression. “When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow,” I said.

“Perfect,” she said, “We’ll be on the same boat.”

The next morning my family met Lisa’s on the dock. The boat to the mainland sat in the water, nearly ready for boarding. Lisa had more suitcases than I ever would’ve guessed. Then again, she had been living here for a while.

“Art supplies, mostly,” she said, noticing that I had been staring at the pile of luggage beside her.

“It’s a shame we never got to hang out,” I said.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “We’re hanging out right now. We have the whole boat ride home, which is plenty of time for you to explain exactly how you managed to find me.”

I laughed. “That story isn’t as exciting as you think it is.”

“Oh, really? Then why did you look so scared when you lifted that sheet off me?”

“I thought…well, never mind.” I stopped myself from saying anything else.

“Tell me.”

I was so embarrassed that I was sure my face was bright red.

“I thought there might be a ghost. Or a murderer. Or a witch.”

Lisa burst into laughter. “A ghost? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

As we were talking, people started filing onto the boat. I helped her with her suitcases. After a while everyone finally boarded and we began to sail away from the dock. Lisa and I sat on the top deck and looked out at the sea. It was a brilliant shade of blue.

“I have something for you,” she said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a rolled piece of canvas.

She handed it to me and I unrolled it slowly. It was a painting of the resort. Every window was dark except for the top one. I looked at Lisa.

“This is for me? Thank you, I don’t even know what to say.”

“I’m glad you like it,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t sure.”

“I love it.”

“I don’t want you to forget about me,” she said

I smiled at her. “That’s impossible. This was by far the most exciting vacation I’ve ever been on.”

“Even though there was no ghost?” she asked.

We both laughed as the coast of the mainland appeared in the distance.