The Starfish Island Gang: Mystery of The Beach House: Book 1

ISBN 978-1-961227-64-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-961227-65-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-961227-66-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Brenda Mize Garza

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the author. For permission requests, solicit the author via the address below.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are produced by the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely beyond the intent of the author.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version, Cambridge Edition 1769.

Illustrations created by Myca Nutt

Illustration of the Starfish, Sea Horse, and Sand Dollar created by Juan Mora

Brenda Mize Garza

Salvation Saves the Soul

brendamizegarza@yahoo.com

210-867-7041

Printed in the United States of America

This book is lovingly dedicated to my husband, Jesse, my daughters, Angela and Amanda, my son, Brian, and especially my grandchildren; Seth, Alannah, Hayden, Daniel, and Riker. Without them, this book would have remained silent.

Commit thy works unto the Lord and

thy thoughts shall be established.

Proverbs 16:3

Contents

Prologue

Meet the Gang

Chapter 1:   The Beginning

Chapter 2:   Them

Chapter 3:   The Rescue

Chapter 4:   The Plan

Chapter 5:   The Mission

Chapter 6:   The Furniture

Chapter 7:   Reconnaissance

Chapter 8:   The Debrief

Chapter 9:   Church

Chapter 10: Paige’s Adventure

Chapter 11: Back to School

Chapter 12: Andrew’s Dreams

Chapter 13: The Oak Tree

Chapter 14: The New Girl

Chapter 15: The Meeting

Chapter 16: The Shopping Trip

Chapter 17: The Unsupervised Beach Outing

Chapter 18: Charlie

Chapter 19: The Headstones

Chapter 20: The Others

Afterword

Meet The Angels

The Demons

Prologue

The Starfish Island Gang started many years ago when a group of Christians left Ramsgate, England by ship to an unknown destination. Pastor Judge was given coordinates in a dream, and he believed these coordinates would take them to the place God had reserved just for them. This place is now known as Starfish Island.

Five kids have been friends almost since the moment they were born. They have spent most of their young lives playing in the crystal blue ocean, building sandcastles, or just hanging out together.

Their carefree days ended when their curiosity got the better of them and they entered the old abandoned beach house. This is where their lives changed forever. This is where their journey began to find out Who God truly is and what are His plans for their lives. This journey takes a few unexpected detours, however, they will not give up until they truly know about The God Who created everything. On this journey, they will also begin to realize just who they are in Christ Jesus.

Find your comfortable chair, sit back, take a deep breath, and begin your journey into an unseen world that only those who choose to see will remove the thin veil between this realm and the unseen realm.

Meet the Gang

Andrew is the oldest member of the gang. His hobby surrounds water. He spends most of his free time swimming in the crystal blue ocean. And dreaming of the gold medal he will one day win.

Paige is the only female member of the gang. She must always find the answer to – who, what, when, and why. One day she will be a professor like her mom.

Michael wants to be a Marine like his dad. To listen to him talk, one would think he was a Marine already, just doesn’t wear the uniform at this time.

Lee is into old buildings. His friends say he can talk to them. He will tell you that when he looks at old buildings he can see how they looked when they were new and the people who loved and cared for them for years.

Allen, well he is the youngest member of the gang and for now, his only thoughts are all about building the next great sand castle.

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Where do you start when you have so much to tell? It’s hard to know when and where it all began. Just yesterday, we were all carefree and playing in the ocean with our friends, collecting seashells, and making sandcastles. Sometimes when I stop and think about all the things we’ve seen and done, it’s like a dream or a movie you may have seen as a child and looking back on those memories as if they really had taken place in your very own life.

Let me start by introducing myself, I’m Andrew. Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’ll start from when we first saw them and fill in the rest as the story unfolds. Some of you will think this is a child’s imagination gone wild, others will be afraid, and some may just put this book down. Whoever you are, please believe me, this is all real.

The sky was bright blue with just a hint of soft, whispering white clouds scattered across it. Some looked like animals at play while others looked just like plain old clouds. The sun was bright and hot, but we hardly noticed. The cool breeze came in across the water, giving us a little touch of ocean spray. The ocean always looks so appealing to me, I thought as I joined my friends. It seemed to hold untold stories of all those who had traveled on it, played in it, or just gazed at it as I was doing then. I turned my attention to my friends and away from the magnificent view, which always captivated me.

Everyone was there playing at the beach as we always did—our usual gang. At least that’s what the boys called us. Of course, the only girl in our group of adventurers, Paige, wouldn’t agree to that name. According to her, we were all just good friends and would be forever.

Allen and Lee were building a sandcastle with a large moat of course. They always put incredible detail into their walls and towers. Lee gathered ocean water in buckets to fill the moat never caring that most if not all the water sank into the sand. Allen was busy running in what seemed like all directions gathering seashells to add to the tower walls and to make windows. Such hard work and it was so sad that by the next morning, this project of love would end up mostly back where it had come from—the ocean. But that thought never seemed to deter the two of them from building the great sandcastle, as they liked to call it.

Paige was resting on her beach towel listening to music and reading a romance novel. I put my towel on a level spot close to her trying not to make the sand fly. Paige had a thing about making the sand fly. It got on her skin, which she drenched with suntan lotion, and that just wouldn’t do. She’d storm back into the water, wash the mess off, and start all over. You know how girls are.

What’s Michael spouting off about? I asked as I slowly lowered myself onto my towel thinking, don’t make the sand fly, don’t make the sand fly, with a little chuckle under my breath.

You know, Paige said peering at me over her large Hollywood sunglasses, Michael is playing his usual pirate game. Today, he’s washed up on this desert island. A fierce storm ripped his ship apart, and he fears he’s lost most if not all of his crew.

She did a great imitation of Michael—even his hand gestures and cocking of one eye. It made me laugh so much that I thought my side would burst. Paige had a little grin on her suntanned face as she went back to reading.

Using his spyglass, Michael appeared to be checking out the lay of the land and talking loudly as if on stage. As usual, we were his audience.

Searching for me lost mates or maybe the local tribe, he said. Will the tribes be friendly or man-eaters? One never knows what one might find when the ocean decides she no longer wants you riding her waves and tosses you to and fro until your ship is ripped apart, leaving you drifting for days on a wooden plank and baking in the hot sun. Suddenly, without warning, she finally spits you out onto the sand of her mighty shores! He continued speaking loudly of the great unknowns he was about to face.

Hey Michael, watch it, I shouted trying to keep him from falling over me, but I was a second too late. Tumbling over me, Michael headed face-first toward the great sandcastle. That sent Lee and Allen into a massive scramble to protect it and to get out of Michael’s way. However, they weren’t fast enough to keep from tangling up with him. Apparently, this was of great amusement to Paige. She rolled in the sand with laughter. The lotion she just applied was now mixed with brilliant white sand.

We all began laughing at how Michael, with one step, created this domino effect, causing all of us to end up on top of what was once the great sandcastle. We all ran into the ocean, splashing each other and riding the waves. Well, except for Paige. She was still trying to get the lotion and sand mixture off her skin. That was a real sight to behold. Have you ever watched someone try to get lotion and sand off his or her skin? Kind of reminds me of a dog chasing his tail and knowing he’ll never catch it.

Suddenly, we were all facing the beach house standing in the water with the waves lapping against us. With each passing wave, we swayed back and forth trying not to fall. We were lined up, side by side as if waiting for someone to take roll call. We stood there in such a way that you