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Barrie ran down the deck, passing close to the railing. Below, the ocean churned and frothed with great fury, splashing up against the hull and drenching the deck with salt water. Barrie could taste it on his tongue as he sprinted down the length of the ship.
He was looking for the tour or anyone to help him, but the ship appeared completely deserted. It was eerily silent, too, aside from the waves and the soft creaking of the wood.
Where is everyone? Where’s my family? Where’s the tour?
And that’s when he heard it again—
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The footsteps were right behind him. He fled down the deck in a panic. Suddenly, the waves sloshed up, violently rocking the boat. He thought about jumping into the ocean just to escape. He glanced down at the waves, whipped into a frenzy by the storm’s high winds. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. He leaned over the railing to jump. But then his ears pricked up.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
This new sound was coming from the ocean. The strange ticking echoed up from the dark water. Under the surface, a shadowy creature darted back and forth.
The ticking grew louder. If whatever was on the ship with him didn’t get him, whatever was down there in the water would.
But then the strangest thing happened. Barrie started to feel warmer. The panic that had gripped him receded. Even the stormy skies seemed to quiet a little. Slowly, he turned around, staring at the empty deck. It was almost as if whatever had been chasing him had stopped.
Like it had evaporated into thin air.
Feeling uneasy, Barrie turned back to look at the water. How was that possible? Something had been chasing him. He’d been convinced. But now, standing alone as drizzle drifted down from the cloudy skies, he wasn’t so sure. It was pretty dark out. Maybe hearing all those creepy pirate stories and finding the hook had sent his imagination into overdrive. Maybe his brain was messing with him. Even in his books, whenever a house was supposed to be haunted, the kid detectives always solved the mystery by the end, revealing that there was a real-life villain behind the “fake” ghost.
“None of this is real,” Barrie whispered to the waves. “It can’t be real. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
He unzipped his backpack, half expecting the hook to be gone, too. But there it was, staring back at him, along with the parchment letter. He wasn’t completely losing his mind. These things, at least, were real. But what about the rest of it?
He chewed his lower lip uncertainly. He didn’t know what to believe anymore. But staring at the rusty, old hook caused a fresh surge of guilt to wash through him. Maybe he should put it back, just to be safe? Whatever had just happened or not happened back there, it was wrong to steal the hook. That much was clear now. He had made a terrible mistake. He had to fix it.
Still feeling jittery, Barrie crept back toward the stairs that led down to the captain’s cabin. His feet hit the wooden floor with a dull thud. The ship swayed uneasily under him. He glanced down into the thick darkness of the interior deck and listened closely for any sign of a presence, but there was only the soft creaking of the boat rocking gently on the water.
It wasn’t real, Barrie thought. It was just my imagination.
Still, he needed to put the hook back where he found it. He needed to do the right thing. He started down the stairs, but then an angry voice growled through the ship.
“Where have you been, young man?”
A dark shadow fell over Barrie from the top of the stairs.
“I’m sorry…I swear I was going to put it back!” Barrie raised his hands in fear, waiting for the slice of Captain Hook’s sword.
“Barrie?”
He lowered his arms slowly. What he saw wasn’t Captain Hook, but it might have been worse. His father stared at him from the upper deck. And he did not look happy.
“Put what back?” Dad said. His brows knit together, and his lips curved down into his signature disapproving-father expression. “Where have you been? We’ve been searching the ship everywhere for you.”
“Uh…nothing. I mean, nowhere. I mean…” Barrie couldn’t tell his dad that he had stolen something from the museum. “I guess I wanted to explore the ship on my own. And I got a little lost do
wn here.”
His father shook his head. “Barrie, you need to grow up and stop acting like a little kid already. I know how much you enjoy sleuthing, but you can’t just wander off like that without telling anyone.”
“Right, I’m really sorry,” Barrie said, looking down in shame. “I just got really interested in Captain Hook. And I wanted to find out more about him.”
It wasn’t exactly the truth—but it wasn’t a lie, either. He did sneak off to learn more about the pirate captain.
“Well, I can understand getting captivated by a piece of real history,” Dad said. His angry expression evaporated. “Even so, your birthday is tomorrow. You’re almost twelve years old now. You need to start taking responsibility for your actions.”
