He reached the end of the corridor. Strangely, the exhibit was dark, except for the open tank of water in the middle. Eerie blue light filtered through the salt water, casting strange, rippling shadows across the walls and ceiling. It really did feel like being underwater.
It was also deserted. This was strange. In the past, there had always been dozens of little kids running around the exhibit, splashing in the water and harassing the starfish. For half a second, Barrie felt relieved to have the room to himself, but then he heard it behind him—
Thump. Thump.
Barrie tensed. He whipped around, but he was completely, utterly alone.
He strained his ears.
The room was eerily silent, aside from the burbling of the tank. He felt cold suddenly and shivered in his light T-shirt. But museums were usually kept on the colder side, weren’t they?
Barrie approached the tank. Wrapping his arms around his chest, he peered down into the water, but only harmless starfish lay on the sand, clustered around the coral reef. He reached his fingers in and stroked one of them, feeling the bumpy surface. This exhibit had always soothed him, ever since he was a little kid. While he was scared of the ocean, this felt contained and safe. He could see the bottom. The water was clear. It contained only harmless creatures.
Then, suddenly, an eerie voice reverberated out of the water.
“Scurvy brat!” the voice gurgled, sounding deeply furious. “You’re not the first little boy to take something from me that doesn’t belong to you—but you will be the last!”
Barrie bolted down the corridor. His heart felt like it might jump out of this chest.
He could still hear the threatening voice booming out of the water at him. Scurvy brat! For the first time, he knew what he’d heard. He was wide awake this time. It wasn’t just a dream. And it wasn’t his overactive imagination, either. There was no mistaking that voice.
It’s Captain Hook. He’s after me, Barrie thought wildly.
But there was no way that the pirate was still alive. His pirate ship was in a museum. Which could mean only one thing: Captain Hook’s ghost must be haunting him, and had been ever since he stole the hook from his ship. That would explain all the weird things that had been happening to him since that day.
He knew, on the one hand, that ghosts didn’t exist. But on the other hand, he knew that the hook had magical powers. It had granted his wish to never grow up, hadn’t it? So wasn’t it possible that Captain Hook’s ghost was real, too?
It sure felt real. And it was clearly furious at Barrie for stealing his hook. You’re not the first little boy to take something from me that doesn’t belong to you—but you will the last!
The words echoed through his head again, making Barrie’s heart almost explode with fear. He cut through the museum, running as fast as he could to get away from the ocean exhibit, down the dark and shadowy hall. He kept expecting Captain Hook to leap out of the darkness and attack him. Every shadow looked like a threat.
Finally, he burst back into the main exhibition hall. Here, it was brightly lit and there were kids everywhere. He found his mother glued to her phone, along with the other parents. They all looked tired and vaguely annoyed by their offspring running all around the museum.
“Mom…he’s here!” Barrie panted in a panicked voice. Now that he knew Hook’s ghost was really haunting him, he had to get help. “We’re in real danger! We have to go!”
“Who’s here, sweetie?” Mom said, looking up from her screen. She had a glazed-over look in her eyes. “What’re you talking about? Slow down and speak clear
ly.”
“Captain Hook…his ghost…he’s after me…” Barrie started, but the words dried up in his throat the second he said them.
He realized how crazy he sounded.
A second ago, he didn’t believe in ghosts, either. But he knew what he’d heard back there. And he knew that Captain Hook’s ghost was really after him.
“Oh, that’s just your overactive imagination,” Mom said with a weary sigh. She bent down and patted his head to calm him down. “You know how you get those bad dreams.”
The other parents looked over and chuckled knowingly.
“My little Bobby still can’t sleep without a night-light,” one father said with a smile. “He thinks monsters live under his bed.”
The parents all laughed in commiseration. Barrie’s cheeks burned.
“But I swear…he’s real!” he protested. “It wasn’t a dream—I was wide awake. He’s been haunting me ever since we went to the maritime museum—”
“Sweetie, pirates aren’t real,” Mom said slowly, like she was talking to a little kid. “You know that. At least, not anymore.”
“But he is real!” Barrie said in an urgent voice. “It’s gotta be his ghost. That’s the only explanation—”