The guard narrowed his eyes. For a second, Barrie thought he was going to tell him to get lost. But then he softened.
“Fine, let’s go,” he said, leading Barrie to the parking lot. They piled into his patrol car, which wasn’t very impressive.
Barrie watched as the lights of the bay faded out of sight, as the car wound through their quaint town heading for his home. But before they vanished, he could’ve sworn that in a flash of lightning, he spotted the Jolly Roger bobbing in the distance, heading for the open ocean.
But in the blink of an eye, the ship was gone, as if it had vanished from this world altogether.
* * *
A few minutes and several turns later, the guard pulled into the cul-de-sac and around to the front of Barrie’s house. The porch light was on, welcoming him home.
“Is this it?” the guard asked, tipping his hat toward the front door.
“Yes, sir,” Barrie said, reaching for the door handle. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Don’t mention it,” the guard said with a stiff nod. “Just be more careful, especially when there’s a storm brewing. Anything could’ve happened to you. The marina can be a dangerous place for lost boys. We had a kid go missing some years ago. Terrible tragedy.”
You have no idea, Barrie thought, remembering Captain Hook and the strange creature in the water. But he knew better than to mention any of that. Nobody would ever believe him.
Except for Michael and John, of course. That’s why they were best friends.
“I will. I promise,” Barrie said instead. And he meant it.
He’d had more than enough adventures for one day. No, scratch that.
For one lifetime.
As he climbed from the patrol car and watched it speed away, Barrie had never felt so glad to be home. Every muscle in his body screamed in pain from his swim through the bay and his narrow escape from Captain Hook. His clothes were still sopping wet and growing stiff from salt.
I’ll even be happy to see Rita, he thought with an incredulous smile as he headed for the front door. And he’d never—like never ever not even once—felt happy to see his sister before.
But her sky-blue car wasn’t parked in the driveway.
Strange, he thought with a frown. She always parked there, while his parents used the two-car garage. But maybe she’d ended up going out with her friends. After all, she did have a later curfew now that she was sixteen. That could also be why she had forgotten to pick him up. Todd probably distracted her.
Ugh, gross.
Barrie reached the front door and fished his keys out of his pocket. He slid the key into the lock, but it didn’t fit. It wouldn’t even slide into the slot.
What the heck? He retracted it from the lock and examined it.
It looked normal enough, but maybe it had gotten damaged in the escape?
He rang the doorbell and knocked a few times, then waited. A few seconds later, he heard footsteps padding up to the door. Then the deadbolt twisted.
The door cracked open.
Warm light spilled out onto the porch. Barrie was momentarily blinded. But then, when his vision cleared, what he saw shocked him.
An older woman’s face peered out of the crack in the doorway.
“Uh, can I help you?” she asked, sounding worried. “What’s a nice young man like you doing out so late?”
“Right…I live here,” Barrie said, backing away. “This is my house.”
He scanned the address, but he was sure this was the right place. He knew his own house. He’d lived there his whole life.
“What do you mean?” the old woman said, adjusting her glasses. “I think you’ve made a mistake. Young man, are you feeling okay?”