by Jason Hawes
“She’s the one who has made most of the claims, right?” Jen asked.
“Yes,” Grant answered. “She says she’s seen a full-bodied apparition.”
“I don’t know about you guys,” Jason said. “But I can’t wait to get started. Heron’s Point is a very old, very lonely spot. The perfect place for paranormal activity.”
“I’m excited too,” Lyssa agreed. “I mean, a haunted houseboat? How cool is that?” The boat bounced hard. Frothy water splashed over the side. Lyssa dodged away from it.
“Look!” Grant said. He pointed. “I think we’re almost there.”
Up ahead, Lyssa could see a small island. It looked like a green hill growing out of the ocean.
As they roared closer, she could see that the island was mostly covered with trees. She could make out a rocky shoreline and a half-moon cove dead ahead.
Jason pointed to a long wooden dock on the right side of the cove. A single boat was tied up beside the dock.
“Wow!” Jen said. “That is a big boat!”
“It looks huge from here,” Grant said. “But you’ll be surprised at how small it feels inside. Good thing we left the twins back at the office.”
The Hammond brothers—Mike and Mark—had agreed to stay behind. They would go to work on the case after the evidence was collected.
“Get ready, everyone,” Jason said. He glanced up at the sky. “There’s a storm coming in. Take a look at those clouds. Something tells me we’re in for a rocky night.”
The three Martins welcomed the TAPS team onto the boat.
Lyssa took a few awkward steps across the deck. She knew it would take a while to get her sea legs.
She couldn’t stop staring. The houseboat was just awesome. On the outside, the boat looked like a big, tall speedboat.
The decks were polished wood. There were metal handrails all around the deck. They were so shiny, Lyssa could see her reflection. A short gangplank led from the dock to the boat itself.
Hey! I just walked the plank, Lyssa thought with a smile.
“Thank you for coming,” Mr. Martin said. He led the way into what looked exactly like a normal living room. There was a couch, a coffee table, a couple of chairs. There was even a rug. Big windows on three sides reflected the red setting sun. The only things that felt unusual were the super-low ceilings.
At the front of the boat, Lyssa caught a glimpse of the pilot’s station. There were tons of navigation equipment, a radio, and some round video screens.
Just to her left, she saw a short, steep flight of steps with handrails on both sides.
That must lead to the sleeping cabins and the galley, she thought.
Mr. Martin sat down on the couch. He gestured for everyone else to sit down, and then his expression turned serious. “I want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible,” he said, and glanced at Diana, sitting shyly beside him on the couch.
He’s not very happy to see us, Lyssa thought. Jason said the dad had more trouble believing what his daughter said.
“How quickly can it be done?” Mr. Martin asked. “I don’t want this to drag on. I mean, this is our vacation.”
Grant leaned forward in his chair. He scratched his ear. “We’ll do our best,” he promised. “We can’t really promise a timeline. Let’s see what happens tonight. Then we’ll get in touch.”
Mr. Martin nodded. “Sounds good.”
Lyssa turned to Diana. She liked the girl’s wavy dark hair and bright green eyes. But Diana looked pale and troubled.
“So,” she said to Diana. “Do you like to vacation on the boat every summer?”
“Usually, I do,” Diana said. She tugged nervously at a strand of hair. “We used to go all over. But lately…” Her voice trailed off.
“What Diana is trying to say is that lately we’ve been coming only to Heron’s Point,” Mr. Martin spoke up. “Diana would like a shopping mall everywhere we go. I prefer to get away from the crowds.”
Mrs. Martin smiled. “He’s been very stubborn. He really likes it here.”
“The report you gave us was very clear,” Lyssa said to Diana. “Lots of good details. You gave us a lot to go on.”
“Good,” Diana said quietly. She kept her eyes down. “I… wanted to help. It was… pretty scary.”
“Diana hasn’t been able to sleep at night,” her mother said.
“I keep picturing that creepy man,” Diana said. “Floating. He… he was so close to me.” She shuddered.
Mr. Martin put an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s leave the boat to them now. Okay, Diana? I’m sure they’ll have an answer for you.”
“We’ll see what we can find,” Grant said.
Mr. Martin jumped to his feet. He pulled Diana up. “We better get going. The wind is really picking up.”
“Ready whenever you are,” Mrs. Martin said.
The family was going back to the mainland. They were taking the same boat that brought the TAPS team out to Heron’s Point. A friend of theirs was the pilot.
Then we’ll be all alone out here, Lyssa realized. She gazed out the window. The sun was nearly down. The water had darkened to a charcoal color. Just us and the boat bobbing on the water in the dark… with a ghost on board?
“We’ll be in touch tomorrow, then,” Mr. Martin said. “Come on, you two. Let’s go.”
They swung backpacks over their shoulders. Mrs. Martin had a small suitcase. They made their way onto the dock. Lyssa watched them climb into the small motorboat. A few minutes later, they roared off.
“Okay,” Jason said. “Let’s get the equipment set up. It will be dark before we know it.”
“One good thing about the close quarters,” Jen said. She opened a trunk and began to unpack. “Anything moves or makes a sound? The equipment should pick it right up.”
“Outstanding,” Grant said. “Let’s get on it. Let’s see if we can find that floating old man in the raggedy clothes.”
Soon after dark, the storm hit hard. Heavy rains drummed the deck, sending up a roar. The wind howled. The boat rocked and bumped against the dock.
“Lyssa? You feeling okay?” Lyssa felt Jason’s hand on her shoulder.
“Why? Is my face green?” Lyssa replied.
“It’s too dark to tell,” Jason said.
The boat lurched up, then down. Lyssa’s stomach rose and fell with each toss of the waves.
Despite the storm, they had all worked hard. The equipment was set to go.
“I do feel a little woozy,” Lyssa admitted. “All this tilting up and down. It’s weird. The longer we’re here, the smaller everything feels.”
“Yeah, it’s like the cabin walls are closing in on us,” Jen chimed in. “I swear, I bump into something every time I turn around.”
“Tell you what,” Jason said. “Jen and Lyssa, you take this level. Grant and I will investigate down below.”
“Really? Sounds good.” Lyssa sighed. She felt relieved. But she knew Jason didn’t like small spaces any more than she did. “You’re sure?”
“No worries,” Jason said.
“Everybody ready?” Grant poked his head up from the stairs.
“Oh, yeah,” Lyssa said. “Ready to rock and roll.”
“Okay, then,” Jason said. “Let’s go dark.”
Going dark on a boat really is going dark, Lyssa thought.
She and Jen stood still, waiting for their eyes to adjust. There were some colored lights on the navigation equipment—small red and green lights. But other than that it was total blackness. No streetlights or lights from passing cars. No chance of a nightlight or two down a hall. No moonlight or starlight. The sky was covered by heavy, black storm clouds.
The boat’s motion felt bigger in the dark. Sounds grew louder. The wind moaned. The water went slap, slap, slap, trapped between the boat and the dock. The boat creaked and groaned, rolling on the sharp, steady waves.
And all around them was deep, dark water.
Lyssa shivered. Even with Jen close by,
she felt alone on this small bobbing boat. A tiny speck compared to all this water.
She took a deep breath and shoved these thoughts away. After all, she had a job to do.
“This is Lyssa. I’m in the main cabin with Jen,” she said out loud for the recorder.
“I want to take an EMF reading,” Jen said. “With all this equipment, I expect the magnetic field to be fairly high. I don’t want us to get fooled and think it’s paranormal.” She moved toward the navigation equipment in the front of the boat.
Lyssa stayed toward the back. “What’s the reading?” she called. She had to shout over the howling wind outside.
“Like I thought. It’s pretty high, over five,” Jen called back.
“Makes sense,” Lyssa said. “Even so. A high level in a small space like this could add to the general creep factor.”
“Definitely,” Jen agreed. “Did Diana say she went outside onto the dock?”
“Nope,” Lyssa said. “She said she stayed inside.”
“Well, maybe the high EMF—” Jen started. But she stopped suddenly. “Hey!”
“What is it?” Lyssa asked. “What’s wrong?”
She began to move toward Jen. She took two steps. The boat jerked up, up, up. With a startled cry, Lyssa lurched to one side and crashed into the side of the couch.
“Whoa. I thought I saw something,” Jen called in a trembling voice. “Outside. On the dock.”
Lyssa struggled to her feet. She staggered to the window. She pressed her face against the glass. The glass felt icy cold.
“I—I can’t see anything,” she stammered. “What did you see out there?”
Lyssa couldn’t make out Jen’s reply. “What?” she called. “I can’t hear you.”
Jen appeared at Lyssa’s side. Lyssa jumped. Her forehead smacked against the hard window glass.
“Ouch!” she cried. “I’m getting beat up here!”
“Are you okay?” Jen asked.
“Guess I don’t have my sea legs,” Lyssa said, rubbing her sore forehead. “And I couldn’t hear you, Jen. Why were you whispering?”
“Huh? Whispering? I didn’t whisper,” Jen said.
“I… I heard you whisper something,” Lyssa insisted. “But—”
She stopped.
She heard it again. Another whisper.
Right behind her.
Jen’s mouth dropped open in shock. Her eyes went wide as she turned to Lyssa.
Jen heard it too.
A hoarse whisper. So close in the tiny, dark cabin.
Jen and Lyssa spun around. Lyssa fumbled for the switch on her flashlight and clicked it on. Bright light stabbed through the cabin of the houseboat. It caught the glass of the big window opposite where she and Jen stood.
“Turn it off. Turn it off!” Jen cried. “You’ll scare it away.”
Lyssa cut off the flashlight. “Sorry. It was so close. You heard that, right? Tell me you heard that.”
“I heard it,” Jen said. “It was right behind us. I couldn’t make out any words, though. Could you?”
“No, I couldn’t. Let me see if I can make contact.” Lyssa took a deep, shuddering breath. “Is there anybody here?” she asked quietly, calmly. “I’m Lyssa and this is Jen. Is there someone else here with us?”
As if answering her, the houseboat lurched back and forth. Lyssa grabbed onto Jen. They both struggled to keep their balance.
“Weird. Why is the boat rocking so hard?” Lyssa asked.
“I don’t know,” Jen said. “I think we have to go out there and find out.”
“I knew you were going to say that,” Lyssa said.
Jen was quiet for a moment. Finally, she whispered, “We’re Ghost Hunters. We can do this, right?”
“Right. You go first.”
Jen opened the door. Cold air poured into the houseboat. “Don’t trip,” she warned before stepping out onto the outside deck. Lyssa followed. The rain had stopped, but Lyssa felt the force of the wind at once. It felt like giant hands trying to pluck the two TAPS team members right off the boat.
“Lyssa.” Jen spun around to face her. “Check this out.”
She held up her EMF meter. “It went all the way to over ten,” she said. “That’s a huge jump. It could mean something is here.”
“I don’t see anything, do you?” Lyssa asked.
“No,” Jen answered.
Bam. Bam. BAM BAM BAM !
The boat slammed into the dock. Only the outside railing kept Lyssa and Jen from tumbling overboard.
Jen shivered. “Maybe we should go back inside and wait for the wind to die down a bit. What do you think?”
Lyssa opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. As the winds howled around her, she stared straight ahead. Stared without blinking… without breathing.
Stared at the figure on the dock.
The man who was staring back at her.
As Lyssa stood frozen on the deck, everything went still and silent. She couldn’t hear the wind. She couldn’t feel the rocking and tossing of the boat.
She could only stare at the figure at the far end of the dock. A man… in ragged old clothes.
“Are you seeing this? Please tell me you’re seeing this,” she breathed to Jen.
“Yes,” Jen whispered back. “I see him.”
His face was lost behind shadows. But Lyssa could feel his eyes on her. She knew he was staring back at her.
He wore a cap. It looked like a Navy captain’s cap. She could clearly see the outlines of his large overcoat. The hem ragged and torn, falling over baggy trousers.
She sucked in a breath as the man started to move. Slowly he moved along the dock. Gliding closer.
Lyssa whispered, “He’s not walking. Look, Jen—he’s floating. Off the dock.”
Closer.
I am looking at a real live ghost, Lyssa thought.
For the first time, face-to-face with a ghost.
What if he gets angry? What if he doesn’t want us here?
She gazed around, feeling panic. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
And then suddenly, the apparition stopped moving. It hovered in the air just inches off the dock.
This man… he’s just as Diana described, Lyssa thought.
The figure became hazy. The storm winds seemed to blow him apart. Then he shimmered back together.
He’s dressed for sailing, Lyssa saw. And yes, that was a Navy cap on his head.
Make contact, Lyssa, she told herself. Do your job!
“Um. Hello,” she called. “I’m Lyssa and this is Jen. Can you hear us?”
“We want to know who you are,” Jen spoke up. “Is there something you want to tell us? Something we can do to help you?”
The figure shimmered and faded. The wind seemed to blow him away. Then he reappeared, rippling, shaking.
“Is there a reason you return here?” Lyssa asked. “Is there something we should know about you or about this place?”
Lyssa gasped as the ghostly figure rose into the air. It floated above her. It swayed from side to side. Like a kite carried by a strong breeze.
Lyssa took a step back. But there was nowhere to go. No way to escape from the spirit. Fear gripped her. She wanted to scream, but no sound came. She stood and waited for the ghost to board the boat…
Then he vanished.
Gone.
The sky was black. The dock empty. The wind howled all around.
Lyssa hugged herself tightly. But she couldn’t stop shivering. “Let’s g-go get J-Jason and Grant,” she stammered.
She let Jen lead her back into the cabin.
Out of the wind, she shut her eyes. But she still saw the ghost in front of her. Floating. Shadowy. And totally real!
“Let’s go over it again,” Grant said.
It was a few days later. The TAPS team was in the conference room back in their office.
Lyssa was glad to be back on land. But the excitement of the case hadn’t faded.
“Well, we had qu
ite a bit of paranormal activity on this one,” Grant began. “The voice Lyssa and Jen heard comes through very clearly on the audio.”
“And Lyssa and Jen also had a sighting,” Jason added. “Unfortunately that was out of the range of the video camera. But they both saw the same apparition.”
Mike and his twin, Mark, stared at Lyssa and Jen. “How does it feel?” Mark asked.
“I can tell you how it felt,” Lyssa said. “I was absolutely terrified. It was like every shred of training went right out of my head.”
“The two of us…” Jen started. “It took us a while. Staring at that guy. But we finally got ourselves together. We tried to communicate with him.”
“But he sailed off with the wind,” Lyssa said. She motioned with one hand. “Poof.”
“Well, at least we can tell Mr. Martin that his daughter didn’t make the whole thing up,” Mike said.
“Actually,” Mark started. He flipped open a folder and pulled out several pieces of paper. “We can do better than that.”
The next day, Jason, Lyssa, and Mark returned to the Martins’ houseboat. It was a warm, sunny day. The storm clouds had moved on.
“We think we have some explanations for what your daughter experienced,” Jason told Diana’s parents.
“Not only that,” he continued, “Lyssa and her teammate Jen saw a figure of a man.”
Diana’s face filled with surprise. “You saw him? For real?”
“For real,” Lyssa said. “I’m going to remember it for the rest of my life.”
“Wow.” Diana turned to her dad. “So now we know I’m not going nuts!”
“Honey, I never thought you were going nuts,” her father said. “I just couldn’t understand.”
“Well, maybe this will help,” Mark began. “While these guys were investigating here on the boat, I did some research about Heron’s Point. This whole island was private property until just a couple of years ago.”
“Somebody owned the whole island?” Diana said.
Mark nodded. “The man who owned this island was named Peter Stone. He lived on a houseboat—something like this one. Until there was a tragedy. One day his boat caught fire, and he was trapped inside.”