The Riverboat Phantom by Chris Eboch

Author:Chris Eboch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2009-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

14

I jumped up, but then couldn’t think what to do. The actor was still and stiff, his eyes wide and staring and all the color gone from his face. Then he started shaking violently.

“What’s the matter, man?” Captain Dale grabbed his shoulder. He jerked his hand back. “He’s cold as ice!”

People clustered around the actor. I stood on the bench to see better, balancing against the gentle swaying of the boat. Tania jumped up beside me and grabbed my arm. “The ghost didn’t like what he was hearing. He didn’t realize it was just a joke, I guess. He thought the actor was really going to wreck the boat.”

“So what did he do? Go inside him, take him over, like Rose did with you?”

“No, just kind of grabbed him, like he wanted to shake him.” Tania stood on her toes and craned her neck, clutching my arm for balance. “I can’t quite see. There’s too many people around.”

The group shifted, and Mom led the actor over to a deck chair. “Mr. Simpson! Charlie! Please, are you all right?”

He collapsed into a chair. Tania sighed and loosened her grip on my arm. “Mr. O’Brien is moving away now. Maybe it was hearing the man’s real name that did it. I’m going to go talk to him.” She jumped down and started across the deck.

I hesitated for a minute, wanting to follow her, but not wanting to miss anything here. The actor was blinking and shivering. Maggie grabbed a coat from a chair and wrapped it around his shoulders.

Bruce bounced over, grinning like a maniac. “This is amazing! Do you realize what happened? It had to be the ghost! He heard us talking about him, and he…he…” He paused a minute, like he wasn’t sure what Henry O’Brien had been doing. “He wanted to give us a message, tell us how he felt about all this, or something. Amazing!”

I had forgotten about Madame Natasha, but of course now she strode into the middle of the group. Her voice rang out. “I shall talk to him!” She knelt before the actor, then glanced over to make sure a camera was trained on her and running. “Mr. O’Brien,” she said in a low, spooky voice. “Henry O’Brien! Do not possess this poor man. He means you no harm. We only want to help you.”

The actor stared at her, then glanced around as if looking for help. Madame Natasha threw her head back and moaned. “Oh, Henry O’Brien, let us help you find peace!”

The actor looked at Bruce. “I…I don’t think he’s here anymore. I mean, that weird cold feeling is gone. But if you want me to pretend—”

I got up. The show wasn’t over, but there wasn’t anything else I needed to see.

I spotted Tania across the deck and went to her. She was standing by the railing, turned a little sideways. I tried to figure out where she was looking, so I could avoid walking through the ghost again.

She was frowning, listening to something.

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