The Clock Struck Midnight

Book excerpt: Bailee Ballew is a sharp-looking, happy-go-lucky young bartender in Asheville, North Carolina. On a whim, she sells her home and acreage and is suddenly in the possession of a small fortune. Feeling she needs a break near the end of the summer, she decides to take a much-needed vacation to the Outer Banks, a place she loved visiting while growing up. Before settling in, she takes a ferry out to Ocracoke Island, meets a nice lady bar owner, who wanted to move, and before she knew it she found herself buying the bar and moving into the upstairs apartment. After changing the bar's name to the Salty Dawg, hiring a crew and a band she was raring to start her life anew. But what happened after that was more life altering than she could have ever imagined. The notorious pirate, Blackbeard, had used called the island as a base. At a gift shop which sold souvenirs, she purchased a replica '"pieces of eight" gold coin which she placed on a chain around her neck. What she wasn't expecting was that by rubbing the coin she had summoned the ghost of Blackbeard himself!