3 SWIM!

CHAPTER 3 SWIM! The solid girl looked right at Kaz, as though she could actually see him. Kaz glanced down at himself. Was he glowing? No. Then there was no way this girl could see him. Could she? Kaz swam to the right. Claire's eyes followed him to the right. He swam to the left. Claire's eyes followed him to the left. He waved his hand in front of Claire's face and she blinked.

Kaz stared, wide-eyed. "C-can you see me?" he whispered. "Yes." Kaz gasped. "And you can hear me, too?" "Of course." "Aaaaah!" Kaz shrieked. He'd never heard of a solid who could see ghosts when they weren't glowing. He'd never heard of a solid who could hear ghosts when they weren't wailing. This girl could do both. Was she some sort of magical solid girl? Whatever she was, she scared Kaz. He turned and swam away as fast as he could. "Where are you going?" Claire called as she held tight to her green bag and ran after him. She chased him into the nonfiction room and followed him up one row of bookshelves and down another. She could run almost as fast as Kaz could swim. "Young lady!" An older solid lady tapped her cane on the floor. "Does your grandma let you run in the library?"

Claire slowed to a fast walk, but still she stayed right with Kaz. She followed him into the fiction room, then back through the entryway and into a brightly colored room with low bookshelves. The sign on the door read: CHILDREN'S ROOM. Most of the solids in here were Kaz and Claire's size. Or smaller. Kaz sailed right over their heads. Oh no! Another open window! Kaz banked to the left and swam back the way they'd come. Claire spun on her heel and zoomed after him. Kaz swam up to the ceiling. But swimming along the ceiling in this place was scary, too.

There were round, bright things up there that felt dangerously hot when Kaz swam too close. Even worse, this room had a—Kaz didn't know what it was—some sort of whirly thing in the middle of the ceiling. Like the Outside wind, it pullllled Kaz toward it and blew him around and around in circles really, really fast. "HELP!" Kaz screamed, his arms and legs flailing. But who would help him? His family wasn't here. As he spun around and around and around, he saw Claire touch a button on the wall. The whirly thing in the middle of the ceiling slowed down. It slowed enough that Kaz could break away. Whoa. Now Kaz felt skizzy. Really skizzy. Before he knew what was happening, his stomach heaved and his insides spewed all over Claire. "Ew!" she cried, leaping out of the way. "I didn't know ghosts could throw up."

Two small solid girls looked at Claire like she was crazy. They couldn't see Kaz, so they probably couldn't see the spew on Claire's arm, either. Claire wiped the spew away with the bottom of her shirt as the two girls hurried away. Kaz's stomach felt better now. He kicked his legs and swam to the next room. "Hey, stop!" Claire called, running after him. "Come back! I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk." Kaz didn't believe her. She was a solid. His family always said: Never trust a solid.

He swam from room to room to room... through the entryway... and back through all the rooms. Again and again and again. Claire never lagged far behind. Kaz's arms and legs were starting to ache. He didn't know how much longer he could swim. Just then, another ghost—a ghost man—swam out from between two bookshelves. He was about Pops's age, and he wore a fancy black jacket and matching top hat. "This is getting painful to watch," the ghost man said as he swam alongside Kaz. "Do you want to get away from that pesky solid?" Kaz could only nod. He was too tired to speak. "Then follow me!" The ghost man darted out ahead. With a burst of energy, Kaz swam after him. Claire followed close behind. They zipped through the children's room... through the entryway... and into a small room at the back of the entryway. The craft room. There