4 WOOOOOOOO!

CHAPTER 4 Woooooooo! There was only one thing for Kaz to do. SHRINK! Kaz took a deep breath and shrank down... down... down. Then he swam up to the paper birds and tried to hide among them. The ghost man's head popped back through the wall of books. He looked around. "Where are you, boy?" he asked. Kaz pressed his lips together. He knew the ghost man wanted to help him, but he couldn't risk that girl spotting him. So he remained quiet.

Claire moved slowly around the table, her eyes scanning every inch of the room. "Aha!" she cried, pointing at Kaz. "There you are!" But solids can't swim in the air like ghosts can.

Kaz was safe. For the moment. The ghost man's hand appeared through the wall. "Over here, boy." He waved Kaz toward him. "She can't follow you back here." Kaz stayed where he was. "What's back there, anyway?" Claire asked the ghost man. "Some sort of secret room?" She craned her neck as though she could see into it through the rows of books. The ghost man ignored her. "Hurry up," he said to Kaz. "Unless you'd rather stay with this solid girl." No. Kaz certainly didn't want to stay with Claire. But he didn't want to pass through that wall of books, either. Passing through a wall of books would be even worse than staying in a room with a solid girl who could see him. She'd get tired of chasing him eventually. Wouldn't she? "Suit yourself," the ghost man said. His head and hand disappeared. Kaz ducked behind another paper bird. Claire's

eyes followed as he drifted from one bird to the next. Claire opened her bag and slowly pulled out one of those books along with a tall, skinny object. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said again as she pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. Kaz wasn't taking any chances. Keeping one eye on Claire, he moved slowly among the paper birds. It was interesting how she held the tall, skinny object between her thumb and first finger and

moved it across the page of her book. Kaz knew there was a word for what she was doing. That word was writing. Claire was writing in her book. Kaz's mom and grandpop could pick up a solid piece of chalk and write or draw with it on a chalkboard. But it took a lot of energy and a lot of skill to do that. More skill than Kaz or either of his brothers had. "What's your name?" Claire asked after a little while. At first Kaz didn't answer. But was there really any harm in letting her know his name? "Kaz," he finally said. "Kaz what?" "Just Kaz." "I'm Claire. Claire Kendall." She held out her hand for Kaz to shake. Kaz did not swim down to take it. "Did you just get here today?" Claire asked as she moved her writing thing across the book again. She made it sound like he'd come here on

purpose. "The wind brought me here," Kaz said. "Today?" "Yes." Kaz nodded. "From where?" "The old schoolhouse." "What old schoolhouse?" "I don't know," Kaz said. Was there more than one old schoolhouse in the Outside? Kaz cleared his throat. "Can I ask a question now?" Claire stopped writing. "I guess," she said, looking at him expectantly. "How come you can see me when I'm not glowing?" "What's glowing?" "It's what ghosts do when we want solids like you to see us. But I can't do it, so you shouldn't be able to see me." "Solids like me?" Claire raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you call people who aren't ghosts?" "Yes."