6 MORE SEARCHING

CHAPTER 6 MORE SEARCHING There's one place we haven't looked for your brother," Claire said as Kaz drifted over to the window and gazed into the Outside. It was getting dark out there. Kaz turned. "Where?" "Where Beckett went. Behind that bookcase in the back of the craft room," Claire said. "I think there's a secret room back there. I've seen Beckett go back there a lot. But like he told you before, I can't get in there. There's no door or anything." "You think Finn could be in there?" Kaz asked hopefully. "I think you should go find out."

Kaz agreed. But there was one problem. "I'm not very good at passing through walls," he admitted. "Oh," Claire said. "Well, is your brother good at it?" Kaz almost laughed. "Finn is good at everything." "Then all you have to do is stand or"—she glanced down at Kaz's feet, which hovered a few inches off the ground—"float in front of the bookcase and call his name. If he hears you calling him, he'll come out. Won't he?" "I don't know," Kaz said. "I've been calling him for an hour." "Maybe he hasn't heard you," Claire said. "Or... maybe he's hiding from you. Like a game." Like hide-and-seek? Kaz thought. Finn loved hide-and-seek. But this wasn't a time for games. Kaz and Finn's haunt was gone. Mom, Pops,

Grandmom, Grandpop, Little John, and Cosmo were all gone. If Finn was here, he and Kaz had to stick together. Kaz swam down the stairs... across the entryway... into the craft room... and all the way to the bookcase at the back of the room. "Finn?" he called. "It's me, Kaz. Are you back there, Finn?" Kaz waited. Finn did not appear. "Finn?" Kaz said again. He turned his ear toward the bookcase and listened.

He didn't hear anything. Kaz stared at the bookcase. Passing through a wall was something almost every ghost could do. Even Little John could do it. There was no reason Kaz shouldn't be able to do it, too. He stuck out his finger and sloooowly moved it toward the bookcase. No! As much as he wanted to, he just couldn't bring himself to step through that wall of books. Finn would have to come to him. If he was even back there.

The truth was, Finn could be anywhere. He could be hiding in some secret room behind the bookcase. He could be hiding someplace else in the library. Or he could be miles away from here. The entryway seemed to be the exact center of the library, so Kaz swam back in there. Then he yelled as loud as he could so Finn would hear him no matter where he was. "NO GAMES, FINN! IF YOU'RE IN THIS LIBRARY, COME OUT! COME OUT RIGHT NOW!" He paused to take a breath, then added, "I HAVE TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR HAUNT! I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT MOM, POPS, AND LITTLE JOHN! AND I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT COSMO!" Kaz waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finn did not appear. Kaz's shoulders sagged. Claire slowly walked over to him and tried to

touch his shoulder, but her hand passed right through him. "Aaaah!" Kaz darted away. "Don't do that!" "What?" Claire asked. "What'd I do?" "You made your hand pass through me. I don't like that. It makes me feel funny." "Huh," Claire said. "It just makes me feel cold." She pulled out her book and wrote that down. While she was writing, Kaz said, "I guess you were right earlier. Finn's not here. Beckett must be the ghost all those... kids saw earlier." "Probably," Claire said. She strolled over to the big plant where the kids had said they'd seen the ghost. "But you know what? I've never actually seen him glow. I didn't see him today. And I didn't see him any of those other days, either." "So...?" Kaz wasn't sure what she was getting at. "So, I can't prove that it was Beckett," Claire