7 A GHOSTLY WARNING

CHAPTER 7 A GHOSTLY WARNING What happened?" Maddie asked as she and Claire moved slowly through the children's center. Kaz and Little John drifted above them. They all stared at the floor in dismay. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of books strewn around. "It looks like there was an earthquake," Claire said. "This wasn't an earthquake," said Lynette. "Did someone break into the library?" Maddie asked. "We don't think so," Andrea replied. "There's no sign of forced entry. Nothing seems to be missing. Nothing is out of place anywhere else in

the building. But for some reason, most of the kids' books were on the floor this morning." A light-haired boy pulled on Claire's shirt. "It was a ghost," he said. "Probably the same one who was here yesterday." Little John gasped. "Is he talking about me?" he asked. "Does he think I made this mess?" Kaz remembered that boy from yesterday. He saw Little John. He also said he saw a ghost with chains in the library once. "It wasn't the ghost from yesterday," said a girl with long braids. She'd been here yesterday, too. She was the one Little John wanted to play with. "How do you know, Claire?" the light-haired boy asked the girl with the braids.

Kaz, Little John, and Claire all exchanged looks. The girl with the braids was named Claire, too? "Because he was a nice ghost," Claire-with- the-braids said. Little John beamed. "I don't think it was a ghost," Andrea said. "Don't be too sure about that," Lynette said. "The security guard showed us video footage from last night. We could see books falling off the shelves on the video. But there wasn't anyone there knocking them off. How do you explain that if it wasn't a ghost?" "I don't know," Andrea said. "But there's got to be another explanation." "Maybe whoever did it knew where to stand so they wouldn't get caught on camera?" Claire suggested. "It's not just all the books on the floor," Lynette said. "The ghost is trying to communicate with us. Look." She pointed at a row of computers.

The same message appeared in large letters on each screen: Cancel the Halloween party. Or else! It was signed The Library Ghost. "This is a very dangerous ghost," Lynette said. "We need to cancel this party, and we need to cancel it now. Otherwise there could be trouble." Maddie looked worried. "We're not going to cancel the party, are we?" she asked Andrea. Andrea rubbed her forehead. "I don't know yet," she said in a tired voice. "First we need to clean up this mess. Then we'll decide what to do about the party." "We'll help clean it up. Won't we, Claire?" Maddie said. "Of course," Claire said. She and Maddie started picking up books. "Put them in alphabetical order," said a lady who was stacking books on a cart behind them. "We need to find out who did this," Claire whispered to the ghosts. "I'm going to be busy here for a while. Can you guys go look for clues?"

"C, K, and LJ Detectives to the rescue!" Little John said, punching his fist in the air. LJ Detectives? Kaz thought with a raised eyebrow. But he wasn't going to argue. The ghosts wafted past the security guard, who stared intently at all three computer screens in front of her. Kaz circled back to see what was on those screens. It looked like several different views around the library.

"Hurry up, Kaz," Little John called from the dark auditorium. Kaz swam into the auditorium and followed his brother up over the rows of chairs to the third floor of the library. They floated past the checkout desk and above the escalator that had quit working yesterday. Kaz was glad to see that it was working again today. "Where are you, you ghost?" Little John called, looking all around. "We don't know for sure that it's a ghost," Kaz pointed out. "It would take a lot of energy for one ghost to knock all those solid books on the floor. And even more energy to push keys on keyboards and type that warning on all those computer screens." "If it wasn't a ghost, who was it?" Little John asked. "Someone who doesn't want the library to have a Halloween party," Kaz replied. "Like who?" Little John asked.