8 LOST GHOST

CHAPTER 8 LOST GHOST The crying was coming from above them. Kaz and Little John followed the sound up, up, up. They passed headfirst through a metal ceiling and into the bottom shelf of the dumbwaiter compartment. That was where they found a tiny ghost boy sobbing in the corner. "Aha!" Little John cried. "Found you!" The ghost boy jumped when he heard Little John's voice. He quickly darted through the back of the dumbwaiter and disappeared through the wall. "Little John!" Kaz exclaimed. "You scared him!"

"I didn't mean to," Little John said. "Let's go catch him!" They passed through the side of the dumbwaiter and looked around. "Where'd he go?" Kaz asked as he and Little John exp-a-a-a-a-a-nded. They swam to the railing and scanned the living room below. "There!" Little John pointed. The ghost boy hovered near a purple chair. "He's fast!" Kaz said. They swam down to the living room. The other ghost glanced up with alarm, then dived headfirst through the carpet. Kaz and Little John followed him through the second-floor book- sorting area... through the first-floor world- languages area... all the way down to a dark parking garage. When the other ghost swam through the garage floor, Kaz and Little John followed him there, too. But the garage floor was different from the other floors. It was made of thick, heavy concrete

that was hard to swim through. Kaz couldn't see. He couldn't hear. And he didn't feel like he was getting anywhere. He was starting to feel skizzy. Really skizzy. He tried to turn around, but he had no idea where he was or how far around he'd turned. He flapped his arms and kicked his legs. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. If he didn't get out of here soon, he was going to spew! Finally, Kaz popped back out in the parking garage. He breathed a sigh of relief. But now he was alone in the parking garage.

Where was Little John? Where was that other ghost? Did they get through all that concrete? Were they in some underground room? I better go back into that concrete and look for them, Kaz thought to himself. He saw a car coming. It was going pretty slow, but still Kaz didn't want it to drive through him. He shot up to the ceiling and waited for the car to pass below him. Once it did, he floated back down to the floor. "Here goes nothing," he muttered. He took a deep breath, then dived headfirst back through the concrete. He pumped his arms and kicked his legs, but it was just like before. The concrete was too heavy to swim through. Too thick. He couldn't do it. He had to turn back. He swam and swam and swam until he was back in the parking garage. Now what? he wondered, his heart racing.

Surely, Little John would come back. Kaz just had to wait for him. A bell dinged, and Kaz whirled around. It was the elevator. A solid lady stepped out. She stopped at a booth and gave a man some money. He stamped a card and handed it to her. Then she walked over to a silver car, got in, and drove away. Kaz floated around the parking garage, careful to avoid the ramp that led to the Outside. He didn't want to blow away from the library. He watched people drive into the garage. And he watched people drive out. He saw a guy get out of a dirty green truck near the back wall. Hey, that guy looks familiar, Kaz thought. He watched the guy walk toward him. It was Bill, the guy from the fish market! The one who scared tourists by making that weird fish pop up. What's he doing here? Kaz wondered. He wished he could follow Bill up into the library, but

he needed to wait for Little John. Where was Little John? Was he ever coming back? How long had Kaz been waiting, anyway? What if Claire and Maddie were ready to leave the library? Claire didn't know where Kaz was. What if they left without him and Little John? Kaz wondered if Little John could hear him. "Little John?" he called. Then he yelled: "LITTLE JOHN!!!" Nothing. Kaz waited a little longer. Finally, he decided to go find Claire. He swam up through the ceiling and came out between the first-floor elevators and the security guard's desk. Kaz stared. Bill from the fish market was chatting with the security guard! They seemed awfully friendly, smiling and laughing with each other.