9 KAZ'S HARD CHOICE

CHAPTER 9 KAZ'S HARD CHOICE Claire, Maddie, and Kaz took the elevator down to the parking garage. "Where did you last see him?" Claire asked as they walked past the parking attendant. The parking attendant watched them with concern. "I'll show you," Kaz said, swimming ahead. "It was somewhere around here." "Is there another level to the parking garage?" Claire asked. Maddie shook her head. "No. It's just one level." The parking attendant came out of his booth. "Hey, you kids," he said, walking toward them.

"What do you think you're doing down here?" "We're"—Maddie glanced at Claire—"looking for something we lost." Claire nodded quickly. "What did you lose?" the parking attendant asked.

"A book," Claire said at the same time that Maddie said, "Her brother." They looked at each other with surprise. Now the parking attendant crossed his arms. "Have you seen anything... strange down here today?" Claire asked, changing the subject. "What do you mean by 'strange'?" the parking attendant asked. "She means ghosts," Maddie said as Claire shifted uncomfortably. "Have you seen any ghosts down here?" "Oh," the parking attendant said. "Not today. I usually see them when I work the night shift. They come up through the floor when the library closes." "They do?" Claire said. Kaz couldn't tell if the parking attendant was telling the truth or not. The only way this guy would see those ghosts was if they were glowing. "Where do they come from?" Maddie asked. "What's under here?" She tapped her heel against

the floor. "I don't know," the parking attendant said. "Seattle Public Library Ghost Headquarters? All I know is, they come up when the library closes at night and they go back down when the library reopens the next morning." How? Kaz wondered. How do they get through all that concrete? "There isn't anything under the library," a reference librarian told Claire and Maddie a few minutes later. His name badge said DAVID. "Really?" Maddie asked. Kaz hovered above them. "Really," David said. "This building opened in 2004. It was built on top of the old library, which opened in 1960. And that building was built on top of another old library. There have been three different libraries on this same spot. But there's nothing under the library."

"Are you sure?" Claire asked, resting her elbows on the desk. "Maybe there's a secret room left over from one of the old libraries." "Like in the Underground," Maddie said. "In fact, maybe part of the Underground is under the library!" She said "the Underground" like it was a place you could go. "No. The Underground is below Pioneer Square," David said. "That's where the original city of Seattle was. Did you know that?" "No." Claire shook her head.

David leaned back in his chair. "Well, back in the 1800s, the city of Seattle sat quite a bit lower than it does today," he explained. "This was a problem because the area was prone to flooding. People who lived up the hill had flush toilets that emptied into the bay. But the toilets often backed up during high tide and spilled sewage into the streets." "Ew," Claire said as Maddie made a face.