1 Yes, We Do Haunted Houses

BY EDGAR AWARD WINNER DORI HILLESTAD BUTLER The HAUNTED LIBRARY THE GHOST IN THE ATTIC

CHAPTER 1 YES, WE DO HAUNTED HOUSES "What's the matter, Kaz?" Claire asked as she shook the dice in her hand. "You look so sad." Kaz was sad. He and Claire were playing a dice game in the craft room. Claire rolled the dice for both of them. Kaz couldn't help noticing that Claire always seemed to roll better for herself than she did for him. But that wasn't why Kaz was sad. He was sad because it had been three weeks since he'd lost his haunt. And three weeks since he'd seen his mom, his dad, his brother Little John, or his dog, Cosmo.

It had been even longer than that since he'd seen his brother Finn, or his grandparents. Mom and Dad always said that maybe one day Finn, Grandmom, and Grandpop would find their way back to their old haunt. But Kaz knew that would never happen now. Their haunt was gone. And his entire family was gone, too. The wind had carried Kaz over fields... houses... trees... and into Claire's library. Kaz had no idea what had happened to the rest of his family. Or if he'd ever see them again. "Are you thinking about your family?" Claire asked. "Sort of," Kaz admitted. Claire was a solid, but she wasn't like other solids. She could see ghosts when they weren't glowing. And she could hear ghosts when they weren't wailing. Kaz was a ghost, but he wasn't like other ghosts. He couldn't glow. He couldn't wail. And he didn't like to pass through solid objects.

"Don't worry, Kaz," Claire said. "We'll find your family. That's why we started our detective agency, remember?" Beckett snickered. He was the other ghost who lived at the library. Beckett spent most of his time in his secret room behind the bookcase in the craft room. But sometimes he came out to read library books. "What?" Claire narrowed her eyes at Beckett. "What are you laughing at?" "Nothing," Beckett said, turning a page in a book. "If you want to call yourselves detectives, it isn't any of my business. But you've only solved one case and it wasn't even a hard one.", "It was, too!" Claire argued. Kaz had to agree. He had thought he and Claire would never figure out who, or what, was haunting the library. "If you say so," Beckett said. "But let me ask you this: Who's going to hire a kid and a ghost to solve a mystery?"

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"People who have ghosts in their houses," Claire said, like it was obvious. Beckett snickered again. "We won't laugh at them like grown-up detectives would," Claire said. "We'll go to their houses and find their ghosts. And even if those ghosts don't want to talk to me, they'll talk to Kaz. Because he's a ghost like they are." "How is Kaz going to go anywhere?" Beckett asked. "He can't go into the Outside. He'll blow away." Kaz hadn't thought about that. But Claire shrugged like it was no big deal. "We'll figure something out." "How will those solids—" Beckett began. "Don't call us solids," Claire interrupted. Kaz knew Claire didn't like that word. But that didn't stop Beckett. "How will those solids"—he put extra emphasis on the word "solids" just to annoy Claire—"find out about your detective agency? Will you put an ad in the