1 GHOST SKILLS

BY EDGAR AWARD WINNER DORI HILLESTAD BUTLER The HAUNTED LIBRARY

CHAPTER 1 GHOST SKILLS Cuckoo!... Cuckoo!... Cuckoo!... Cuckoo!... "Kaz!" Beckett said sharply. "Are you listening?" Kaz was listening. But he was listening to the cuckoo clock chiming in the library entryway. He was not listening to Beckett. "What's the matter, boy?" Beckett asked as he floated around the craft room. "Why are you so distracted?"

Kaz bit his bottom lip. "Claire's late," he said. Claire was a solid. She lived in an apartment above the library with her family. She could see ghosts like Kaz and Beckett when they weren't glowing. And she could hear them when they weren't wailing. No one knew why. More important, Claire was Kaz's friend. Kaz and Claire hadn't been able to spend much time together lately because Claire had started school last week. She didn't get home until three twenty

in the afternoon. Sometimes even three thirty. But now it was four o'clock. Claire had never been this late before. "What if something bad happened to her?" Kaz said. "I'm sure she's fine," Beckett said. "You should be happy she's late. That gives you more time to practice your ghost skills." Kaz groaned. Beckett had started working with Kaz on his ghost skills while Claire was at school. He said Kaz's skills were an embarrassment to all ghosts. "No groaning!" Beckett barked. "Let's get back to work. It takes a lot of concentration to pick up a solid object. You have to send all your energy to your hands as you reach for the object. Watch!" Beckett stared hard at the wall of books. Kaz watched as Beckett sloooowly pulled a red book from the shelf. "You can't think about anything other than picking up the object," Beckett said, his eyes still

fixed on the book in his hands. "If you let your mind wander, the object will fall." The book slipped through Beckett's hands and hit the floor with a loud thud. Kaz's ghost dog, Cosmo, yelped in surprise. "Now try to pick up that book," Beckett told Kaz. Kaz wanted to learn to pick up solid objects. If he could master that one skill, it would be so much easier to play cards or board games with Claire, because then he'd be able to hold his own cards and move his own game pieces. Arms outstretched, Kaz kicked his feet and dove for the book. "Aaaah!" he screamed as his hands passed through it. "Don't scream!" Beckett ordered. "Concentrate!" Kaz stared hard at the book, like he'd seen Beckett do. He clenched his teeth... and reached for the book. His hand passed through again.

"You're not concentrating," Beckett said. "I am, too," Kaz said as he gave his hand a shake. He hated the feel of solid objects passing through his body. "It's just hard." And Beckett wasn't a very patient teacher. Not like Kaz's mom or pops. Or his grandparents. Or even his big brother, Finn. Kaz sighed. He missed his family. He hadn't seen them in so long. Not since the old schoolhouse, where they all used to live, was torn down and all the ghosts inside had blown their separate ways. "Try again," Beckett said. Kaz was tired. He didn't want to try again. But he tried one more time, anyway. Pick it up... pick it up... pick it up, he told his hands. He couldn't possibly concentrate any harder than he was already concentrating. It was no use. His hands passed right through the book. "Aha!" came a voice from the doorway. "I