5 A GHOSTLY WARNING

CHAPTER 5 A GHOSTLY WARNING Kaz grabbed the bead and squeezed it in his hand. "Mom!" he called, looking all around. "MOM!" Kaz swam back under the curtain, through the cafetorium, and out into the hallway. "MOM! It's me, Kaz. Where are you?" "Did you find her?" Claire asked as she joined Kaz in the hallway. There weren't any other solids around, so Kaz could talk freely. "No, but I found this." He opened his hand so Claire could see the ghost

bead. "It's from my mom's necklace." Claire's eyes grew large. "Where did you find it?" "Up by the ceiling on the other side of that curtain." Claire's eyes grew even larger. "That's where Jonathan saw the ghost yesterday. He must have seen your mom." "I think so, too," Kaz said. Claire grinned. "Well, don't just hover here in the hallway. Go find her!" "Okay!" Kaz said. He put the bead in his pocket and swam away.

"Mom?" he called as he swam up one hallway and down another. "Mom? Are you here?" But his mom didn't come out when Kaz called her. And Kaz couldn't find her anywhere. He checked all the classrooms a second time. He checked the library. He checked the bathrooms. Even the bathrooms that said GIRLS on the door. He called for his mom again and again. But he never found her. Or any other ghost. That could mean only one thing: His mom wasn't at Claire's school anymore. So, where did she go? Kaz wondered. Did she accidentally blow into the Outside through an open window? Did Jonathan scare her away? Or did she go into the Outside on purpose? Maybe she was searching for Kaz and the rest of their family just like Kaz was. Maybe she went into the Outside because she wanted the wind to carry her to another building. A loud bell rang. Classroom doors banged open and kids poured into the hallways. Kaz really

hated those bells. He swam to the ceiling so no one would accidentally pass through him. He wrapped his hand around the ghost bead in his pocket. School was done for the day. Kaz glided along the ceiling until he found Claire. She was by her locker, putting papers into her bag. Claire smiled at Kaz. She turned her back to all the kids in the hall and whispered to Kaz, "Did you find your mom?" Kaz shook his head. "I don't think she's here anymore," he said glumly. "I'm sorry," Claire said. Kaz held the ghost bead in his hand and gazed out the big cafetorium windows into the Outside. He'd been so close to finding his mom. So close. He didn't dare go into the Outside to look for her. Who knew where the wind would carry him? It was bad enough that he'd lost his family. He

didn't want to lose Claire, too. Instead, Kaz drifted around the cafetorium and watched the kids who were working on the play. They had divided themselves into two groups: (1) performers and (2) backstage workers. Claire sat with the performers. They had pushed two big tables together and were reading their parts out loud. The backstage workers sat around another table and talked about the props they would need and the sets they would build and how they would build them. Mr. Hartshorn strolled back and forth between the two groups. "We need a sword," said a boy in a red shirt. He was one of the backstage workers. "A sword?" A girl with a ponytail tilted her head at him. "What for?" "For Jack to fight the giant!" the boy replied. "Duh!" "We also need a house for Jack and his mom," another girl said. She turned to Mr. Hartshorn.

"Could we use that same house we used for Hansel and Gretel? I saw the pieces for it backstage." "Sure, Kenya," Mr. Hartshorn said. "We've used that house in several different plays. I'll set it up onstage before our next rehearsal." "We need a beanstalk, too," said a boy with glasses. "It shouldn't be hard to make one. We just need a pole. We can cut a bunch of leaves out of green construction paper and tape them to the pole. Then voilà! We have a beanstalk." "Good idea, Ethan," said Mr. Hartshorn. "Is anyone writing all this down?" "I can," said the girl with the ponytail. She grabbed a notebook from under her chair. "Thanks, Gia," said Mr. Hartshorn. "I'll make the sword!" said the boy in the red