2 THE FIVE O’CLOCK GHOST

CHAPTER 2 THE FIVE O'CLOCK GHOST Kaz wanted to go with Claire. He wanted to see whether the five o'clock ghost was someone from his family. But what if Cosmo passed through that window while Kaz was out with Claire? What if Cosmo blew away? "I better not," Kaz said, holding tight to his dog. "I should stay here and keep an eye on Cosmo." "Cosmo can shrink," Claire pointed out. "We could bring him in the water bottle with us." Hmm, Kaz thought. We could... "He might get even more riled up if you take

him with you," Beckett warned. "Whatever's got him so excited is in the Outside." Okay, maybe not, Kaz thought. "Yes, but Kaz will hold on to Cosmo," Claire told Beckett. "Come on, Kaz. You have to come with me. We're C and K Ghost Detectives. We solve cases together." She held the open water bottle out to him.

Beckett shrugged. "It's up to you, Kaz," he said. "As Claire pointed out, I'm not in charge of you." Kaz didn't know what to do. On the one hand, it was nice to make decisions for himself. On the other hand, sometimes making decisions was hard. "Okay," he said finally. "I'll come." "Yay!" said Claire as Beckett shook his head in disapproval. Kaz let Cosmo go again. Then he shrank down... down... down and swam inside Claire's water bottle. "Woof! Woof!" Cosmo barked at Kaz. The dog looked HUGE to Kaz from inside the water bottle. "Come here, boy!" Kaz clapped his hands together. "You've ridden in Claire's bottle before. All you have to do is shrink!" Cosmo sniffed the bottle. He let out another short bark, then shrank down... down... down and swam inside the bottle with Kaz.

"Good job," Claire said as she plopped the top on. "Let's go!" She hurried toward the entryway, the water bottle swinging at her side. Beckett drifted after them. "Grandma?" Claire called. "In here," Grandma Karen called back from the fiction room. Claire poked her head around the corner. "I need to go out for a little bit. Is that okay?" Grandma Karen glanced up at the clock on the wall behind her desk. "Now?" she asked. "It's almost dinnertime." "Isn't that what I said?" Beckett asked Claire and Kaz. Grandma Karen could see and hear ghosts when she was Claire's age, but she couldn't do it anymore. She knew that Claire saw ghosts, though. And she knew that Kaz, Beckett, and Cosmo lived here in the library. She even knew that Claire and Kaz were trying to find Kaz's family. Claire's parents didn't know any of that.

"It's important," Claire said, patting her water bottle. She had to be careful what she said, because there were other solids in the fiction room. Solids who didn't know about Kaz or Beckett or Cosmo. Grandma Karen understood what Claire was trying to say. "Well, your parents are away at that convention this week. I guess you and I can have dinner a little later tonight," she said. "What about her homework?" Beckett cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "Aren't you going to ask her about her homework?" "I want you home before dark," Grandma Karen said to Claire. "Okay." Claire nodded. "Thanks, Grandma." Beckett groaned. "You are entirely too easy on that child when her parents are away," he told Grandma Karen. Once Kaz and Claire were outside, Claire took out her phone to get directions to David's house. "It's not far," she said as she marched up the

street. Cosmo's ears stood straight up and his nose twitched. Something in the Outside had caught his attention again. Kaz tightened his hold on his dog. Claire turned a corner, and they saw a solid dog and its owner coming toward them. The dog was on a leash, jogging beside a woman who had buds in her ears. "Woof! Woof!" Cosmo barked at the jogger and her dog. "WOOF! WOOF!" the solid dog barked back as it lunged at Claire's water bottle. That dog was smaller than Cosmo when Cosmo was his normal size, but it had a much scarier bark. "Daisy! No!" The woman jerked on the leash and pulled her dog back. She walked way around Claire on the grass. Cosmo struggled to break free from Kaz, but Kaz held on tight. The woman pulled one of the buds from her ears. "I'm sorry," she said to Claire as her dog