5 LITTLE BOY BLUE

CHAPTER 5 LITTLE BOY BLUE You came back," David's little brother, Ben, said as he strolled into the living room. "Yes. I brought some special equipment this time to help me find your ghosts," Claire said. She peered at Ben through her "ghost glass." But neither Claire nor Kaz saw any ghosts. Ben crossed his arms. "Ally says you're probably a fake," he told Claire. "Who's Ally?" Claire asked. "Our big sister," Ben replied. "I didn't know you had a sister," Claire said to David.

David shrugged. "She's thirteen. She's supposed to watch us after school, but all she does is sit in her room and text her friends." "I saw her yesterday," Kaz told Claire. "That's exactly what she was doing. Sitting in her room, texting her friends." "Hm," Claire grunted. She shifted the antenna on her ghost catcher. Then with the ghost glass in one hand and the ghost catcher in the other, she started moving sloooowly around the room. "Do you see any ghosts?" David asked. "Are they here yet?" "I'm not sure," Claire said. Ben set his car on the floor and wandered over to the musical instrument in the corner. Kaz was curious what that instrument was, so he and Cosmo swam over to see. It had keys that looked like piano keys, but they weren't all on the same row. There were two rows. And lots of buttons. Ben flipped a switch on the instrument, and the buttons labeled FLUTE 1, VIOLIN, and FRENCH HORN

lit up. Ben started playing a song with one finger. Kaz knew that song. It was called "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." His mom used to sing it to him, Finn, and Little John. "What are you doing, Ben?" David said. "You can't play the organ now." "Why?" Ben asked. "Because Claire's going to try to catch our ghosts, and we need to be able to hear them when they come," David explained. "I don't want to hear them," Ben said. He turned off the FLUTE 1 and VIOLIN buttons, and turned on the FLUTE 2 and CLARINET buttons. Then he started playing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" all over again. It sounded completely different with the different buttons pushed. Kaz was fascinated. He noticed one of the buttons said TRIANGLE. Kaz loved the sound of a triangle. They'd had one back at the old schoolhouse. He wondered how "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" would sound with the

TRIANGLE button pushed. Without thinking, Kaz touched his finger to the button. He'd never been able to turn a solid switch or push a solid button, so he didn't expect anything to happen. But the button slid forward... and when it did, the sound through the organ changed. K

az stared wide-eyed. Ben pulled his fingers back from the keys as if he'd been burned. "D-did you see that?" he cried. "That button changed all by itself!" "And it's not even five o'clock," David said. "The ghost is early today!" Claire glared at Kaz, the ghost glass dangling at her side. "Sorry," Kaz said to Claire, even though he didn't feel sorry. He, Kaz, had moved that button! All by himself. He hadn't even been trying to move it. Kaz remembered the first time he ever picked up a solid object. It happened at Claire's school. He didn't think about it; he just went right over to that mean boy and grabbed the sword out of his hand. Then there was the time he accidentally turned a solid lamp into a ghostly lamp. He'd actually been trying to flip the switch on the lamp, but somehow, without thinking about it, he had turned

the whole lamp ghostly. Was it possible Kaz sometimes tried too hard to master his ghost skills? While Kaz was thinking about that, the big hand on the clock inched toward the twelve. It was five o'clock. All at once, the garage door went up, the table lamp blinked on, and that same garbled voice that they'd all heard yesterday boomed into the room. But today that voice didn't come just through the TV. It also blared through the organ. "Ahhh!" Ben cried, scooting the organ bench back. Claire, Kaz, and David all backed up, "Woof! Woof!" Cosmo barked at the organ. The voice was loud and scary when it came through the TV. It was even louder and scarier when it came through the organ. "Pick up that ghost glass!" David exclaimed.