2 A PROBLEM WITH THE GHOST DOLL

CHAPTER 2 A PROBLEM WITH THE GHOST DOLL Was it Kaz's imagination or was someone calling his name? He pressed his ear to the wall that led back to the library craft room and listened. There it was again. A soft, muffled voice on the other side of the wall. "Kaz? Where are you?" "Claire?" Kaz called back. "I'm in here." "You're in the secret room?" Claire's voice was louder now. She'd clearly moved over to the wall. But her voice still sounded muffled. Kaz took a deep breath, then swam back through the wall and the bookcase, kicking hard, hard, hard until he was back in the library craft room. Paper cranes dangled from the ceiling above

his head. "Good for you, Kaz!" Claire clapped her hands together. "You passed through the bookshelf! Your ghost skills are getting better every day." Kaz beamed. Claire peered at the bookshelf as though she were trying to see through it. "So, what's back there anyway?" "A whole bunch of ghostly objects," Kaz said as Little John, Cosmo, and Beckett passed through the bookshelf behind him. Little John's arms overflowed with ghostly objects.

"We found our brother Finn's shoe," Little John said, holding it up. "And we found this doll." He held the doll up next. "I think it belongs to my friend Kiley. Will you take Kaz and me to her haunt so we can return it to her?" "Sure," Claire said as she wandered the length of the bookshelf. Little John let go of all the ghostly objects, except for the doll. "Will you take us there now?" he asked. He expanded to giant size and placed himself right in front of Claire. "In a little bit," Claire said, walking around him. "Why does everyone always say, 'in a little bit'?" Little John moaned. "Was there any solid stuff back there?" Claire asked Kaz. It was the first time he'd ever heard Claire talk about solid stuff. She normally didn't like that word. Kaz tried to hide his surprise. "Not much," he said. "Just some old papers and bottles. Oh! And

an envelope that says TOP SECRET on it." "What was in it?" Claire asked. "We don't know," Kaz said. "We couldn't get it open." "Kaz tried to turn it ghostly so we could bring it through the wall, but it didn't work," Little John said. "I wish I could go back there and open it myself," Claire said. "Can we go find Kiley's haunt now?" Little John asked. "Please? It's not far from here." "Where is it?" Claire asked. "You have to walk to the end of the street and through the park. Then turn a corner. It's a big purple house with pink around the windows," Little John said. "Oh, I know that house," Claire said with a grin. She glanced up at the clock. "It's getting late. My mom might not let me go now. But let's try. Are you guys ready to shrink?" She twisted the top off her water bottle.

"You don't have to take the top off your bottle anymore," Little John said. "Kaz can pass through now." "Yes, but as long as you've already taken it off...," Kaz said. He still preferred entering the bottle through an open top rather than passing through the side. Kaz and Little John shrank down... down... down... but Little John had a problem. He grew smaller, but the doll in his hand did not.

"Hey!" Little John cried as he dangled from the large ghost doll. "Why didn't this doll shrink with me?" "That's odd," Beckett said, rubbing his chin. Cosmo sniffed the doll. Then he sniffed the tiny Little John. "Careful, Cosmo," Kaz said, pulling the ghost dog back. "Don't eat Little John." Little John expanded to full size with the doll,