8 FAMILY TROUBLES

CHAPTER 8 FAMILY TROUBLES No!" Little John cried. "I don't want to stay here. I want to go back to the library. Windy and Cosmo are there. We can't leave Cosmo. We can't leave Beckett, either. He'll be lonely without us." "Who's Beckett?" Grandpop asked. "He's the other ghost who lives at the library," Kaz said. "He's old. Like you," Little John added. "Little John!" Kaz nudged his brother. "That's not polite." "Oh, that's okay, Kaz," Grandmom said with a smile. "We know we're old." "Why don't you and Grandpop come to the

library with us?" Kaz said. "We'll have to shrink really small to fit inside Claire's bottle. But there's plenty of room for all of us at the library." Grandmom turned to Grandpop. "I like it here," she said. "I don't want to go someplace else." "Well, we like it at the library," Little John said. "I don't mean to eavesdrop," said the blue- haired solid lady. "But I think you should let those ghost children go back to the library with their friend. They want to be with people their own age." "And you two should stay here with us," said one of the ghost ladies. "I promise I'll take good care of Kaz and Little John," Claire told Grandmom and Grandpop.

"And so will Beckett. I'll bring them back here to visit you. Every day, if you want! Please?" "Pleeeease?" begged Kaz and Little John. "Well," Grandmom said. "I suppose they've gotten along on their own this long." "And it sounds like they have a responsible ghost adult looking out for them," Grandpop added. "If you promise to come back and visit often, you can go with your friend," Grandmom said. "Hooray!" Kaz, Little John, and Claire cheered. "Don't ever tell your parents we allowed this," Grandmom said. "Deal," Kaz said. On the way home, Kaz asked Claire, "Did Mr. Helsing tell you why he didn't want Mrs. Lock to knock down that wall in the library? Does he know about the secret room?" "He said that wall was a main support for the rest of the house," Claire said. "That's why it

couldn't be removed. He didn't know anything about any secret rooms or secret passageways in the house." Kaz groaned. He, Claire, and Little John were no closer to getting the Top Secret envelope out of the secret room. They were no closer to getting Claire into the secret room, either. But they had found their grandparents! That was something. Claire's mom was waiting in the entryway when Claire returned to the library. She leaped to her feet as soon as Claire opened the door. "Have you been visiting with Mrs. Lock all this time?" she asked. "Not the whole time," Claire said as she closed the door behind her. Kaz and Little John passed through Claire's water bottle and expanded to full size. Little John swam over to get his doll back from Beckett. Claire's mom followed Claire across the

entryway. "So, what did you and Mrs. Lock talk about?" she asked. She seemed more interested in Mrs. Lock than she was in where else Claire might have gone. "Did she say anything about a secret passageway or a secret room?" Claire's mom asked. "Does she think that old soda-pop recipe is somewhere in this house?" "I didn't ask her about the recipe," Claire said. "I only asked about the secret room." "What did she say?" Claire's mother stood so close to her and stared so hard at her that Claire was obviously uncomfortable. "She doesn't think there is one," Claire said, hanging up her coat. Claire's mom's shoulders relaxed. "Are you okay, Mom?" Claire peered at her mother. "You're acting so weird." Claire's mom ran her hand through her hair. "I don't know what you mean," she said. "Well, you didn't really want me to go visit

Mrs. Lock. And now you're asking lots of questions." "I'm your mother," she said with a nervous laugh. "I get to ask questions." "Yeah, but you're asking more questions than you usually do." Claire's mom turned away. "Do you have homework?" she asked. Claire clucked her tongue. "And now you're changing the subject!" "I'm changing the subject because the subject is finished," her mom said. "Can you say the same for your homework?" "No," Claire admitted. "Fine, I'll go do it." She shouldered her backpack and headed toward the craft room. But her mom stopped her in her tracks. "I really wish you wouldn't always do your homework in the craft room. Can't you do it upstairs?" Claire turned. "What's wrong with doing it in