2 A VISIT TO THE FIRE STATION

CHAPTER 2 A VISIT TO THE FIRE STATION Claire's cat, Thor, growled at Kaz and Little John as he strolled beneath them. Claire was still talking with Brynlee on the phone. "Why doesn't Claire's cat like us?" Little John asked. "We never did anything to it." "Well, Cosmo chases him," Kaz pointed out. "Cosmo isn't here. He's downstairs with Claire's grandma," Little John said. Kaz shrugged. "Some solid animals just don't like ghosts very much." "Funny you should mention that, Kaz," Claire said as she tossed her phone onto her bed.

"Brynlee and RJ have a new dog named Sparky. Well, Sparky really belongs to their dad. He's a firefighter, so they got Sparky to be a fire station mascot. Anyway, everything was fine at first. But now there's this room at the fire station that Sparky won't go in. He just stands in the doorway and barks at something in there. No one knows what he's barking at." "Is he barking at a ghost?" Little John asked. "That's what Brynlee and RJ think," Claire replied. "There have been some strange things happening at the fire station, too. Some of the firefighters have heard weird noises during the night. One of them even saw a ghost. That's why Brynlee and RJ want me to come over. They want me to catch the ghost." "I wonder if the ghost is Mom or Pops or Finn," Little John said. Finn was Kaz and Little John's big brother. He got lost in the Outside even before the old schoolhouse was torn down. No one in the family

knew where he was now. "Where's your water bottle, Claire?" Little John rubbed his hands together. The rubbing made his hands glow. "Not so fast, Little John," Claire said. "We aren't going now. It's almost bedtime. We'll go tomorrow after school." "Aw," Little John groaned. "I'm not sure Little John and I should go then, either," Kaz said. "Why not?" Claire asked. "Yeah. Why not?" Little John asked. The glow faded from his hands. "Because that dog probably doesn't like ghosts," Kaz said. "That's why he barks, right? Who knows what he'll do if two more ghosts show up?" "Yes, but lots of ghosts don't trust people like me," Claire said. "Sparky might not be happy to see you, but I bet the ghost at the fire station would be very happy to see you."

"Claire's right," Little John said. "Mom or Pops might swim away from her. But they wouldn't swim away from us." Kaz had to admit that Claire and Little John had a point. "Okay. We'll go," he said finally. "Tomorrow," Claire said again. "After school." Kaz had seen both Brynlee and RJ at Claire's school before, but he'd never seen them together until they stepped out onto their front porch.

"Those two solids have the same hair and the same face," Little John said as he and Kaz hovered inside Claire's water bottle. Beckett and Cosmo were back at the library. "They're twins," Kaz said. "It's cool that you live so close to the fire station," Claire said to the twins. "Isn't it right around the corner?" "There's a shortcut through our backyard," Brynlee and RJ said at the same time. They looked

at each other and slapped high fives. "We keep saying the exact same thing—" Brynlee began. "—at the exact same time," RJ finished. "It's a twin thing," Brynlee said. "Cool," Claire said again. "Come on," RJ said, hopping down the porch stairs. "We'll show you the shortcut." They led Claire around the house and through the bushes at the back of the yard. "This is the back of the fire station." Brynlee pointed at the tall brick building. "We can go in that door over there." She ran ahead and opened the door. "Wow!" Kaz said, wide-eyed, as Claire stepped inside the fire station garage. Neither he nor Little John had ever been this close to real fire trucks before. The trucks were so big. So red. So shiny. As soon as the door was closed, the ghosts passed through the side of Claire's water bottle