5 THE BIG SEARCH

CHAPTER 5 THE BIG SEARCH Kaz swam back through the fire station. "We have to go!" he told Claire. "Little John is missing. We have to find him!" Claire nodded slightly to Kaz, then turned to Brynlee and RJ. "I'm sorry we didn't find your ghost today. I'll come back tomorrow and search some more." "Let's... go...," Kaz wailed. Brynlee gasped. RJ's mouth fell open. Claire had a funny look on her face. She was the only one who could actually see Kaz. But everyone else had just heard him.

"That was the ghost!" the twins said at the same time. Uh-oh. Kaz hadn't meant to wail. Once again, it had just come out. "Do you see it?" Brynlee grabbed Claire's arm. "No," Claire lied as she looked straight at Kaz. "Get out your ghost-hunting equipment," RJ

said. "The ghost is here. We all heard it." "No, Claire," Kaz cried in his normal voice. "We don't have time for that. We have to look for Little John. Where's your water bottle?" It was usually on her shoulder. Or in her hand. But Kaz didn't see it. "My stuff is out in the garage," Claire said. "But... I don't know what you're talking about, RJ. I don't know what you guys heard that makes you think there's a ghost in here. I didn't hear anything. And look at Sparky. I don't think he heard anything, either." Sparky was curled up on the red pillow next to Brynlee and RJ's dad's desk. Chasing fire trucks was exhausting. "Huh," Brynlee said. "She's right. Sparky isn't upset. Maybe we just thought we heard something." "But we both heard it. Even if Claire didn't," RJ said. Brynlee shrugged. "Must have been another

one of those weird twin things. We imagined the same thing." "I really have to go," Claire said. The twins led Claire down the hall and out to the garage. Kaz followed close behind. There were a lot of firefighters bustling around in the garage, cleaning equipment, winding hoses, and shining the trucks. Claire grabbed her bag and water bottle from the bench where she'd left them. Kaz shrank down... down... down... and passed through the side of the water bottle. "Come back and see us again." David waved as Claire opened a small door at the front of the garage. Once they were safely outside, Claire said to Kaz, "You wailed in there! You figured out how to wail." "Sort of," Kaz said. "But I don't want to talk about that. We have to find Little John!" "I don't know where he could be," Claire said

as she started down the street. "I saw him go inside the ladder truck before the alarm sounded. But I don't know if he was still in there when the fire fighters drove away. What if he blew out when they opened the doors?" If that was the case, they might never find Little John. The wind would have blown him away. But they had to try. "We should go to where the fire trucks went," Kaz said. "Maybe we'll see him blowing around there." Claire stopped walking. "But we don't know where they went." "Yes, we do," Kaz said. "I heard it in the radio room. They went to 1024 Elm Street." "Okay," Claire said. "Let's find Elm Street." She pulled out her phone to get directions and started walking again. Along the way, Kaz turned all around inside Claire's water bottle. If Little John was out there

somewhere, Kaz didn't want to miss him. It didn't take long to reach 1024 Elm Street. There were no signs of a fire. No signs that fire trucks had even been there recently. "Do you see Little John?" Kaz asked, squinting. "No," Claire replied. "Do you?" "No," Kaz said glumly. They walked all around the building. No luck. "Which direction is the wind coming from?" Kaz asked. "Maybe we could follow the wind to see where it might have blown him." "We can try," Claire said, but she didn't sound hopeful. "I think it's blowing behind us." Claire walked and walked... all the way to the edge of town. Kaz gazed out over an empty field. Little John, where are you? he wondered.