1 SECRET CLUB

BY EDGAR AWARD WINNER DORI HILLESTAD BUTLER The HAUNTED LIBRARY

CHAPTER 1 SECRET CLUB Who left the TV on in here again?" Mr. Kendall grumbled as he wandered into the living room. He picked up the remote and turned off the TV. "Hey!" Little John cried as he hovered above the couch. "We were watching that!" "He can't hear you," Kaz reminded his brother. "Oh yeah," Little John said.

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Kaz and Little John were ghosts. They used to live in an old abandoned schoolhouse with the rest of their ghost family. But when the schoolhouse was torn down, the family got separated. Now Kaz and Little John lived in the library with their solid friend Claire and her family. Claire could see ghosts when they weren't glowing, and she could hear ghosts when they weren't wailing. Her dad, Mr. Kendall, could not. Little John swam over. His whole body glowed. "We... were... watching... that," he wailed loudly in Mr. Kendall's face. Claire's dad jumped. He could see and hear Little John now. "Sorry," he said, backing away. "I... uh... forgot we were sharing our home with a bunch of ghosts." "Not... a... bunch... of... ghosts," Little John wailed. "Just... three." Beckett was the third ghost. He wasn't related to Kaz and Little John, but he'd been at the library

way longer than they had. Beckett preferred books to TV, so he was probably downstairs reading. Claire's dad turned the TV back on and started to leave. "You... can... watch... TV... with... us... if... you... want," Kaz wailed. He had only learned to wail a couple of weeks ago. He still couldn't glow. "Oh, I don't think so," Claire's dad said. He couldn't see Kaz, so he talked to the air a few feet to the right of Kaz. "Awww... come... on!... Stay... and... watch... with... us," Little John wailed. "It's... a... good... show." "No. No, thank you," Claire's dad said as he checked his watch. "Claire will be home soon. She may even be home now. Maybe she'll watch TV with you." He hurried away. Little John's glow went out. "Why doesn't Claire's dad like us?" he asked Kaz. "I don't think he dislikes us," Kaz replied.

"He doesn't like to be around us," Little John said. "He always leaves whenever he knows we're in the room." Kaz had noticed that, too. "I think he feels weird around us." "Why?" Little John asked. "Because we're ghosts. And he's a solid," Kaz said. "So?" Little John shrugged. "So, we can see him, but he can't see us. That must feel weird. Remember, he didn't even know ghosts existed until Claire and her mom and her grandma told him about us," Kaz said. When Claire's mom and Grandma Karen were Claire's age, they could see and hear ghosts, too— just like Claire. But they couldn't do it anymore. Claire and her mom and Grandma Karen had told Claire's dad about their unusual abilities a couple of weeks ago. It was hard for him to understand. "Is he scared of us?" Little John asked.