4 A DANGEROUS IDEA

CHAPTER 4 A DANGEROUS IDEA Get out of that bottle, boys!" Pops said. "Now!" The ghosts and the girls were all back inside Margaret's kitchen. Claire had just put her ghost glass and ghost catcher back inside her bag and was getting ready to go home. "No," Little John said stubbornly. Kaz didn't want to disobey Pops again. But Pops didn't understand. "We want to go back to the library with Claire," Kaz said in a small voice. "The library is our new haunt."

"Yeah," Little John said. "Cosmo is there, and Beckett." "Who's Beckett?" Pops asked. "He's the other ghost who lives at the library," Kaz said. "Beckett will wonder where we are," Little John said. "Sorry, boys," Pops said. "We're not going anywhere until we find your mother." He reached into Claire's water bottle and pulled Kaz and Little John out. "But Claire can help us find Mom," Little John said. "We don't need help from a solid girl," Pops said. "What about Cosmo?" Kaz asked. "Are we just going to leave him in the library all alone?" "He's not alone," Pops said. "You just said he's with your friend Beckett." "Is something wrong, Claire?" Olivia asked as Claire watched the ghosts.

Claire blinked. "No. I'm fine," she said to the girls. She threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder and gave Kaz a rueful look. "I better go. It's almost time for dinner." Little John groaned. Kaz bit his lip. They really weren't going with Claire? "We're not mad that you didn't find any ghosts, if that's what you're thinking," Kenya said as she put a hand on Claire's shoulder. "I don't think there are any ghosts for you to find." "I'll let you know if any ghosts come back," Margaret promised. Pops sighed when he saw how unhappy Kaz and Little John were. "Maybe when we find your mother, we can make our way to the library," he said. Little John perked up. "We just have to glow and wail a bit when we want to go to the library," he said. "Then Margaret will call Claire, and Claire will come and get us!"

"Hey, that's good thinking, Little John," Kaz said, feeling a little better about the situation. "Bye," Claire said to the girls and the ghosts. She raised her hand, and Kaz touched his hand to hers. It passed right on through. "See you soon," he said. That night while Margaret and Henry and their parents slept in their bedrooms upstairs, Kaz wailed softly in the living room below them. "Woo... ooo... ooo... ooo!"

"That's very good, son!" Pops said, clapping his hands together. All of a sudden, a voice rang out above them: "MOOOOOOOMMMMM!" "Oh no," Kaz moaned as the upstairs hallway light came on and shined down the stairs. The ghosts listened as Margaret and Henry's mom called out, "What's the matter, Henry? Are you sick?" "No," Henry called back. "I heard a ghost." "Way to go, Kaz," Little John said as he slugged Kaz in the arm. "I didn't mean for anyone other than you guys to hear me," Kaz said. "Then why did you wail?" Little John asked. "That's the whole point of wailing. So solids can hear us." "I wanted to show Pops that I could do it," Kaz said. Clearly, that was a bad idea. Margaret and Henry's mom said, "Oh, honey. You had a bad dream. There's no such thing as

ghosts." The ghosts looked at one another. "Why do solids always say there's no such thing as ghosts?" Pops muttered. "Look what else I can do," Kaz said. He dived down to the floor and picked up a solid toy car. "Wow," Pops said as Kaz held the solid car in his ghostly hands. "Wait. I'm not done," Kaz said. He held the car between his third finger and his thumb, then flicked his wrist. The solid car became a ghostly car. "WOW!" Pops said again. He swam over and poked the ghostly car with his finger. "You have