8 READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!

CHAPTER 8 READY OR NOT, HERE I COME! It's the ghost," Eli said, pulling his knees to his chest. His mom scowled. His dad glared. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Eli asked, his eyes shifting from one parent to the other. "I'm not doing anything!" His parents got up from the sofa and headed for the kitchen. "Wait for me," Eli said, running after them. Kaz followed close behind. Lauren and Little John were already in the kitchen. Little John shrugged at Kaz as Lauren went from cupboard to cupboard, opening and closing doors.

"What are you doing, Lauren?" her mom asked. "Looking for the recorder," Lauren said. "What recorder?" her mom asked. "The recorder that he hid in here." Lauren tilted her head toward Eli. "Didn't you guys hear that weird voice?" Eli stomped his foot. "I didn't hide any recorder!" he said. "Yes, you did," Lauren insisted. "And I'm going to find it and prove that you're the ghost once and for all." "Maybe you're the ghost!" Eli shot back. "You were in here when that voice started talking." "I was getting a snack," Lauren said. "You probably rigged something up to go off when I opened the refrigerator." "I didn't!" Eli argued. "Did you see what happened?" Kaz asked Little John.

"Not really," Little John said. "I followed Lauren down here. And I heard the voice, too. It was right behind me. But when I turned around, there was nothing there." "There's a cabinet behind you." Kaz pointed. "I know. I looked in there, but I didn't see anything," Little John said. Eli and Lauren's mom opened the refrigerator door. "I don't see any of Eli's contraptions in here," she said, peering at the shelves. "That's because there aren't any contraptions in there," Eli said. "I'm telling you, it's a ghost. A real, live ghost!" "It did sound like a real ghost wailing," Little John said. Kaz had to agree that it did. But he'd heard wailing like that before when he and Claire had been out solving other cases. And each time there was another explanation. Lauren and her parents opened every cupboard and pulled out every drawer in the whole kitchen

while Eli stood in the middle of the kitchen with his arms crossed. "See?" Eli said when they finished. "No recorder." "Wooooooooo!" Something wailed in the living room this time. Everyone rushed to the living room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. There were no ghosts. No hidden recorders. Nothing. "I don't know what's going on around here," their dad said. "But it's time for bed. For real this time." "What about the ghost?" Eli asked. "There's no such thing as ghosts," his dad said. His mom nodded. "We're all scaring ourselves silly. Things will look better in the morning."

"I wish Claire was here," Kaz moaned once Eli and his family were asleep. He and Little John wafted back and forth along the upstairs hallway. Kaz had no idea how they were going to solve this case. "Claire's good at solving mysteries," Little John said. "But so are we. We can figure out what's going on ourselves." "How?" Kaz asked. "I don't know," Little John said. "We need a plan." They'd already searched the house from top to bottom. They'd tried splitting up. Kaz had kept an eye on Eli, and Little John had kept an eye on Lauren. Kaz didn't know what else to try. "About all we can do is wait for something else to happen," he said. "Maybe we can make something else happen," Little John said. "If it's a real ghost, maybe we can figure out a way to make it come out."

"How?" Kaz asked again. "Well," Little John said as he and Kaz reached the end of the hallway. They turned around and drifted back the other way. "If a new ghost came into the library, what could it do to make you or me come out?" "It could say, 'Hi! Are there any other ghosts in this place?' "Kaz said. But they'd already tried calling out to any real ghosts in Eli's house. "Eli said the ghost likes to play hide-and- seek," Little John said. "Maybe we should hide and see if we can make the ghost find us!" "Sure," Kaz said. Like that will actually work. Little John cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Do you hear that, you ghost? We're going to play hide-and-seek. This time, it's your turn to find us!" Kaz rolled his eyes. Only a real ghost would have heard Little John. And Kaz didn't think it was a real ghost. It was never a real ghost.