7 EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES

CHAPTER 7 EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES I'm home!" Claire called as she and Gabriel thundered up the stairs. "And I brought a friend. His name is Gabriel." Friend might be stretching it a little, Kaz thought as he and his brothers passed through Claire's water bottle. Claire's mom poked her head out from the kitchen. "Oh, hello," she said. "Dinner will be ready in about half an hour. Will you stay for dinner, Gabriel?" "Sure," Gabriel said with a shrug. Claire's mom smiled and returned to the kitchen. Then Kaz's parents and dog wafted out of

the kitchen. "You must've put up a lot of those flyers," Kaz's mom said. "You've been gone all afternoon." "More ghosts?" Gabriel said, staring at Kaz's parents. "Woof! Woof!" Cosmo barked. He sniffed Gabriel's ear. Gabriel tried to brush him away, but his hand passed through the ghost dog. "How many ghosts do you know, anyway?" Gabriel asked Claire. "Lots," she said. She unzipped her bag and pulled out her notebooks. Little John pointed at the green one. "That notebook is full of ghosts she knows," he said. Kaz's mom wafted closer. "Who is this solid boy?" she asked, looking Gabriel over from head to toe. "What does he mean 'more ghosts'? Can he see us, too?"

"Yes," Kaz said. "His name is Gabriel," Little John said. "The guy at the movie theater hired him to get rid of the ghosts." "Oh, no," Mom said. She put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, yes," Finn said. "He blew Dave away from the theater two days ago and then yesterday he came back and blew Jessie and Conrad away." Gabriel looked down at the floor and shifted from one foot to the other while Finn talked.

"So, now they're missing, too?" Mom said. "Why in the world did you bring this boy here?" "Because he's sorry," Little John said. Just then, Beckett's head rose through the floor. Gabriel jumped out of the way. "I want to help find your friends," Gabriel said to all the ghosts. "You should've thought of that before you blew them away," Mom said, shaking her finger at Gabriel. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused? It's extremely dangerous for ghosts to be in the Outside." She expanded larger and larger with every word she spoke. "It's like you being in a tornado! Have you ever been in a tornado? Have you ever lost loved ones?"

Solid people can't shrink, but somehow Gabriel looked smaller than he did before. His bottom lip quivered. "Mom, chill," Finn said. "Yeah, everyone makes mistakes," Kaz said. Mom looked at Finn. Then at Beckett. Embarrassed, Beckett quickly disappeared beneath the floor. Mom looked a little embarrassed, too. "How are you going to find the ghosts that you blew away?" she asked Gabriel as she shrunk to her

normal size. Her tone of voice was a little nicer, but not a lot. "We're open to suggestions," Claire said. "From everyone. Even you, Beckett." She raised her voice so he could hear her through the floor. Beckett's head popped back in. "Really?" he said. "You want my help, too?" "The more people we have helping, the more likely we are to find the lost ghosts," Mom said to Beckett. Beckett drifted up, up, up until his whole body was in Claire's living room. But he still kept some distance between himself and Kaz's mom. "Okay, who's got an idea for how we can find Dave, Jessie, and Conrad?" Little John asked as Claire and Gabriel sat down on the couch. No one seemed to have one. "I could ask my parents if they have any ideas. They're private detectives," Claire told Gabriel. "Do they know that you can see ghosts?" Gabriel asked.