The Ghost in the Tree House Read online

  “You know where Cosmo is?” Pops said. Cosmo was the ghost family’s dog.

  “Yes. He’s at the library,” Little John said.

  Kaz told Pops all about the library, and about meeting Claire, and even about C & K Ghost Detectives.

  “We found Cosmo when we investigated one of our first cases,” Kaz explained. “And we found Mom’s bead when we investigated another case.”

  “All three of us are on a case right now,” Little John put in. He told Pops about Margaret and the other girls and their club. “They meet in a tree house behind their houses,” Little John explained. “But now they think there’s a ghost in the tree house. Margaret saw it last night.”

  “So did I,” Pops said.

  “You did?” Kaz and Little John said at the same time.

  Pops nodded. “I didn’t get a real good look at the ghost, but I think it’s your mother. I’ve been glowing on and off to try to get her attention, but she’s not glowing back. If only there was a way for ghosts to travel in the Outside without blowing away.”

  “There is,” Little John said with a grin. “Inside Claire’s water bottle!”

  Pops frowned. “I beg your pardon.”

  “It’s true,” Kaz said. “That’s how Claire and I go to all our cases.”

  “No,” Pops said. “We don’t need help from a solid. And we’re certainly not going to travel inside a water bottle!”

  “Why not?” Kaz asked. He’d been traveling inside Claire’s water bottle for months. “You know, those girls are probably almost done with their snack. We should check on them. We don’t want to miss our ride.”

  Kaz and Little John swam to the kitchen.

  “Wait, boys,” Pops said, hurrying after them.

  Claire smiled in relief when she saw the ghosts. “There you are,” she whispered to Kaz as the other girls stacked their dishes in the sink.

  “To the tree house!” Margaret said, raising her fist in the air.

  “To the tree house!” Kenya and Olivia repeated as they headed for the back door.

  Claire hung back a little to give the ghosts time to swim into her water bottle.

  “Boys! I said no. We’re not doing this,” Pops said as Kaz and Little John shrank down . . . down . . . down and passed through the stars on the outside of Claire’s water bottle.

  “Come on, Pops!” Little John waved for Pops to join them inside the water bottle.

  Pops gaped at Kaz. “Did you just pass through that bottle?”

  “Yes,” Kaz said nervously.

  “When did you learn how to do that?” Pops asked.

  Kaz grinned. “I’ve learned lots of skills since you last saw me,” he said. Wait until Pops saw him transform a solid object! But there wasn’t time to show Pops that now. Margaret, Olivia, and Kenya were already outside. And Claire was almost outside.

  “Hurry, Pops! Come with us before it’s too late!” Kaz and Little John yelled.

  Pops let out a big breath of air. And at the last possible second, he shrank down . . . down . . . down . . . and swam into the bottle with Kaz and Little John.

  I’m your father,” Pops said as Claire tromped across Margaret’s backyard, her bottle swinging at her side. “When I say we’re not going to do something, we’re not going to do it.”

  “Sorry, Pops,” Kaz said. “I didn’t want to miss our chance to go to the tree house.”

  “Well, I have to admit this is a very interesting way to travel,” Pops said. He turned all around inside the bottle.

  Margaret and Henry had a large climbing structure with a swing and two slides in the middle of their backyard. There was also a sandbox and lots of toys.

  The girls walked all the way to the trees at the back of the yard. There was a little house built into the branches of the tallest tree. A rope ladder hung from the porch to the ground.

  “You’re so lucky to have a tree house,” Claire said to Margaret.

  “I know,” Margaret replied.

  One by one, the girls climbed the rope ladder. First Margaret, then Kenya, Olivia, and finally, Claire.

  “Whoa,” Kaz said as Claire climbed higher and higher. The bottle that held the ghosts bumped against her hip as she climbed.

  “Uh-oh. Are you skizzy, Kaz?” Little John asked. “Are you going to spew?” He backed up a little, but he didn’t dare move back too far. Otherwise he’d pass through the bottle into the Outside.

  “No, I’m not skizzy,” Kaz said.

  “Then why did you say ‘whoa’?” Little John asked.

  “Because we’re up so high!” Kaz said.

  “It’s quite a view,” Pops said as Claire stepped onto the little porch outside the tree house. They could see Margaret’s whole neighborhood from up here.

  “We have a lock on the door to keep people out,” Margaret told Claire.

  Kaz watched from inside the bottle as Margaret spun the dial on the lock. First she turned it to three, then to one, then to five. The lock clicked, and Margaret opened the door.

  “Cool,” Claire said as she followed the other girls inside. They had to crouch down a little because the tree-house door was smaller than a regular door.

  As soon as Claire closed the door, the ghosts passed through the side of the bottle and expanded.

  “Mom?” Kaz and Little John called as they looked around.

  “Elise? Where are you?” Pops called.

  The inside of the tree house was all one room. A huge tree branch grew up through the floor and out through the top of one of the walls. Two of the walls had glass windows. There was a rug on the floor and several pillows scattered around.

  Kaz and Little John’s mom was nowhere in sight.

  “Well?” Kenya asked Claire. “Do you see any ghosts?”

  “Not yet,” Claire said. She unzipped her detective bag and took out her ghost glass and ghost catcher. She put the ghost glass to her eye and moved slowly around the small tree house.

  “What is that solid girl doing?” Pops asked.

  Kaz explained about Claire’s “ghost-hunting equipment.” Her ghost glass was really an old magnifying glass. And her ghost catcher was a handheld vacuum that she’d wrapped in foil.

  “She can’t tell people she can see ghosts,” Kaz said. “They’ll laugh at her. And they’ll think she’s weird. So she pretends she needs these things to see and catch ghosts.”

  Pops snorted. “And other solids believe that?”

  “I guess,” Kaz said with a shrug.

  “Do you see something?” Margaret asked Claire.

  “Maybe,” Claire said. She glanced over her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows at Kaz.

  What? Did Claire want him to do something? Maybe she was trying to show him something. Unfortunately, Kaz couldn’t see through Margaret, Kenya, or Olivia. They’d all crowded around Claire and were trying to see into her ghost glass.

  “I don’t see anything,” Kenya said.

  Olivia tossed a braid over her shoulder. “Neither do I,” she said.

  Kaz floated up and over the girls’ heads. Now he could see what Claire was looking at. He drew in a breath.

  “What?” Little John asked. “What is it, Kaz?”

  Kaz swam over and snatched the small round bead that was floating in the air between Claire’s ghost glass and the tree branch. He brought it back to his dad and his little brother.

  “This!” he said triumphantly.

  “I knew it,” Pops said. “Your mother was here.”

  “But she’s not here now,” Little John said with disappointment.

  “I thought I saw something over here, but I guess I was wrong,” Claire said to the other girls. “I don’t think there are any ghosts in your tree house right now.”

  Except for us, Kaz thought.

  “Big surprise,” Kenya
said.

  “There may have been a ghost here yesterday,” Claire told Margaret.

  “There was.” Margaret nodded fiercely. “I saw it!”

  “Sure,” Kenya said, patting Margaret on the back.

  “I did!” Margaret said. She looked a little annoyed with Kenya.

  Kaz wafted over to one of the windows and scanned Margaret’s backyard. Where could his mom have gone?

  Claire crawled over to him on her knees. “Sorry, Kaz,” she whispered. “I know you must be disappointed.”

  “What did you say, Claire?” Margaret asked.

  “Nothing,” Claire said quickly. She smiled innocently at the other girls.

  “Oh. I was wondering if you saw something else,” Margaret said.

  “I see something,” Kenya said from the other window. The one that looked out over the woods.

  “What?” Olivia asked as she, Margaret, and Claire crawled over to Kenya. Kaz, Little John, and Pops floated above them.

  Kenya pointed at a boy in the woods. He wore a red cap and a blue jacket. Kaz recognized him from the group of boys they’d seen on the steps next door. He looked younger than Claire and the other girls, or at least shorter. He walked slowly and stared at something in his hand. Probably a phone.

  “That’s Sam. He’s Henry’s friend. He lives across the street,” Margaret said. She wiggled out of her jacket stuffed it under her knees.

  “Yeah, but look over there.” Now Kenya pointed at another tree. The other three boys who wouldn’t let Henry join their club were now crouched down behind a big tree. They watched Sam with their hands clasped to their mouths, like they were trying not to laugh out loud.

  What’s so funny? Kaz wondered.

  Kenya scowled. “Those boys can be really obnoxious,” she said. “I think they’re playing some sort of trick on Sam. Like they played a trick on us yesterday by trying to make us think there was a ghost in our tree house.”

  Margaret watched the boys for a long time. “Maybe,” she said finally. “Maybe you’re right, Kenya. Maybe I just imagined I saw a ghost out here last night.”

  Kaz squeezed the bead in his hand. That bead was proof that there had been a ghost in here. Maybe not last night. But recently.

  They even knew who that ghost was. All they had to do now was find her.

  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 the transformation skill.”

  “You know about transformation?” Kaz asked.

  “Of course,” Pops said. “But I didn’t know anyone in our family had the skill.”

  “MOOOOOOOMMMMM!” Henry yelled again above them.

  “Now what?” his mom called back.

  The ghosts raised their eyes toward the ceiling. Henry didn’t somehow know that Kaz had transformed his car, did he? Was that why he had yelled for his mom? Just in case, Kaz quickly transformed the ghostly car back to a solid car.

  “THERE’S A GHOST OUTSIDE,” Henry yelled, “IN THE TREE HOUSE!”

  “A ghost in the tree house!” Pops repeated. He, Little John, and Kaz paddled hard through the dining room and into the kitchen. They went to the window and saw a ghostly glow coming from inside the tree house.

  “Is that Mom?” Little John asked, wide-eyed. “Is she back?”

  “Looks like it,” Pops said.

  The ghostly glow went out.

  “Where’d she go? Did she leave?” Kaz asked.

  The ghosts stared hard at the tree house, waiting for the glow to return. Pops even glowed on and off a couple of times in the window to get the other ghost’s attention.

  The glow didn’t return.

  “We need to find a way to get out to the tree house,” Kaz said as he looked around the kitchen for something
they could use to travel across the backyard.

  “Margaret said she’d let Claire know if the ghost came back,” Little John said. “Maybe she’s calling Claire right now. Maybe Claire will come and take us there.”

  “Not now,” Kaz said. “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “Then maybe Margaret and Henry’s mom and dad will go out to the tree house,” Little John said. “Maybe we can catch a ride with them?”

  But no one came downstairs.

  “I think I have an idea,” Pops said as he gazed out across the moonlit yard.

  “What?” Little John asked. “What’s your idea, Pops?”

  Pops turned to the boys. “I’m trying to decide whether or not we should risk it,” he said. “It could be dangerous. Very dangerous.”

  Tell us the idea!” Little John begged Pops. “We’re not afraid of danger. Are we, Kaz?”

  Well . . . , Kaz thought. But out loud he said, “No. We’re not afraid of danger.” He could be brave if it meant finding his mom. The sooner they found Mom, the sooner they could go back to the library.

  “How far can you boys expand?” Pops asked.

  “Pretty far,” Little John said proudly. He exp-a-a-a-a-a-nded from the floor almost to the ceiling to prove it.

  “Fabulous. How about you, Kaz?” Pops asked.

  Kaz was taller than Little John. He exp-a-a-a-a-a-nded from the floor and past the ceiling. His head popped through the ceiling and into Margaret’s bedroom upstairs.

  Margaret was sound asleep in her bed.

  “Very good,” Pops said as Kaz and Little John shrank to their normal sizes. He peered out into the backyard. “This could work.”

  “What could work? What do you want us to do?” Kaz asked.

  “Yeah, what’s your idea, Pops?” Little John asked.

  “If we all expand as far as we can, and then hold hands really, really tight, we might be able to stretch from inside this house all the way to the tree house,” Pops said.

  “You mean expand across the whole backyard?” Kaz asked. That did sound dangerous.

  “Let’s try!” Little John said eagerly.