The Ghost in the Tree House Read online

  “I’ll bet life is always an adventure with this girl,” Mom said as Claire raced across the yard.

  “Um . . . sort of,” Kaz said. But adventure was a good thing, wasn’t it?

  Claire caught up to the other girls over by the climbing structure. Olivia and Kenya had hold of someone: Henry’s friend, Sam.

  Margaret stood in front of him with her arms crossed. “Why were you trying to break into our tree house?” she asked.

  “I told you. I’m trying to find the treasure,” Sam said, lunging forward. But Olivia and Kenya held tight to his arms. “I have to find the treasure before I can join the treasure hunters’ club.”

  “There’s no treasure in our tree house,” Margaret said.

  “My phone says there is,” Sam insisted. “I’ll show you if you let go of me.”

  Olivia and Kenya exchanged a look.

  “Okay. Show us,” Olivia said as they let go. But they were both ready to grab him again if he ran away.

  Sam reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.

  “That’s a pretty nice phone for a kid your age,” Kenya said.

  “It’s my dad’s old phone,” Sam said with a shrug. “He got a new one.” He turned on the phone, and the screen gave off a bluish glow.

  Like a glowing ghost, Kaz thought.

  Sam slid his finger around the screen, then held the phone for the girls to see. Unfortunately, Kaz and his family couldn’t see the screen from inside Claire’s water bottle.

  “The green dot shows where we are, and the red dot shows where the treasure is,” Sam explained. “Let’s start walking toward the red dot.”

  They moved slowly in a tight group toward the tree house, their eyes fixed on the phone in Sam’s hand. They stopped right below the tree house.

  “See?” Sam said. “The two dots are right on top of each other. That means the treasure is here.”

  “Where?” Little John asked.

  “I’m telling you, there’s no treasure inside our tree house,” Margaret said.

  “I don’t know what the treasure box looks like, but it could be in there and you might not know it,” Sam said. “It could be a big metal box like this.” He spread his hands wide apart. “Or it could be a tiny container like this.” He held his thumb and first finger an inch apart. “It’s probably more likely to be a tiny container.”

  Kaz hovered near the top of Claire’s water bottle. “Claire!” he called. “I saw a metal box inside that tree branch. You wouldn’t be able to get to it from the tree house unless you could pass through the branch. But there must be a hole in the tree down here somewhere. That’s where the box is. I could feel air coming in from the Outside all around the box.”

  “Maybe there’s a hole in the tree,” Claire said to the others. “Maybe that’s where the treasure is.”

  “There is a hole,” Sam said. “It’s over here.” He led everyone around the tree.

  Olivia shined her flashlight on a hole about the size of Claire’s water bottle.

  “There isn’t anything inside it, though.” Sam stuck his hand inside the hole.

  Claire walked over. “Maybe you’re not reaching in far enough,” she said.

  Sam stepped aside, and Claire put her whole arm inside the hole.

  “Be careful, Claire,” Olivia said nervously. “What if there’s a bobcat or something in there, and it bites your arm off?”

  “That hole isn’t big enough for a bobcat,” Kenya said.

  “There’s something in here,” Claire said. With her cheek pressed against the tree trunk, she reached a little farther.

  “Is it alive?” Olivia asked.

  “No,” Claire said. She rose up onto her tiptoes and wiggled her arm around some more. Finally, she pulled out a square metal box. “Is this your treasure?” she asked Sam.

  “Maybe,” he said. He took the box from her and opened it up.

  “I want to see! I want to see!” Little John said, stretching his neck. But again, the ghosts didn’t have a very good view from inside the water bottle.

  Olivia shined her flashlight inside the metal box, and Sam pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and read it under the light: “Congratulations! This paper proves that you are worthy of joining the Morgan Woods Treasure Club. Put the box back where you found it, and bring this paper to Daniel, Austin, or Hong. Welcome to the club.” Sam punched his fist into the air. “Yes! I’m in.”

  “Congratulations,” Kenya said flatly. “Now maybe you’ll stay away from our tree house.”

  “How did you know the combination to get inside our tree house, anyway?” Margaret asked.

  “Your brother,” Sam admitted. “I told him that if he’d give me the combination so I could search inside for the treasure, I’d try to get him into the club.”

  “So are you the one who slammed the door and told us to go awaaaaaay the other day, too?” Olivia asked.

  “Yes,” Sam said. “I was trying to get you to leave so I could look for the treasure.”

  “I told you guys it wasn’t a real ghost,” Kenya said.

  The next morning, Claire carried Kaz, Little John, Mom, and Pops back to the library inside her water bottle.

  “Wait till you see the library,” Kaz said to his parents. “You’ll like it there. You’ll see that it’s the perfect new haunt for our family.” He was excited to show his parents around the library, but a little nervous, too. What if they didn’t like it? What if they didn’t think it was the perfect new haunt for their family?

  “We’ll see,” Mom said cautiously.

  Claire skipped up the steps and opened her front door. “Hello? Mom, Dad, Grandma, I’m home!” she called as she closed the door behind her.

  The ghosts passed through the side of the water bottle and expanded.

  “Beckett? Cosmo? We’re home, too,” Kaz called out. “And guess who we brought with us!”

  Cosmo poked his head out of the library craft room. “Woof! Woof!” he barked when he saw who was there.

  “Cosmo!” Mom and Pops cried as Cosmo dog-paddled toward them. “It’s so good to see you again!”

  They both hugged the dog at the same time. Cosmo wagged his tail.

  Then Beckett wafted in from the craft room. “Oh,” he said when he saw them. “It’s you.”

  Mom let go of Cosmo when she saw Beckett. Her mouth fell open, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Do you two know each other?” Kaz asked.

  “You could say that . . . ,” Beckett replied.

  “How?” Little John asked.

  “Yes, how?” Pops asked.

  Mom smiled awkwardly. “I think that’s a story for another day,” she said. She wafted over to Beckett and held out her hand. “Good to see you again, Beckett,” she said.

  “Hmph,” Beckett said as he shook her hand.

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