The Ghost Backstage

by Dori Hillestad Butler

  The lamp disappeared from the solid world.

  Kaz, Claire, and Beckett all stared. They could still see the lamp even though it was no longer solid. In fact, they could see right through it as it floated in midair. But it wasn’t brown anymore. Now it was the same whitish-blue color as Kaz, Beckett, and the bead inside Kaz’s pocket.

  “How did you do that?” Claire and Beckett asked at the same time.

  “I-I don’t know,” Kaz stammered.

  “No, really,” Beckett said very seriously as he floated around the ghost lamp. “HOW DID YOU DO THAT?”

  “I don’t know,” Kaz said again.

  “Can you turn it back?” Claire asked.

  “Can you do it again?” Beckett asked.

  “I don’t know!” Kaz threw up his hands. “I don’t know how I did it. I don’t know if I can put it back. And I don’t know if I can do it again.”

  “Well, first, why don’t you try to make it solid again?” Beckett suggested.

  “How?” Kaz asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Beckett said. “This isn’t a skill I’ve ever seen before.”

  “Really?” Kaz gaped at Beckett. “You mean, you can’t do it?” He grinned. “I have a skill that you don’t have?”

  “Well,” Beckett sniffed. “I wouldn’t call it a skill if you can’t do it at will. Now can you return that lamp to the solid world or not?”

  Since Kaz didn’t know how he had made the lamp disappear from the solid world, he didn’t know if he could return it. He put his hand on the lamp, concentrated really hard, and willed it to turn solid again.

  Nothing happened.

  “Can you make something else disappear?” Beckett asked. “Like maybe this table?”

  “No!” Claire said, throwing her body over it. “People will notice if a big table is missing. They may even notice the lamp is missing. If you’re going to make stuff disappear, it’s got to be stuff that no one will miss. Like maybe this pencil.” She held it up.

  Kaz stared hard at the pencil and sloooowly reached for it. Concentrate . . . concentrate . . . concentrate, he said inside his head.

  But the pencil remained solid, and Kaz’s hand passed through it.

  “Claire?” Grandma Karen poked her head into the craft room. “Is your homework done?”

  Kaz held his breath, waiting to see if Grandma Karen would notice the missing lamp. But if she noticed, she didn’t say anything.

  “Yes, my homework is done,” Claire said.

  “Good.” Grandma Karen smiled. “Then say good night to your ghost friend because it’s time for bed.”

  “Good night, Kaz,” Claire said. Then she followed her grandma up the stairs.

  All night long, Beckett pestered Kaz. “Can you make this book disappear? How about this picture on the wall? Try putting both hands on it. Okay, maybe just one hand. Are you really concentrating?”

  “YES!” Kaz cried. “But I’m tired of concentrating. If you want to figure out this skill so bad, maybe you should work on it yourself!”

  Kaz had other things to think about. Like, where did his mom go? Who wrote that message in the storage room? What did they use to write it? And who turned on the piano and the spotlight in the cafetorium?

  The next morning, Beckett was still trying to figure out how to make something disappear from the solid world.

  “How close were you to that lamp when you made it disappear?” Beckett asked Kaz. “Were you hovering above it or were you beside it? Were you upside down or right side up?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “How do you not know?” Beckett cried, pulling at his hair.

  “You were there, too,” Kaz pointed out. “If you don’t remember, how do you expect me to?”

  “Because you’re the one who did it!”

  “Good morning,” Claire said cheerfully as she joined Kaz and Beckett in the craft room.

  “Good morning,” Kaz said.

  Beckett grunted.

  Kaz swam over to Claire. “Can I come to school with you today?” he whispered as he hovered near Claire’s ear. He needed a break from Beckett.

  “Of course,” Claire said. “You should come to school. We still haven’t solved the case of the backstage ghost. We can’t stop until we solve the case!”

  So Kaz went to school with Claire. While Claire was busy in her classroom, Kaz drifted up and down hallways . . . in and out of classrooms . . .

  He didn’t find any clues. But he did find a wadded-up piece of paper on the floor in an empty hallway. He swam over and tried to pick it up. His hand passed through it.

  He tried to make that paper disappear from the solid world. He stared hard at it and reached for it again.

  His hand passed through it again. What did I do differently last night to make that lamp disappear from the table in the craft room?

  While he was thinking about that, he heard a familiar voice coming from the classroom behind him: “I don’t know where my science book is.”

  Kaz glided over to the doorway to see who had said that.

  It was Andy, the boy who would be working in the control room during the play.

  “You haven’t had your science book all week,” the teacher told Andy. She did not look happy.

  “I know,” Andy said, his shoe digging into the floor. “I wish I knew what happened to it.”

  At lunch, Kaz hovered around Claire and Jonathan. While they were talking, Noah snuck up behind Jonathan and yelled, “BOO!”

  Both Claire and Jonathan jumped.

  “Got you, Ghost Boy!” Noah laughed. “You jumped a mile!”

  “Stop calling me ‘Ghost Boy,’” Jonathan said.

  “Ghost Boy! Ghost Boy!” Noah taunted as he walked away.

  “That isn’t very nice!” Claire called to Noah.

  “No one’s ever nice to me,” Jonathan said. “Except for you. When I was in third grade, they called me Puke Boy. Because I threw up in school once. Ghost Boy is actually better.”

  “No, it’s not,” Claire said. “People shouldn’t call names at all.”

  Kaz agreed. He wished he could make kids stop calling Jonathan “Ghost Boy.” But what could he do? He was just a ghost.

  Then he got an idea. He wasn’t sure it would work, but it was worth a try.

  Kaz floated over to Noah and . . . blew into his hair.

  Surprisingly enough, the hair around Noah’s ear moved a little.

  Kaz blew into Noah’s hair again. This time Noah reached up and pushed the piece of hair back into place.

  Kaz did it again. Harder this time.

  Noah shivered, then turned all around like he was trying to figure out what was making his hair move.

  Claire grinned at Kaz as Noah left the cafetorium.

  Kaz felt pleased with himself. He may not have figured out how to pick up a solid object or make it disappear, but he’d found a way to move a solid object.

  “I’d like you all to try on costumes today,” Mr. Hartshorn said at the beginning of rehearsal that afternoon. “Amber and Kenya went through all the costumes the other day. I pinned your names to the ones I’d like each of you to try on. You’ll find them hanging on a rack in the storage room.”

  Claire and the other performers went back behind the curtain.

  Kaz waited in the cafetorium. He watched the backstage workers piece together the beanstalk. They were building it right beside Jack’s house.

  A few minutes later, the performers wandered back onto the stage. None of them were in costume.

  Mr. Hartshorn glanced up at them in surprise. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

  “Our costumes are missing,” Claire said.

  Mr. Hartshorn stood up. “What do you mean your costumes are missing? They can’t all be missing.”

  �
�They are,” said Jonathan, scratching his ear.

  Several other kids nodded in agreement.

  “Amber?” Mr. Hartshorn called. “Where are the costumes? Weren’t they hanging in the storage room?”

  Amber poked her head around the curtain. “They were,” she said. “But they’re not there now.”

  Mr. Hartshorn sighed. “Does anyone know what happened to the costumes?”

  “Woooooooooooo,” Noah wailed as he raised his hands over Jonathan and pretended to grab him.

  “Stop horsing around!” Mr. Hartshorn said, and Noah quickly dropped his hands. “I don’t know who’s causing all this mischief, but it stops now. If those costumes don’t show up by the end of the week, I’m going to cancel this play.”

  A couple of the kids gasped.

  “We can’t perform without costumes,” Mr. Hartshorn said. “Rehearsal is over for today.”

  “I don’t want Mr. Hartshorn to cancel the play,” Claire told Kaz after everyone had left.

  Kaz didn’t want Mr. Hartshorn to cancel the play, either.

  “We have to figure out what’s going on around here,” Claire said. “Let’s see if we can find any clues.”

  Kaz had been looking for clues all week. There aren’t any clues in this school, he thought. But he didn’t know what else to do, so he followed Claire around the cafetorium.

  They peered inside the locked control room.

  Nothing appeared out of place.

  They went onto the stage and back behind the curtain. “The storage-room door is probably locked, too,” Claire said, checking the door.

  It was.

  “It’s hard to look for clues when everywhere we want to search is locked,” Kaz said. He followed Claire back onto the stage. As he sailed past the beanstalk, he noticed a narrow gap in the floor behind Jack’s house.

  Kaz swam back and took a closer look.

  “Hey, Claire,” he called, windmilling his arms. “Come look at this.”

  Claire walked over. “What’s that?” she asked, dropping to her knees. She slipped her fingers inside the gap and pulled. A board in the floor started to move.

  Claire pulled harder at the board. She slid it over as far as it would go . . . and revealed a hidden stairway under the stage.

  “Wow,” Claire said.

  “I wonder what’s down there,” Kaz said, peering into the dark passageway.

  “Let’s find out.” Claire reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. She shined the light from her phone onto the stairway. “This should give us enough light to see by,” she said as she stepped into the opening.

  “Are you sure we should go down there?” Kaz asked. “What if we get trapped?”

  “Relax. We’re not going to get trapped,” Claire said.

  Kaz wasn’t good at relaxing.

  “Come on.” Claire waved her hand. “I want to close this door back up so no one else finds it.”

  Against his better judgment, Kaz swam down into the opening, and Claire pulled the door closed over their heads.

  They were in a dark, narrow tunnel. Claire shined the light from her phone all around them, stopping on a metal can a few feet away from the stairs.

  “What’s that?” Kaz asked, drifting closer.

  Claire bent down in front of the can and read the label. “It’s glow-in-the dark paint.”

  “That looks like the same stuff we found on the wall of the storage room,” Kaz said.

  “Looks like it came from Pete’s Paint Shop,” Claire said. She stood up. “Let’s see what else is down here.” She held the phone in front of her and walked deeper into the tunnel.

  A couple of minutes later, they came to a large cardboard box. Claire shined her phone on a pile of folded clothes inside the box. “Hey, I think these are our missing costumes,” she said as she rifled through the box with her free hand. “This one has Jonathan’s name on it. This one has Sophia’s name. And this one has my name on it. We’ll come back and get the costumes once we see where this tunnel leads.”

  They followed the tunnel around a corner. It ended at another set of stairs. Claire put her hand on the railing and climbed the stairs. At the top was another closed door.

  “This door is probably locked, too,” she said, reaching for the knob.

  But much to their surprise, the knob turned easily.

  Claire pushed the door all the way open and stepped into another room.

  Kaz floated in behind her. The room looked familiar.

  “We’re in the control room,” Claire said, turning all the way around.

  Kaz glanced back at the door they’d just come through. “I thought that was a closet,” he said.

  “It is a closet,” Claire said. “A closet that has a secret passageway in the back of it. I think this explains how our ‘ghost’”—Claire made quote marks in the air—“got in here to turn on the spotlight when the door was locked.”

  “So you don’t think the ghost is really a ghost anymore?” Kaz asked.

  “No.” Claire shook her head.

  Finally, Kaz thought.

  “The question is, who is our ghost?” Claire asked.

  “Amber?” Kaz suggested. “She was wearing a Pete’s Paint Shop shirt the other day. Noah said she could get paint at her dad’s store. I bet her dad’s store is Pete’s Paint Shop. Plus, she was disappointed she didn’t get a part in the play. I heard her tell another girl that she never gets a part, and she doesn’t think it’s fair that she always has to work backstage.”

  “Hmm. That sounds like motive,” Claire said as she wandered around the tiny control room. “And—oh!” She nearly tripped over something. “What was that?” She looked down at the floor.

  “A book,” Kaz said. He swam down and stared hard at the cover. Science in Our World.

  “It should say inside whose book it is,” Claire said.

  Kaz reached for the cover. Concentrate, he told himself. Concentrate and open the book. But his hand passed through it.

  “I’ll get it.” Claire picked up the book. “I bet it’s Amber’s book.” She opened the cover and her eyebrows shot up.

  “Is it Amber’s?” Kaz asked.

  “No.” Claire shook her head. “It’s Andy Jensen’s book.”

  Kaz was confused. “Does that mean Andy is our ‘ghost’ instead of Amber?” He remembered that Andy was missing his science book.

  “I don’t know,” Claire said.

  Kaz couldn’t think of a reason why Andy would write that message on the wall or turn on the piano or the spotlight. And he couldn’t figure out when Andy would have done those things. Andy hadn’t been to any of the rehearsals.

  “Maybe Amber took Andy’s science book and put it in here to make it look like he’s the ghost instead of her?” Claire suggested.

  “Or maybe the science book isn’t part of this case at all,” Kaz said. “Maybe Andy simply left it in the control room that day he was talking to Mr. Hartshorn?”

  “Maybe,” Claire said. She put Andy’s book in her bag. “I’ll talk to both Andy and Amber tomorrow and see what we can find out.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Kaz said.

  Claire opened the door, and she and Kaz went out into the cafetorium. The door to the control room locked behind them.

  They were close to solving this case. Kaz could feel it.

  The next morning, Claire waited for Andy before school. Kaz floated safely in the water bottle at her side.

  “Hey, Andy,” Claire called to him, holding the science book out to him. “Is this yours?”

  Andy’s face brightened. “Yes!” he said, grabbing the book. “Where did you find it? I’ve been looking all over for it.”

  “It was in the control room,” Claire said.

  “Huh. I must’ve left it in there when Mr. Harts
horn showed me around.”

  Andy turned to leave, but Claire called him back. “Do you know anything about a secret passageway that goes between the stage and the control room in the cafetorium?” she asked.

  Andy looked around nervously, then leaned close to Claire and whispered, “Do you know anything about a secret passageway that goes between the stage and the control room in the cafetorium?”

  “Maybe,” Claire said, staring hard at him.

  Andy stared back. Finally, he broke the silence between them. “If you do know something about it, one, you didn’t hear it from me, and two, I would recommend you not tell Mr. Hartshorn you know about it.”

  Then he walked away.

  Claire couldn’t talk to Amber that day because Amber was home sick.

  “I guess there won’t be any ghostly happenings during rehearsal today,” Kaz said.

  “Not if Amber is our ghost,” Claire agreed.

  After school, Mr. Hartshorn motioned for all the performers and backstage workers to sit down at the tables in the cafetorium. Kaz hovered above them.

  “I see the costumes haven’t been returned yet,” Mr. Hartshorn said with disappointment.

  Oh no! Kaz thought. He swam down and whispered to Claire, “We were going to go back into that tunnel and get the costumes before we left yesterday!”

  Claire nodded slightly.

  Kaz could tell she was disappointed they’d forgotten, too.

  Claire raised her hand. “I have a feeling the costumes will be back tomorrow. Monday, at the latest.”

  Depending on how long Amber is sick, Kaz thought.

  “Not if a ghost took them,” Noah pointed out. “If a ghost took them, we’ll probably never see them again.”

  “That’s enough talk about ghosts,” Mr. Hartshorn said. “Claire, I hope you’re right. I hope the costumes are returned because I would hate to cancel this play. Let’s rehearse.”

  The performers silently took their places onstage. The first half of rehearsal passed without any problems.