The Ghosts at the Movie Theater

by Dori Hillestad Butler

  FOR THE REAL

  UNCLE DAVE

  —DHB

  GROSSET & DUNLAP

  Penguin Young Readers Group

  An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

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  Text copyright © 2017 by Dori Hillestad Butler. Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Aurore Damant. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN 9780451534354 (pbk)

  ISBN 9780451534361 (hc)

  ISBN 9780515157109 (ebook)

  Version_1

  Contents

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Ghostly Glossary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Don’t Miss the Other Books in the Haunted Library Series!

  EXPAND

  When ghosts make themselves larger

  GLOW

  What ghosts do so humans can see them

  HAUNT

  Where ghosts live

  PASS THROUGH

  When ghosts travel through walls, doors, and other solid objects

  SHRINK

  When ghosts make themselves smaller

  SKIZZY

  When ghosts feel sick to their stomachs

  SOLIDS

  What ghosts call humans

  SPEW

  Ghostly vomit

  SWIM

  When ghosts move freely through the air

  TRANSFORMATION

  When a ghost takes a solid object and turns it into a ghostly object

  WAIL

  What ghosts do so humans can hear them

  You guys! Come quick!” Little John shouted as he swam into Claire’s living room. “You won’t believe what Finn is doing!”

  It was the middle of the night. Kaz, Cosmo, Mom, Pops, Grandmom, and Grandpop had the TV on, but they weren’t paying much attention to it. They just had it on while they waited for Claire to wake up. The ghosts had a big favor to ask of Claire.

  Kaz groaned. “What’s Finn doing?” he asked his younger brother, Little John.

  Finn was Kaz and Little John’s big brother. Back when the ghosts lived in the old schoolhouse, Finn liked to scare his brothers by putting an arm, leg, or his head through the outside wall. One day he pushed his head too far through the wall and he got stuck in the Outside. Grandmom and Grandpop tried to rescue him, but the wind blew them all away.

  A few months later, some solids came and tore down the old schoolhouse. Kaz and the rest of his family were forced into the Outside. The wind blew them away, too. It blew Kaz to the library, where he met Claire, the solid girl who lives above the library with her parents and her grandma.

  Kaz didn’t think he’d ever see the rest of his family again. But he and Claire found Cosmo when they were searching for a ghost in an attic. Little John had gotten himself “returned” to the library inside a book. The three of them found Grandmom and Grandpop at a nursing home. They found Mom and Pops at a girl named Margaret’s house. And just yesterday, they found Finn at a boy named Eli’s house.

  “You have to see what Finn’s doing,” Little John said. “He’s in Claire’s room.”

  Kaz sighed. Whatever Finn was doing in Claire’s room in the middle of the night, it couldn’t be good.

  The ghosts swam down the hall and through Claire’s bedroom door. Claire was sound asleep on her bed, and Finn was braiding her hair to the bedpost!

  Kaz gasped. “Finn!”

  “Woof! Woof!” Cosmo barked at Finn while Mom, Pops, Grandmom, and Grandpop shook their heads in disapproval.

  “You’re such a tattletale, Little John,” Finn said.

  “Come on, Finn,” Kaz said. “That’s not very nice.”

  All of a sudden, Claire jerked awake. She tried to sit up, but couldn’t. “What the—?” she said. Her fingers followed her hair all the way to the bedpost.

  “Who did this?” she asked the ghosts. Her gaze settled on Finn. She made a face at him.

  “Aw, can’t you take a joke?” Finn asked. He tried to help Claire unbraid her hair, but she didn’t want his help. She shoved her hand through his chest.

  “Way to go, Finn,” Little John said. “Claire may not want to do us that favor now.”

  “What favor?” Claire asked as her hair came free from the bedpost.

  “She can’t do it in the middle of the night,” Kaz said. “Go back to sleep, Claire. We’ll ask you in the morning.” Maybe by then she will have forgotten what Finn did to her hair.

  Claire turned on her bedside lamp. “I’m awake now,” she said, combing her hair with her fingers. “Go ahead and ask.”

  The ghosts looked at one another. Mom motioned for Kaz to do the asking.

  “Well . . .” Kaz wafted closer to Claire. “You know how there’s this little problem between our family and Beckett?”

  Beckett was the other ghost who lived at the library. For some reason, Mom, Grandmom, and Grandpop never wanted to be in the same room with Beckett. So they made a deal: Beckett would stay in the library and the other ghosts would stay in Claire’s apartment. Tonight Mom, Grandmom, and Grandpop finally told Kaz, Finn, and Little John why there was a problem between Beckett and their family.

  And now Kaz was explaining it to Claire. “When our mom and Beckett were young ghosts, Beckett lived with her family for a while,” he began.

  “He did?” Claire said, hugging her knees to her chest.

  “Yes,” Kaz said. “You know how we’ve never seen Beckett glow?”

  Little John couldn’t wait for Kaz to finish telling the story. “Beckett doesn’t glow blue like we do,” he blurted. “He glows red!”

  “Really?” Claire gaped at the ghosts. “I’ve never heard of a ghost who glows red.”

  “Wait, there’s more,” Kaz said. “Our mom had a little brother named Dave. One day Beckett glowed, and his red glow scared Dave so bad that he jumped right through the wall of their haunt, and the wind blew him away. They haven’t seen him since.”

  Finn picked up the story from there. “Remember when I said I was at the movie theater before I was at Eli’s house? Well, there’s a ghost named Dave there. We want you to take us to the movie theater so we can find out if he’s Mom’s long-lost brother!”

  “Maybe if we find Dave, then you guys will forgive Beckett for what happened and we can all be friends,” Kaz said to his mom and grandparents.

  “Maybe,” Gran
dmom and Grandpop said. But they made no promises.

  Claire thought about the situation. “Okay,” she said, stifling a yawn. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. I think the movie theater opens at one. How about we go right after lunch?” Then she lay down, pulled the covers over her head, and went back to sleep.

  Everyone in Kaz’s family wanted to go to the movie theater. That was eight ghosts, including Cosmo. Unfortunately, Claire’s water bottle only held four ghosts comfortably. Five if they shrank extra small and squished together.

  “I don’t have to go if there isn’t room,” Pops said.

  “Me either,” Kaz said. He thought Finn should go because Finn was the one who knew the ghost at the movie theater. And Mom, Grandmom, and Grandpop should go because Uncle Dave was Mom’s brother, and Grandmom and Grandpop’s son.

  “Little John, Pops, and I could stay here with Cosmo,” Kaz said as he put his arm around Little John.

  “Woof! Woof!” Cosmo barked.

  “No, Kaz,” Claire said. “You have to come. We’re C & K Detectives. We’re a team.”

  Little John ducked out from under Kaz’s arm. “I’m C & K Detectives, too!” he said, even though his name didn’t start with C or K. “I’ve helped you solve cases. I want to see if Finn’s friend is our Uncle Dave, too.”

  “You should all come,” Claire said. “I’ll find something big enough to hold you all.”

  The ghosts followed Claire into the kitchen. She scanned the counters, then opened the fridge. “How about this?” she said, reaching for an almost empty bottle of orange juice. She finished what was left, then rinsed the bottle in the sink.

  “Perfect,” Kaz said as he grabbed his dog. The ghosts shrank down . . . down . . . down . . . and passed through the bottle.

  “I’m going to the movies,” Claire called to her family.

  Claire’s mom poked her head out of her office. “What are you going to see?” she asked. Claire’s parents were detectives, too—just like Claire and Kaz. But Claire’s parents solved regular mysteries, and Claire and Kaz solved ghostly mysteries.

  “I don’t know. Whatever’s showing,” Claire said with a shrug. “I’m only going because there’s a ghost at the movie theater and we want to find out if it’s Kaz’s long-lost uncle. I’ve got his whole family in here.” She tapped the orange juice bottle.

  Even though Claire’s mom couldn’t see Kaz and his family, she knew all about them. So did Claire’s dad and Grandma Karen. In fact, Claire’s mom and grandma could see ghosts when they were Claire’s age, too. But Claire’s dad has never been able to see ghosts.

  “Okay, but be back in time for dinner,” her mom said.

  “I will,” Claire promised.

  The movie theater was downtown, right in the middle of a block. There was a toy store on one side of the theater and a Mexican restaurant on the other. Claire went inside the theater and got in line to buy a ticket for the movie.

  “Hey, look! It’s Conrad, Jessie, and George!” Finn said as he passed through the bottle. The rest of the family had no idea who Conrad, Jessie, and George were, but they followed Finn through the bottle and across the large open room.

  They saw three new ghosts hovering above a brightly lit snack counter where some solid people were buying popcorn. Two of the ghosts were teenagers—a boy and a girl. They were holding hands and looking at each other all googly-eyed. The other ghost was younger. Not as young as Little John, but younger than Kaz.

  The three ghosts turned. “Finn!” they shrieked. They swam over and threw their arms around Finn.

  Grandpop cleared his throat. “Finn? Are you going to introduce us to your friends?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Finn said. He gestured toward the teenagers. “This is Jessie and Conrad. The little one’s George. Guys, this is my mom and dad, my grandparents, my brothers, Kaz and Little John, and my dog, Cosmo.”

  “Woof! Woof!” Cosmo barked.

  “Aw,” Jessie said. “You found your family!”

  “Cool,” Conrad said, shaking hands with everyone.

  “Where’s Dave?” Mom asked, looking all around.

  “You know Dave?” George asked as Conrad and Jessie exchanged a look.

  “What?” Finn said. “What’s that look?”

  “Dude,” Conrad said in a low voice as Claire joined the crowd of ghosts. “I hate to break this to you, but Dave’s gone.”

  Gone?!” Mom exclaimed.

  Grandpop wafted forward. “What do you mean gone?”

  “I mean gone. Disappeared. Not here anymore,” Conrad said.

  “Where’d he go?” Grandmom asked.

  “We have no idea,” Jessie said.

  Claire set her orange juice bottle on the floor and pulled a purple notebook and green pen from her bag. She glanced warily at the other solid people who were buying popcorn at the counter, then turned her back to them. “How long has Dave been gone?” she asked Finn’s friends.

  George’s mouth fell open. Jessie and Conrad waved their hands in Claire’s face. “Can you see us?”

  “Yes. I can hear you, too,” Claire said, barely moving her lips. She was used to ghosts asking her these questions.

  “How?” Conrad and Jessie asked.

  “We’re not glowing,” George said.

  Claire shrugged as two solid girls walked past her with their popcorn.

  “No one knows,” Little John said.

  “Someone must know,” Jessie said. “There must be some explanation.”

  Claire shrugged again.

  “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Conrad asked.

  “She doesn’t like to talk a lot when all these other people are around,” Kaz explained. “They can’t see us, so they’ll think she’s talking to herself.”

  “Ohhh,” Conrad and Jessie said at the same time.

  “Let’s talk about Dave instead of Claire,” Kaz said. “How long has he been gone?”

  “Since yesterday,” Conrad said.

  Kaz glanced out the big front window at the stores across the street. A ghost could pass through walls and visit a bunch of stores on that side of the street without ever going outside. You could probably do that on this side of the street, too.

  “Maybe he’s not really gone,” Kaz said. “Isn’t there a toy store on the other side of that wall?” He pointed to the wall behind the snack counter. “And a restaurant on the other side of that wall?” He pointed to the other wall. “Maybe Dave’s in one of the other stores or restaurants on this block.”

  “We already looked in all the other stores on this block,” George said.

  “Several times,” Conrad said. “He’s gone.”

  “We know he’s gone because he didn’t show up for the sing-along last night,” Jessie said.

  “Sing-along?” Little John asked.

  “You guys still do that?” Finn asked.

  “Of course,” Jessie replied. She turned to the other ghosts. “After the theater closes, we meet by the piano in the balcony and have a sing-along.”

  “It’s how we celebrate that all the solids have gone home for the night,” Conrad added.

  “My brother always loved music,” Mom said with a wistful smile.

  “He did indeed,” Grandmom agreed as Claire wrote everything in her notebook.

  “Dave wouldn’t leave without saying good-bye,” George said. “Something bad must’ve happened to him.” Jessie and Conrad nodded in agreement.

  “Maybe he accidentally passed through the back wall,” Finn said. “If you pass through the back wall, you don’t end up in another store. You end up in the Outside. In an alley. That’s what happened to me.”

  “Tell us about it,” Pops said to Finn.

  “Well,” Finn said, looking a little embarrassed. “I was making faces at the solids before the movie started. Just for fun. A
nd I sort of backed through the wall into the Outside. The wind blew me into a packing and shipping store across the alley. I tried to swim back over here, but the wind was too strong. It blew me up and over all these stores. I ended up at the library for a while. Then Eli’s house. That’s where Kaz and Little John found me.”

  “Maybe the wind blew Dave to Eli’s house, too,” Little John suggested.

  “I think it’s more likely that it blew him into one of the stores across the alley,” Finn said.

  “We can go around the block and see if he’s in any of the stores over there,” Claire said. By now most of the other solid people in the lobby had gone into the theater.

  “Yes, let’s do that,” Mom said as a solid man in a wheelchair rolled right through her.

  The solid man wore black pants, a black jacket over a white shirt, and a name tag that said Irwin. “The movie is about to start,” he told Claire. “You might want to go find a seat.” He couldn’t see the eleven ghosts hovering around him.

  “I changed my mind,” Claire said, closing her notebook. “I don’t think I can stay for the movie after all.”

  “But you just bought a ticket,” Irwin said. “What’s the matter? Are you sick?”

  “Uh . . . yes!” Claire said. She clutched her stomach. “I mean, I think I might be getting sick.”

  Irwin rolled backward. “Well, save your ticket. Then you can come back and see the movie another day.”

  “I will. Thanks.” Claire stuffed her notebook back in her bag and zipped it up.

  Kaz and his family shrank down . . . down . . . down . . . and swam into the empty orange juice bottle at Claire’s feet. Luckily, no one had noticed it.

  “That’s an interesting way to travel,” Conrad said, peering in at all the ghosts.

  “You want to come with us?” Finn asked.

  “It looks a little crowded,” Jessie said, holding tight to Conrad’s hand.