Ben flew up to the photography classroom and tried to turn the doorknob.
But the door was locked.
He knocked. "Pixel? Are you in there? It's me, Ben."
There was no reply, so Ben floated through the door.
In the back of the classroom, he could see the small darkroom, once used for developing photographs.
Sure enough, Pixel was huddled in a corner.
He was hunched over something, sobbing.
"Pixel! Are you okay?"
Pixel jumped.
Floating toward the younger ghost, Ben saw tears streaming down his face.
"What happened?" Ben asked.
"Did you see the vandal? Are you hurt?"
Pixel stared at Ben, unable to speak for a moment.
"I'm okay," he finally said in a shaky voice. "I'm not hurt."
"Then what's wrong?" Ben asked again.
"Look. I found your camera.
Do you know who the vandal is?"
"Yes, it's . . ." Pixel swallowed hard. "Me!"
"What?" Ben blinked in surprise.
"You? You're the vandal? But . . ."
He looked around and spotted the other two missing paintings.
Their frames were broken too.
"Oh wow." Ben ran a hand through his hair.
"This is bad." He dropped into a chair.
"I messed the paintings up," Pixel said.
"I didn't steal them.
And now I'm trying to fix them.
Please believe me, Ben.
I didn't mean for any of this to happen!"
Ben shook his head. "Sorry, Pixel, but I don't understand."
Pixel took a deep breath, and then the whole story tumbled out.
"I wanted to get great photos for your article.
So I tried to float in cool ways to get interesting angles.
But I am not good at advanced floating techniques.
I kept smashing into things—like Mr. Freaky's sculpture.
I bashed into the motor and made the whole thing go haywire!"
"Okay," Ben said slowly. "What else did you do?"
"I knocked over all the artwork too!
But I didn't want anyone to know, so I grabbed the three broken paintings and brought them to the newspaper office.
I tried to fix them, but I couldn't.
That's when I made those dumb copies.
I was hoping nobody would notice." Pixel made a face.
"Pretty dumb, huh?"
"Nope." Ben frowned. "Very dumb!"
Pixel winced.
"That explains the painting in the newspaper office closet.
By the way, Mr. Freaky found it and blamed me!"
"Sorry." The younger ghost winced again.
"I was working on it in there, and somebody came in, so I shoved it into the closet.
Every time I tried to go back for it, somebody was in the office."
"What about the flying painting?" Ben asked.
"That got vandalized twice."
"I knocked over the paints earlier in the week.
And then today I smeared the paint while I was trying to take photos.
I didn't realize the flying painting was still wet!"
"Go on."
"While I was trying to sneak out of the gym without being noticed, I dropped my camera.
I couldn't go back for it because Mr. Gwarg was in there." Pixel shrugged.
"I'm just so awful at floating!
I know I should practice more often, but I like photography better.
I'd much rather take pictures than practice boring floating techniques."
"Wow. Pixel." Ben sat there for a minute with his chin in his hands.
He couldn't believe how much damage Pixel had caused—all by mistake.
"Why didn't he ask me or a teacher for help?" Ben thought.
But of course Ben knew the answer to that question perfectly well.
"I used to have trouble with floating too," Ben blurted out.
"For the longest time, I couldn't float through doors and walls.
I was too embarrassed to tell anyone."
Pixel blinked at him. "Really? Same as me?"
"Yep. But I practiced and I got better. You can do that too."
"I'll try, I promise. But . . ." Tears filled Pixel's eyes again.
"In the meantime I ruined Art Week!" He shook his head.
"Worst of all, I wrecked the witches' beautiful painting."
"Art Week isn't over yet," Ben said.
"And the witches are very good artists.
They're fixing the flying painting right now."
He glanced at the artwork on the floor near Pixel.
"It looks like you've finished repairing those paintings, so we can hang them back up in the hallway."
Pixel nodded as he wiped away his tears.
Then he glanced up at a clock on the darkroom wall.
"I guess we'd better hurry, Ben.
Leonardo da Creepy will be here any minute!"
"Yeah," Ben said with a grin.
"And we need to get your photos ready for my newspaper article!"