Ghosts

A ****g******host** is a supernatural being that can return to where they have died. They have certain powers such as disappearing and reappearing. Ghosts appear solid to the eye and to the touch, but only to those that they have shown themselves to, who are typically the only ones that can hear them. They are usually bound to a certain area, but can leave using reliquaries. Addie Whitcher and her father Doc Holystone both died and returned as ghosts.

## History

### *Greenglass House*

Addie Whitcher appeared to Milo, and he assumed she was Meddy Caraway. She befriended him and encouraged him to find out what a map meant, and the two started playing Odd Trails, she playing a character that was invisible. When Milo and Meddy were together, the adults interacted only with Milo, not being able to see Meddy. At one point, Meddy was said to descend the staircase extremely quickly, presumably using one of her ghostly powers. When Meddy interrupted a story, Milo shushed her, but the guests only heard Milo.

Mrs. Pine told a story about how a guest called Fenster had seen the ghost of Doc Holystone and the ghost of his son waving to each other across the grounds, and the boy had told him that they were saying goodbye. At one point, Meddy rang bells on the Christmas tree without being seen, then reappeared in the living room next to Milo. The guests and Milo's family continued to not see Meddy, though Milo didn't realize this. After Fenster came to the inn, he overheard Meddy; he'd already seen the ghosts of the Whitcher family. Milo talked to his dad, who was confused by his continued use of the word "we", not being able to see Meddy.

When Mr. Vinge told a story portraying Doc Holystone as evil, Meddy snarled angry, authoritative words. This sent a sudden chill through the room and the others heard, though they didn't know where the voice was from; Meddy had Milo say the same thing so that they would think it was him. Meddy took Milo up to the attic when Mr. Vinge became violent. He called her out on how odd she'd been acting, and Meddy was forced to admit to Milo who she really was.

The ghost of Doc Holystone's daughter Addie Whitcher, she said; he'd simply assumed she was Meddy Caraway. Addie talked about how she'd died thirty-four years prior, and she'd showed herself to Milo because she could feel that something was wrong in the house, and thought he could help her figure out what was wrong. No one else had been able to see or hear her but Milo, because she'd only showed herself to him, she said (although it seems that Fenster could see her, having seen her before and possibly overheard a comment of hers). To prove that this was true, Meddy flickered and disappeared, reappearing soon after. She explained how time went by strangely for her, and she could only remember snippets and had difficulty knowing how long it had been since something happened. She didn't know how she could carry things.

Meddy used her ghost powers to startle a customs agent, appearing suddenly, and allowing Milo to trap him. In the battle against Mr. Vinge, Meddy stopped him threatening Milo by appearing to everyone. She caused the lights to flicker, the chandelier to rattle, and a draft to come through the room. Meddy became huge and threatened Mr. Vinge. He shot her, but the bullet went right through her, and she took the gun from his hand. Meddy became so angry that Mr. Vinge and his assistant customs agents all fled. Meddy caused the front door to open, Mr. Vinge's coat to leave its hook, and the coat to chase, then tackle him. After this was over, she was introduced to all of the guests. Meddy advised Milo that she might not always be at Greenglass House, but that she wanted to hang out with him when she was. Meddy then said goodbye to Milo, flickered, and disappeared, leaving him to enjoy Christmas on his own.

### *Ghosts of Greenglass House*

The following year, Milo still had not seen Meddy, and he missed her. One day, he saw the ghost of Doc Holystone in the forest, although he would later learn that it was not Doc Holystone, but Toby Gilawfer in disguise, which explained the smell of the fire; men needed to keep warm, but ghosts didn't. Meddy then arrived, declaring that she could feel something wrong in the house, and it was Milo. She helped him create an Odd Trails character, and he quickly got over his annoyance over her having been gone a year; Meddy explained that she couldn't explain what it was like to not be there, and she didn't have a good sense of time. Milo went out to find Doc Holystone, still thinking it was him, and Doc came to a halt at the edge of the forest, seemingly not being able to continue. Meddy, however, tried to leave Greenglass House's porch, flickered, and disappeared. She only reappeared when she stepped back onto the porch. It is unclear how Gilawfer knew that ghosts had boundaries, but since there are, it seems, other ghosts in Nagspeake, it's likely that he learned this by reading legends, lore, or even real history about them.

When Meddy roamed the rest of Greenglass House, Clem, Georgie, and everyone that had been there the previous year could see her, but the new guests couldn't. Meddy theorized that when she showed herself to someone, it stuck. When Milo found some of Georgie and Clem's missing haul, Meddy suggested that they keep it on her, since that way the thief, who couldn't see her, had no way of getting it. In the morning, Meddy was annoyed when all the people that could see her greeted her awkwardly. Meddy at one point disappeared and reappeared in another room of the house. Lucky told a story about how, when she was a girl, she'd found a hobby horse skull in an abandoned bookstore. She'd talked to it, and it had, as she remembered, talked to her too. She helped it find the Waits, and went caroling with them and the skull every December after that.

Milo went into the woods and encountered Doc Holystone's ghost, but it turned out that this was actually a dressed-up Toby Gilawfer, and he knew this was true because of numerous things, including how the fake ghost had reacted when he'd come to the edge of his haunting-space, and how Milo had smelled a fire—a ghost wouldn't need to keep warm. When Mr. Vinge showed up too and Milo was in trouble, he saw a shape and realized that he'd somehow accidentally called a hobby horse by singing a Christmas carol. The ghostly horse approached, passing through the tree trunks like they weren't there and arriving right in the middle of Milo's group. The real ghost of Doc Holystone then appeared. The hobby horse fought Vinge and Gilawfer when they took out guns, and herded them away through the woods. The hide seemed to drift away, leaving a horse skeleton with candles and ribbons on it, and the hobby horse somehow appeared in front of Vinge and Gilawfer when they tried to run away, blocking their path, until all three disappeared. Milo told Doc Holystone that Addie was his friend and he'd try to get them to see each other. When Milo met Owen, who'd been searching for him, Owen commented that he thought he'd seen a ghost. Milo went back inside and told Meddy and the guests about seeing Doc Holystone and about the ghost hobby horse. Milo introduced Meddy to the guests, who were all shocked at her sudden appearance.

Milo thought about a scholiast exploit from Odd Trails where the scholiast character can travel outside of their normal area by way of a relic and a reliquary. He wondered if this legend had some basis in truth, and chose the Sirin figurine as a relic because he thought it represented Meddy. He then put it in an old vial that had been in the house a very long time, as a reliquary. Milo and Meddy crossed the lawn together, holding the reliquary, and Meddy was able to leave her haunting-space, and she was reunited with her delighted father.

### *The Thief Knot*

**Meddy**: I think just you. But it seems that once I show myself to people, they can see me from that point on...

— *The Thief Knot*, pg. 199 |  | ”

Milo sent Marzana a package in the mail, containing the Sirin figurine in a vial. That morning, Marzana found Meddy on her doorstep, and realized that Meddy had been sent in the mail. Meddy explained how her reliquary worked, and mentioned that she'd chosen when to manifest, meaning that Meddy had likely been in another plane of reality while waiting for Marzana. Meddy mentioned how little she understood about her ghosthood. Marzana talked to Meddy on her way to school, making sure not to act oddly, since she was the only one who could see Meddy. When they got to Marymead, Meddy showed herself to both Nialla and Emilia, shocking them. Nialla, who Marzana had told about her adventures that winter, realized that Marzana had been telling the truth about the ghost, and Emilia made a comment that suggested that there were ghosts at Marymead that the Commorancy Kids were aware of.

Meddy used her ghost powers to jump on top of a bank of lockers, walk soundlessly across them, then jump quietly back down to the ground. She disappeared and reappeared again in a dumbwaiter instead of climbing in. She was a lookout for Marzana, Nialla, and Emilia while they broke into the school records, appearing in the room to tell them that someone was coming. She vanished herself into the dumbwaiter again, and when the old iron moved the dumbwaiter miraculously, she felt something very odd that made her giggle uncontrollably. Meddy left to explore Marymead while Marzana and Nialla had class, eavesdropping on the teachers. At the end of the day, she gave Marzana her reliquary so that she could walk through things, mentioning that she'd accidentally walked into doors a few times.

Meddy commented on how she didn't think a ghost was running Boneash and Sodalime's because the ghost would know she couldn't eat. Meddy used her ghostly powers to disappear on J.J., then explained to him and Ciro about her ghostliness. Meddy later stuck her finger through a deck of cards and found the one J.J. had touched. When she told a story about Alexander Cabot, she reminded J.J. not to worry, since no one else could hear her. Meddy at one point fell through Marzana and J.J. by accident, making them both feel queasy. Meddy walked through the door of Mrs. Agravin's house, unlocked it for Marzana and J.J. to go through too, then came literally flying down the stairs to announce that she'd found Peony Hyde. Meddy used her ghostly powers to do shell tricks that Peony couldn't see. She later stepped through Ciro.

When the Thief Knot arrived at Mergenthaler Street Station, Meddy looked around because she was invisible. She carried her reliquary for better range of movement, noting that as long as her reliquary fit through some part of the gate, she could go through too. Meddy made a balloon and backpack move on their own to scare Moth and Kit Fletchwood. Meddy whacked Kit with the backpack. At one point, Meddy and J.J. put together the appearance of the fake ghost of Tumbler Fletchwood using a balloon. Later, all the air came out of the balloon, and Meddy and J.J. each said they hadn't done it. Emilia speculated that maybe it had been Tumbler's real ghost, though they had no way of knowing, Meddy saying she wasn't sure she could've known if it was another ghost's work.

### *The Raconteur's Commonplace Book*

In Madame Grisaille's story, a roamer-hero's bones were resurrected, but he then seemed to take control of his own body, as if his ghost had reinhabited it.

As told in a story by Captain Frost, Melusine and Lowe encountered a ghost ship. It was crewed by ghostly sailors, who Melusine and Lowe led to a harbor. The sailors expressed their thanks by saluting.

In Mrs. Haypotten's story about Queen Maisie, the queen pretended to be a ghost when confronting her would-be killer, putting on a ruined nightgown from Bean-Knee and covering herself in fog.

## Physical characteristics

Only people who ghosts choose to appear to can see and hear them (although ghosts can be heard by someone who they haven't shown themselves to when they speak extremely angrily). When ghosts choose to appear to someone, this action cannot be observed by someone who can already see them. Addie Whitcher is known to have accidentally appeared to someone. Ghosts appear solid and like living people, but they can make objects pass through them, including walls. Ghosts cannot eat. They can disappear (flickering once first) and reappear at will, in a different place than before if they choose. Ghosts can also make themselves bigger, and control drafts and objects when they are angry. Ghosts are generally confined to a certain area, which can be centered around where they died or another area important to them, such as Greenglass House for Meddy. If the ghost tries to leave this area, they will disappear. However, the ghost can travel out of this area by way of a relic and reliquary related to them. When carrying the reliquary, they cannot walk through anything the reliquary doesn't fit through, like walls (although possibly gates, depending on whether there's a hole big enough to fit the reliquary through), though they have unlimited range. When another person carries the reliquary, they regain all their ghostly powers, but can only travel a certain distance from that person. Ghosts also have some way of feeling the movements of old iron.

## Known ghosts

* Addie Whitcher
* Doc Holystone
* Tumbler Fletchwood (suspected)
* Crew of the ghost ship
* Hobby horses
* Ghosts residing in Marymead (suspected)