A Ghost in the Castle Read online

  CONTENTS

  The Kingdom of Wrenly’ Map

  Chapter 1: Bumps in the Night

  Chapter 2: Dragon Hound

  Chapter 3: Seeing Things

  Chapter 4: A Mysterious Mission

  Chapter 5: Eavesdroppers

  Chapter 6: Ghost Writer

  Chapter 7: The West Turret

  Chapter 8: That’s the Spirit!

  Chapter 9: Kindred Spirits

  Chapter 10: RIP

  About the Author

  Bumps in the Night

  * * *

  Oooooooooo . . . !

  OOOOOOOOOO . . . !

  Creeeeeeak!

  The door to Prince Lucas’s room whined as it opened. A wave of cold air swept into his chamber. Ruskin, Lucas’s pet scarlet dragon, lifted his ears. Then—CLUMP! The door banged shut in the darkness. Lucas gasped and sat straight up in bed.

  “What was that?” he whispered, staring at the closed door. Ruskin shook his head and whimpered.

  The prince looked at the moon shimmering on the water outside the palace. His curtains blew gently in the breeze.

  “It must have been a gust of wind,” the prince reasoned. But just as he said this, the strange, spooky sound began again.

  Oooooooooo . . . !

  OOOOOOOOOO . . . !

  Ruskin jumped onto Lucas’s bed.

  “Somebody’s awake,” Lucas said softly. “Let’s go find out who it is.” The prince slid out of bed, and Ruskin followed.

  The prince slowly opened the door. The light from the moon was just enough for him to see down the passageway. They tiptoed through the first arch. Then they heard the eerie wail again.

  Oooooooooo . . . !

  OOOOOOOOOO . . . !

  Ruskin scrambled and hid beside a decorative suit of armor. His head peeked out.

  Lucas smiled nervously. “Would you believe me if I said that was probably just the wind too?” Lucas whispered to his dragon.

  The wind often whistled through the palace on stormy nights. Only tonight wasn’t stormy. And the sound was definitely a moan—not a whistle.

  “Come on, Ruskin,” the prince said. “I’d really like to know who’s making these creepy noises.”

  The two of them crept down the hall and peered around the corner. At the end of the next passageway, they saw a glowing bluish light.

  As they tiptoed closer to the light, the air turned ice cold. Lucas hugged himself to keep warm.

  If these are winds, then they are blowing in from Flatfrost tonight, he thought. Then he gulped at the ridiculous thought. It was summer in Wrenly, after all.

  Slowly a shadow stretched across the wall at the end of the passageway. It had long bony fingers and a tall pointed hat. Lucas and Ruskin froze. Then the shadowy somebody came into view.

  Lucas gasped. It was André—one of the kingdom’s top wizards.

  “What are you two doing up?” the wizard asked.

  Ruskin looked at Lucas, who did all the talking. “We heard strange noises and came to see who it was.”

  André frowned. “Well, now you know,” he said gruffly. “Get along back to bed. Sleep is important for young princes . . . and their curious dragons.”

  Lucas nodded as a wave of relief washed over him. The spooky noises had only been André all along. But what was he doing wandering the halls at this late hour?

  Dragon Hound

  * * *

  Lucas yawned over his pancakes.

  “What’s up, sleepyhead?” asked his best friend, Clara. She had come to the castle early with her mother, who worked for Queen Tasha.

  Lucas rubbed his eyes and sat up in his chair. “Ruskin and I had a late night,” he said.

  Clara sat down at the table. “How come?”

  Lucas told Clara all about the weird sounds, the mysterious chill in the hallway, the glowing light, and bumping into André.

  “Wow,” Clara said. “That does sound creepy, though Ruskin doesn’t seem nearly as tired as you.”

  The dragon was busy scratching and sniffing at one of the dining room doors.

  “Ruskin, no!” the prince scolded. He didn’t want the young dragon getting in trouble with his parents.

  Ruskin listened to his friend and stopped scratching but kept sniffing at the door.

  Clara stood and walked over to Ruskin. “He really wants whatever is behind here.”

  In one smooth move, Clara pulled the handle and Ruskin escaped through the opening.

  Lucas leaped up. He was wide awake now. “What is it?”

  Clara peered down the hallway as a blue light disappeared around a corner. “The glowing light—it’s back! And Ruskin chased after it!”

  Lucas quickly charged into the hall with Clara right behind him. Soon they caught sight of Ruskin’s tail flying around the next bend. Then they lost sight of him again. Every time they caught a glimpse of the dragon, he’d disappear down another hallway, chasing after the light.

  “This castle goes on forever!” Clara shouted.

  Lucas yelled over his shoulder. “Don’t worry. There’s a dead end coming up.”

  Sure enough, Ruskin was waiting at the dead end. The dragon sat in a heap, rubbing his head and squawking at the wall. The last of the glowing mist seeped through the wall and was gone.

  “Whoa! Did you see that?” Clara exclaimed, her eyes round with wonder. “What was that?”

  Lucas touched the cold, hard stones.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But whatever it was, it just went through a solid wall.”

  Seeing Things

  * * *

  Clara tried to make sense of what they had just seen.

  “Perhaps our eyes were playing tricks on us,” she suggested.

  Lucas sighed as they walked back down the hall. “Maybe it’s because we haven’t eaten breakfast.”

  Clara’s stomach agreed, letting out a loud rumble, which made both of the friends laugh.

  “Are you hungry too, Ruskin?” the prince asked.

  Ruskin growled and looked back down the passageway. He was more interested in what he’d been chasing than in food.

  The kids hurried into the royal kitchen.

  “Good morning, Cook,” Lucas said. “We’re really hungry.”

  Cook turned around from a pot of soup he’d been stirring.

  “I just threw out your untouched pancakes!” he grumbled. “If you want something to eat, you’ll have to fetch it yourself.”

  Lucas and Clara had no trouble finding food. They grabbed yogurt, fruit, bread, and butter. As they carried their breakfast to the kitchen table, they heard Cook whistle for Ruskin.

  “Here, boy!” he called. “I saved you a nice juicy bone!”

  Ruskin scampered after Cook as he left the room.

  “Hopefully, this food will cure us of seeing things,” Lucas said as the kids sat down at the table.

  No sooner had he said spoken these words than a strange woman appeared in the kitchen. She had long, wavy white hair and a misty gray-blue dress. She looked pale as if she hadn’t been outside in a very long time.

  “Can we help you?” Lucas asked.

  The woman drew closer. Her dress floated behind her, and the air around her felt cold. Lucas got goose bumps.

  “Yes,” said the woman in a voice that was strange and distant. “Tell me about your dragon.”

  Lucas set down his yogurt on the table. Although there was something odd about this woman, his biggest fear was that Ruskin had gotten into trouble.

  “Okay, what did he do now?” the prince asked. “Did he scorch something that belonged to you?”

  The woman shook her head. “No,” she said with a long whispered o. “I just wa
nt to know how he came to live in the castle.”

  Lucas smiled. He didn’t mind telling the story of how Ruskin had come to live with him. It was his favorite tale. He told the pale woman about the discovery of a scarlet dragon egg, how it had hatched, and how Ruskin had been given to him by his father, King Caleb.

  Clara spoke of the baby dragon’s illness and the cure they had found just in time.

  Soon the two friends were so wrapped up in their stories that they didn’t notice Cook and Ruskin return to the kitchen.

  “Who are you talking to?” Cook asked. The children looked up.

  “We’re talking to your friend,” Lucas said, but when the prince looked back at the woman, she was gone. “Wait, she was here a moment ago.”

  “Someone was in my kitchen?” Cook asked.

  Lucas described the woman who had been talking with them. “A pale woman,” he said, “with a flowing dress and long white hair.”

  “And weird, echoey voice,” Clara added.

  Cook raised an eyebrow, and then he laughed.

  “You’re putting me on!” he said. “You sure have wild imaginations! A pale woman with a weird, echoey voice in my kitchen. Hilarious.”

  The kids’ mouths both dropped open. They weren’t playing a joke. The woman had been there. Lucas and Clara had both seen and talked to her.

  Cook stood back and studied their faces. “My goodness! You look as if you’d just seen a ghost!”

  A Mysterious Mission

  * * *

  “I wonder who that strange lady could be,” Lucas said.

  Clara shook her head. “I don’t know, but we need to find out. What if she wants to rob the palace?”

  Lucas gasped. “Or worse, steal Ruskin!”

  Ruskin squawked at the thought.

  “Don’t worry, boy,” said Clara. “You’re safe with us.”

  The children had found a new adventure: Find the mysterious lady.

  They spent the day searching the castle. The first person they bumped into was a royal guard in the hallway. They described the pale lady to the guard.

  The guard shook his head. “I’ve been on duty since four this morning,” he said, “I haven’t seen anyone who fits that description.”

  Next they moved on to the royal study, where Queen Tasha was reading.

  “Excuse me, Mother,” Lucas said. “Did you invite anyone to the palace today, like an older woman with long white hair?”

  Queen Tasha set her book down and chuckled. “Are you three on some sort of imaginary adventure?”

  The children sighed because the queen wasn’t taking them seriously.

  “No, Your Highness. I’m afraid we are very serious,” Clara said. “We saw a strange woman in the kitchen, and Cook said he didn’t know who she was.”

  The queen thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Well, I promise I haven’t invited anyone over today.”

  Lucas and Clara left the study and continued on their mission.

  They climbed the back stairs to the upper floors of the castle. Then they roamed the hallways.

  “Wait, I hear footsteps!” Lucas whispered.

  The kids and Ruskin stepped behind a pillar as the footsteps came closer. Lucas peered out from behind their hiding spot.

  “Look, it’s André!” he whispered. “I wonder why he’s patrolling these hallways again.” Lucas stepped out slowly, and Clara and Ruskin followed.

  “Hi!” the prince said casually.

  André stopped and stared. “What is this, a game of hide-and-seek?”

  Lucas brushed a cobweb from his arm. “Actually, maybe. We’re seeking a woman. Have you seen anyone strange wandering the palace?”

  “Only the three of you,” André said with a touch of frost. “But tell me, what does this woman you speak of look like?”

  Lucas and Clara described her.

  André nodded as the children spoke. Then he asked, “What was she looking for?”

  Lucas thought for a moment. “She asked about Ruskin.”

  The wizard stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Hmm . . . very interesting. And why do you think I would know something about this woman?”

  Lucas shifted from one foot to the other. “Because you’re the only one in the passageway, and we thought you might have seen her.”

  The wizard stuck out his chin and nodded slightly. “Did this woman happen to ask for me by name?”

  Lucas wrinkled his brow. What kind of weird question is that? he wondered.

  “No, she only mentioned Ruskin,” said Clara.

  André reached out and patted Ruskin on the back.

  “I see,” he said. “Well, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about your mysterious woman. Now, shouldn’t you two be at archery training?”

  Lucas and Clara had forgotten all about their morning training. They thanked André and turned to leave. As they walked away, Lucas noticed the wizard hurry off in the other direction. And he was moving faster than Lucas had ever seen him move before.

  Eavesdroppers

  * * *

  Lucas and Clara each collected a bow and quiver of arrows and set them down in the courtyard. Gray clouds rushed by overhead as they prepared their targets. Then they took turns aiming for the bull’s-eye.

  “That makes three out of six!” Lucas said proudly.

  “Ha-ha! Four out of six for me!” Clara said.

  Then they raced to the targets to collect the arrows. As the kids pulled out the arrows, they overheard one of the knights talking to his captain on the walkway above them.

  “Captain, I’ve come to report some odd happenings in the castle,” he said. Lucas and Clara stopped what they were doing and listened.

  “What kind of odd happenings?” the captain asked.

  The knight told his story in a hushed voice. “Well, when I was on my rounds in the West Turret, a wave of cold mist flooded the stairwell.”

  Lucas and Clara looked at each other with wide eyes.

  The knight continued. “And as I moved into the passageway I heard somebody whispering, but nobody was there.”

  The captain cleared her throat and asked, “It’s good that you brought this to me first. Have any of the other knights reported such happenings?”

  The knight shifted nervously.

  “They have, Captain,” he said. “Many guards have reported hearing strange noises, and one swears he saw a woman float through a wall.”

  Lucas clamped Clara’s arm.

  “That’s like what we saw!” he whispered. The color washed out of Lucas’s and Clara’s faces as the two friends listened for the captain’s response.

  “There has to be a logical reason for these events,” she said. “But you must not speak of this again. We don’t want to upset the royal family. This is a mystery the knights will solve alone.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Lucas ripped an arrow out of the target. “We need to solve this mystery.”

  Clara nodded. “And I know a good place to gather information.”

  A sly smile swept over Lucas’s face because he knew they were thinking of the same place: the library.

  Ghost Writer

  * * *

  Lucas, Clara, and Ruskin pushed through the polished double doors to the Royal Library and screeched to a stop. Sitting at one of the tables was André. The wizard looked up from his books, surprised to see them.

  “What in Wrenly are you doing here?” André asked. “Wait. Are you following me?”

  “No, we promise,” said Lucas.

  The wizard stood and fumbled to collect the books he was reading. He stuffed some into his satchel and gathered a few in his arms.

  “If you need me, I’ll be . . . well, I’ll be far away from you two,” André said, and he hurried past the children.

  He struggled to balance the books in his arms and didn’t notice one slip to the floor.

  Lucas ran over and picked up the book. “Hey, André!” he called helpfully. “Hey! Hey, you dropped thi
s!”

  But André was already down the hall. With a shrug, Lucas walked back over to Clara.

  “What book is it?” she asked.

  Lucas read the gold writing on the cover. “It’s called The History of the Kingdom of Wrenly.”

  The children sat and studied the table of contents. There were chapters like: The Building of Wrenly Palace, The Royal Families of Wrenly, and The Battles of Wrenly.

  “This sounds like an interesting chapter,” Lucas said. “The Folklore of Wrenly.”

  They flipped through the pages to find the chapter on folklore. There were stories of sea serpents, mermaids, unicorns, pegasi, griffins, basilisks, sirens, and more, but at the end of the list, someone had handwritten in one more creature.

  “Ghosts!” they both said at the same time.

  At the end of the chapter, they found a handwritten entry.

  The Haunting of Wrenly Palace

  It has been said that the ghost of a woman haunts the halls of Wrenly Palace. She can change form in an instant. One moment she seems solid and mortal, and the next she is nothing more than a glowing mist, able to pass through walls. In her presence, one might feel a striking drop in temperature. Sometimes her whispers and moans have been heard in the passageways. Then, one day, she disappeared and never returned.

  Clara pointed to the name under the story. “Look who wrote this.”