Lockwood & Co. Book Three: The Hollow Boy (43 page)

Salt-gun
—A device that projects a fine spray of salty water across a wide area. A useful weapon against
Type One ghosts
. Increasingly
employed by larger
agencies
.

Seal
—An object, usually
silver
or
iron
, designed to enclose or cover a
Source
, and prevent escape of
its
ghost
.

Sensitive, a
—Someone born with unusually good psychic
Talent
. Most sensitives join
agencies
or the
night
watch
; others provide psychic services without actually confronting
Visitors
.

Shade*
—The standard
Type One ghost
, and possibly the most common kind of
Visitor
. Shades may appear quite solid, in the
manner of
Specters
, or be insubstantial and wispy, like
Phantasms
; however, they entirely lack the dangerous intelligence of either. Shades seem unaware of the
presence of the living, and are usually bound into a fixed pattern of behavior. They project feelings of grief and loss, but seldom display anger or any stronger emotion. They almost always
appear in human form.

Sight
—The psychic ability to see
apparitions
and other ghostly phenomena, such as
death-glows
. One of the three main
varieties of psychic
Talent
.

Silver
—An important and potent
defense
against
ghosts
. Worn by many people as
wards
in the form of
jewelry. Agents use it to coat their
rapiers
, and as a crucial component of their
seals
.

Silver-glass
—A special “ghost-proof” glass used to encase
Sources
.

Snuff-light
—A type of small candle used by psychic investigation
agencies
to indicate a supernatural presence. They flicker, tremble and
finally snuff out if a
ghost
draws near.

Solitary**
—An unusual
Type Two ghost
, often encountered in remote and perilous places, generally outdoors. Visually it often wears the
guise of a slender child, seen at a distance across a ravine or lake. It never draws close to the living, but radiates an extreme form of
ghost-lock
that may overwhelm anyone
nearby. Victims of Solitaries often hurl themselves over cliffs or into deep water in an effort to end it all.

Source
—The object or place through which a
ghost
enters the world.

Specter**
—The most commonly encountered
Type Two ghost
. A Specter always forms a clear, detailed
apparition
, which may
in some cases seem almost solid. It is usually an accurate visual echo of the deceased as they were when alive or newly dead. Specters are less nebulous than
Phantasms
and less
hideous than
Wraiths
, but equally varied in behavior. Many are neutral or benign in their dealings with the living—perhaps returning to reveal a secret, or make right an
ancient wrong. Some, however, are actively hostile, and hungry for human contact. These ghosts should be avoided at all costs.

Stalker*
—A
Type One ghost
that seems drawn to living people, following them at a distance, but never venturing close. Agents who are
skilled at
Listening
often detect the slow shuffling of its bony feet, and its desolate sighs and groans.

Stone Knocker*
—A desperately uninteresting
Type One ghost
, which does precious little apart from tap.

Talent
—The ability to see, hear, or otherwise detect
ghosts
. Many children, though not all, are born with a degree of psychic Talent.
This skill tends to fade toward adulthood, though it still lingers in some grown-ups. Children with better-than-average Talent join the
night watch
. Exceptionally gifted
children usually join the
agencies
. The three main categories of Talent are
Sight, Listening
, and
Touch
.

Tom O’Shadows*
—A London term for a
Lurker
or
Shade
that lingers in doorways, arches, or alleyways. An everyday
urban
ghost
.

Touch
—The ability to detect psychic echoes from objects that have been closely associated with death or a supernatural
manifestation
.
Such echoes take the form of visual images, sounds, and other sense impressions. One of the three main varieties of
Talent
.

Type One
—The weakest, most common, and least dangerous grade of
ghost
. Type Ones are scarcely aware of their surroundings, and often
locked into a single, repetitious pattern of behavior. Commonly encountered examples include:
Shades, Gray Hazes, Lurker
s, and
Stalkers
.
See also
Cold Maiden, Gibbering Mist, Glimmer, Stone Knocker, Tom O’Shadows
, and
Wisp
.

Type Two
—The most dangerous commonly occurring grade of
ghost
. Type Twos are stronger than
Type Ones
, and possess some
kind of residual intelligence. They are aware of the living, and may attempt to do them harm. The most common Type Twos, in order, are:
Specters, Phantasms
, and
Wraiths
.
See also
Changer, Fetch, Limbless, Poltergeist, Raw-bones, Screaming Spirit
, and
Solitary
.

Type Three
—A very rare grade of
ghost
, first reported by Marissa Fittes, and the subject of much controversy ever since. Allegedly able
to communicate fully with the living.

Visitor
—A
ghost
.

Ward
—An object, usually of
iron
or
silver
, used to keep
ghosts
away. Small wards may be worn as
jewelry on the person; larger ones, hung up around the house, are often equally decorative.

Water, running
—It was observed in ancient times that
ghosts
dislike crossing running water. In modern Britain this knowledge is
sometimes used against them. In central London a net of artificial channels, or runnels, protects the main shopping district. On a smaller scale, some homeowners build open channels outside
their front doors and divert the rainwater along them.

Wisp*
—Weak and generally unthreatening, a Wisp is a
Type One ghost
that manifests as a pale and flickering flame. Some scholars
speculate that all ghosts, given time, degenerate into Wisps, then
Glimmers,
before finally vanishing altogether.

Wraith**
—A dangerous
Type Two ghost
. Wraiths are similar to
Specters
in strength and patterns of behavior, but are far
more horrible to look at. Their
apparitions
show the deceased in his or her dead state: gaunt and shrunken, horribly thin, sometimes rotten and wormy. Wraiths often appear as
skeletons. They radiate a powerful
ghost-lock
.
See also
Raw-bones
.