THAT'S THE WAY THE CASTLE CRUMBLES SIGNED PAPERBACK

"Ghosts aren't real," Rurik said flatly. Whatever pedantic thing I had expected him to say, it wasn't this. "Something may be causing trouble at that estate, but I can guarantee it's not a ghost."

I took another long drink, resealed the bladder, and placed it back with the other supplies. "Of course, ghosts are real. How can you not believe in ghosts?"

"I've never seen them, so..." He shrugged and reached up to touch the tip of his one remaining tusk as if to say, See this point? I have a point too. With my words.

"So?" I challenged, more than a little miffed.

"So then the evidence I've gathered would suggest that they aren't real." He touched the tusk again. This was a new gesture, and already I hated it.

"Rurik Theodore Bane," I scolded, even going so far as to wag a finger at my charge. "There are many things you've probably never seen in your short, small-town life, but that doesn't mean they're not real. You believe in Maltherius, don't you? You've never seen him."

"My middle name is not Theodore," he griped, glancing at Tulip, who didn't appear to be paying attention anyway.

"It is now, sonny. And if you keep smack-talking ghosts, we're going to have a problem." Honestly, I didn't know why this was so important to me. In truth, I wasn't entirely sure I'd ever seen a ghost before either, but I'd seen many real and terrifying things in my day. And, frankly, I was sick of all the arguments plaguing our party since the beginning.

"Yeesh, Tilda. Calm down. Why do you like ghosts so much anyway?" This came from Calina as she munched on a tanuki cookie.

"I don't like ghosts. They're pretty terrible actually." I yanked the rest of Calina's cookie away and took a giant bite. "But the quickest way you can give something power is by saying it doesn't exist. If we go in expecting nothing, we'll be prepared for nothing."

"Which will make it easy for the ghosts to overpower us." Finally, Rurik got it. Praise divinity.

I finished the cookie but needed the water bladder again. Multitasking while I was famished was difficult, but we were too busy to take a proper break. "Exactly. So let me hear you say it, Rurik. Say ghosts are real."

"But they're no—"

Calina jabbed him in the ribs. "Just say it. Tilda's right. We have to go in with our eyes open, right? Maybe it's not a haunting, but maybe it is. And if there are ghosts, we'll need our magical expert to help dispatch them. Yeah?"

"Yeah, okay. Fine, ghosts are real. Now let's go kill them dead." Rurik smiled, making me think the last part was probably meant to be a joke. Good on him.

"Uh, you know what? Yeah, sure. Let's go. Just one problem. It's pretty far away and we no longer have our conveyance, so..."

"We'll need mounts," Rurik said, casting a lovelorn look toward our centaur.

Tulip gasped and crossed her arms over her chest to hide herself. "That's offensive," she spat.

"Yeah, I get it. Everybody hates everything, but we've still got to go forward with the plan, so get over yourselves already."

"Rude," Tulip huffed again and flipped her braided mane dramatically over her shoulder.