Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase

component of their seals .
    Silver-glass
    A special ‘ghost-proof’ glass used to encase Sources .
    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.
    Spectre **
    The most commonly encountered Type Two ghost . A Spectre 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. Spectres are less nebulous than Phantasms and less hideous than Wraiths , but equally varied in behaviour. 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 towards 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 .
    Touch
    The ability to detect psychic echoes from objects that have been closely associated with a death or haunting . 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 behaviour. Commonly encountered examples include: Shades , Grey Hazes , Lurkers and Stalkers . See also Cold Maiden , Gibbering Mist and Stone Knocker .
    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, inorder, are: Spectres , Phantasms and Wraiths . See also: Changer , 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.
    Vanishing point
    The exact spot where a ghost dematerializes at the end of a manifestation . Often an excellent clue to the location of the Source .
    Visitor
    A ghost .
    Ward
    An object, usually of iron or silver , used to keep ghosts away. Small wards may be worn as jewellery on the person; larger ones, hung up around the house, are often equally decorative.
    Warning bell
    Great iron bells used to mark the nightly curfew , and rung at times of serious ghostly outbreak. Erected by the government in many smaller towns and villages as a cheap alternative to ghost-lamps .
    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 smallerscale, some house-owners build open channels outside their front doors and divert the rainwater along them.
    Wraith **
    A dangerous Type Two ghost . Wraiths are similar to Spectres in strength and patterns of behaviour, 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 .

About the Author
    Jonathan Stroud was born in Bedford in 1970. After studying English