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Sir Horace was right When we crept out of the keep night had fallen and a full ,creepy shadows in the silvery ht It onderful--really spooky "Wharooooooooooo!" Wanda clutched , silly, " I said, although I have to adoose-bu howled again "uiet, Fang!" Sir Horace told hiround, but he did as he was told We set off through the ruins Over by the old gatehouse we could see a big tent where the auction was going to be held The lights in the tent shone yellow and cast long shadows of the people inside I could tell which one was Old Morris--a tall, thin shadoith a scraggly ponytail Nosy Nora was easy to spot too--a stails There were quite a few people in the tent, but I couldn’t recognize anyone else Sir Horace’s castle was a mess

Old Morris had not cleaned up at all and there were great chunks of old mushroom sheds with horrible pictures of fish on theh the ruins I was surprised by the amount of castle that was still there We saw archways, corridors, old fireplaces, and even soround, probably to soreat--it looked just like the ghost iven ht it looked even host--a girl in a long dress and pointy hat, flitting between sohost?" I whispered Wanda didn’t answer

She was looking behind her with big, scared googly eyes She grabbed hold of hosts?" So about Wanda’s expression made me not want to look--but I did And what I saas really scary A whole bunch of ghosts was pouring up froround Just one look told hosts--in fact they looked extremely nasty They wore thick leather tunics with chaingers, and all kinds of sharp, pointy things So and snarling and showing big yellow teeth Fang growled a long, lol and the fur went up on the back of his neck

"Sir Horace, " I hissed And then because Sir Horace is a bit deaf sometimes, I tapped on his suit of ar sound like a pepper mill as Sir Horace swiveled around It is not often you hear a ghost gasp, because usually they are too busy asp, but Sir Horace did "FitzMaurice!" he hissed "This time in " He drew his sword, and to er Wow It was payback tiined Jasper FitzMaurice’s band would look They had gathered at the top of the steps and were swishing their swords around and waving their pointy sticks in the air And the funny thing was they weren’tany noise

It re televisions in a shop here you can see the pictures but not hear the sound--well, you can see the pictures until your gruh they lowed a bit like Edmund but they looked very solid, like real people with real swords The bunch of horrible ghosts gathered at the top of the steps and stared at Sir Horace Sir Horace stared back I helda huge ax--and was, I figured, Jasper FitzMaurice hihosts took a step forward too And then another, and another--walking toward us very slowly and deliberately

Anyone could see that they round "So, FitzMaurice, we ain!" he boomed "We’ll help you, Sir Horace, " I said "We’ll show therabbed oing to leave Sir Horace all on his own, and besides, I have alanted to be in a ghost fight Well, actually that is not totally true, because I never i But if I had, I knoould have wanted to be in one And there was going to be a big one any minute now "Take cover, Miss Spookie, Miss Wizzard!" Sir Horace boomed "No, Sir Horace!" I said "We will help you " "Don’t be silly, Ara like a scared rabbit

"Sir Horace can’t use his sword if you are in the way And if he does you et your head chopped off--and that would be awful because then I would have to tell Aunt Tabby " Wanda had obviously thought everything out in great detail But I didn’t want to stop Sir Horace fro me away We hid behind a wall and watched Sir Horace was very brave He ran at the ghosts and swiped at them with his sword They swiped back and jabbed at hihosts and everything went right through Sir Horace’s ar him at all

But they made him twist and turn and I was not sure hoell his arether I noticed that Jasper Fitz- Maurice was standing back watching, and I wondered why And then I realized He aiting for Sir Horace to get wobbly--which happened soon enough Sir Horace’s left foot swiveled around and he lurched backward At that moment Jasper FitzMaurice took a swipe at Sir Horace with his ax Sir Horace just about e the ax

He swung his sword and hit it and I was sure I heard a clang I don’t know ainst one is not fair Okay, there was Eder and there was Fang biting all the horrible dogs, but even so it was not fair "I don’t care about Sir Horace’s sword, " I told Wanda "I a to help hi out of the shadows all over the ruins of the castle were hosts And they were not Jasper FitzMaurice’sat the dresses, pages just like Edmund, farmers with pitchforks, cooks with saucepans and ladles--all kinds of people wearing weird old-fashioned clothes--and best of all there were lots of knights in ghostly ar for the fight Soon Sir Horace had lots of ghosts at his side and Jasper FitzMaurice’s host knights swished at theood punches and one of them took off her pointy hat and used it like a sword The farmers jabbed their pitchforks and the cooks thues ran in and out of the fight waving their knives about--just like Edh tiht Every time Sir Horace’s sword hit Jasper FitzMaurice’s ax there was a loud clang

There was only one explanation for that--Jasper FitzMaurice was a poltergeist, just like Ned and Jed, and he was carrying a real ax That was not good But Sir Horace was a really good sword fighter Every tiht it with his sword and fended it off He got in a few jabs of his own too, but then Jasper FitzMaurice did so reallySir Horace’s foot flew off, and with an awful noise like a whole pile of tins falling over, Sir Horace crashed to the ground Jasper FitzMaurice raised his ax up high and I just kneas going to bring it right down on Sir Horace’s head "No!" I yelled and rushed into the ghost fight

Jasper FitzMaurice heard me and turned around He stared at ht back behind the ith Wanda, but the sight of Sir Horace lying on the ground stopped me Jasper FitzMaurice was really tall--too tall for rab the ax So I did what he had just done to Sir Horace--I kicked his shin But of courseand I very nearly toppled over just like Sir Horace Then Jasper FitzMaurice’s ax caet out of the way a ht on top of hi, but I didn’t care because Jasper FitzMaurice was lying flat out on the ground Then I heard Wanda yell, "Throw another one, Ned!"

"No!" I yelled "We don’t need anoth--" Too late, another sack of bat poo caht beside me It burst open and covered me with moldy bat poo When I wiped the bat poo out of rinning as usual But I wasn’tcov ered in bat poo I never thought I would be pleased to see Ned and Jed, but I was They had saved us At the sight of their leader laid out flat on the ground, Jasper FitzMaurice’s men took off They picked up their swords and their sharp pointy sticks, and pulling their horrible dogs behind theh the ruins, then they all ju That eird They clambered out on the other side and headed up the hill to where their old castle used to be There was nothing there now but a field of pigs I felt sorry for the pigs but I thought it would suit the FitzMaurices perfectly I was just thinking hoell everything had turned out when someone--who sounded just like Aunt Tabby--said, "Ara everywhere You know you are not allowed out in the dark on your own And just look at the mess you’re in " "Oh, hello, Mathilda, " I said Mathilda looked very fed up "You are coht now, " she said "Actually, Mathilda, I am not, " I told her "Because before I cohtful owner "

Mathilda looked flum Plan

I do not think it is very often that three girls (one of thehosts, a wobbling suit of areists to an auction I suppose that explains why everyone screa was fun--but as even bet ter was the expression on Old Morris’s face when everyone ran out of the tent and left hi us all on his own "Hello, Mr FitzMaurice, " I said very politely "We have coet Sir Horace’s castle back " I put the deed on the table "It belongs to hiold fish did when I put it in Aunt Tabby’s cosh the pages of the old deed, then he laughed and said, "Ha-ha Very funny This so-called owner has been dead for five hundred years Good joke Now go hoirls, and we’ll say no more about it " But Old Morris had not reckoned on Mathilda Spookie "Wait ahilare at the same time So Morris FitzMaurice waited a moment And I watched as Mathilda Spookie launched into action