Free Goblins Vs Dwarves by Philip Reeve

Henwyn, sitting by the window in Carnglaze’s breakfast room while the ghosts swirled whitely round her. “Everyone was scared I’d bring bad luck. The animals took fright and ran from me. The buzzing of the ghosts kept everyone awake. The children were afraid.”
    â€œIt’s no fun for us, either,” said a tall young warrior, appearing at her side and making Henwyn jump. He carried a leaf-shaped oxhide shield and a broad-bladed sword, and there was a hole in his middle where Zeewa had speared him: Henwyn could see clear through it to where seagulls twirled in the sky outside the window.
    â€œThere we were,” the ghost complained, “minding our own business in the afterlife, and suddenly we were dragged back here and made to follow you around!”
    â€œBe quiet!” shouted Zeewa angrily, rounding on him and slapping at him with a hand that went straight through him. “Leave me alone!”
    The ghost shrugged, dissolving away into smoke and shadows. “That’s the point! We can’t leave you alone! We must follow you everywhere, Zeewa, until this curse is lifted.”
    Henwyn scratched his head, feeling sorry for Zeewa and her ghosts. “How awkward!” he said.
    â€œAwkward,” agreed the girl.
    â€œCould you not go back to this G’angooli fellow and get him to lift the curse? Perhaps if you asked really nicely. . .”
    â€œThat was the first thing I did,” said Zeewa. “Unfortunately, when G’angooli saw the cloud of ghosts that he’d raised, he was so frightened that he dropped down dead. I was afraid his spirit would come haunting me too, but wherever he fled to, he is not among my ghosts.
    â€œFor a long time after that, I wandered alone. I thought that perhaps if I walked for many miles I might leave the ghosts behind, but they always kept up with me. I tried running through brakes of thorn trees, in the hope that the ghosts would get caught on the thorns and I could leave them there, but although I scratched myself half to pieces, they were still with me when I stumbled out all bloody on the far side.
    â€œIt was then that I remembered my uncle Carnglaze. I had never seen him, but I had heard it said he was a powerful sorcerer in the far-off, outlandish place called Westlands. ‘Perhaps he can find a cure,’ I said. I walked to the coast, and tricked my way aboard a ship. The ghosts do not show up so much in bright sunlight, so the sailors did not notice them when I went aboard. When they found out about my haunting we were already in the middle of the sea. They set me adrift in a small boat, but luckily Kosi knows something of the stars, and helped me steer my way to Coriander.”
    â€œKosi?” asked Henwyn.
    â€œThat’s me,” said the warrior ghost, reappearing.
    â€œOh! Pleased to meet you,” said Henwyn.
    Zeewa shook her head sadly. “But my journey has been in vain. Uncle Carnglaze knows no magic, and nor does anyone in these Westlands, it would seem. My curse cannot be lifted. I am doomed.”
    â€œOh, don’t say that!” said Henwyn, wondering what on earth he could do to help. “I know! There is a new sorceress in town! Madam Maura and her Oracular Bathtub: Fortunes Told! Genuine Magick Work’d! Skarper and I saw her setting up her tent the night we arrived. Have you tried consulting her?”
    Zeewa shook her head again. “They are all frauds, these Westlands wizards. They know nothing.”
    â€œMadam Maura might be different,” Henwyn said. “You never know. Things have changed since the star came. And look, the sun is shining as brightly as anything outside! We can go and consult Madam Maura and nobody will notice all your see-through companions.”
    Zeewa was about to say no, but she looked at him and changed her mind. Henwyn had that effect on people. He was so optimistic and so eager to be helpful that you didn’t like to disappoint