Status Updates From Dead Voices (Small Spaces, #2)

The ghosts don’t quite make sense. Did Smiling Man bring them to the chalet? Or were they already there, hauntingly it, and he was telling the truth about the ghost stories? We know Gabriel may have been there. But why were they freed?

I thought this sounded like a reference to folklore, maybe. Apparently it’s an old film - The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman - or possibly a painting with a similar theme. (A knight wagering his life on a game of chess by the sea.)

Blonde guy with mismatched eyes shows up? Makes me think of Jarrett (Labyrinth), though I doubt a kid reading would get the reference.

And now the line about licking games, but to being too strong an opponent? I wonder if this is ‘Nick’ again under a different face. And now he knows what gave the kids an edge against him last time.