Zee Puckett loves ghost stories. She just never expected to be living one.
It all starts with a dark and stormy night. When the skies clear, everything is different. People are missing. There’s a creepy new principal who seems to know everyone’s darkest dreams. And Zee is seeing frightening things: large, scary dogs that talk and maybe even...a ghost.
When she tells her classmates, only her best friend, Elijah, believes her. Worse, mean girl Nellie gives Zee a cruel nickname: Ghost Girl.
But whatever the storm washed up isn’t going away. Everyone’s most selfish wishes start coming true in creepy ways.
To fight for what’s right, Zee will have to embrace what makes her different and what makes her Ghost Girl. And all three of them—Zee, Elijah, and Nellie—will have to work together if they want to give their ghost story a happy ending.
This book includes examples of:
- Abstract Eater: Mr. Scratch is a negative entity attachment, or NEA, that feeds on peoples' wishes, hopes and dreams, devouring their very souls until they're nothing but worn-out husks.
- Adults Are Useless: Virtually all the adults in town are under Scratch's spell, forcing Zee, Elijah and Nellie to handle things on their own. The only adult to provide some assistance is Nellie's aunt, and even she's unable to directly intervene due to being magically barred from entering the town.
- Alpha Bitch: Nellie Bloom is a preteen version of this at first, but she takes a level in kindness as the book goes on.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Mr. Scratch's eyes, when unhidden by his sunglasses, are described as endless black with red pupils "like two perfect drops of blood floating in the dark".
- Bully Turned Buddy: Nellie starts off the novel as Zee's rival and primary bully, but becomes her second-closest friend after their adventures together.
- Cassandra Truth: The kids' attempt to explain Deanna Jameson's murder and Scratch's involvement in it only results in them being laughed off by the police.
- Charm Person: Mr. Scratch is able to bend people to his will once he's attached himself to them.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Platonic example. Zee isn't fond of Nellie growing close to Elijah when they're forced to ally, at one point having to fight the urge to remind Nellie that Elijah is "hers".
- Creepy Cemetery: Zee and Elijah regularly visit one. It becomes even creepier when Scratch's hounds begin to haunt it.
- Death by Childbirth: Zee's mother died giving birth to her.
- Demonic Possession: Scratch's hounds attempt this with Zee, Elijah and Nellie. It doesn't work.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Zee hates her real name, Zera, especially due to how Nellie managed to twist it into the insulting nickname "Zero".
- Driven by Envy: One of the main reasons Nellie dislikes Zee is because of how, despite her supposed unpopularity, everyone still listens to her stories and thinks she's funny, and Abby praises her to the adults. Meanwhile, despite her wealth, Nellie's family ignores her accomplishments and view her as a disappointment.
- Evil Principal: Principal Scratch is an evil spirit who did away with the previous principal and uses his position to reach all the residents of the town and feed off their souls.
- Evil Wears Black: Principal Scratch dresses in all-black, with the exception of his red glove.
- Fat Best Friend: Elijah, Zee's best and (initially) only friend, is on the chubby side, a source of scorn by his father.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Zee and Nellie start off bitter rivals, but become close friends during their quest to save the town.
- Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: Zee and Nellie get into a verbal spat early on, the latter accusing the former of being a liar. However, when Nellie starts insulting Zee's family, particularly her mother, Zee snaps and pummels her, bloodying her nose.
- Free-Range Children: Zee, Elijah and Nellie visit cemeteries, sneak out into the woods, and even skip town, all without adult supervision.
- Ghost Amnesia: Abby mentions that some ghosts can get confused and forget their old life. When Deanna Jameson's ghost appears to Zee, she can't remember her name and isn't even aware that she's dead, instead just thinking that she's lost. She regains her memories when Zee helps her spirit pass on.
- Ghost Story: Zee has a fondness for telling these.
- Haunted Heroine: Zee is haunted by the ghost of a murdered woman seeking help and is targeted for Demonic Possession by an evil spirit and his hounds.
- Hellhound: Mr. Scratch has three black, red-eyed, talking hounds that stalk the main characters and seek to use them as mortal vessels.
- Inhuman Eye Concealers: Scratch conceals his black, red-pupiled eyes with a pair of shades.
- I See Dead People: Zee, an ability she inherited from her mother. Nellie's aunt also has the ability.
- It Runs in the Family: Zee's ghost-seeing abilities were inherited from her late mother.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The novel opens during a thunderstorm.
- Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Elijah's father is a former football player who still has the body to prove it, in contrast to his son, who's out-of-shape and hates sports.
- Kid Hero: Zee, Elijah and Nellie are a group of 11-year-olds taking on evil spirits to save their town.
- Klingon Promotion: It's heavily implied that Scratch murdered Principal McCaffery to take his position.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: After Principal Scratch is repelled from the town, all records of him vanish and the town appears to forget he even existed.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Nellie turns out to be this, being neglected by her family and viewing her dog Max as her only real friend.
- Lost Pet Grievance: Nellie becomes despondent when her poodle Max goes missing, even moreso when Mr. Scratch finds and seemingly returns him, only for it to clearly be a fake. She later explains to Zee and Elijah that, due to her poor family situation, Max was the only thing she was truly close to.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Nellie, while starting off as Zee's rival and bully, reveals herself to be this when they're forced to ally to save the town. She puts more effort into getting along with Zee even when the latter is initially hostile towards her, forming a genuine friendship as they work together. Even prior to this, she's shown to be on good terms with Elijah despite him being friends with her nemesis and the two being on different ends of the social ladder, the two gradually growing closer and developing a mutual crush.
- Malicious Misnaming: Nellie mockingly refers to Zera as "Zero", then later comes up with "Ghost Girl" after Zee first encounters a ghost.
- Manipulative Bastard: Mr. Scratch convinces people that he only wants to help them and raises their hopes before granting their wishes, causing a cycle that only strengthens himself as he feeds off their desires.
- Master of Illusion: One of Mr. Scratch's primary powers is making people visualize their wants and desires. This includes making Elijah believe his sick mother has become well again and making Abby believe she's speaking to her father on the phone.
- Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Though Zee's family doesn't blame her for her mother's death, Zee herself does harbor some feelings of responsibility for it. Scratch actively preys on this in the climax, conjuring illusions of Zee's sister and father blaming her and calling her a murderer.
- Mystical White Hair: Zee, who can see and speak to ghosts, has white hair.
- Nasal Trauma: Zee kicks Nellie in the nose after the latter insults her family, bloodying it.
- New Friend Envy: Zee initially isn't fond of Elijah and Nellie's growing attachment, not helped by the prior enmity between the two girls.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Zee loves telling ghost stories, regularly visits the cemetery, and is excited by a flooding thunderstorm.
- Only Friend: Elijah is initially this for Zee.
- Police Are Useless: When Zee, Elijah and Nellie go to the police to tell them about Scratch's murder of Deanna Jameson, they simply laugh them off.
- The Power of Friendship: The friendship between Zee, Elijah and Nellie is what ultimately gives them the strength to resist Scratch's manipulation and expel him from the town.
- Promotion to Parent: With their mother dead and father upstate looking for work, Abby has been forced into the role of Zee's primary caretaker.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Scratch's hounds are all-black with red eyes.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Scratch's hounds have blood-red eyes, and even Scratch has red pupils.
- Relative Button: Nellie gets under Zee's skin by making fun of her family. However, she crosses the line by bringing up her deceased mother, resulting in Zee snapping and beating her up.
- Relative Ridicule: Nellie mocks Zee by claiming that her father walked out on her and that her sister Abby will likely be pregnant within a year.
- Sinister Shades: Mr. Scratch wears a wear of these that conceal his pitch-black, red-pupiled eyes.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: During Zee and Nellie's argument, the latter states her mother said Zee's whole family is trash, starting with her deceased mother. She gets a bloody nose as a result.
- Talk to the Fist: When Nellie is mocking Zee's family and starts to mention her mother, she doesn't even get to finish the sentence before Zee tackles her to the ground and pummels her.
- Talking Animal: Scratch's hounds are capable of speech. Though they're not exactly animals to begin with, but rather spirits in the form of them.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Zee is initially loathe to include Nellie in their investigation, only bringing her along due to Elijah's insistence. The two are initially hostile towards each other, only inflamed by Nellie quickly bonding with Elijah, to Zee's jealousy.
- Tropey, Come Home: Nellie's poodle Max goes missing, promptly her to try to find him. Zee and Elijah take advantage of this by luring her into the cemetery for a prank, only for them to get attacked by the black hounds.
- Two Girls and a Guy: Zee, Nellie and Elijah.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Scratch quickly endears himself to the entire town by making all their wishes come true. It gets to the point that when the kids try to tell the police that he murdered Deanna Jameson, they simply laugh it off.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Zee and Abby's father left months ago to find work upstate. His absence has had an emotional effect on Abby, who's been forced to take on a parental role to Zee, and Nellie even taunts Zee that he's left them for a new family. It's later revealed that Mr. Scratch had been preventing him from returning home, and he comes back in the end.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Elijah's father dislikes his son's weight and lack of interest in sports, feeling he should work harder to get in shape.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Mr. Scratch passes himself off as a compassionate principal who only wants to help the town, while in truth being a sinister spirit that siphons off peoples' energy.
