Hal, Accomplice!, the blizzard, Weston memories (pp. 942–943)
‘The Darkness thinks ghosts.’ […] ‘Stice’s explanation that he swore me to discretion but that was before the bed on the ceiling was he thinks he’s been somehow selected or chosen to get haunted or possessed by some kind of beneficiary or guardian ghost that resides in and/or manifests in ordinary physical objects, that wants to teach The Darkness how to not underestimate ordinary objects and raise his game to like a supernatural level, to help his game.’ […] ‘Or hurt somebody else’s,’ I said.
Context
Stice's confessed theory, relayed by Coyle, and it's closer to the truth than any adult explanation in the book: a guardian ghost residing in ordinary physical objects, interested in a player's game — the wraith's object-moving M.O. and JOI's confessed motive, almost clause for clause. Hal's deadpan rejoinder lands differently after pp. 838-839: the wraith's interest in somebody's game is, above all, in Hal's.