“You
are
my business. My job. You are what I do.”
I whipped around to face him. “Well, if I’m your job, you’re fired. You creep me out.”
“That’s not my intention.” He took several steps back. “This is new to me too. Let me help you, Rose.”
“My name is Lenzi.
Lenzi
. Not Rose. Please stop calling me that.” It was really irritating.
“I’m sorry. This is the first time you’ve changed your name. Give me some time to get used to it . . . Lenzi.”
I sat down on the sidewalk in front of the caretaker shed. From there I could see Zak if he woke up, plus the entrance gate to the cemetery was close enough that I could get to it if Ghost Boy made a move. But he didn’t. He perched on a short, thick grave marker across from me and sat in silence for what felt like forever, closing his eyes occasionally, as if he were listening for something or meditating.
I glanced at my watch. “If you’re trying to convince me you’re not crazy, you’re failing miserably.”
“Okay. I’ll let the facts prove my sanity. You are a Speaker. I’m your Protector. Every Speaker is paired with a Protector.”
“Whatever.” I slumped against the shed wall.
“We work for the IC—the Intercessor Council—an entity designed to intercede on behalf of the dead. Your job as a Speaker is to help hindered spirits resolve the problems that are keeping them Earth-bound. Sometimes it’s easy. You share your body with them—”
I jumped up. “No way. I don’t share my body!”
“Please hear me out. Sometimes the Hindered tell you their problems and then they go on their way. Other times, they aren’t simply hindered by something. Sometimes they are impaired. Those souls are called the Malevolent. They try to take your body as their own. If they can force your soul out, they can live again using your body. When you hear about exorcisms and ghosts tearing up houses and paranormal events like that, it’s almost always a Malevolent. That’s why I’m here. I protect you from the Malevolent when you share your body with another soul. I keep you intact.”
He was totally making this stuff up. It was either the most elaborate come-on ever or he needed serious psychological help. “I share my body with another soul?”
“Yes.”
“Look. I’m not sharing my body with anyone.” I walked to the entrance gate, pushed Dad’s guitar through the bars, and began to scale it. He caught me by the ankle before I reached the top.
“Stop it. Let go of me,” I cried.
“Where are you going?” He was gripping my ankle tightly in one hand.
Panic made my voice waver. “To meet my mom. She’ll be here soon. Let me go.”
“I’ll let you go when you come to your senses. A girl like you won’t last fifteen minutes outside that gate. Stay with me until your mother arrives.”
“Let go. You’re scaring me.”
“Good,” he said. “At least you haven’t lost all your common sense.” He grabbed me by the waist and easily wrenched me from the iron gate, dropping me roughly to the ground. I didn’t get up for fear he’d grab me again.
“Let me tell you something, Rose. This isn’t a game I’m playing. It’s not me you need to fear. You are in a cemetery in a bad neighborhood in the middle of the night with a guy who’s so drunk he passed out, and
I’m
the thing that frightens you? Don’t you think I’ve had ample opportunity to hurt you if that was my plan? I could take you right now, and no one would even hear you scream. If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be hurt.”
I remained crouched on the ground by the gate as he stomped several yards down the road that cut through the center of the cemetery. He ran his hands through his hair before sitting on the brick retaining wall that surrounded the southeast section. He was close enough to catch me if I tried to run. He stared straight ahead, avoiding eye contact, which suited me just fine. I pulled Dad’s guitar back through the gate and then shifted to a more comfortable position with my legs folded under me.
He was right; I was my own worst enemy. No doubt my mom would tell me all about it the entire way home.
Happy birthday.
The moon was higher in the sky, providing more light. I couldn’t tell what color his eyes were, but Alden had long, light brown, maybe blond hair; it was hard to tell in the moonlight. He had angular features. If it weren’t for the fact he was a crazy, creepy ghost boy, I’d have to admit he was totally hot.
“That’s better,” he said, as if to himself.
“What’s better?” I asked.
“You are. You still don’t believe me, though, do you?”
“No, I think you’re full of crap. And what do you mean, I’m ‘better’?”
“I feel your soul responding to your emotions. We’re linked. It’s how I found you. It’s how I protect you.”
He could
feel
my emotions? I remained still, trying to get my head around this bizarre scenario. I was less frightened of him now than I was before. I was also pretty convinced that he really believed this whole reincarnated ghost mediator thing.
“I’m sorry, Lenzi,” he whispered. “It’s frustrating. I know it’s hard for you too. I’ll try to be more patient. I apologize for losing my cool, but I couldn’t risk letting you get hurt.”
I moved to the wall across from him, keeping the narrow cemetery road between us, and stared at the broken, vandalized monuments. The windows of the mausoleums were boarded or barred and seemed too low. I noticed the doors were short too. “What’s the deal with this place? Is it a graveyard for hobbits or something? The doors are only three feet tall.” I plucked a broad-leafed weed from between the bricks.
Alden chuckled. “No. It’s because of the storm I told you about.”
I turned the leaf over and folded a crease in the center from bottom to tip. “The one where I supposedly died in some past life?”
“Yes.” He smiled.
Crazy Ghost Boy.
I rolled my eyes. “Were people only a couple of feet tall back then?”
“No. The ground has been raised several feet. The bottom two or three feet of the buildings are underground. The headstones look normal because they were placed on top of the new dirt. The mausoleums were too difficult to raise. Some areas of the island closer to the Gulf are more than fifteen feet higher above sea level than they were in 1900.”
Working from the outside in, I folded the leaf into accordion pleats. “Did the storm raise the ground level?”
“No. Men did. After the storm, they built the seawall and raised the level of the island by pumping a slurry of sand and water from the bay and harbor onto the island. They lifted some of the buildings up on screw jacks before they filled underneath. It was amazing.”
He didn’t seem like a high school boy. “How do you know all of this stuff?”
“I was there,” he reminded me as he stood.
I dropped my leaf fan and hopped to my feet. “Oh, no. You stay right where you are.”
“I’m not crazy, Rose . . . Lenzi. I can prove it.” My heart shifted into overdrive as he moved toward me. “Let me put my soul in your body. It will only take a second. Then you’ll believe me.” He grasped my hands, and that electrical sensation hummed up my arms and into my chest again. I wanted to lean into him and have that current run all the way through me.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Zak yelled from several yards away.
Alden tightened his hold on my hands and only smiled in response.
I jerked my hands away and stepped back from Alden, bumping into Zak, who roughly put his arm around my shoulders, causing me to jump.
“Is this guy giving you trouble, babe?” Zak growled, squeezing me territorially and dropping his guitar case. I could feel his muscles twitching. Zak wasn’t totally sober, but he
was
totally pissed. He was going to flatten Alden. A bona fide testosterone fest was not the way I wanted to celebrate my birthday.
“No! No, Zak. Everything’s cool. We were just talking. He’s, uh . . . an old friend.” I was glad my voice didn’t squeak.
Alden straightened to his full height. He didn’t appear frightened of Zak at all. “Yeah, we’ve known each other practically forever.”
Zak’s fingers clenched into a fist on my shoulder.
“It’s okay, Zak,” I assured him.
“Like hell, it is.” Zak took a step toward Alden, who didn’t even blink. In fact, he smiled. Zak was no taller than Alden, but he was much larger, industrial strength. I cringed when I pictured the potential outcome if Zak went all tough-guy.
I grabbed the back of his shirt. “No, Zak. Please. It’s my birthday.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, doing my best to convince him to let it go. “For me?” His muscles relaxed, and I dropped my arms from around him.
Alden held his hand out. “I’m Alden Thomas.”
Zak didn’t shake his hand, but pulled me to him instead. “I’m Zak Reynolds. Lenzi’s boyfriend.”
Alden winked at me. “Yeah, I kinda picked up on that.”
My phone rang. I wiggled loose from Zak’s possessive grip and pulled my cell out of my purse. It was Mom. “Hello?”
Even through the bad connection, my mom’s anger came through loud and clear. “I’ve crossed the causeway and I’m on Broadway. Where in the cemetery are you, Lenzi?”
“I’m at the gate near the corner of Fortieth and Broadway.”
My mom disconnected the call. She was in total Momzilla mode. This was going to be bad. I shoved my phone back into my purse.
“She’s almost here,” I said, walking toward the gate.
“You called your mom to come get you? Why didn’t you just wake me up, Lenzi?”
I stopped and turned to face Zak. “I tried.”
He strode over and placed his hands on my shoulders. There was none of the electric current I felt when Alden touched me, only weight. “I’m sorry, babe. Really. Just call her back and tell her I’ll take you home.”
I crossed my arms. “No, Zak. I’m not getting in a car with you. You can ride with Mom and me, or we can follow you to make sure you get home okay.”
He looked over his shoulder at Alden, who cocked an eyebrow.
His grip tightened on my shoulders almost to the point of pain. “I’m fine to drive. And I don’t need your mom to follow me like I’m some baby who can’t find my way home.” He pushed me away. “I’m outta here.” He staggered to the gate, awkwardly scaled it, and landed with a thud on his feet on the other side, catching the bars for balance. He made it to his car, and after cranking the engine several times before it started, pulled away from the curb.
I rubbed my shoulders where Zak had grabbed me and watched him round the corner at the end of the block. He’d told me he had a bad temper, but this was the first time I’d really seen it.
“Well. He’s quite the catch,” Alden said.
I stomped past him and snatched Zak’s guitar case handle, jerking it from the pavement where he’d dropped it.
Alden followed me to the gate. “Please let me show you. If you don’t believe me after we soul-share, I’ll leave you alone forever.”
I shoved both guitars through and grabbed the iron bars. “Forget it.” I struggled awkwardly over the gate, tearing the seat of my jeans on one of the pointy finials at the top. I shimmied to the ground and watched as Alden scaled the wall as if it were nothing, landing lightly beside me.
Mom’s green minivan rounded the corner and came to an abrupt halt in front of us. I could only pick up one guitar at a time because I was covering the hole in my jeans with my free hand. Alden reached in front of me to open the sliding side door of the van and put Zak’s guitar in after I’d put Dad’s on the seat. Was he snickering? He opened the front passenger door for me, and I flopped into the seat.
Mom leaned over to get a look at him, lowering the window as I slammed the door. “Who are you?”
He leaned in through the window, too close for my comfort. He smelled like mint and the leather coat he was wearing. “I’m Alden Thomas. Lenzi had a problem with Zak, so I stayed with her to make sure she was okay until you arrived. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He extended his arm across me while I stifled a groan as my mom shook his hand.
“I’m Julia Anderson, Lenzi’s mother.” She dropped his hand and immediately lit into me. “Why on earth are you in the cemetery after midnight? Making me drive all the way from Bellaire in the middle of the night! You’re lucky it’s your birthday, Lenzi. I had half a mind to leave you here!”
Alden rapped his knuckles on the door of the minivan. “Mrs. Anderson, I apologize for interfering, but Lenzi’s had a rough night. I doubt she’ll do something like this again. Why don’t you wait to discuss it until you’ve both had a good night’s sleep and time to reflect?”
Mom and I stared at him openmouthed.
“It was a pleasure to meet you,” he continued. “Bellaire. We
are
neighbors. I look forward to seeing you again, Lenzi. Good night.” He got into a gray Audi parked farther up the street and drove off.
I crossed my arms defensively across my chest, anticipating the onslaught of mother artillery. None came.