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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