“I can’t help you now,” I said to the ghost beside my desk. I tucked my blond hair behind my ear and pushed my tortoiseshell glasses higher on my nose.

He remained there in his high-waisted, dark gray suit and fedora hat. Definitely circa the 1920s. He folded his arms and leaned against my desk, the picture of patience. “I can wait.”

I looked out the window in front of me. On the sidewalk below, parents helped my classmates lug their belongings into the dorm. Today was the start of my senior year at McTernan Academy. And a return to normal.

But this was the third ghost to visit my dorm for his reckoning, that one final piece of business they had to complete before they could move on.

Not believing in ghosts had kept them away for years until this summer, when I was forced to confront some incredible unbelievables—ghosts, spells, curses, and time travel. I couldn’t pretend to not believe anymore, so, since then, ghosts kept appearing and asking for my help. I wanted to help them. I truly did.

But it was exhausting. Every time a ghost appeared, it stole energy from the living. And I was always the nearest living person. I scarfed down junk food and sugary snacks to keep my energy up. It wasn’t enough. At seventeen, I had regressed to daily naps.

I’d spent most of August trying to get ahead of their reckonings before the school year started. I really thought it was possible. For a while, it even distracted me from my own issues; but senior year was starting, and the ghosts were becoming a serious problem.

I took a bite of my Twix and tried to reason with the ghost. “Someone might see you in my dorm. Can you all form a line and meet me in the park on Saturdays?” I could devote my Saturdays to the ghosts, just not my every day.

He glanced back over his shoulder and smiled like he saw something I didn’t. “We’ve been in line for years.”

A dull pounding started in the base of my skull. “I can’t keep up this pace.” My voice thinned the way a plastic bag does when you put too much in it.

His smile flickered. “But we need your help.”

“And there’s no one else?” I wasn’t the only person who saw ghosts. There were other believers out there. Some of them were my friends.

“No one quite like you.”

Sometimes I really wished I were mediocre. Being special meant that the ghosts were going to take over my life again. I couldn’t let that happen. Luckily, ghosts from his era were polite. He’d introduced himself when he arrived and that gave me the power to send him away. “Gilbert Wells, go away.”

He frowned and faded into a shimmer of dust that disappeared into a shadow.

It was the best I could do.

I got up and a wave of dizziness made me stumble. I needed to rest for a bit. I sat on my bright blue comforter, laid my head on my pillow, and was asleep in seconds.