Everwild (The Skinjacker Trilogy)

by Neal Shusterman

  "You can make it up to us," said Mikey, "by getting lost."

  Milos remained calm and smooth. "But have you not longed for the company of other skinjackers?" he asked Mikey. "Surely we can put all this behind us and start again."

  Apparently Milos just assumed that Mikey was also a skinjacker. Mikey didn't say anything to correct him, so Allie kept quiet about it as well.

  "We're fine on our own," Mikey said.

  Although Allie knew they didn't need Milos's help, and certainly had no desire to spend quality time with Moose and Squirrel, there was something enticing about Milos. He was civilized and sane--she could see it in his eyes--curious eyes that were blue, speckled with white, like a sky dotted with clouds. It would be a relief having another skinjacker to talk to--someone who could understand what it was like.

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  "We're on our way to Memphis," Allie told him, and Mikey looked at her, incredulous.

  Milos smiled. "Then allow us to accompany you. At least part of the way."

  "No!" said Mikey.

  Allie gently took Mikey's hand, holding it to reassure him--and also to make it clear to Milos that the two of them were together in every way that mattered.

  "You can travel with us for a little while," Allie said. "I'm Allie. This is Mikey."

  Moose gasped. "Allie the Outcasht?"

  Mikey grabbed him by his face guard, pulled him close and growled in his face. "That's right. Touch her again and you'll wish you never died."

  "Yesh shir," said Moose.

  "Now," said Milos, "I suggest we get off this dock before we sink right through it." He gestured for Allie to take the lead, which she did--and although she never let go of Mikey's hand, she couldn't help but appreciate Milos's suave manner. Most of the boys she had met in Everlost were wild to the point of being feral. Allie never considered herself a lady, but for once it was nice to be treated like one.

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  In her book Further Reasons for Caution, Mary Hightower has this to say about roving bands of skinjackers:

  "While a single skinjacker is trouble enough, a group of wild skinjackers is a frightening prospect, indeed. These Afterlights caught between two worlds are to be pitied and feared, for the madness of flesh has infected their minds. If word reaches you of skinjackers in your area, it is best for all involved to steer clear of them, and report the sighting to an authority."

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  CHAPTER 9 Good Stewards

  While Moose and Squirrel might have been the poster children illustrating Mary's point about "wild skinjackers," they were marginally civilized under Milos's guidance.

  "They are not so bad," Milos told Mikey and Allie. "Or should I say, I have seen much worse."

  The rain had given way to broken clouds, and they continued to follow the road around the lake. Mikey was sullen, and didn't talk much, and Moose and Squirrel, always lingering a dozen paces behind, snickered over their own private jokes. Milos, however was full of conversation for the newcomers. Allie supposed that, having had no one but Moose and Squirrel to talk to, he was starved for intelligent conversation. Milos told them that they had traveled as a group for several years. The "Deadlies" they called themselves. There were four-- Milos, Moose, Squirrel, and a girl they called Jackin' Jill. Jill, however, was gone, and Milos didn't say any more about it. Allie found it all interesting, but Mikey

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  kept making exasperated sounds, as if listening to Milos was like torture.

  "Mikey, you're being rude," Allie told him after a particularly loud groan.

  "Sorry," said Mikey, although it sounded more like a curse than an apology.

  Milos continued the tale of his afterlife, unoffended. As Allie suspected, Milos had come from Russia. "Russian-born, but American-dead," as he put it. His family had moved to America from St. Petersburg. Milos had been hanging out with friends on the roof of his apartment building, and had fallen off.

  "It was a stupid way to go," Milos said.

  Mikey scoffed. "My sister and I got hit by a train," he said. "We all die in stupid ways, and this is a stupid conversation." He picked up his pace, leaving them, and the conversation, behind. Allie thought to apologize to Milos for Mikey's behavior, but she was tired of making excuses for him. Anyway, Milos was a good sport about it.

  "I would have gone into the light if I could," Milos told Allie. "But the light would not take me. It would just keep throwing me back."

  This surprised Allie. Not even Mary, in her various volumes on Everlost lore, never mentioned anyone reaching the end of the tunnel, only to be denied admittance.

  "Are you sure?" Allie asked. "Maybe you just never reached the light."

  "I suppose your friend would say the light didn't like me and spit me out."

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  Allie laughed. "Well, I suppose you're an acquired taste." She looked toward Mikey. He was twenty yards ahead of them, striding with an impatient pace. His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders high, and he looked to the ground. Even when they were together he seemed to be alone in some fundamental way. It saddened her.

  "It's because we are skinjackers," Milos said. "The light won't take us. It would have been the same for you and your friend, had you made it as far as the light." Allie cast her gaze down, wondering how long they could keep secret the fact that Mikey could not skinjack. Then it suddenly struck her what Milos had just said. How major it was--how important it was.

  "Milos ... if skinjackers can't go into the light, then that explains why my coin never gets hot, doesn't it?"

  Milos nodded. "I have seen others find passage into the next place, but never skinjackers," he said. "You could say our money is no good."

  "So are you saying ... we'll never leave Everlost?"

  "Of coursh we'll leave," said Moose, eavesdropping with Squirrel, right behind them. "We'll leave when we can't Shkinjack anymore."

  "Yeah, yeah," said Squirrel. "So we gotta jack when the jackin' is good!"

  It had never occurred to Allie that skinjacking could be temporary. "How long?"

  "As long as it takes," Milos said.

  "As long as what takes?"

  Moose and Squirrel looked to each other and laughed, but Milos threw them an angry glance, and they fell silent.

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  "The length of your natural life span," Milos said. "That is how long you can skinjack."

  For Allie this was a revelation. It cast everything in a new light. She had been so worried that she would feel compelled to take her coin and move on after finding her family, but if she was stuck in Everlost for the length of her natural life, then her coin wouldn't work. She wasn't going anywhere. She thought about telling Mikey, but decided to keep it to herself. If he was going to act all antisocial, then there were things he deserved not to know.

  "What do you mean by 'the length of our natural lives?'" she asked Milos. "Do you mean the time we would have died if we had died of natural causes?"

  Milos gave the slightest of shrugs. "Something like that, yes."

  Allie sensed there was more to it, but that was all Milos said on the matter. She would have pushed further, but at that moment, they had come around a bend in the road, and saw the interstate in the distance. "Excellent," Milos said. "From here it will be easy."

  He picked up the pace with Moose and Squirrel. As they passed Mikey, Milos gave him a friendly clap on the back, which just made Mikey pull his shoulders in even tighter.

  Allie caught up with Mikey. "You could make the best of this," Allie said, "instead of being so unpleasant."

  "I don't like this," he grumbled."I don't like him. He's much too friendly."

  "You lost the right to be a judge of character when you became the McGill."

  "So when do I get it back?"

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  "You don't," Allie told him, intentionally flip. "I do all the judging, and I say Milos's character is acceptable."

  Mikey grumbled something under his breath, and Allie nudged him. "You're just mad becaus
e he's handsome and charming."

  Mikey wouldn't look her in the eye. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

  The interstate exit was the only one for miles, and around it were clustered fast food chains, gas stations, and uninviting motels. Cars from dozens of states flowed on and off the interstate in an endless stream.

  Milos surveyed the scene, then turned to Moose and Squirrel. "You check the south side of the highway; we shall check the north."

  Moose and Squirrel obediently trotted across the highway, ignoring the traffic whooshing through them.

  "Would you mind telling us what we're looking for?" asked Mikey.

  "Family of five," Milos said, as if it was obvious, "or, if not a family, then five people traveling together."

  "I don't understand," said Allie.

  Milos looked at her and shook his head. "You have much to learn about skinjacking." He turned to look at the Burger King parking lot in front of them. "We shall skinjack five people in the same car," he explained. "Then we drive to Memphis."

  Allie was appalled, and didn't try to hide it. "Is that how you travel? By ripping people out of their lives?"

  "This is one way we travel, yes," said Milos, matter-offactly.

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  "That's terrible!"

  Milos looked at her, a bit stunned by her response. "We do not harm them--and they get their bodies back when we are done."

  "Yes, but hundreds of miles away from where they started, never knowing how or why." Allie looked at a family leaving the Burger King. She wondered where they might be going. She wondered what it would be like to be traveling to one place, only to find yourself somewhere else entirely. "People have plans!" Allie insisted. "It's one thing to borrow, it's another to steal."

  Milos smiled at her, and crossed his arms. "So Allie the Outcast has a conscience."

  Allie couldn't tell whether he was impressed or mocking her.

  Mikey, who had been happy to watch them argue, now stepped between them. "Forget it, Allie, let him skinjack whoever he wants--we don't need to go with him." And then Mikey added, quietly so only Allie could hear, "It's not going to work for us anyway, if you know what I mean... ."

  But Allie found herself too irritated by Milos's smug expression to back down now. "All I'm saying is we have a responsibility. We have to be ... good stewards."

  This time Mikey stepped right in front of her, eclipsing her view of Milos completely. "Let's just go, okay?"

  Milos took a step around Mikey, back into her view. "Perhaps my time in Everlost has made me callous," he said. "Maybe we should give more care to those we skinjack. So then, as a good steward, how would you suggest we proceed?"

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  Allie looked to the interstate. "Let's take the time to find a family of five that's already going to Memphis."

  Mikey threw up his hands. "You're forgetting one thing!" he said angrily. "I can't skinjack!"

  Allie found herself speechless--in her frustration she had ignored the single fact that made their skinjacking jaunt an impossibility. When she turned, she saw Moose and Squirrel standing there dumbstruck as well.

  "Did he jusht shay he can't shkinjack?" asked Moose, pointing at Mikey.

  Mikey turned on Moose as bitterly as the McGill would have. "What's wrong?" shouted Mikey. "Can't hear through that stinking helmet? Maybe I'll rip it off along with your head and shout down your neck!"

  Allie grabbed Mikey's arm and held him firmly. It was enough to ratchet him down to a simmer.

  Milos didn't say anything, he just stroked his chin, pondering the change in circumstance.

  Squirrel looked at Allie, confused. "So why are you even with him if he can't skinjack, huh, huh?"

  "There are more important things than skinjacking," Mikey snapped.

  Squirrel shook his head. "No there's not."

  Allie was about to launch into a hundred defenses of her relationship with Mikey, but Milos cut her off by saying, "Then we shall walk."

  Squirrel looked at him slack-jawed. "But-But--"

  "Did he jusht say we're walking?" asked Moose.

  "Is there a hurry? No!" said Milos. "And it is a beautiful time of year. I see no problem in walking."

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  "Yeah, yeah, but what about Jackin' Jill?" said Squirrel. "We still gotta find her and teach her a lesson."

  "We will find her when we find her," Milos said. "A few days won't make a difference." Allie couldn't help but notice how he bristled at the mention of her name. Milos then looked to the highway. "We shall travel on the interstate--it will take us straight there."

  Squirrel shuffled his feet, and Moose just looked down, slowly shaking his head.

  "If you have a problem with this, then leave," Milos said to them sternly. He looked around, then pointed at a car just arriving in the Burger King lot. "There--a man and a woman in a Miata. Be my guest." He gave them an elaborate but annoyed gesture. Moose and Squirrel didn't move.

  "No?" said Milos. "Then you will both kindly close your mouths, and accompany our friends to Memphis." He turned his back on them and strode off toward the interstate.

  Moose looked at Squirrel, and Squirrel hit him on the helmet. "What are you looking at, huh, huh?" He followed Milos, and Moose lumbered off behind him, all shoulder pads and shame.

  Allie turned to Mikey. "Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there and sink?"

  "Of course I'm coming." Mikey pulled his feet out of the ground, and the two of them headed off after the others.

  "You should thank Milos," Allie said. "He just stood up for you."

  But Mikey clearly wasn't in a thanking mood.

  Mikey McGill had been in Everlost for a very long time, and had experienced a great many things. He had captained a

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  ship, he had sunk to the center of the earth, and climbed back again, he had been a boy, a monster, and a boy once again. He had amassed a fortune of crossed objects, and had lost that fortune as well. He had endured. Yet through all of it, no experience was as confusing and unreasonable as the experience of love. He had denied for the longest time that he loved Allie. He had told himself their relationship was of no great consequence--that he was merely grateful to her for having saved him from being a monster. He had told himself that their companionship was merely a useful arrangement, while he considered what to do next.

  All of these were lies.

  The fact was, he loved Allie so intensely it frightened him. There were times when he looked at her that his own afterglow mellowed from pale blue to almost lavender. He realized that love must have its own spectral shade, and wondered if Allie ever noticed it.

  His own reaction to Milos caught Mikey off guard. When he was the McGill no one dared challenge Mikey's authority. He ruled supreme. Although things were different since teaming up with Allie, in all this time, no one had penetrated the little circle he and Allie had made. The two of them were always on the move--other Afterlights they met passed in and out of view like the scenery.

  Now, however, their circle had become an unpleasant fellowship of five. It wasn't Moose and Squirrel that troubled Mikey. Milos was the threat. Milos, and his easy smile, and his exotic accent, and the wispy hint of facial hair that might have been a beard had he lived a year longer. Allie called

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  him charming--and although Mikey knew she had said it just to tease him, it did more than that. It goaded him. It taunted him. Mikey had no idea whether or not Milos was a good spirit, or bad, all he knew was that he hated Milos for simply existing.

  For two days as they walked along Interstate 81, and then Interstate 40, nobody skinjacked. This was by Milos's decree--out of respect for Mikey, so he said. By twilight of the second day, Moose and Squirrel were itching for it. Mikey could tell that Allie was too. As they rested on a set of deadspots, beneath what must have been a particularly lethal overpass, Mikey could see Allie's restlessness.

  "You weren't like this before," Mikey said to Allie as they sat on a spot a dozen yar
ds away from the others. "You never needed to skinjack."

  Allie didn't answer right away, but she didn't shrug it off either.

  "I've been skinjacking more lately," she finally said, "and the more you skinjack, the more you need to. Don't ask me to explain it, because I can't."

  "Do you want to be like them?" he asked her, pointing to Moose and Squirrel, who were twitchy and irritable, like drug addicts needing a fix.

  "I'll never be like them," Allie said, although she didn't seem too confident. "And anyway, once we get to Memphis, they'll go their way, and we'll go ours."

  "And which way is that?"

  Again, Allie didn't have an answer for him. This wasn't like her--Allie tended to have an answer for everything, even if it was wrong.

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  "Everything's changed now," Allie said, although she didn't say why.

  "I know what'll happen," Mikey said. "You'll see your family, and you'll take your coin and go. I know you will."

  She sighed. "Trust me, I won't. And anyway, you were the one who brought me to Cape May to find my family, weren't you?"

  She was right about that. Mikey shrugged. "So? I was trying to do the right thing. The human thing. But maybe I don't want to do the right thing anymore." He couldn't look at her as he said it, and he thought she'd be mad at him and launch into a long speech about the virtues of human compassion and thinking of others before yourself.

  But instead she smiled and said, "I'll make you a promise, Mikey. I promise that I'll always be here for you ... and I promise not to move on ... until you do." Then she leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

  He hoped she didn't notice the slight lavender blush of his afterglow.

  Allie had, in fact, noticed the faint color shift in Mikey's afterglow several times before, and although she was usually quite smart about things, she missed all the cues on this one. She simply assumed it was some sort of remnant from his life as the McGill--the equivalent of a living-world scar that ached with changes in the weather. After all they'd been through, she cared for Mikey deeply--not as a boyfriend, though, because that was a living-world concept, and in the living world, boyfriends come and go. A hand held today would be slapping a face tomorrow. Mikey wasn't like a