Everwild

"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. "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 ma

"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."

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 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 tu

"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." 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. "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.