Everwild

And for a moment, just for a moment, it felt right. It felt perfect. How could it not be? Their lips separated, and both of them stole a quick breath.

"We could be for each other ... whatever we need," Milos said.

This time it was Allie moving forward, pressing her lips against his, not wanting this feverish, dizzying sensation to ever end. This body she was in--it shivered with the thrill of it. "Get a room," shouted the same heckler, but the voice sounded part of another universe.

If Milos had, in that moment, lifted her in those strong, borrowed arms, and carried her off to a quiet place, she would have allowed him to do it, letting herself be swallowed by passion.

But the moment passed, her senses returned, and she pushed him away.

"Milos, no!"

He looked at her, out of breath, eyes barely in control. "Why no?"

She had trouble answering him, and so he kissed her again. She knew if she gave herself over to the kiss one more time, all would be lost. She would gladly be consumed by it. This is what we are meant to do, Milos had said. This is what we are meant tobe. It took every ounce of her will to say--

"Lesson over."

She couldn't bear to pull out of his arms, so instead she peeled out of the beautiful girl, and back into Everlost.

Milos peeled away a moment later, once he realized that Allie was gone.

Allie stood there knowing she had done the right thing, but was still unable to turn and leave. They stood there for the most awkward of moments.

"Now you will say you hated that," Milos said, sheepishly.

Allie shook her head. "No. No, I didn't hate it." And that was the problem.

Beside them, the couple who, after all, really were dating, went back to kissing each other, probably thinking their odd supernatural experience was solely the product of love and hormones. Allie watched them, part of her wishing it could still be her--but realizing that the other half of her wished that the boy could be Mikey.

Only now did she realize that the boy Milos had chosen did look just a little bit like Mikey. She wondered if Milos had chosen him for that very reason. What was it he had said? We could be for each other whatever we need. She wondered if the girl looked like Jackin' Jill.

"Next time, maybe?" said Milos with an apologetic grin.

"No," said Allie, and took his hands, no longer in passion but in sympathy. "There won't be a next time, Milos."

She could not hate him for this. He hadn't forced her-- he hadn't taken advantage. He was just doing what boys do--and he was very good at it.

"Too bad," said Milos. "I could have walked you down the red carpet at the Oscars. I could have danced with you in the White House."

"Now who's thinking too big?"

Milos sighed. "Will you now walk back alone, or may I escort you?"

"Well, since we're both going in the same direction, it would be silly to walk alone."

They returned to the highway together, yet apart. It was a long and painfully awkward walk.

"I'm sorry, Milos," Allie told him, when they were halfway there.

But Milos shook his head. "Please," he said. "I posed a question, and your answer was no. Never be afraid to tell anyone 'no'," he said. "And that includes me." It didn't make it any easier that he was charming even in defeat. She knew she could have fallen for Milos had Mikey not already been a part of her life, and Milos knew it too. Never before had Allie been put in a position of chosing between two boys. Some girls might like such a game--toying with them, playing one against the other. Allie thought to the times she teased Mikey about Milos, and realized that maybe she had done a little bit of that herself. It made her want to see Mikey all the more.

The one comfort Allie could take from the evening's festivities was that her momentous lapse of reason would go u

Except that he did.

In fact, he was standing right beside them when they kissed.

CHAPTER 14 Strange Winds

When Allie and Milos returned to the interstate, Moose and Squirrel were there, but Mikey was nowhere to be seen. Now that Milos's advances had hit a brick wall, he was itching to move on, and didn't appreciate waiting for Mikey.

"It is just like him to make the rest of us wait," Milos said.

"How do you know what he's like?" Allie said, defensively. "You barely even know him."

Milos knew better than to argue the point.

Allie looked around--to the fields across the interstate, and behind her, to the neighborhood they had just come from. She tried to catch a glimpse of Mikey's afterglow, but the moon was too bright; everything seemed to be glowing.

"Wherever he's gone, he couldn't have gone far," Allie told the others. But when Mikey wasn't back by midnight, Allie began to worry.

"What if something happened to him?"

Squirrel stayed silent about it, but Moose--probably following Milos's earlier cue--was a

Allie kept a vigil all night, her mind filling with all the things that could have happened to him. What if the Nashville Afterlights kidnapped him? What if he got caught in one of Mary's stupid soul traps? Yet she knew she was grasping at straws. Those Nashville Afterlights were timid things--and as for soul traps, there was no evidence that Mary had ever been this far west.

When dawn came, and Mikey still hadn't returned, Allie was beside herself. The others kept their distance--not even Milos knew how to handle this. It was in that early morning light that she took special notice of Squirrel. He had nothing to say about the matter all night long--yet he was even more antsy than usual. He kept bouncing his knee and shifting his weight from leg to leg. He wouldn't meet Allie's gaze, and that clinched it. In an instant she had him tried, convicted, and sentenced.

"It was you!" She stormed up to him and pointed an accusing finger. "You did something to him!"

Squirrel's jaw dropped open and he shook his head. "Not me! Not me! I wouldn't do anything to him!" He looked to Moose, who backed away, hoping this plague of guilt wouldn't spread to him, but he was too late.

"It was both of you!" yelled Allie. "I know it just by looking at you!"

Moose's beady eyes seemed to widen within his helmet, like a cornered opossum. She half expected him to suddenly play dead. "We didn't do anything! Milosh tell her it wazn't ush!" But Milos was not taking sides.

"You're both lying!' Allie screamed at them. "Tell me what you did, or I'll tear you apart with my bare hands!" In that moment, she believed she could do it, and they believed it too.

"We didn't do anything! I swear, I swear!" pleaded Squirrel. "Cross my heart and hope to fry! I'd be afraid to do anything to him, honest!"

And that, coming from Squirrel, just sounded odd. It was just a further indication to Allie that he must be lying.

Finally Milos stepped in. "Afraid of him? Why afraid?"

Squirrel looked to Milos then to Moose, and finally to Allie. "I think ... I think your friend is some kinda monster." And the expression of horror and hatred that Allie gave him made Squirrel back away. "It's true, it's true! He's got all these eyes--and tentacles. He hides 'em real good, but I know he's got 'em."