Everwild (The Skinjacker Trilogy)

by Neal Shusterman

  I propose a meeting at a neutral location. I have been advised that the mansion at Graceland is a comfortable place for such a meeting. I will be there waiting for you today at five o'clock PM. I feel confident we will be able to either resolve our differences, or reach an acceptable compromise.

  Most humbly yours,

  Miss Mary Hightower

  The girl who had brought the note looked terrified. Nick smiled to ease her fear, but he knew his smile no longer

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  appeared comforting. Most of it flowed into a dark dripping frown which made the girl back away into Johnnie-O, who stood behind her. Used to be kids were more frightened by Johnnie-O and his power-knuckles than they were of Nick.

  "Thank you," Nick told her. Then he reached for the bucket, which he still kept close, and with his good hand he pulled out a coin. "As payment for bringing me this message, I'm going to offer you a reward." He turned the coin in his fingers. "Do you know what this is?"

  "Mary says it's evil."

  "Do you believe that?"

  "Yes," said the girl quickly. Then after a moment. "I don't know ..." She regarded it for a moment more, clearly tempted. Then she asked, "What will you do to me if I don't take it?"

  "Nothing," said Nick. "Just because I'm offering it to you doesn't mean you have to take it." He was surprised by the question, but he supposed he shouldn't be. The lies that Mary must have told her children about him were woven so deeply into their minds, it would take more than a chocolate smile to win them over.

  "I'm not supposed to take anything from you, sir."

  "I understand. Go back to Mary and tell her the Chocolate Ogre says yes. I'll meet her."

  The girl left as quickly as she could, and Nick showed the note to Johnnie-O.

  "Two hundred Afterlights?" said Johnnie-O. "If all she has are two hundred, we outnumber her two to one! We

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  could take them on right now!" He pounded his fist into his palm. "Sneak attack!"

  "We could, but we won't. This is about freeing, not fighting--never forget that."

  "Yeah, but you got an army back there waiting to bust some heads."

  "We're in Everlost," Nick reminded him. "Heads don't bust." But Johnnie-O still wasn't satisfied. Nick sighed. "You'll have your fight," Nick admitted--as much to himself as to Johnnie-O. "Mary's got them so brainwashed, they'll fight us rather than take their coins."

  "Then we'll force 'em" said Johnnie-O. "We'll make 'em take their coins, and if they don't, we'll push 'em down into the dirt. Good riddance!"

  A surge of anger raged through Nick, and for a moment his chocolate ran as dark as licorice. He grabbed Johnnie-O by the shirt, and his voice became a deep liquid roar. "That's not the way we do things around here!"

  Johnnie-O was not intimidated. "You're the one who wanted an army," he said. "What did you think an army was for?"

  Johnnie-O's point struck deep. The idea of gathering a fighting force was one thing--but actually using it was another. Nick might have been a good leader, but he was no warlord.

  His anger faded, and he let his chocolate arm slip from Johnnie-O's shirt, leaving behind a nasty brown stain in the middle of his chest.

  "Once Mary's defeated, we'll free the ones we can," Nick said.

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  "And if they won't take their coins?" Johnnie-O asked.

  "Then we take them as prisoners of war," Nick told him.

  Johnnie-O nodded, but his expression was still one of worry. "Y'know ... you can't fight her if you love her." All this time it had been an unspoken rule that they never spoke of Nick's feelings toward Mary. But maybe Johnnie-O was right to bring it up.

  "I fought her before, and I won," Nick reminded him.

  "Yes, but this time, she'll be ready."

  Nick closed his eyes, and searched for something in himself more sturdy than chocolate. "So will I."

  The note from Mary had come shortly after noon, but it was more than an hour before Nick called for Zin. He wanted some solitude, some silence so he could find a sense of resolve, but the Mississippi wind whistled over the train, making it difficult to feel anything but uneasy.

  His good intentions had become like the chocolate devouring him--sweet and rich, but also muddy and debilitating. He had become too much of a good thing. Now he sat with a full bucket of coins that could free countless Afterlights, but how many had he freed since he began to build his army? None. He began to wonder how much different he was from Mary after all.

  "So, is this it, then?" Zin asked, as she stepped up into the parlor car. "Do we got our date with the devil today?"

  "Sit down," Nick told her.

  "I prefer not to, sir," she said. "Ain't no chair clean enough in this train car."

  And she was right, so he didn't force her. "Mary has

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  called for a meeting. We'll take a team with us, but once we get there, you and I will go in alone," he told her. "Bring paper--I'll tell her you're there to write up a treaty."

  "Johnnie-O's been teachin' me readin' but we haven't got to writin' yet."

  "That doesn't matter--because when I give the word, you're going to drop everything, and cram Mary like there's no tomorrow."

  Nick had played it out dozens of different ways until he saw the whole thing clearly in his mind. He would be there with Mary, engaged in a polite, but guarded conversation of diplomacy. He would string her along until he felt the moment was right, then he would make his move.

  I have a gift for you, he would tell her. The finest gift in the universe, and it's all for you. He would step forward, and he would kiss her. A final kiss. Then Zin would grab her, and begin to push, until Mary was thrust through to the other side, into the living world, just as Zin had done to Kudzu. Mary would be alive, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and the sweet taste of chocolate on her lips.

  I will not only save Everlost from you, but I will save you from yourself. I will give you the precious gift of life, Mary. Because I love you.

  "What if I can't do it, sir?" said Zin. "Crammin' Kudzu was near impossible, and a person's bigger than a dog."

  He put his good hand on her shoulder. "Your whole afterlife has been leading to this," he told her. "I have every faith in you, Zin."

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  CHAPTER 34 Poolside Rendezvous

  Several of Nick's scouts had gone down Danny Rozelli's street, and one even walked right through the boy, but they were looking for a teenage Afterlight girl, not a live seven-year-old boy. A needle in a haystack didn't come close.

  Within Danny Rozelli were two sets of thoughts, two minds, two histories, and with each day it was getting harder and harder for Danny and Allie to recall whose memories were whose. Now they both fell asleep at the same moment, awoke at the same moment, and when they dreamed, they dreamed as one.

  It was late August, and the school year had just started. Life was slipping into a regular routine. Allie tried to imagine growing up, and growing old as a lifelong tenant in someone else's body. Would there come a time when she could accept life as the other half of Danny Rozelli? In these two weeks they had learned each other's rhythms and patterns like Siamese twins, and were quickly adapting to a life for two in a single body.

  And what of her own body? It was lying somewhere in

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  any one of a dozen hospitals--and that was just if she was in Memphis. She tried calling a few, but never got very far.

  "Honey, why don't you put your mama on the phone?" the receptionists would invariably say. It was hard to get respect as a seven-year-old.

  --This is not who I wanted to be-- Allie thought.

  --Me neither--Danny thought right back at her, but both of their protests were getting weaker every day. They were becoming resigned to a shared existence.

  Then the pool cleaners came.

  They came the same day that Mary arrived in Memphis and sent her letter to Nick, but Allie had no way of knowing that, or anything else that went on in Ever
lost. As long as she was stuck in a living body, all she could see was the living world.

  Late that afternoon, Allie and Danny were out in the yard playing handball against a side wall. It was one of the benefits of their particular condition; there was always someone to play with. Allie would hit the ball, then pull back, letting Danny take his turn. They had become skilled at switching back and forth at will. Neither fought for control anymore. It was like riding a tandem bike.

  Allie scored a point.

  "Aw! No fair!" Danny said.

  --Quiet--Allie thought to him--your mother will hear you talking to yourself--

  But when they looked up, it wasn't his mother standing there, instead it was a man holding a blue pole with a net on the end, and a second man a few feet behind him.

  --It's okay-- Danny told Allie-- It's just the pool guys--

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  The head pool guy was a middle-aged man with a frayed baseball cap and beard stubble. His assistant was a punk with skull tattoos and a limp mohawk on the verge of surrender.

  "Hi, Curtis! Hi, Chainsaw," said Danny, brightly. "Pool's real dirty. S'got lots of leaves and bugs today."

  "Guess we'll have to see about that," said Curtis, but neither man moved. Chainsaw glanced at the house, where Danny's mom could be heard talking on the phone, completely engrossed in her conversation.

  "C'mon, I'll show you," Danny said. He led them to the pool, and pointed at one of the drains. "See--it's all clogged."

  But the pool guys weren't here for a service call today.

  "I wish to talk to Allie now," Curtis said.

  Danny recoiled out of shock, pulling far back inside himself like a kid finding strangers at the front door. Allie pushed forward to fill the void. She could feel Danny's heartbeat instantly begin to race. He wanted to run--he wanted to tear into the house, but Allie didn't let him. Maybe she should have, but she didn't let him go.

  "Who is this?" she asked.

  Curtis smiled, and Allie instantly knew. It was hard to see him behind the beer belly and beard stubble, but she knew.

  "Milos?"

  "So you are in there!" He looked down at her with a furrowed unibrow."I thought you went home. Is this ... home for you?"

  "What do you think? Does it look like I'm back in my

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  own body?" And she couldn't help but add, "This might not have happened if you would have told me that skinjackers' bodies are all still alive!"

  --Who is that, Allie? That's not Curtis! I don't like this!--

  --Just let me handle this, Danny--

  Allie looked over at Chainsaw, noticing the way he shifted from one foot to the other, looking around like ninjas might leap out and attack him at any moment. "And that's Squirrel, I presume."

  "C'mon, c'mon," Squirrel said. "We found her, now let's just get out of here."

  "How did you even find me?"

  "A friend of ours. He was able to sniff you out." Milos took a good look her, and shook Curtis's head."So much you did not know about skinjacking. If you had just stayed with us ..."

  "Fine! Tell me 'I told you so' all you want--but if you know a way out of this, tell me!"

  "Shhh." Milos glanced to the house, where Danny's mother threw occasional glances out of the window. "Do not look suspicious," he said. "Act like you're playing."

  Allie found a rusted toy car in the nearby grass, then knelt down and began to run it along the concrete edge of the pool deck, while Milos moved the net back and forth in the water, pretending to clean it.

  "As it happens, I do know a way to free you."

  "You do?" Her excitement made the boy's body jump with joy. "Thank you, Milos, thank you! I'll owe you for this."

  To which Milos said calmly, "Yes ... you will."

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  Allie's excitement took a slightly sour turn. She became guarded, and a little worried. Yes, she would owe him, and she already knew that Milos didn't do anything for free.

  "I have come a long way, and at great peril," he told her. "If I free you, there is something I want in return."

  "Like what?"

  "If I free you," he said slowly, "then you will owe me your loyalty and your commitment. You must, therefore, follow my orders. You must do whatever I ask you to do, for as long as I ask you to do it."

  Allie was speechless. She didn't know whether to be horrified or amused. "Have you lost your mind?" she told him. "I won't be your slave! The answer is no!"

  "Do not misunderstand," said Milos, still moving the pool net in a pointless figure eight. "I have a higher purpose now, and I am giving you this opportunity to be a part of it. You should not throw it away so lightly."

  Allie looked toward Squirrel, who nervously brushed his hand over his bad mohawk. "C'mon, Milos," he whined. "We can't stay here--she won't like it! She won't like it!"

  "Quiet!" growled Milos.

  "What do you mean 'she'?" Allie asked Squirrel. "What 'she' are you talking about?"

  Milos fumed at Squirrel, and Squirrel seemed to shrivel. Even the skull tattoos on his fleshie appeared to cringe.

  Milos sighed, then gave her the full story. She almost wished he hadn't. "There is only one force in Everlost worth aligning with," Milos told her. "You know of whom I speak. She has ideas ... she has vision ... and so do I."

  Allie was shocked, but not entirely surprised. Milos was

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  all about jockeying for higher position. It made perfect sense that he would set his sights on Mary.

  "You once told me that skinjacking can change the world," Milos said. "Well, Mary Hightower has envisioned a way to do that, and I am a part of her plan. You should be too."

  "I won't have anything to do with Mary Hightower," she told him.

  "How can you be so naive?" Milos said, a little too loudly. "Who do you think can help you? Your friend the Ogre? I can assure you that Mary will defeat him, if she has not done so already."

  "Yeah, yeah!" said Squirrel, chuckling as he imagined it. "I'll bet she's gettin' him real good there at Graceland."

  Allie snapped her eyes to Squirrel. Nick was here in Memphis? Now?

  Milos was even more angry at Squirrel than before. "Go clean the pool!" he snapped.

  Squirrel grabbed the equipment clumsily, and moved down to the other end of the pool, looking guilty.

  So Nick was here in Memphis, and Mary had planned some sort of ambush. Allie had to warn him, but how? She couldn't even see Everlost as long as she was stuck in the boy--how could she warn Nick if she couldn't even see him?

  "Danny?" called his mother. "Danny, are you okay out there?" She peered out of the screen door, the phone still to her ear.

  "S'all right, Mom," Allie said, just as Danny would. "I was just telling Curtis about all the bugs in the drain."

  "You let them work, Danny. Don't be a pest!" Then she

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  retreated back into the house, satisfied that everything was under control.

  "One year," said Milos. "One year with us, and then you will be free to go. That is my offer."

  Allie was about to tell him exactly where he could go, with or without a coin to get him there, but then she thought about Danny. Even now he was hiding behind her, listening to everything, but not understanding any of it.

  --There's an ogre? What kind of ogre? Is he bad?--

  It had only taken two weeks for her to know this boy better than any other human being, and she couldn't help but care about him. In any other situation, her refusal to give in to Milos's demands would mark her integrity and self-respect, but here it would mark nothing but selfishness ... because by refusing Milos, she'd be condemning Danny to share his life with an uninvited spirit. The only way to free Danny was to accept Milos' offer.

  "C'mon, c'mon--we gotta go!" nagged Squirrel. "Jill and Moose are waiting at the bridge!"

  Milos ignored him. "This is the last time I ask you. Do you wish to be free or not?"

  Allie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. But they w
eren't her eyes to close, were they? As much as she hated it, there was only one answer she could give. "Yes," she told him. "If you can get me out of here, then the answer is yes. I'll do whatever you want."

  Milos smiled. "Very good. Now tell the boy to come out."

  Danny retreated even further behind Allie's thoughts.

  It's all right, Danny, Allie told him. He won't hurt you. I promise.

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  Danny timidly came forward, taking control of himself once more. Milos must have recognized the transition, because his own expression changed--no longer the sharp, piercing gaze he had shown Allie, but the inviting, disarming gaze meant for a child.

  "What do you want?" Danny asked, his voice shaky.

  "I just want to help." Milos looked at the pool, then back to Danny, kneeling down to his level. "Tell me, do you know how to swim?"

  Danny shook his head. "No. My daddy tried to teach me, but I didn't learn good. Next summer for sure!"

  "Very good," said Milos. "Then this will be easy."

  And without warning he reached out, grabbed Danny with both hands, and threw him into the deep end of the pool.

  Mary Hightower's warnings against skinjackers were all so much hot air--nothing but empty worries--that is, until she had skinjackers in her own employ. That's when she realized how powerful and dangerous skinjackers could be. Such power in the wrong hands could be devastating--which was the reason why she desperately needed Allie the Outcast either reformed or neutralized.

  Milos had offered to find Allie in Memphis, and take care of it personally.

  "If you can do it, then do it," Mary had told Milos, "but don't let it distract you from your mission. There is no margin for error."