Everwild (Skinjacker #2)

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 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 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 weren'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. 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."

"We shall find her quickly, and get back to the river in time to help Jill and Moose," he had said. "I promise I will not disappoint you." It was his idea to have the Sniffer seek Allie out. Mary was impressed by his quick thinking and resourcefulness. She had once told Pugsy Capone that they were a team, but that was just a means to an end. This partnership with Milos was very different, and he kept proving himself time and time again to be a worthy counterpart. In time, Mary dared to hope that someday he might even take Nick's place in her heart.

"I know you won't disappoint me," she had told Milos. "In fact, I expect I'll be pleasantly surprised by you again."

--Swim, Danny!--

--I can't!--

--Just move your arms and legs!--

--But it's not working!--

--It's not that hard--

--I don't know how!--

As they floundered in the pool, Allie seized control, but the same muscle memory that had worked in her favor before now failed her miserably. The same body that was so adept at climbing trees could not perform the motions that would keep it afloat. Danny couldn't swim ... which meant Allie couldn't swim either.

Panicked, Danny drew water deep into his lungs as he went down. They looked up to see through the shimmering water, Milos and Moose just standing there in the bodies of the pool men, watching. Waiting for them to drown.

This was Milos's plan! Allie should have realized it. There was only one way to separate a soul that's bound to a body. She should have known! --I'm scared-- cried Danny.

--I'll save you!--Allie told him-- Somehow I'll save you!--She had promised that Milos wouldn't hurt him, and he did. She was an accomplice to this, whether she liked it or not.

Another gasp of water. Their arms thrashed as their body sank. Angry squirms of darkness bore in from the edge of their vision. Danny's heart pounded, screaming for oxygen to power it. Their chest felt like it would explode. Allie could not remember such awful pain.

--Help us! Somebody help us!--

The living world closed in ... then it went away ... the pain faded ... and for the second time, Allie Johnson died.

She felt herself leaving Danny's body--not peeling out, but more like evaporating. She was herself again, back in Everlost, and sinking quickly through the bottom of the pool, into the earth, while Danny's body settled against the blue-painted steel of the pool floor. The moment Danny came to rest, a circular patch spread out beneath his body, bright and solid. A deadspot was born. Quickly Allie grabbed for it, pulling herself onto it. She reached for Danny's body, but now that she was an Afterlight again, her hand passed right through.

Suddenly there was commotion in the water. Bubbles, and a billowing flowered blouse. A woman in the water, frantically diving down, grabbing at the boy's body. Danny's mother!

Allie reached her hand toward the woman, and was immediately swept up, drawn inside her, skinjacking her.

The woman was crazed beyond belief, her body in a full panic state--which is exactly what was needed, for although she was not a strong woman, she could swim, and with all that adrenaline in her, she could swim for two. Allie took over her body completely, and set herself to the task of saving Danny.

She fought her way to the surface, pulling Danny with her. He was sandbag-heavy, a limp, dead weight. She broke surface to find that all hell had broken loose. Allie could instantly tell that Milos and Moose had left their hosts, because Curtis was on his knees screaming at the top of his lungs, and ripping his hair out of his head. Chainsaw was in enough control of his senses to leap into the pool to help her.

"I got him, Mrs. Rozelli!" With one hand he hurled Danny out of the pool, and climbed out after him."I can do this! I know CPR!" Chainsaw began chest compressions on the boy as Allie, still within Mrs. Rozelli, climbed out of the water. Chainsaw valiantly fought to resuscitate the little boy, but it was no use. Danny was dead. His soul was long gone.

Or was it?

Allie peeled out of Mrs. Rozelli, and back into Everlost, where she could see Milos and Moose still standing there, observing everything.

"Welcome back to Everlost!" Milos said cheerfully. "I knew it would work!"

Allie could not believe he could be so casual about the terrible thing he had just done. Somehow Mary had changed him. Like everything else she touched, Mary had turned him rancid.

In the living world, Mrs. Rozelli fell to her knees, dazed and terrified. She wailed so loudly, it rang out as clearly in Everlost as in the living world.

"C'mon, kid!" cried Chainsaw, struggling to revive the boy, knowing he was dead, but not willing to stop, for he couldn't face the woman's anguish. And behind him the other poolman dug his nails into his scalp and tore himself apart, his mind shattered from the awful thing Milos had made him do.

But in Everlost, there was a sight that none of the living could see.

Allie turned to the pool, and saw Danny's spirit! He was floating in midair just above the surface of the water. He was staring in wonder at something that Allie couldn't see, and a bright, unearthly light painted his face. He reached out toward the source of that light.

"No, Danny!" screamed Allie.

"It's so bright... ."

"Don't go down the tunnel!" Allie shouted to him. "Don't go to the light!"

"But it wants me to," Danny said, confused. "I think I'm supposed to... ."

"No! You're not! None of this is supposed to happen!"

Finally Chainsaw gave up trying to resuscitate the boy, and buried his face in his hands, sobbing. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry... ."

Allie summoned her most commanding voice.

"Danny, look at me!" she demanded. "Look at me NOW!"

Finally Danny's spirit turned to her. "Allie?" And the moment he saw her, the light on his face vanished and he dropped into the pool. Allie was close enough to grab him. She pulled him out, and into her arms. He looked at her with lazy eyes. "So that's what you look like," he said and yawned.