Everlost (Skinjacker 1)

His mission was clear, but by no means simple: Get help. More specifically, get help from Mary. That was the hard part, because Allie had already told him how Mary had refused to put her children at risk before. As much as it hurt Nick that Mary chose to leave him in a barrel, he admired the selflessness it implied. Her motto wasn’t “Leave no child behind,” it was “Put no child in danger.” It made getting help from her tricky.

Nick encountered no Afterlights on his trek toward Mary’s domain. Certainly there were many dead-spots on the way, and perhaps there were Afterlights hiding here and there, but he wasn’t looking for them. He was single-minded.

He marched down the center of Flatbush Avenue, cars and pedestrians passing through him. Unlike Allie he had no skill for connecting with the living world, and he found that the more he ignored that world, the more it slipped into shadow. The living world was as insubstantial to him as beams of light from a movie projector, and the living themselves were like the movie on the screen;

only important if he chose to watch. He could see how Mary had come to see Everlost as the real world. The true world. It would be easy to trick himself into believing the same thing—but did he want to do that?

For a moment he chose to focus on the “movie” of the living; a child and mother crossing the street to catch a bus; an old woman taking her time, and a cabbie who honked at her, only to get a rap on the hood from her cane. It made Nick laugh. Even if he was not a part of it, that world was charged with a vibrant spark that Everlost didn’t have. No, the living world could not be dismissed or ignored, and for the first time he began to wonder if perhaps Mary’s disregard for the living world was nothing more than envy.

As he neared Manhattan, his memory of a heart began to pound in anticipation.

What would Mary do when she saw him? Would she be reserved and dignified? Would she scold him for having left in the first place? He knew he still had feelings for her that could not be destroyed by barrel or beast, but did she have any real feelings toward him? He had thought to learn a skill from the Haunter—a skill Mary could use. Well, Nick had no new skills to offer her, but he had been changed. He was fearless — or if not truly fearless, then at least no longer fearful. By the time he got to Manhattan he was running and he didn’t stop until he reached her towers.

Mary knew something must be horribly wrong. She knew because of the look of anguish on Vari’s face. She’d never seen him look so bleak.

“Vari, what is it? What’s happened?”

“He’s back,” was all Vari said. Then he shuffled away, hanging his head low in a dejected defeat she didn’t quite understand. Before she could ask him anything else, she saw someone she thought she’d never see again, standing in her doorway.

“Nick?”

“Hi, Mary.”

There was more chocolate on his face now than before. As with many Afterlights, changes weren’t always the desired ones, but Mary didn’t care, because he was here, and beneath the chocolate there was a smile just for her.

It was rare that Mary lost herself, but this was one occasion where the control and poise she prided herself on flew out the window. She ran to Nick and hugged him tightly, not wanting to let him go. It was only now in this moment that Mary realized the fondness she had felt for him was more than that. It was love—something she had not felt in all her years in Everlost. It had been easier to suppress it when she thought he was lost, but now the emotion came in a wellspring, and she kissed him, giving herself over to the heady smell and rich taste of milk chocolate.

Nick was not quite expecting this. Maybe in his wildest dreams, but his wildest dreams had a tendency not to come true. For a moment he found himself going limp like an opossum playing dead, before finally putting his arms around her waist and returning the embrace. It occurred to Nick that since they didn’t actually have to breathe, they could stay like this forever. If it was inevitable for Afterlights to lock themselves in ruts, this was a rut he could handle.

But the moment ended, as such moments do, and Mary took a step back, regaining her composure.

“Wow,” said Nick. “I guess you missed me.”

“I thought I lost you,” Mary said. “Can you ever forgive me for not coming after you? Do you understand why I couldn’t?”

Nick found himself slow to answer. He understood, but that didn’t mean he could completely forgive it. “I won’t talk about it if you won’t,” Nick said, and left it at that.

“How did you escape?” Mary asked.

“It’s a long story, but that’s not important. I need your help.”

Nick sat her down and told her about the McGill, his ghost ship, and his cargo of captured Afterlights. “I know you never really believed in the McGill…”

“No,” said Mary. “I’ve always known he existed— but like the Haunter he kept away.”

“Allies figured out a way to defeat him.”

“Allie!” Nick could hear the disdain in her voice. “Allies a very foolish girl.

She’s learned nothing from what happened with the Haunter, has she?”

“I believe her,” Nick said. “No matter what you think of her, she’s smart. When I left, she practically had the McGill eating out of her hand.”

Mary sighed. “So then, what does she want me to do? “

This “was the hard part. Nick knew he had to sell this, and sell it right. “She wants you to bring your kids to Atlantic City. It’ll take all of them to fight the McGill.”

Mary shook her head. “No! I can’t do that. I won’t put my children in danger.”