Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

"This is one way we travel, yes," said Milos, matter-offactly.

"That's terrible!"

Milos looked at her, a bit stunned by her response. "We do not harm them--and they get their bodies back when we are done."

"Yes, but hundreds of miles away from where they started, never knowing how or why." Allie looked at a family leaving the Burger King. She wondered where they might be going. She wondered what it would be like to be traveling to one place, only to find yourself somewhere else entirely. "People have plans!" Allie insisted. "It's one thing to borrow, it's another to steal."

Milos smiled at her, and crossed his arms. "So Allie the Outcast has a conscience."

Allie couldn't tell whether he was impressed or mocking her.

Mikey, who had been happy to watch them argue, now stepped between them. "Forget it, Allie, let him skinjack whoever he wants--we don't need to go with him." And then Mikey added, quietly so only Allie could hear, "It's not going to work for us anyway, if you know what I mean... ."

But Allie found herself too irritated by Milos's smug expression to back down now. "All I'm saying is we have a responsibility. We have to be ... good stewards."

This time Mikey stepped right in front of her, eclipsing her view of Milos completely. "Let's just go, okay?"

Milos took a step around Mikey, back into her view. "Perhaps my time in Everlost has made me callous," he said. "Maybe we should give more care to those we skinjack. So then, as a good steward, how would you suggest we proceed?" Allie looked to the interstate. "Let's take the time to find a family of five that's already going to Memphis."

Mikey threw up his hands. "You're forgetting one thing!" he said angrily. "I can't skinjack!"

Allie found herself speechless--in her frustration she had ignored the single fact that made their skinjacking jaunt an impossibility. When she turned, she saw Moose and Squirrel standing there dumbstruck as well.

"Did he jusht shay he can't shkinjack?" asked Moose, pointing at Mikey.

Mikey turned on Moose as bitterly as the McGill would have. "What's wrong?" shouted Mikey. "Can't hear through that stinking helmet? Maybe I'll rip it off along with your head and shout down your neck!"

Allie grabbed Mikey's arm and held him firmly. It was enough to ratchet him down to a simmer.

Milos didn't say anything, he just stroked his chin, pondering the change in circumstance.

Squirrel looked at Allie, confused. "So why are you even with him if he can't skinjack, huh, huh?"

"There are more important things than skinjacking," Mikey snapped.

Squirrel shook his head. "No there's not."

Allie was about to launch into a hundred defenses of her relationship with Mikey, but Milos cut her off by saying, "Then we shall walk."

Squirrel looked at him slack-jawed. "But-But--"

"Did he jusht say we're walking?" asked Moose.

"Is there a hurry? No!" said Milos. "And it is a beautiful time of year. I see no problem in walking." "Yeah, yeah, but what about Jackin' Jill?" said Squirrel. "We still gotta find her and teach her a lesson."

"We will find her when we find her," Milos said. "A few days won't make a difference." Allie couldn't help but notice how he bristled at the mention of her name. Milos then looked to the highway. "We shall travel on the interstate--it will take us straight there."

Squirrel shuffled his feet, and Moose just looked down, slowly shaking his head.

"If you have a problem with this, then leave," Milos said to them sternly. He looked around, then pointed at a car just arriving in the Burger King lot. "There--a man and a woman in a Miata. Be my guest." He gave them an elaborate but annoyed gesture. Moose and Squirrel didn't move.

"No?" said Milos. "Then you will both kindly close your mouths, and accompany our friends to Memphis." He turned his back on them and strode off toward the interstate.

Moose looked at Squirrel, and Squirrel hit him on the helmet. "What are you looking at, huh, huh?" He followed Milos, and Moose lumbered off behind him, all shoulder pads and shame.