Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

Milos shrugged. "No more so than a search warrant, and that is perfectly legal. We just search a little deeper."

Although Allie felt conflicted, she had to admit that it could be ethical, if there were strict guidelines--such as only searching those who are already under official suspicion. But then, who would decide what the guidelines should be? Every skinjacker would make up their own rules, and not all of them would be as honorable as her.

"This is a good skill to know," Milos explained. "You see, there are those here in Everlost who will pay well to have their killers brought to justice." "I don't want to be paid."

"Fair enough," Milos said. "Sometimes a good deed is payment enough."

Which led them to the second lesson of the day. Terminizing. For this he took her to a hospital in the outskirts of Nashville. Once there, they found several terminally ill patients. Milos amazed Allie by skinjacking one of them-- not to take over the patient's body, but simply to make himself known. By the time Milos peeled away, the man had a look on his face like he had been visited by an angel.

"We tell them the truth," Milos explained. "We tell them that there is something more. That after their last heartbeat, the tunnel and the light will come."

"But we don't know what's in the light."

"It does not matter," said Milos. "Most people just want to know that there is something, whatever that something is."

As they went searching for another patient, Allie dared to ask, "So, what's in it for you?"

Milos looked down. "I see," he said sadly. "Everything Milos does must serve Milos."

Allie immediately felt bad she had said anything.

Milos held his pout for a moment more, then it became a mischievous grin. "I ask them to put in a good word for me when they reach the light."

Allie slapped his arm, and he laughed. "Shut up! You do not!" But she was never quite sure if he was joking or serious.

Following Milos's lead, Allie entered a patient, and revealed her presence slowly, so as not to frighten the woman. Then she spoke of the tunnel and the light. Milos was right-- that was all it took to give the woman an overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort. Thank you! the woman said in her thoughts. Oh, thank you! She didn't know who Allie was, but that didn't matter. It was the message that mattered, not the messenger, and once Allie had peeled away, the feeling of utter peace lingered with her. This was definitely more rewarding than justicing. It was the kind of bedside comfort the living simply could not give. Perhaps this is the reason we can skinjack, thought Allie. To do things like this.

;Congratulations," he said gently. "You are one of the Deadlies now. You are one of us." His smile became wider, and that made her all the more uncomfortable. She turned away.

"In any case, soul-surfing is good for crowded places, and big cities," he said. "I can get through a city faster than anything." Then, with a gentle toss of his head, he said, "Although sometimes I prefer to drive if I can skinjack a good-looking man, with a Ferrari."

Allie shook her head, warding off an unpleasant memory. "I tried to jack and drive once. It didn't end well."

Milos puffed out his chest. "So then I do the driving. You ride shot put." "Shotgun," Allie corrected. His butchered expressions always made her smile, but the smile faded quickly. "I still think it's wrong to skinjack people just for fun."

"What makes fun wrong?" he asked. And when she didn't have an answer for him, Milos said, "What we do is right. It is natural--or else why would we be able to do it? If we are skinjackers, we are meant to skinjack."

"We provide a link between Everlost and the living world--perhaps the most important one," Allie insisted. "Maybe we were meant to use it for something important."

"Maybe we were meant to simply enjoy it."

She wanted to argue, but between his easy logic, and his easier smile, she found her argument had no teeth. She looked down to see that, while Milos had continued to shift his feet to keep from sinking, Allie had not, and had sunken into the sidewalk to her ankles. She pulled her feet out, feeling embarrassed that he had caught her ankle-deep.

"In life did you ever do something just for fun?" asked Milos.

"Yes ..."

"So why not be as you were in life? And if it hurts no one, why is it wrong to enjoy skinjacking? This is what we are."

"No, it's what we do!"

"No, Allie, it is what we are." Milos gently put his hand on her shoulder. "It is what you are."

"So was it fun?" Mikey asked.

Allie shrugged, trying, for his sake, to hide how much she had enjoyed the soul-surfing lesson. "It was tiring. I prefer being me, rather than the crowd. What did you do?"

"I took a walk."