Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

He shook his head, and spoke in a calm, resigned voice. "No lessons. Because there are some things every skinjacker must learn for themselves. In this I can't help you. I can only point you in the right direction."

Allie wondered if he was just being enigmatic to distract her from thoughts of Mikey or if there was something he was truly hinting at. Either way, Milos was right--she had to move on, because if she stayed here, she would surely let herself sink to the center of the earth.

"All right," she said calmly. "All right, then." She stood, and gathered what fortitude she could. "Without Mikey, we don't have to walk." She looked at the cars whizzing past on the highway. "We can skinjack a family already driving to Memphis, and be there in two hours."

And she hoped that the farther away from here she got, the less it would hurt.

Getting to Memphis took a bit longer than two hours--but not much. First they had to find a car with four passengers at a nearby rest stop, making sure they were heading to or at least passing through Memphis.

Then there was the argument with Moose and Squirrel about how to do it--fully jack the fleshies, or merely hide within them, behind their consciousness, hitching a ride. "Hiding is for girls," said Squirrel, which just ticked Allie off.

The problem was solved when Moose confessed, "I don't know how to hide--with me itsh all or nothing." Apparently the finer points of skinjacking were beyond Moose.

In the end, it was agreed that they would all just skinjack a family in one fell swoop, put them to sleep, and then wake them up again once they had pulled off the interstate and were safe in some parking lot somewhere. The family would have to deal with inexplicably losing a few hours of their lives, but at least they would be closer to wherever they were going.

Milos drove, while Allie avoided looking in any mirrors, because she really didn't want to be reminded of what she was doing. In the backseat Moose and Squirrel inhabited a pair of six-year-old twins, and wouldn't stop bickering and picking their noses. They were clearly in their element.

They stopped just east of the city, and woke the family after they had parked, peeling out of them, and leaving them to make sense of the sudden time lapse. Allie, however lingered long enough to make her presence known in the woman's mind, telling her that all was well, and not to worry. It was the least she could do.

Immediately upon peeling into Everlost, they felt the wind that the Nashville Afterlights had spoken of. It was a stiff breeze coming from the west. While living-world wind passed through them, barely noticed, this wind did not.

"They said it gets worse the closer we get to the river," Squirrel said.

"I don't like it," said Moose. Even Milos looked unsettled. "I have heard people say that Everlost ends at the Mississippi River, but I never believed this. Now I think maybe it is true, and this wind is a barrier keeping us back."

"Good thing Memphis is on this side of the river, then," said Allie curtly. She didn't care about the wind. She didn't care about much of anything right now. Mikey's departure had left her numb.

So she was here. She had no address to go by, but she was resourceful. Finding her family might take some time, but she'd be able to do it. She wished that she didn't have to do it alone, but it wasn't Milos's help she wanted. Milos must have know that, because here is where he said his good-bye.

now did she realize that the boy Milos had chosen did look just a little bit like Mikey. She wondered if Milos had chosen him for that very reason. What was it he had said? We could be for each other whatever we need. She wondered if the girl looked like Jackin' Jill.

"Next time, maybe?" said Milos with an apologetic grin.

"No," said Allie, and took his hands, no longer in passion but in sympathy. "There won't be a next time, Milos."

She could not hate him for this. He hadn't forced her-- he hadn't taken advantage. He was just doing what boys do--and he was very good at it.

"Too bad," said Milos. "I could have walked you down the red carpet at the Oscars. I could have danced with you in the White House."

"Now who's thinking too big?"

Milos sighed. "Will you now walk back alone, or may I escort you?"

"Well, since we're both going in the same direction, it would be silly to walk alone."

They returned to the highway together, yet apart. It was a long and painfully awkward walk.

"I'm sorry, Milos," Allie told him, when they were halfway there.

But Milos shook his head. "Please," he said. "I posed a question, and your answer was no. Never be afraid to tell anyone 'no'," he said. "And that includes me." It didn't make it any easier that he was charming even in defeat. She knew she could have fallen for Milos had Mikey not already been a part of her life, and Milos knew it too. Never before had Allie been put in a position of chosing between two boys. Some girls might like such a game--toying with them, playing one against the other. Allie thought to the times she teased Mikey about Milos, and realized that maybe she had done a little bit of that herself. It made her want to see Mikey all the more.

The one comfort Allie could take from the evening's festivities was that her momentous lapse of reason would go unnoticed and unrecorded. Mikey would never know.

Except that he did.

In fact, he was standing right beside them when they kissed.

Chapter 14 Strange Winds