Mary shifted her shoulders, the suggestion unnerving her. "Did I say she was a threat?"
"No," admitted Milos, "but she is a friend of the Chocolate Ogre. And he is a threat, yes?"
Mary leaned forward, a little too interested. "Did she say anything about him? Anything at all?"
Milos shrugged. "A bit. Very little. She had not seen him for years--since the day on the pier. I understand you were there too."
"I hope you realize that the Ogre must be stopped."
"From doing what?"
"From doing anything! He must be brought to justice!"
"And you," asked Milos, "are the judge?"
And then she quoted from one of her own writings. "In a lawless world, we must illuminate truth with our glow, and create justice by the convictions of our souls."
"So then, you are his judge."
"I have seen firsthand the acts of cruelty he's capable of," Mary said. "He sent hundreds of helpless children into the light. He'd send us all there if he had his way."
Milos found he could read her just as easily as one of her books. At least when it came to the subject of the Chocolate Ogre. He tried not to smile as he spoke. "Does he know you're in love with him?"
She snapped him a burning glare, as if the question itself was an attack. "I see you've been listening to smears made against me. Probably from Allie the Outcast."
Milos knew he had to play this very, very carefully. "No, it was only a guess. But believe me," he said earnestly, "I know what it's like to love someone who has betrayed you. And I know how hard it is to move on. But in the end, we must."
They held each other's gazes, and what wasn't spoken at that moment was more important than anything else that was.
Mary was the first to break the gaze. Her eyes drifted to the book sitting on the table beside her. The engineering textbook. She picked it up, and pondered it, rubbing her hand across the surface as if it might sprout forth a genie.
"I will be needing the services of skinjackers, for various missions. Important missions. I'll need someone I can trust in charge."
"In that case," said Milos, "I hope I can be of service."
* * * It was long after dark when he left that night, after hours in Mary's company. There was no question he was dazzled by her. Mary was everything Milos imagined she might be. She had Jill's shrewdness, without the sociopathic streak. She had Allie's high moral integrity, without the naivety that kept Allie devoted to that miserable Mikey McGill. Milos knew his weakness was that he fell in love too easily, which blinded him to the character flaws of the girls he fell for-- but finally here was a girl worthy of his attention!
He had already softened her defenses, but truly winning her affections would require a different kind of dance than he was used to. One where all his moves were clear, and his motives transparent. She valued honesty and directness. This he could deliver.
Milos knew he had no choice but to win her over-- it was a matter of necessity for him now, because he had already fallen for her--and the only way to survive a force of nature such as Mary Hightower was to make sure that the feeling was mutual.
If only Mary were a skinjacker, he thought. Ah well, one can't have everything. Besides, if Mary were a skinjacker, she wouldn't have any need for Milos, so perhaps it was better this way.
And she did need him--she said so herself--but there were many levels of need. Milos had had his heart broken one too many times. This time would be different. Somehow he would find a way to be everything Mary needed, as indispensable as air to the living. As permanent as Everlost itself. PART FOUR Way of the Chocolate Warrior In her most recent book, What You Don't Know Can Most Certainly Hurt You, Mary Hightower writes:
"It would be untrue to say Everlost is entirely free from illness and disease. Our flesh is gone, but in our beings, seeds of our own doom remain. That which was small will grow. That which was once insignificant can devour us. There are cancers beyond those of our mortal bodies. I consider them punishments for unwholesome deeds and wrongful thinking. The Chocolate Ogre serves as a perfect example, for whose thinking can be more wrong than his, and whose affliction could be more unpleasant?"
Chapter 20 The Great Train Robbery
A large vapor of Afterlights gathered to watch the festivities in the old train yards of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was the most exciting thing to happen here in recent memory. It began with the arrival of the Chocolate Ogre, and rumor was that he was going to perform some sort of magic trick.
A team of ten Afterlights, supervised by the Ogre himself, took a rope, and tied it around the waist of a kid in a Confederate Army uniform.
It was, of course, Zinnia.
"Let's not make this a show," Nick told her. "Let's just get this done."
"S'already a show," Zin pointed out, "best milk it for all it's worth."