Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

"Just tell me."

Johnnie-O let his large hands fall limp by his side. "She's already in the city. Less than two miles away."

Nick stared at him incredulously. How could that be? Everywhere they went, they sent scouts out for ten miles in all directions, searching the skies for the Hindenburg . If there was one thing Mary Hightower could not do in an airship, it was sneak up on them. "How could she get so close?"

"I think maybe we were all looking too high," said Johnnie-O, nervously cracking his knuckles again.

Two miles away, a hundred Afterlights holding ropes heaved themselves forward, dragging behind them a giant airship. Inch by inch it moved, its belly practically crawling across the ground.

Mary had been unconvinced that the western wind was the obstacle others claimed it was. Still, she had Speedo conduct the airship due south from Chicago, and didn't turn west until they were over Tennessee airspace. As Memphis had begun to loom in the distance, their airspeed slowed, and the airship's rudder strained hopelessly to keep them on a western course. When it became clear they would get no closer by air, Mary had Speedo set the ship down, and arranged for an alternate method of propulsion.

A hundred Afterlights were chosen for the team that would pull the Hindenburg forward toward Memphis, straining against an increasingly powerful wind. It was amazing how a ship that was supposed to be lighter than air could feel heavier to drag than a stone obelisk.

Fortunately, obstacles in the living world were not obstacles at all, for the airship passed through living forests and buildings--and although it was difficult for the team of pullers to struggle for traction in the bog of the living world, Mary's children always did what they were told. Within the airship, the rest of Mary's kids filled the rigid aluminum frame, resting on catwalks, finding space between the huge hydrogen bladders. Mary had briefed them personally on their part in the upcoming mission, and now an air of excitement filled the hollow spaces of the giant craft, like the static electricity that brought the airship to Everlost in the first place.

She had left behind a dozen of her most well-trained followers in Chicago to tend to the sleeping Interlights--more than two hundred of them when she left. She didn't know when she would return to Chicago, but when she did, there would be a fine community of Afterlights, all brought up with the benefit of her teachings.

As the grounded airship crawled toward Memphis, Mary tried to quell her own anticipation by taking the most frightened of her children to her in the Starboard Promenade, and telling them whatever comforting stories she could remember from the living world. Fairy tales with endings she tweaked toward the positive. Happily-ever-afters fabricated where none existed before. Still, the children were on edge.

"What if the Ogre attacks us before we get there?" one of her children asked.

"He won't," Mary told him, for as much as Mary wanted the world to think that Nick was a ruthless monster, she knew he was not. He would try diplomacy before waging an all-out war. In fact her whole strategy counted on it.

At noon, she could see from her windows that the airship was no longer laboring forward, for the many Afterlights straining to drag it had reached an impasse against the wind. This was as far as they would go ... which meant the time had come to finally make an opening gesture to Nick. A letter--which she wrote and rewrote until she was sure it was just right. She crafted it to make sure he could read nothing between the lines. It would not reveal the feelings she still had for him--mainly because she couldn't be sure he still felt the same way for her. And besides, after today, those feelings would no longer matter.

Once the letter was ready, she sealed it with old-fashioned sealing wax stamped with an M, then she called for one of her fastest runners.

"I need a brave messenger," Mary told her. "Can I count on you?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, thrilled to be able to please her.

"I need you to go to the Ogre's train as quickly as you can--Speedo will tell you the way--and bring the Ogre this letter. You must hand it to the Ogre personally, and to no one else."

The girl no longer looked enthusiastic but terrified, so Mary put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "The Ogre is a terrible creature to be sure--but this letter will keep you under my protection. As long as you are brave and true, and do not accept anything the Ogre offers, I promise you will remain safe."

"Yes, Miss Mary."

After the girl was gone, Mary took some time to revel in her plan, and to mourn over it as well, because much would be lost today. Milos and the skinjackers were already out in the world, using their talents, and manifesting their own destinies on her behalf. The trap had been set for Nick, and all that remained was to spring it. "I'll set out on foot," Mary told Speedo. "You know what to do while I'm gone."

Speedo didn't look pleased. "Why do you have to go alone?"

"An entourage will invite suspicion," Mary answered. "I know what I'm doing."

"Do you? I agree it's a good idea to meet with him on neutral ground--but why meet him at a vortex? Aren't vortexes dangerous?"

"Vortices," corrected Mary, "are only dangerous if one doesn't understand the danger, and I do. We have reliable information on the Memphis vortex, and it is exactly what we need."

She turned away from Speedo then, for she knew her face gave away certain emotions she preferred to keep to herself. She comforted herself with thoughts of her larger purpose in Everlost. All those chosen to lead were asked to make painful sacrifices to prove themselves worthy. And today Mary would sacrifice her love. In her book Caution, This Means You, Mary Hightower devotes the following bullet point to vortices.

"Vortices are both the bane and blessing of Everlost. On the positive side, unexpected objects have been known to cross into Everlost through one vortex or another. However, on a less pleasant note, vortices will affect Afterlights in very undesirable ways. If you suspect that you've come across a vortex, it is best to steer clear of it, and report it to an authority."

Chapter 33 Suspicious Minds

In the varied and multilayered quilt of creation, one might say that vortices are the points where the surface is attached to the lining. In other words, a vortex is a spot that exists both in Everlost and the living world simultaneously.

Who can say what creates them? Perhaps it is the constant attention of the living that does it--for all vortices exist in spots that are the focus of human scrutiny. The living, of course, have only the slightest clue about the supernatural nature of these black holes of consciousness. Rare sightings of Afterlights, visible only in infrared light, perhaps--or recorded Afterlight voices that can only be heard at twenty times the normal volume. Odd smells, or unexpected chills--but nothing more than that.

In Everlost, however, the effect of a vortex can be immense.