Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

"What do you want?" Danny asked, his voice shaky.

"I just want to help." Milos looked at the pool, then back to Danny, kneeling down to his level. "Tell me, do you know how to swim?"

Danny shook his head. "No. My daddy tried to teach me, but I didn't learn good. Next summer for sure!"

"Very good," said Milos. "Then this will be easy."

And without warning he reached out, grabbed Danny with both hands, and threw him into the deep end of the pool.

Mary Hightower's warnings against skinjackers were all so much hot air--nothing but empty worries--that is, until she had skinjackers in her own employ. That's when she realized how powerful and dangerous skinjackers could be. Such power in the wrong hands could be devastating--which was the reason why she desperately needed Allie the Outcast either reformed or neutralized.

Milos had offered to find Allie in Memphis, and take care of it personally.

"If you can do it, then do it," Mary had told Milos, "but don't let it distract you from your mission. There is no margin for error."

"We shall find her quickly, and get back to the river in time to help Jill and Moose," he had said. "I promise I will not disappoint you." It was his idea to have the Sniffer seek Allie out. Mary was impressed by his quick thinking and resourcefulness. She had once told Pugsy Capone that they were a team, but that was just a means to an end. This partnership with Milos was very different, and he kept proving himself time and time again to be a worthy counterpart. In time, Mary dared to hope that someday he might even take Nick's place in her heart.

"I know you won't disappoint me," she had told Milos. "In fact, I expect I'll be pleasantly surprised by you again."

--Swim, Danny!--

--I can't!--

--Just move your arms and legs!--

--But it's not working!--

--It's not that hard--

--I don't know how!--

As they floundered in the pool, Allie seized control, but the same muscle memory that had worked in her favor before now failed her miserably. The same body that was so adept at climbing trees could not perform the motions that would keep it afloat. Danny couldn't swim ... which meant Allie couldn't swim either.

Panicked, Danny drew water deep into his lungs as he went down. They looked up to see through the shimmering water, Milos and Moose just standing there in the bodies of the pool men, watching. Waiting for them to drown.

This was Milos's plan! Allie should have realized it. There was only one way to separate a soul that's bound to a body. She should have known! --I'm scared-- cried Danny.

--I'll save you!--Allie told him-- Somehow I'll save you!--She had promised that Milos wouldn't hurt him, and he did. She was an accomplice to this, whether she liked it or not.

Another gasp of water. Their arms thrashed as their body sank. Angry squirms of darkness bore in from the edge of their vision. Danny's heart pounded, screaming for oxygen to power it. Their chest felt like it would explode. Allie could not remember such awful pain.

--Help us! Somebody help us!--

The living world closed in ... then it went away ... the pain faded ... and for the second time, Allie Johnson died.

She felt herself leaving Danny's body--not peeling out, but more like evaporating. She was herself again, back in Everlost, and sinking quickly through the bottom of the pool, into the earth, while Danny's body settled against the blue-painted steel of the pool floor. The moment Danny came to rest, a circular patch spread out beneath his body, bright and solid. A deadspot was born. Quickly Allie grabbed for it, pulling herself onto it. She reached for Danny's body, but now that she was an Afterlight again, her hand passed right through.

Suddenly there was commotion in the water. Bubbles, and a billowing flowered blouse. A woman in the water, frantically diving down, grabbing at the boy's body. Danny's mother!

Allie reached her hand toward the woman, and was immediately swept up, drawn inside her, skinjacking her.

The woman was crazed beyond belief, her body in a full panic state--which is exactly what was needed, for although she was not a strong woman, she could swim, and with all that adrenaline in her, she could swim for two. Allie took over her body completely, and set herself to the task of saving Danny.

She fought her way to the surface, pulling Danny with her. He was sandbag-heavy, a limp, dead weight. She broke surface to find that all hell had broken loose. Allie could instantly tell that Milos and Moose had left their hosts, because Curtis was on his knees screaming at the top of his lungs, and ripping his hair out of his head. Chainsaw was in enough control of his senses to leap into the pool to help her.

"I got him, Mrs. Rozelli!" With one hand he hurled Danny out of the pool, and climbed out after him."I can do this! I know CPR!" Chainsaw began chest compressions on the boy as Allie, still within Mrs. Rozelli, climbed out of the water. Chainsaw valiantly fought to resuscitate the little boy, but it was no use. Danny was dead. His soul was long gone.

Or was it?