Everlost (Skinjacker 1)

“I wasn’t talkin’ to you. We don’t need the likes of you around here.”

“Well,” said Allie, “I’m not going without him.”

And the others laughed.

“Oh,” said Raggedy Andy, “I don’t think he’ll want to go where you’re going.”

Allie didn’t quite know what that meant, but even so, she started to panic.

“Grab her,” Johnnie-O ordered his comrades.

Allie knew she had to think of something quick, and so she said the first thing that came to mind. “Stay away from me or I’ll call the McGill!”

That stopped them dead in their tracks.

“What are you talkin’ about?” said Johnnie-O, not as sure of himself as he was a second ago.

“You heard me!” Allie yelled. “The McGill and I have a special arrangement. It comes when I call it. And I feed it bad little thieves whose hands are bigger than their brains.”

“She’s lying,” said another kid, who hadn’t spoken until now, probably because he had such a nasty, squeaky voice.

Johnnie-O looked all irritated. “Of course she’s lying.” He looked at Allie and then back at the quiet kid. “So how do you know she’s lying?”

“She’s a Greensoul—probably just crossed over,” the squeaky kid said, “which means she hasn’t even seen the McGill.”

“Besides,” said Purple-puss, “no one sees the McGill and lives.”

“Except for her,” said Nick, figuring out his own angle on the situation.

“That’s why I stay with her. As long as I’m with her, the McGill protects me, too.”

“So, what’s it look like?” Johnnie-O said, looking closely at Allie, trying to read the bluff in her face.

“Well, I could tell you,” she said, using one of her father’s favorite lines.

“But then I’d have to kill you.”

The others laughed at that, and so Johnnie-O curled his heavy hand into a fist and smashed the closest kid for laughing. He flew back about five feet. Then Johnnie-O got closer to Allie again.

“I think you’re lying,” he said.

“Guess you’ll just have to find out,” Allie taunted back. “Touch me and I call the McGill.”

Johnnie-O hesitated. He looked at Allie, looked at Nick, then looked at the boys around him. His authority had been challenged, and Allie realized too late that she should have figured another bluff— one that would allow this little creep to keep his dignity, because a kid like this would rather risk getting eaten by a monster than be disrespected by a girl.

He looked her square in the eye and said, “You’re going down.” With that, he snapped his fingers, a dry, brittle sound, like a cracking plate. Then three kids grabbed her, pulled her off the dead-spot, put her down on the living-world roadway, and began to lean heavily on her shoulders.

In an instant she had sunk into the asphalt up to her knees, and an instant later up to her waist.

“No!” she screamed. “McGill, McGill!” she called.

It only gave them a brief moment’s pause, and when the beast did not materialize out of thin air, they kept on pushing. Now it was easier for them, with Allie in up to her waist.

Nick struggled and kicked against the hands holding him, but it was no use. All he could do was watch as the others leaned and pressed on Allie’s shoulders, pushing her deeper and deeper into the ground. Soon her shoulders disappeared and she was up to her neck and still she was screaming, hysterically now, and Johnnie-O just laughed.

“Let me do the honors,” he said. And with that, he came over, grabbed her on the top of the head and began to push down. “Enjoy the trip,” he said. “Don’t bother writing.”

And then another voice entered the fray. A high-pitched scream came out of nowhere, and a figure burst onto the scene, arms flailing wildly.