Everlost (Skinjacker 1)

Allie, on the other hand, had begun to understand the nature of the “routines”

these children found comfort in. She grabbed Nick one day, during one of the times when he wasn’t following Mary around.

“I want you to watch this kid,” she told Nick. “Follow him with me.”

“What for?”

“You’ll see.”

Nick was reluctant, but it wasn’t like he had anything pressing to do, so he played along at whatever game Allie had up her sleeve. For Allie, it wasn’t a game, though. It was very serious business.

The boy, who was about seven, was on the plaza playing kickball with a dozen other kids.

“So what are we looking for?” Nick asked, growing impatient.

“Watch,” said Allie. “His team is going to lose. Nine to seven.”

Sure enough, the game ended when the score reached nine to seven.

“What are you telling me? You can tell the future.”

“Sort of,” Allie said. “I can when there is no future.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just follow him.”

Nick was intrigued now. Keeping their distance, they followed the boy into the lobby of Tower Two, where several other kids had gathered with a deck of cards to play go-fish.

Allie and Nick hid behind a pillar, but it didn’t seem to matter—these kids didn’t notice, or care that they were being watched.

“He’s going to ask for threes,” Allie said.

“Got any threes?” the kid asked the girl next to him.

“Go fish,” Allie whispered to Nick. “Got any sevens?”

“Go fish,” said the girl. “Got any sevens?”

Now Nick was a little bit freaked. “How do you know thus?”

“Because it’s the same. Every day. The same score in kickball, the same game of cards.”

“No way!”

“Watch,” said Allie. “In a second the kid we followed here is going to throw down his cards and accuse the little girl of cheating. Then he’s going to run out the third revolving door from the left.”

It happened just as Allie said.

It was the first time since arriving in Mary’s world that Nick felt uneasy.

“It’s like … it’s like …”

Allie finished the thought for him. “It’s like they’re ghosts.” Which, of course, they were. “You know how there are those ghost sightings — people say they see a ghost doing the same thing, in the same place, every day?”

Nick wasn’t willing to let it sit at that. He ran toward the boy before he reached the revolving door. “Hey!” Nick said to him. “Why did you leave the card game?”

“They were cheating!” he said.