Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

"I suppose your friend would say the light didn't like me and spit me out." Allie laughed. "Well, I suppose you're an acquired taste." She looked toward Mikey. He was twenty yards ahead of them, striding with an impatient pace. His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders high, and he looked to the ground. Even when they were together he seemed to be alone in some fundamental way. It saddened her.

"It's because we are skinjackers," Milos said. "The light won't take us. It would have been the same for you and your friend, had you made it as far as the light." Allie cast her gaze down, wondering how long they could keep secret the fact that Mikey could not skinjack. Then it suddenly struck her what Milos had just said. How major it was--how important it was.

"Milos ... if skinjackers can't go into the light, then that explains why my coin never gets hot, doesn't it?"

Milos nodded. "I have seen others find passage into the next place, but never skinjackers," he said. "You could say our money is no good."

"So are you saying ... we'll never leave Everlost?"

"Of coursh we'll leave," said Moose, eavesdropping with Squirrel, right behind them. "We'll leave when we can't Shkinjack anymore."

"Yeah, yeah," said Squirrel. "So we gotta jack when the jackin' is good!"

It had never occurred to Allie that skinjacking could be temporary. "How long?"

"As long as it takes," Milos said.

"As long as what takes?"

Moose and Squirrel looked to each other and laughed, but Milos threw them an angry glance, and they fell silent. "The length of your natural life span," Milos said. "That is how long you can skinjack."

For Allie this was a revelation. It cast everything in a new light. She had been so worried that she would feel compelled to take her coin and move on after finding her family, but if she was stuck in Everlost for the length of her natural life, then her coin wouldn't work. She wasn't going anywhere. She thought about telling Mikey, but decided to keep it to herself. If he was going to act all antisocial, then there were things he deserved not to know.

"What do you mean by 'the length of our natural lives?'" she asked Milos. "Do you mean the time we would have died if we had died of natural causes?"

Milos gave the slightest of shrugs. "Something like that, yes."

Allie sensed there was more to it, but that was all Milos said on the matter. She would have pushed further, but at that moment, they had come around a bend in the road, and saw the interstate in the distance. "Excellent," Milos said. "From here it will be easy."

He picked up the pace with Moose and Squirrel. As they passed Mikey, Milos gave him a friendly clap on the back, which just made Mikey pull his shoulders in even tighter.

Allie caught up with Mikey. "You could make the best of this," Allie said, "instead of being so unpleasant."

"I don't like this," he grumbled."I don't like him. He's much too friendly."

"You lost the right to be a judge of character when you became the McGill."

"So when do I get it back?" "You don't," Allie told him, intentionally flip. "I do all the judging, and I say Milos's character is acceptable."

Mikey grumbled something under his breath, and Allie nudged him. "You're just mad because he's handsome and charming."

Mikey wouldn't look her in the eye. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

The interstate exit was the only one for miles, and around it were clustered fast food chains, gas stations, and uninviting motels. Cars from dozens of states flowed on and off the interstate in an endless stream.

Milos surveyed the scene, then turned to Moose and Squirrel. "You check the south side of the highway; we shall check the north."

Moose and Squirrel obediently trotted across the highway, ignoring the traffic whooshing through them.

"Would you mind telling us what we're looking for?" asked Mikey.

"Family of five," Milos said, as if it was obvious, "or, if not a family, then five people traveling together."

"I don't understand," said Allie.

Milos looked at her and shook his head. "You have much to learn about skinjacking." He turned to look at the Burger King parking lot in front of them. "We shall skinjack five people in the same car," he explained. "Then we drive to Memphis."

Allie was appalled, and didn't try to hide it. "Is that how you travel? By ripping people out of their lives?"