"But the real wild places are to the west," said Igor, and the other kids murmured their agreement. Neither of them felt like sharing tales of Mary Hightower. "No one knows anything about anywhere-'cept of course for the Sky Witch."īoth Allie and Mikey shifted uncomfortably at Mary's mention, but neither of them said anything. A bone-thin, sad-eyed kid who was so hunched the other kids just called him Igor. "Where I come from, this is the Everwild," Allie told him, and that made the other kids laugh, thinking she was making a joke. "So you've all been into the Everwild?" their leader asked-a kid who had blue hair for no reason anyone could fathom. The Nashville Afterlights made room for them in their sizeable deadspot though, and were happy to listen to all their stories of faraway places-and to them, every place was far away. They were friendly but guarded, not trusting of outsiders-least of all a foreigner like Milos.
How can a date be assigned to something that will never happen?Īn exploration of Nashville had turned up a sizeable vapor of Afterlights in an old burned-out factory that had crossed over. Like what it meant to be consigned to Everlost for her "natural life," as if the universe knew when she would have died if she hadn't been in the accident. She could have told him then about how she'd be stuck in Everlost for a long, long time, so there was no hurry to do anything-but she knew Mikey would ask her a million questions she had no answers to.
"I do, but I've waited this long-a couple of days won't make a difference." "I thought you wanted to find your family," he reminded Allie. Mikey was the only one annoyed by how few miles they were covering. There was no question that Nashville slowed them down, what with so many skinjacking opportunities. If we wish to be respected and not feared, we must be good ambassadors to both." We straddle two worlds-Everlost and the world of the living. What's more important to remember is that we are more like other Afterlights than we are different-and we must help nonjackers to see this. "Unlike other Afterlights, we have an unfailing memory, and we don't change, since we don't forget who we were. In her book You Don't Know Jack, Allie the Outlaw makes the following observations: Only much later would her own words come back to haunt her. globally."Īt the time Allie thought he was just humoring her. "This has always been my problem-but now, thanks to you, I will change. "Perhaps I am too small-minded," Milos said. The gaze made her feel awkward and she had to look away. Now he looked a bit bemused, instead of amused-as if looking at Allie was like looking at a wonder. "I didn't say I wanted to, just that we could." "You wag a finger at me for playing with fleshies, and here you want to change the world!" Why, through skinjacking, we could actually change the world!" "Solve the world's greatest crimes, bring peace to the most troubled places on earth. "Do you realize what we could do?" she told Milos. It kept her from seeing the possibilities! Since the first day she discovered she could skinjack, she had lived in fear of the idea-she had treated it like a nasty little secret, to be used only when absolutely necessary. It was getting dark as they left the hospital, and as her mind ran through the miraculous things they did today, she couldn't help but reel from the sheer awe of it. Allie must have communed with a dozen patients before she felt so exhausted by it, and filled with their gratitude, that she had to stop.