Everlost

EVERLOST

Neal Shusterman

Daniel Roode

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
2006 Neal Shusterman

For my aunt, Mildred Altman, who taught me a love of books and reading

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by Neal Shusterman

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Book design by Daniel Roode

The text for this book is set in Cochin.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shusterman, Neal.

Everlost/Neal Shusterman.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing—even skinjacking—to break free.

ISBN-13: 978-0-689-87237-2

eISBN-13: 978-1-439-10725-6

[1. Traffic accidents—Fiction. 2. Death—Fiction. 3. Future life—Fiction. 4. Spirit possession—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.S55987Eve 2006

[Fic]—dc22 2005032244

Also by Neal Shusterman

Novels

Full Tilt

Downsiders

The Eyed of Kid Midas

Speeding Bullet

The Schwa Was Here

Dark Fusion: Dread Locks

Dark Fusion: Red Rider’s Hood

The Shadow Club

The Shadow Club Rising

The Dark Side of Nowhere

What Daddy Did

Dissidents

Scorpion Shards

Thief of Souls

Shattered Sky

Story Collections

Kid Heroes

Darkness Creeping

MindQuakes

MindStorms

Visit the author at www.storyman.com

Contents

Part One: Afterlights

Chapter 1: On the Way to the Light…

Chapter 2: Arrival in Everlost

Chapter 3: Dreamless

Chapter 4: A Coin on its Edge

Chapter 5: Friends in High Places

Chapter 6: Scavengers

Part Two: Mary Queen of Snots

Chapter 7: The Forever Places

Chapter 8: Dominant Reality

Chapter 9: Endless Loop

Chapter 10: An Elevator Down

Chapter 11: The Haunter

Chapter 12: Learning to Surf

Chapter 13: Time in a Bottle

Chapter 14: The Alter Boys

Part Three: The McGill

Chapter 15: The Brimstone Ship

Chapter 16: A Dangerous Crossing

Chapter 17: The Chiming Chamber

Chapter 18: Skinjacking for Dummies

Chapter 19: Evil Chinese Pastry of Death

Chapter 20: The Day the McGill Got Chimed

Chapter 21: Web of the Psychotic Spider

Chapter 22: Member of the Cabinet

Chapter 23: Outrageous Fortune

Part Four: A Thousand Souls

Chapter 24: Nick’s Journey

Chapter 25: The Piers of Defeat

Chapter 26: Oh the Humanity

Chapter 27: All Souls Day

Chapter 28: Skinjacker

Chapter 29: The Great Beyond

Chapter 30: Leaving Everlost