BooksBarbecue
Back Everwild
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. EVERWILD
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Copyright Page
  6. PART ONEA Vapor of Afterlights
  7. CHAPTER 1Fresh Havoc
  8. CHAPTER 2The View on High
  9. CHAPTER 3Audience with an Ogre
  10. CHAPTER 4The Outcast
  11. CHAPTER 5Southern Discomfort
  12. CHAPTER 6Shuttle Diplomacy
  13. CHAPTER 7A Fistful of Forever
  14. PART TWODancing with the Deadlies
  15. CHAPTER 8Treasures of the Flesh
  16. CHAPTER 9Good Stewards
  17. CHAPTER 10Skinjacking for Fun and Profit
  18. CHAPTER 11Surfing Tennessee
  19. CHAPTER 12Of Monsters and Mullets
  20. CHAPTER 13Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
  21. CHAPTER 14Strange Winds
  22. CHAPTER 15The Flight of Mikey McGill
  23. PART THREEThe Great White City
  24. CHAPTER 16Mary’s Master Plan
  25. CHAPTER 17The Death Boss
  26. CHAPTER 18The Interlight Incubator
  27. CHAPTER 19Eminence Green
  28. PART FOURWay of the Chocolate Warrior
  29. CHAPTER 20The Great Train Robbery
  30. CHAPTER 21Let ’Er Rip
  31. CHAPTER 22Cram That Sucker
  32. CHAPTER 23Severance and Blithe
  33. CHAPTER 24It’s a Dog’s Life
  34. PART FIVEThe Skinjacker Revelations
  35. CHAPTER 25Lair of the Cat Woman
  36. CHAPTER 26Home
  37. CHAPTER 27Skinjacker’s Lullaby
  38. CHAPTER 28The Sleep of the Dead
  39. CHAPTER 29Teed for Two
  40. CHAPTER 30A Place on the Mantel
  41. PART SIXCity of the Dead
  42. CHAPTER 31On the Banks of Eternity
  43. CHAPTER 32The Low Approach
  44. CHAPTER 33Suspicious Minds
  45. CHAPTER 34Poolside Rendezvous
  46. CHAPTER 35Allie-Allie-Oxen-Free
  47. CHAPTER 36The Intolerable Nexus of Extremes
  48. CHAPTER 37Sky Refugees
  49. CHAPTER 38Last Train Out of Memphis
  50. CHAPTER 39At the Moment of Madness
  51. CHAPTER 40The Changeling and the Golem
  52. EPILOGUERequiem for the Living
  53. Unwind excerpt
  54. Unwholly excerpt

“Yeah,” added Moose, “They were gonna do it anyway.”

Mikey concluded that these two were the lowest bottom-feeders he’d ever had the misfortune to know. “Does Milos know you’re abusing fleshies?”

“Milosh and ush got a ‘don’t ashk don’t tell’ polishy,” said Moose.

“Yeah, yeah—and anyway, we don’t abuse no one—we just play hard, that’s all.”

Mikey only hoped that when it was finally their turn to go into the light, their pit would be deeper than his.

When Moose and Squirrel skinjacked a couple of nuns, and took them on a shoplifting spree, Mikey decided it was time to call it a day. He crossed through a forest that he hoped would take him back to their makeshift campsite by the highway. The forest had quite a few trees that had crossed into Everlost, and so provided him with spots to rejuvenate, and maybe regain some self-respect. His spirit felt greasy after the way he had spent the day.

There was a house in the woods—a shack, really, but sturdy and cared for. Evidence of ash in the living world suggested it had burned down, but whoever lived there must have loved the place, because it had crossed into Everlost. The sight of it filled Mikey with sorrow. A ghost house with no ghost. What could be sadder? Then he realized why the house bothered him. This shack was him without Allie. Solitary and unvisited. An unknown artifact waiting for eternity to free it from its vigil.

It was at that moment he realized that his spirit was truly human once more. For he no longer remembered how to be alone without being lonely.

In her groundbreaking book on skinjacking You Don’t Know Jack, Allie the Outcast writes:
“Forget all you’ve heard about skinjackers; forget the idiotic ramblings of other so-called sources of Everlost information. Skinjackers are just like any other Afterlights. They can be honorable or dishonorable, smart or stupid— it all depends on the individual. There are two things that hold true for all skinjackers, though. The first is a driving, almost instinctive need to skinjack. The second is the overwhelming burden that such a power puts on us. With such a power, the potential exists for incredibly good deeds, and for acts of unthinkable evil. I think it’s fortunate for both the living and the dead that most skinjackers are too clueless to do much of either.”

CHAPTER 11
Surfing Tennessee

In her days on the Sulphur Queen, Allie had pretended to teach the McGill how to skinjack. Of course her lessons were bogus—skinjacking can’t be taught—but it can be perfected, and Milos was a master. He could do things Allie had never even thought to do. Things she never dared to do!