Everwild (35 page)

“Yes, Miss Mary.”

After the girl was gone, Mary took some time to revel in her plan, and to mourn over it as well, because much would be lost today. Milos and the skinjackers were already out in the world, using their talents, and manifesting their own destinies on her behalf. The trap had been set for Nick, and all that remained was to spring it.

“I'll set out on foot,” Mary told Speedo. “You know what to do while I'm gone.”

Speedo didn't look pleased. “Why do you have to go alone?”

“An entourage will invite suspicion,” Mary answered. “I know what I'm doing.”

“Do you? I agree it's a good idea to meet with him on neutral ground—but why meet him at a vortex? Aren't vortexes dangerous?”

“
Vortices,
” corrected Mary, “are only dangerous if one doesn't understand the danger, and I do. We have reliable information on the Memphis vortex, and it is exactly what we need.”

She turned away from Speedo then, for she knew her face gave away certain emotions she preferred to keep to herself. She comforted herself with thoughts of her larger purpose in Everlost. All those chosen to lead were asked to make painful sacrifices to prove themselves worthy. And today Mary would sacrifice her love.

In the varied and multilayered quilt of creation, one might say that vortices are the points where the surface is attached to the lining. In other words, a vortex is a spot that exists both in Everlost and the living world simultaneously.

Who can say what creates them? Perhaps it is the constant attention of the living that does it—for all vortices exist in spots that are the focus of human scrutiny. The living, of course, have only the slightest clue about the supernatural nature of these black holes of consciousness. Rare sightings of Afterlights, visible only in infrared light, perhaps—or recorded Afterlight voices that can only be heard at twenty times the normal volume. Odd smells, or unexpected chills—but nothing more than that.

In Everlost, however, the effect of a vortex can be immense.

Any Afterlight that steps on the pitcher's mound in old Yankee Stadium will be sent flying toward home plate at 107 miles per hour—the speed at which Billy Wagner threw the world's fastest pitch on that very spot. Any
Afterlight that stands directly beneath the capital dome in Washington, DC, will suffer the simultaneous bombardment of every speech ever delivered in Congress and the House of Representatives, causing instant and irreversible insanity. And any Afterlight that enters any Department of Motor Vehicles in the western world will discover that time doesn't just stop, it ceases to exist entirely.

The Memphis vortex is a unique one, because it affects every Afterlight differently. One boy, for instance, had walked in on a dare. His most prominent feature was a sizeable Afro that was his pride and joy—even larger in Everlost than it had been when he was alive. He stepped into the vortex, and ten minutes later rolled out as a six-foot furball with eyes.

An Afterlight girl so self-conscious about her braces that they had already doubled in size in her mouth, stumbled into the vortex to satisfy her own curiosity. When she left, she found her entire head encased in wires, brackets, and gum-bands.

And then there was the Afterlight who was somewhat sensitive to odors. He passed through the vortex, and emerged with a supernaturally acute sense of smell, along with highly irritable sinuses.

The Memphis vortex is a place of excess. That is to say, whatever you bring in with you, you leave with tenfold.

While in Everlost it is known as
the Intolerable Nexus of Extremes
, the living have a different name for it.

The living call it Graceland.

The Mississippi wind kept most Afterlights away from Memphis, so only a few Afterlights knew of the strange and curious properties of Graceland, and the rumors faded
the farther one got from the place. Mary Hightower, however, was now privy to firsthand information. After hearing the Sniffer's account of his own personal experience there, Mary concluded, with both excitement and remorse, that this was the place she must meet Nick. In fact, she believed it was the
destined
place for their meeting, chosen, perhaps, by the Almighty himself.

Mary had no fear of the vortex, because the way she saw it, she could not be any more right than she already was.

Dearest Nick,

It appears our paths cross again. While I detest the very idea of putting my children at risk, I will defend what I know to be true. It would be foolish of you to battle us, however. I have more than two hundred loyal Afterlights—certainly we outnumber you.

I propose a meeting at a neutral location. I have been advised that the mansion at Graceland is a comfortable place for such a meeting. I will be there waiting for you today at five o'clock PM. I feel confident we will be able to either resolve our differences, or reach an acceptable compromise.

Most humbly yours,

Miss Mary Hightower

The girl who had brought the note looked terrified. Nick smiled to ease her fear, but he knew his smile no longer
appeared comforting. Most of it flowed into a dark dripping frown which made the girl back away into Johnnie-O, who stood behind her. Used to be kids were more frightened by Johnnie-O and his power-knuckles than they were of Nick.

“Thank you,” Nick told her. Then he reached for the bucket, which he still kept close, and with his good hand he pulled out a coin. “As payment for bringing me this message, I'm going to offer you a reward.” He turned the coin in his fingers. “Do you know what this is?”

“Mary says it's evil.”

“Do you believe that?”

“Yes,” said the girl quickly. Then after a moment. “I don't know …” She regarded it for a moment more, clearly tempted. Then she asked, “What will you do to me if I don't take it?”

“Nothing,” said Nick. “Just because I'm offering it to you doesn't mean you have to take it.” He was surprised by the question, but he supposed he shouldn't be. The lies that Mary must have told her children about him were woven so deeply into their minds, it would take more than a chocolate smile to win them over.

“I'm not supposed to take anything from you, sir.”

“I understand. Go back to Mary and tell her the Chocolate Ogre says yes. I'll meet her.”

The girl left as quickly as she could, and Nick showed the note to Johnnie-O.

“Two hundred Afterlights?” said Johnnie-O. “If all she has are two hundred, we outnumber her two to one! We
could take them on right now!” He pounded his fist into his palm. “Sneak attack!”

“We could, but we won't. This is about freeing, not fighting—never forget that.”

“Yeah, but you got an army back there waiting to bust some heads.”

“We're in Everlost,” Nick reminded him. “Heads don't bust.” But Johnnie-O still wasn't satisfied. Nick sighed. “You'll have your fight,” Nick admitted—as much to himself as to Johnnie-O. “Mary's got them so brainwashed, they'll fight us rather than take their coins.”

“Then we'll force 'em” said Johnnie-O. “We'll make 'em take their coins, and if they don't, we'll push 'em down into the dirt. Good riddance!”

A surge of anger raged through Nick, and for a moment his chocolate ran as dark as licorice. He grabbed Johnnie-O by the shirt, and his voice became a deep liquid roar. “
That's not the way we do things around here!”

Johnnie-O was not intimidated. “You're the one who wanted an army,” he said. “What did you think an army was for?”

Johnnie-O's point struck deep. The idea of gathering a fighting force was one thing—but actually using it was another. Nick might have been a good leader, but he was no warlord.

His anger faded, and he let his chocolate arm slip from Johnnie-O's shirt, leaving behind a nasty brown stain in the middle of his chest.

“Once Mary's defeated, we'll free the ones we can,” Nick said.

“And if they won't take their coins?” Johnnie-O asked.

“Then we take them as prisoners of war,” Nick told him.

Johnnie-O nodded, but his expression was still one of worry. “Y'know … you can't fight her if you love her.” All this time it had been an unspoken rule that they never spoke of Nick's feelings toward Mary. But maybe Johnnie-O was right to bring it up.

“I fought her before, and I won,” Nick reminded him.

“Yes, but this time, she'll be ready.”

Nick closed his eyes, and searched for something in himself more sturdy than chocolate. “So will I.”

The note from Mary had come shortly after noon, but it was more than an hour before Nick called for Zin. He wanted some solitude, some silence so he could find a sense of resolve, but the Mississippi wind whistled over the train, making it difficult to feel anything but uneasy.

His good intentions had become like the chocolate devouring him—sweet and rich, but also muddy and debilitating. He had become too much of a good thing. Now he sat with a full bucket of coins that could free countless Afterlights, but how many had he freed since he began to build his army? None. He began to wonder how much different he was from Mary after all.

“So, is this it, then?” Zin asked, as she stepped up into the parlor car. “Do we got our date with the devil today?”

“Sit down,” Nick told her.

“I prefer not to, sir,” she said. “Ain't no chair clean enough in this train car.”

And she was right, so he didn't force her. “Mary has
called for a meeting. We'll take a team with us, but once we get there, you and I will go in alone,” he told her. “Bring paper—I'll tell her you're there to write up a treaty.”

“Johnnie-O's been teachin' me readin' but we haven't got to writin' yet.”

“That doesn't matter—because when I give the word, you're going to drop everything, and cram Mary like there's no tomorrow.”

Nick had played it out dozens of different ways until he saw the whole thing clearly in his mind. He would be there with Mary, engaged in a polite, but guarded conversation of diplomacy. He would string her along until he felt the moment was right, then he would make his move.

I have a gift for you,
he would tell her.
The finest gift in the universe, and it's all for you.
He would step forward, and he would kiss her. A final kiss. Then Zin would grab her, and begin to push, until Mary was thrust through to the other side, into the living world, just as Zin had done to Kudzu. Mary would be alive, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and the sweet taste of chocolate on her lips.

I will not only save Everlost from you, but I will save you from yourself. I will give you the precious gift of life, Mary. Because I love you.

“What if I can't do it, sir?” said Zin. “Crammin' Kudzu was near impossible, and a person's bigger than a dog.”

He put his good hand on her shoulder. “Your whole afterlife has been leading to this,” he told her. “I have every faith in you, Zin.”

Several of Nick's scouts had gone down Danny Rozelli's street, and one even walked right through the boy, but they were looking for a teenage Afterlight girl, not a live seven-year-old boy. A needle in a haystack didn't come close.

Within Danny Rozelli were two sets of thoughts, two minds, two histories, and with each day it was getting harder and harder for Danny and Allie to recall whose memories were whose. Now they both fell asleep at the same moment, awoke at the same moment, and when they dreamed, they dreamed as one.

It was late August, and the school year had just started. Life was slipping into a regular routine. Allie tried to imagine growing up, and growing old as a lifelong tenant in someone else's body. Would there come a time when she could accept life as the other half of Danny Rozelli? In these two weeks they had learned each other's rhythms and patterns like Siamese twins, and were quickly adapting to a life for two in a single body.

And what of her own body? It was lying somewhere in
any one of a dozen hospitals—and that was just if she was in Memphis. She tried calling a few, but never got very far.

“Honey, why don't you put your mama on the phone?” the receptionists would invariably say. It was hard to get respect as a seven-year-old.

—This is not who I wanted to be—
Allie thought.

—Me neither
—Danny thought right back at her, but both of their protests were getting weaker every day. They were becoming resigned to a shared existence.

Then the pool cleaners came.

They came the same day that Mary arrived in Memphis and sent her letter to Nick, but Allie had no way of knowing that, or anything else that went on in Everlost. As long as she was stuck in a living body, all she could see was the living world.

Late that afternoon, Allie and Danny were out in the yard playing handball against a side wall. It was one of the benefits of their particular condition; there was always someone to play with. Allie would hit the ball, then pull back, letting Danny take his turn. They had become skilled at switching back and forth at will. Neither fought for control anymore. It was like riding a tandem bike.

Allie scored a point.