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"Yeah, but there are other ways to be alive …," said a kid quietly from the corner When Allie turned to him, he looked away

"What do you mean, other ways?" asked Allie

When he didn’t answer, Meadow spoke up "He doesn’t knohat he means"

"But you do"

Meadow crossed her arms "There are…talents…that some people have, and so you a world of bad karma Mary calls theun to gravitate around Allie and Meadow By the looks on their faces, so about, but most seemed clueless

"What kind of talents?" asked Allie "Hoould I know if I have them?"

"You’d be luckier not to know"

"Excuse me," said a voice fro there There was no way to kno much he had heard Meadow instantly put distance between herself and Allie, going back to the ga

The rest of the kids moved away from Allie as well, as if she was poison

"Good news," Vari said "Miss Mary just traded with a Finder for a bucket of fried chicken She says everyone can have a single bite"

The rush to the elevators nearly swept Allie off her feet As much as Allie wanted a bite of that chicken as well, she resisted The fact wasn’t lost on Vari, who patiently waited for the last elevator with her

"What’s the etarian when you were alive?"

Allie couldn’t tell whether he was being sarcastic or sincere

In her book, You’re Dead--So Now What?, Mary Hightower offers the folloarning for the restless soul: "Wanderlust is a dangerous thing In Everlost there’s safety in staying put Afterlights who are cursed with a desire to travel don’t last for long They either succuue, or they are captured by feral packs of unsavory children The few that escape these fates become Finders, but the existence of a Finder is full of peril Better to seek a safe haven, and stay there And if you haven’t found a safe haven, by all means, come see me"

Chapter 10

An Elevator Down Allie was alone in an elevator the following hth floor

Allie gasped at the sight of him

"Get over it," the skeleton-boy said as the elevator doors closed

Allie quickly realized who it was He wasn’t a skeleton at all He simply had white makeup all over his face, with black around the eyes, and wore a cheap Halloween skeleton costulow merely added to the overall effect

"Sorry," said Allie "You just caught uard"

There were two kids here who had the supre on Halloween: this kid, and another with green face-paint and fake peeling skin

Everyone called them Skully and Molder

"So," said Skully, after the elevator doors had closed "I hear you’ve been asking about the Cri is useless if nobody answers"

"I can tell you stuff, but you can’t tell anyone you heard it from me"

The elevator door opened "Your floor?" asked Skully

Allie had been going down to the arcade to try to wrestle Lief away froet out, and the elevator door closed again

"Tell me what you know I promise I won’t tell anyone you told me"

Skully hit the button for the lobby, and the elevator began its long fall

"There’s this place a couple of o A pickle factory, I think There’s this kid who lives there They call his"

"How to do what, exactly?"

"Paranor --you nas are"

Skully sighed i world, --andworld, and pull things out of it He can actually s cross into Everlost"

"And he can teach this?"

"That’s what I hear"

"Have you ever met him?" Allie asked

The kid backed away a little "I know kids ent there But they didn’t coed it off "Maybe after visiting the Haunter, they found so better than this Maybe they didn’t come back because they didn’t want to"

"Maybe," said Skully "If you want, I’ll get you the address"

Allie was going to ask higle of little kids swept in froher places

Nick Nicky Nicholas

It had taken him hours to remember his nao His na-or-other It was a Japanese last name, because his father was Japanese His h he couldn’t quite remember the details of either of their faces, but that was a battle for another ti on to his first name took all his attention

Nick Nicky Nicholas