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"UhuhIt's not for you" Allie cleared her throat, startled by the way she sounded She could never get used to the masculine timbre of her voice when she cross-jacked It was one of several troubling things that ca temporarily male

"Well, if it's not for us, then who is it for?"

"The Johnson faht We got things for the order expired"

They had moved--but that could just be her mother and sister, eren't in the car She still had no way of knowing if her father had survived

"Any idea where they went?"

"No," the woman said

"Wasn't there an accident?" Allie asked "I heard about it--they lost a daughter"

"I wouldn't know about that Sorry"

And then Allie asked the big question "How long have you been living here?"

"Almost three years now"

Allie closed her eyes, and tried to take that in She had been in Everlost for three years Unchanged, never aging Still fourteen How could so much time have passed?

"Wait a second," the woman said "Of course, I can't be sure, but I see about Memphis I think that's where they went"

It made sense--her mother had family therebut did that mean her father had died in the crash, and her mother had sold the house? There were so many questions still unanswered

The wo iht know more, but then a lot of them are just summer renters"

"Thank you Sorry to have bothered you"

Then the woan to wail over the fact that the box was not for hihbors were home, and the ones who did come to the door were clueless

Allie returned to the UPS truck, took one last breath of the flavorful June air, then pulled herself out of the deliveryone, and sometimes a fleshie who fit too as hard to escape from--especially when she'd stayed inside for a while Fortunately the UPS man was not one of those She was able to extricate herself without toorobe She suffered a o, and the instinctive panic of spirit separating from flesh She endured the transition, and when she opened her eyes, the living world had faded to blurred, washed-out hues She was back in Everlost Beside her, the deliveryman stumbled for a moment, quickly shook off his confusion, and went to deliver his package to the proper house, never knowing that he had been skinjacked

"What happened?" Mikey asked, co up to her "Were they there? Did you talk to them?"

"They moved to Memphis," she told hihed "SoI suppose thatto Tennessee"

She offered hietic It was disheartening to know that her hoo until she could find out the truth Yet there was relief in it as wellbecause Me Mikey so quickly! Looking at him now, he seemed taller Majestic There was a reason for that

"You're sinking," Mikey said

Laughing, Allie reached out to hiently but firround

They left, but as they did, Allie couldn't help but look back toward the delivery back to his truck She couldn't deny howsensation of flesh Each time she skinjacked, it felt more and htower has this to say about the Everwild:

"Finders who survive excursions into the untae, erous Whether or not these stories of the Everwild are true do not hts know that it's best to leave the ild, and the Unknown unknown Venturing beyond one's personal zone of safety is always ill-advised, and can only end in profound unpleasantness"

It is important to note that Mary wrote this before she, herself, took to the skies

Chapter 5 Southern Discomfort

Nick had never seen a city with so many deadspots They were so numerous that they could hardly be called deadspots at all The city of Atlanta belonged asworld The streets were part cobblestone, part asphalt, part dirt The night was lit by just as s frohting to claim "dominant reality" It ht he knew and understood Everlost, he barely knew anything at all

Their train slowly, cautiously rolled forward on tracks that once carried the Civil War dead Then, as the train neared the center of Atlanta, the living world road began to fill the train like an asphalt river

"We're sinking!" shouted Johnnie-O "We're sinking into the earth! Stop the train!"