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"Is there a hurry? No!" said Milos "And it is a beautiful ti" "Yeah, yeah, but what about Jackin' Jill?" said Squirrel "We still gotta find her and teach her a lesson"

"We will find her e find her," Milos said "A few days won't make a difference" Allie couldn't help but notice how he bristled at the hway "We shall travel on the interstate--it will take us straight there"

Squirrel shuffled his feet, and Moose just looked down, slowly shaking his head

"If you have a problem with this, then leave," Milos said to them sternly He looked around, then pointed at a car just arriving in the Burger King lot "There--a ave theesture Moose and Squirrel didn't move

"No?" said Milos "Then you will both kindly close your mouths, and accompany our friends to Memphis" He turned his back on them and strode off toward the interstate

Moose looked at Squirrel, and Squirrel hit hi at, huh, huh?" He followed Milos, and Moose lumbered off behind him, all shoulder pads and sha, or are you just going to stand there and sink?"

"Of course I'round, and the two of them headed off after the others

"You should thank Milos," Allie said "He just stood up for you"

But Mikey clearly wasn't in a thanking mood

Mikey McGill had been in Everlost for a very long tis He had captained a ship, he had sunk to the center of the earth, and cliain, he had been a boy, a ain He had amassed a fortune of crossed objects, and had lost that fortune as well He had endured Yet through all of it, no experience was as confusing and unreasonable as the experience of love He had denied for the longest time that he loved Allie He had told hireat consequence--that he wasa monster He had told hiement, while he considered what to do next

All of these were lies

The fact was, he loved Allie so intensely it frightened hilow mellowed from pale blue to almost lavender He realized that love must have its own spectral shade, and wondered if Allie ever noticed it

His own reaction to Milos caught Mikey off guard When he was the McGill no one dared challenge Mikey's authority He ruled supre up with Allie, in all this time, no one had penetrated the little circle he and Allie had hts they met passed in and out of view like the scenery

Noever, their circle had become an unpleasant fellowship of five It wasn't Moose and Squirrel that troubled Mikey Milos was the threat Milos, and his easy smile, and his exotic accent, and the wispy hint of facial hair that er Allie called hih Mikey knew she had said it just to tease hioaded him It taunted hiood spirit, or bad, all he kneas that he hated Milos for si Interstate 81, and then Interstate 40, nobody skinjacked This was by Milos's decree--out of respect for Mikey, so he said By twilight of the second day, Moose and Squirrel were itching for it Mikey could tell that Allie was too As they rested on a set of deadspots, beneath what must have been a particularly lethal overpass, Mikey could see Allie's restlessness

"You weren't like this before," Mikey said to Allie as they sat on a spot a dozen yards away from the others "You never needed to skinjack"

Allie didn't answer right away, but she didn't shrug it off either

"I've been skinjacking more lately," she finally said, "and the more you skinjack, the more you need to Don't ask me to explain it, because I can't"

"Do you want to be like the to Moose and Squirrel, ere twitchy and irritable, like drug addicts needing a fix

"I'll never be like theh she didn't seeet to Meo ours"

"And which way is that?"

Again, Allie didn't have an answer for him This wasn't like her--Allie tended to have an answer for everything, even if it rong "Everything's changed now," Allie said, although she didn't say why

"I knohat'll happen," Mikey said "You'll see your fao I know you will"

She sighed "Trust ht me to Cape May to find ht about that Mikey shrugged "So? I was trying to do the right thing The hu anyht she'd bespeech about the virtues of hu of others before yourself

But instead she smiled and said, "I'll make you a promise, Mikey I promise that I'll always be here for youand I promise not to ave hientle kiss on the cheek

He hoped she didn't notice the slight lavender blush of his afterglow

Allie had, in fact, noticed the faint color shift in Mikey's afterglow several tih she was usually quite ss, she missed all the cues on this one She simply assumed it was some sort of re-world scar that ached with changes in the weather After all they'd been through, she cared for Mikey deeply--not as a boyfriend, though, because that was a living-world concept, and in the living world, boyfriends co a face tomorrow Mikey wasn't like a brother to her either Nick was the one she saw as a brother; connected forever, born into Everlost at the sahostly twins

What was Mikey, then? A soul mate? Perhaps She couldn't deny there was a sense of coood fit for each other Just being with hi, but it lackedexcitement

Sure, from time to time, when the moment called for it, she would kiss hi kiss There was no heat to it, no beating heart, no adrenaline rush There can be no way to find oneself breathless when one doesn't really need to breathe In the end, cohts can ever be

And now there was Milos

Allie could understand why Mikey saw Milos as a threat--and she had to ad Mikey about it--but only because she knew Mikey had nothing to worry about She had no desire to abandon Mikey for someone else, and certainly not for Milos So she entered into her friendship with Milos fully believing she had her eyes open and her

Chapter 10