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"What about Allie?" Mikey asked "What happened to Allie?"

They told hie by another Afterlight--a tall, dark-haired boy with strange speckled eyes By the tie had been blown, and that an Everlost train had taken Mary's followers across the river, Mikey kneas too late Allie would be a prisoner on that train, and the train was long gone

Mikey raced to the bridge, and although it was solid beneath his feet, he was not a steaed himself into, he could not overcoe to rescue Allie

And at the moment of the disaster, a bubble surfaced on the chocolate-covered floor of the Jungle Roo by the ru for consciousness, and settled back down again, unable to find it

Chapter 40 The Changeling and the Golem

Mikey McGill had certain realities to face

Allie was gone, the bridge was uncrossable, and Nick had disappeared into a vortex Were it not for his own selfish intervention, Allie ht have arrived in tie Had Mikey not been so captivated by his own ht now, instead of on a train heading west

Now he had a choice He could rage in fury at his own pigheaded stupidity, andin self-loathing--that would certainly be the easy, fa to do--or, he could, for once, choose to do soht, he returned to his minions, and called theed their distorted, twisted faces, bringing them back to nor than when they started

"I release you froo hoh to be sure he really meant it, then they headed back for Nashville

Once they were gone, Mikey made his way back to Graceland, where the dozen or so of Nick's Afterlights still kept a vigil, not knohat to do Mikey told theo as well

"We can't just leave," they said

"Yes, you can," Mikey told them "Go back to wherever you care, only don't call him that Call him by his name Nick"

Reluctantly they left Then, after they had all gone, Mikey turned and strode straight into the vortex

Mikey began to feel the effects of it right away--a shifting inside of hi, but this feeling was all over his body He followed the overpowering sle Room where a layer of the stuff, about an inch thick, covered the entire floor

Even before he stepped into the rooers froers turned to flowers and his eyes slid down to his elbows He had no control over what Graceland was doing to him and he could see what it had already done to Nick He had no idea whether a vortex was a living thing, or just a thing, but he knew he couldn't fight it, and so he didn't try He gave in, letting it turn him into a creature in constant flux He had aas he could remember that ot down on his knees and began to work When his arms turned to tentacles, he used them When they turned to flippers he used thees at all, he waited until he sprouted so his mind entirely on his task It took nizable Changes ca entirely before changing to so else Yet so, crawling--and he pulled with him a very heavy trash can--since the vortex existed in both worlds, he was able to pull it like any other Everlost artifact It said "recyclables only," but he had removed the cans and bottles it had held, and noas full of rich, creae--the kind thatit

Now that he was out on the porch, beyond the outer edge of the vortex, he sat down trying to slow the changes that swept through his body He was changing once each second, but he concentrated, trying toonce every five seconds Then he took control, defining the changes as they ca the forms he would assume

Only one probleinal fors? Did he walk on all fours or did he have eight legs? Was he a creature more at home in water than land? Did he have a tail?

He found that trying to remember himself was impossible, so he tried to remember someone else Her Allie AllieHe could see her face clearly in his h her eyes It was by finding her that Mikey found his, drew in any stray horns, and htly spider spinneret shrink into standard human hind-quarters By and by he became who he was the irascible, short-tempered, imperfect, but occasionally heroic Mikey McGill

Once he was done, and he was sure his fored the trash can from Graceland, and found a deadspot on the stone path of a nearby park It was late now-- long past ht, but he did not care about the ti his hands into shovels, and began to scoop out the fudge, creating a pile on the ground The stuff had hardened in the cool night to be the consistency of clay That an to fashion a figure A head, shoulders, a torso, are the features of other Afterlights, surely he could shape an entire being fro as he had the raw materials

There is an ancient story about a rabbi who, desperate to protect his village from destroyers, created a man out of earthen clay He put into it all the care, all the hope, all the faith that he could muster He danced around it, called on the secret name of God, and thus willed his clay creation to life, and it walked the earth A golem A creature not quite alive, but not quite dead

Mikey was no rabbi, did absolutely no dancing, and rather than round powder of a rainforest bean--but like his sister, Mikey had a will that could move the universe

When he was done, the chocolate golehly huround Its face had no features, but Mikey hoped that wouldn't matter

It was early da The sun was threatening the eastern horizon Newsboys in the living world were hurling papers featuring headlines about the destruction of the Union Avenue Bridge

Mikey put the finishing touches on the golem He scraped a line for itsindentations for its eyes; then beneath the eyes, he shaped a small bump of a nose He poked two holes for ears, and then put his lips close to one of the holes and whispered

"Wake up "

A moment passed Then aa pair of eyes that were the saain