Neal Shusterman - Everwild

"I've been thinking of declaring myself boss over Indianapolis, and then spreading East to Ohio," he had told Mary. "Whadaya think?"

"It sounds visionary," Mary had told him. "Stretch as far east as you like."

While he had been reluctant to join with her at first, he had to admit that they were an unstoppable team. The future was looking brighter than ever before. So when he was approached by Moose, who told him that a truck had arrived full of tributes and gifts from the Indianapolis Afterlights, foul play was the last thing he suspected.

As he crossed the midway with Moose, it didn't trouble him that his trio of bodyguards were nowhere to be found. He had come to rely on them less and less since security, and a need for six-fisted intimidation, had become less of a priority. He was caught off guard by the sack that was thrust over his head, and before he knew what was happening, his hands and feet were tied, and he was carried off.

He was dumped some time later on a wooden floor that creaked beneath him, and when the bag was ripped from his face, he was looking up at three Afterlights glowing in the dark night: It was the new skinjackers. All three of them.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pugsy shouted.

Milos was way too calm. "We are having a meeting. I am so glad you could come."

As Milos was a Ruskie, Pugsy hated him on principal. It was Mary who had convinced him that Milos could be trusted. Well, Mary would get an earful for this!

He tried to stand but his legs were tied too tightly. "All three of you have just bought yourself a place on the mantel." Which was one of Pugsy's pet expressions for a trip to the center of the earth-along with "earning core time" and "sleeping with the magma."

"Look around you, and think again," said Milos. Pugsy glanced around, and instantly knew exactly where he was. This was what he affectionately called "the submarine terminal." It was an Everlost dock on Lake Michigan where he would dispatch unwanted Afterlights into the "dirty deep," yet another pet name for the center of the earth. In fact, right now, there were three others bound and gagged, with cinder blocks tied to their ankles. He would have thought the work was done by his bodyguards. Except that they were his bodyguards. Now Pugsy began to worry.

"Tell me," said Milos, "how many are the Afterlights you have thrown from this dock?"

"I don't know," said Pugsy nervously. "I don't keep count."

"Guess."

"Throw him off! Throw him off!" shrieked Squirrel, but Milos threw him a gaze that shut him up.

"I said guess."

"Uh, maybe, a hundred? Two hundred?"

"Just as I thought." Milos nodded to the other two, and they lifted up one of Pugsy's boys, then tossed him off the dock.

"No!" screamed Pugsy.

Then Milos knelt down to him. "I have grown tired of you," he said. "So I am now inviting you to leave Chicago. I am inviting you to leave alone, and to leave now."

"What are you, nuts?"

Milos nodded to the others again, and they sent the second of Pugsy's bodyguards off to the dirty deep.

"You have thirty seconds to accept my invitation."

"Mary!" said Pugsy. "Go get Mary! She'll negotiate for me. She'll give you whatever you want!"

The other two laughed, and Milos whispered to him, "Mary is the reason we are all here on this fine evening." He signaled the other two, and they hurled Pugsy's last bodyguard off for serious core time. Then they dragged a cinder block to Pugsy, and tied it around his ankles.

"Okay, okay, okay, I see you mean business! So I'll tell you what. You can untie me, and I'll leave, just like you asked. I'll leave right now and I'll never come back. Okay? Just like you asked, okay?"

Milos gave Pugsy a satisfied smile. Then he said, "I'm sorry, but I cannot hear you."

"What?"

"You have ten seconds."

"I said I'll leave! I'll leave!"

"Sorry, your answer must be in Russian."

"I don't speak Russian!"

"Five seconds."

"I'll leave-ski Chicago-ski!"

"Time's up." He nodded to Moose and Squirrel. "Goodbye, Pugsy."

"Nooooooo!"

Pugsy was lighter than the other three, so he flew much farther before hitting the lake. He quickly plunged through the living-world water, as thin to him as air, and then passed into the lake bed, toward his place on-or rather in-the mantel. As he sunk deeper and deeper into the earth, he could only hope that when he reached the center, he wouldn't come across anyone he sent there himself.

The following day, all the Afterlights of Chicago were called for a town meeting-the first such meeting since Pugsy announced his partnership with Mary some weeks ago. Now Mary stood on the same balcony, looking out over the crowd. This time, however, Pugsy was absent. Instead she stood with Speedo beside her. Milos was there, too, but he lingered in the background, along with a silently aggravated Jackin' Jill.

"You shouldn't be up here at all," Jill told Milos. "I earned the right to be here, but what have you done?"

"Not much," Milos told her. "Just what was necessary."

She was unimpressed. "Where's Pugsy?" asked Jill, glancing around. "He's never late when he calls a town meeting."

"Pugsy did not call it," Milos said casually.

At the front of the balcony Mary looked down on the crowd. Speedo, having been a finder, was still intimidated by large vapors of Afterlights. Finders were usually hunted down by such mobs, accused of unfair trading. It didn't help that he was eternally in a wet bathing suit, displaying a bare belly in a pasty shade of pale. He could never get used to being Mary's right-hand man-and he suspected she was now grooming Milos for the position. Speedo, who had no desire for power beyond the horsepower of an airship engine, would be more than happy to slip into the background when the time came-and he hoped it came soon.

"Look at all of them," said Mary. "It hardly seems appropriate to call them a 'vapor of Afterlights' anymore."

"More like an entire cloud," suggested Speedo.

"A cumulus!" said Mary, delighted with herself. "A cumulus of Afterlights!"

Their numbers had indeed grown. A census upon Mary's arrival revealed there to be 783 Afterlights in Chicago, including the ones she brought with her. But once word got out that Mary had settled in for an extended stay, stray Afterlights began to wander in to the Columbian Exhibition grounds-more each day. Those, plus the new arrivals waking into Everlost for the first time, brought their numbers close to a thousand now.

Nick had stolen from her more than a thousand souls. Now she had them back, and with Pugsy gone, she didn't have to share them with anyone. This was truly a day for celebration.

"Afterlights of Chicago," she announced to the crowd. "It is with the utmost of mixed feelings that I must announce that Pugsy Capone has chosen to leave us."

The crowd murmured in excitement, mingled with doubt.

"He has decided to travel, and has taken a permanent leave of absence. I'm sure you all join me in wishing him everything he deserves, wherever his journey takes him."

It began as a smattering of applause, that grew into cheers, as the crowd realized exactly what Mary was telling them.

"As Pugsy will not be coming back, I am pleased to accept the position as Governess of Chicago." The cheers reached a fever pitch. "Listen to them, Speedo!" Mary whispered. "Do you see how happy they are to finally be freed!"

"Where did Pugsy go?" Speedo asked her.

"Milos was so kind as to convince him to leave." She turned back to give Milos a much-earned smile. "It's probably best if we don't know the details, don't you agree?"

Mary turned back to the crowd and resumed addressing them. "Since my arrival, there have been many changes here, and there will be many more to come. My goal is to bring your quality of death to the highest possible level. Many of you have found your own "special activity" to make each and every day your personal perfect day. For those of you still searching, my door is always open. I pledge to help you in every way I can."