Everwild

guard, but couldn't because Allie was already there. It put Allie in an early lead.

She went from the guard, to a tall old man, to a short woman with big hair, to a baby, to some guy who Allie could sense didn't want to be there.

She was already out in the lobby, and lingered in the aggravated man just long enough to locate the stairs, before bounding out to the next person. Up the staircase to the mezzanine, person to person, body to body until she reached the balcony. She had no idea where Milos was, and she didn't even know who her host was now-all she could sense was that this person needed to use the bathroom.

She had to get her bearings before she hopped to the next person-she had to spot the usher. Now that she was back in the theater, she was right in front of the steep aisle leading all the way up to the seats that nearly touched the roof. The usher was halfway up that aisle, leading a man to his seat. Allie launched herself out of the full-bladdered fleshie, and surfed through two more people, and right to the man the usher was escorting- – -But she couldn't get in because Milos was already there! He had used her own trick against her! Allie bounced off the man like rubber, and by the time she had skinjacked the next closest person, Milos's fleshie had already tapped the usher on the shoulder.

'Beat you!'

'Not yet!' said Allie, tapping the usher as well.

They left the two bewildered fans and the usher behind. In a moment Allie had surfed herself down the aisle, and out the back doors of the theater again, finding herself on the stairs. Going down, she discovered, was a little trickier than coming up, because everyone was hurrying up the stairs to get to their seats. It was like running down an 'up' escalator. She surfed through dozens of people, fighting the current, not lingering for more than an instant in any one person until she was back on the ground floor, and in the theater's main aisle again.

She pushed off in a smooth regular rhythm, relaying herself through various people trying to find their seats, then she surged up onto the stage-and Milos was right beside her, reaching the stage the same moment she did.

'I win!' Allie said.

'No, I win!' said Milos.

'All right, a tie, then.'

Milos laughed. 'Very good! We both win!'

Allie could not believe how exhilarating this had been. She wanted to do it again and again.

Milos must have read the excitement in her face, because he said, 'You see? There are many, many joys to being a skinjacker.'

Around them, the house lights began to dim. The audience roared in anticipation, and Allie looked out to the darkening theater, pretending that they were all cheering for her.

'Another game!' she said to Milos. 'Hide-and-seek! I'll hide in a fleshie, and you have to find me!'

Milos crossed his arms. 'How could I do that?-there are thousands of fleshies here!'

She grinned mischievously. 'I'll be the one thumbing my nose at Travis Dix!' And before he could respond, she was off, surfing her way through the theater.

Travis Dix took the stage with his band, and the audience cheered. In a moment he was singing his big hit, 'Stomp My Heart and Shave my Mullet,' and most of the audience was singing along.

Stomp my heart and shave my mullet

All your lies stick in my gullet

No more cash is in my wullet

Baby, we're through

But now I've got a better 'do' Allie chose to inhabit a college-age girl in the left mezzanine who was standing and dancing to the song with her friends. Allie carefully balanced herself within the girl, taking physical control of most of her body, but not putting her to sleep. It would be more interesting this way! Keeping her awake would be tricky, but Allie successfully hid in a blind spot of the girl's consciousness, so her presence wouldn't be detected. As soon as Allie took over, the girl's body stopped gyrating, and Allie raised her right hand, putting the tip of her thumb to her nose, and spread out her fingers.

'What are you doing?' asked one of the girl's friends.

The girl, fully awake, and still in control of her mouth said, 'I

… don't know. My thumb is stuck to my nose!'

'Suzie, honestly!' said the friend. 'Travis might see you, and then we'll never get backstage!'

Allie silently giggled, and began to waggle her fingers.

'Suzie!'

'I know! I'm trying to stop!' Clearly Suzie had no idea what had possessed her to behave like this. It probably never occurred to her that she actually was possessed.

Travis Dix continued to sing. Then, toward the end of the song, a beefy security guard came down the aisle and pointed a flashlight right at Suzie.

Great, thought Allie, now I got the girl into trouble.

But the guard smiled. 'Got you!' the guard yelled, over the blasting music. 'Now it's my turn!'

It was Milos!

Allie peeled herself out of Suzie, who shook her head, looked at her hands, and in a few moments, had put the weird incident aside and was dancing to the music again. Milos was gone, off to find someone to hide in, and Allie counted to ten, then went looking for him.

She found that this game required more than just surfing. She had to jump from person to person to get around, but also had to linger every now and then to get a good view of the different sections of the audience, because in Everlost the crowd was pretty much a blur.

She started with the upper balcony, then worked her way across, then down. There was no sign of Milos, and Allie began to wonder if maybe he wasn't playing fair.

Meanwhile, Travis Dix finished his song, and the crowd roared.

'Hello, Nashville!' he said, and the crowd roared even louder. He waited until the cheers died down before he spoke again. 'This song goes out to a very special girl,' he announced. 'This song is for… Allie the Outcast.'

Allie snapped her eyes to the stage and watched in disbelief as Travis Dix-the Travis Dix-lifted his thumb to his nose, and wiggled his fingers at the audience. To Allie's amazement, the entire audience responded by doing it right back to him!

Allie laughed out loud-a big, booming belly laugh, because now she was in a huge man with a voice that echoed like a bass drum. She skipped out of him and surfed her way back to the stage.

When she got there, Milos was peeling himself out of Travis, who now looked strangely at the audience thumbing their noses at him. Then he looked to his band, shrugged, and began the next song.

Allie couldn't stop laughing. 'You win!' she told Milos. 'That was great! No one's ever dedicated a song to me before!'

'Now we shall enjoy the concert,' Milos said. 'After all, we can have front-row seats,' and he gestured to any number of fleshies in the front row, but Allie shook her head. She didn't feel right stealing the concert from fans by putting them to sleep for the entire performance-and keeping a fleshie conscious was bound to be problematic. From where they stood on the stage, Allie could see off into the wings, where a couple of roadies stood, not doing much of anything.

'Those roadies probably travel with the band,' Allie said. 'They won't care if they sleep through a performance.'

'Excellent-but we should switch places a few times-it is never a good idea to stay in the same fleshie for too long.'

So they jacked the two roadies, and watched the whole concert from backstage. Then, when it was done, to make their concertgoing experience complete, they jacked a couple of fans in the audience, so they could flow out with the crowd, and enjoy, if only for a few minutes, the charged excitement of the audience around them.

Allie almost gasped as they left the warmth of the theater, and stepped out into the cool night. It was a subtle change, but powerful to an Afterlight, because temperature change meant nothing without flesh to feel it. A gentle breeze blew through the parking lot, and it felt soft and feathery on her arms. She swore she could feel each and every goose bump, and it was wonderful!

'I think you liked this, yes?' said Milos.