Allie could not remember such awful pain.
– -Help us! Somebody help us!- The living world closed in… then it went away… the pain faded… and for the second time, Allie Johnson died.
She felt herself leaving Danny's body-not peeling out, but more like evaporating. She was herself again, back in Everlost, and sinking quickly through the bottom of the pool, into the earth, while Danny's body settled against the blue-painted steel of the pool floor. The moment Danny came to rest, a circular patch spread out beneath his body, bright and solid. A deadspot was born. Quickly Allie grabbed for it, pulling herself onto it. She reached for Danny's body, but now that she was an Afterlight again, her hand passed right through.
Suddenly there was commotion in the water. Bubbles, and a billowing flowered blouse. A woman in the water, frantically diving down, grabbing at the boy's body. Danny's mother!
Allie reached her hand toward the woman, and was immediately swept up, drawn inside her, skinjacking her.
The woman was crazed beyond belief, her body in a full panic state-which is exactly what was needed, for although she was not a strong woman, she could swim, and with all that adrenaline in her, she could swim for two. Allie took over her body completely, and set herself to the task of saving Danny.
She fought her way to the surface, pulling Danny with her. He was sandbag-heavy, a limp, dead weight. She broke surface to find that all hell had broken loose. Allie could instantly tell that Milos and Moose had left their hosts, because Curtis was on his knees screaming at the top of his lungs, and ripping his hair out of his head. Chainsaw was in enough control of his senses to leap into the pool to help her.
'I got him, Mrs. Rozelli!' With one hand he hurled Danny out of the pool, and climbed out after him.'I can do this! I know CPR!' Chainsaw began chest compressions on the boy as Allie, still within Mrs. Rozelli, climbed out of the water. Chainsaw valiantly fought to resuscitate the little boy, but it was no use. Danny was dead. His soul was long gone.
Or was it?
Allie peeled out of Mrs. Rozelli, and back into Everlost, where she could see Milos and Moose still standing there, observing everything.
'Welcome back to Everlost!' Milos said cheerfully. 'I knew it would work!'
Allie could not believe he could be so casual about the terrible thing he had just done. Somehow Mary had changed him. Like everything else she touched, Mary had turned him rancid.
In the living world, Mrs. Rozelli fell to her knees, dazed and terrified. She wailed so loudly, it rang out as clearly in Everlost as in the living world.
'C'mon, kid!' cried Chainsaw, struggling to revive the boy, knowing he was dead, but not willing to stop, for he couldn't face the woman's anguish. And behind him the other poolman dug his nails into his scalp and tore himself apart, his mind shattered from the awful thing Milos had made him do.
But in Everlost, there was a sight that none of the living could see.
Allie turned to the pool, and saw Danny's spirit! He was floating in midair just above the surface of the water. He was staring in wonder at something that Allie couldn't see, and a bright, unearthly light painted his face. He reached out toward the source of that light.
'No, Danny!' screamed Allie.
'It's so bright…'
'Don't go down the tunnel!' Allie shouted to him. 'Don't go to the light!'
'But it wants me to,' Danny said, confused. 'I think I'm supposed to…'
'No! You're not! None of this is supposed to happen!'
Finally Chainsaw gave up trying to resuscitate the boy, and buried his face in his hands, sobbing. 'I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…'
Allie summoned her most commanding voice.
'Danny, look at me!' she demanded. 'Look at me NOW!'
Finally Danny's spirit turned to her. 'Allie?' And the moment he saw her, the light on his face vanished and he dropped into the pool. Allie was close enough to grab him. She pulled him out, and into her arms. He looked at her with lazy eyes. 'So that's what you look like,' he said and yawned.
Behind them, above the cries of the living, came a voice far more pleased with this heart-rending moment than he should be.
'Well done!' said Milos, practically beaming. 'Very well done, Allie!'
'Yeah, yeah,' said Squirrel, 'I'll bet she did that even better than Jackin' Jill.'
'Congratulations,' Milos said. 'You have just brought a new soul into Everlost. Whatever you did to Mary in the past, she will forgive you now.'
'I don't want her forgiveness.'
'You may not want it, but you will need it,' Milos said, very seriously. 'Otherwise she will destroy you, and I do not wish to see that.'
Danny's eyes rolled as he looked at Allie. 'I'm so tired,' Danny said.
Allie realized what would happen next. 'Stay awake, Danny!'
'But I'm so sleepy. Just let me rest.'
'Whatever you do, don't fall asleep!' Because she knew the moment he did, he would lapse into nine months of hibernation. If he fell asleep, he would become an Afterlight. But he wasn't one yet-he had no afterglow-which meant he was not entirely gone from the living world…
Allie knew what she had to do. Without wasting an instant, she took Danny's soul and thrust him forward, plunging him back into his own lifeless body. The effect was instantaneous. The moment Danny was plunged back into himself, his body heaved, and he coughed up an explosion of water. The dead boy came back to life.
Allie's scream of joy and relief could only be matched by his mother's. She tried to grab him, but Chainsaw held her back with a strong arm. 'Give him time.'
Chainsaw rolled him over on his side, and Danny coughed up more water, as if he had the entire pool in his lungs. He coughed, coughed some more, then his eyes opened. His mother took him into her arms against Chainsaw's warnings.
'I'm tired, Mom.'
But that was okay. It was all right for him to be tired now. Chainsaw went over to Curtis, shaking him, screaming at him in fury for what he had done, but Curtis's mind was entirely gone. He would be the victim of all this, but Allie could not save him. She had saved Danny; she couldn't save everyone.
She turned to Milos, who was surprised, and maybe a little impressed, by what she had done for Danny.
'Always the good Somalian,' he said.
'That's 'good Samaritan.''
'Why does it matter?' Then he held out his hand to her. 'Now we go.'
Allie didn't move. 'Do you think I would ever come with you after what you just did?'
'You gave me your word.'
'Then call me a liar.'
Milos signaled to Squirrel who began to circle behind her. 'I do not wish to take you by force,' Milos said, 'but if I have to, I will.'
'You'll have to catch me first.'
Allie ran, while behind her Mrs. Rozelli said a quiet, thankful prayer as she carried her little boy into their home, and the deadspot at the bottom of the pool faded away into nothing.
CHAPTER 35 Allie-Allie-Oxen-Free
The Union Avenue Bridge was narrow, always crowded, and nowhere near as efficient as the two interstate bridges that carried the bulk of the city's traffic over the Mississippi into Arkansas. It was the oldest bridge in Memphis, first built for the transcontinental railroad, but it had been modified years ago to add lanes for automobile traffic on either side of the train trestle.
Reports of its crumbling structure were occasionally seen on the inner pages of the Memphis Daily News, but
