Everlost

Vari settles the newcomers into their new apartments on the 93rd floor and returns to Mary. At sunset, Mary visits Nick and Lief, who have decided to share an apartment. Lief is trying to figure out how to work a Nintendo DS, and Nick gallantly welcomes Mary in. They sit on the sofa, and she tells Nick that he is free to do whatever he likes. She suggests that Nick list everything he’s ever wanted to do, and then they’ll discuss it. She quickly leaves, uncomfortable with the complex emotions she suddenly feels for Nick.

Mary visits Allie, who has already written three pages of questions. She has also been reading Mary’s books but hasn’t found anything about going home, and Mary says that’s because going home is impossible for Afterlights. She then tells Allie about the concept of dominant reality, which occurs when the living world builds something on top of an Everlost building. It is difficult to see both worlds simultaneously, and Everlost is more important for the Afterlights than the living world. Allie then brings up the topic of vortexes and argues that some things, including people, must cross into Everlost accidentally. She asks Mary if there’s any way out of this world, and Mary denies it.

After a few days, Nick, Allie, and Lief learn more about Mary’s world. The children play outside during the day and listen to stories, play video games, or watch tv inside at night. Allie senses that something is wrong, but Nick is too distracted by Mary’s seeming perfection to be concerned. One day, Allie shows Nick that the kids follow the same routine every day, and for the first time, Nick feels uneasy. As an experiment, he tries to convince a boy to return to a game he already finished playing, but the boy refuses to break his routine. Allie observes that these Afterlights can never move on because they are stuck here in an endless loop, and she vows not to let the same thing happen to her or Nick.

Nick continues to follow Mary, noticing that she alone is not trapped in a daily routine like the other Afterlights. Nick wishes to be alone with Mary, but Vari always stays with her and resents Nick’s presence, telling Nick that Mary only likes him because he’s new. Lief becomes addicted to playing Pac-Man in the 64th-floor arcade. Lief had a routine in his forest, but now he feels a sense of urgency because of the stimulation that video games provide.

Mary feels frustrated with Allie and her attraction to Nick, so she goes to the 58th floor for solitude. This floor is empty because no one was on it when Tower One crossed into Everlost. Nick arrives, and Mary tells him that Allie is a danger to herself and Nick. She then tells Nick how she and her brother Mikey died: in a collision with a train on the way home. She also describes how she and Mikey struggled against each other in the dark tunnel and got stuck in Everlost, just as Nick and Allie did. When they went home to their father, who had raised them alone after the death of their mother during Mikey’s birth, they discovered that a lot of time had passed and their father had remarried. Mikey was so overcome that he sank into the ground quickly, and no one saw him again. Mary also started falling, but she grabbed onto the bed, which was a dead-spot because it was where her mother died. Mary and Nick sit together in silence after she finishes her story. Nick then kisses her, but Mary doesn’t respond, which leaves Nick feeling rejected.

Back in her apartment, Mary listens to Vari play his violin, as she often does. Vari tells her he doesn’t like Nick, but Mary says she might train Nick and send him to a distant city like Chicago to take care of the Afterlights there. Vari says he can do it without much training, but Mary wants him to stay in New York. Meanwhile, Allie decides to leave the city to find information from someone other than Mary. Meadow tells Allie that some Afterlights have particular talents—what Mary calls Criminal Arts—but before Meadow can explain more, Vari appears and says a Finder has brought a bucket of chicken. Mary wants to share with everyone, so all the kids but Allie leave.

The next morning, Allie is riding the elevator when a boy dressed in a skeleton costume gets in on the 98th floor. The boy, Skelly, tells Allie about a pickle factory where the Haunter teaches Afterlights how to connect with the living world, including the skill of skinjacking—inhabiting the body of a living person. Skelly warns her that everyone who goes to the Haunter never returns. Allie then goes to Nick’s apartment and pounds on the door until he lets her in. When she enters, she sees Nick has written his name on hundreds of shreds of paper, now covering the room like snow. Allie says they’re leaving, but Nick refuses because he doesn’t want to leave Mary. Allie convinces him by saying he will learn to pull things out of the living world and into Everlost, which will impress Mary. Nick goes with Allie to get Lief, who is still obsessed with Pac-Man. Lief doesn’t want to go with them. Allie lies and says they’re going somewhere with better games, so Lief agrees. The three friends leave that night, hidden by the rain. Vari watches them from the tower and rewards Skully for sending them away.

Nick, Allie, and Lief arrive at the pickle factory and enter to see a variety of delicious-smelling meats hanging from the ceiling, confirming what Skully told Allie about the Haunter pulling things from the living world. They find the Haunter sitting in the center of the empty building. He is only six years old and is small, with a yellowish glow around him. The Haunter then tests the three Afterlights by asking them to pick up an egg-sized stone. Nick tries first and fails, so a dozen hooded figures appear and nail him in a pickle barrel filled with brine. Lief tries next and also fails, suffering the same punishment. When it’s Allie’s turn, she promises to bring the stone to the Haunter if he agrees to release her friends. The bargain struck, Allie attempts to move the stone and eventually makes it wobble. Allie then scoops up the rock and hands it to the Haunter. He says he’ll free her friends after she studies with him for five years to develop her skill.

Allie lunges at him, but the hooded figures grab her and throw her into the middle of the street. As Allie struggles to move, a garbage truck rolls through her. She becomes so angry that one of the truck’s tires pops. Allie then returns to the Twin Towers for help, believing that Mary will help to rescue Nick and Lief. After much searching, she finds Mary on the 58th floor, but Mary refuses to help Allie because it would endanger the other Afterlights. She also tells Allie that if she wants to live here, she must accept this loss, but Allie knows that Mary is really trying to convince her to leave. Allie slaps Mary across the face and takes the elevator down. When Vari asks Mary why she let Allie go, Mary says that living alone is punishment enough. Mary knows she can’t beat the Haunter but feels sorrow for sacrificing Lief and Nick. She kisses Vari’s cheek and thanks him for his loyalty.

Allie walks and walks, making a plan to rescue her friends. Weeks later, she finally realizes that she’s been walking the same loop, dampening her spirits. Allie forces herself out of her rut, staying in the more crowded areas of New York. As the large crowds pass through her, Allie realizes she’s experiencing these people’s thoughts as if she were a part of them. She then intentionally tries to mind-surf with a girl around her age and discovers that she can skip into the other girl’s body, thus accidentally picking up the skill of skinjacking. To save her brother and her friend, Allie must find other Afterlights to help her, so she begins searching.

Lief is sure that Allie will rescue him immediately, and when she doesn’t, he becomes scared and then angry. Slowly, he forgets where he is and begins to feel as though he is nothing and everything all at once: a miserable form of existence.

Allie returns to Rockland County and calls out for Johnnie-O, who eventually appears with a dozen of his thugs in tow. Allie offers him real food in exchange for his help in rescuing her friends from the Haunter. Johnnie-O and his gang take Allie to a nearby town, where they hide out in a church and call themselves the Altar Boys. They all leave at dawn the following day with makeshift weapons, coming at last to the George Washington Bridge at the northern tip of Manhattan. Because of the danger of sinking through the bridge, into the water, and into the center of the Earth, they decide to take the Lincoln Tunnel instead: another four days’ journey.

In the Lincoln Tunnel, they walk down the middle of the road, allowing the heavy traffic to pass through them. At the other end of the tunnel, the group sees that the snow flurries have changed into a full snowstorm, showing the onset of winter. They arrive at the Haunter’s building and enter through the wide-open steel door. Allie sees that the hanging meat is half-eaten and scattered across the floor. Johnnie-O and the Altar Boys race forward and gorge themselves on the food. Allie also sees that all but one of the pickle barrels are gone. Inside it, she hears someone pounding and screaming. Johnnie-O and Allie approach the barrel, and the Haunter asks them to let him out, saying that the McGill took the other barrels and can be found in a ship floating in the bay beyond the Statue of Liberty. Allie refuses to release the Haunter and asks Johnnie-O and the Altar Boys to help her fight the McGill. Johnnie-O says she’s on her own but asks for her name. She tells him, and he nicknames her Allie the Outcast and wishes her luck. Allie heads to the bay, emboldened by her quest.