Everlost

One of the novel’s most prominent symbols is coins, and they represent an Afterlight’s choice to go into the light and move to the afterlife or stay in Everlost until they are ready to move on. Every coin that passes into the spirit world is faceless, preventing the Afterlights from knowing their value, what year they were minted, or even what country they’re from. This loss of information shows that the coin itself is what’s important, not how much it’s worth or where it came from. Every coin represents the same value in the mysterious currency of Everlost: the chance for an Afterlight to move into the light. An Afterlight knows they are ready to move on when a coin feels warm in their hands. The warmer a coin is, the more ready the spirit is to move on. Thus, when Mary and Nick hold a coin, it feels cold, indicating that they are not yet ready and have more to accomplish before their departure. Lief, on the other hand, feels warmth from the coin and almost immediately moves into the light.

Coins are very common, for every child who crosses into Everlost has one. However, the children in Everlost have no idea what coins are used for thanks to Mary’s deliberate obfuscation of the truth, for she teaches that they have no value or worth. In one of her books, Mary says this about coins:

They do not sparkle, they do not shine, and they contain no precious metals. These so-called ‘coins’ are nothing more than useless, leaden slugs, and are best discarded along with one’s pocket lint, or better yet, tossed into a fountain for luck (291).

To separate Afterlights from their coins, Mary encourages the children to throw them into the fountain and make a wish. When Nick confronts her for manipulating the truth about coins and preventing the Afterlights from leaving Everlost, Mary defends herself by saying the children choose to throw their coins in the fountain and that they can retrieve their coins at any time. (Of course, the children don’t reclaim their coins because Mary insists they’re useless.)

Nick is the first Afterlight to figure out the purpose of the coins and why Mary lies about them. At the novel’s beginning, Nick compares Afterlights to coins standing on their edge, saying they might “find a way to come up heads” and leave Everlost (31). Once the McGill turns back into Mikey, Nick continues to figure out why he feels uneasy about Everlost and his place in it. He sees Lief with the bucket of the McGill’s coins and finally realizes that they must hold some importance. Then, when Lief holds a coin and says it’s warm, Nick connects all the dots and realizes these seemingly valueless coins are the key to moving into the afterlife. He then knows his purpose: to travel around Everlost teaching Afterlights how to use the coins to move into the light. Thus, Nick becomes a savior who undermines Mary’s authority over the Afterlights and helps them escape their ruts and move into the world beyond.