Everwild

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PART THREE The Great White City In her book Everything Mary Says Is Wrong, Allie the Outcast takes a moment to ponder the hereafter:

"I don't know whether we come to Everlost by accident or by design. Some will say we are abandoned here-lost between the cracks of an unfeeling universe. Others will say we have been selected to be here by an almighty hand, and then they will use that to justify everything they do as God's will.

Whether my ability to skinjack is an accident or intentional, I do know this: I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel, so I know the universe is not cold. I've read the fortunes; they are evidence that we are not alone. And I've seen Afterlights hold their coins, remember who they once were, and finally get where they were going.

I have seen enough to know that there is something beyond Everlost, but the nature of it is just as mysterious here as it is to the living.

So beware those in Everlost who say they know God's will, because they are no different from those who say the universe is soulless and cold. Both are two sides of the same coin, and it's not a coin that will get you anywhere you want to go."