Everwild

CHAPTER 29 Teed for Two

Little Danny Rozelli was having a bad day. It began with waking up in a strange house, and now many hours later, things weren't getting any better. He was talking to himself, twisting and turning in bed-everything short of spinning his head around and vomiting pea soup. In the olden days, people would have said the boy was possessed, but modern science knew better. Danny was just sick. Very, very sick.

"Get out of me!"

– -I can't!- "Get out of me!"

– -Just calm down!- "Mom! Make her get out of me!"

– -Will you stop saying things like that out loud! They already think you've gone crazy!- Danny Rozelli was a willful little kid, who was still too teed off to be reasonable. He had already discovered the trick of thinking out loud. It gave him more power over his own body-it helped him to stay in control. Unfortunately, when you think out loud, people can hear you.

"Danny, honey, it's all right-everything's going to be all right." But clearly Danny's mother didn't believe this, because she turned to her husband and cried, "What do we do? What do we do?"

Allie fought against the boy, and regained control of his body long enough to say, "Nothing's wrong with me. Everything's fine," but Danny fought back, his body went into convulsions, and he wailed, "Make her LEAVE!"

It was all Allie's fault. If she hadn't fallen asleep in his body, and skinjacked him for seven whole hours, none of this would have happened.

She should have tried to peel out of him the second she woke up that morning in her parents' house, but no, instead she asked her parents to feed her, and over a bowl of Apple Jacks they told her that she was still alive.

Alive!

The news was such a sudden shock that it not only echoed in her own mind, it also woke Danny up, and he began fighting his way to the surface. She tried to run, but when she opened the front door, she ran right into the policeman standing there. In a second even more police cruisers were showing up-one of them bearing a distraught couple, who had woken up two blocks away to find their son missing. When Allie's father had called 911, the police had apparently put two and two together, and raced Danny's parents over for a family reunion.

At the time, Allie was still reeling from her own revelation. She was alive. Did that mean she could live again? Could she-dare she even think it-could she skinjack herself? Oblivious to what was going on, Danny's parents had smothered him with kisses, and the police had questioned Allie's parents as to how on earth the boy had turned up there. Allie didn't want to fight Danny, and once they were in the police cruiser, driving away, she tried over and over again to peel herself out of the boy. His body stiffened, his back arched, his eyes bulged, but Allie could not get out of his body, and his parents became more and more concerned with their son's strange behavior. As the police car pulled into the Rozelli's driveway, Allie finally realized the true cost of skinjacking someone for too long. She was now a permanent resident in Danny Rozelli's body.

But the worst was yet to come.

It was the element of surprise that gave a skinjacker the advantage. A person didn't know how to defend themselves against a skinjacking, or how to fight to retain control of his or her own body-especially against a seasoned skinjacker like Allie. But fleshies learn quickly. Each time Danny's spirit surfaced, he was stronger, more able to fight Allie from the inside out, and now, half a day later, the two of them were still battling at sunset, with neither one getting the upper hand. They were two evenly-matched spirits sealed into a single body, and it looked like they were going to stay that way for good.

"I'm fine!" Allie insisted, in control of Danny's mouth. "I'm fine, really." Unfortunately Danny had control of the rest of his head, and began banging it against the wall.

His mother began to wail, his father grabbed him and restrained him, and Allie withdrew, trying to figure out a new approach to this unhappy situation. She pulled way back, allowing Danny to have full control of himself, but not so far back that he could force her to sleep-for he had figured out that trick too. She waited as his body relaxed, his breathing slowed, and his father, who was still restraining him, loosened his grip.

"It's all right, Danny," he said. "We're going to get you help. I promise."

Danny, tears in his eyes, nodded. Allie waited a minute more, then pushed her thoughts forward in a faint whisper.

– -Danny, please listen to me- No! he thought back to her. No, no, no! But at least now he wasn't shouting it out loud.

– -Bad things will happen if you don't listen to me- He didn't answer her right away. Then he thought, What kind of bad things?

– -They'll take you away from your parents and put you in a hospital- No! My parents won't let anyone do that!

– -What do you think they mean when they said they'll get you help?- Danny didn't respond to that. Good. He was finally seeing reason.

– -I didn't mean to get stuck in here, Danny, but I did, and we have to make the best of it. Now we have to be friends until I can figure out how to get out- I don't want to be your friend! You're a girl! I don't want a girl in my head!

Great, thought Allie, that's what I get for skinjacking a seven-year-old.

I heard that! And now not even her thoughts were private. This was going to take a lot of getting used to.

– -Think of me as your guardian angel, Danny- You're an angel?

– -Yes, I am- she told him, seizing onto the one idea that might make this whole thing work,-and if you want things to be okay, you have to pretend like it already is okay. You have to pretend like I'm not here-And then she made a decision.- I promise not to take over your body without your permission… if you promise to calm down and act normal- Okay, thought Danny, but if you start making me do girly things

…

"Danny, honey, talk to me," said his mother. "Tell me what's wrong."

Danny took a deep breath, and said, "Nothing, Mom. I'm okay now. I was… I was having a bad dream, but it went away."

His mother hugged him. Allie was impressed that he pulled it off.- Very good- thought Allie.- They'll probably still take you to see doctors, but if you act normal, everything will be okay- Will they give me shots?

– -I don't think so- Good, thought Danny, and then he asked her, Will you help me with my homework sometimes?

Sure, thought Allie. Why not. She tried to tell herself that she'd be okay with this-being a backseat driver to a second-grader, but the reality of it filled her with despair. Everlost was gone-she couldn't see it anymore, couldn't feel it. It was invisible to her, just as it was to Danny, or any 314other fleshie. She knew her body was out there somewhere, but she had no idea where to find it-and even if she did, she was still stuck inside this kid. Good going, Allie.

Don't be sad, Allie.

And so, for Danny's sake, she tried not to be.