Final Everlost post

The McGill was now looking for some sign that he would be made living again. And the sign comes, in the form of a huge blimp, which the McGill took for a chariot of the gods. However, it was only Mary, Nick and Vari, who had used the blimp to arrive to Atlantic City. The McGill was outraged. But before anyone could do anything else, Mary showed the McGill a picture and suddenly, the McGill became a boy, because it turns out that Mary was the McGill's, now Mikey's, sister. When this happened, the thousand children became a mob and began to attack Mikey. Allie takes this moment to depart, hoping that she could go home. However, the situation suddenly changes. Mikey has managed to grab hold of the diving horse, Shiloh and was escaping. However, he spotted Allie and gave chase. Allie however, took control of a nearby living person and escaped into the living world. Back at the Piers, Mary and Nick rounded up everyone to get into the blimp to go back to Mary's place. However, they accidentally left Vari behind. Vari became the new owner of the old McGill's ship. Allie was having trouble with her living host. Eventually, Allie was pushed out and would have landed in a river if the McGill hadn't rescued her. They then became a team and rode off on their next adventure. Meanwhile, Nick found out Everlost's greatest secret: The way to leave. It turns out that since everyone has come into Everlost with a coin, the coin lets you leave and get to the end of the tunnel, where the light is. However, Mary didn't want to go on to the tunnel and she believed Everlost was a better place. Nick however, did and suddenly, they had different goals. Mary tried to keep the souls of Everlost in Everlost while Nick tried to spread the word about how to leave the strange world. It became a competition that lasted forever.

If I were in Everlost, I think that I would be very happy with the discovery of how to leave the world. I'd want to explore it and experience it, but eventually, I'd want to leave after seeing everything that there was to see. I am of the same opinion of Nick. People should leave Everlost eventually, not stay there for eternity. At the very least, they should be given the choice to stay or to leave. I think that Mary is wrong to keep this secret from all of the afterlights in her care. I also think that this was a very well written book, and I enjoyed it a lot. It has a very creative plot, something that I can't really compare to anything else because I've never seen anything else like it. It a very good book and I highly recommend it.

Everlost chapters 21-25

Nick and Lief are still being held in the Chiming Chamber of the McGill on it's ship. However, Nick gets an idea. If all of the kids get themselves tangled up, then they will be farthur from the ground and be able to escape through the hatch in the roof. So, Nick starts to spread the plan and soon all of the kids in the chamber are really tangled up and are close to the hatch in the roof. Nick escapes from the chamber. Meanwhile, the McGill learns of the new situation in the chamber, but decides to let them be. Nick decides to hide in the McGill's treasure chamber and tries to figure out what to do. However, things take a surprising turn as Allie, exploring for a means to forward her plan, and the McGill enter the treasure chamber as well and talk. Nick manages to hide himself in a closet without being seen by the McGill, but Allie knows he's there. Allie and the McGill talk for a while and then the McGill leaves, and Nick and Allie have a heated arguement. Allie thinks that Nicks escape will be discovered and that her plan will be blown while Nick says that he can't sit around and wait for ages when he can do something useful. Finally, they work out a plan for Nick to secretly escape the ship back to the mainland by stowing away on a lifeboat of one of the McGill's raiding parties. Nick hides until he can escape and Allie makes her plan. She plants a false fourtune in one of the fortune cookies that states that if the McGill returns to where he was defeated before in Atlantic City, then this time he will win. Allie is hoping that they afterlights in Atlantic City will be able to defeat the McGill again. The next day, Nick gets away to the mainland and makes his way to the only source of help: Mary. Meanwhile, the McGill has caught on to the fact the Allie was lying to him about being able to teach him how to skinjack, so he chimes her. Now, the McGill had a thousand souls and since he had found a fourtune that said "a thousand cowardly souls is worth a brave man's life", he thought that he could get his life back if he exchanged the 1000 kids. However, he also finds Allies fake fortune and heads to Atlantic City to make the exchange for his life. Nick meanwhile convinces Mary to come with him to help free the McGill's prisonners. Now when the McGill arrives in Atlantic City he finds that it is deserted and that the tough afterlights are gone.

If I were and afterlight in Everlost in Allie's position, I'd be very nervous about how this whole thing was playing out. I also think that Allie is being sort of a hero, trying to get Nick not to do anything while she gets everyone out. I would have supported what Nick had in mind, not argue with him. In fact, I might have tried to stage a revolt or mutiny of prisonners against the McGill and the crew of his ship. I think that then we'd have been able to get rid of the McGill, gain control of a ship and get back to the mainland and go free. I think what Allie did was less effective. It could have taken forever for the McGill to find the fake fortune and he may not have listened to it. I think that Allie's plans are getting more risky and less thought out. I think Nick will get to be the real hero of the situation by the end of the day.

Everlost chapters 16-20

Allie found her way aboard the ship by taking control of a real-life ferry man. She then proceeded to make the aquantance of the McGill. However, things didn't go quite as she had planned. The McGill, threatening to throw her over the side, demanded to know how she got aboard her ship. Allie told him that she possessed a living-world person to do it. The McGill, as it turned out, wanted to return to real life and demanded that Allie teach him how to possess the living. Allie agreeded, knowing that she could buy time this way. However, Allie knew she couldn't teach the McGill to possess the living, so she began a sort of training that was all bluff, to buy her time to figure out how to free Nick and Lief. While She was on his ship, Allie discovered something increadible and potentially useful: All fortures from chinese fortune cookies come true in Everlost. The McGill had a stash of fortune cookies that he liked to consult whenever he wanted to know something about his future. Allie also discovered something else: the only time the McGill had ever lost a battle was when he went up against a tough band of Afterlights in Atlantic City. They captured the McGill and he only escaped much later. With this in mind, Allie began to formulate a plan.

If I were an afterlight in Allie's situation, I would be pretty freaked out and pumped up at the same time. Let's look at the facts: I'm on a monster's ship, with the only thing stopping him from throwing me overboard is the false promis of teaching him to possess the living, which I can't in fact teach him. However, this is also an excellent adventure, so I would be pretty excited too. I think that the way Allie is manipulating the McGill is pretty ingenious. She has bought herself a lot of time and has made herself valuable to the McGill, so he can't throw her overboard. She is also discovering things about the McGill's ship and Everlost in general. She's playing smart, with everything she's got at her disposal. However, I don't know if it's going to last. The McGill is bound to figure out that Allie is bluffing about teaching him to possess the living and when he does, he will no longer value Allie, so he'll have no reason not to throw her overboard. Overall, I'm very pleased with how the story is progessing and I hope there are still more twists to come.

Allie, Nick and Lief reached the abandoned pickle factory, just like Skully said. The first thing that they noticed was that there were many things that the Haunter had taken from the living world, including gormet food. There, they met the Haunter and asked him to teach them how to influence the living world. The Haunter gave them a test: to pick up a stone that was from the living world. Of course, because they were afterlights, Nick and Lief both failed to pick up the stone. The Haunter then said that he can't teach, you only have the skill or you don't. When Nick and Lief failed to move the stone, the Haunter's goons grabed them and nailed them into barrels of pickled juice. This horrified Allie, and she was told to move the stone. She nearly failed, but she managed to shift it a tiny bit. As a reward, the Haunter threw her out of the pickle factory, telling her to come back when she was ready to learn. However, Allie only thought of rescuing her friends. She returned to Mary and tried to ask her for help. However, Mary refused, saying she wouldn't risk any other children in a rescue mission. Allie, furious, left the World Trade Center, determined never to go back. Shortly thereafter, Allie learned that she in fact did have a skill: She could do something called Body Surfing: she could read the minds of and even influence real-world people. However, she still needed allies, so she when to the only other people she knew: Johnnie-O's gang. Johnnie-O was skeptical at first, but he finally decided to help Allie when she told him about the food in the Haunter's hideout. They staged an attack on the Haunter's hideout but they were in for a surprise: The place was deserted, except for one single barrel and all the food. The gang fell upon the food immedietly, but Allie focused on the barrel. After a bit of investigation, Allie found that the Haunter was the one trapped in the barrel. He said that the McGill had raided his hideout and that he took everything to his ship in the harbor. He begged to be let out, but Allie wouldn't allow it. She asked the gang to help track down the McGill, but they wouldn't risk it. So Allie left them and headed towards the harbor. Meanwhile, Nick and Lief were chilling in their barrels, which had now been seized by the McGill. Lief had adapted pretty well to his new situation: he had attained some state of Nirvana. Nick however, was miserable. On his ship, the McGill was openning his barrels one by one. Only three of them were filled: Nick, Lief and a kid who never stopped screaming. The McGill decided to have them all chimed, and Nick is very apprehensive.

If I were an afterlight, or Allie, and I had to rescue, my friends, it would have been in a similar manner that Allie did. I would have gone back to ask Mary for help, and when she refused, I'd have too been furious. However, I wouldn't just leave. I would have stuck around for a while and tried to absorb any other useful information from the gathering of afterlights in the Global Trade Center. Once I did that, I'd have left to go find help elsewhere.

Everlost chapters 6-10 2nd Post

Allie and Nick are now on the road and learning fast about this strange new world. For example, even though they don't need to, the two kids want to rest and sleep. But finding a safe place to lie down where you won't sink into the ground was difficult. The only places where they can do so are places they call "dead spots", a place where someone in the living world had died. There, they could rest on the ground as long as they pleased. After three uneventful days of traveling, Nick and Allie got jumped by a gang. Their leader, Johnnie-O, claimed that Allie and Nick had crossed into his territory and he wanted payment. They searched Nick and Allie's pockets and they only thing that they came up with was Nick's piece of gum, which they took. However, they took an instant disliking to Allie and tried to push her into the gound, to sink her under the ground. However, just before they succeeded, Johnnie-O and his friends took off after hearing the scream of the McGill. However, it was really Lief who had fooled them into running away. Lief had left his forest to join them in their journey. He and Nick pulled Allie back out and together, they kept moving, keeping a lookout for Johnnie-O's gang. But they never saw them again. They kept moving on, and finally they reached New York. However, it was a sort of patchwork. For one thing, there were ice age glaciers around it and the two towers of the World Trade Center were still standing. They entered NYC and found a sort of community of Everlost kids, the one that Mary runs. She invited the three travalers to stay with them in their community and they accept, at least for a while. While they stay there, they learn a lot about Everlost, since Mary wrote so many books about it. Nick has become very attached to Mary (to the extream displeasure of Mary's companion Vari) and Lief to a Pac-Man arcade machine. However, Allie thinks that there's something wrong and she turns out to be right. While she's observing everything that is happening around the community, she realizes that the same exact thing happens every day. For example in the kick ball game out in the courtyard every day, the same team always loses seven to nine. Allie is afraid that she too will become part of the endless loop of life in Everlost if she doens't try to fight it. Nick and Lief have started to sink into this routine too, but Allie hatches a plan. Always in the mindframe of finding a way out of Everlost, she asks around and a kind named Skully who tells her that a kid who lives in a pickle factory a ways away can teach her what she wants to know. So, Allie grabs Lief and Nick and leaves the community to go find this kid. However, they don't know that Skully had sent them away because Vari, hating how Mary gave Nick attention, bribed him with food to send them away.

If I were a child who had been trapped in Everlost, I would have the exact same mindset as Allie. I would be questioning everything, especially the new weird laws of physics that cause the kids to do the exact same thing day after day. However, I may not have been so eager to leave Mary's community so fast. I would have wondered why Skully was willing to help me and find out what's up. Also, I would loath to leave a pac-man arcade machine that let you play free of charge. In the situation with Johnnie-O, I'd have run for it. Kids acting so hostile would do me no good, so I'd just bull through them and run for it. However, I can understand why Nick and Allie felt obliged to help each other out, and not run away individualy when they had the chance. They were a team. I'd have also been happy to have Lief come along: anyone with experience in this world would be very helpful. Finally, I wouldn't have gotten close to Mary the way Nick did. I would be very careful with how I interacted with other kids in Everlost. Overall, I would be very careful and calculating, using every opportunity to learn something.

Everlost ch. 1-5

Everlost is about a girl named Allie and a boy named Nick. While on their way to a wedding, the driver crashes and everyone in the car is killed... sort of. When Allie and Nick awake, they find that they are in a forest. Shortly afterwards, they meet a boy who tells them that they are in a realm called Everlost, a sort of dimension between life and death, where children in the living world who have died sometimes arrive, instead going on to where people usually go when they die. The boy, whom Allie and Nick decide to call Lief because he couldn't remember his old, living name, became a sort of guide for the two new arrivals. It turns out that Everlost has it's own rules of physics. For example, breathing is not required, you cannot feel pain, and if you stand too long in one spot, you sink into the ground, never to be seen again. Also, a monster known as the McGill is always trying to attack children in Everlost. Finally, it is impossible to leave Everlost. Once you arrive, you're there to stay. However, the forest where Nick, Allie and Lief are is sort of special. As long as you remain in the forest, you won't sink into the ground and the McGill will never find you, which is why Lief made it his home. Nick and Allie however, don't want to stay in the forest. They want to explore this new world and maybe, just maybe find an exit. Lief is strongly against this, not only because he thinks it's pointless, but he cares for the Nick and Allie. He doesn't want them to get caught by the McGill, nor sink into the ground. But the biggest reason that he wants them to stay is because he is lonely. But Nick and Allie decide to go anyway. In another part of Everlost, there is a leader who calls herself Mary Hightower, because she can't remember her living name either. She is a leader for several reasons, such as that she is one of the oldest at fifteen years old and she has done extensive research about Everlost and therefore is very knowledgeable. She has established a sort of community of children.

If I were one of the kids who had stumbled into Everlost, I would have a very mixed bag of feelings. I'd be shocked, miserable, amazed and curious all at the same time. The shock would be from the knowledge that I was no longer alive (but not dead either) and that I was cut off from everything I'd known, perhaps forever. The misery would be because I was separated from my friends and family. Amazement would stem from the fact that Everlost existed at all and that there was something beyond life and death. Finally, I'd be curious to find out as much as I could about this new dimension called Everlost. Like Nick and Allie, I would not have decided to stay with Lief in the forest, no matter how much danger there was outside of it. I would simply have to know what Everlost was and if there was a way to get back to the world of the living. I would have grilled Lief for all of the information that he had, and then set out to find something, anything, that could have helped me understand and come to accept Everlost.

Kit's Wilderness: Last Post, Pgs 190-229

Kit and Askew are still in the cave. Kit keeps trying to get Askew to come back to civilization, telling him that his family needs him, but Askew just tells Kit that he's been dreaming of killing his father. Then Askew cuts his own thumb and Kit's and they press them together in order to become "blood brothers". Suddenly, Kit see Askew holding the baby from the story of Lak, and Askew asks Kit to tell him the story, so Kit does. As he does, Askew says that he will be able to draw a picture for the story and as Kit drones on, the two of them see a vision of Lak's mother, asking Kit to bring him home. Lak manages to survive by killing deer and feeding himself, his sister and the dog on them. Finally he finds his family again and there is a joyful reunion. Eventually, Askew falls asleep and Kit does too. When they wake up, Allie has found them and is telling them that both that their parents and the whole town are worried sick for them. Then the three of them leave to go back into the world of light. Things are now back to normal. Kit is in school again, and even Askew is readmitted. Allie became a big hit in the play and all three were in the newspaper. However, Kit's grandfather finally died. But Kit still talks to him sometimes when he is dreaming.

If I were Kit, I'd have done everything almost exactly the same as he did. I'd have reasoned that if I had gone so far to try and get Askew to come back, I'd keep going until I succeeded or I failed. I wouldn't quit in the middle. However, I would have been a little annoyed about the newspaper article, because then I'd be afraid that people would look at me and reconize me and start to interrogate me about the night in the mine, which would just ruin my day. I would't like lots of publicity. I'd also have a feeling of success; I'd gotten Askew back, my new story about Lak was also widely appreciated and my life would be back to normal after all the worries of the past. I would be happy. However, I'd also be a bit miserable about grandpa dying. I've had some of my real-life grand parents and aunts and uncles die, and I'm always somewhat depressed for a while. But overall, I would be content with what I got and I'd go on, knowing that the future would bring good things.

Kit's Wilderness: 4th Post pgs 140-189

"The Snow Queen" in which Allie is staring is coming along well. Most of the hard work is done, and now the company is simply refining the entire show. Allie is quite excited and Kit is proud of her. Unfortunately, like a polar opposite, Kit's grandfather's health is steadly going down. He is now confined to a bed, and the family visits him often. However, half the time his grandfather is asleep, seemingly dreaming about the past, Silky, and the mines. Whenever he awakes, he doesn't really seem able to make sense of what's around him and he speaks very little. On a lighter side, Kit's story of Lak, the ice-age boy trying to find his family again is progressing quite steadily. Lak was able to find some food for himself and is still surviving, traking his own family. Allie has read the story and thinks that it's similar to what she does with acting. She's very impressed with it. Askew is still missing, and his family is getting desprate to find him. Kit is the only one who knows how to find him, but he still hasn't said anything because he feels that he has to change Askew back to the light before he comes back. Finally, openning night for the Snow Queen comes and during the show, Kit meets Bobby who says that Askew wants Kit to come meet him. By the end of the play (which was a big hit) Kit decides that he must go and see Askew, which he does. The next night, Kit finds Askew in another cave, deep into the woods. There, Askew keeps trying to see the darkness, and to find the lost souls from thousands of years ago, but Kit argues with him, saying that he (Askew) must come back into the light. Finally, Askew asks "Are you my friend?" to which Kit responds yes.

If I were Kit, I would be doing almost exactly what Kit is doing. I'd be impressed with Allie's part in "The Snow Queen", I'd be visiting my grandfather, I'd continue writing the story about Lak, and I'd keep trying to bring Askew back into the light. The difference would be my opinions, reactions and emotions associated with every action. In respects to the play, I would be impressed and proud of Allie's performance and I'd congratulate her and be happy for her. However, I would be much more preoccupied with my grandfather's failing health. It would have me worried sick, questioning everything and distracting me from my normal life. That, coupled with Askew's problem would have me constantly on edge. My writing of Lak's story might plummit in quality. Perhaps I would stop writing it altogether. However, I would had definitely gone to find Askew in the cave in the woods. I would have thought "If I can get Askew to come back, I'll be rid of one of the things that's troubling me". I therefore would have done my best to get Askew to come back into the light, not sink into his weird darkness. I would also be pitying him a bit. I would have done the same things that Kit did, but how and why would have been completly different.

Kit's Wilderness: 3rd Post pgs 94-139

Kit’s grandfather strength has taken a bad turn. He collapsed in Kit’s house and had to be moved to a hospital. It is now fully wintertime and the fact that Allie is starring in the winter play, “The Snow Queen” is causing a great sensation. Even the weather seems to be effected; more snow has fallen this year then for many years before. Kit finds Askew in the wilderness and tries to get him to come back into the light, but Askew refuses. In English class, Kit has begun to write another story, which is also effected by the theme of winter. It is the story of Lak, who survives with his family during the time of the ice age. However, Lak and his baby sister are separated from his family after they are attacked by a bear and he and his sister are left for dead. Meanwhile, Allie prepares for her role by learning a magic trick in which she makes small objects disappear and reappear again. Kit then begins to have dreams about his grandfather being made to reappear again, completely healthy and Lak’s family reappearing to Lak when his mother pays a magician to “bring him back”. During all this time, Kit’s grandfather is still ill and Askew remains hidden from the rest of Stoneygate.

In Kit’s shoes, I’d have been very alarmed if my grandfather had callapsed all of a sudden. I would have been even further distressed to realized that he had to be moved for an indefinite amount of time into a hospital, meaning he’d be separated from us, his family. I think that, more then anything else, family can help someone to recover better then any medication because it gives the suffering person a reason to keep fighting for better health. Of course, I’d have been quite proud of Allie for being able to become the star of the winter show at our school too, but I’d still be quite preoccupied with my grandfather. I might have even begun to get distanced from her. Not that I would want that, this sort of thing has happened to me before and that’s what happened. If I were writing the story about Lak, I’d be strongly influenced by what’s happening in my life. Perhaps I’d make the entire story a metaphor for what was happening in my real life. Lak would represent Grandpa, Lak’s family would be my own family and the old magician would be Allie. In this case, the story would focus on the view of the sufferer, Lak/Grandpa. Then I’d give the story a happy ending where Lak finds his family again and hope that Grandpa gets better, so that it follows the story.

Kit's Wilderness Post 2 pgs. 47-92

In this part of the book, Kit is finally chosen in the game of "Death" to be the one to die, to be left in the cave to find his way out alone. When he is left alone, Kit faints. When be comes to, seemingly hours later, he finds his way out to find that only Askew (with Jax, the wild dog) and Allie were still waiting for him. Over the next few days, Kit's relationship with his friends grow. However, his grandpa's health is getting worse, to the point where he blanks out for lengths of time. Then, Kit is again chosen to be the one to "die", after have talked to his english teacher after school. However, this time, that same teacher catches on to the game and the results are drastic. All the participents of the game tell the truth about the game, Askew is expeled from school and the den is filled in. By this time, winter has arrived. Life in Stoneygate has returned to normal, however once Kit ran into Askew in the wilderness, and Kit's grandpa is getting worse.

If were Kit and I had been chosen to "die" in a cave, I probably wouldn't have made a big deal out of it. I've been in caves before, and this one wouldn't have been much different, even with all of the stories of death, demons, angels and the rest. I am generally pretty skeptical about stories that have no bases in fact. I may or may not have fainted. I might not have even been able to tell, the cave being so dark after the entrence is closed. However, I would be just as worried about my grandfather had I been in his place. His health would have been the most promanent thing on my mind, not a game. I also think that it was stupid of Kit to go play the silly game instead of going home to check on his grandpa. I don't really se why Kit is so attracted to the game, and to the pit where one of his ancestors used to mine. I would find it intersting, but not so much to the point where it alters my priorities. Later, once the game was stopped, I wouldn't have minded so much. However, I would be a little disappointed by the fact that they filled in the pit. I would have found it to be an interesting place to explore sometime. I would also be unnerved by the fact the John Askew was still clinging to the idea of the game and ancestors and connections even after the game is stopped and it's over. Enough is enough. Finally, having put the game out of my mind, I would be even more preoccupied with my grandfather's steadily deteriorating health. Many of the things that Kit does I would not do, but I can see why he does them even if I don't agree with his conclusions.

Kit's Wilderness: 1st Post

"Kit's Wilderness" is about a boy named Kit who moves with his family to a small town called Stoneygate in order to support his grandfather, who recently lost his wife. He gets used to his new life and makes some friends such as Allie and John Askew. John Askew is pretty mysterious at first, and Kit founds out why. Askew, Allie and Kit, along with a few others, are all descendants from the old families who used to mine coal in "the pit", the only really significant thing about Stoneygate. Because of their connection, they play a game they call "Death", where they leave one of their members in the mines for them to find their way out on their own. When they do, they tell stories of how they saw ghosts, demons, angels and more in the pit. Kit has many burdens, including wrestling with his feelings about playing the game and concern for his grandfather.

If I were Kit, I don't think that I would have the drive to play the game "Death", even if I was a member of one of the old families. It doesn't sound like fun and there is a small danger factor involved. It just seems like it would be a waste of my time. However, like Kit, I would also be concerned for my grandfather. I can guess that losing a spouse would be very shocking and could cause lots of psychological trauma. I'd be worried that he'd waste away, consumed by despair. I'd also have problems converting to my new life. I've moved residence before, and starting all over from scratch was very difficult, since I left my friends and everything familiar behind. Perhaps I'd become resentful for a while. However, eventually, that would pass and I'd be able to fit in with my new life.

Night - First Quote Reflection

"A transport just arrived from Antwerp. I shall go to see them tomorrow. Surely they will have news... He left. We never saw him again. He had been given the news. The real news."

I think that this passage contains a lot of power. Since Ellie lied to Stein about the situation of Stein's family, he (Stein) must have been crushed to learn the real truth, that his family was gone. Perhaps he felt disappointed that Ellie had lied to him. Ellie in turn, must have felt guilty for lying to Stein in the first place. The entire situation is simply depressing.