Everwild by Neal Shusterman

alliance with the Ripper was gone … but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be a reluctant alliance, if he played this right.
    â€œCome on,” he said to Johnnie-O, loudly enough for the Ripper to hear. “We came here for nothing. She couldn’t be any use in the war.”
    â€œThat’s right,” snapped the Ripper. “Get lost!”
    Nick turned to go then did a little mental countdown.
One … two … three …
    â€œWhat war?” asked the Ripper.
    Nick grinned—it was like waiting for thunder after lightning. He turned back to her and looked her over, shaking his head. “Not the one
you’re
fighting.”
    The Ripper looked away, her face betraying an odd mixture of shame and fury. There was a definite sense of craziness in her, but perhaps that could be dealt with. Perhaps it could be refined and directed.
    Johnnie-O pulled Nick aside, and spoke to him quietly. “I got this really bad feeling about her,” Johnnie-O whispered.
    â€œThat’s just because she ripped you.”
    â€œWhat if she does it again?”
    â€œI’ll make sure she won’t.”
    All the while, Zin kept watching them, trying to hear what they were whispering about.
    Nick went back over to her. “After careful consideration,” Nick said, “we’ve decided you’re army material.”
    She looked at Nick warily. “What’s my rank?”
    â€œPrivate first class, in charge of tactical field operations.” Nick had made it up on the spot, of course, but it sounded sufficiently impressive to make her consider it.
    â€œDo I get to rip weapons?”
    â€œYou’ll rip what your superior officers tell you to rip, oryou can go back up in that spaceship and launch yourself into orbit for all I care.”
    The Ripper scowled at him, but her scowl faded. She turned and looked up at the shuttle. “I tried that once, but it didn’t work,” she said. “I think they launch it from somewhere else. Someplace that ain’t in Everlost yet.”
    She considered the massive ship for a moment more, then turned back to Nick. “So do I gots to call you ‘sir’?”
    â€œYes,” Nick said, figuring it might help keep her in line. “As I am your general, you will address me as sir. This is Mr. Johnnie-O. He’s a sir too.”
    â€œI’m Zinnia,” said the Ripper, “but people call me Zin.”
    Johnnie-O folded his arms. “I won’t shake her hand.”
    Zin curled her lip in disgust. “I wouldn’t shake your hand anyway. Your hands are ugly.”
    In response Johnnie-O made two even uglier fists.
    Nick got between them before it could escalate. “Your first order is to rip something for us.”
    â€œShe already did rip something,” said Johnnie-O. Disgusted, he put his hand to his head, maybe to make sure that his brain was still there.
    â€œI mean something from the
living
world,” Nick said.
    Zin chuckled. “I thought you’d ask me to do sumpin’ hard.”
    She looked around, then saw a tattered tissue tumbling in the living-world wind. Casually she reached out with her right hand. With a faint shimmering of light, her hand poked a hole into the living world, she grabbed the tissue in midair, and pulled it back through the hole into Everlost. The portal into the living world closed almost instantly.
    â€œWhoa,” said Johnnie-O. “Abra-freaking-cadabra!”
    She handed the tissue to Nick. “There,” she said. “Maybe you can use it to wipe off all that chocolate ailing your face.” Then she added, “Sir.”
    Nick looked at the tissue in his hand, thinking it would take a lot more than a tattered Kleenex to get rid of his particular skin condition. “I’m impressed.”
    â€œSo you gonna tell me about your war?”
    Nick considered how to answer her. “What do you know about Mary, the Sky