hands grasped tally’s shoulders in the darkness.

“you made it!” it was david’s voice.

in her surprise, tally couldn’t speak, but pulled himclose, burying her face in his chest.

“who else is with you?”

she shook her head.

“oh,” david whispered. then his grip tightened as thecave shuddered around them. the roar of a hovercarpassed slowly overhead, and tally imagined the specials’

machines searching every crevice in the rock for signs oftheir prey.

had she led them to david? that would be perfect, herfinal betrayal.

the low rumble of pursuit passed over them again, anddavid pulled her deeper into the blackness, down a long,twisting path that grew colder and darker. a stillness settledaround her, damp and chill, and tally imagined again thetrainload of dead rusties buried among the stones.

they waited in silence for what seemed like hours,holding each other, not daring to speak until long after thesounds of the cars had faded.

finally david whispered, “what’s happening back atthe smoke?

“the specials came this morning.”

“i know. i saw.” he held her tighter. “i couldn’t sleep, soi took my board up the mountain to watch the sunrise.

they went right over me, twenty hovercars at once comingacross the ridge. but what’s happening now?”

“they put everyone in the rabbit pen, separating usinto groups. croy said they’re going to take us all back toour cities.”

“croy? who else did you see?”

“shay, a couple of her friends. the boss might havemade it out. he and i made a break together.”

“what about my parents?”

“i don’t know.” she was glad for the darkness. the fearin david’s voice was painful enough. his parents hadfounded the smoke, and they knew the secret of the operation.

whatever punishment awaited the other smokies, itwould be a hundred times worse for them.

“i can’t believe it finally happened,” he said softly.

tally tried to think of something comforting to say. allshe could see in the darkness was dr. cable’s mockingsmile.

“how did you get away?” he asked.

she pulled his hands to feel her wrists, where the320 scott westerfeldplastic bracelets of the handcuffs remained. “i cut throughthese, got up onto the roof of the trading post, and stolecroy’s hoverboard.”

“with specials guarding you?”

she bit her lip, saying nothing.

“that’s amazing. my mother says they’re superhuman.

their second operation augments all their muscles andrewires their nervous system. and they’re so scary-looking,a lot of people just panic the first time they see one.” heheld her tighter. “but i should have known you wouldescape.”

tally closed her eyes, which made no difference in theutter darkness. she wished they could stay in there forever,never having to face what was outside. “it was just goodluck.”

tally was amazed that she was lying again, already. ifshe had only told the truth about herself in the first place,the smokies would have known what to do with the pendant.

they could have attached it to some migratory bird,and dr. cable would be on her way to south americainstead of in the library overseeing the destruction of thesmoke.

but tally knew she couldn’t tell the truth, not now.

david would never trust her again, not after she’d destroyedhis home, his family. she’d already lost peris, shay, and hernew home. she couldn’t bear to lose david as well.

and what good would a confession do now? daviduglies 321would be left alone, and so would she, when they mostneeded each other.

his hands ran across her face. “you still amaze me,tally.”

she felt herself shudder, the words twisting in her likea knife.

in that moment, tally made a deal with herself.

eventually she would have to tell david what she hadunwittingly done. not now, but someday. when she’d madethings better, fixed part of what she had destroyed, maybethen he would understand. “we’ll go after them,” she said.

“rescue them.”

“who? my parents?”

“they came from my city, right? so that’s where they’lltake them. and shay and croy, too. we’ll rescue them all.”

david laughed bitterly. “us two? against a bunch ofspecials?”

“they won’t expect us.”

“but how will we find them? i’ve never been inside a city,but i hear they’re pretty big. more than a million people.”

tally took a slow breath, once again remembering herfirst trip out to dr. cable’s office. the low, dirt-coloredbuildings at the edge of the city, past the greenbelt andamong the factories. the huge, misshapen hill nearby. “iknow where they’ll be.”

“you what?” david pulled away from their embrace.

“i’ve been there. special circumstances headquarters.”

322 scott westerfeldthere was a moment of silence. “i thought they weresecret. most of the kids who come out here don’t evenbelieve in them.”

she went on, quietly horrified that another lie was cominginto her head with such ease. “a while ago i pulled areally bad trick, the kind that gets you special attention.”

she rested her head against david again, glad that shecouldn’t see his trusting expression. “i snuck into newpretty town. that’s where you live right after the operation,having fun all the time.”

“i’ve heard of it. and uglies aren’t allowed in, right?”

“yeah. it’s a pretty serious trick. anyway, i wore thismask and crashed a party. they almost caught me, so igrabbed a bungee jacket.”

“which is?”

“like a hoverboard, but you wear it. it was invented forescaping tall buildings in a fire, but new pretties use it mostlyfor goofing around. so i grabbed one, pulled a fire alarm, andjumped off the roof. it freaked a lot of people out.”

“right. shay told me the whole story on our way to thesmoke, saying you were the coolest ugly in the world,” hesaid. “but all i was thinking was that things must be reallyboring in the city.”

“yeah, i guess so.”

“but you got caught? shay didn’t mention that.”

the lie took form as she spoke, pulling on as manystrands of truth as it could reach. “yeah, i thought i’d gottenuglies 323away, but they found my dna or something. a few dayslater they took me to special circumstances, introduced meto this scary woman. i think she was in charge there. it wasthe first time i’d ever seen specials.”

“are they really that bad up close?”

she nodded in the dark. “they’re beautiful, absolutely.

but in a cruel, horrible way. the first time’s the worst. theyonly wanted to scare me, though. they warned me i’d be inbig trouble if i ever got caught again. or if i ever told anyone.

that’s why i never mentioned it to shay.”

“that explains a lot.”

“about what?”

“about you. you always seemed to know how dangerousit was here in the smoke. somehow, you understoodwhat the cities were really like, even before my parents toldyou the truth about the operation. you were the only runawayi ever met who really got it.”

tally nodded. that much was true. “i get it.”

“and you still want to go back there for my parents andshay? to risk getting caught? to risk your mind?”

a sob broke in her voice. “i have to.” to make it upto you.

david held her tighter, tried to kiss her. she had to turnher face away, tears finally coming.

“tally, you are amazing.”