Her voice had the same slow, neutral cadence as a bedtime book. But it hardly made Tally sleepy. An edge was hidden in the voice, like a piece of metal slowly marking glass.
'You have a problem, Tally.'
'I had kind of guessed that, uh…' It was strange, not knowing the woman's first name.
'Dr. Cable will do.'
Tally blinked. She'd never called anyone by their last name in her life.
'Okay, Dr. Cable.' She cleared her throat and managed to say more, in a dry voice. 'My problem right now is that I don't know what's going on. So…why don't you tell me?'
'What do you think's going on, Tally?'
Tally closed her eyes, taking a rest from the sharp angles of the woman's face. 'Well, that bungee jacket was a spare, you know, and we did put it back on the recharge pile.'
'This isn't about some ugly-trick.'
She sighed and opened her eyes. 'No, I didn't think so.'
'This is about a friend of yours. Someone missing.'
Of course. Shay's disappearing trick had gone too far, leaving Tally to explain. 'I don't know where she is.'
Dr. Cable smiled. Only her top teeth showed when she did. 'But you do know something.'
'Who are you, anyway?' Tally blurted. 'Where am I?'
'I'm Dr. Cable,' the woman said. 'And this is Special Circumstances.'
First Dr. Cable asked her a lot of questions. 'You didn't know Shay long, did you?'
'No. Just this summer. We were in different dorms.'
'And you didn't know any of her friends?'
'No. They were all older than her. They'd already turned.'
'Like your friend Peris?'
Tally swallowed. How much did this woman know about her? 'Yeah. Like Peris and me.'
'But Shay's friends didn't wind up pretty, did they?'
Tally took a slow breath, remembering her promise to Shay. She didn't want to lie, though. Dr. Cable would know if she did, Tally was sure. She was in enough trouble already. 'Why wouldn't they?'
'Did she tell you about her friends?'
'We didn't talk about stuff like that. We just hung out. Because…it hurt being alone. We were just into playing tricks.'
'Did you know she'd been in a gang?'
Tally looked up into Dr. Cable's eyes. They were almost as big as a normal pretty's, but they angled upward like a wolf's.
'A gang? How do you mean?'
'Tally, did you and Shay ever go to the Rusty Ruins?'
'Everyone does.'
'But did you ever sneak out to the ruins?'
'Yeah. A lot of people do.'
'Did you ever meet anyone there?'
Tally bit her lip. 'What's Special Circumstances?'
'Tally.' The edge in her voice was suddenly sharp as a razor blade.
'If you tell me what Special Circumstances is, I'll answer you.'
Dr. Cable sat back. She folded her hands and nodded. 'This city is a paradise, Tally. It feeds you, educates you, keeps you safe. It makes you pretty.'
Tally couldn't help looking up hopefully at this.
'And our city can stand a great deal of freedom, Tally. It gives youngsters room to play tricks, to develop their creativity and independence. But occasionally bad things come from outside the city.'
Dr. Cable narrowed her eyes, her face becoming even more like a predator's. 'We exist in equilibrium with our environment, Tally, purifying the water that we put back in the river, recycling the biomass, and using only power drawn from our own solar footprint. But sometimes we can't purify what we take in from the outside. Sometimes there are threats from the environment that must be faced.'
She smiled. 'Sometimes there are Special Circumstances.'
'So, you guys are like minders, but for the whole city.'
Dr. Cable nodded. 'Other cities sometimes pose a challenge. And sometimes those few people who live outside the cities can make trouble.'
Tally's eyes widened. Outside the cities? Shay had been telling the truth-places like the Smoke really existed.
'It's your turn to answer my question, Tally. Did you ever meet anyone in the ruins?
Someone not from this city? Not from any city?'
Tally grinned. 'No. I never did.'
Dr. Cable frowned, her eyes darting downward for a second, checking something. When they returned to Tally, they had grown even colder. Tally smiled again, certain now that Dr. Cable knew when she was telling the truth. The room must be reading her heartbeat, her sweat, her pupil dilation. But Tally couldn't tell what she didn't know.
The razor blade slid back into the woman's voice. 'Don't play games with me, Tally. Your friend Shay will never thank you for it, because you'll never see her again.'
The thrill of her small victory disappeared, and Tally felt her smile fade.
'Six of her friends disappeared, Tally, all at once. None of them has ever been found.
Another two who were meant to join them chose not to throw their lives away, however, and we discovered a little about what had happened to the others. They didn't run away on their own. They were tempted by someone from outside, someone who wanted to steal our cleverest little uglies. We realized that this was a special circumstance.'
One word sent ice down Tally's spine. Had Shay really been stolen? What did Shay or any ugly really know about the Smoke?
'We've been watching Shay since then, hoping she might lead us to her friends.'
'So why didn't you…,' Tally blurted out. 'You know, stop her!'
'Because of you, Tally.'
'Me?'
Dr. Cable's voice softened. 'We thought she had made a friend, a reason to stay here in the city. We thought she'd be okay.'
Tally could only close her eyes and shake her head.
'But then Shay disappeared,' Dr. Cable continued. 'She turned out to be trickier than her friends. You taught her well.'
'I did?' Tally cried. 'I don't know any more tricks than most uglies.'
'You underestimate yourself,' Dr. Cable said.
Tally turned away from the vulpine eyes, shut out the razor-blade voice. This was not her fault. She had decided to stay here in the city, after all. She wanted to become pretty.
She'd even tried to convince Shay.
But failed.
'It's not my fault.'
'Help us, Tally.'
'Help you what?'
'Find her. Find them all.'
She took a deep breath. 'What if they don't want to be found?'
'What if they do? What if they were lied to?'
Tally tried to remember Shay's face that last night, how hopeful she had been. She'd wanted to leave the city
