'There's enough time, if we hurry.'
'Enough time to what?'
'To drop by the Uglyville art school. They have bungee jackets in the basement. A whole rack of spares.'
David took a deep breath. 'Okay.'
'You're not scared, are you?'
'I'm not…' He grimaced. 'It's just that I've never seen this many people before.'
'People? We haven't seen anyone.'
'Yeah, but all those houses on the way here. I keep thinking of people living in every single one, all crowded together like that.'
Tally laughed. 'You think the burbs are crowded? Wait until we get to Uglyville.'
They headed back, taking the rooftops at top speed. The sky was pitch-black, but by now Tally could read the stars well enough to know that the first notes of dawn were only a couple of hours away.
Reaching the greenbelt, they turned back the way they'd come, neither of them speaking, concentrating instead on navigating through the trees. This arc of the belt brought them through Cleopatra Park, where Tally threaded the slalom poles for old times' sake. Her instincts twitched as they passed the path down to her old dorm. For a split second, it felt as if she could make the turnoff, climb in through her window, and go to bed.
Soon, the jumbled spires of the Uglyville art school rose up, and Tally brought the two of them to a halt.
This part was easy. It seemed like a million years ago that Tally and Shay had borrowed one of the school's bungee jackets for their final trick, Shay's leap onto the new uglies in the dorm library. Tally retraced her steps to the exact window they'd jimmied, a dirty, forgotten pane of glass concealed behind decorative bushes, and found that it was still unlocked.
Tally shook her head. This sort of burglary had seemed so daring two months before.
Back then, the library stunt was the wildest prank she and Shay could dream up. Now she saw tricks for what they were: a way for uglies to blow off steam until they reached sixteen, nothing but a meaningless distraction until their mutinous natures were erased by adulthood, and the operation.
'Give me the flashlight. And wait here.'
She slipped in, found the rack of spares, grabbed two bungee jackets, and was out in less than a minute.
When she pulled herself out of the window, she found David staring at her with wide eyes.
'What?' she asked.
'You're just so…good at all this. So confident. It makes me nervous just being inside city limits.'
She grinned. 'This is no big deal. Everyone does it.'
Still, Tally was happy to impress David with her burglary skills. In the last few weeks he'd taught her how to build a fire, scale a fish, pitch a tent, and read a contour map. It was nice to be the competent one for a change.
They crept back to the greenbelt and reached the river before the sky had even shown a sliver of pink.
Zooming past the white water and onto the vein of ore, they sighted the ruins just as the sky was beginning to change.
On the hike down, Tally asked, 'Tomorrow night, then?'
'No point in waiting.'
'No.' And there was every reason to attempt the rescue soon. It had been more than two weeks since the invasion of the Smoke.
David cleared his throat. 'So, how many Specials do you think will be in there?'
'When I was there, a lot. But that was during the day. I assume they have to sleep sometime.'
'So it'll be empty at night.'
'I doubt that. But maybe just a few guards.' She didn't say more. Even one Special would be more than a match for a pair of uglies. No amount of surprise would make up for the cruel pretties' superior strength and reflexes. 'We'll just have to make sure they don't see us.'
'Sure. Or hope they've got something else to do that night.'
Tally trudged ahead, exhaustion taking over now that they were safely out of the city, her confidence ebbing with every step. They'd traveled all this way without thinking very hard about the task ahead of them. Rescuing people from Special Circumstances wasn't just another ugly-trick, like stealing a bungee jacket or sneaking up the river. It was serious business.
And although Croy, Shay, Maddy, and Az were probably all prisoners in those horrible underground buildings, there was always the possibility that the Smokies had been taken somewhere else. And even if they hadn't, Tally had no idea exactly where they'd be inside the warren of puke-brown hallways.
'I just wish we had some help,' she said softly.
David's hand settled on her shoulder, bringing her to a halt. 'Maybe we do.'
She looked at him questioningly, then followed his gaze down toward the ruins. At the top of the highest spire, the last few flickers of a safety sparkler were sputtering out.
There were uglies down there.
'They're looking for me,' he said.
'So what do we do?'
'Is there any other way back to the city?' David asked.
'No. They'll come hiking right up this path.'
'Then we wait.'
Tally squinted, peering at the ruins. The sparkler had faded, and nothing was visible in the dawn light just starting to spill across the sky. Whoever was down there had waited until the last possible minute to head for home.
Of course, if they were looking for David, these uglies were potential runaways.
Rebellious seniors, not that worried about missing breakfast.
She turned to David. 'So, I guess uglies are still looking for you. And not just here.'
'Of course,' he said. 'The rumors will go on for generations, in cities all over, whether I'm around or not. Lighting a sparkler doesn't usually get an answer, so it'll be a long time before even the uglies I've met figure out I'm not showing up. And most of them already don't even think the Smoke-' His voice caught, and Tally took his hand. For a moment he'd forgotten that the Smoke didn't, in fact, exist anymore.
They waited in silence, until the sound of scrambling feet came across the rocks. It sounded like three or so uglies, talking in low tones as if still wary of the ghosts of the Rusty ruins.
'Watch this,' David whispered, pulling a flashlight from his pocket. He stood and pointed the light up at his own face, switching it on.
'Looking for me?' he said in a loud, commanding voice.
The three uglies froze, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Then the boy dropped his board, and it crashed onto the stones beside him, breaking their paralysis.
'Who are you?' one of the girls managed.
'I'm David.'
'Oh. You mean you're…'
'Real?' He switched off the light and grinned. 'Yeah, I get that question a lot.'
Their names were Sussy, An, and Dex, and they had been coming to the ruins for a month now. They'd heard rumors about the Smoke for years, since an ugly in their dorm had run away.
'I'd just moved to Uglyville,' Sussy said, 'and Ho was a senior. When he disappeared, everyone had these crazy theories about where he'd gone.'
'Ho?' David nodded. 'I remember him. He stayed for a few months, then changed his mind and came back. By now, he's a pretty.'
'But he really made it? To the Smoke?' An asked.
'Yeah. I took him there.'
'Wow. So it's real.' An shared an excited look with her two friends. 'We want to see it too.'
David opened his mouth, then closed it. His eyes drifted away to one side.
