'I — Ah!' She pulled away, wiping at her face. A trickle of water had crawled inside Tally's hood and was running down her cheek like a cold, malevolent tear.
He laughed and stood up, pulling her to her feet. 'Come on, we can't stay here forever. Let's go back to Pulcher and get breakfast, and some dry clothes.'
'I wasn't uncomfortable.'
He smiled, but indicated his wrist and lowered his voice. 'If we sit in one place too long, someone might get curious about what the big deal is out here in Uglyville.'
'Whatever it is,' she whispered.
But Zane was right. They should go home. They hadn't eaten anything all day except for a few calorie- purgers and some coffee. Their winter coats were heated, but between the physical effort of hoverboarding and the shock of getting dumped into the freezing river, Tally was starting to feel exhaustion and cold down in her bones. Hunger, the cold, and the kiss were all dizzy-making.
Zane snapped his fingers, and his board rose into the air.
'Wait a second,' she said softly. 'There's one more thing I should tell you about the night of the breakthrough.'
'Okay.'
'After I took you home …' The thought of Dr. Cable's feral face made her shiver, but Tally took a calming breath. She'd been stupid not to drag Zane outside sooner, getting him away from Pulcher Mansion's smart walls to tell him about her encounter with the doctor. She didn't want any secrets between them.
'What's wrong, Tally?'
'She was waiting for me…,' she said. 'Dr. Cable.'
The name made Zane's face go blank for a moment, then he nodded. 'I remember her.'
'You do?'
'She's kind of hard to forget,' Zane said. He paused, staring out into the clearing. Tally wondered if he was going to say more.
Finally, she said, 'She made me a weird sort of offer. She wanted to know if I—' 'Shhh!' he hissed.
'What—,' she began, but Zane silenced her with a gloved hand. He turned and crouched in the mud, pulling her down beside him. Through the trees, a group of figures were marching into the clearing. They moved slowly, huddled in almost identical winter gear, their left wrists wrapped in black scarves. But Tally recognized one of them instantly, copper eyes bright and flash tattoo spinning in the cold.
It was Shay.
Tally counted ten of them, slogging with quiet determination across the muddy ground. They reached the middle of the clearing and arranged themselves in a wide circle around one of the slalom flags. Shay moved to stand in the center, turning slowly, peering at the others from under her hood. The others settled into place about an arm's length apart, facing Shay and waiting silently.
After a long moment motionless, she dropped her winter coat to the ground, pulling off her gloves and spreading her arms. She wore only trousers, a sleeveless white T-shirt, and the fake metal cuff on her left wrist. Tipping her head back, she let the rain pound against her face.
Tally shivered and gathered her own coat tighter around her. Was Shay trying to freeze herself to death?
The other figures did nothing for a moment. Then, slowly and with awkward glances at one another, they followed her example, pulling off coats and gloves and sweaters. As their hoods came down, Tally recognized two more Crims. Ho was there — one of Shay's old friends who had run away to the Smoke only to come back on his own. Tally also recognized Tachs, who'd joined the clique a few weeks before she had.
But the other seven pretties weren't Crims at all. They placed their coats on the ground gingerly, hugging themselves against the bitter cold. When Ho and Tachs spread their arms, the others followed reluctantly. Rain ran down their faces and plastered the white shirts to their skin.
'What are they doing?' Zane whispered.
Tally only shook her head. She noticed that Shay had gotten new surge, some sort of raised tattoo hash marks on her arms. They extended from elbow to wrist, and Ho and Tachs seemed to have copied the design.
Shay began to speak, facing upward, addressing the flag overhead like a crazy person talking to nobody in particular. Her voice didn't carry across the clearing except for a word here and there. Tally couldn't make sense of it — the cadence sounded like a chant, almost like the prayers that Rusties and pre-Rusties had once offered up to their invisible superheroes in the sky.
After a few minutes, Shay fell silent, and again the group stood without saying a word, all shivering in the cold except the apparently insane Shay. Tally realized that the non-Crims all had flash tattoos on their faces, fresh- looking surge that glistened in the rain. She guessed that since the stadium disaster, swirly face tattoos must be the rage, but it was an awfully big coincidence that all seven of the unknown pretties had them.
'Those pings from wannabees,' she whispered. 'Shay's been recruiting.'
'But why?' Zane hissed. 'We all agreed that newbies were the last thing we need right now.'
'Maybe she needs them.'
'For what?'
A shiver went through Tally. 'For this.'
Zane swore. 'We'll just veto them.'
Tally shook her head. 'I don't think she cares about vetoes. I'm not sure if she's still a—' Shay's voice cut through the rain again. She reached into her back pocket and produced an object that glittered coldly in the gray light. It unfolded into a long knife.
Tally's eyes widened, but none of the pretties in the circle looked surprised; their expressions revealed a mix of queasy fear and excitement.
Holding the knife aloft, Shay spoke more words in the same slow, deliberate cadence, and Tally heard one repeated enough to make it out.
It sounded like 'Cutters.'
'Let's get out of here,' she said so softly that Zane must not have heard. She wanted to climb on her hoverboard and flee, but Tally found she couldn't move, or look away, or close her eyes.
Shay took the knife with her left hand and placed its edge against her right forearm, the wet metal gleaming. She raised both arms, turning slowly, fixing each of the others with her burning gaze. Then she looked up into the rain.
The movement was so slight that Tally hardly saw it from their hiding place, but she knew what had happened from the reactions of the others. Their bodies shuddered, eyes widening with horrified fascination — like Tally, they couldn't look away.
Then she saw the blood begin to trickle from the wound. It ran thinly in the rain, spreading down Shay's upraised arm and onto her shoulder, reaching her shirt, spreading a color that was more pink than red.
She turned around once to give them all a good look, her slow, deliberate movements as disturbing as the blood running down her arm. The others were shivering visibly now, shooting furtive glances at one another.
Shay finally lowered her arm, swaying a little on her feet, and held out the knife. Ho stepped forward to take it from her, and she took his place in the circle.
'What is this?' Zane whispered.
Tally shook her head and closed her eyes. The rain became suddenly deafening around her, but she heard her own words through the torrent. 'This is Shay's new cure.'
The others followed one by one.
Tally kept on expecting them to run, thinking that if only one of them would make a break for it, the rest would scatter into the forest like scared rabbits. But something— the bleak setting, the spirit-sapping rain, or maybe the crazed expression on Shay's face — bound them to their spots. They all watched, and then, one by one, they cut themselves. And as each did so, their faces transformed to become more like Shay's: ecstatic and insane.
With every cut, Tally felt something hollowing out inside her. She couldn't forget that there was more to this ritual than madness. She remembered the night of the costume party. Her fear and panic had made her bubbly
