beneath the cork. She popped it, watching the cork soar into the dark void. 'Everything's under control.'
Froth bubbled out, and Tally put one thumb over the bottle's mouth. Shaking the bottle, she sprayed champagne across the floor of the gondola. An angry sizzle came from the smoldering flames.
'Got it!' Zane cried at that moment. His cuff fell off and rolled under her feet, and Tally calmly emptied the rest of the bottle onto it. The smell of molten metal rose up around her, tinged with an oddly sweet smell: boiled champagne.
Zane was staring with amazement at his freed left hand. He pulled off the heat-resistant gloves and tossed them overboard. 'It worked!' he said, and swept Tally into a hug.
She laughed, letting the bottle drop to the floor and pulling off her own gloves. 'Time for that later. Let's get out of here.'
'Okay.' He balanced his board on the gondola's railing, looking down. 'Damn, that's a long fall.'
Fausto tugged at a dangling cord. 'I'll vent some hot air — maybe we can get a little lower.'
'No time,' Tally cried. 'We're almost at the end of town. If we get separated, meet at the tallest building in the ruins. And remember: Don't let go of your board on the way down!'
They all scrambled to put on their backpacks, bumping into one another in the small space, Zane and Tally struggling back into their winter coats and crash bracelets. Fausto pulled off his interface ring and threw it to the gondola floor, grabbed his board, and jumped out with a whoop. The balloon pitched upward as his weight left it behind.
When Zane was ready, he turned and kissed her. 'We did it, Tally. We're free!'
She looked into his eyes, dizzy with the thought that they were finally here, at the edge of the city, at the beginning of freedom. 'Yeah. We made it.'
'See you down there.' He looked over his shoulder at the distant earth, then turned back to her. 'I love you.'
'I'll see you down…,' she began, but the words sputtered out. It took a moment to replay in her mind what Zane had said. Finally she managed, 'Oh. Me too.'
He laughed, then let out a wordless cry as he tumbled over the rail, the gondola bucking again under its two remaining passengers.
Tally blinked, dazzled for a moment by Zane's unexpected words. But she shook her head to clear it. This was no time to get pretty-headed; she had to jump now.
She pulled the straps of her backpack tight, wrestling her hoverboard up onto the rail. 'Hurry up!' she shouted at Peris.
He was just standing there, staring over the side.
'What are you waiting for?' she cried.
He shook his head. 'I can't.'
'You can do it. Your board will stop your fall — all you have to do is hang on!' she shouted. 'Just jump! Gravity does the rest!'
'It's not the fall, Tally,' Peris said. He turned to face her. 'I don't want to leave.'
'What?'
'I don't want to leave the city.'
'But this is what we've been waiting for!'
'Not me.' He shrugged. 'I liked being a Crim, and being bubbly. But I never thought we'd get this far. I mean, like, leaving home forever?'
'Peris…'
'I know you've been out there before, you and Shay. And Zane and Fausto always talked about escaping. But I'm not like you guys.'
'But you and me, we're…' Tally's voice caught. She was about to say 'best friends forever,' but the old words wouldn't come anymore. Peris had never been to the Smoke, had never tangled with Special Circumstances, had never even been in trouble. Everything had always gone smoothly for him. Their lives had been so different for so long.
'You're sure you want to stay?'
He nodded slowly. 'I'm sure. But I can still help. I'll keep them busy for you. I'll stay airborne as long as I can, then push the pickup button. They'll have to come out and get me.'
Tally started to argue, but she couldn't help remembering sneaking across the river right after Peris's operation, visiting him in Garbo Mansion. He had adjusted so quickly, loving New Pretty Town right from the beginning. Maybe the whole Crim thing had just been a joke to him…
But she couldn't leave him here in the city alone. 'Peris, think. Without us around, you won't be bubbly anymore. You'll go back to being a pretty-head.'
He smiled sadly. 'I don't mind, Tally. I don't need to be bubbly.'
'You don't? But don't you feel how much…better it is?'
He shrugged. 'It's exciting. But you can't keep fighting the way things are forever. At some point, you have to …'
'Give up?'
Peris nodded, the smile still on his face, as if giving up wasn't really that bad, as if fighting was only worthwhile as long as it was amusing.
'Okay. Stay, then.' She turned away, not trusting herself to say anything more. But when Tally looked down, all she saw was darkness. 'Oh, crap,' she said softly.
The city had run out. It was too late to jump.
Side by side, they stared into the darkness, the wind carrying them farther and farther away.
Peris finally broke the silence. 'We'll come down eventually, right?'
'Not soon enough.' She sighed. 'The wardens probably already know that our cuffs are fried. They'll come looking for us soon. We're sitting ducks up here.'
'Oh. I really didn't mean to screw things up for you.'
'It's not your fault. I waited too long.' Tally swallowed, wondering if Zane would ever find out what happened. Would he think she'd fallen to her death? Or would he guess that she'd chickened out, like Peris?
Whatever he thought, Tally saw their future fading out, disappearing like the distant lights of the city behind them. Who knew what Special Circumstances would do to her brain when they caught her again?
She looked at Peris. 'I really thought you wanted to come.'
'Listen, Tally. I just got caught up in everything. Being a Crim was exciting and you were my friends, my clique. What was I supposed to do? Argue against running away? Arguing's bogus.'
She shook her head. 'I thought you were bubbly, Peris.'
'I am, Tally. But tonight is about as bubbly as I want to get. I like breaking the rules, but living out there!' He waved his hand at the wild below them, a cold, unfriendly sea of darkness.
'Why didn't you tell me before now?'
'I don't know. I guess it wasn't until we got up here that I realized you guys were so serious about…never coming back.'
Tally closed her eyes, remembering what having a pretty mind was like — everything vague and fuzzy, the world nothing but a source of entertainment, the future nothing but a blur. A few tricks weren't enough to make everyone bubbly, she supposed; you had to want your mind to change. Maybe some people had always been pretty-heads, even back before the operation had been invented.
Maybe some people were happier being that way.
'But now you can stay with me,' he said, putting his arm around her. 'It'll be like it was supposed to be. You and me pretty — best friends forever.'
Tally shook her head, a sickening feeling sweeping over her. 'I am not staying, Peris. Even if they take me back tonight, I'll find a way to escape.'
'Why are you so unhappy there?'
She sighed, looking out over the darkness. Zane and Fausto would already be headed toward the ruins, thinking she wasn't far behind. How had she let this opportunity slip away? The city always seemed to claim her in the end. Was she really like Peris, somewhere deep inside?
