Shay released her, cleaning the knife with a few quick swipes across her thigh. 'I'll make sure that you do.'
Tally swallowed, then licked her still-throbbing thumb. 'So can I come with you tonight, Boss? Please?'
'I suppose you have to now,' Shay said, smiling sadly. 'But you might not like what you see.'
After the others headed into the wild, Shay and Tally banked the bonfire, jumped on their boards, and flew toward the city.
New Pretty Town was lit with colorful explosions in the sky, just like every other night. Tethered hot-air balloons floated above the party spires, and gas torches lit the pleasure gardens, like bright snakes ascending the island's sloping sides. The tallest buildings cast jittering shadows in the fireworks' momentary light, reshaping the city's silhouette with every burst.
As they approached New Pretty Town, the ragged cheers of drunken bubbleheads scattered down to meet them. For a moment, the joyous sound made Tally feel like an envious ugly watching from across the river, waiting to turn sixteen. This was her first trip back to New Pretty Town since becoming a Special.
'Do you ever miss pretty days, Shay-la?' she said. They'd only spent a couple of months together in bubblehead paradise before everything had gotten complicated. 'It was kind of fun.'
'It was bogus,' Shay said. 'I'd rather have a brain.'
Tally sighed. She couldn't disagree—but having a brain hurt so much sometimes. She licked her thumb, where a red spot still marked her promise.
Climbing the island's slope through a pleasure garden, the two of them kept to the shadows, heading for the center of town. They glided right above a few entangled couples, but no one spotted them overhead.
'Told you we didn't need to switch on our sneak suits, Tally-wa.' Shay chuckled softly, letting the skintenna network carry her words. 'When it comes to bubbleheads, we're already invisible.'
Tally didn't answer, just looked down at the new pretties passing below. They looked so clueless, so completely unaware of all the dangers they had to be protected from. Their lives might be full of pleasure, but they seemed so meaningless to her now. She couldn't let Zane live like this.
Suddenly, laughter and screams came through the trees, approaching fast … at hoverboard speed. Flicking her sneak suit on, Tally angled into the thick pine needles of the nearest treetops. A line of boarders came slaloming through the garden, laughing like hysterical demons. She crouched lower, feeling her suit sprout dappled camouflage and wondering how so many uglies had snuck over to New Pretty Town all at once. Not a bad trick…
Maybe this bunch would be worth following.
But then she saw their faces: beautiful and huge-eyed, perfect in symmetry, absolutely clear of blemishes. They were pretties.
They shot past unaware, shrieking at the top of their lungs, zooming toward the river. Their screams faded, leaving only the smell of perfume and champagne.
'Boss, did you see—'
'Yeah, Tally-wa, I did.' Shay was silent for a moment.
Tally swallowed. Bubbleheads didn't hoverboard. You needed all your reflexes to stay on; you couldn't be all fuzzy-brained and easily distracted. When new pretties wanted thrills, they jumped off buildings wearing bungee jackets or rode in hot-air balloons, things that didn't require any skill.
But these pretties hadn't simply been boarding; they'd been doing it well. Things had changed in New Pretty Town since the last time Tally had been here. She remembered Special Circumstance's latest report, that there were more runaways leaving the city every week, an epidemic of uglies disappearing into the wild. But what would happen if pretties got it into their heads to run away? Shay emerged from her hiding place, her suit shifting from dappled green to matte black. 'Maybe the Smokies have been passing out more pills than we thought,' she said. 'They could be doing it right here in New Pretty Town. After all, if they've got sneak suits, they can go anywhere.'
Tally's eyes scanned the trees around them. In a well-tuned suit, as David's ambush had proven, you could hide even from a Special's senses. 'That reminds me, Boss. Where did the Smokies get hold of those suits? They couldn't make them, could they?'
'No way. And they didn't steal them either. Dr. Cable said that all the cities keep track of their military equipment. But nobody's reporting anything missing, not anywhere on the continent.'
'You told her about last night?'
'About the sneak suits, yes. But not about losing Fausto or our boards.'
Tally pondered this, floating in a lazy arc above a flickering torch. 'So…you think the Smokies found some old Rusty technology?'
'Sneak suits are too clever for the Rusties. They were only good at killing.' Shay's voice faded, and she stayed silent for a moment as a group of Bashers walked through the trees below, drumming loudly as they headed to some party by the river. Tally peered down, wondering if they looked more lively than normal Bashers. Was everyone in town getting more bubbly? Maybe the nanos' effects would rub off even on pretties who hadn't taken a pill—just as being around Zane had always made her bubblier.
After the group had passed, Shay said, 'Dr. C thinks the Smokies have some new friends. City friends.'
'But only Special Circumstances has sneak suits. Why would one of us—?'
'I didn't say this city, Tally-wa.'
'Oh,' Tally murmured. Cities didn't usually mess with one another's business—that sort of conflict was too dangerous. It could wind up like the wars the Rusties used to have, with whole continents vying for control, trying to kill one another. Just the thought of fighting with another city's Special Circumstances sent a nervous trickle down her spine…
They landed on top of Pulcher Mansion, coming down among solar cells and air extractors. A few bubbleheads stood on the roof, but they were transfixed by the dance of hot-air balloons and fireworks overhead and didn't see a thing.
It felt strange being on the roof of Pulcher again. Tally had practically lived here with Zane last winter, but she saw everything differently now. Smelled it differently too— scents of human habitation came from the spinning air extractors that dotted the roof. Totally unlike the fresh air of the wild, it made her feel anxious and crowded.
'Check this out, Tally-wa,' Shay said, sending a vision overlay through her skintenna. Tally opened it, and the building underfoot faded to transparency, revealing a grid of blue lines marked with glowing blobs.
She blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the overlay. 'Is this some kind of infrared?'
Shay laughed. 'No, Tally-wa. It's a feed from the city interface.' She pointed to a cluster of blobs two floors below. 'That's Zane-la and some friends. He's still in his old room, see?'
As Tally focused on each blob in turn, a name popped up beside it. She remembered the interface rings that bubbleheads and uglies wore, and how the city used them to keep track of people. Like all troublemaking pretties, though, Zane had probably been fitted with a bracelet, which was basically an interface ring that you couldn't take off.
The other blobs in Zane's room were labeled with names, most of which she didn't recognize. All her old Crim friends had been part of last winters big escape into the wild. Like Tally, they'd thought their way out of being bubbleheads, so they were Specials now—except for those who were still out in the wild, still Smokies.
Peris's name hovered right next to Zane's. Peris had been Tally's best friend since they were littlies, but during the escape he'd backed out at the last minute, deciding to stay a bubblehead. He was one pretty who would never be special, that much Tally knew.
But at least Zane had a familiar face around.
She frowned. 'It must be weird for Zane. Everyone can recognize him from all the tricks we pulled, but he might not even remember any of it…' She let her whisper fade, pushing the awful thoughts away.
'At least he's got some standards,' Shay said. 'There's about a dozen bashes happening in New Pretty Town tonight, but apparently none of them are bubbly enough for Zane and his crew.'
'But they're just sitting around in his room.' None of the blobs looked to be moving much. Whatever they were up to, it didn't look very bubbly.
