He nodded. 'Of course, Young Blood. Just speak the magic word.'
Tally blinked. 'A magic word? Andrew, it's me. I may not know any magic words, but I've been trying to get to the Smoke since you met me.'
'True. But I've made a promise.' He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. 'What happened to you, Young Blood, after you left? When I reached the ruins, I told the Smokies how you had appeared to us. They said the city had taken you away again. Had done things to you.' He gestured at her face. 'Is that another fashion statement?'
Tally sighed, looking into his eyes. He was just a random, and a particularly random random at that, with his uneven teeth and spotty, never-washed skin. But for some reason, she didn't want to lie to Andrew Simpson Smith. For one thing, it seemed way too easy, tricking someone who couldn't even read, who'd spent all but the last few weeks of his life trapped in an experiment.
'Your heart is beating fast, Young Blood.'
Tally's hand went to her face, which was no doubt spinning. Andrew hadn't forgotten how flash tattoos revealed excitement and distress. Maybe it was pointless to lie to him. Instincts that could detect someone in a sneak suit were not to be underestimated.
She decided to tell the truth. The part that was important to her, anyway.
'Let me show you something, Andrew,' she said, peeling off her right glove. She held out her palm, the short-circuited flash tattoos sputtering in time with her heartbeat in the moonlight. 'See those two scars? They're marks of my love … for Zane.'
He stared at her hand wide-eyed, nodding slowly 'I've never seen scars on your people before. Your skin is always…perfect.'
'Yeah. We only have scars if we want to, so they always mean something. These mean that I love Zane. He's the one who looked unwell, kind of shaky? I need to follow him, to make sure he's okay out here.'
Andrew nodded slowly. 'And he's too proud to accept the help of a woman?'
Tally shrugged. The villagers were pretty much Stone Age about the whole gender thing, too. 'Well, let's just say he doesn't exactly want my help right now.'
'I was not too proud when you taught me about the world.' He smiled. 'Maybe I'm smarter than Zane.'
'Maybe you are.' She made a fist with her bare hand. The ridges of scarring across her palm still felt stiff. 'I'm asking you to break your promise, Andrew, and tell me where they're headed. I think I can cure Zane of his shakes. And I'm worried about him being out here with a bunch of city kids. They don't understand the wild like you and I do.'
He still stared at her hand, thinking hard. Then his eyes raised to meet hers. 'Without you, I'd still be trapped inside a false world. I want to trust you, Young Blood.'
Tally forced herself to smile. 'So you'll tell me where the New Smoke is?'
'I don't know. It's too big a secret for me. But I can give you a way.' He reached into a pouch at his belt and withdrew a handful of tiny chips.
'Position-finders,' Tally said softly. 'With a route programmed in?'
'Yes. This one brought me here to meet these young runaways. And this one will lead you to the New Smoke. Do you know how it works?' Andrew's calloused, grubby forefinger hovered over the boot button of one of the finders, and there was an eager look on his face.
'Yeah, no problem. I've used them before.' Tally smiled back at him, reaching for the device.
He pulled it away. She looked up, hoping she wouldn't have to take it by force.
His fist stayed closed. 'Do you still challenge the gods, Young Blood?'
Tally frowned. Andrew knew that she had changed, but how much?
'Answer me,' he said, his eyes bright in the moonlight.
She took a moment before answering. Andrew Simpson Smith wasn't like the non-Specials in the city, the blank-eyed mass of uglies and pretties. Living in the wild had made him more like her: a hunter, a warrior, a survivor. With the scars of a dozen fights and accidents, he almost looked like a Cutter.
Somehow, Tally didn't see Andrew as wallpaper. Whether or not she could deceive him, she realized now that she didn't want to.
'Do I still challenge the gods?' Tally thought of what she and Shay had done the night before, breaking into the city's most guarded facility and practically destroying it in the process. They had set off on their own without telling Dr. Cable their true plans. And this whole journey was, for Tally at least, more about fixing Zane than winning the city's war against the Smoke.
The Cutters might be Specials, but over the last few days Tally Youngblood had reverted to her own nature: thoroughly Crim.
'Yes. I still challenge them,' she said softly, realizing that it was true.
'Good.' He grinned, relieved, and handed her the position-finder. 'Go then, follow your boyfriend. And tell the New Smoke that Andrew Simpson Smith was very helpful.'
As Tally made her way back down the river, she held the position-finder tightly in her scarred hand, thinking hard.
Once she told Shay about her encounter with Andrew Simpson Smith, the plan would change. With the finder the two of them could fly ahead of the slow-moving runaways, reaching the New Smoke long before Zane and his crew. By the time the Crims arrived, their destination would be a Special Circumstances encampment, full of imprisoned Smokies and recaptured runaways. Showing up after the rebellion had already been crushed wouldn't make Zane look very bubbly.
Worse, he'd be out here on his own for the rest of the trip, with only his Crim friends to help if something went seriously wrong. One bad fall from his hoverboard and Zane might not survive to see the New Smoke at all.
But how much would Shay care about all that? What she really wanted was to find the New Smoke, save Fausto, and get her revenge on David and the rest of them. Babysitting Zane wasn't her idea of an important mission goal.
Tally slowed to a stop, suddenly wishing she hadn't run into Andrew Simpson Smith at all.
Of course, Shay didn't know about the position-finder yet. Maybe she didn't need to know. If they stuck with the original plan, tracking the Crims the old-fashioned way, Tally could save the finder as a backup in case they lost the trail…
She opened her hand, looking down at the finder and at her scars, wishing for some of the clarity she'd felt the night before. She thought of drawing her knife, but remembered the expression on Zane's face as he stared at her scars.
It wasn't that she needed to cut herself, after all.
Tally closed her eyes, willing herself to think clearly.
Back in ugly days, Tally had always wimped out on decisions like this one. She'd always avoided any confrontation. That's how she'd wound up betraying the Old Smoke by accident, too afraid to tell anyone about the tracker she carried. And how she'd lost David, by never telling him she'd been a spy.
Lying to Shay now was what the old Tally would have done.
She took a deep breath. She was special now; she had clarity and strength. This time, she would tell Shay the truth.
Closing her fist, Tally urged her board forward again.
Ten kilometers upriver, her skintenna pinged as it picked up Shay's.
'I was getting worried about you, Tally-wa.'
'Sorry, Boss. I ran into an old friend.'
'Really? Anyone I know?'
'You never met him. Remember my campfire stories about the Restricted Experimental Area? The Smokies have started freeing the villagers and training them to help with runaways.'
'That's crazy!' Shay paused. 'But wait a second. You knew him? He was from the same village you stumbled into?'
'Yeah, and I'm afraid it's no coincidence, Shay-la. It's the holy man who helped me, remember? I told him
