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She , their invisibledown the chain Once or twice, the board actually scraped the links, sending a shudder through Tally She saw the balloon dip a little as her weight disrupted the delicate balance between hot air and gravity

Tally descended until she reached the halfway point, then began to climb toward the balloon Her board trembled harder as it left the party spire behind, until she was certain the lifters were about to fail, duht, crash bracelets werejerked to a halt by her wrists would probably dislocate a shoulder

Of course, that was nothing coht have done

But the lifters didn’t fail; the board continued to rise, cliondola of the balloon She heard a few shouts from the party spire’s balcony behind her, and knew she and Zane had been spotted What sort of bubbly new gaondola, looking doith a surprised expression

"Hey, look! So!"

"What? How?"

The other three pretties in the balloon crowded onto the near side to peer down at her, their shifting weightthe tether wobble Tally swore as her board swayed perilously under her feet

"Stay still up there!" she shouted "And don’t pull the burn chain!" Her barked commands werearound

Aboard had pulled alondola She bent her knees and jurasped the wicker rail

Hands reached down to help pull her up, and soon Tally was inside, facing four wide-eyed Hot-airs

Relieved of her weight, her board followed her up, and she pulled it in

"Whoa! How’d you do that?"

"I didn’t know hoverboards could coblood!"

"Who else?" She grinned and leaned over the side The ground was co the balloon earthward "Now, I hope you don’t o for a little ride"

By the ti on the lawn in front of Garbo Mansion, a pack of Crims on hoverboards had arrived, Fausto at their head Tally saw the pink-eared shape of Zane’s balloon coet out yet!" she told the hijacked Hot-airs "We don’t want this thing to shoot up into the air empty" They waited while Peris and Fausto cruised over and cliondola

"How ondola was made of wicker She ran her hand across the woven cane, which was still the perfect substance if you wanted soht, and flexible "Let’s take four in each"

"So what are you guys doing?" one of the Hot-airs got up enough nerve to ask

"Wait and see," Tally said "And when they interview you for the feeds, feel free to tell them all about it"

The four of theoing to be famous

"But keep quiet for the next hour or so Otherwise, our little trick won’t work, and it won’t be as bubbly a story"

They nodded obediently

"How do you release the tether?" Tally asked, realizing that for all her plans to do so, she’d never been up in a balloon

"Pull this cord to cut loose," one of the Hot-airs answered "And push this button when you want a hover-car to coet you"

Tally s

Seeing her expression, one of the Hot-airs said, "Hey, you guys are going somewhere really far, aren’t you?"

Tally paused for athat what she said would wind up on the feeds, and then be repeated down through generations of uglies and new pretties It orth the risk to tell the truth, she decided These four wouldn’t want to short-circuit their brush with cri to the authorities until it ay too late

"We’re going to the New Smoke," she said in a slow, clear voice They stared at her with disbelief

Chew on that, Dr Cable! she thought happily

The gondola shook, and Tally turned to find that Zane had jumped in "Mind if I join you?

There’s four inover one nal," Fausto said

Tally nodded As long as she and Zane escaped by balloon, it didn’t ing over their heads, purring like an idling jet engine, waiting to heat the air in the envelope again Tally just hoped it was powerful enough to expand the cuffs wider than their wrists, or at least destroy the transloves from her pocket and handed a pair to Zane

"Much better plan, Tally," he said, looking at the idling burner "A furnace that can fly We’ll be at the edge of the city by the time we’re free"