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When her head burst into the air again, Tally drew in great breaths and found herself laughing - everything had turned strangely clear, the world ne couldtoward the earth on her hoverboard

She lay there for a moment in the water, amazed at it all - the clarity of the sky and the perfection of a leafless tree nearby

Tally remembered her first bath in a cold streao

How it had shifted the way she saw the world - even before the operation had put the lesions on her brain, before she’d met David, e, realizing that nature didn’t need an operation to make it beautiful, it just was

Maybe she didn’t need a handsoly one, for that matter After all, Tally had cured herself without the pill and had made it all the way here on her own No one else she’d ever heard of had escaped the city twice

Maybe she’d always been bubbly, so in the wild, orit out

Tally was still in the pond when she heard the cry: a hoarse shout that came fro through her felt colder than the water The towels Tally had brought were brittle in the chill air, and she was still drying herself when a hoverboard streaked into view, banking to a halt a few ister that she was naked He ju in his hand Skidding to a halt by her pack, he waved the device across it - scanning it for bugs, she realized

"It’s not you," he said "I kneasn’t"

Tally was pulling on her clothes "But you already - "

"A signal just started up out of nowhere, broadcasting our location We picked it up on the radio, but haven’t localized it yet" He looked down at her pack, the relieved expression still on his face "But you didn’t bring it"

"Of course I didn’t" Tally sat down to yank on her boots Her pounding heart began to drive the cold from her body "Don’t you scan everyone who joins you?"

"Yeah But the bugwhen soo off at a certain time" His eyes scanned the horizon "The Specials will be here soon"

She stood "So we run"

He shook his head "We can’t go anywhere until we find it"

"Why not?" She pulled on crash bracelets

"It’s taken us ot, Tally We can’t leave the just joined us But on’t knohat’s safe to take until we figure out where the signal’s co up anywhere"

Tally hoisted her pack and snapped her fingers, her board rising into the air As she stepped on, herbath, she recalled so from earlier that day "Toothache," she said

"What?"

"Zane was in the hospital teeks ago It’s inside hi hard against the high gravities of their turns Tally stayed in the lead, positive that she was right The doctors had made Zane unconscious for a few minutes in the hospital while they’d repaired his broken hand They must have hidden a tracker in his teeth at the saular city doctors wouldn’t have done so like that on their own - it had to be the work of Special Circumstances

The camp was bedlam when they arrived New Smokies and Crims ran in and out of the observatory door with equip two piles beside Croy and Maddy, who stood waving scanners over everything wildly Others hurriedly repacked the scanned gear, getting ready to flee once the bug was found

Tally tipped back her hoverboard and forced it up as high as it would go, launching herself over the chaos, directly at the broken doht the lifters shuddered, then firnets found the steel frah to glide through, and Tally dropped straight down through the rising s off next to Zane’s makeshift bed

He looked up at her with a soft smile "Nice entrance, Tally"

She knelt beside hi on? Everyone’s freaking out"

"Which tooth hurts, Zone? You have to show er into his ht side Tally pulled his hand away and opened his mouth wider, and he made a whimper of protest

"Shush I’ll explain in a second"

Even in the diht, she could see it: One tooth stood out from the others, its shade of white imperfectly nal was co up sounded beside her ear; David had followed her down the hole into the dome He waved the scanner past Zane’s face, and it buzzed angrily "It’s in his mouth?"

David asked

"In his tooth! Get your mother"

"But, Tally - "

"Get her! You and I can’t take out a tooth!"

He put a hand on her shoulder "Neither can she Not in a few ly face "What are you saying, David?"

"Well have to leave him behind They’ll be here soon"

"No!" she shouted "Go get her!"

David swore and turned away, running toward the door of the observatory Tally looked down at Zane again

"What’s happening?" he asked