Page 26 (2/2)

"I don’t think that for a minute," she said softly

"I can tell It’s not just a trick to you, like it is to most runaways Even Shay, who really believes the operation is wrong, doesn’t get how deadly serious the S

After a long erous out here The cities are like these boulders Theywith them, the whole pile could crumble"

"I think I knohat you et her operation, she’d felt theover her, and had learned firsthand how much places like the Smoke threatened people like Dr Cable "But I don’t really understand why they care sostory But part of it is"

She waited for a , "Is what?"

"Well, this is a secret I don’t usually tell people until they’ve been here for a while Years But you seeh to handle it"

"You can trust me," Tally said, then immediately wondered why She was a spy, an infiltrator She was the last person David should trust

"I hope I can, Tally," he said, reaching out to her "Feel the palers over the flesh It was as rough as the wood grain of the table in the dining hall, the skin along his thue No wonder he could work all day and not coet calluses like that?"

"About eighteen years"

"About?" She stopped in disbelief, then compared the horn of his palm with her own tender, blistered flesh Tally could feel it there, the grueling afternoon of real work she’d put in today, but stretched across a lifetime "But how?"

"I’m not a runaway, Tally"

"I don’t understand"

"My parents were runaways, not me"

"Oh" She felt stupid now, but it had never once occurred to her If you could live in the Smoke, you could raise children here too But she hadn’t seen any littlies And the whole place see a child on a cae? Without any doctors, I mean"

"They are doctors"

"Huh Buthang on Doctors? How old were they when they ran away?"

"Old enough They weren’t uglies any a middle pretty?"

"Yeah, at least" New pretties worked or studied, if they wanted to, but few people got serious about a profession until their lies?"

"They weren’t But they are now"

Tally tried to get her mind to process his words "You mean, they never did the third operation? They still look h they’re crumblies?"

"No, Tally I told you: They’re doctors"

A shock ran through her This wasthan the felled trees or the cruel pretties; as overwhelone away"They reversed the operation?"

"Yes"

"They cut each other? Out here in the wild? To make the to gag

"No They didn’t use surgery"

Suddenly the dark cave see the air from her chest Tally forced herself to breathe

David pulled his hand away, and with a corner of her panicked mind Tally realized she’d held on to it all that time

"I shouldn’t have told you all this"

"No, David, I’et all hyperventilated"

"It’s ot here, and I dumped all this on you"

"But I do want you to" - she fought saying it, but lost - "to trust me To tell me this stuff I do take it seriously" That much was true

"Sure, Tally But et back" He turned and crawled toward the sunlight

As she followed, Tally thought of what David had said about the boulders However massive, they were ready to topple if you pushed the way Ready to crush you

She felt the pendant swinging from her neck, a tiny but insistent pull Dr Cable would be inal But David’s revelation had suddenlymuch more complicated The Smoke wasn’t just a hideout for assorted runaways, she realized now It was a real town, a city in its own right If Tally activated the tracker, it wouldn’t justadventure It would be David’s home taken from him, his wholelife stripped away

Tally felt the weight of thedown upon her, and found that she was still struggling to breathe as she pulled herself out into the sunlight