Page 30 (1/2)

The Secret

They descended the ridge on the far side, down a steep, narrow path David led her quickly in the darkness, finding footing on the almost invisible trail without hesitation It was all Tally could do to keep up

The whole day had been one shock after another, and now to top it all off she was going toshe’d expected after showing hi him she hadn’t kept the Smoke a secret His reactions were different from those of anyone she’d ever rown up out here, away from the customs of the city Or maybe he was justdifferent

They left the fae line far behind, and the mountain rose steeply to one side

"Your parents don’t live in the Serous"

"Dangerous how?"

"It’s part of what I was telling you your first day here, in the railroad cave"

"About your secret? How you were raised in the wild?"

David stopped for aback to face her in the darkness "There’s more to it than that"

"What?"

"I’ll let them tell you Come on"

A few ht appeared, hovering in the darkness of the lowing deep red through a closed curtain

The house seeed into the mountain

When they were still a stone’s throay, David stopped "Don’t want to surprise them They can be jumpy," he said, then shouted, "Hello!"

A ht

"David?" a woht spilled across them "Az, it’s David"

As they drew closer, Tally saw that she was an old ugly Tally couldn’t tell if she was younger or older than the Boss, but she certainly wasn’t as terrifying to look at Her eyes flashed liked a pretty’s, and the lines of her face disappeared into a welco

"Hi, Mom"

"And you must be Tally"

"Nice toIn the city, you never spentout at friends’ houses during school breaks

The house was much warmer than the bunkhouse, and the tih, as if David’s parents had lived there so long, their feet had worn the in the Smoke It was really cut into the listening with some kind of transparent sealant

"Nice to meet you, too, Tally," David’s mother said Tally wondered what her name was David always referred to them as "Mom" and "Dad," words Tally hadn’t used for Sol and Ellie since she was a littlie

Ato her "Good to meet you, Tally"

She blinked, her breath catching, for a moment unable to speak David and his father somehow lookedalike

It didn’t make any sense There had to be more than thirty years between them, if his father really had been a doctor when David was born But their jaws, foreheads, even their slightly lopsided smiles were all so similar

"Tally?" David said

"Sorry You justyou look the sahter, and Tally felt her face turning red

"We get that a lot," his father said "You city kids always find it a shock But you know about genetics, don’t you?"

"Sure I know all about genes I kneo sisters, uglies, who looked almost the same But parents and children? That’s just weird"

David’s mother forced a serious expression onto her face, but the smile stayed in her eyes "The features that we take fro nose, thin lips, high forehead - all the things that the operation takes away"

"The preference toward theschool lessons The overall average of human facial characteristics was the pri features are one of the things people look for in a face"

"But fa noses" The man tweaked his son’s nose, and David rolled his eyes Tally realized that David’s nose was er than any pretty’s Why hadn’t she noticed that before now?

"That’s one of the things you give up, when you become pretty The family nose," his mother said "Az?

Why don’t you turn up the heat"

Tally realized that she was still shivering, but not froet over the similarity between David and his father "That’s okay It’s lovely in here, uh"

"Maddy," the woman said "Shall we all sit down?"

Az and Maddy apparently had been expecting them In the front room of the house, four antique cups were set out on little saucers Soon a kettle began to whistle softly on an electric heater, and Az poured the boiling water into an antique pot, releasing a floral scent into the room

Tally looked around her The house was unlike any other in the Smoke It was like a standard crumbly home, filled with impractical objects A s had been hung on the walls, lending their colors to the light in the roo Maddy and Az s frolies, who had only their dorm uniforms and other disposable possessions, the two had actually spent half a lifeti the city

Tally re up surrounded by Sol’s ork, abstract shapes fashioned from fallen branches she would collect from parks as a littlie Maybe David’s childhood hadn’t been completely different from her own "This all looks so familiar," she said

"David hasn’t told you?" Maddy said "Az and I coht have been the ones to turn you pretty"

"Oh, I guess so," Tally murmured If they’d stayed in the city, there would have been no Smoke, and Shay never would have run away

"David says that you made it all the way here on your own," Maddy said

She nodded "I was following a friend of mine She left me directions"

"And you decided to coain?"