Page 42 (1/2)
Accoh tih tilyville art school They have bungee jackets in the basement A whole rack of spares"
David took a deep breath "Okay"
"You’re not scared, are you?"
"I’rimaced "It’s just that I’ve never seen this many people before"
"People? We haven’t seen anyone"
"Yeah, but all those houses on the way here I keep thinking of people living in every single one, all crowded together like that"
Tally laughed "You think the burbs are crowded? Wait until we get to Uglyville"
They headed back, taking the rooftops at top speed The sky was pitch-black, but by now Tally could read the stars well enough to know that the first notes of daere only a couple of hours away
Reaching the greenbelt, they turned back the way they’d coating through the trees This arc of the belt brought theh Cleopatra Park, where Tally threaded the slalom poles for old times’ sake Her instincts twitched as they passed the path down to her old dorm For a split second, it felt as if she could o to bed
Soon, the julyville art school rose up, and Tally brought the two of them to a halt
This part was easy It seeo that Tally and Shay had borrowed one of the school’s bungee jackets for their final trick, Shay’s leap onto the new uglies in the dorm library Tally retraced her steps to the exactthey’d jilass concealed behind decorative bushes, and found that it was still unlocked
Tally shook her head This sort of burglary had see two months before Back then, the library stunt was the wildest prank she and Shay could drealies to blow off stealess distraction until their mutinous natures were erased by adulthood, and the operation
"Give ht And wait here"
She slipped in, found the rack of spares, grabbed two bungee jackets, and was out in less than a minute
When she pulled herself out of the , she found David staring at her ide eyes "What?" she asked
"You’re just sogood at all this So confident Itinside city li deal Everyone does it"
Still, Tally was happy to ilary skills In the last feeeks he’d taught her how to build a fire, scale a fish, pitch a tent, and read a contour e
They crept back to the greenbelt and reached the river before the sky had even shown a sliver of pink
Zoohted the ruins just as the sky was beginning to change
On the hike down, Tally asked, "To"
"No" And there was every reason to attempt the rescue soon It had been more than teeks since the invasion of the Smoke
David cleared his throat "So, how many Specials do you think will be in there?"
"When I was there, a lot But that was during the day I assume they have to sleep soht"
"I doubt that But uards" She didn’t say more Even one Special would be lies No amount of surprise would th and reflexes "We’ll just have to make sure they don’t see us"
"Sure Or hope they’ve got soed ahead, exhaustion taking over now that they were safely out of the city, her confidence ebbing with every step They’d traveled all this ithout thinking very hard about the task ahead of the people froly-trick, like stealing a bungee jacket or sneaking up the river It was serious business
And although Croy, Shay, Maddy, and Az were probably all prisoners in those horrible underground buildings, there was always the possibility that the Smokies had been taken somewhere else And even if they hadn’t, Tally had no idea exactly where they’d be inside the warren of puke-brown hallways
"I just e had some help," she said softly
David’s hand settled on her shoulder, bringing her to a halt "Maybe we do"
She looked at hiaze doard the ruins At the top of the highest spire, the last few flickers of a safety sparkler were sputtering out
There were uglies down there
"They’re looking for me," he said
"So what do we do?"
"Is there any other way back to the city?" David asked
"No They’ll coht up this path"