1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 337
never would have left without this. The Specials must have
surprised them completely.”
“Oh. I’m sorry, David.”
“At least they’re alive.”
He looked into her eyes, and Tally saw that his panic
had faded. “So, Tally, do you still want to go after them?”
“Yes, of course.”
David smiled. “Good.” He sat next to her, looking back
at the house and shaking his head. “It’s funny, Mom always
warned me that this would happen. They tried to prepare
me the whole time I was growing up. And for a long while I
believed them. But after all those years, I started to wonder.
Maybe my parents were just being paranoid. Maybe, like
runaways always said, Special Circumstances wasn’t real.”
Tally nodded silently, not trusting herself to speak.
“And now that it’s happened, it seems even less real.”
“I’m sorry, David.” But he could never know how sorry.
Not until she’d helped save his parents, at least. “Don’t
worry, we’ll find them.”
“One stop to make first.”
“Where?”
“As I said, my parents were ready for this, ever since
they founded the Smoke. They made preparations.”
“Like making sure you could take care of yourself,” she
said, touching the soft leather of his handmade jacket.
He smiled at her, rubbing soot from her cheek with one
finger. “They did a lot more than that. Come with me.”