Specials

"A mistake? You mean, you sent those pills to me accidentally?"

He shifted on the board. "No. But we warned you about the risks. Don't you remember?"

"I remember everything now, David! I can finally see." Her mind was clear, Special-clear, untangled from wild, ugly emotions and bubbleheadedness, fully realizing the truth of what the Smokies were. They weren't revolutionaries; they were nothing but egomaniacs, playing with lives, leaving broken people in their wake.

"Tally," he pleaded softly, but she just laughed. Tally's flash tattoos were spi

"You steal children, David, city kids who don't know how dangerous it is out in the wild. And you play games with them."

He shook his head. "I never … I never meant to play games with you, Tally. I'm sorry."

She started to answer, but saw David's signal just in time. It was nothing but a flicker of one finger, but her mind was so sharp that the tiny movement bloomed like fireworks against the dark.

Tally's awareness shot out in all directions, searching the blackness around her. The Smokies had chosen a spot where half-submerged rocks added to the water's roar, covering any subtle sounds, but somehow Tally felt the moment of attack.

An instant later, her peripheral vision caught the arrows on their way: one from each side, like two fingers crushing a bug. Her mind slowed time to a half-dead crawl. Less than a second from hitting, the missiles were too close for gravity to pull her down, no matter how fast she bent her knees. But Tally didn't need gravity…

Her hands shot up from her sides, elbows bending, fingers curling into fists around the arrow shafts. They slid a few centimeters through her palms, the friction burning like snuffing a candle, but their momentum choked in her grip.

The electric buzz in their tips sputtered for an angry moment, close enough that Tally felt the heat on both cheeks, and then the arrows fizzled in frustration.

Her eyes were still locked on David, and even through the sneak suit she saw his jaw drop open, a small, amazed sound carrying across the water.

She let out a sharp laugh.

His voice was shaking. "What have they done to you now, Tally?"

"They made me see," she said

He shook his head sadly, then pushed Shay into the river.

She fell forward limply, smacking the water face-first and hard. David whirled around on his board, kicking up a spray as he bolted away. The two archers zoomed out from the trees and followed, boards roaring to life.

"Shay!" Tally cried, but the unmoving body was already slipping under, dragged down by the weight of crash bracelets and soaked clothing. Shay's infrared colors began to change in the cold water, hands fading from bright yellow to orange. The fast current carried her under Tally, who threw the spent arrows aside, spun on one heel, and dove into the freezing river.

A few panicked strokes brought her up beside the dimly glowing form, and she reached out to grab Shay's hair, yanking her head out of the water. Flash tattoos hardly moved on the pale face, but then Shay shuddered and emptied her lungs with a sudden cough.

"Shay-la!" Tally twisted in the water, getting a better grip.

Shay waved her arms weakly, then coughed up more water. But her flash tattoos were gradually coming back to life, spi

Tally shifted her grip, struggling to keep both their heads above water, signaling with her crash bracelet. Her borrowed board responded with a magnetic tug, on its way.

Shay's eyes opened, blinking a few times. "That you, Tally-wa?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Quit pulling my hair." Shay coughed again.

"Oh, sorry." Tally untangled her fingers from the wet strands. When the hoverboard nudged her from behind, she slung an arm over it, wrapping the other around Shay. A long shiver traveled through them both.

"Waters cold…," Shay said. Her lips were almost blue in Tally's infrared.

"No kidding. But it woke you up, at least." She managed to lift Shay onto the board, getting her upright. She sat there, huddled miserably against the breeze while Tally stayed in the river, staring up into her glassy eyes. "Shay-la? Do you know where you are?"

"You woke me up, so I was…asleep?" Shay shook her head, closing her eyes in concentration. "Crap. That means they got me with one of those stupid arrows."

"Not an arrow; David had a shock-stick in his hand."

Shay spat into the river. "He cheated. Throwing Tachs at me." She frowned, opening her eyes again. "Is Tachs okay?"

"Yeah. I caught him before he hit the ground. Then David tried to take you away. But I got you back."

Shay managed a thin smile. "Good job, Tally-wa."

Tally felt a thin, shivery grin on her face.

"What about Fausto?"

Tally sighed again as she pulled herself up onto the board, its fans spi

Shay wrapped a shivering, wet arm around Tally. "Don't worry. We'll get him back." She glanced down, confused. "So how did I get in the river?"

"They flew you out here, used you as bait. They wanted to capture me, too. But I was too fast for them, so David pushed you in to distract me, I suppose. Or maybe he was trying to give the other Smokies time to get away, the ones with Fausto."

"Hmm. That's a little insulting," Shay said.

"What is?"

"They used me as a decoy instead of Fausto?"

Tally gri

Shay coughed into a fist. "Well, when I catch them, they're going to wish they'd dumped me off a cliff instead." She took a deep breath, her lungs finally drawing clear. "Fu

Tally nodded. "Maybe they're getting desperate."

"Maybe." Shay shivered again. "It's like living out in nature is turning them into Rusties. You can Ml people with bows and arrows, after all. I kind of liked them better the old way"

"Me too," Tally sighed. The razor-sharpness of her anger was fading, leaving her spirit as soggy as her clothing. No matter how hard she'd tried to fix everything, Fausto was still gone, and David too.

"Anyway, thanks for the rescue, Tally-wa."

"That's okay, Boss." Tally took her friend's hand. "So…are we even now?"

Shay laughed, wrapping her arm around Tally, her grin widening to reveal every one of her pointed teeth. "You and I don't have to worry about being even, Tally-wa."

Tally felt a burst of warmth, like she always did when Shay smiled. "Really?"

Shay nodded. "We're too busy being special."

They met Ho back at the ambush site. He'd managed to get Tachs awake, and had put in a call to the rest of the Cutters. They were twenty minutes away, bringing extra boards and screaming for revenge.

"Don't worry about getting even, we'll be visiting the Smokies soon enough," Shay said, without bothering to mention the problem with that plan: No one knew where the New Smoke was. In fact, no one was sure if it was anywhere at all. Since the original Smoke had been destroyed, the Smokies kept moving from one spot to another. And now that they had four brand-new Special Circumstances hoverboards, they'd be even harder to pin down.