David started talking first. “Did you know you’re the first runaway to come here all alone?”
“Really?”
He nodded, still staring down at the white expanse of flowers. “Most of the time, I bring them in.”
Tally remembered Shay, the last night they’d seen each other in the city, saying that the mysterious David would take her to the Smoke. Back then Tally had hardly believed there was such a person. Now, sitting next to her, David seemed very real. He took the world more seriously than any other ugly she’d ever met—more seriously, in fact, than middle pretties like her parents. In a funny way, his eyes held the same intensity that the cruel pretties’ had, though without their coldness.
“My mother used to in the old days,” he said. “But now she’s too old.”
Tally swallowed. They always explained in school about how uglies who didn’t have the operations eventually became infirm. “Oh, I’m so sorry. How old is she, anyway?”
He laughed. “She’s plenty fit, but uglies have an easier time trusting someone like me, someone their own age.”
“Oh, of course.” Tally remembered her reaction to the Boss that first day. Only a couple of weeks later she was much more used to all the different kinds of faces that age created.
“Sometimes, a few uglies will make it on their own, following coded directions like you did. But it’s always been three or four in a group. No one’s ever come all alone.”
“You must think I’m an idiot.”
“Not at all.” He took her hand. “I think it was really brave.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad a trip, really.”
“It’s not the traveling that takes courage, Tally. I’ve done much longer trips on my own. It’s leaving home.” He traced a line on her sore hand with a finger. “I can’t imagine having to walk away from the Smoke, away from everything I’ve ever known, realizing I’d probably never come back.”
Tally swallowed. It hadn’t been easy. Of course, she hadn’t really had a choice.
“But you left your city, the only place you’d ever lived, all alone,” David continued. “You hadn’t even met a Smokey, someone to convince you firsthand that it was a real place. You did it all on trust, because your friend asked you. I guess that’s why I feel I can trust you.”
Tally looked out at the weeds, feeling worse with every word David said. If he only knew the real reason she was there.
“When Shay first told me you were coming, I was really angry at her.”
“Because I might have given the Smoke away?”
“Partly. And partly because it’s really dangerous for a city-bred sixteen-year-old to cross hundreds of miles alone. But mostly I thought it was a wasted risk, because you probably wouldn’t even make it out of your dorm window.”
He looked up at her, squeezing her hand softly. “I was amazed when I saw you running down that hill.”
Tally smiled. “I was a pretty sorry sight that day.”
“You were so scratched up, your hair and clothes all singed from that fire, but you had the biggest smile on your face.” David’s face seemed to glow in the soft moonlight.
Tally closed her eyes and shook her head. Great. She was going to get an award for bravery when she should really be kicked out of the Smoke for treachery.
“You don’t look quite so happy now, though,” he said softly.
“Not everyone thinks it’s great that I came here.”
He laughed. “Yeah, Croy told me about his big revelation.”
“He did?” She opened her eyes.
“Don’t listen to him. From the moment you got here, he was suspicious about your coming alone. He thought you must have had help along the way. City help. But I told him he was crazy.”
“Thanks.”
He shrugged. “When you and Shay saw each other, you were so happy. I could tell that you’d really missed her.”
“Yeah. I was worried about her.”
“Of course you were. And you were brave enough to come looking yourself, even if it meant walking away from everything you’d ever known, alone. You didn’t really come because you wanted to live in the Smoke, did you?”
“Um…what do you mean?”
“You came to see if Shay was all right.”
Tally looked into David’s eyes. Even if he was completely wrong about her, it felt good to bask in his words. Up until now, the whole day had been tainted by suspicion and doubt, but David’s face shone with admiration for what she had done. A feeling spread through her, a warmth that pushed away the cold wind cutting across the ridge.
Then Tally trembled inside, realizing what the feeling was. It was that same warmth she’d felt talking to Peris after his operation, or when teachers looked at her with approval. It was not a feeling she’d ever gotten from an ugly before. Without large, perfectly shaped eyes, their faces couldn’t make you feel that way. But the moonlight and the setting, or maybe just the words he was saying, had somehow turned David into a pretty. Just for a moment.
But the magic was all based on lies. She didn’t deserve the look in David’s eyes.
She turned to face the ocean of weeds again. “I bet Shay wishes she’d never told me about the Smoke.”
“Maybe right now. Maybe for a while,” David said. “But not forever.”
“But you and she…”
“She and I.” He sighed. “Shay changes her mind pretty quickly, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“The first time she wanted to come to the Smoke was back in spring. When Croy and the others came.”
“She told me. She chickened out, right?”
David nodded. “I always figured she would. She just wanted to run away because her friends were. If she stayed in the city, she’d be left all alone.”
Tally thought of her friendless days after Peris’s operation. “Yeah. I know that feeling.”
“But she never showed up that night. Which happens. I was really surprised to see her in the ruins a few weeks ago, suddenly convinced she wanted to leave the city forever. And she was already talking about bringing a friend, even though she hadn’t said a word to you yet.” He shook his head. “I almost told her to just forget about it, to stay in the city and become pretty.”