David took the board over the ridge so fast that Tallythought she would tumble off. She sank her fingertips intoDavid’s jacket to steady herself, thankful for the new shoes’
grippy soles. “Listen, David. The Boss fought them, that’swhy they killed him.”
“My parents would fight too.”
She bit her lip and focused her whole mind on stayingon board. When they reached the closest approach of thehoverpath to his parents’ house, David jumped off anddashed down the slope.
Tally realized that the board still wasn’t fully charged,and took a moment to unfold it before following, in nohurry to discover what the Specials had done to Maddy andAz. But when she thought of David finding his parents onhis own, Tally ran after him.
It took her long minutes to find the path in the densebrush. Two nights ago they had come in the dark, and froma different direction. She listened for David, but couldn’thear anything. But then the wind shifted, and the smell ofsmoke came through the trees.
Burning the house hadn’t been easy.
Set into the mountain, the stone walls and roof hadprovided no fuel for the fire. But the attackers had evidentlythrown something inside that had contained its own fuel.
The windows were blown outward, glass littering the grassin front of the house, nothing left of the door but a fewcharred scraps swinging on their hinges in the breeze.
David stood in front, unable to cross the threshold.
“Stay here,” Tally said.
She stepped through the doorway, but the air overpoweredher for the first moments. Morning light slanted in,picking out floating particles of ash. They swirled aroundTally, little spiral galaxies set in motion by her passage.
The blackened floorboards crumbled under her feet,burned away to bare stone in some places. But some thingshad survived the fire. She remembered the marble statuettefrom her visit, and one of the rugs hanging on the wallremained mysteriously untouched. In the parlor, a fewteacups stood out white against the charred furniture. Tallypicked one up, realizing that if these cups had survived, ahuman body would leave more than traces.
She swallowed. If David’s parents had been here, whateverwas left of them would be easy to find.
Deeper into the house, in a small kitchen, city-made potsand pans hung from the ceiling, their warped, blackened334 Scott Westerfeldmetal still shining through in a few spots. Tally noted a bagof flour, and a few pieces of dried fruit somehow made herempty stomach growl.
The bedroom was last.
The stone ceiling was low and angled, the paint crackedand blackened from the heat of a raging fire. Tally felt theheat still rising from the bed, the straw mattress and thickquilts fuel for the conflagration.
But Az and Maddy had not been there. There was nothingin the room that could have been human remains. Tallysighed with relief and made her way back outside, recheckingevery room.
She shook her head as she stepped through the door.
“Either the Specials took them, or they got away.”
David nodded and pushed past her. Tally collapsed onthe ground and coughed, her lungs finally protestingagainst the smoke and dust particles she had inhaled. Herhands and arms were black with soot, she realized.
When David came out, he held a long knife. “Hold outyour hands.”
“What?”
“The handcuffs. I can’t stand them.”
She nodded and held out her hands. He carefullythreaded the blade between flesh and plastic, working itback and forth to saw the cuffs.
A solid minute later, he pulled the knife away in frustration.
“It’s not working.”
UGLIES 335Tally looked closer. The plastic had hardly beenmarked. She hadn’t seen how the Special had snipped herhandcuffs in two behind her, but it had only taken amoment. Perhaps they’d used a chemical trigger.
“Maybe it’s some kind of aircraft plastic,” she said.
“Some of that stuff is stronger than steel.”
David frowned. “So how did you get them apart?”
Tally opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Shecould hardly tell him that the Specials had released herthemselves.
“And why do you have two cuffs on each wrist, anyway?”
She looked ............