“What?” David said.
“Your taking the pills won’t prove anything, Tally,”
Maddy said. “You don’t have the lesions.”
“But I will have them. I’ll go back to the city and getcaught, and Dr. Cable will give me the operation. In a fewweeks, you come and get me. Give me the cure. You’ve gotyour subject.”
The three of them stood there in silence. The words hadpoured out of Tally of their own accord. She could hardlybelieve she’d uttered them.
“Tally . . .” David shook his head. “That’s crazy.”
“It’s not crazy. You need a willing subject. Someone whoagrees before they become pretty that they want to be cured,experimental or not. It’s the only way.”
“You can’t give yourself up!” David cried.
Tally turned toward Maddy. “You said you’re ninetyninepercent sure these pills will work, right?”
“Yes. But the one percent could leave you a vegetable,Tally.”
416 Scott Westerfeld“One percent? Compared to breaking into SpecialCircumstances, that’s a breeze.”
“Tally, stop it.” David took her shoulders. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Dangerous? David, you can get across into New PrettyTown no problem. City uglies do it all the time. Just grabme out of my mansion and stick me on a board. I’ll comewith you, just like Shay did. Then you cure me.”
“What if the Specials decide to change your memory?
Like they did my father’s?”
“They won’t,” Maddy said.
David stared at his mother in surprise.
“They didn’t bother with Shay. She remembers theSmoke just fine. Az and I were the only ones they were worriedabout. Because we’d been focused on the brain lesionsfor half our lives, they figured we’d never shut up aboutthem, even as pretties.”
“Mom!” David cried. “Tally’s not going anywhere.”
“And besides,” Maddy continued, “Dr. Cable wouldn’tdo anything to hurt Tally.”
“Stop talking like this is going to happen!”
Tally looked into Maddy’s eyes. The woman nodded.
She knew.
“David,” Tally said. “I have to do this.”
“Why?”
“Because of Shay. It’s the only way that Maddy will cureher. Right?”
Maddy nodded.
“You don’t have to save Shay,” David said slowly andevenly. “You’ve done enough for her. You followed her tothe Smoke, rescued her from Special Circumstances!”
“Yeah, I’ve done a lot for her.” Tally took a breath. “I’mthe reason she’s like this, pretty and brainless.”
David shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
She turned to him, taking his hand. “David, I didn’t cometo the Smoke just to make sure Shay was okay. I came to bringher back to the city.” She sighed. “I came to betray her.”
Tally had imagined telling her secret to David so manytimes, rehearsing this speech to herself almost every night,that she could hardly believe this wasn’t just another nightmarein which the truth was forced from her. But as thereality of the mo............