"How?"
"It didn't change me as much as I thought it would."
Tally shrugged. "Well, everyone's different…"
"I suppose so," Shay said softly. "But it made me wonder … It wasn't just you guys climbing the tower, was it? There was something else that happened that day, Skinny. You'd never even hung out alone with Zane before, but since then you two have your own secret club, smiling at your own jokes and whispering all the time. You never go anywhere without each other."
"Squint…," Tally said, and sighed. "Sorry if we've been all coupley But, you know, it's my first crush as a pretty."
Shay stared at the fire. "That's what I thought, at first. But it's gone way past that, Tally. You're so different from the rest of us — both of you." Her voice rose above a whisper. "Zane gets those weird headaches that he tries to hide, and that was you screaming a minute ago, wasn't it?"
Tally swallowed.
"What changed you guys that day?"
Tally pointed at her wrist. "Shhh."
"Don't shush me! Jell me."
Tally looked around them nervously. The fire consumed more fallen branches, hissing loudly, and most of the Crims were singing drinking songs. No one had heard Shay's outburst, but Tally could feel the hard metal of the cuff around her wrist, always listening. "I can't tell you, Squint."
"Yes, you can." Shay's face seemed to change in the firelight, the pretty softness burning away as her anger grew. "You see, Tally, I remembered some things when I was up in that tower, staring down at the ground and wondering if I was going to die. And then I remembered a few more while I was falling through the ice and bouncing on the soccer field. A lot of things came back from ugly days. Isn't that great?"
Tally turned away from the harsh expression on Shay's face. "Yeah, sure it is."
"Glad you agree. So here's what I remembered: It's because of you that I'm here in the city, Tally. All those stories I used to tell? They were bogus. What really happened is that you followed me out to the Smoke to betray me, right?"
Tally felt it again, the same gut-punch as when she'd seen Dr. Cable in the trees: caught. From the moment she'd felt the pills working on her, Tally had known somewhere inside her that this moment would come, that Shay would eventually remember what had really happened back when they were uglies. But Tally hadn't expected it so soon. "Yeah, I followed you to bring you back here. It's my fault, what happened to the Smoke. The Specials tracked me there."
"Right, you betrayed us. After you stole David from me, of course." Shay laughed bitterly. "I hate to bring the whole David thing up, but who knows if I'll remember it tomorrow, you know? So I thought I'd mention it while I'm bubbly."
Tally turned to her. "You'll remember it."
Shay only shrugged. "Maybe. But tricks like today's don't come around that often. So you might be off the hook again by tomorrow."
Tally took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of wood smoke, burning peat, pine needles, and spilled champagne. The firelight revealed everything as bright as day, even the whorls of her fingerprints. She didn't know what to say.
"Look at me," Shay said. Her flash tattoo was spinning hard, its halo of snakes blurring together like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. "Tell me what happened to you that day. Keep me bubbly. You owe me."
Tally swallowed. She and Zane had promised each other not to tell anyone — not yet. But neither of them had realized how far Shay had come — bubbly enough to climb the tower on her own, to finally remember what had really happened back in ugly days. Probably she could keep a secret, and telling her about the cure would give her hope, at least. It was the only way Tally could begin to make up for what she'd done.
And Shay was right: Tally owed her.
"Okay. Something else happened that day."
Shay nodded slowly. "I thought so. What was it?"
Tally pointed at Shay's scarf, and together they pulled it off and wrapped it tightly around Tally's wrist, another layer over the cuff. After another breath, she said in the softest whisper she could manage, "We found a cure."
Shay's eyes narrowed. "It's about starving yourself, isn't it?"
"No. Well, that helps. Hunger, coffee, playing tricks— all that stuff Zane's been doing for months. But the real cure is … simpler than that."
"What is it? I'll do it."
"You can't."
"The hell with you, Tally!" Shay's eyes flashed. "If you can do it, I can!"
Tally shook her head. "It's a pill."
"A pill? Like vitamins?"
"No, a special pill. Croy brought it to me, the night of the Valentino bash. Try to remember, Shay. Before you and I came back to the city, Maddy had figured out how to reverse the operation. You helped me write a letter, remember?"
Shay's face went blank for a moment, then she frowned. "That's when I was pretty."
"Right. After we rescued you, when we were hiding out in the ruins."
"Funny, those days are harder to remember than back when I was ugly." Shay shook her head.
"Well, Maddy figured out a cure. But it was untested, dangerous. She wouldn't give it to you because you refused. You wanted to stay pretty. So I had to give myself up to test it. That's why I'm here."
"And Croy brought it to you a month ago?"
Tally nodded, taking Shays hand. "And it works. You've seen how it changed me and Zane. It makes us bubbly all the time. So once we get out of here, you can—" Shay's expression brought Tally to a halt. "What's the matter?"
"You and Zane both took some?"
"Yeah," Tally said. "There were two pills, and we split them. I was afraid to do it on my own."
Shay turned to the fire, pulling her hand away. "I can't believe you, Tally."
"What?"
Shay whirled to face her. "Why him? Why didn't you ask me?"
"But I—" "You're supposed to be my friend, Tally. I've done everything for you. I was the one who first told you about the Smoke. I was the one who introduced you to David. And when you came to New Pretty Town, I helped you become one of the Crims. Did it even occur to you to share the cure with me? It's your fault I'm like this, after all!"
Tally shook her head. "There wasn't time … I didn't even—" "No, of course you didn't," Shay spat. "You barely even knew Zane, but he was the leader of the Crims, so hooking up with him was the next trick on your list. Just like David out in the Smoke. That's why you split the cure with him."
"It wasn't like that!" Tally cried.
"You are like that, Tally. You have always been like that! No cure is going to make you any different — you were busy betraying people a long time ago. You didn't need any operation to make you selfish and shallow and full of yourself. You already were."
Tally tried to answer, but something horrible rose up in her throat, choking off her words. Then she noticed the quiet around them, and realized that Shay had been yelling. The other Crims looked on in puzzlement, only the hiss of the fire filling the silence. Pretties didn't fight. They hardly ever argued, and they certainly never shouted at one another in the middle of a party. That sort of obnoxious behavior was strictly for uglies.