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

"What is?"

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

Tally grinned and squeezed Shay harder. "Maybe they were more sure I'd stop for you."

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. "Funny though. It's not like the Smokies, throwing someone into freezing water while they're unconscious. Know what I mean?"

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.