Inside

The roof of Special Circumstances had looked flat and featureless from way up on top of the hill. But standing on it, Tally could see air vents, antennae, maintenance hatchways, and of course the big circular door that the hovercars had come through, now closed. It was a wonder neither she nor David had cracked their heads hover-bouncing across it.

"So how do we get in?" David asked.

"We should start with this." She pointed toward the hovercar door.

"Don't you think they'll notice if we come through there and we're not a hovercar?"

"Agreed. But what if we jam the door? If any more Specials show up, we don't want to make it easy for them to come in after us."

"Good idea." David searched through his knapsack, bringing out what looked like a tube of hair gel. He squeezed out white goo along the edges of the door, careful not to let any touch his fingers.

"What's that?"

"Glue. The nano kind. You can stick your shoes to the ceiling with this stuff and hang upside down."

Tally's eyes widened. She'd heard rumors of tricks you could play with nanotech glue, but uglies weren't allowed to requisition it. "Tell me you haven't done that."

He smiled. "I had to leave them up there. Waste of good shoes. So how do we get down?"

Tally pulled a powerjack from her pack and pointed. "We take the elevator."

The big metal box sticking up from the roof looked like a storage shed, but the double doors and eye-reader gave it away. Tally squinted, making sure the reader didn't flash her, and worked her powerjack between the doors. They crumpled like foil.

Through the doors, a dark shaft dropped away to nothingness. Tally clicked her tongue, and the echoes indicated that it was a long way down. She glanced at her collar light. Still green.

Tally turned to David. "Wait for me to whistle."

She stepped off into thin air.

Falling down the shaft was much scarier than leaping off Garbo Mansion, or even flying into space from the hilltop. The darkness offered no clue how deep the shaft was, and it felt to Tally as if she might fall forever.

She sensed the walls rushing past, and wondered if she was drifting toward one side as she fell, about to crash against it. She imagined herself bouncing from one wall to another all the way down, coming to a soft landing already broken and bleeding.

Tally kept her arms close to her sides.

At least she was sure the jacket would work in here. Elevators used the same magnetic lifters as any other hovercraft, so there was always a solid metal plate at the bottom.

After a long count of five, the jacket gripped Tally. She bounced twice, straight up and down, then settled onto a hard surface and found herself in silence and absolute blackness. Stretching out her hands, she felt the four walls around her. Nothing suggested the inside of closed doors. Her fingers came away greasy.

Tally peered upward. A tiny shaft of light shone above, and she could just make out David's face peering down. She pursed her lips to whistle, but stopped.

A muffled sound came from below her feet. Someone talking.

She crouched, trying to grasp the words. But all Tally could hear was the razor sound of a cruel pretty's voice. The mocking tone reminded her of Dr. Cable.

Without warning, the floor dropped out from under her. Tally struggled to keep her footing. When the elevator stopped again, one of her ankles twisted painfully under her weight, but she managed not to fall.

The sound below her faded. One thing was certain now: The complex wasn't empty.

Tally lifted her head and whistled, then huddled in one corner of the shaft, hands covering her head, counting.

Five seconds later, a pair of feet dangled next to her, then jerked back up, the beam of David's flashlight swinging around drunkenly. Gradually, he settled beside her. "Wow. It's dark down here."

"Shhh," she hissed.

He nodded, sweeping the flashlight around the shaft. Just above them, it fell on the inside of closed doors. Of course. Standing on the elevator's roof, they were midway between floors.

Tally interlaced her fingers, locking her hands together to give David a boost up to where he could wedge the powerjack between the doors. They crumpled open with a metal screech that set her hair on end. He pulled himself through, then extended his hand back down to her. Tally grabbed it and pulled, her grippy shoes squeaking on the walls of the elevator shaft like a herd of panicked mice.

Everything was making too much noise.

The hallway was dark. Tally tried to convince herself that no one had heard them yet. Maybe this whole floor was empty at night.

She pulled out her own flashlight, pointing it at the doors as they walked down the hall. Small brown labels marked each of them.

"Radiology. Neurology. Magnetic Imaging," she read softly. "Operating Theater Two."

She looked at David. He shrugged and gave the door a push. It opened.

"I guess when you're in an underground bunker, there's no point in locking up," he said softly. "After you."

Tally crept inside. The room was big, the walls lined with dark and silent machines. An operating tank stood in the middle, the liquid drained out of it, tubes and electrodes hanging loosely in a puddle at the bottom. A metal table glistened with the cruel shapes of knives and vibrasaws.

"This looks like photos Mom showed me," David said. "They do the operation here."

Tally nodded. Doctors only put you in a tank if they were doing major surgery.

"Maybe this is where they make Specials special," she said. The thought didn't cheer her up.

They returned to the hall. A few doors later, they found a room labeledMORGUE .

"Do you...," she started to ask.

David shook his head. "No."

They searched the rest of the floor. Basically, it was a small, well-equipped hospital. There were no torture chambers or prison cells. And no Smokies.

"Where to now?"

"Well," Tally said. "If you were the evil Dr. Cable, where would you put your prisoners."

"The evil who?"

"Oh. That's her name, the woman who runs this place. I remember from when I got busted."

David frowned, and Tally wondered if she'd said too much.

Then he shrugged. "I guess I'd put them in the dungeon."

"Okay. Down, then."

They found a set of fire stairs that led down, but they ended after only one flight. Apparently, they had reached the bottom floor of Special Circumstances.

"Careful," Tally whispered. "Before, I heard people getting out of the elevator below me. They must be somewhere down here."

This floor was lit by a soft glowstrip running down the middle of the hallway. A cold finger crept down Tally's spine as she read the labels on the doors.

"Interrogation Room One. Interrogation Room Two. Isolation Room One," she whispered, her flashlight flickering across the words like an anxious firefly. "Disorientation Room One. Oh, David, they must be down here somewhere."

He nodded, and pushed one of the doors softly, but it didn't budge. He ran his fingers around the edge, searching for a place where the powerjack could get purchase.

"Don't let the eye-reader flash you," Tally warned softly. She pointed at the little camera by the door. "If it thinks it sees an eye, it'll read your iris and check with the big computer."

"It won't have any record of me."

"And that will freak it out totally. Just don't get too close. It's automatic."

"Okay," David said, nodding. "These doors are too smooth, anyway. No place to fit a jack in. Let's keep looking."

Farther down the hall, a label caught Tally's eye. "Long-Term Detention," she whispered. The door had a long expanse of blank wall on either side, as if the room behind it was bigger than the others. She put her ear to it, listening for any hint of sound.

She heard a familiar voice. It was coming closer. "David!" she hissed, pulling away from the door and throwing herself against the wall. David looked around frantically for a place to hide. Both of them were in plain view.

The door slid open, and Dr. Cable's malevolent voice poured out.

"You're simply not trying hard enough. You just have to convince her that - "

"Dr. Cable," Tally said.

The woman spun to face Tally, her hawklike features twisted in surprise.

"I'd like to give myself up."

"Tally Youngblood? How - "

From behind, David's powerjack thudded against the side of Dr. Cable's head, and she slumped to the floor.

"Is she...," David stammered. His face was white.

Tally knelt and turned Dr. Cable's head to inspect the wound. No blood, but she was out cold. No matter how formidable cruel pretties were, surprise still had its advantages. "She'll be okay."

"Dr. Cable? What's going - "

Tally turned toward the voice, her eyes taking in the young woman before her.

She was tall and elegant, every feature perfection. Her eyes - deep and soulful, flecked with copper and gold - widened with a troubled look. Her generous lips parted wordlessly, and she raised one graceful hand. Tally's heart almost stopped at the beauty of her confusion.

Then recognition filled the woman's face, her broad smile illuminating the darkness, and Tally felt herself smiling in return. It felt good to make this woman happy.

"Tally! Itis you."

It was Shay. She was pretty.