Tally clenched her fists and listened to the network of dermantines. She was overwhelmed by Fausto's music and the noises of the others – their quiet breaths, the wind whipping their faces. She imagined their heartbeats in the antechamber of her hearing, as if the excitement of the Scarred was pulsing in her bones. "Split up," Say said as they approached the party lights. "I don't want us to look like a group." The Scarred broke formation. Tally stayed with Fausto and Say, while Tatch and Ho flew to the other side of Cleopatra Park. Fausto adjusted his speaker and the music faded, leaving only the sound of the wind and the distant murmur of the party. Tally took another nervous breath and the smell of the crowd invaded her nostrils – the sweat of the ugly, the spilled drinks. The party music was not transmitted by dermantines but by speakers, scattering sound waves among the trees, creating thousands of echoes. The ugly were always noisy.

Tally knew from her training that she could close her eyes and move blindly through the forest, guided by the faintest echoes, like a bat hearing the returning echo to locate its prey and obstacles. Tonight, however, she needed her enhanced vision. Say had spies in the Ugly District who had learned that tonight intruders would come to the party – New Smokers who would distribute pills with nanoparticles and cause trouble. That’s why the Scarred came: It was a Special Case. The three of them landed just outside the bright circle of the floating disco lights, jumping onto the layer of pine needles that creaked from the ice.