“I think you’re ready.”
Tally cruised to a stop—right foot down, left foot up,bend the knees.
“Ready for what?”
Shay drifted slowly past, letting the breeze tug heralong. They were as high up and far out as hoverboardswould go, just above treetop level, at the edge of town. Itwas amazing how quickly Tally had gotten used to being uphigh, with nothing but a board and bracelets between herand a long fall.
The view from up here was fantastic. Behind them thespires of New Pretty Town rose from the center of town,and around them was the greenbelt, a swath of forest thatseparated the middle and the late pretties from the youngsters.
Older generations of pretties lived out in the suburbs,hidden by the hills, in rows of big houses separated bystrips of private garden for their littlies to play in.
Shay smiled. “Ready for a night ride.”
“Oh. Look, I don’t know if I want to cross the riveragain,” Tally said, remembering her promise to Peris. Sheand Shay had shown each other a lot of tricks over the lastthree weeks, but they hadn’t been back into New PrettyTown since the night they’d met. “Until we get turned, ofcourse. After last time, the wardens are probably all—”
“I wasn’t talking about New Pretty Town,” Shay interrupted.
“That place is boring, anyway. We’d have to sneakaround all night.”
“Okay. You mean just board around Uglyville.”
Shay shook her head, still coasting gradually away onthe breeze.
Tally shifted her weight on the board uncomfortably.
“Where else is there?”
Shay put her hands in her pockets and spread her arms,turning her dorm’s team jacket into a sail. The breeze pulledher farther away from Tally. By reflex, Tally tipped her toesforward so that her board would keep up.
“Well, there’s out there.” Shay nodded at the open landbefore them.
“The suburbs? That’s dullsville.”
“Not the burbs. Past them.” Shay slid her feet in oppositedirections, to the very edges of the board. Her skirt caught thecool evening wind, which tugged her away even faster. She wasdrifting toward the outer edge of the greenbelt. Off-limits.
Tally planted her feet and dipped the board, and pulledup next to her friend. “What do you mean? Outside the citycompletely?”
UGLIES 47“Yeah.”
“That’s crazy. There’s nothing out there.”
“There’s plenty out there. Real trees, hundreds of yearsold. Mountains. And the ruins. Ever been there?”
Tally blinked. “Of course.”
“I don’t mean on a school trip, Tally. You ever beenthere at night?”
Tally brought her board to a sharp halt. The Rusty Ruinswere the remains of an old city, a hulking reminder of backwhen there’d been way too many people, and everyone wasincredibly stupid. And ugly. “No way. Don’t tell me you have.”
Shay nodded.
Tally’s mouth dropped open. “That’s impossible.”
“You think you’re the only one who knows goodtricks?”
“Well, maybe I believe you,” Tally said. Shay had thatlook on her face, the one Tally had learned to watch out for.
“But what if we get busted?”
Shay laughed. “Tally, there’s nothing out there, like youjust said. Nothing and no one to bust us.”
“Do hoverboards even work out there? Does anything?”
“Special ones do, if you know how to trick them, andwhere to ride. And getting past the burbs is easy. You takethe river the whole way. Farther upstream it’s white water,too rough for skimmers.”
Tally’s mouth dropped open again. “You really havedone this before.”
48 Scott WesterfeldA gust of wind billowed in Shay’s jacket, and she slidfarther away, still smiling. Tally had to lean her board intomotion again to stay within earshot. A treetop brushed herankles as the ground below them started to rise.
“It’ll be really fun,” Shay called.
“Sounds too risky.”
“Come on. I’ve been wanting to show you this since wemet. Since you told me you crashed a pretty party—andpulled a fire alarm!”
Tally swallowed, wishing she’d told the whole truthabout that night—about how it had all just sort of happened.
Shay seemed to think she was the world’s biggestdaredevil now. “Well, I mean, that alarm thing was partly anaccident. Kind of.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I mean, maybe we should wait. It’s only a couple ofmonths now.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Shay said. “A couple of months andwe’ll be stuck inside the river. Pretty and boring.”
Tally snorted. “I don’t think it’s exactly boring, Shay.”
“Doing what you’re supposed to do is always boring. Ican’t imagine anything worse than being required to have fun.”
“I can,” Tally said quietly. “Never having any.”
“Listen, Tally, these two months are our last chance todo anything really cool. To be ourselves. Once we turn, it’snew pretty, middle pretty, late pretty.” Shay dropped herarms, and her board stopped drifting. “Then dead pretty.”
UGLIES 49“Better than dead ugly,” Tally said.
Shay shrugged and opened her jacket into a sail again.
They weren’t far from the edge of the greenbelt now. SoonShay would get a warning. Then her board would tattle.
“Besides,” Tally argued, “just because we get the operationdoesn’t mean we can’t do stuff like this.”
“But pretties never do, Tally. Never.”
Tally sighed, tipping her feet again to follow. “Maybethat’s because they have better stuff to do than kid tricks.
Maybe partying in town is better than hanging out in abunch of old ruins.”
Shay’s eyes flashed. “Or maybe when they do theoperation—when they grind and stretch your bones to theright shape, peel off your face and rub all your skin away,and stick in plastic cheekbones so you look like everybodyelse—maybe after going through all that you justaren’t very interesting anymore.”
Tally flinched. She’d never heard the operationdescribed that way. Even in bio class, where they went intothe details, it didn’t sound that bad. “Come on, we won’teven know it’s happening. You just have pretty dreams thewhole time.”
“Yeah, sure.”
A voice came into Tally’s head: “Warning, restrictedarea.” The wind was turning cold as the sun dropped.
“Come on, Shay, let’s go back down. It’s almost dinner.”
Shay smiled and shook her head, and pulled off her50 Scott Westerfeldinterface ring. Now she wouldn’t hear the warnings. “Let’sgo tonight. You can ride almost as well as me now.”
“Shay.”
“Do this with me. I’ll show you a roller coaster.”
“What’s a—”
“Second warning. Restricted area.”
Tally stopped her board. “If you keep going, Shay, you’llget busted and we won’t be doing anything tonight.”
Shay shrugged as the wind tugged her farther away.
“I just want to show you something that’s my idea offun, Tally. Before we go all pretty and only get to haveeverybody else’s idea of fun.”
Tally shook her head, wanting to say that Shay hadalready taught her how to hoverboard, the coolest thingshe’d ever learned. In less than a month she’d come to feellike they were best friends. Almost like when she’d metPeris as a littlie, and they’d known instantly they’d betogether forever. “Shay . . .”
“Please?”
Tally sighed. “Okay.”
Shay dropped her arms and dipped her toes to bringthe board to a halt. “Really? Tonight?”
“Sure. Rusty Ruins it is.”
Tally told herself to relax. It wasn’t that big a deal, really. Shebroke rules all the time, and everyone went to the ruins once ayear on school trips. It couldn’t be dangerous or anything.
Shay zoomed back from the edge of the belt, swoopingUGLIES 51up beside Tally to put her arm around her. “Wait until yousee the river.”
“You said it’s got white water?”
“Yeah.”
“Which is what?”
Shay smiled. “It’s water. But much, much better.”