“Good night.”
“Sleep tight,” replied the room.
Tally pulled on a jacket, clipped her sensor to her bellyring, and opened the window. The air was still, the river soflat that she could make out every detail of the city skylinemirrored in it. It looked like the pretties were having somesort of event. She could hear the roar of a huge crowdacross the water, a thousand cheers rising and fallingtogether. The party towers were dark under the almost fullmoon, and the fireworks all shimmering hues of blue,climbing so high that they exploded in silence.
The city had never looked so far away.
“I’ll see you soon, Peris,” she said quietly.
The roof tiles were slick with a late evening rain. Tallyclimbed carefully to the corner of the dorm where it wasbrushed by an old sycamore tree. The handholds in itsbranches felt solid and familiar, and she descended quicklyinto the darkness behind a recycler.
When she’d cleared the dormitory grounds, Tallylooked back. The pattern of shadows that led away from thedorm seemed so convenient, almost intentional. As if uglieswere supposed to sneak out every once in a while.
Tally shook her head. She was starting to think likeShay.
They met at the dam, where the river split in two to encircleNew Pretty Town. Tonight, there weren’t any river skimmersout to disturb the darkness, and Shay was practicingmoves on her board when Tally walked up.
“Should you be doing that here in town?” Tally calledover the roar of water rushing through the dam’s gates.
Shay danced, shifting her weight back and forth on thefloating board, dodging imaginary obstacles. “I was justmaking sure it worked. In case you were worried.”
Tally looked at her own board. Shay had tricked thesafety governor so it wouldn’t tattle when they flew at night,or crossed the boundary out of town. Tally wasn’t so muchworried about it squealing on them as whether it would flyat all. Or let her fly into a tree. But Shay’s board seemed tobe hovering just fine.
“I boarded all the way here, and nobody’s come to getme,” Shay said.
Tally dropped her board to the ground. “Thanks formaking sure. I didn’t mean to be so wimpy about this.”
“You weren’t.”
“Yeah, I was. I should tell you something. That night,54 Scott Westerfeldwhen you met me, I kind of promised my friend Peris Iwouldn’t take any big risks. You know, in case I really gotin trouble, and they got really mad.”
“Who cares if they get mad? You’re almost sixteen.”
“But what if they get mad enough that they won’t makeme pretty?”
Shay stopped bouncing. “I’ve never heard of that happening.”
“I guess I haven’t either. But maybe they wouldn’t tell usif it had. Anyway, Peris made me promise to take it easy.”
“Tally, do you think maybe he just said that so youwouldn’t come around again?”
“Huh?”
“Maybe he made you promise to take it easy so youwouldn’t bother him anymore. To make you afraid to go toNew Pretty Town again.”
Tally tried to answer, but her throat was dry.
“Listen, if you don’t want to come, that’s fine,” Shaysaid. “I mean it, Squint. But we’re not going to get caught.
And if we do, I’ll take the blame.” She laughed. “I’ll tellthem I kidnapped you.”
Tally stepped onto her board and snapped her fingers.
When she reached Shay’s eye level she said, “I’m coming. Isaid I would.”
Shay smiled and took Tally’s hand for a second, squeezing.
“Great. It’s going to be fun. Not new pretty fun—thereal kind. Put these on.”
UGLIES 55“What are they? Night vision?”
“Nope. Goggles. You’re going to love the white water.”
They hit the rapids ten minutes later.
Tally had lived her whole life within sight of the river.
Slow-moving and dignified, it defined the city, marking theboundary between worlds. But she’d never realized that afew kilometers upstream from the dam, the stately band ofsilver became a snarling monster.
The churning water really was white. It crashed overrocks and through narrow channels, catapulted up intomoonlit sprays, split apart, rejoined, and dropped downinto boiling cauldrons at the bottom of steep falls.
Shay was skimming just above the torrent, so low thatshe lifted a wake every time she banked. Tally followed atwhat she guessed was a safe distance, hoping her trickedupboard was still reluctant to crash into the darknesscloakedrocks and tree branches. The forest to either sidewas a black void full of wild and ancient trees, nothing likethe generic carbon-dioxide suckers that decorated the city.
The moonlit clouds above glowed through their brancheslike a ceiling of pearl.
Every time Shay screamed, Tally knew she was about tofollow her friend through a wall of spray leaping up fromthe maelstrom. Some shone like white lace curtains in themoonlight, but others struck unexpectedly from the darkness.
Tally also found herself crashing through ............