During the daytime, she hid in her room.
Going anywhere else was pure torture. The uglies in herown dorm treated her like a walking disease, and anyoneelse who recognized her sooner or later asked, “Why aren’tyou pretty yet?”
It was strange. She’d been an ugly for four years, but afew extra days had brought home to her exactly what theword really meant. Tally peered into her mirror all day, notingevery flaw, every deformity. Her thin lips pursed withunhappiness. Her hair grew even frizzier because she keptrunning her hands through it in frustration. A trio of zitsexploded across her forehead, as if marking the days sinceher sixteenth birthday. Her watery, too-small eyes glaredback at her, full of anger.
Only at night could she escape from the tiny room, thenervous stares, her own ugly face.
She fooled the minders and climbed out as usual, butshe didn’t feel much like any real tricks. There was no oneto visit, no one to play a prank on, and the idea of crossingthe river was too painful to consider. She had gotten a newhoverboard, and tricked it up like Shay had taught her, soat least she could fly at night.
But flying didn’t feel the same. She was alone, it wasgetting cold at night, and no matter how fast she flew, Tallywas trapped, and she knew it.
The fourth night in ugly exile she took her board up intothe greenbelt, staying at the edge of town. She whipped itback and forth past the dark columns of tree trunks, shootingthrough them at top speed, so fast that her hands and facecollected dozens of scratches from the branches blurring by.
After a few hours’ flying had worn away some of heranguish, Tally had a happy realization: This was the bestshe’d ever ridden; she was almost as good as Shay now. Neveronce did the board dump her for getting too close to a tree,and her shoes held on to its grippy surface like they wereglued there. She worked up a sweat even in the autumn chill,riding until her legs were tired, her ankles aching, her armssore from being spread out like wings guiding her throughthe dark forest. If she rode this hard all night, Tally thought,maybe tomorrow she could sleep the hideous daylight away.
She flew until exhaustion forced her home.
When she crawled back into her room at dawn, someonewas waiting there.
“Peris!”
His features burst into a radiant smile, big eyes flashingUGLIES 121beautifully in the early light. But when he looked closer, hisexpression changed. “What happened to your face, Squint?”
Tally blinked. “Haven’t you heard? They didn’t do the—”
“Not that.” Peris reached up and touched her cheek,which smarted under his fingertips. “You look like you’vebeen juggling cats all night.”
“Oh, yeah.” Tally ran her fingers through her hair, andrummaged through a drawer. She pulled a medspray out,closed her eyes, and squirted herself in the face.
“Ow!” she yelped in the few seconds before the anesthetickicked in. She sprayed her scratched hands as well.
“Just a little midnight hoverboarding.”
“A little past midnight, don’t you think?”
Out the window, the sun was just beginning to turn thetowers of New Pretty Town pink. Cat-vomit pink. She lookedat Peris, exhausted and confused. “How long have you beenhere?”
He shifted uncomfortably in her window chair. “Longenough.”
“Sorry. I didn’t know you were coming.”
He raised his eyebrows in beautiful anguish. “Of courseI came. The moment I figured out where you were, I came.”
Tally turned away, unlacing her grippy shoes as she collectedherself. She’d felt so abandoned since her birthday, ithad never occurred to her that Peris would want to see her,especially not here in Uglyville. But here he was, worried,anxious, lovely.
122 Scott Westerfeld“It’s good to see you,” she said, feeling tears come intoher eyes. They were red and puffy most of the time thesedays.
He beamed up at her. “You too.”
The thought of what she must look like was too much.
Tally collapsed onto the bed, covering her face with herhands and sobbing. Peris sat next to her and held her for awhile as she cried, then wiped her nose and sat her up.
“Look at you, Tally Youngblood.”
She shook her head. “Please don’t.”
“You’re an absolute mess.”
Peris found a brush and ran it through her hair. Shecouldn’t meet his eyes, and stared at the floor.
“So, do you always go hoverboarding in a blender?”
She shook her head, lightly touching the scratches onher face. “Just tree branches. At high speed.”
“Oh, so getting yourself killed is your next brillianttrick. I guess that would just about top your current one.”
“My current what?”
Peris rolled his eyes. “This whole trick where youhaven’t turned pretty yet. Very mysterious.”
“Yeah. Some trick.”
“When did you get modest, Squint? All my friends arefascinated.”
She turned her puffy eyes to her friend, trying to figureout if he was kidding.
“I mean, I already told everyone about you after thatUGLIES 123fire alarm thing, but they’re really dying to meet you now,”
he continued. “There’s even a rumor that Special Circumstancesis involved.”
Tally blinked. Peris was serious.
“Well, that’s true,” she said. “They’re the reason I’m stillugly.”
Peris’s big eyes widened even more. “Really? That is sobubbly!”
She sat up and frowned. “Did everyone know aboutthem but me?”
“Well, I had no idea what anyone was talking about.
Apparently, Specials are like gremlins; you blame themwhen anything weird happens. Some people think they’retotally bogus, and no one I know has actually seen aSpecial.”
Tally sighed. “Just my luck, I guess.”
“So they’re real?” Peris lowered his voice to a wh............