The cruel pretties seemed even more unearthly to exhaustedeyes. Tally felt like a mouse in a cage full of hawks, justwaiting for one to swoop down and take her. The trip in thehovercar had been even more sickening this time.
She focused on the nausea eating away at her stomach,trying to forget why she was here. As Tally and her escortmade their way down the hall, she tried to pull herselftogether, tucking in her shirt and tugging at her hair.
Dr. Cable certainly didn’t look like she’d just gotten up.
Tally tried without success to imagine what a tousled Dr.
Cable would look like. Her darting, metal-gray eyes hardlyseemed as if they would ever close long enough to sleep.
“So, Tally. You’ve reconsidered.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll answer all our questions now? Honestlyand of your own free will?”
Tally snorted. “You’re not giving me a choice.”
Dr. Cable smiled. “We always have choices, Tally. You’vemade yours.”
“Great. Thanks. Look, just ask your questions.”
“Certainly. First of all, what on earth happened to yourface?”
Tally sighed, one hand touching the scratches. “Trees.”
“Trees?” Dr. Cable raised an eyebrow. “Very well. On amore important subject, what did you and Shay talk aboutthe last time you saw her?”
Tally closed her eyes. This was it, the moment whenshe would break her vow to Shay. But a small voice in herexhausted brain reminded her that she was also keeping apromise. Now she could finally join Peris.
“She talked about going away. Running away withsomeone called David.”
“Ah, yes, the mysterious David.” Dr. Cable leanedback. “And did she say where she and David weregoing?”
“A place called the Smoke. Like a city, only smaller.
And no one was in charge there, and no one was pretty.”
“And did she say where it was?”
“No, she didn’t, not really.” Tally sighed and pulledShay’s crumpled note from her pocket. “But she left methese directions.”
Dr. Cable didn’t even look at the note. Instead, shepushed a piece of paper from her side of the desk over toTally’s. Through bleary eyes, Tally saw that it was a 3-Dcopy of the note, perfect down to the slight incisions ofShay’s labored penmanship on the paper.
130 Scott Westerfeld“We took the liberty of making a copy of that the firsttime you were here.”
Tally glared at Dr. Cable, realizing she’d been duped.
“Then why do you need me? I don’t know anything morethan what I just said. I didn’t ask her to tell me any more.
And I didn’t go with her, because I just . . . wanted . . . tobe pretty!” A lump rose in her throat, but Tally decided thatunder no circumstances—special or not—was she going tocry in front of Dr. Cable.
“I’m afraid that we find the instructions on the noterather cryptic, Tally.”
“You and me both.”
Dr. Cable’s hawk-eyes narrowed. “They seem to bedesigned to be read by someone who knows Shay quitewell. By you, perhaps.”
“Yeah, well, I get some of it. But after the first couple oflines, I’m lost.”
“I’m sure it’s very difficult. Especially after a long nightof . . . trees. I still think you can help us, however.”
Dr. Cable opened a small briefcase on the deskbetween them. Tally’s tired brain struggled to makesense of the objects in the case. A firestarter, a crumpledsleeping bag . . .
“Hey, that’s like the survival stuff that Shay had.”
“That’s right, Tally. These ranger kits go missing everyso often. Usually just about the same time that one of ouruglies disappears.”
UGLIES 131“Well, mystery solved. Shay was all ready to travel tothe Smoke with a bunch of that stuff.”
“What else did she have?”
Tally shrugged. “A hoverboard. A special one, withsolar.”
“Of course a hoverboard. What is it about those thingsand miscreants? And what did Shay plan to eat, do yousuppose?”
“She had food in packets. Dehydrated.”
“Like this?” Dr. Cable produced a silvery food pack.
“Yeah. She had enough for four weeks.” Tally took adeep breath. “Two weeks, if I’d gone along. More thanenough, she said.”
“Two weeks? Not so very far.” Dr. Cable pulled a blackknapsack from beside her desk and started to pack thevarious objects into it. “You might just make it.”
“Make it? Make wh............