Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Read Free Book Online

well as me now.”
    â€œShay.”
    â€œDo this with me. I’ll show you a roller coaster.”
    â€œWhat’s a—”
    â€œSecond warning. Restricted area.”
    Tally stopped her board. “If you keep going, Shay, you’ll get busted and we won’t be doing anything tonight.”
    Shay shrugged as the wind tugged her farther away.
    â€œI just want to show you something that’s my idea of fun, Tally. Before we go all pretty and only get to have everybody else’s idea of fun.”
    Tally shook her head, wanting to say that Shay had already taught her how to hoverboard, the coolest thing she’d ever learned. In less than a month she’d come to feel like they were best friends. Almost like when she’d met Peris as a littlie, and they’d known instantly they’d be together forever. “Shay . . .”
    â€œPlease?”
    Tally sighed. “Okay.”
    Shay dropped her arms and dipped her toes to bring the board to a halt. “Really? Tonight?”
    â€œSure. Rusty Ruins it is.”
    Tally told herself to relax. It wasn’t that big a deal, really. She broke rules all the time, and everyone went to the ruins once a year on school trips. It couldn’t be dangerous or anything.
    Shay zoomed back from the edge of the belt, swooping up beside Tally to put her arm around her. “Wait until you see the river.”
    â€œYou said it’s got white water?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhich is what?”
    Shay smiled. “It’s water. But much, much better.”

RAPIDS
    â€œGood night.”
    â€œSleep tight,” replied the room.
    Tally pulled on a jacket, clipped her sensor to her belly ring, and opened the window. The air was still, the river so flat that she could make out every detail of the city skyline mirrored in it. It looked like the pretties were having some sort of event. She could hear the roar of a huge crowd across the water, a thousand cheers rising and falling together. The party towers were dark under the almost full moon, and the fireworks all shimmering hues of blue, climbing so high that they exploded in silence.
    The city had never looked so far away.
    â€œI’ll see you soon, Peris,” she said quietly.
    The roof tiles were slick with a late evening rain. Tally climbed carefully to the corner of the dorm where it was brushed by an old sycamore tree. The handholds in its branches felt solid and familiar, and she descended quickly into the darkness behind a recycler.
    When she’d cleared the dormitory grounds, Tally looked back. The pattern of shadows that led away from the dorm seemed so convenient, almost intentional. As if uglies were supposed to sneak out every once in a while.
    Tally shook her head. She was starting to think like Shay.
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    They met at the dam, where the river split in two to encircle New Pretty Town. Tonight, there weren’t any river skimmers out to disturb the darkness, and Shay was practicing moves on her board when Tally walked up.
    â€œShould you be doing that here in town?” Tally called over the roar of water rushing through the dam’s gates.
    Shay danced, shifting her weight back and forth on the floating board, dodging imaginary obstacles. “I was just making sure it worked. In case you were worried.”
    Tally looked at her own board. Shay had tricked the safety governor so it wouldn’t tattle when they flew at night, or crossed the boundary out of town. Tally wasn’t so much worried about it squealing on them as whether it would fly at all. Or let her fly into a tree. But Shay’s board seemed to be hovering just fine.
    â€œI boarded all the way here, and nobody’s come to get me,” Shay said.
    Tally dropped her board to the ground. “Thanks for making sure. I didn’t mean to be so wimpy about this.”
    â€œYou weren’t.”
    â€œYeah, I was. I should tell you