they must have forewarned the minders about her return.

all the other uglies were gone, off on some unscheduledschool trip. but they hadn’t found out in time to save herstuff. when tally reached her old room, she saw that everythinghad been recycled. clothes, bedding, furniture, thepictures on the wallscreen—it had all reverted back togeneric ugly. it even looked as if somebody else had beenbriefly moved in, then out again, leaving a strange drinkcan in the fridge.

tally sat down on the bed, too stunned to cry. she knewshe would start bawling soon, probably losing it at theworst possible time and place. now that the encounter withdr. cable was over, her anger and defiance were fading, andthere was nothing left to sustain her. her stuff was gone, herfuture was gone, only the view out the window remained.

she sat and stared, having to remind herself every fewminutes that it had all really happened: the cruel pretties,the strange buildings on the edge of town, the terrible ultimatumfrom dr. cable. tally felt as if some wild trick hadgone horribly wrong. a weird and horrible new reality hadopened up, devouring the world she knew and understood.

all she had left was the small duffel bag she’d packedfor the hospital. she couldn’t even remember carrying it allthe way back here. tally pulled out the few clothes, whichshe’d shoved in at random, and found shay’s note.

she read it, looking for clues.

take the coaster straight past the gap,until you find one that’s long and flat.

cold is the sea and watch for breaks.

at the second make the worst mistake.

four days later take the side you despise,and look in the flowers for fire-bug eyes.

once they’re found, enjoy the flight.

then wait on the bald head until it’s light.

hardly any of it made sense to her, only bits and pieces.

shay had obviously meant to hide the meaning from anyoneelse reading it, using references only the two of themwould understand. her paranoia made a lot more sensenow. having met dr. cable, tally could see why davidwanted to keep his city—or camp, or whatever it was—asecret.

as tally held the note, she realized that it was whatdr. cable had wanted. the woman had been sitting acrossthe room from the letter the whole time, but they’d never112 scott westerfeldbothered to search her. that meant that tally had kept shay’ssecret, and that she still had something to bargain with.

it also meant that special circumstances could makemistakes.

tally saw the other uglies come back in before lunchtime.

as they filed off the school transport, all of them cranedtheir necks to look up at her window. a few pointed beforeshe ducked back into the shadows. minutes later tallycould hear kids in the hall outside, growing silent as theypassed her door. a few even giggled, as new uglies alwaysdid when tried to keep quiet.

were they laughing at her?

her rumbling stomach reminded tally that she hadn’teaten breakfast, or dinner the night before. you weren’t supposedto have food or water for sixteen hours before theoperation. she was starving.

but she stayed in her room until lunch was over. shecouldn’t face a cafeteria full of uglies watching her everymove, wondering what she had done to deserve her stilluglyface. when she couldn’t stand her hunger anymore,tally stole upstairs to the roof deck, where they put out leftoversfor whoever wanted them.

a few uglies saw her in the hall. they clammed up andstood aside as tally passed, as if she were contagious. whathad the minders told them? tally wondered. that she’dpulled one too many tricks? that she was inoperable, anuglies 113ugly-for-life? or just that she was a special circumstance?

everywhere she went, eyes looked away, but it was themost visible she’d ever felt.

a plate was set out for her on the roof deck, sealed inplastic wrap, her name stuck to it. someone had noticedthat she hadn’t eaten. and, of course, everyone would realizethat she was in hiding.

the sight of the plate of food, wilted and solitary, madethe suppressed tears well up in her eyes. tally’s throatburned as if she’d swallowed something sharp, and it wasall she could do to get back to her room before she burstinto loud, jagged sobs.

when she got there, tally found that she hadn’t forgottento bring the plate. she ate while she cried, tasting thesalt of her tears in every bite.

her parents came by about an hour later.

ellie swept in first, gathering tally into a hug that emptiedher lungs and lifted her feet off the ground. “tally, mypoor baby!”

“now don’t injure the girl, ellie. she’s had a tough day.”

even without oxygen, it felt good inside the crushingembrace. ellie always smelled just right, like a mom, andtally always felt like a littlie in her arms. released after whatwas probably a solid minute, but still too soon, tallystepped back, hoping that she wouldn’t cry again. shelooked at her parents sheepishly, wondering what they114 scott westerfeldmust be thinking. she felt like a total failure. “i didn’t knowyou guys were coming.”

“of course we came,” ellie said.

sol shook his head. “i’ve never heard of anything likethis happening. it’s ridiculous. and we’ll get to the bottomof it, don’t you worry!”

tally felt a weight lift from her shoulders. finally therewas someone else on her side. her father’s middle-prettyeyes twinkled with calm certainty. there was no questionthat he would sort everything out.

“what did they tell you?” tally asked.

sol gestured, and tally sat down on the bed. ellie settledbeside her while he paced back and forth across the smallroom.

“well, they told us about this shay girl. sounds likeshe’s a lot of trouble.”

“sol!” ellie interrupted. “the poor girl’s missing.”

“sounds like she wants to be missing.”

her mother pursed her lips in silence.

“it’s not her fault, sol,” tally said. “she just didn’t wantto turn pretty.”

“so, she’s an independent thinker. fine. but she shouldhave had better sense than to drag someone else downwith her.”

“she didn’t drag me anywhere. i’m right here.” tallylooked out the window at the familiar view of new prettytown. “where i’ll be forever, apparently.”

uglies 115“now, now,” ellie said. “they said that once you’vehelped them find this shay girl, everything should go aheadas normal.”

“it won’t make any difference if the operation happensa few days late. it’ll be a great story when you’re old.” solchuckled.

tally bit her lip. “i don’t think i can help them.”

“well, you just do your best,” ellie said.

“but i can’t. i mean, i promised shay that i wouldn’t tellanyone her plans.”

they were silent for a moment.

sol sat down, taking one of her hands in his. they feltso warm and strong, almost as wrinkled as a crumbly’s fromdays spent working in his wood shop. tally realized that shehadn’t visited her parents since the week of summer break,when she’d mostly been anxious to get back to hanging outwith shay full-time. but it was good to see them now.

“tally, we all make promises when we’re little. that’spart of being an ugly—everything’s exciting and intenseand important, but you have to grow out of it. after all, youdon’t owe this girl anything. she’s done nothing but causeyou trouble.”

ellie took her other hand. “and you’ll only be helpingher, tally. who knows where she is now and what’s happeningto her? i’m surprised you let her run off like that.

don’t you know how dangerous it is out there?”

tally found herself nodding. looking into sol’s and116 scott westerfeldellie’s faces, everything seemed so clear. maybe cooperatingwith dr. cable would really be helping shay, and would setthings back on course for herself. but the thought of dr.

cable made her wince. “you should have seen these people.

the ones investigating shay? they look like . . .”

sol laughed. “i guess it would be a bit of a shock at yourage, tally. but of course we old folks know all about specialcircumstances. they may be tough, but they’re just doingtheir jobs, you know. it’s a tough world out there.”

tally sighed. maybe her reluctance was just because thecruel pretties had scared her so much. “have you ever metthem? i couldn’t believe the way they looked.”

ellie furrowed her brow. “well, i can’t say i’ve actuallymet one.”

sol frowned, then broke into a laugh. “well, youwouldn’t want to meet one, ellie. and tally, if you do theright thing now, you probably won’t ever meet one again.

that sort of business is something we can all do without.”

tally looked at her father, and for a moment she sawsomething other than wisdom and confidence in hisexpression. it was almost too easy the way sol laughed offspecial circumstances, dismissing everything that went onoutside the city. for the first time in her life, tally foundherself listening to a middle pretty without being completelyreassured, a realization that made her dizzy. and shecouldn’t shake the thought that sol knew nothing about theoutside world shay had fled to.

uglies 117maybe most people just didn’t want to know. tally hadbeen taught all about the rusties and early history, but atschool they never said a single thing about people livingoutside the cities right now, people like david. until she’dmet shay, tally had never thought about it either.

but she couldn’t dismiss the whole thing the way herfather had.

and she had made shay a solemn promise. even if shewas just an ugly, a promise was a promise. “guys, i’m goingto have to think about this.”

for a moment, an awkward silence filled the room.

she’d said something they hadn’t expected.

then ellie laughed and patted her hand. “well, ofcourse you do, tally.”

sol nodded, back in command. “we know you’ll do theright thing.”

“sure. but in the meantime,” tally said, “maybe i couldcome home with you?”

her parents shared another look of surprise.

“i mean, it’s really weird being here now. everyoneknows that i . . . i’m not scheduled for classes anymore, soit would just be like coming home for autumn break, but alittle early.”

sol recovered first, and patted her shoulder. “now,tally, don’t you think it would be even stranger for you outin crumblyville? i mean, there’s no other kids out there thistime of year.”

118 scott westerfeld“you’re much better off here with the other children,darling,” ellie added. “you’re only a few months older thansome of them. and goodness, we don’t have your roomready at all!”

“i don’t care. nothing could be worse than this,” tallysaid.

“oh, just order up some more clothes, and get thatwallscreen back the way you want it,” sol said.

“i didn’t mean the room—”

“in any case,” ellie interrupted, “why make a fuss?

this’ll all be over in no time. just have a nice chat withspecial circumstances, tell them everything, and you’ll beheaded where you really want to be.”

they all looked out the window at the towers of newpretty town.

“i guess so.”

“sweetheart,” ellie said, patting her leg, “what otherchoice do you have?”