1269_UgliesFreeBook

168 Scott Westerfeld
one small, and remembered Shay saying that pretty symmetry
was silly, because she’d rather have a face with two
different sides.
Tally hadn’t realized it at the time, but that had been an
important conversation for Shay, the first time she had
talked about wanting to stay ugly. If only Tally had noticed
at the time, maybe she could have talked Shay out of running
away. And they’d both be in a party tower right now,
together and pretty.
“Right it is.” Tally sighed, and eased her board onto the
smaller river.
By the time the sun rose, Tally knew she had made the right
choice.
As the tributary climbed its way into the mountains,
the fields around her filled with flowers. Soon the brilliant
white bonnets were as thick as grass, driving every other
color from the landscape. In the dawn light, it was as if the
earth were glowing from within.
“‘And look in the flowers for fire-bug eyes,’” Tally said
to herself, wondering if she should get off the board. Maybe
there was some kind of bug with fiery eyes she should be
looking for.
She drifted to shore and stepped off.
The flowers came right up to the edge of the water.
Tally knelt to inspect one closely. The five long white petals
curved delicately up from the stem and around its mouth,