1269_UgliesFreeBook

266 Scott Westerfeld
surety, like David’s, completely different from the new pretties
she and Peris had always made fun of.
Peris . . .
Tally swallowed, tasting something more bitter than
tea in the back of her throat. She tried to remember how
Peris had acted when she’d crashed the Garbo Mansion
party. She’d been so ashamed of her own face, it was hard
to remember anything specific about Peris. He’d looked
so different and, if anything, he seemed older, more
mature.
But in some way, they hadn’t connected . . . it was as if
he’d become a different person. Was it only because since
his operation they had lived in different worlds? Or had it
been something more? She tried to imagine Peris coping
out here in the Smoke, working with his hands and making
his own clothes. The old, ugly Peris would have enjoyed the
challenge. But what about pretty Peris?
Her head felt light, as if the house were in an elevator
heading swiftly downward.
“What do the lesions do?” she asked.
“We don’t know exactly,” Az said.
“But we’ve got some pretty good ideas,” David said.
“Just suspicions,” Maddy said. Az looked uncomfortably
down into his tea.
“You were suspicious enough to run away,” Tally said.
“We had no choice,” Maddy said. “Not long after our
discovery, Special Circumstances paid a visit. They took our