1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 355
part of her back then, but now the idea of being tracked
and monitored and advised every minute of the day
repelled Tally.
“Stick close,” she said to David. “This is the part where
you should whisper.”
As a littlie, Tally had lived in the middle-pretty burbs
with Sol and Ellie. But back then her world had been
pathetically tiny: a few parks, the path to littlie school, one
corner of the greenbelt where she would sneak in to spy on
uglies. Like the Rusty Ruins, the neat row houses and gardens
seemed much smaller to her now, an endless village of
dollhouses.
They skimmed the rooftops, crouching low. If anybody
was awake, going for a late-night run or walking a dog, they
wouldn’t be looking up, hopefully. Their boards barely a
hand’s breadth above the housetops, the patterns of shingles
passed underneath hypnotically. All they encountered were
nesting birds and a few cats, who flew or scrambled out of
their way in surprise.
The burbs ended suddenly, a last band of parks fading
into the transport ring, where underground factories stuck
their heads aboveground and cargo trucks drove concrete
roads all day and night. Tally lofted her board and gained
speed.
“Tally!” David hissed. “They’ll see us!”
“Relax. Those trucks are automatic. Nobody comes out
here, especially at night.”