1269_UgliesFreeBook

364 Scott Westerfeld
The three uglies froze, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Then the boy dropped his board, and it crashed onto the
stones beside him, breaking their paralysis.
“Who are you?” one of the girls managed.
“I’m David.”
“Oh. You mean you’re . . .”
“Real?” He switched off the light and grinned. “Yeah, I
get that question a lot.”
Their names were Sussy, An, and Dex, and they had been
coming to the ruins for a month now. They’d heard rumors
about the Smoke for years, since an ugly in their dorm had
run away.
“I’d just moved to Uglyville,” Sussy said, “and Ho was a
senior. When he disappeared, everyone had these crazy
theories about where he’d gone.”
“Ho?” David nodded. “I remember him. He stayed for a
few months, then changed his mind and came back. By
now, he’s a pretty.”
“But he really made it? To the Smoke?” An asked.
“Yeah. I took him there.”
“Wow. So it’s real.” An shared an excited look with her
two friends. “We want to see it too.”
David opened his mouth, then closed it. His eyes drifted
away to one side.
“You can’t,” Tally spoke up. “Not right now.”
“Why not?” Dex asked.