1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 407
Shay stayed with them, complaining about the food,
the ruins, her hair and clothes, and having to look at all the
ugly faces around her. But she never seemed bitter, only
perpetually annoyed. After the first few days she didn’t even
talk about leaving. Perhaps the brain damage made her pliant,
or the fact that she hadn’t lived in New Pretty Town for
long. She still remembered them all as friends. Tally sometimes
wondered if Shay secretly enjoyed having the only
pretty face in their little rebellion. Certainly, she didn’t do
any more work than she would have in the city; Ryde and
Astrix obeyed her every command.
David helped his mother, searching the ruins for salvage,
and taught wilderness survival tricks to any ugly who
wanted to learn. But in the two weeks after his father’s
death, Tally found herself missing the days when it had
been just the two of them.
Twenty days after the rescue, Maddy announced that
she had found a cure.
“Shay, I want to explain this to you carefully.”
“Sure, Maddy.”
“When you had the operation, they did something to
your brain.”
Shay smiled. “Yeah, right.” She looked across at Tally,
wearing a familiar expression. “That’s what Tally keeps telling
me. But you guys don’t understand.”
Maddy folded her hands. “What do you mean?”