1269_UgliesFreeBook

48 Scott Westerfeld
“Yeah.”
“That’s crazy. There’s nothing out there.”
“There’s plenty out there. Real trees, hundreds of years
old. Mountains. And the ruins. Ever been there?”
Tally blinked. “Of course.”
“I don’t mean on a school trip, Tally. You ever been
there at night?”
Tally brought her board to a sharp halt. The Rusty Ruins
were the remains of an old city, a hulking reminder of back
when there’d been way too many people, and everyone was
incredibly stupid. And ugly. “No way. Don’t tell me you have.”
Shay nodded.
Tally’s mouth dropped open. “That’s impossible.”
“You think you’re the only one who knows good
tricks?”
“Well, maybe I believe you,” Tally said. Shay had that
look on her face, the one Tally had learned to watch out for.
“But what if we get busted?”
Shay laughed. “Tally, there’s nothing out there, like you
just said. Nothing and no one to bust us.”
“Do hoverboards even work out there? Does anything?”
“Special ones do, if you know how to trick them, and
where to ride. And getting past the burbs is easy. You take
the river the whole way. Farther upstream it’s white water,
too rough for skimmers.”
Tally’s mouth dropped open again. “You really have
done this before.”