1269_UgliesFreeBook

60 Scott Westerfeld
coasting over a ridge and down into a dark valley.
Onboard, Tally found the breath to ask a question that
had been bugging her. “So if hoverboards need metal, how
do they work on the river?”
“Panning for gold.”
“What?”
“Rivers come from springs, which come from inside
mountains. The water brings up minerals from inside the
earth. So there’s always metals at the bottom of rivers.”
“Right. Like when people used to pan for gold?”
“Yeah, exactly. But, actually, boards prefer iron. All that
glitters is not hovery.”
Tally frowned. Shay sometimes talked in a mysterious
way, like she was quoting the lyrics of some band no one
else listened to.
She almost asked, but Shay came to a sudden halt and
pointed downward.
The clouds were breaking, and moonlight shot through
them to fall across the floor of the valley. Hulking towers
rose up, casting jagged shadows, their human-made shapes
obvious against the plain of treetops rippling in the wind.
The Rusty Ruins.