1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 65
spires against the trees. And behind them, a moonlit glimmer
that might have been the sea. This was really high!
She heard a scream of pleasure as she reached the top.
Shay had disappeared. Tally leaned forward to speed up.
Suddenly, the board dropped out from under her. It
simply fell away from her feet, leaving her flying through
midair. The track below her had disappeared.
Tally clenched her fists, waiting for the crash bracelets
to kick in and haul her up by her wrists. But they had
become as useless as the board, just heavy strips of steel
dragging her toward the ground. “Shay!” she screamed as
she fell into blackness.
Then Tally saw the framework of the roller coaster
ahead. Only a short segment was missing.
Suddenly, the crash bracelets pulled her upward, and
she felt the solid surface of the hoverboard coming up from
under her feet. Her momentum had carried her to the other
side of the gap! The board must have sailed along with her,
just below her feet for those terrifying seconds of free fall.
She found herself cruising down the track, to where Shay
was waiting at the bottom. “You’re insane!” she shouted.
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“No!” Tally yelled. “Why didn’t you tell me it was broken?”
Shay shrugged. “More fun that way?”
“More fun?” Her heart was beating fast, her vision
strangely clear. She was full of anger and relief and . . . joy.
“Well, kind of. But you suck!”