1269_UgliesFreeBook

88 Scott Westerfeld
“Let’s go somewhere tonight. Do some major trick.”
Shay laughed. “I was kind of hoping you’d say that.”
Tally noticed the way Shay was dressed. She was wearing
serious trick-wear: all black clothes, hair tied back tight,
a knapsack over one shoulder. She grinned. “Already got a
plan, I see. Great.”
“Yeah,” Shay said softly. “I’ve got a plan.”
She walked over to Tally’s bed, unslinging the knapsack
from her shoulder. Her footsteps squeaked, and Tally
smiled when she saw that Shay was wearing grippy shoes.
Tally hadn’t been on a hoverboard in days. Flying alone was
all the hard work and only half the fun.
Shay dumped the contents of the knapsack out onto
the bed, and pointed. “Position-finder. Firestarter. Water
purifier.” She picked up two shiny wads the size of sandwiches.
“These pull out into sleeping bags. And they’re
really warm inside.”
“Sleeping bags? Water purifier?” Tally exclaimed. “This
must be some kind of awesome multiday trick. Are we
going all the way to the sea or something?”
Shay shook her head. “Farther.”
“Uh, cool.” Tally kept her smile on her face. “But we’ve
only got six days till the operation.”
“I know what day it is.” Shay opened a waterproof bag
and spilled its contents alongside the rest. “Food for two
weeks—dehydrated. You just drop one of these into the
purifier and add water. Any kind of water.” She giggled.