1269_UgliesFreeBook

94 Scott Westerfeld
The words gave Tally a creepy feeling. She could think
of a lot of horrible reasons to explain why no one had come
back. “Be careful, Shay.”
“You too. You’re not going to tell anyone about this,
right?”
“Never, Shay.”
“You swear? No matter what?”
Tally raised her scarred palm. “I swear.”
Shay smiled. “I know. I just had to ask again before
I . . .” She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Tally.
“What’s this?” Tally opened it up and saw a scrawl of
letters. “When did you learn to write by hand?”
“We all learned while we were planning to leave. It’s a
good idea if you don’t want minders sniffing your diary.
Anyway, that’s for you. I’m not supposed to leave any record
of where I’m going, so it’s in code, kind of.”
Tally frowned, reading the first line of slanted words.
“‘Take the coaster straight past the gap’?”
“Yeah. Get it? Only you could figure it out, in case
someone finds it. You know, if you ever want to follow me.”
Tally started to say something, but couldn’t. She managed
to nod.
“Just in case,” Shay said.
She jumped onto her board and snapped her fingers,
securing her knapsack over both shoulders. “Good-bye,
Tally.”
“Bye, Shay. I wish . . .”