Uglies

Tally turned away. "It's important, Peris. It's more than a trick. I made my friend a promise that I'd keep a secret for her."

His eyes narrowed, and for a moment he looked like the old Peris: serious, thoughtful, even a little bit unhappy. "Tally, you made me a promise too."

She swallowed and stared back at him. His eyes shone with tears.

"You promised you wouldn't do anything stupid, Tally. That you'd be with me soon. That we'd be pretty together."

She touched the scar on her palm, still there, even though Peris's had been rubbed away.

He reached over and held her hand. "Best friends forever, Tally."

She knew that if she looked into his eyes again, it would be all over. One glance, and her resistance would evaporate. "Best friends forever?" she said.

"Forever."

She took a deep breath and let herself stare into his eyes. He looked so sad, so vulnerable and wounded. So perfect. Tally imagined herself by his side, just as beautiful, spending every day doing nothing but talking and laughing and having fun.

"You'll keep your promise, Tally?"

A shudder of exhaustion and relief went through her. She had it now, an excuse to break her vow. She'd made that promise to Peris, just as real, before she'd ever met Shay. She had known him for years, and Shay for only a few months.

And Peris was right here, not out in some strange wilderness, and was looking at her with those eyes…

"Of course."

"Really?" He smiled, and it was as bright as the daybreak outside.

"Yeah." The words came out so easily. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I promise."

He sighed and hugged her tight, rocking her softly. Tears rose up in her again.

Peris finally released her, and looked out at the su

"I should go." He waved at the door. "You know, before the…thingies…all wake up."

"Of course."

"It's almost past my bedtime, and you've got a big day ahead of you."

Tally nodded. She'd never felt so exhausted. Her muscles ached, and her face and hands had started stinging again. But she was overwhelmed with relief. This nightmare had begun three months ago, when Peris went across the river. And soon it would end.

"Okay, Peris. I'll see you soon. As soon as possible."

He hugged her again, kissed her salty, scratched cheeks, and whispered, "Maybe in just a couple of days. I'm so excited!"

He said good-bye and left, checking both ways down the corridor before departing. Tally looked out the window for another glance at Peris, and realized that a hovercar was waiting for him below. Pretties really did get whatever they wanted.

Tally wanted nothing more than to fall asleep, but acting on her decision couldn't wait.

She knew that with Peris gone, the doubts would come back again and haunt her. She couldn't stand another day like this, not knowing if her ugly purgatory would ever end.

And she'd promised Peris she'd be with him as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry, Shay," Tally said quietly.

Then she picked up her interface ring from where it had lain on the bedside table all night, and slipped it on. "Message to Dr. Cable, or whomever," she said to it. "I'll do what you want. Just let me sleep for a while. Message over."

Tally sighed, and let herself fall back onto the bed. She knew she should spray her scratches again before passing out, but the thought of moving made her whole body ache.

A few dozen scratches wouldn't keep her from sleeping today. Nothing would.

Seconds later, the room spoke. "Reply from Dr. Cable: A car will be sent for you, arriving in twenty minutes."

"No," she mumbled, but realized that it would be useless to argue. Special Circumstances would come, they would wake her up, they would take her.

Tally decided to try for a few minutes of sleep. It would be better than nothing.

But for the next twenty minutes, she never once shut her eyes.

Infiltrator

The cruel pretties seemed even more unearthly to exhausted eyes. Tally felt like a mouse in a cage full of hawks, just waiting for one to swoop down and take her. The trip in the hovercar had been even more sickening this time.

She focused on the nausea eating away at her stomach, trying to forget why she was here.

As Tally and her escort made their way down the hall, she tried to pull herself together, tucking in her shirt and tugging at her hair.

Dr. Cable certainly didn't look like she'd just gotten up. Tally tried without success to imagine what a tousled Dr. Cable would look like. Her darting, metal-gray eyes hardly seemed as if they would ever close long enough to sleep.

"So, Tally. You've reconsidered."

"Yes."

"And you'll answer all our questions now? Honestly and of your own free will?"

Tally snorted. "You're not giving me a choice."

Dr. Cable smiled. "We always have choices, Tally. You've made yours."

"Great. Thanks. Look, just ask your questions."

"Certainly. First of all, what on earth happened to your face?"

Tally sighed, one hand touching the scratches. "Trees."

"Trees?" Dr. Cable raised an eyebrow. "Very well. On a more important subject, what did you and Shay talk about the last time you saw her?"

Tally closed her eyes. This was it, the moment when she would break her vow to Shay.

But a small voice in her exhausted brain reminded her that she was also keeping a promise.

Now she could finally join Peris.

"She talked about going away. Ru

"Ah, yes, the mysterious David." Dr. Cable leaned back. "And did she say where she and David were going?"

"A place called the Smoke. Like a city, only smaller. And no one was in charge there, and no one was pretty."

"And did she say where it was?"

"No, she didn't, not really." Tally sighed and pulled Shay's crumpled note from her pocket. "But she left me these directions."

Dr. Cable didn't even look at the note. Instead, she pushed a piece of paper from her side of the desk over to Tally's. Through bleary eyes, Tally saw that it was a 3-D copy of the note, perfect down to the slight incisions of Shay's labored penmanship on the paper.

"We took the liberty of making a copy of that the first time you were here."

Tally glared at Dr. Cable, realizing she'd been duped. "Then why do you need me? I don't know anything more than what I just said. I didn't ask her to tell me any more. And I didn't go with her, because I just…wanted…to be pretty!" A lump rose in her throat, but Tally decided that under no circumstances-special or not-was she going to cry in front of Dr. Cable.

"I'm afraid that we find the instructions on the note rather cryptic, Tally."

"You and me both."

Dr. Cable's hawk-eyes narrowed. "They seem to be designed to be read by someone who knows Shay quite well. By you, perhaps."

"Yeah, well, I get some of it. But after the first couple of lines, I'm lost."

"I'm sure it's very difficult. Especially after a long night of…trees. I still think you can help us, however."

Dr. Cable opened a small briefcase on the desk between them. Tally's tired brain struggled to make sense of the objects in the case. A firestarter, a crumpled sleeping bag…

"Hey, that's like the survival stuff that Shay had."

"That's right, Tally. These ranger kits go missing every so often. Usually just about the same time that one of our uglies disappears."