Free Uglies 03 - Specials by Scott Westerfeld Page B

once he had escaped. He really believed that he could fool them both, then somehow rescue Tally and bring her back to averageness.
    It was so simple seeing into his mind, as easy to read as the uglies' pathetic rivalries back at the Spring Bash. His infirm body let his thoughts leak out, like a random sweating on a hot day.
    Tally looked away.
    "Okay," he said. "For you, Tally."
    "Meet us at midnight tomorrow, where the river splits," Shay said. "The Smokies are going to be suspicious of runaways, so bring enough supplies for a long wait. But they'll eventually come for you, Zane."
    He nodded. "I know what to do."
    "And bring as many friends as you want, the more the better. You might need some help out there."
    He didn't argue with the insult, just nodded, trying to catch Tally's eyes. She looked away, but forced a weak smile onto her face. "You'll be happier when you're special, Zane-la. You don't understand how good it is." She flexed her hands, watching the tattoos spin. "Every second is so icy, so beautiful."
    Shay stood, pulling Tally to her feet and striding to the window. She paused, one foot on the sill.
    Zane just looked at Tally. "We'll be together soon." All Tally could do was nod.

THE CUT
    "You were right. That was horrible."
    "Poor Tally-wa …" Shay swept her hoverboard closer. In the water below, the moon's reflection kept pace with them, warping madly with the ripples of the current. "I'm really sorry."

    "Why does he look so different? It's like he's not the same person."
    "You're not the same person, Tally. You're special now, and he's just average."
    Tally shook her head, trying to remember Zane back in their pretty days. How bubbly he was, how his face glowed with excitement as he talked, and how that thrilled her, made her want to touch him…Even when he was being annoying, there'd never been anything average about Zane. But tonight he'd seemed emptied of something essential, like champagne with all the bubbles gone flat.
    There was a split screen in her brain: the way she remembered Zane and the way she saw him now, two pictures crashing against each other. The endless minutes with him had left her feeling as if her head were about to break in half.
    "I don't want this," she said softly. Her stomach was uneasy and the moonlight on the water was too bright, its lines too sharp in her perfect vision. "I don't want to be this way."
    Shay angled her board sideways, sweeping directly into Tally's path and spinning to a sudden, dangerous stop. Tally leaned back, and both hoverboards shrieked like buzz saws as they halted, coming to rest only centimeters apart.
    "What way? Annoying? Pathetic?" Shay shouted, her voice all razors and ground glass. "I tried to tell you not to come!"
    Tally's heart was pounding from the near collision, and anger rushed through her in a torrent.
    "You knew that seeing him would do this to me!"
    "You think I know everything?" Shay said coldly. "I'm not the one in love. Haven't been since you stole David from me. But maybe I thought love might make a difference. Well, Tally-wa, did it make Zane special for you?"
    Tally flinched, something inside her flipping over. She looked down at the black water, feeling like she was going to throw up. She tried to stay icy, to remember how Zane had made her feel back in pretty days. "What did Dr. Cable do to us, Shay? Do we have some kind of special lesions in our brains?
    Something that makes everyone else look pathetic? Like we're better than them?"
    "We are better than them, Tally-wa!" Shay's eyes shone like coins, reflecting the lights of New Pretty Town. "The operation gives us the clarity to see that. That's why everyone else looks confused and pitiful, because that's how most people are.'"
    "Not Zane," Tally said. "He was never pitiful."
    "He's changed too, Tally-wa."
    "But it's not his fault…" Tally turned away. "I don't want to see this way! I don't want to be disgusted by everyone who's not part of our clique, Shay!"
    Shay smiled.