Uglies Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

Author:Scott Westerfeld [Scott Westerfeld]
Language: rus
Format: epub
ISBN: 1416934502
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

After dinner, Shay took her to a large hut near the center of town. The shelves were full of things made in the Smoke, along with a few objects that had come from the cities. The city-made stuff was mostly shabby and worn, repaired again and again, but the handmade things fascinated Tally. She ran her still-raw fingers across the clay pots and wooden tools, amazed at how each had its own texture and weight. Everything seemed so heavy and…serious.

An older ugly was running the place, but he wasn’t as scary as the Boss. He brought out woolen gear and a few silvery sleeping bags. The blankets, scarves, and gloves were beautiful, in subdued colors and simple patterns, but Shay insisted that Tally get a city-made sleeping bag. “Much lighter, and it squishes up small. Much better for when we go exploring.”

“Of course,” Tally said, trying to smile. “That’ll be great.”

She wound up trading twelve packets of SpagBol for another sleeping bag, and six for a handmade sweater, which left her with eight. She couldn’t believe that the sweater, brown with bands of pale red and green highlights, cost half as much as the sleeping bag, which was threadbare and patched.

“You’re just lucky you didn’t lose your water purifier,” Shay said as they walked home. “Those things are impossible to trade for.”

Tally’s eyes widened. “What happens if they break?”

“Well, they say you can drink water from the streams without purifying it.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. A lot of the older Smokies do,” Shay said. “Even if they’ve got a purifier, they don’t bother.”

“Yuck.”

Shay giggled. “Yeah, no kidding. But hey, you can always use mine.”

Tally put a hand on Shay’s shoulder. “Same goes for mine.”

Shay’s pace slowed. “Tally?”

“Yeah?”

“You were going to say something to me, back in the library, before the Boss started yelling at you.”

Tally’s stomach sank. She pulled away, her fingers automatically going to the pendant at her neck.

“Yeah,” Shay said. “About that necklace.”

Tally nodded, but didn’t know how to start. She still hadn’t activated the pendant, and since her conversation with David, she wasn’t sure she could. Maybe if she returned to the city in a month, starving and empty-handed, Dr. Cable would take mercy on her.

But what if the woman kept her promise, and Tally never got the operation? In twenty-something years, she would be lined and wrinkled, as ugly as the Boss, an outcast. And if she stayed here in the Smoke, she’d be sleeping in an old sleeping bag and dreading the day her water purifier broke down.

She was so tired of lying to everyone. “I haven’t told you everything,” she started.

“I know. But I think I’ve got it figured out.”

Tally looked at her friend, afraid to speak.

“I mean, it’s pretty obvious, right? You’re all upset because you broke your promise to me. You didn’t keep the Smoke a secret.”

Tally’s mouth fell open.

Shay smiled, taking her hand. “As you got closer to your birthday, you decided you wanted to run away.

But in the meantime, you met someone. Someone important.

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