THE SECRET

They descended the ridge on the far side, down a steep,narrow path. David led her quickly in the darkness, findingfooting on the almost invisible trail without hesitation. Itwas all Tally could do to keep up.
The whole day had been one shock after another, andnow to top it all off she was going to meet David’s parents.
That was the last thing she’d expected after showing himher pendant and telling him she hadn’t kept the Smoke asecret. His reactions were different from those of anyoneshe’d ever met before. Maybe it was because he’d grown upout here, away from the customs of the city. Or maybe hewas just . . . different.
They left the familiar ridge line far behind, and themountain rose steeply to one side.
“Your parents don’t live in the Smoke?”
“No. It’s too dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?”
“It’s part of what I was telling you your first day here, inthe railroad cave.”
“About your secret? How you were raised in the wild?”
David stopped for a moment, turning back to face herin the darkness. “There’s more to it than that.”
“What?”
“I’ll let them tell you. Come on.”
A few minutes later, a small square filled with faint lightappeared, hovering in the darkness of the mountainside.
Tally saw that it was a window, a light inside glowing deepred through a closed curtain. The house seemed halfburied, as if it had been wedged into the mountain.
When they were still a stone’s throw away, Davidstopped. “Don’t want to surprise them. They can be jumpy,”
he said, then shouted, “Hello!”
A moment later a doorway opened, letting out a shaftof light.
“David?” a woman’s voice called. The door openedwider until the light spilled across them. “Az, it’s David.”
As they drew closer, Tally saw that she was an old ugly.
Tally couldn’t tell if she was younger or older than theBoss, but she certainly wasn’t as terrifying to look at. Hereyes flashed liked a pretty’s, and the lines of her face disappearedinto a welcoming smile as she gathered her soninto a hug.
“Hi, Mom.”
“And you must be Tally.”
“Nice to meet you.” She wondered if she should shakehands or something. In the city, you never spent much time254 Scott Westerfeldwith other uglies’ parents, except when you hung out atfriends’ houses during school breaks.
The house was much warmer than the bunkhouse, andthe timber floors weren’t nearly as rough, as if David’s parentshad lived there so long, their feet had worn themsmooth. The house somehow felt more solid than anybuilding in the Smoke. It was really cut into the mountain,she saw now. One of the walls was exposed stone, glisteningwith some kind of transparent sealant.
“Nice to meet you, too, Tally,” David’s mother said. Tallywondered what her name was. David always referred tothem as “Mom” and “Dad,” words Tally hadn’t used for Soland Ellie since she was a littlie.
A man appeared, shaking David’s hand before turningto her. “Good to meet you, Tally.”
She blinked, her breath catching, for a moment unableto speak. David and his father somehow looked . . .
alike.
It didn’t make any sense. There had to be more thanthirty years between them, if his father really had been adoctor when David was born. But their jaws, foreheads,even their slightly lopsided smiles were all so similar.
“Tally?” David said.
“Sorry. You just . . . you look the same!”
David’s parents burst into laughter, and Tally felt herface turning red.
“We get that a lot,” his father said. “You city kids alwaysUGLIES 255find it a shock. But you know about genetics, don’t you?”
“Sure. I know all about genes. I knew two sisters,uglies, who looked almost the same. But parents and children?
That’s just weird.”
David’s mother forced a serious expression onto herface, but the smile stayed in her eyes. “The features that wetake from our parents are the things that make us different.
A big nose, thin lips, high forehead—all the things that theoperation takes away.”
“The preference toward the mean,” his dad said.
Tally nodded, remembering school lessons. The overallaverage of human facial characteristics was the primarytemplate for the operation. “Sure. Average-looking featuresare one of the things people look for in a face.”
“But families pass on nonaverage looks. Like our bignoses.” The man tweaked his son’s nose, and David rolledhis eyes. Tally realized that David’s nose was much biggerthan any pretty’s. Why hadn’t she noticed that beforenow?
“That’s one of the things you give up, when you becomepretty. The family nose,” his mother said. “Az? Why don’tyou turn up the heat.”
Tally realized that she was still shivering, but not fromthe cold outside. This was all so weird. She couldn’t getover the similarity between David and his father. “That’sokay. It’s lovely in here, uh . . .”
“Maddy,” the woman said. “Shall we all sit down?”
256 Scott WesterfeldF F FAz and Maddy apparently had been expecting them. In thefront room of the house, four antique cups were set out onlittle saucers. Soon a kettle began to whistle softly on anelectric heater, and Az poured the boiling water into anantique pot, releasing a floral scent into the room.
Tally looked around her. The house was unlike anyother in the Smoke. It was like a standard crumbly home,filled with impractical objects. A marble statuette stood inone corner, and rich rugs had been hung on the walls, lendingtheir colors to the light in the room, softening the edgesof everything. Maddy and Az must have brought a lot ofthings from the city when they ran away. And, unlike uglies,who had only their dorm uniforms and other disposablepossessions, the two had actually spent half a lifetime collectingthings before escaping the city.
Tally remembered growing up surrounded by Sol’swoodwork, abstract shapes fashioned from fallen branchesshe would collect from parks as a littlie. Maybe David’schildhood hadn’t been completely different from her own.
“This all looks so familiar,” she said.
“David hasn’t told you?” Maddy said. “Az and I comefrom the same city as you. If we’d stayed, we might havebeen the ones to turn you pretty.”
“Oh, I guess so,” Tally murmured. If they’d stayed inthe city, there would have been no Smoke, and Shay neverwould have run away.
UGLIES 257“David says that you made it all the way here on yourown,” Maddy said.
She nodded. “I was following a friend of mine. She leftme directions.”
“And you decided to come alone? Couldn’t you wait forDavid to come around again?”
“There wasn’t time to wait,” David explained. “She leftthe night before her sixteenth birthday.”
“That’s leaving things until the last minute,” Az said.
“But very dramatic,” Maddy said approvingly.
“Actually, I didn’t have much choice. I hadn’t evenheard of the Smoke until Shay, my friend, told me she wasleaving. That was about a week before my birthday.”
“Shay? I don’t believe we’ve met her,” Az said.
Tally looked at David, who shrugged. He had neverbrought Shay here? She wondered for a moment what hadreally gone on between David and Shay.
“You certainly made up your mind quickly, then,”
Maddy said.
Tally brought her mind back to the present. “I had to. Ionly had one chance.”
“Spoken like a true Smokey,” Az said, pouring a darkliquid from the kettle into the cups. “Tea?”
“Uh, please.” Tally accepted a saucer and felt the scaldingheat through the thin, white material of the cup. Realizingthat this was one of those Smokey concoctions that burnedyour tongue, she sipped carefully. Her face twisted at the258 Scott Westerfeldbitter taste. “Ah. I mean . . . sorry. I’ve never had tea before,actually.”
Az’s eyes widened. “Really? But it was very popularback when we lived there.”
“I’ve heard of it. But it’s more of a crumbly drink. Um,I mean, mostly only late pretties drink it.” Tally willed herselfnot to blush.
Maddy laughed. “Well, we’re pretty crumbly, so I guessit’s okay for us.”
“Speak for yourself, my dear.”
“Try this,” David said. He dropped a white cube intoTally’s tea. The next time she drank, a sweetness had spreadthrough it, cutting the bitterness. It was possible to sip thestuff now without grimacing.
“David’s told you a little about us, I suppose,” Maddy said.
“Well, he said you ran away a long time ago. Before hewas born.”
“Oh, did he?” Az said. The expression on his face wasexactly like David’s when a member of the railroad crew didsomething thoughtless and dangerous with a vibrasaw.
“I didn’t tell her everything, Dad,” David said. “Just thatI grew up in the wild.”
“You left the rest to us?” Az said a bit stiffly. “Very goodof you.”
David held his father’s gaze. “Tally came here to makesure her friend was okay. All the way here alone. But shemight not want to stay.”
UGLIES 259“We don’t force anyone to live here,” Maddy said.
“That’s not what I mean,” David said. “I think she shouldknow, before she decides about going back to the city.”
Tally looked from David to his parents, quietly amazed.
The way they communicated was so strange, not like uglies andcrumblies at all. It was more like uglies arguing. Like equals.
“I should know what?” she asked softly.
They all looked at her, Maddy and Az measuring herwith their eyes.
“The big secret,” Az said, “the one that made us runaway almost twenty years ago.”
“One we usually keep to ourselves,” Maddy said evenly,her eyes on David.
“Tally deserves to know,” David said, his eyes lockedwith his mother’s. “She’ll understand how important it is.”
“She’s a kid. A city kid.”
“She made it here alone, with only a bunch of gibberishdirections to guide her.”
Maddy scowled. “You’ve never even been to a city,David. You have no idea how coddled they are. They spendtheir whole lives in a bubble.”
“She survived alone for nine days, Mom. Made itthrough a brush fire.”
“Please, you two,” Az interjected. “She is sitting righthere. Aren’t you, Tally?”
“Yeah, I am,” Tally said quietly. “And I wish you’d tellme what you’re talking about.”
260 Scott Westerfeld“I’m sorry, Tally,” Maddy said. “But this secret is veryimportant. And very dangerous.”
Tally nodded her head, looking down at the floor.
“Everything out here is dangerous.”
They were all silent for a moment. All Tally heard wasthe tinkle of Az stirring his tea.
“See?” David said finally. “She understands. You cantrust her. She deserves to know the truth.”
“Everyone does,” Maddy said quietly. “Eventually.”
“Well,” Az said, then paused to sip his tea. “I supposewe’ll have to tell you, Tally.”
“Tell me what?”
David took a deep breath. “The truth about beingpretty.”