Page 8 (2/2)

Tally clenched her fists, waiting for the crash bracelets to kick in and haul her up by her wrists But they had becoing her toward the ground "Shay!"

she screamed as she fell into blackness

Then Tally saw the fra

Suddenly, the crash bracelets pulled her upward, and she felt the solid surface of the hoverboard co up from under her feet Her ap! The boardwith her, just below her feet for those terrifying seconds of free fall

She found herself cruising down the track, to where Shay aiting at the bottom "You’re insane!"

she shouted

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"No!" Tally yelled "Why didn’t you tell ed "More fun that way?"

"Morefun ?" Her heart was beating fast, her vision strangely clear She was full of anger and relief andjoy "Well, kind of But yousuck !"

Tally stepped fros She found a broken stone big enough to sit on, and lowered herself shakily onto it

Shay jumped off her board "Hey, sorry"

"That was horrible, Shay I wasfalling "

"Not for long Like, five seconds I thought you said you’d bungee julared at Shay "Yeah, I did, but Ikneasn’t going to splat"

"True But, you see, the first time someone showed ap And I thought it was pretty cool, finding out that way Best time’s the first tiht falling wascool ?"

"Well, ry Yeah, I definitely was" Shay sot over it"

"Give me a second on that one, Skinny"

"Take your ti slowed, and her heart gradually stopped trying to beat its way out of her chest But her brain stayed as clear as it had for those seconds of free fall, and she found herself wondering who had found the roller coaster first, and how lies had come here since "Shay, who showed you all this?"

"Friends, older than ure out how stuff works And how to trick it"

Tally looked up at the ancient, serpentine shape of the roller coaster, the vines crawling up its fra here"

"Probably a long tiures out how to trick their board, the next finds the rapids, the next ets brave enough to juap in the roller coaster" Tally sed "Or jumps it accidentally"

Shay nodded "But they all get turned pretty in the end"

"Happy ending," Tally said

Shay shrugged

"How do you know it’s called a ’roller coaster,’ anyway? Did you look it up somewhere?"

"No," Shay said "Someone told me"

"But how’d they know?"

"This guy knows a lot of stuff Tricks, stuff about the ruins He’s really cool"

So about Shay’s voice made Tally turn and take her hand "But he’s pretty now, I guess"

Shay pulled away and bit a fingernail "No He’s not"

"But I thought all your friends - "

"Tally, will you uess What kind of promise?"

"You can never tell anyone what I’m about to show you"

"It doesn’t involve free fall, does it?"

"No"

"Okay I swear" Tally held up her hand with the scar she and Peris had made "I’ll never tell anyone"

Shay looked into her eyes for a ht There’s soht? But on’t get back into town until - "

"He’s not in town" Shay smiled "He’s out here"