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The driver was aconfidence and authority He looked so much like Sol that Tally alblood?" he said

Tally had already seen the flash of light that had read her eye-print, but she said, "Yes, that’sabout the middle pretty made it hard to be flippant He isdom personified, hisshe had dressed up

"Are you ready? Not takingwas only half-full Everyone knew that new pretties wound up recycling ht over the river, anyway She’d have all new clothes, of course, and all the new pretty toys she wanted All she’d really kept was Shay’s handwritten note, hidden ah"

"Good for you, Tally That’s very mature"

"That’s me, sir"

The door closed, and the car took off

The big hospital was on the bottom end of New Pretty Town It here everyone went for serious operations: littlies, uglies, even late pretties fro in for life-extension treat under a cloudless sky, and Tally allowed herself to be swept away by the beauty of New Pretty Town Even without the nighttilass andthin shadows across the island It was so much more vibrant than the Rusty Ruins, Tally suddenly saw Not as dark and mysterious, perhaps, butabout Shay Life was going to be one big party froblood

The hovercar descended onto one of the redX s on the hospital roof, and Tally’s driver escorted her inside, taking her to a waiting rooain, and told her to wait

"You’ll be okay?" the driver asked

She looked up into his clear, soft eyes, wanting hi him to ith her didn’t seem very mature "No, I’m fine Thanks" He smiled and went away

No one else was in the waiting roo As she waited, the conversations with Shay in her head ca here It was too late for second thoughts now

Tally wished there was ato look out onto New Pretty Town She was so close now She iht pretty, dressed in new and wonderful clothes (her dor out frohest party tower she could find She would watch as lights-out fell across the river, bedtiht with Peris and her new friends, all the beautiful people she would hed

Sixteen years Finally

Nothing happened for a long hour Tally dru this long

Then the e, unlike any pretty Tally had ever seen He was definitely of e, but whoever had done his operation had botched it He was beautiful, without a doubt, but it was a terrible beauty

Instead of wise and confident, the al animal of prey When he walked up, Tally started to ask as going on, but a glance from him silenced her

She had never met an adult who affected her this way She always felt respect when face-to-face with a middle or late pretty But in the presence of this cruelly beautiful man, respect was saturated with fear

The man said, "There’s a problem with your operation Come with me"

She went