Uglies Series – Specials
Wicked Special
Wickedly Special
Zane stood there, looking in the mirror. He was still Pretty, but he knew he wasn't like those bubbleheads. His eyes were flatter, less life, less emotion. He was stronger, he had nanos in his blood and body that healed him and let him push himself to the extremes. Besides, those scars on the brain that made Pretties bubbleheads…yeah, he didn't have those.
He had them a long time ago – or so it seemed.
He had tried to get rid of them, with a pill…
It had eaten half his brain, almost killing him. Tally had come, as a Special, promised to come back for him. She hadn't had the time to. Dr. Cable had been watching him because she knew that he was Special to Tally. Then, she made him into a Special. She had merely said she thought she had a cure for what was wrong with him.
Lies.
It made his blood boil to think of that lie she told him. He had been put to sleep and when he woke up…
He looked at his new Pretty face. He'd only been like this for maybe a month. His hair had changed color. It was actual black now, longer, with blue on the tips. The Pretty Committee really didn't like it, but Dr. Cable talked them into it in the end. After all, he was one of her new toys, one of the newest type of Specials, there to spy and take care of Pretties trying to break the Bubbleheadedness that keep the world in order. It was the Cutter Special's job to take care of Uglies. Regular Specials could take care of the Smoke. The group he belonged to was to watch over the Pretties.
Go to parties.
Blend in.
Act Pretty.
He had a flash tattoo now too, on his shoulder. Spirals curling around his shoulder and down his left hand. They curled and uncurled again and again. His heart beat accelerated, making them seem out of control. Then he took a deep breath and calmed himself. He was almost dressed now. He slipped on the formal jacket and that was it. It hid the entire tattoo, except for what was on his hand.
He was going to a Pretty party. A Formal Pretty party. He and the rest of the Specials he belonged with.
He wasn't the leader. Oh no…it was a girl who was their leader. Leony was her name. He hadn't known her as a Pretty or as an Ugly. He had met her when he joined this group. There were only three others who followed her, besides him. Two guys and another girl.
The one guy had been her best friend; they were born on the same day. Twins in a way, except they weren't from the same family. His name was Ti. Ti seemed to majorly like Leony, but she showed no interest in…well…anyone.
There was a knock on his room door. He slipped on his fake intercept ring.
Speak of the devil, Leony walked into his room followed by Ti and the other girl of the group, Road. Ti was tall, eyes dark, hair light, skin deeply tanned. He was dressed much like Zane. He didn't look overly strong, but then again neither did Road or Leony.
Road, who hung on his arm like a dazzling ornament, seemed content. Her hair was pale orange, with red highlights, long, spiraling down to her ankles. Her skin was so fair, it was almost white. Her eyes were like sundrops – golden to the point liquid sun. She was dressed in a pretty flowing off-white dress. It was sleeveless, long and looked beautiful on her.
"Are you ready to go Zane?" Zane ripped his eyes away from Road and looked at their Leader, Leony. Her hair was shorter, cut only to her shoulders, ruler straight. It was a bronze color with several different colors mixed in. Blonde, brown, some black even. Her eyes were hard purple stones. Her eyes had always been violet.
She had a casual stance, but there was something intimidating about her. She just seemed to radiate something…Something that just screamed Dangerous!
"Yeah" Zane replied, swallowing hard. He was vaguely aware of his heart pounding. "Let's go"
He walked to her side and held out his arm. She slipped her arm through his, walking as if they were a couple, arms and hands intertwined. "Be ready Zaney" she said softly. No Pretty would have heard her, but he heard her fine. Just like Tally had, they had skintenas so they could keep in contact no matter what.
She moved faster than him usually, taking the lead. Now they both stayed in the lead, keeping together, acting like they were both the leaders of the group. Outside was the last official member of their group, Lan. He had super light hair, practically white with pale skin and the super creepy part; he had two different color eyes. They seemed to glow when he was angry. Zane didn't like him very much. He was loud, and almost always angry. His blue and green eyes would glow and seem to pierce everyone around him.
"Lan" she whispered. He looked at her. "Who's your date tonight?" Lan looked at Leony and her formal wear. She was wearing a long purple dress. The outer most layer was v-cut and open to show the darker purple underneath the light lavender color. She looked extravagant in it.
Lan looked like he wished his date was her. "I'm taking the one girl who might be joining us soon." He said.
"Oh" Leony looked interested. "Do you think she is Wicked enough? Maybe we should take her to Cable. What do you think Zane?"
Zane was startled to hear her ask his opinion. He was one of the newer members. Why should his voice count for anything? He didn't think it should but if Leony thought he had something to say…
"I think Ally is pretty wicked, so far" he said. "But I don't think she's Wicked material yet. We haven't really tested her at all."
Leony nodded, seemingly happy with his outlook. Then she turned to Lan. "Ally needs to be tested." Lan nodded, almost if he were upset about the decision. Then she tugged on Zane's arm. "Come on Zaney, we have to pick up Ally yet."
They strode on, look for all the world like they belonged. Together they looked unstoppable. A force of nature. Nothing could stop their coming, or going for that matter. They walked fast, not a senseless stroll like most Pretties. They were letting their ever careful charade slip a little tonight; let Ally get a tiny peek of what it was like to be totally in their group.
They had plenty of others who wanted to be a part of their group, ones desperate to be in a group that was so picky. They only picked one or two out of two or three hundred. They had regular parties, picking people who were Wicked. Most times, the parties were fruitless.
Just as Zane figured this one would be.
Ally's room came into view. Lan moved faster. Ally came into view. She was pretty of course, long blue-red-black hair, wide, innocent blue eyes. Her face was pale. Her dress was ivory and ebony mixed together into one. She hurried into Lan's arms.
"Hey Lan-wa, ready to party?" she asked
He smiled. "More ready than you know Ally-wa" he answered.
They all moved together, slower now that Ally was with them, but the party was in a nearby building. They moved into the crowded room. Many Pretties were dancing, screaming, drinking down their bubbly-fizz drinks.
Zane took Leony into his arms and spun her to the dance floor. They looked like they belonged there too. Beautiful, even more so than the Pretties around them. The Pretties stared at them as if they were wonders. They were. They knew they were.
From where they swirled they could see Ally and Lan on the balcony. They were drinking. Specials couldn't get drunk, but Pretties could. She hadn't drunk much yet, they could tell even from the distance. She leaned close to Lan and whispered to him. She just didn't know that the whole group could hear.
"Hey, this is so boring"
"Well, what do you wanna do Ally-wa?" asked Lan, whispering as well.
They all saw her grin, and even as Pretty as she was, it was as Wicked as they were. "Let's cause some mischief."
Lan laughed, all Wicked, all Special. "That's my girl"
They moved off the balcony and into the crowd. Leony eye's connected with Zane's and she nodded. They danced in the direction that Lan and Ally were. Twisting through the other dancers was easy, but keeping far enough away from Lan and Ally that they weren't discovered by Ally.
They could see them, standing on the top of the stairs. Well Lan was standing on the top of the stairs, where the food was kept, Ally was standing on the railing, holding a metal sheet. Lan's grin was wide, Ally's was wicked.
She gave a wild shout and then jumped on the sheet, riding it down the twisted railing, going much faster than safe. Zane wondered where she got said sheet because he didn't even know where it was from. The end of the railing was coming close. She jumped, pulling up the sheet too and skidded on the floor, spinning, shrieking with pleasure the whole time, knocking dancers down in her wake.
Lan was next, riding even faster down the railing on his own metal sheet, skidding onto the dance floor. By now the innocent Pretties were yelling and moving away, none were hurt of course, they all just seemed annoyed at this. Some were laughing; it was a great joke to those.
Ally took the sheet and threw it into the crowd. She jogged over to Leony and squealed. "Leony-wa! Did you see that?" She squealed again. "It was so totally bubbly!"
"It looked great Ally-wa" she complimented. Her voice sounded off, too null to sound excited like Ally, but Ally didn't notice.
"You don't think I'll get in trouble do you?" she asked, eyes suddenly worried.
"No – no of course not" she answered, putting on a charmingly fake smile. She put her arm around Ally and started to walk away. "But…I think we could do something even bubblier, if you want Ally-wa"
She nodded, excited.
"Good, good. If you pull this off Ally-wa, we'll even let you into our group!"
Ally squealed with delight and she hurried along with Leony. She began chattering ideas. Zane strolled along behind them, not really listening, just alert for danger. Their voices were low and cautious and soon they reached the balcony. They stood there, plotting.
Zane, Lan, Ti and Road stood outside the balcony, like a fence, keeping the Bubbleheads away. He sighed; this wasn't how he wanted to be – to live. It was all he had now. Still he held onto the hope that someday he'd see Tally again. Would she notice the changes he had gone through? Or would she see him as a simple Bubblehead because of the skin he wore?
"Zane-la," whispered Road, "Your heart is beating fast. Are you anxious?"
Lan and Ti looked at him.
"No" he whispered back "I'm not"
"Well is something wrong then?" it was Lan that asked.
"How big are we going to make our group?" He knew he shouldn't have asked but it bubbled up anyway.
"Leony wants at least five more members" Ti answered looking at Leony quickly then back at Zane.
"Why?"
"Why not?" He jumped as Leony's voice hissed into his ears. He had forgotten that she would hear them through the skintenna.
He fell silent and listened to the others breathing. It was calming, better than his thoughts of Tally. He knew he loved her and his heart lurched, wanted to be with her. He remembered her, as a Pretty. Just for a moment, he could see her. Then it turned from her beautiful Pretty face, to her cold, emotionless Special face.
He turned his face away. He didn't like that face. It sent a spike of adrenaline through him though. She was dangerous, he could tell that, even as a Pretty. She had made his heart beat faster, his eyes dilate with the need to try out the danger. The he had been too weak but now…now…now what?
"Okay! I so got this Leony!" cheered Ally She raced off, to where, Zane hadn't been paying attention. He looked as Leony came up beside him again and smiled, a smile that was so Wicked it made him think that maybe poor Ally could get herself killed doing this.
She looked at her four Special with an almost annoyed look on her face. "Lets get going guys. To the Roof! We don't want to miss Ally's performance" Again she smiled and although he disliked it, Zane found himself copying her smile in anticipation of this performance.
Well, well, my second story based of the Uglies Series By Scott Westerfeld. Zane and Tally and the entire world belong to Mr. Westerfeld, but Leony, Ti, Road, Lan and Ally are all my Wicked creations. I hope you all like this story. I have some very Wicked plans for it in the future.