Uglies: Last Trick Summary & Analysis

With her operation only a week away, Tally can’t help feeling sad even though she’s spent four years impatiently waiting to become pretty. Tally and Shay haven’t spoken since their fight in the river, so Tally has spent most of the last week staring at New Pretty Town. She reasons that once she and Shay are pretty, they won’t have anything to fight about anymore—and even if Shay hates her, Tally will have Peris. Suddenly, Tally hears Shay whisper to her from the roof and Tally invites Shay into her room. They hug, and for an instant, Shay’s ugly face looks perfect. They apologize and Tally suggests that they do a major trick tonight. She notices that Shay is dressed all in black and has a knapsack; Shay says she has a plan.

Shay dumps her knapsack onto the bed and points to her position-finder, firestarter, water purifier, and two sleeping bags. Tally asks if they’re going to the sea, but Shay says they’re going farther. Tally points out that their operations are in six days, which Shay ignores; Shay dumps out dehydrated food, enough for two people for two weeks or one person for four weeks. Shay says it won’t take that long to get to where David lives, where they don’t separate uglies from pretties and where nobody has to get the operation. Shay says that there, they can choose to grow up however they want. Tally says this is crazy, but Shay says that she has another secret: some of her older friends ran away. Shay was supposed to go, too, but she chickened out.

Shay says that after meeting Tally, she didn’t feel alone anymore and felt safer going back to the ruins. She admits that she met David a few days ago in the ruins and asks Tally to come with her now. Tally insists this is crazy and asks where it is they’re going. Shay says it’s called the Smoke, and they’ll get there on hoverboards. Tally asks if people live like the Rusties in the Smoke and insists it’s wrong to live in nature, but Shay says they have technology. Tally assumes that everyone is ugly there, but Shay says that means that no one’s ugly. Tally feels horrible. Shay spits that she should’ve told Tally earlier so she had time to get used to the idea, but Tally remains firm: she wants to become pretty.

Shay insists that she wants to become who she wants to be, not who a committee thinks she should be. Tally says that Shay can’t beat evolution by being smart or interesting and declares that she’s not going. A bit later, the two girls say goodbye by the dam. Shay swears Tally to secrecy again and then gives Tally a piece of paper—Tally is shocked that Shay learned to write by hand. Shay explains that they’re directions, in code, in case Tally wants to follow. She hops onto her hoverboard and Tally imagines Shay growing old and ruined. She says she wishes she could see Shay pretty, and Shay soars away.