Becoming pretty doesn't just change the way you look," she said. "No," David said. "It changes the way you think.

Your father always suspected that being pretty-minded is simply the natural state for most people. They want to be vapid and lazy and vain—Maddy glanced at Tally—and selfish. It only takes a twist to lock in that part of their personalities. He always thought that some people could think their way out of it.

Maybe she still was a pretty-head, making up irrational stories about the empty forest. The longer she stayed alone out here, the more Tally understood why the Rusties and their predecessors had believed in invisible beings, praying to placate spirits as they trashed the natural world around them.

Shay sometimes talked in a mysterious way, like she was quoting the lyrics of some band no one else listened to.

And you know, these things don't last forever.' I know, Mandy. Nothing does.' That's the spirit.

It's just programming" "No. It's because I love him

A rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion, as necessary and dangerous as file sharing, free speech, and bottled water on a plane.