or if the fall had changed the story completely. There was no prince around to pick her up, her new dress was ruined, and thanks to her pride, she had no way back into the tower.Īnd the worst thing was, there were no mirrors out there in the wild, so the princess was left wondering whether she in fact was still beautiful. She struck the ground hard, and lay there in a crumpled heap, smarting and confused, wondering how things had worked out this way. As she fell, the princess realized she should have asked for a bungee jacket or a parachute or something better than a parasol, you know? The thing was, it was a long way down, a lot farther than the princess had expected, and the parasol turned out to be total crap.

Without another glance in the mirror, she strolled out onto the balcony and stepped off into midair. But the princess, laughing pridefully, tossed the key into the fireplace, convinced she would never need to return to the tower. The hole in the wall gave her a lovely parasol to catch her when she fell, and a wonderful new dress to wear in the fields and forest, and a brass key to make sure she could get back into the tower if she needed to. She started spending more time looking out the window than at her own reflection, as is often the case with troublesome girls.Īnd it was pretty clear that no prince was showing up, or at least that he was really late. The view from the tower-gentle hills, fields of white flowers, and a deep, dark forest-fascinated her. One day, the princess realized that she was bored. The builders had forgotten to put in an elevator, or even a set of stairs. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City. His graphic novel, Spill Zone, will be continued in SPILL ZONE 2: THE BROKEN VOW, which comes out July 10, 2018. The only problem with the tower was that there way no way out. Scott Westerfelds teen novels include the Uglies series, the Leviathan, Zeroes, and Midnighters trilogies, and Afterworlds. And, best of all, there was this mirror on the wall, so that the princess could look at her beautiful self all day long. She was locked in a high tower, one whose smart walls had cleaver holes in them that could give her anything: food, a clique of fantastic friends, wonderful clothes.

Scott westerfeld pretties series