1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 237
have had five days of food left. Maybe fifteen packets altogether.
But I remember on that first day, when I looked into
your bag, I was, like, ‘She’s got tons!’”
Tally swallowed, trying not to show any expression.
“And it turns out I was right. Twelve plus six plus eight
is . . . twenty-six?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
He nodded, working the saw carefully beneath a low
branch. “I thought so. But you left the city before your birthday,
right?”
Tally thought fast. “Sure. But I guess I didn’t really eat
three meals every day, Croy. Like I said, I was pretty sick of
SpagBol after a while.”
“Seems like you didn’t eat much at all, for such a
long trip.”
Tally struggled to do the math in her head, to figure out
what sort of numbers would add up. She remembered what
Shay had said that first night: Some Smokies were suspicious
of her, worried that she might be a spy. Tally had
thought they all accepted her by now. Apparently not.
She took a deep breath, trying to keep the fear out of
her voice. “Look, Croy, let me tell you something. A secret.”
“What’s that?”
“I probably left the city with more than just two weeks’
worth of food. I never really counted.”
“But you kept saying—”
“Yeah, I might have exaggerated a little, just to make