1269_UgliesFreeBook

BRAVERY
That night at dinner, she ate alone.
Now that she’d spent a day cutting trees herself, the
wooden table in the dining hall no longer horrified her. The
grain of the wood felt reassuringly solid, and tracing its
whorls with her eyes was easier than thinking.
For the first time, Tally noticed the sameness of the
food. Bread again, stew again. A couple of days ago, Shay
had explained that the plump meat in the stew was rabbit.
Not soy-based, like the dehydrated meat in her SpagBol,
but real animals from the overcrowded pen on the edge of
the Smoke. The thought of rabbits being killed, skinned,
and cooked suited her mood. Like the rest of her day, this
meal tasted brutal and serious.
Shay hadn’t talked to her after lunch, and Tally had no
idea what to say to Croy, so she’d worked the rest of the day
in silence. Dr. Cable’s pendant seemed to grow heavier and
heavier, wound around her neck as tightly as the vines,
brush, and roots grasping the railroad tracks. It felt as if