1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 417
Maddy nodded.
“You don’t have to save Shay,” David said slowly and
evenly. “You’ve done enough for her. You followed her to
the Smoke, rescued her from Special Circumstances!”
“Yeah, I’ve done a lot for her.” Tally took a breath. “I’m
the reason she’s like this, pretty and brainless.”
David shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
She turned to him, taking his hand. “David, I didn’t come
to the Smoke just to make sure Shay was okay. I came to bring
her back to the city.” She sighed. “I came to betray her.”
Tally had imagined telling her secret to David so many
times, rehearsing this speech to herself almost every night,
that she could hardly believe this wasn’t just another nightmare
in which the truth was forced from her. But as the
reality of the moment sank in, she found the words spilling
out in a torrent.
“I was a spy for Dr. Cable. That’s how I knew where
Special Circumstances was. That’s why the Specials came to
the Smoke. I brought a tracker with me, “
“You’re not making any sense,” David said. “You fought
when they came. You escaped. You helped rescue my
mother . . .”
“I’d changed my mind. And I never meant to activate the
tracker, honestly. I wanted to live in the Smoke. But the night
before the invasion, after I found out about the lesions . . .”
She closed her eyes. “After we kissed, I accidentally set it off.”
“What?”