The Smokies all had lunch together, just like at an uglydorm.
The long tables had clearly been cut from the hearts oftrees. They showed knots and whorls, and wavy tracks ofgrain ran down their entire length. They were rough andbeautiful, but Tally couldn’t get over the thought that thetrees had been taken alive.
She was glad when Shay and David took her outside tothe cooking fire, where a group of younger uglies hung out.
It was a relief to get away from the felled trees, and from thedisturbing older uglies. Out here, at least, any of theSmokies could pass as a senior. Tally didn’t have muchexperience in judging an ugly’s age, but she turned out tobe more or less right. Two had just arrived from anothercity, and weren’t even sixteen yet. The other three—Croy,Ryde, and Astrix—were friends of Shay’s, from the groupthat had run away together back before Tally and Shay hadfirst met.
Here in the Smoke only five months, Shay’s friendsalready had a hint of David’s self-assurance. Somehow, theycarried the authority of middle pretties without the firmjaw, the subtly lined eyes, or the elegant clothing. Theyspent lunch talking about projects they were up to. A canalto bring a branch of the creek closer to the Smoke; new patternsfor the sheep wool their sweaters were made from; anew latrine. (Tally wondered what a “latrine” was.) Theyseemed so serious, as if their lives were a really complicatedtrick that had to be planned and replanned every day.
The food was serious too, and was piled on their platesin serious quantities. It was heavier than Tally was used to,the tastes too rich, like whenever her food history classtried to cook their own meals. But the strawberries weresweet without sugar, and although it seemed weird to eat itplain, the Smokies’ bread had its own flavor without anythingadded. Of course, Tally would have happily devouredanything that wasn’t SpagBol.
She didn’t ask what was in the stew, though. Thethought of dead trees was enough to deal with in one day.
As they emptied their plates, Shay’s friends startedpumping Tally for news from the city. Dorm sports results,soap opera story lines, city politics. Had she heard of anyoneelse running away? Tally answered their questions asbest she could. No one tried to hide their homesickness.
Their faces looked years younger as they remembered oldfriends and old tricks.
Then Astrix asked about her journey here to the Smoke.
204 Scott Westerfeld“It was pretty easy, really. Once I got the hang of Shay’sdirections.”
“Not that easy. Took you what, ten days?” David asked.
“You left the night before our birthday, right?” Shay said.
“Stroke of midnight,” Tally said. “Nine days . . . anda half.”
Croy frowned. “It took a while for the rangers to findyou, didn’t it?”
“I guess so. And they almost roasted me when they did.
They were doing a huge burn that got out of control.”
“Really? Whoa.” Shay’s friends looked impressed.
“My board almost burned. I had to save it and jump inthe river.”
“Is that what happened to your face?” Ryde asked.
Tally touched the peeling skin on her nose. “Well, that’skind of . . .” Sunburn, she almost said. But the others’ faceswere rapt. She’d been alone so long, Tally found herselfenjoying being the center of attention.
“The flames were all around me,” she said. “My shoesmelted crossing this big patch of burning flowers.”
Shay whistled. “Incredible.”
“That’s weird. The rangers usually keep an eye out forus,” David said.
“Well, I guess they missed me.” Tally decided not to gointo the fact that she’d intentionally hidden her hoverboard.
“Anyway, I was in the river, and I’d never even seena helicopter—except for the day before—and this thingUGLIES 205came thundering out of the smoke, driving the fire towardme. And of course I had no idea the rangers were the goodguys. I thought they were Rusty pyromaniacs risen fromthe grave!”
Everyone laughed, and Tally felt herself enjoying thewarmth of the group’s attention. It was like telling everyoneat dorm about a really successful trick, but much better,because she really had survived a life-or-death situation.
David and Shay were hanging on to every word. Tally wasglad she hadn’t activated the pendant yet. She could hardlysit here enjoying the Smokies’ admiration if she’d justbetrayed them all. She decided to wait until tonight, whenshe was alone, to do what she had to.
“That must have been creepy,” David said, his voicepulling her away from uncomfortable thoughts, “beingalone in the orchids for all those days, just waiting.”
She shrugged. “I thought they were kind of pretty. Ididn’t know about the whole superweed thing.”
David frowned at Shay. “Didn’t you tell her anything inyour note?”
Shay flushed. “You told me not to write anything thatwould give the Smoke away, so I put it in code, sort of.”
“It sounds like your code almost got her killed,” Davidsaid, and Shay’s face fell. He turned to Tally. “Hardly anyoneever makes the trip alone. Not their first time out of the city.”
“I’d been out of the city before.” Tally put her arm aroundShay’s shoulder comfortingly. “I was fine. It was just a bunch206 Scott Westerfeldof pretty flowers to me, and I started with two weeks of food.”
“Why did you steal all SpagBol?” Croy asked. “Youmust love the stuff.” The others joined in his laughter.
Tally tried to sm............