The Ask and the Answer

“STOP IT!” I shout as she’s thrashing again–

And more–

And more–

“VIOLA!”

And I’m pounding even tho I think my hands are breaking–

And Mr. Hammar is grinning and holding her there–

“VIOLA!”

And her wrists are starting to bleed from where she’s pulling–

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

I’m shouting into the Mayor’s face–

With all my Noise–

“I’LL KILL YOU!”–

And still holding her there–

“VIOLA! VIOLA!”–

But it’s Davy–

Of all people–

It’s Davy who stops it.

“Let her up!” he suddenly shouts, striding forward from his corner. “Jesus, yer gonna kill her!” And he’s grabbing the frame and lifting it outta the water and the Mayor gives Mr. Hammar a sign to let him and Davy gets Viola back up and out, her throat roaring from taking in the air and coughing it right back out again with all the water.

No one says nothing for a minute, the Mayor just staring at his son like he was some new kinda fish.

“How can she help us if she’s dead?” Davy says, his voice wobbly, his eyes not meeting no one’s. “Is all I meant.”

The Mayor stays quiet. Davy backs away from the frame and returns to his spot near the door.

Viola coughs and hangs from her bindings and I’m pressed so close against the window it’s like I’m trying to crawl thru it to get to her.

“Well,” the Mayor says, clasping his hands behind his back, looking at Davy. “I think perhaps we’ve learnt what we need to know anyway.”

He walks over to a button on the wall and presses it. “Would you please repeat what you said earlier, Todd?”

Viola looks up at the sound of my name.

The Mayor walks back over to the frame, lifting up the little Noise-baffling rods from the sides of her face and she looks all around as she can suddenly hear my Noise.

“Todd?” she says. “Are you there?”

“I’m here!” I yell, my voice now booming thru the Arena so everyone can hear me.

“Please tell us again what you said a few moments ago, Todd.” The Mayor’s looking at me again. “Something about tonight at sunset?”

Viola looks up to where the Mayor’s looking, surprise on her face, surprise and shock. “No,” she whispers and it’s as loud as any shouting.

“Viola deserves to hear you say it again, Todd,” the Mayor says.

He knew. He could hear my Noise the whole time, course he could, he could hear my shouting, even if she couldn’t.

“Viola?” I say and it sounds like I’m begging.

And she looks into the mirror, searching for where I might be. “Don’t tell him!” she says. “Please, Todd, don’t–”

“One more time, Todd,” the Mayor says, putting his hand on the drowning frame, “or she goes back into the water.”

“Todd, no!” Viola shouts.

“You bastard!” I yell. “I’ll kill you. I swear it, I’ll KILL YOU!”

“You won’t,” he says. “And we both know it.”

“Todd, please, no–”

“Say it, Todd. Where and when?”

And he starts lowering the frame.

Viola’s trying to look brave but her body is curling and twisting, trying to keep any part of it outta the water. “No!” she’s yelling. “NO!”

Please please please–

“NO!”

Viola–

“Tonight at sunset,” I say, my voice amplified over her shouts, over Davy’s Noise, over my own Noise, just my voice filling everything. “Over the notch in the valley south of the cathedral.”

“NO!” Viola screams–

And the look on her face–

The look on her face about me–

And my chest tears right in two.

The Mayor pulls back the frame, lifting her away from the water and setting her back down.

“No,” she whispers.

And it’s only then that she actually starts to cry.

“Thank you, Todd,” the Mayor says. He turns to Mr. Hammar. “You know where and when, Captain. Pass on the orders to Captains Morgan, Tate and O’Hare.”

Mr. Hammar stands to attenshun. “Yes, sir,” he says, sounding like he just won a prize. “I’ll take every single man, sir. They won’t know what hit ’em.”

“Take my son,” the Mayor says, nodding at Davy. “Let him see all the battle he can stomach.”

Davy’s looking nervous but proud and excited, too, not noticing the odd twist Mr. Hammar’s smile has taken.

“Go,” the Mayor says, “and leave none alive.”

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Hammar says as Viola lets out a little sob.

Davy snaps a salute at his father, trying to make his Noise look brave. He sends the mirror a look meant for me, a look of sympathy, his Noise full of fear and excitement and more fear.

Then he’s following Mr. Hammar out the door.

And then there’s just me, Viola and the Mayor.

I can only look at her, hanging from the frame, her head down, crying, still tied up and soaking wet and so much sorrow coming from her I can practically feel it on my skin.

“Tend to your friend,” the Mayor says to me, just on the other side of the glass again, his face close to mine. “I return to my burnt-out home to prepare for the new dawn.” He don’t even blink, don’t even act like nothing’s even happened.

He ain’t human.

“All too human, Todd,” he says. “The guards will escort both of you to the cathedral.” He raises his eyebrows. “We have much to discuss about your futures.”

{VIOLA}

I hear Todd come into the room, hear his Noise come first, but I can’t look up.

“Viola?” he says.

I still don’t look up.

It’s over.

We’ve lost.

I feel his hands on the binds at my wrists, pulling at them, finally getting one free, but my arm is so stiff from being held back it hurts more when it’s released than it did when it was bound.

Mayor Prentiss has won. Mistress Coyle tried to sacrifice me. Lee’s a prisoner if that wasn’t a lie and he’s not already dead. Maddy died for nothing. Corinne died for nothing.

And Todd–

He comes around in front of me to take off the second bind and when it’s loose and I fall from the frame, he catches me, kneeling us gently down to the floor.