The Ask and the Answer

“But you suffer for them, Todd.” His voice is softer now, almost tender. “You’re your own worst enemy, punishing yourself far more than I could ever hope to. Men have Noise and the way they handle it is to make themselves just a little bit dead, but you, even when you want to, you can’t. More than any man I’ve ever met, Todd, you feel.”

“Shut up,” I say, trying to look away, not being able to.

“But that makes you powerful, Todd Hewitt. In this world of numbness and information overload, the ability to feel, my boy, is a rare gift indeed.”

I put my hands to my ears but I can still hear him in my head.

“You’re the one I couldn’t break, Todd. The one who wouldn’t fall. The one who stays innocent no matter the blood on his hands. The one who still calls me Mayor in his Noise.”

“I’m not innocent!” I shout, my ears still plugged.

“You could rule by my side. You could be my second in command. And when you learn to control your Noise, you may have power to overtake even mine.”

And then the words thunder thru my whole body.

I AM THE CIRCLE AND THE CIRCLE IS ME.

“Stop it!” I hear Viola shout but it’s from miles away.

The Mayor puts a hand on my shoulder. “You could be my son, Todd Hewitt,” he says. “My real and true heir. I’ve always wanted one that wasn’t–”

“Pa?” we all hear, cutting thru everything like a bullet thru fog.

The Noise in my head stops, the Mayor steps abruptly back, I feel like I’m able to breathe again.

Davy stands behind us, rifle in one hand. He’s led Deadfall up to the steps and is looking over the rubble to the three of us here. “What’s going on? Who are the men out there on the ground?”

“What are you doing here?” the Mayor snaps, frowning. “Is the battle already won?”

“No, Pa,” Davy says, climbing over the rubble towards us. “It was a trick.” He plants his feet next to my chair. “Hey, Todd,” he says, nodding in greeting. He glances at Viola but he can’t hold her eye.

“What was a trick?” the Mayor demands but he’s already looking angry.

“The Answer ain’t coming over the hill,” Davy says. “We marched way back deep into the forest but there ain’t no sign, not nowhere.”

I hear Viola take a little gasp, a bit of pleased surprise escaping from her even as she tries to hold it back.

The Mayor looks her way, his eyes fierce, his face thinking and thinking.

And he raises his rifle at her.

“Something you’d like to tell us, Viola?”

{VIOLA}

Todd’s already up and out of his chair, standing between me and the Mayor, his Noise raging so loud and furious the Mayor takes a step back.

“You see the power in you, my boy?” he says. “This is why you watched her being Asked. Your suffering makes you strong. I’ll teach you how to harness it and together we’ll–”

“You hurt her,” Todd says, clearly and slowly, “and I’ll tear every limb from yer body.”

The Mayor smiles. “I believe you.” He hoists the rifle. “Nevertheless.”

“Todd,” I say.

He turns to me. “This is how he wins. Playing us off each other. Just like you said. Well, it stops here–”

“Todd–” I’m trying to stand up but my stupid ankles won’t hold me and I stumble. Todd reaches for me–

But it’s Davy–

Davy catches me by the arm, stopping the fall and then lowering me back into the chair. He won’t meet my eye. Or Todd’s. Or his father’s. His Noise flushes yellow with embarrassment as he lets me go and steps back.

“Why, thank you, David,” the Mayor says, unable to mask his surprise. “Now,” he says, turning back to me, “if you would please be so kind as to inform me of the Answer’s real plan of attack.”

“Don’t tell him nothing,” Todd says.

“I don’t know anything,” I say. “Lee must have reached–”

“There wasn’t sufficient time and you know it,” the Mayor says. “It’s obvious what’s happened, isn’t it, Viola? Your Mistress misled you once more. If the bomb went off as it should have, it wouldn’t have mattered if you had the wrong information because you and, she hoped, I would be dead. But if you were caught, well, then. The best liar is the one who believes her lie is true.”

I don’t say anything because how could she have misled me if it was only something Lee overheard–

But then I think–

She wanted him to overhear it.

She knew he wouldn’t be able to not tell me.

“Her plan worked perfectly, didn’t it, Viola?” The shadow from the setting sun reaches the Mayor’s face, covering him in black. “One twist after another, lies building on lies. She played you exactly how she wanted, didn’t she?”

I glare at him. “She’ll beat you,” I say. “She’s as ruthless as you are.”

He grins. “Oh, more, I should say.”

“Pa?” Davy asks.

The Mayor blinks, like he forgot his son was there. “Yes, David?”

“Um, the army?” Davy’s Noise is full of bewilderment and exasperation, trying to make sense of what his father’s doing but not finding much relief. “What’re we sposed to do now? Where’re we sposed to go? Captain Hammar’s waiting for yer orders.”

All around us the low, frightened ROAR of New Prentiss-town seeps out of the houses, but still no faces at the windows, and from over the hill with the notch, the blacker, twistier buzz of the army. You can still see them up the hillside, shiny like a trail of black beetles sliding off one another’s shells.

And here we sit, alone with the Mayor and his son, in the open ruins of the cathedral, like we’re the only people on the planet.

The Mayor looks back at me. “Yes, Viola, tell us. What are we supposed to do now?”

“You’re supposed to fall,” I say, staring back at him, not blinking. “You’re supposed to lose.”

He smiles at me. “Where are they coming from, Viola? You’re a clever girl. You must have heard something, seen some clue as to her real plans.”

“She ain’t telling you,” Todd says.

“I can’t,” I say, “because I don’t know.”

And I’m thinking, I really don’t know–