The Ask and the Answer (41 page)

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"I believe you, Viola," says the Mayor, restarting his walk. Mr. Hammar stands there smirking, watching it all, once in a while looking up to the mirror where he knows I'm standing and smirking some more. "I believe your dismay at your betrayal by Mistress Coyle. Though you can hardly be surprised."

Viola don't say nothing, just hangs her head.

"Don't hurt her," I whisper. "Please, please, please."

"If it helps," says the Mayor. "I'm not entirely sure I would take it personally. Mistress Coyle saw a way to get a bomb right into the heart of my cathedral, destroying it, perhaps destroying me in the process."

He glances up to me at the mirror. I pound my fists on it again. There's no way they can't hear
that
but he ignores me.

Davy looks over, tho, his face as serious as I've seen it.

And even from here I can hear the worry in his Noise.

"You presented her with an opportunity she couldn't pass up," the Mayor continues. "Your extreme loyalty to Todd might actually get you inside where any other bomber might not. She probably didn't wish to kill you, but there it was, a chance to take me down, and weighed up against that, you were finally expendable."

And I'm looking at her face.

It's pulled down sad, pulled down so sad and defeated.

And I feel her silence again, feel the yearning and the loss that I first felt out in the swamp a lifetime ago. i feel it so much my eyes get wet and my stomach tightens and my throat clenches.

"Viola," I say. "Please, Viola."

But she don't even look up.

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"And so if that's all you mean to her, Viola ..." The Mayor's leaning down in front of her now, looking into her face. "Then maybe you finally know who your real enemy is." He pauses. "And who your real friends are."

Viola says something real quiet.

"What was that?" the Mayor asks.

She clears her throat and says it again. "I only came for Todd."

"I know." The Mayor stands again and starts his walk. "I've grown fond of Todd, too. He's become like a second son to me." He looks over at Davy, whose face flushes. "Loyal and hardworking and truly making a contribution to the future of this town."

I start pounding my fists again. "YOU SHUT UP!" I scream. "YOU
SHUT UP!"

"If
he's
with us, Viola," the Mayor says, "and your Mistress is against you, then surely your path is clear."

But she's already shaking her head. "I won't tell you," she says. "I won't tell you anything."

"But she betrayed you." The Mayor comes round to her front again. "She tried to kill you."

And at that, Viola lifts her head.

She looks him right in the eye.

And says, "No, she tried to kill
you."

Oh, good girl.

My Noise swells with pride.
That's
my girl.

The Mayor gives a signal to Mr. Hammar. Who takes hold of the frame and plunges her into the water.

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***

"NO!" I scream and start pounding again. "NO, GODDAMMIT!" I go to the door of the little room and start kicking it as hard as I can. "VIOLA!
VIOLA!"
I hear a gasp and run back to the mirror-She's up outta the water, coughing up liquid and spitting hard.

"We are running short on time," says the Mayor, picking a speck of lint off his coat, "so perhaps we should come right to it."

I'm still pounding on the mirror and shouting while he talks. He turns and looks over to me. He can't see me from his side but his eyes lock right on mine.

"VIOLA!" I scream and pound the glass again.

He's frowning a little-

"VIOLA!"

And he strikes me with his Noise. It's
way
stronger than before.

Like a shout of a million people right in the middle of my brain, so far inside I can't reach it to protect myself and they're screaming YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING and it feels like my blood is boiling and my eyes are popping outta my skull and I can't even stand and I stagger back from the mirror and sit down hard on the bench, the slap ringing and ringing and ringing, like it ain't never gonna stop-When I can open my eyes again, I see the Mayor stopping Davy from leaving the Arena and then Davy looking back toward the mirror.

And in his Noise he's worried.

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Worried about
me.

"Tell me when the Answer is going to attack," the Mayor says to Viola, his voice colder now, harder. "And from where."

She shakes her head, sending water drops flying. "I won't."

"You will," says the Mayor. "I truly am afraid you will."

"No," she says. "Never."

And she's still shaking her head.

The Mayor glances up to the mirror, finding my eye again tho he can't see me. "Unfortunately," he says, "we don't have time for your refusals."

He nods at Mr. Hammar.

Who plunges her into the water again.

"STOP!" i shout and pound. "STOP IT!" He holds her there-And holds her there-I pound so hard my hands are bruising-"LET HER UP! LET HER UP! LET HER UP!" And she's thrashing in the water-But he's still holding her there-She's still underwater--
"VIOLA!"

Her hands are pulling hard against the binds-The water is splashing everywhere with her struggling against it-

Oh jesus oh jesus oh jesus oh jesus viola viola viola viola-- I can't-

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I can't-"NO!" Forgive me-Please forgive me-

"IT'S TONIGHT!" I shout. "AT SUNSET! OVER THE NOTCH IN THE HILL SOUTH OF THE CATHEDRAL! TONIGHT!"

And I'm pressing the button as I shout it again and again-

"TONIGHT!"

As she struggles under the water-

But no one looks like they hear me.

He's turned the sound off-

He's turned the
effing sound off--

I go back to the window and pound-

But no one's moving-And still she's underwater-

No matter how hard I slam my fists against the glass-

Why ain't it breaking-

Why ain't it ruddy
breaking--

The Mayor gives a signal and Mr. Hammar lifts up the frame. Viola swallows air in huge raking gulps, her hair (longer than I remember) stuck against her face, twisting in her ears, the water falling off her in great ropes.

"You're in control here, Viola," the Mayor says. "Just tell me when the Answer are attacking and this will all stop."

420

"TONIGHT!" I scream, so loud my voice is cracking like dried mud. "FROM THE SOUTH!" But she's shaking her head. And no one can hear me.

"But she betrayed you, Viola." The Mayor's making his voice do that fake surprised thing. "Why save her? Why-?"

He stops, as if realizing something. "You have people you care about in the Answer."

She stops shaking her head. She don't look up but she stops shaking her head.

The Mayor kneels down in front of her. "All the more reason to tell me. All the more reason to let me know where I can find your mistress." He reaches forward and pulls a few wet strands of hair away from Viola's face. "If you help me, I guarantee they won't be harmed. I only want Mistress Coyle. Any other mistresses can remain in prison and everyone else, innocent victims of inflamed rhetoric no doubt, can be released once we've had a chance to talk to them."

He gestures for Mr. Hammar to hand him a towel which he uses to wipe Viola's face. She still don't look at him.

"If you tell me, you'd be saving lives," he says, gently sponging away the loose water. "You have my word on that."

She finally raises her head.

"Your word," she says, looking right past him at Mr. Hammar.

And her face is so angry even
he
looks surprised.

"Ah, yes," the Mayor says, standing. He hands the towel back to Mr. Hammar. "You should look upon Captain Hammar as an example of my mercy, Viola. I spared his life." He's walking again but when he passes behind her he looks

421

over to me. "Just as I shall spare the lives of your friends and loved ones."

"It's tonight," I say, but my voice is a rasp.

How can he not hear me?

"Then again," he's saying, "if you don't know, perhaps your good friend Lee will tell us."

Her head goes right up, eyes wide, breath heavy.

I don't know how he coulda survived the explozhun--

"He doesn't know anything," she says quickly. "He doesn't know when or where."

"Even if I believed that," the Mayor says, "I'm sure we would have to Ask him long and hard before we could possibly be sure."

"Leave him alone!" Viola says, trying to turn her head to follow him.

The Mayor stops just in front of the mirror, his back to Viola, his face to me. "Or perhaps we should just ask Todd."

I pound the glass right at his face. He don't even flinch. And then she says, "Todd would never tell you. Never." And the Mayor just looks at me. And he
smiles.

My stomach sinks, my heart drops, my head feels so light I feel like I'm going to drop right to the ground. Oh, Viola-Viola, please-- Forgive me.

"Captain Hammar," the Mayor says and Viola's plunged

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into the water again, unable to not scream out in fright as down she goes.

"NO!" I shout, pressing myself against the mirror.

But the Mayor ain't even looking at her.

He's looking right at me, as if he could see me even if I was behind a brick wall.

"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

423

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 learned 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.

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"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."