The Ask and the Answer (45 page)

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Todd looks back at the Mayor. "Then you moved it. Where is it?"

"Or what?" the Mayor says. "You'll shoot me?"

"I'd actually
prefer
that option," Ivan says.
"Where did you move it?"
Todd says again, his voice strong, angry.

The Mayor looks at him, then looks around at all the men, and finally looks up to me on horseback.

"It was you I was worried about," he says. "But you can hardly walk, can you?"

"Don't you look at her," Todd spits, stepping closer to him. "You keep yer filthy eyes
off
her."

The Mayor smiles again, his hands still out, loosely bound by rope. "Very well," he says. "I'll tell you."

He looks around at everyone again, still smiling.

"I burned it," says the Mayor. "After the Spackle sadly left us, there was no more need and so I burned every last pill, every last plant that the pills were made from, and then I blew up the processing lab and blamed it on the Answer."

There's a shocked silence. We can hear the
ROAR
of the army in the distance, marching up that hill, keeping on toward their goal.

"You're a
liar,"
Ivan finally says, stepping forward, gun still raised. "And a stupid one, at that."

"We can't hear yer Noise," Todd says. "You can't have burned it all."

"Ah, but Todd, my son," the Mayor says, shaking his head. "I have never taken the cure."

***

456

Another silence. I hear suspicions rising in the Noise of the men. I even see a few of them step back, thoughts of the Mayor's power, thoughts of what he can do. Maybe he
can
control his Noise. And if he can do
that-

"He's lying," I say, remembering Mistress Coyle's words. "He's the President of Lies."

"Well, at least you finally called me
President,"
the Mayor says.

Todd gives the Mayor a shove. "Tell us where it is."

The Mayor stumbles back a step, then regains his balance. He looks around at us all again. I can hear everyone's Noise rising, Todd's most of all, red and loud.

"I tell no lies, gentlemen," says the Mayor. "If you only have the right discipline, Noise can be controlled. It can be silenced." He looks around at each of us again, his smile reappearing. "It can be used."

I am the Circle and the Circle is me, i hear.

But I can't tell if it's from his Noise-

Or Todd's.

"I've had just about enough of this!" Ivan shouts. "You know, Private Farrow," says the Mayor, "so have I." And that's when he attacks.

457

39 YER WORST ENEMY

***

[TODD]

I FEEL THE FIRST STRIKE of Noise fly by me, a
whooshing
of concentrated words and sounds and pictures rushing over my shoulder, straight for the men with rifles. I flinch away and dive for the ground-

Cuz the men start firing their guns-

And I'm right in the way--

"Todd!" I hear Viola shout but the rifles are firing and the men are screaming and I roll on the rubble, jarring my elbow, and whip round to see Corporal Pot Belly on his knees in front of Angharrad, his back turned, both hands on the sides of his head, screaming wordlessly down into the ground, Viola watching him, wondering what the hell is going on. Another guard has fallen on his back, fingers in his eyes, as if he's trying to dig them out, and a third lies unconshus on his stomach. Two others are already running back into the city.

The Noise flies from the Mayor, louder and stronger than anything I've seen before.

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Way
louder than at the Office of the Ask.

Loud enough to take out five men at once.

Only Ivan still stands, one hand up to his ear and the other trying to aim his rifle at the Mayor but weaving it dangerously around-

BANG

A
bullet smacks the ground in front of my eyes, sending dust and dirt up into them-
BANG

Another bounces off stones deep in the cathedral-

"IVAN!" I shout.

BANG

"Stop firing! Yer gonna get us killed!"
BANG

His rifle goes off right by Angharrad's head. She rears up and I see Viola grab the reins, surprised, holding on for dear life--

And then I see the Mayor is walking forward and forward and forward--

His eyes on the men he's attacking--

Coming past me-

And I don't even think-

I leap from the ground to stop him-

And he turns and sends his Noise straight at me-

The world goes all bright, terribly, painfully bright, like everyone can see how much you hurt, everyone watching and laughing and nowhere to hide and yer nothing yer nothing yer nothing all bound up tight like a bullet right thru

459

you, telling you everything that's wrong with you, everything you ever done bad in yer life, telling you yer worthless, yer dirt, yer nothing, yer life ain't got no point nor reason nor purpose and you should just tear down the walls of yerself, ripping apart who you are and either die or give it up as a gift, as a gift to the one who can save you, as a gift to the man who can control you, who can take it all away, who can make everything fine fine fine-

But not even Noise can stop a body when it's moving.

I feel all these things and I'm still flying at him and I still hit him and I still knock him over on the steps of the cathedral.

He grunts as the air is crushed out of him and the Noise attack stops for a second. Corporal Pot Belly calls out and falls over and Ivan's gasping for breath and Viola's calling out "Todd!" and then a hand is around my neck and it's pushing my head up and the Mayor is looking right into my eyes--

And this time it hits me full blast.

"Give me the rifle!" the Mayor is shouting, standing over Ivan, who's crouched on the ground below him, hand over his ear again but the rifle still pointed up at the Mayor. "Give it to me!"

I blink, grit and dust in my eyes, wondering for a second where I am-

yer nothing yer nothing yer nothing yer nothing "Give me the rifle,
Private!"

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The Mayor's screaming at Ivan, hitting him over and over again with Noise blasts and Ivan is sinking to the ground-But his rifle's still aimed-"Todd!"

I see horse legs beside my head. Viola's still up on Angharrad. "Todd, wake up!" she's yelling. I look up at her. "Thank God!" she yells and her face is a picture of frustrayshun. "My stupid feet! I can't get off the goddam horse!"

"I'm okay," I say, tho I don't know if I am, and I lean myself up, my head spinning.

yer nothing yer nothing yer nothing yer nothing

"Todd, what's going on?" Viola says as I grab a rein to help me stand. "I hear Noise but-"

"The rifle!" shouts the Mayor, stepping closer to Ivan. "Now!"

"We have to help him," I say-But I flinch back at the strongest attack yet-A flare of Noise so white you can almost see the air bending twixt the Mayor and Ivan-

And Ivan grunts sharply and bites his tongue-Blood spilling from his mouth-Before he screams like a child and falls back-Dropping the rifle-Dropping it right into the Mayor's hands.

He lifts it, cocks it, and aims it at us in one fluid move. Ivan lies twitching on the ground.

"What just happened?" Viola says, too angry it seems to care much about the rifle.

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I put my hands in the air, still holding the reins.

"He can use Noise," I say, keeping my eyes on him. "He can use it like a weapon."

"Just so," says the Mayor, smiling again.

"All I heard was shouting," she says, looking at the men lying on the ground, still breathing but out cold. "What do you mean, a weapon?"

"The truth, Viola," the Mayor answers. "The best weapon of all. You tell a man the truth about himself and, well," he nudges Ivan with his boot, "they find they have trouble accepting it." He frowns. "You can't kill him with it, though." He looks back up at us. "Not yet, anyway."

"But..." She's not believing this. "How? How can you--?"

"I have two maxims that I believe, dear girl," the Mayor says, coming slowly toward us. "One, if you can control yourself, you can control others. Two, if you can control
information,
you can control others." He grins, his eyes flashing. "It's been a philosophy that's worked out rather well for me.

I think about Mr. Hammar. About Mr. Collins. About the chanting I used to hear coming from the Mayor's house back in my old town.

"You taught the others," I say. "The men from Prentisstown, you taught them how to control their Noise."

"With varying degrees of success," he says, "but yes, none of my officers has ever taken the cure. Why should they? It's a weakness to have to rely on a drug."

He's nearly on us now. "I am the Circle and the Circle is me," I say.

"Yes, you were certainly making an impressive beginning,

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weren't you, Todd? Controlling yourself while you did the most unspeakable things to those women."

My Noise turns red. "You
shut up
about that," I say. "I was only doing what you told me--"

"I was only following orders,"
the Mayor mocks. "The refuge of scoundrels since the dawn of time." He stops six feet away from us, rifle pointed firmly at my chest. "Help her off the horse, please, Todd."

"What?" I say.

"Her ankles, I believe the problem was. She'll need your help walking."

I still have the reins in my hand. I have a thought I try to bury.

Boy colt?
Angharrad asks.

"I assure you, Viola," the Mayor says to her. "If you think about running on that beautiful animal, I will put more than one bullet through Todd." He looks back at me. "However much pain it might cause me."

"You let her go," I say. "I'll do anything you want."

"Now where have I heard that before?" he says. "Help her down."

I hesitate, wondering if I should slap Angharrad's flanks anyway, wondering if I should send Viola riding off into the distance, wondering if I could get her safe--

"No," Viola says and she's already working her leg round the saddle. "Not a chance. I'm not leaving you."

I take her arms and help her down. She has to lean on me to stand but I keep her up.

"Splendid," says the Mayor. "Now let's go inside and have that chat."

463

***

"Let us start with what I know."

He's brought us into what used to be the room with the round colored glass window in it but it's now open to the air on two sides and above, the window still there, looking down, but looking down on rubble.

Looking down on a little cleared area with a broken table and two chairs.

Where me and Viola sit.

"I know, for example," the Mayor says, "that you did not kill Aaron, Todd, that you never took your final step toward becoming a man, that it was Viola here who put the blade in all along."

Viola takes my arm and squeezes it tight, letting me know it's okay that he knows.

"I know that Viola told you the Answer were hiding at the ocean when I let you escape to go speak with her."

My Noise rises in anger and embarrassment. Viola squeezes my arm harder.

"I know that you've sent the boy called Lee to warn the Answer." He leans against the broken table. "And of course I also know the exact time and place of their attack."

"Yer a monster," I say.

"No," the Mayor says. "Just a leader. Just a leader who can read every thought you have, about yourself, about Viola, about me, about this town, about the secrets you think you're keeping. I can read
everything,
Todd. You're not listening to what I'm saying." He's still holding the rifle, watching us sit before him. "I knew everything about the

464

Answer's attack this morning before you even opened your mouth."

I sit up in my chair. "You what?"

"I had the army gathering before we even started Asking Viola."

I start to rise. "You tortured her for
nothing?"

"Sit down," the Mayor says and a little flash from him weakens my knees enough that I sit right back down. "Not for nothing, Todd. You should know me well enough by now to know that I do not do
anything
for nothing."

He sits up from the broken table, showing again that he likes to walk and talk.

"You are completely transparent to me, Todd. From our first proper meeting here in this very room until how you sit before me today. I've known everything.
Always."

He looks at Viola. "Unlike your good friend here, who's a little tougher than I imagined."

Viola frowns. If she had Noise I'm sure she'd be slapping him around a bit.

I get a thought-

"Don't try it," the Mayor says. "You're not nearly that advanced yet. Even Captain Hammar has yet to master it. You'd merely end up hurting yourself very badly." He looks at me again. "But you
could
learn, Todd. You could advance far, further than any of those poor imbeciles who followed me from Prentisstown. Poor Mr. Collins barely worth more than a butler and Captain Hammar just another garden-variety sadist, but you, Todd,
you."
His eyes flash. "You could lead armies."

"I don't wanna lead armies," I say.