I look up to the water and the tunnel and I don’t know what I think but she’s there and I can see it and I don’t know what she’s thinking but I know what she’s thinking and I can see her and she’s teetering on the edge and she’s looking at me and she’s asking me to save her.
Save her like she saved me.
“Here’s what I think,” I say and my voice is stronger and thoughts are coming, thoughts that trickle into my Noise like whispers of the truth. “I think maybe everybody falls,” I say. “I think maybe we all do. And I don’t think that’s the asking.”
I pull on her arms gently to make sure she’s listening.
“I think the asking is whether we get back up again.”
And the water’s rushing by and we’re shaking from the cold and everything else and she stares at me and I wait and I hope.
And I see her step back from the edge.
I see her come back to me.
“Todd,” she says and it ain’t an asking.
It’s just my name.
It’s who I am.
“Come on,” I say. “Haven’s waiting.”
I take her hand again and we make our way up the rest of the steps and back to the flatter part of the ledge, following the curves out from the centre, steadying ourselves again on the slippery stones. The jump back to the embankment is harder this time cuz we’re so wet and weak but I take a running go at it and then catch Viola as she comes tumbling after me.
And we’re in sunlight.
We breathe it in for a good long while, getting the wettest of the wet off of us before we gather up and climb the little embankment, pushing ourselves thru the scrub to the trail and back to the road.
We look down the hill, down the zigzag trail.
It’s still there. Haven’s still there.
“Last bit,” I say.
Viola rubs her arms to dry herself a little more. She squints at me, looking close. “You get hit in the face a lot, you know that?”
I bring my fingers up. My eye is starting to swell some and I notice a gap on the side of my mouth where I lost a few teeth.
“Thanks,” I say. “It wasn’t hurting till you said that.”
“Sorry.” She smiles a little and puts her hand up to the back of her own head and winces.
“How’s yers?” I ask.
“Sore,” she says, “but I’ll live.”
“Yer indestructible, you,” I say.
She smiles again.
And then there’s a weird zipSNICK sound in the air and Viola lets out a little gasp, a little oh sound.
We look each other in the eyes for a second, in the sunshine, both of us surprised but not sure why.
And then I follow her glance down her front.
There’s blood on her shirt.
Her own blood.
New blood.
Pouring out a little hole just to the right of her belly button.
She touches the blood and holds up her fingers.
“Todd?” she says.
And then she falls forward.
I catch her, stumbling back a bit from the weight.
And I look up behind her.
Up to the clifftop, right where the road begins.
Mr Prentiss Jr.
On horseback.
Hand outstretched.
Holding a pistol.
“Todd?” Viola says against my chest. “I think someone shot me, Todd.”
There are no words.
No words in my head or my Noise.
Mr Prentiss Jr kicks his horse and edges him down the road towards us.
Pistol still pointed.
There’s nowhere to run.
And I don’t got my knife.
The world unfolds as clear and as slow as the worst pain, Viola starting to pant heavy against me, Mr Prentiss Jr riding down the road, and my Noise rising with the knowledge that we’re finished, that there’s no way out this time, that if the world wants you, it’s gonna keep on coming till it gets you.
And who am I that can fix it? Who am I that can change this if the world wants it so badly? Who am I to stop the end of the world if it keeps on coming?
“I think she wants you bad, Todd,” Mr Prentiss Jr sneers.
I clench my teeth.
My Noise rises red and purple.
I’m Todd bloody Hewitt.
That’s who I effing well am.
I look him right in the eye, sending my Noise straight for him, and I spit out in a rasp, “I’ll thank you to call me Mr Hewitt.”
Mr Prentiss Jr flinches, actually flinches a little and pulls his reins involuntarily, making his horse rear up for a second.
“Come on, now,” he says, his voice slightly less sure.
And he knows we both can hear it.
“Hands up,” he says. “I’m taking you to my father.”
And I do the most amazing thing.
The most amazing thing I ever did.
I ignore him.
I kneel Viola down to the dirt road.
“It burns, Todd,” she says, her voice low.
I set her down and drop the bag and slip my shirt off my back, crumpling it up and holding it against the bullet hole. “You hold that tight, you hear me?” I say, my anger rising like lava. “This won’t take a second.”
I look up at Davy Prentiss.
“Get up,” he says, his horse still jumpy and edgy from the heat coming off me. “I ain’t telling you twice, Todd.”
I stand.
I step forward.
“I said put yer hands up,” Davy says, his horse whinnying and bluffing and clopping from foot to foot.
I march towards him.
Faster.
Till I’m running.
“I’ll shoot you!” Davy shouts, waving the gun, trying to control his horse which is sending Charge! Charge! all over the place in its Noise.
“No, you won’t!” I yell, running right up to the horse’s head and sending a crash of Noise right at it.
SNAKE!
The horse rears up on its back legs.
“Goddammit, Todd!” Davy yells, wheeling and whirling, trying to control his horse with the one hand that’s not holding the pistol.
I jump in, slap the horse’s front quarters and jump back. The horse whinnies and rears up again.
“Yer a dead man!” Davy shouts, going in a full circle with the horse jumping and rearing.
“Yer half right,” I say.
And I’m seeing my chance–
The horse neighs loudly and shakes its head back and forth–
I wait–
Davy pulls on the reins–
I dodge–
I wait–
“Effing horse!” Davy shouts–
He tries to jerk the reins again–
The horse is twisting round one more time–
I wait–
The horse brings Davy round to me, careening him low in the saddle–
And there’s my chance–
My fist is back and waiting–
BOOM!
I catch him cross the face like a hammer falling–
I swear I feel his nose break under my fist–
He calls out in pain and falls from the saddle–
Dropping the pistol in the dust–
I jump back–
Davy’s foot catches in the stirrup–
The horse rears round again–
I smack its hindquarters as hard as I can–
And the horse has had enough.
It charges back up the hill, back up the road, Davy’s foot still caught, making him bounce hard against rocks and dirt as he’s dragged, fast, up the incline–
The pistol’s in the dust–
I move for it–
“Todd?” I hear.
And there’s no time.
There’s no time at all.
Without hardly thinking, I leave the pistol and I run back down to Viola at the edge of the scrub.
“I think I’m dying
, Todd,” she says.
“Yer not dying,” I say, getting an arm under her shoulders and another under her knees.
“I’m cold.”
“Yer not effing dying!” I say. “Not today!”
And I stand, with her in my arms, and I’m at the top of the zigzag that goes down into Haven.
And that’s not going to be fast enough.
I plunge straight down. Straight down thru the scrub.
“Come on!” I say out loud as my Noise forgets itself and all there is in the universe is my legs moving.
Come on!
I run.
Thru scrub–
And across road–
Thru more scrub–
Across road again as it doubles back–
Down and down–
Kicking up clods of earth and jumping over bushes–
Stumbling over roots–
Come on.
“Hang on,” I say to Viola. “You hang on, you hear me?”
Viola grunts every time we land hard–
But that means she’s still breathing.
Down–
And down–
Come on.
Please.
I skid on some bracken–
But I do not fall–
Road and scrub–
My legs aching at the steepness–
Scrub and road–
Down–
Please–
“Todd?”
“Hang on!”
I reach the bottom of the hill and I hit it running.
She’s so light in my arms.
So light.
I run to where the road rejoins the river, the road into Haven, trees springing up again all around us, the river rushing on.
“Hang on!” I say again, running down the road, fast as my feet will carry me.
Come on.
Please.
Round curves and corners–
Under trees and by the riverbank–
Up ahead I see the battlement I spotted with the binos from the hill above, huge wooden Xs piled up in a long row out to either side with an opening across the road.
“HELP!” I’m shouting as we come to it. “HELP US!”
I run.
Come on.
“I don’t think I can–” Viola says, her voice breathless.
“Yes you CAN!” I shout. “Don’t you DARE give up!”
I run.
The battlement’s coming–
But there’s no one.
There’s no one there.
I run thru the opening on the road and to the other side.
I stop long enough to take a turn round.
There’s no one.
“Todd?”
“We’re almost there,” I say.
“I’m losing it, Todd–”
And her head rolls back.
“No, yer NOT!” I shout at her face. “You WAKE UP, Viola Eade! You keep yer ruddy eyes open.”
And she tries. I see her try.
And her eyes open, only a little, but open.
And I run again as fast as I can.
And I’m shouting “HELP!” as I go.
“HELP!”
Please.
“HELP!”
And her breath is starting to gasp.
“HELP US!”
Please no.
And I’m not seeing NO ONE.
The houses I pass are shut up and empty. The road turns from dirt to paved and still no one out and about.
“HELP!”
My feet slam against the pavement–
The road is leading to the big church up ahead, a clearing of the trees, the steeple shining down onto a town square in front of it.
And no one’s there neither.
No.
“HELP!”
I race on to the square, crossing it, looking all around, listening out–
No.
No.
It’s empty.
Viola’s breathing heavy in my arms.
And Haven is empty.
I reach the middle of the square.
I don’t see nor hear a soul.
I spin around again.
“HELP!” I cry.
But there’s no one.
Haven is completely empty.
There ain’t no hope here at all.
Viola slips a little from my grasp and I have to kneel to catch her. My shirt has dropped from her wound and I use one hand to hold it in place.
There ain’t nothing left. The bag, the binos, my ma’s book, I’m realizing it’s all left up on the hillside.
Me and Viola are all we got, everything we have in the world.
And she’s bleeding so much–
“Todd?” she says, her voice low and slurring.
“Please,” I say, my eyes welling, my voice cracking. “Please.”
Please please please please please–
“Well, since you asked so nicely,” comes a voice across the square, hardly even raising itself to a shout.
I look up.
Coming round the side of the church is a single horse.
With a single rider.
“No,” I whisper.
No.
No.
“Yes, Todd,” says Mayor Prentiss. “I’m afraid so.”
He rides his horse almost lazily across the square towards me. He looks as cool and unruffled as ever, no sweat marking his clothes, even wearing riding gloves, even clean boots.
This ain’t possible.
This ain’t possible at all.
“How can you be here?” I say, my voice rising. “How–?”
“Even a simpleton knows there’s two roads to Haven,” he says, his voice calm and silky, almost smirking but not quite.
The dust we saw. The dust we saw moving towards Haven yesterday.
“But how?” I say, so stunned I can barely get the words out. “The army’s a day away at least–”
“Sometimes the rumour of an army is just as effective as the army itself, my boy,” he says. “The terms of surrender were most favourable. One of which was clearing the streets so I could welcome you here myself.” He looks back up towards the falls. “Tho I was of course expecting my son to bring you.”
I look around the square and now I can see faces, faces peering outta windows, outta doors.
I can see four more men on horseback coming round the church.
I look back at Mayor Prentiss.
“Oh, it’s President Prentiss now,” he says. “You’ll do well to remember that.”
And then I realize.
I can’t hear his Noise.
I can’t hear anyone’s.
“No,” he says. “I imagine you can’t, tho that’s an interesting story and not what you might–”
Viola slips a little more from my hands, the shift of it making her give a pained gasp. “Please!” I say. “Save her! I’ll do anything you say! I’ll join the army! I’ll–”
“All good things to those who wait,” the Mayor says, finally looking a little annoyed.
He dismounts in one easy movement and starts taking off his gloves one finger at a time.
And I know we’ve lost.
Everything is lost.
Everything is over.
“As the newly appointed President of this fair planet of ours,” the Mayor says, holding out his hand as if to show me the world for the first time, “let me be the very first to welcome you to its new capital city.”
“Todd?” Viola whispers, her eyes closed.
I hold her tightly to me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her. “I’m so sorry.”
We’ve run right into a trap.
We’ve run right off the end of the world.
“Welcome,” says the Mayor, “to New Prentisstown.”
An excerpt from The Ask and the Answer
“Your Noise reveals you, Todd Hewitt.”
A voice —
In the darkness —
I bl
ink open my eyes. Everything is shadows and blur and it feels like the world’s spinning and my blood is too hot and my brain is clogged and I can’t think and it’s dark —
I blink again.
Wait —
No, wait —
Just now, just now we were in the square —
Just now she was in my arms —
She was dying in my arms —
“Where is she?” I spit into the dark, tasting blood, my voice croaking, my Noise rising like a sudden hurricane, high and red and furious. “WHERE IS SHE?”
“I will be the one doing the asking here, Todd.”
That voice.
His voice.
Somewhere in the dark.
Somewhere behind me, somewhere unseen.
Mayor Prentiss.
I blink again and the murk starts to turn into a vast room, the only light coming from a single window, a wide circle up high and far away, its glass not clear but colored into shapes of New World and its two circling moons, the light from it slanting down onto me and nothing else.
“What have you done with her?” I say, loud, blinking against fresh blood trickling into my eyes. I try to reach up to clear it away but I find my hands are tied behind my back and panic rises in me and I struggle against the binds and my breathing speeds up and I shout again, “WHERE IS SHE?”
A fist comes from nowhere and punches me in the stomach.
I lean forward into the shock of it and realize I’m tied to a wooden chair, my feet bound to its legs, my shirt gone somewhere up on a dusty hillside and as I’m throwing up my empty stomach I notice there’s carpet beneath me, repeating the same pattern of New World and its moons, over and over and over, stretching out for ever.
And I’m remembering we were in the square, in the square where I’d run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her —
But there weren’t no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men and they took her from me, they took her from my arms —
“You notice that he does not ask, Where am I?” says the Mayor’s voice, moving out there, somewhere. “His first words are, Where is she?, and his Noise says the same. Interesting.”
My head’s throbbing along with my stomach and I’m waking up some more and I’m remembering I fought them, I fought them when they took her till the butt of a gun smashed against my temple and knocked me into blackness —
I swallow away the tightness in my throat, swallow away the panic and the fear —
Cuz this is the end, ain’t it?
The end of it all.
The Mayor has me.