The Ask and the Answer

"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 New Prentisstown 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-

Unless the thing she told me about the east road-

"I'm waiting, Viola." The Mayor raises the rifle at Todd's head. "On pain of his life."

"Pa?" Davy says, shock coming out of his Noise. "What're you doing?"

"Never you mind, David. Get back on your horse. I'll have a message for you to take to Captain Hammar presently."

"Yer pointing the gun at Todd, Pa."

Todd turns around to look at him. So do I. So does the Mayor.

"You ain't go

There's an uncomfortable silence as Davy tries to hide his Noise.

"You see what I mean by power, Todd?" the Mayor says. "Look at how you've influenced my son. You've already got yourself a follower."

Davy looks at me, right in the eyes. "Tell him where they are." There's worry all over his Noise, anxiety at how things are playing out. "C'mon, just tell him."

I look back at Todd.

He's looking at Davy's rifle.

"Yes, Viola, tell me, why don't you?" the Mayor says. "Your best speculation. Are they coming from the west?" He looks up toward the falls, the highest point on the horizon, where the sun's disappearing behind the zigzag road carved down the hill, the hill I've only been down once and never gone back up. The Mayor turns. "The north, perhaps, though they'd have to cross the river somehow? Or a hill to the east? Yes, maybe even over the hill where your Mistress blew up the tower and any chance you had of communicating with your people."

I clench my teeth again.

"Still loyal, after all that?"

I don't say anything.

"We could send out troops, Pa," Davy says. "To different parts. They gotta come from somewhere."

The Mayor waits for a minute, staring us down. He finally turns to Davy and says, "Go tell Captain Hammar-"

He's interrupted by a distant BOOM.

"That's due east," Davy says, as we all look up even though there's a wall of the cathedral in the way. It is east.

It's exactly the road she told me it was going to be. She made me think the truth was a lie and a lie was the truth.

If I get out of this, we're going to have words, her and me.

"The Office of the Ask," the Mayor says. "Of course. Where else would they-"

He stops again, cocking his head, listening out. We hear it several seconds after he does. The Noise of someone ru

It's the red - haired guard, the one who fled. He's obviously barely registering who he's seeing as he stumbles into the wreckage of the building. "They're coming!" he shouts. "The Answer is coming!"

There's a burst of Noise from the Mayor and the red - haired soldier falls back, catching himself. "Calm down, Private," the Mayor says, his voice slinky, snakelike. "Tell us clearly."

The guard pants, seemingly unable to catch his breath.

"They've taken the Office of the Ask." He looks up at the Mayor, caught by his eyes. "They killed all the guards."

"Of course they did," the Mayor says, still holding the red - haired soldier's gaze. "How many are there?"

"Two hundred." The red - haired soldier isn't blinking now. "But they're releasing the prisoners."

"Weapons?" asks the Mayor.

"Rifles. Tracers. Launchers. Siege guns on the backs of carts." Still the stare.

"How goes the battle?"

"They're fighting fierce."

The Mayor cocks an eyebrow, still staring at him.

"They're fighting fierce, sir," the guard says, still not blinking, like he couldn't look away from the Mayor if he tried. There's another BOOM in the distance and everyone except the Mayor and the soldier flinches. "They're coming for war, sir," says the soldier.

The Mayor keeps the stare. "Then you should be trying to stop them, shouldn't you?"

"Sir?"

"You should be taking your rifle and preventing the Answer from destroying your town."

The soldier looks confused but he's still not blinking. "I should ..."

"You should be on the front line, soldier. This is our hour of need."

"This is our hour of need," the soldier mumbles, like he's not hearing himself.

"Pa?" Davy says but the Mayor ignores him.

"What are you waiting for, soldier?" the Mayor says. "It's time to fight."

"It's time to fight," says the guard.

"Go!" the Mayor suddenly barks and the red - haired guard springs away, back down the road toward the Answer, his rifle up, yelling incoherently, ru

We watch him go in stu

The Mayor sees Todd staring at him, mouth agape. "Yes, dear boy, better at that, too."

"You as good as killed him," I say. "Whatever you did-"